NURJ Print Vol. 16 (2020-21) by Northwestern Undergraduate Research Journal (NURJ)

The staff of the Northwestern Undergraduate Research Journal would like to express our appreciation for all those who recognize and contribute to our endeavors. Without their support, we would be unable to produce this edition of the Journal. We would like to thank Morton Schapiro, President of Northwestern University, along with Provost Kathleen Hagerty and Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education Miriam Sherin for their generous patronage. We are especially appreciative of our late faculty adviser, Allen Taflove of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, for his unwavering dedication to the NURJ as a whole. His direction and guidance has allowed us to create the best version of the Journal as possible. Cover by Abby Hsiao and Sarah Tani.

Published June 2021. ISSN 2689-1034

MASTHEAD vol. 16 | 2020–2021

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

Maia Brown & Shreya Sriram FACULTY ADVISER

Allen Taflove MANAGING EDITORS

Leslie Bonilla, Sung Yeon Sally Hong, Niva Razin ART DIRECTOR

Sarah Tani DIRECTOR OF OUTREACH

Joy Zheng DEVELOPMENT DIRECTORS

Kevin Bai, John Cao CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Samantha Smith EDITORS

Catherine Campusano, Rachel Chiu, Clare Hardiman, Hannah Jiang, Vibhusha Kolli, Andrew Laeuger, Grace Lee, Jada Morgan, Prerita Pandya, Joni Rosenberg, Clare Zhang, Joy Zhao, Kallista Zhuang DESIGNERS

Kelly Cloonan, Abby Hsiao, Siying Luo, Nancy Qian, Bryan Sanchez, Anthony Tam, Fiona Wang, Catherine Wu ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS OF OUTREACH

Khaled Abughoush, Alex Solivan DEVELOPMENT TEAM

Clarissa Brill-Forman, Jenna Greenzaid, Katie He, Soumya Jhaveri, Tiffany Lou, Eleanor Pope, Carrie Zeng

TABLE OF CONTENTS 04

Letters and Dedication

Opening letters and dedication in honor of Faculty Adviser Allen Taflove

Social Policy

Opinions in Flux: An Exploration of the Perceptions of Concussions in Youth Sports

24 28 42

Student Researcher Madeline Baxter on Researching Public Health and Race

African American Studies

What is Political Ontology

Feature

Professor Jesús Escobar on Studying Art During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sociology

Networking for Gender Justice: Women’s Arts Organizations as Facilitators of Gender Equity in the Arts Industry

60 62 76

Feature

Professor Patricia Moreno on Therapy-Related Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Anthropology

Swimming Upstream: Decreasing Salmon Populations in the Columbia River Basin Through Infrastructure and Its Impacts on Indigenous Welfare

Feature

Dr. Robert L. Murphy on Vaccine Development

Psychology

Stories of Regret in Late Midlife and Their Relation to Psychosocial Adaptation

92 95

Feature

A Brief History of the Dearborn Observatory

Legal Studies

“Territory Folks Should Stick Together”: The Role of the Law and the “Other” in Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma!

110

Feature

Graduate Student Ryan Serrano on His Academic Journey

Performance Studies, Art History

Knowledge and Wonder’s Place, Policy, and Publics: Kerry James Marshall and the Henry E. Legler Library’s Percent-for-Art Commission

114

129

American Studies

A Reckoning with Medicine’s Past

Feature

Professor Beth Redbird on the CoronaData U.S. Project

133 136

Sociology

Designing Equity: Stakeholders’ Perceptions of an Equity Initiative in a California School District

Feature

Portrait of the Child Language Lab

Sociology

Developments or Division? The Role Large Public Investment Projects Play in Gentrification: A Case Study on Chicago’s 606 Bloomingdale Bike Trail

153

164

Anthropology

Hungry Thirsty Roots: Imagining and Constructing Ethnic Otherness in 1800s England

177 188

Feature

Student Researcher Morgan Gass on Work Study Labs

Psychology

Knowing What You Want: Sexual Self-Insight and Attachment Style in Romantic Relationships

Feature

2020 Research Award Winners

192 205

Contributors

Biographies and Interviews of Thesis Contributors

208

LETTER FROM THE

ADVISER

Welcome to Volume 16 (the 2020-21 issue) of the Northwestern Undergraduate Research Journal! NURJ is an annual student-produced print and web-based publication funded by the Offices of the President and the Associate Provost. We are very grateful to President Morty Schapiro and Associate Provost Miriam Sherin for their continuing generous support, especially during these challenging times. During the past three years, NURJ has been led by an extraordinary group of student Editors whose dynamism and vision has been breathtaking. Using the successful print edition of NURJ as the foundation, our Editors have greatly expanded the reach of NURJ to generate a multiplicity of online and print publications, far beyond what was conceived at the beginning of this journal in 2003. The NURJ staff now exceeds 70 undergraduate students. Our NURJ Editors have even taken a leading role in organizing a new national organization of undergraduate collegiate publications, the Society of Undergraduate Humanities Publications (SUHP). From January 7-10, 2021, NURJ hosted the 2nd Annual SUHP Conference. This conference took place entirely on Zoom with feature panels open to any student, anywhere, interested in research journalism. Panels organized by our Editors included noted academics and professionals having deep and diverse experiences in research publication and using research and journalism to catalyze change in their communities. Please note that all of these developments originated with our Editors, not me. The wonderful growth of NURJ has been completely organic! As readers of NURJ Volume 16 and as online visitors to thenurj.com, you will experience the results of the Editors’ year-long efforts: excellent Northwestern undergraduate student research published in a professional manner. This is my final “From the Adviser” letter, since after 37 years on Northwestern faculty’s and 18 years as NURJ’s founding faculty adviser, I am retiring. I relinquish the adviser role with the assurance that the dynamism of NURJ and its excellent positive impact upon the Northwestern community and beyond will continue. Best regards, Allen Taflove, Professor Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering McCormick School of Engineering Northwestern University

LETTER FROM THE

EDITORS Dear readers:

The NURJ started the 2020–2021 academic year riding a wave of immense growth from the previous year. Our work in the fall began with an online publication highlighting undergraduate research in global health — apt for the current climate. With it, the goal was clear for the next three quarters: to shatter any glass ceiling set for student publications. In addition to adding a multimedia component to the recently established NURJ Online, we saw the creation of the NURJ Talks podcast, NURJ Archives Special Edition, and both The 1851 Project online and Of Many Strands print collaborations with The Yale Historical Review. We also expanded the reach of our social media and hosted events for the broader undergraduate research community, including the Society of Undergraduate Humanities Publications international conference. We continued projects close to our heart, such as NURJ x EXPO and NURJ x CAURS. These were made possible by our long-time partnership with the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) and our newest Northwestern collaborators at the University Archives and Libraries. Even in such tumultuous times, the intellect and vigor that each of the 70 NURJ members brings to the table continues to be apparent. The journal you currently hold in your hands is a product of their, and our, commitment to uplifting some of the brightest voices of undergraduate research in the nation. Here, we present a selection of honors and departmentrecommended senior theses from 10 different fields, many sharing ever-pertinent themes of equity and justice. This volume also includes nine feature stories that reflect the diversity of research at Northwestern. In addition to this publication, we invite you to explore Northwestern University’s archives through the NURJ Archives Special Edition. You can also learn more about Northwestern and Yale’s histories of racial (in)justice through the Of Many Strands collaboration (available in print and online at thenurj.com). As always, we would like to thank President Morton Schapiro and Associate Provost Miriam Sherin for their generous sponsorship and continued guidance. We would also like to thank Dean Sarah Pritchard, Dr. Peter Civetta, Dr. Megan Wood, Liz Hamilton, Chris Diaz, and numerous other faculty, staff, and student researchers at Northwestern University for all their support. Lastly, we want to extend our deepest gratitude to our exceptional faculty adviser Professor Taflove. Since he founded the Journal 18 years ago, Professor Taflove has guided scores of NURJ journalists in the pursuit of scholastic excellence. We would not be where we are today without his guidance, wisdom, or generosity. Although Maia will be graduating this Spring 2021, Shreya will return as Editor-in-Chief alongside Jenna Greenzaid, who is certain to continue elevating the NURJ and with it, undergraduate research. Sincerely, Maia Brown and Shreya Sriram Editors-in-Chief

This — and every — edition of the NURJ would not have been possible without the guidance of our beloved, late faculty adviser, Dr. Allen Taflove. Professor Taflove passed away in April 2021 after 18 years of leading the NURJ with unparalleled wisdom, kindness, and grace. Professor Taflove was unwavering in his passion for and dedication to both Northwestern and research. After receiving his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from N.U., he became a professor at the University in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In his 37 years of teaching, he pioneered numerous approaches, methods, and algorithms in computational electrodynamics. He was also recognized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Amateur Radio Hall of Fame, among many others. He was an author of more than 27 articles or chapters in books and 152 journal papers. His book, “Computational Electrodynamics: The Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method,” is the seventh-most cited book in physics. Professor Taflove recognized the ups and downs but overwhelmingly “great good fortune” of his prolific career. In April 2020, he told the NURJ that, “I would call myself extremely fortunate to have attained tenure at Northwestern University, which has allowed me to … pursue long-term advancements in solving Maxwell’s equations and supercomputers, even when initially that was thought to be silly and unproductive. I have lived to see the day when these techniques are used everywhere.” But above all, Professor Taflove will be remembered for his immeasurable care and compassion for students. In addition to advising budding journalists at the NURJ, he advised 24 doctoral students, five postdoctoral fellows, and many generations of undergraduate students. “These former students were a huge, huge highlight of my career,” he recalled. “I would have told a 26-year-old Allen [that] … you will leave a legacy, not only in research, but also of students who you have mentored and instructed who will go on and start to instruct and mentor their own students.” Professor Taflove’s wonderful mentorship was pivotal to the NURJ from the very beginning. He was the one who proposed the establishment of the NURJ to the Office of the President, which has funded our organization ever since. As the organization continues to grow, we will fondly remember Professor Taflove as an incredible source of sagacity, support, and guidance. We were incredibly lucky to have had him advise and mentor us for years, and will work to hold his memory with the NURJ for years to come. With gratitude, The students of the NURJ

Department of Social Policy Faculty Adviser: Prof. Diane Schanzenbach, Ph.D.

Opinions in Flux:

An Exploration of the Perceptions of Concussions in Youth Sports by Andrew Wayne Introduction In 2015, it was estimated that over 1.23 million youth ages 6 to 12 regularly participated in tackle football in the United States.1 A dangerous narrative emerges,given that the annual concussion rates among football players ages 5 to 14 are just above 5%.2 Thus, youth football has become a breeding ground for head trauma. While many see football as a particularly contact-intensive and violent sport, concussion-related issues are not limited to football. Indeed, there are many sports played by myriad youth that involve the head as a point of contact, such as rugby, soccer, mixed martial arts, and baseball. Recent statistics indicate that in youth football roughly 3–5% of players per season suffer a concussion — the rates are virtually identical in other sports,

such as soccer, hockey, lacrosse, and flag football.3 In the U.S. alone approximately 1.6 million to 3.8 million sports-related concussions occur each year across all age groups.4 Sports and recreational activities comprise a significant portion of annual concussions; at the high school level alone, organized sports are responsible for over 62,000 concussions annually.5 The proliferation and rampant nature of concussions in youth sporting leagues show that this injury is an issue that reaches far beyond football and professional leagues. The abundance and increasing evidence of risk and both shortand long-term health consequences seen in youth sports raises questions about the decision-making processes that go into enrolling a child in youth sports. The present study asks:

1 Farrey, T. (2016, April 17). Youth football participation increases in 2015; teen involvement down, data shows. Retrieved from http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/15210245/slight-one-year-increase-number-youth-playing-football-data-shows 2 Kurs, L. (2018, December 13). New Findings on Concussion in Football’s Youngest Players. Retrieved from https://pulse.seattlechildrens.org/new-findings-on-concussion-in-footballs-youngest-players/ 3 LaBella, C. (2019, April 01). Youth Tackle Football: Perception and Reality. Retrieved from https://pediatrics.aappublications. org/content/early/2019/03/28/peds.2019-0519 4 Sandel, Natalie & Henry, Luke & French, Jonathan & Lovell, Mark. (2014). Parent Perceptions of Their Adolescent Athlete’s Concussion: A Preliminary Retrospective Study. Applied neuropsychology. Child. 4. 1-6. 10.1080/21622965.2013.850692. 5 Guilmette TJ, Malia LA, McQuiggan MD. Concussion understanding and management among New England high school football coaches. Brain Inj. 2007;21(10):1039-1047.

“

The proliferation and rampant nature of concussions in youth sporting leagues show that this injury is an issue that reaches far beyond football and professional leagues.

(1) How has the emergence and proliferation of popular arenas for youth sports shaped instances of and narratives surrounding head trauma? (2) How do parents frame and understand their child’s involvement in a sport that could potentially result in head trauma? (3) How and to what extent do parents process and operationalize the medical knowledge and messaging from the healthcare industry?

Methods Data was collected using an online survey of parents of children who participate in youth sports (see Appendix). These parents were chosen to be survey takers because of their proximity to the issues investigated and their authority over their child’s activities. The survey captured the depth and breadth of parents’ perspectives regarding their child’s involvement in a sport. It also allowed for textual answers

”

that enabled the research team to avoid limiting participants’ responses to a set of predetermined answers. The survey covered topics such as the parent’s beliefs about concussions generally, the risk associated with their child’s sport, whether the sport is safe or can be made safe, the safety of different sports, and how they are or are not using medical data released by the healthcare industry. The survey also asked about their child’s specific concussion treatment and recovery and their plans for sending their child back into the sport when applicable. The research team collected 115 surveys to better understand the decisionmaking process associated with youth participation in sports. To identify and recruit potential participants, the research team sent surveys to select patient and employee populations at Lurie Children’s Hospital (LCH), a large academic, freestanding pediatric hospital in Chicago,

T Figure 1. Sports represented in survey.

S Figure 2. Concussion occurrence among respondents’ children.

Illinois. The research team also contacted various Chicagoland and national sporting leagues that have connections to LCH for assistance with disseminating the survey to relevant populations.

Results Participants We collected 115 surveys. Of the 115 surveys, 59 respondents identified as female and 56 respondents identified as male. Seventy of the 115 respondents indicated that they have one child, 27 indicated that they have two children, 13 indicated that they have three children, four indicated that they have four children, and one indicated that they have six children. The 115 surveys captured 186 children in total with an average age of approximately 11.8 years. The youngest and oldest children represented by this survey were 5 and 29. The survey included 18 sports: baseball, tee-ball, softball, football, hockey, field hockey, soccer, track & field, volleyball, basketball, tennis, golf, swimming, wrestling, competitive cheerleading, lacrosse, dance, and figure skating (Figure 1).

Analysis When asked about concussion history, 29 respondents indicated that their child had suffered a diagnosed concussion as a direct result of a sport that they played, and 86 respondents answered that their child had not suffered a concussion as a result of playing organized sports (Figure 2). Thus, approximately one-quarter (25.22%) of all respondents captured by the survey have a child that suffered a diagnosed concussion as a result of participating in organized sports. Out of the 29 participants who have a child with a history of concussion, 20 answered that the concussion occurred within the past 12 months. Hence, roughly 17.39% of respondents’ children suffered a concussion within the last season of play. This rate of concussion per season was far higher than estimates from the medical industry. Recent statistics indicate that in youth football and many other youth sports, roughly 3–5% of players per season suffer a concussion.6 The rate of concussions uncovered from the study is particularly worrisome as many concussions go unreported. Experts at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center argue that 50% of all concussions go

6 LaBella, C. (2019, April 01). Youth Tackle Football: Perception and Reality. Retrieved from https://pediatrics.aappublications. org/content/early/2019/03/28/peds.2019-0519

S Figure 3. Mechanism of concussion occurrence among respondents’ children.

undetected and thus unreported.7 Concussion rates appear to be much higher in the contemporary world compared to figures distributed by the medical industry. Respondents with a child who suffered a diagnosed concussion as a result of participating in organized sports were asked in the survey about the mechanism of injury (Figure 3). Nine respondents indicated that the concussion was the result of a collision during a game. Five indicated the concussion was due to a collision during practice. Four indicated that the concussion was caused by a fall during a game. Another four indicated that the concussion was due to the subject being struck by an object during practice. Three indicated that the concussion was the result of a fall during practice. Three others indicated that the concussion was due to the subject being struck by an object during a game. Lastly, one concussion was labeled as “other.” Overall, 17 concussions occurred in a game setting, while 12 occurred during a practice for the sport. When comparing statistics on practice and concussion rates

from the survey, an increase in practices per week appears to be positively correlated with the occurrence of concussions. For respondents with a child who suffered a diagnosed concussion as a result of participating in organized sports, the child who suffered the concussion went to, on average, 3.69 practices per week. Children who did not suffer a concussion went to approximately 2.80 practices per week. The p-value between the two practice groups was less than 0.0001, confirming the difference in responses between groups is statistically significant. Playing any organized sport carries risk of concussion. However, leagues with multiple practices per week may act as a mechanism enabling additional concussions and driving up the rate of concussions in youth sports. This finding has also been shown in other studies. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 62% of sportsrelated child injuries occur during practice.8 Given that concussions are more prevalent with higher numbers of practices per week and that 178 out of 186, or 95.69%, of respondents’ children attend at least one

7 UPMC Staff. (2019). Concussion Statistics and Facts | UPMC | Pittsburgh. Retrieved from https://www.upmc.com/services/ sports-medicine/services/concussion/facts-statistics 8 National SAFE KIDS Campaign, & American Academy of Pediatrics. (2019, April 17). Sports Injury Statistics. Retrieved from https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=sports-injury-statistics-90-P02787

S Figure 4. Parents report which sport they believe has the highest concussion rate.

practice per week, incorporating additional practices has a clear risk in relation to concussion rates. Despite the impacts that concussions may have later in life, parents in this study seemed unlikely to take extreme action when their child suffered a concussion. Respondents with a child who suffered a diagnosed concussion as a result of participating in organized sports were asked how their child’s concussion(s) has impacted their decision to let their child continue the sport. The question was answered with a numerical value between zero and 10, with zero representing no effect on continued participation in the sport, five representing some thought about discontinuing participation in the sport, and 10 representing a definitive decision to discontinue the sport. The average response from parents was 4.31, with a standard deviation of 2.12. That is, 95% of the data was centered between 0.07 and 8.55. Despite first-hand exposure to the symptoms and the potential long-term effects of concussions, no parent reported intending to remove their child from the sport in which they were injured. This finding may be explained by a subsequent question in the survey. Respondents 12

were asked about the effect of their child’s wants and/or desires on the child’s selection of and/or participation in sports. This question was answered using a numerical scale between zero and 10, with zero representing no effect, and 10 representing the ultimate driving factor in the decision regarding sport participation. The average recorded response to this question was 8.07 with a standard deviation of 0.96. Thus, 95% of the data was between 6.15 and 9.99 and 99.7% of the data is in the upper half of the numerical scale used to answer the question. This highlights how influential children are in driving decisions regarding sport participation, potentially explaining why some parents may not make extreme decisions about their child’s participation in sports following a concussion. Misconceptions about the risk of concussion in various sports exist among parents who have children actively participating in organized sports. In the survey, parents were asked what sport they believed has the highest concussion rate; 92 parents answered football, eight answered soccer, six answered hockey, three answered baseball, three answered basketball, and three answered “other” (Figure 4).

“An increase in practices per week appears to be positively correlated with the occurrence of concussions.” Contemporary data indicate that ice hockey has the highest concussion rate, at 0.91 concussions per 1000 athlete-exposures for females and 0.41 concussions per 1000 athlete-exposures for males.9 These values of 0.91 and 0.41 are higher than the concussion rate for sports like football, which has a concussion rate of 0.37 per 1000 athlete-exposures. Thus, six out of 115 participants — or 5.21% of all participants — were able to identify the correct answer. Approximately 95% of participants answered the question incorrectly, showing how misconceptions regarding sport concussion rates have become entrenched in contemporary society. Misconceptions and incorrect narratives around youth sports can lead to increased injury rates and long-term health consequences. Respondents were asked to rate the safety of their child’s primary sport compared to other youth sports in terms of concussions. This question was answered with a numerical value between zero and 10 with Zero representing that the primary sport the child plays is the safest option available, and 10 representing that the sport the child plays is the riskiest option available. Parents with a child who suffered a diagnosed concussion differed from other respondents in a multitude of ways. For

example, parents of children who suffered a concussion recorded an average value of 5.82, while parents of children who did not suffer a concussion had an average value of 2.90 (Table 1). When a two-tailed test was applied to compare the means of the two groups, the p-value was less than 0.0001, confirming the difference in responses between groups is statistically significant. This indicates that parents of children who suffered a concussion perceive a higher risk of concussion from their child’s participation in a primary youth sport than parents of children who did not experience a concussion. Another question asks about the effects of four factors on the parent’s decision involving their child’s/children’s participation in and/or selection of a sport. These four factors were popular media, social media, the child’s wants/desires, and the safety of the sport. These questions were answered with a numerical value between zero and 10, with zero representeing no effect and 10 representing an ultimate driving factor in the decision regarding sport participation. The responses to this question highlight a significant divide between parents who have a child who suffered a concussion and parents who do not (Table 1). For the first factor, popular media (i.e., news, journals, online news), parents of children who suffered a concussion recorded an average response of 4.43, while parents of children who did not suffer a concussion recorded an average response of 1.86. A two-tailed test revealed a p-value less than 0.0001, showing the difference in responses between groups is statistically significant. Parents of children who suffered a concussion appear to place a higher value on the information obtained from

9 Hootman, J. M., Dick, R., & Agel, J. (2007). Epidemiology of collegiate injuries for 15 sports: Summary and recommendations for injury prevention initiatives. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1941297/

popular media when selecting a sport than parents of children who did not experience a concussion. For the second factor, social media, parents of children who suffered a concussion recorded an average response of 4.85, while parents of children who did not suffer a concussion recorded an average response of 2.83. The p-value comparing the means of the two groups was less than 0.0001, confirming the gap in responses between groups is statistically significant. Parents of children who suffered a concussion appear to place a higher value on the information obtained from social media, in addition to popular media, when selecting a sport than parents of children who did not experience a concussion. The third factor evaluated by parents was the effect of the child’s wants and desires on the sport selection process. Parents of children who suffered a concussion recorded an average response of 6.78, while parents of children who did not suffer a concussion recorded an average response of 8.38. When a two-tailed test was applied

to compare the means of the two groups, the p-value was less than 0.0001, confirming the difference in responses between groups is statistically significant. Parents of children who suffered a concussion appear to value their child’s desires less in the sport selection process than parents of children who did not experience a concussion. The last factor evaluated by parents was the effect of perceived safety on sport selection. Parents of children who suffered a concussion recorded an average response of 6.26, while parents of children who did not suffer a concussion recorded an average response of 4.07. A two-tailed test and a p-value of less than 0.0001 confirmed the difference in responses between groups is statistically significant. Parents of children who suffered a concussion appear to value the perceived safety of a sport more in the sport selection process than parents of children who did not experience a concussion. Overall, this survey shows that many differences exist in how a parent navigates the sport selection process when comparing parents of children who did not experi-

T Table 1. Parent evaluation of various factors related to sport safety compared by child’s concussion history.

Questions (Scale 0-10)

Parents of children who suffered a concussion

Parents of children who did not suffer a concussion

Two-tailed t-test

Perceived safety of primary sport

μ = 5.82

μ = 2.90

p < 0.0001

Effect of popular media on sport participation

μ = 4.43

μ = 1.86

p < 0.0001

Effect of social media on sport participation

μ = 4.85

μ = 2.83

p < 0.0001

Effect of child’s desires on sport participation

μ =6.78

μ = 8.38

p < 0.0001

Effect of perceived safety on sport selection

μ = 6.26

μ =4.07

p < 0.0001

“Misconceptions and incorrect narratives around youth sports can lead to increased injury rates and long-term health consequences.” ence a concussion and parents of children who did suffer a concussion. An additional finding of this study is that there is a large difference between male and female parents in the way in which they select sports for their children. When asked about the impact of four different factors — popular media, social media, the child’s wants/desires, and the safety of the sport — males and females provided far different responses. These questions were answered with a numerical value between zero and 10, with zero represening no effect and 10 representing an ultimate driving factor in the decision regarding sport participation. The responses to this question highlight a significant divide between male and female parents (Table 2). For the first factor, popular media, female respondents recorded an average response of 5.16, while males recorded an average response of 3.44. When a twotailed test was applied to compare the means of the two groups, the p-value was less than 0.0001, confirming the difference in responses between groups is statistically significant. This finding signifies that female respondents place a higher value on the information obtained from popular

media when selecting a sport for their child than male respondents. The second factor that parents were asked to evaluate was social media. When evaluating the effect of social media on the sport selection process, females recorded an average value of 4.71, while males recorded an average value of 1.56. The p-value between males and females for this question was less than 0.0001, confirming the difference in responses between groups is statistically significant. This finding suggests that male survey respondents rarely use information from social media to aid in selecting a sport for their child, while female survey respondents rely on it to some extent. Interestingly, despite the widespread use of social media today, popular media still has a greater impact on the decision-making of parents regarding sports selection for their children. The third factor in this question is the effect of the child’s wants and desires. Female parents recorded an average value of 8.05, while male parents recorded an average value of 7.81. For both males and females, the child’s wants and desires seem to be a driving factor in the sports selection process, and the average response for this question is the highest numerically, for both males and females, of the four factors. Lastly, the fourth factor gauges the effect of the perceived safety of the sport. For female respondents, the average value was 6.06, while males recorded an average value of 3.92. The p-value between males and females for this question was less than 0.0001, confirming the difference in responses between groups is statistically significant. When parents select a sport for their child, it seems that female respondents value the perceived safety of the sport more than their male counterparts. 15

Questions (Scale 0-10)

Male

Female

Two-tailed t-test

Effect of popular media on sport participation

μ = 3.44

μ = 5.16

p < 0.0001

Effect of social media on sport participation

μ = 1.56

μ = 4.71

p < 0.0001

Effect of child’s desires on sport participation

μ = 7.81

μ = 8.05

p = 0.4862

Perceived safety of primary sport

μ =3.92

μ = 6.06

p < 0.0001

S Table 2. Parent evaluation of various factors related to sport safety compared by parent gender.

Discussion This study of parents of children in youth sports has highlighted new information about how parents perceive sport safety, what information parents use to make decisions about their child’s participation in youth sports, and how these factors differ by the parent’s gender. Specifically, the results of the survey outline many key findings about the perception of concussions in contemporary youth sports. When divided into different groups and compared against one another, parents seemed to hold vastly different ideas regarding concussions and sport selection. When compared by their gender or the concussion history of their children, parents displayed statistically significant differences in factors, such as social/popular media influence when deciding a sport, perception of the safety of different sports, and how much their child’s wants and desires affect the sport selection process. This study also shows an alarming disconnect between concussion rate estimates from the medical industry and real-world rates. Recent statistics indicate that in

many youth sports approximately 3–5% of players per season suffer a concussion.10 The survey population reflected a much higher rate with 17.39% of respondents reporting a child who suffered a concussion within the last season of play. This study also demonstrated a correlation between increased numbers of practices per week and concussion occurrences. Finally, the survey showed that many parents are not aware of the concussion rates across various youth sports. While the results are promising, the study has limitations. Concussions and parent perceptions are global issues, and this study was only able to capture under 200 children in the Chicagoland area. The survey data may also not be more representative of a larger population because the sample was partially recruited through the connections between LCH and sporting leagues and is, therefore, not truly random. Additionally, parent opinion is a fluid variable that can change substantially at any given moment. These surveys only captured parents’ opinions at one point in time. However, the greatest limitation of

10 LaBella, C. (2019, April 01). Youth Tackle Football: Perception and Reality. Retrieved from https://pediatrics.aappublications. org/content/early/2019/03/28/peds.2019-0519

“This study also shows an alarming disconnect between concussion rate estimates from the medical industry and real-world rates.” this study is the sample collection procedure. Due to the study method employed, the team was unable to capture information about parents who removed their children from sports due to concussions. As the team only surveyed parents who have a child who actively participates in sports, parents who removed their children from sports due to concussion could not be assessed. Furthermore, children drop out of sports for a multitude of other reasons, such as their performance in the sport, their lack of desire to continue, or costs associated with the sport. This study was unable to capture these parents who no longer have children participating in sports. Finally, the high rate of concussions found in this study may reflect selection bias. It is possible that parents of children with recent concussions were more inclined to complete the survey.

Conclusion There is still much to learn regarding traumatic brain injuries and associated conditions, such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy. In addition, concussions are difficult to diagnose, as many of the symptoms can be invisible or connect to a plethora of other illnesses.11 Compounding the issue further is the fact that an objective

test to diagnose concussions does not exist. Instead, medical professionals must rely on symptoms and patient history to make the diagnosis.12 The lack of general knowledge on concussions leads to misinformation and false narratives. These misconceptions and incorrect narratives regarding youth sports can lead to increased injury rates and long-term health consequences. Further research regarding education and evaluation could reduce these misconceptions. Providing parents with contemporary statistics regarding concussion rates and examining how misconceptions persist could allow for more information on how parents of athletes digest information and select and/or avoid various sports. Further research could also examine how concussion rates are impacted by additional training and knowledge on concussion symptoms and recognition among coaches and parents. Lastly, additional research could estimate the effects of concussion-related legislation and how adherence to current legislation affects youth sport participation and concussion rates. Regardless of the exact approach used, it is clear that additional reliable information is needed in order for parents to make the most informed decisions regarding participation in youth sports and associated concussion risk. ■

11 American Association of Neurological Surgeons. (2019). Sports-related Head Injury. Retrieved from https://www.aans.org/ Patients/Neurosurgical-Conditions-and-Treatments/Sports-related-Head-Injury 12 Choe, M. C., MD, & Giza, C. C., MD. (2015). Diagnosis and Management of Acute Concussion. Seminars in Neurology, 35(1), 29-41. Retrieved from https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/840665_4.

Appendix Data Collection Instrument IRB 2019-3043 - Parental Opinion on Concussions in Youth Sports PI: Dr. Cynthia LaBella Research Coordinators/Primary Contacts: 1. Andrew Wayne, Orthopaedics, andrewwayne2020@u.northwestern.edu 2. Sina Malekian, Department of Surgery, smalekian@luriechildrens.org 3. Carly Strohbach, Department of Surgery, cstrohbach@luriechildrens.org 4. Jamie Burgess, Department of Surgery, jburgess@luriechildrens.org 5. Gina Johnson, Department of Surgery, ginajohnson2020@u.northwestern.edu

Survey Questions to be Asked 1. 2.

3. 4.

Please indicate your preferred gender identity a. Answered via a textbox that the participant will fill How many children do you have? a. Answered via multiple choice selections: i. 1 ii. 2 iii. 3 iv. 4 v. 5 or more Please list the age (s) of your child/children. What was the purpose of this training? What did it focus on? a. Answered via a textbox that the participant will fill What sport (s) do/does your child/children play? (Please select more than one if applicable.) a. Answered via multiple choice selections: i. Basketball ii. Baseball/tee-ball/softball iii. Football iv. Soccer v. Volleyball vi. Track & field vii. Hockey/field hockey viii. Tennis ix. Golf x. Other (please list) Please identify the primary sport your child/children plays. (For “primary sport” please identify the sport that your child/you put the most effort or time into.) a. Answered via multiple choice selections: i. Basketball ii. Baseball/tee-ball/softball iii. Football iv. Soccer v. Volleyball vi. Track & field vii. Hockey/field hockey viii. Tennis ix. Golf x. Other (please list) How long has your child/children played in their primary sport? Please list the number of years or months a. Answered via multiple choice selections: i. 0-3 Months ii. 3-6 Months iii. 6-9 months iv. 9-12 Months v. 1-3 Years vi. 3-5 Years vii. 5-7 Years viii. 7+ Years Identify the closest match to your child’s future expectations in their primary sport a. Answered via multiple choice selections: i. Playing for exercise ii. Playing for recreational purposes

9. 10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

iii. Playing to make social connections iv. Aiming to play/currently playing at a high school level v. Aiming to play at the university level vi. Aiming to play professionally Has your child/have any of your children suffered a concussion, that was diagnosed by a medical professional, as a result of the sport (s) they play? A concussion is defined as: an injury to the brain or spinal cord due to jarring from a blow, fall, or other impact that results in a temporary impairment of brain function. a. Answered via multiple choice selections: i. Yes ii. No What was the treatment plan prescribed for the head injury/injuries suffered? (Medication, time out of the sport/school, etc.) Please describe the treatment plans for each head injury suffered a. Answered via a textbox that the participant will fill How long ago did the head injury occur? (If multiple head injuries occurred, please select the most recent head injury.) a. Answered via multiple choice selections: i. In the last 3 months ii. 3-6 months ago iii. 6-12 months ago iv. 1-2 years ago v. 2+ years ago How long did your child experience symptoms following the head injury? a. Answered via multiple choice selections: i. 1-7 days post injury ii. 7-14 days post injury iii. 2-6 weeks post injury iv. 6-12 weeks post injury v. 12+ weeks post injury What specifically caused the head injury? a. Answered via multiple choice selections: i. A fall in game ii. A fall in game iii. A collision in practice iv. A collision in game v. Being struck by an object in game vi. Being struck by an object in practice vii. Other (please list) How have your child’s injury/injuries impacted your child’s participation in their primary sport? a. Answered on a sliding scale from 0 to 4 with the labels: i. 0: No change in participation in the sport ii. 1: Slight decrease in participation in the sport iii. 2: Moderate decrease in participation in the sport iv. 3: Significant decrease in participation in the sport v. 100: Discontinued participation in the sport How have your child’s injury/injuries impacted your decision to let your child participate in their primary sport? a. Answered on a sliding scale from 0 to 10 with the labels: i. 0 - No effect on continued participation in the sport ii. 5 - Some thought about discontinuing participation in the sport iii. 10 - definitive decision on discontinuing the sport Do you believe the primary sport your child plays is safe for youth? a. Answered via multiple choice selections: i. Yes ii. No What changes could make the primary sport your child plays safer in terms of head trauma? (You may select more than one option.) a. Answered via multiple choice selections: i. Rule Changes (i.e. removing elements of contact) ii. Additional training for coaches/supervisors iii. Presence of an athletic trainer at each game/practice iv. Redesign of equipment v. Redesign of concussion screening equipment vi. Better coaching of proper techniques vii. Safer actions conducted by the players viii. Other (Please List) What factor, in your eyes, is the biggest roadblock to implementing changes to improve the safety in the primary sport your child plays? a. Answered via multiple choice selections: i. Cost ii. Difference of opinion from involved parties iii. Resistance to change from involved parties iv. Time

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

v. Lack of other resources vi. Difficulty enforcing changes vii. Other (please list) For all the sports your child plays combined, how many practices do they attend per week? a. Answered via multiple choice selections: i. 0 Practices Per Week ii. 1 Practice Per Week iii. 2 Practices Per Week iv. 3 Practices Per Week v. 4 Practices Per Week vi. 5 Practices Per Week vii. 6 Practices Per Week viii. 7+ Practices Per Week What specifically do you think contributes the most to head injury in the primary sport your child plays? a. Answered via multiple choice selections: i. Nature of the sport ii. How the game is played iii. How practices are run iv. Lack of supervision of coaches v. Lack of training/knowledge on head injury amongst players and coaches vi. Faulty equipment vii. Rules of the game viii. Other (Please List) In comparison to other youth sports, how safe do you believe the primary sport your child plays is in terms of concussions? a. Answered on a sliding scale from 0 to 10 with the labels: i. 0- The primary sport my child plays is the SAFEST opinion available ii. 5- The primary sport my child plays is about average in terms of safety iii. 10 - The primary sport my child plays is the RISKIEST sport available to youth How much of an effect have the following factors had on your decision involving your child’s/children’s participation and/or selection in sport? a. Answered via 2 sliding scales from 0-10: i. The first scale asks: please indicate the extent of the effect popular media (i.e. news, Facebook, Twitter) has had on your child’s selection and/or participation in sport ii. The second scale asks: Please indicate the extent of the effect social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter) has had on your child selection and/or participation in sport iii. The third scale asks: please indicate the extent of the effect the desire/wants of your child/children has had on your child’s selection and/or participation in sport iv. Please indicate the extent of the effect the safety of the sport has had on your child’s selection and/or participation in sport b. The 2 scales have the labels: iii. 0 - My child’s participation and/or selection in sports was not impacted at all by this factor iv. 5 - My child’s participation and/or selection in sports was somewhat impacted by this factor v. 10 - My child’s participation and/or selection in sports was impacted greatly by this factor Which sport (amongst youth) do you believe has the highest concussion rate? a. Answered via multiple choice selections: i. Basketball ii. Baseball/tee-ball/softball iii. Football iv. Soccer v. Volleyball vi. Track & field vii. Hockey/field hockey viii. Tennis ix. Golf x. Other (please list)

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Q & A Being the Change We Wish to See:

Madeline Baxter By Rachel Chiu and Jada Morgan Madeline Baxter is a third-year undergraduate pursuing majors in global health and in learning and organizational change as well as a minor in business institutions. Baxter is passionate about social impact work and learning about the healthcare system and its intersections with the social determinants of health. The Journal sat down with Baxter to learn more about her experience with social justice research.

FEATURE

[This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.]

Why did you decide to pursue research specifically addressing social justice work? A lot of my interests right now revolve around global health. I’m greatly influenced by the content of the courses in the global health department as well as my experiences as a Black woman. It feels very superficial to say, “I have all this knowledge, but I’m just going to sit with it and wait for four years and then maybe decide to do something about it.” I have a really hard time learning about disparities and not doing anything to actively mitigate those disparities.

“I have a really hard time learning about disparities and not doing anything to actively mitigate those disparities.”

(CPHD). I’m helping them lead some research in East Garfield Park, which is a neighborhood of Chicago with the worst African American female maternal mortality statistics. We’re researching in the area more and helping to support the However, I don’t know that doing social community and citizens. justice work has ever been my ultimate life goal. It’s always been something that I’ve How has it been working on been passionate about in order to give back these large, multifaceted projects to the community from which I’ve come. as an undergraduate? It’s just who I am, what I care about doing, I was the only undergraduate with the and what I want to do with the education Global Health Institute for the first that I’m getting right now. six months. That was definitely really difficult because we went through the Give us an overview of your shift with COVID-19; it was really tough research experience. to get the lay of the land. I had a hard For nine months in 2020, I worked with time understanding how the organization the Northwestern Global Health Institute was run and what was expected of me. I in their Department of Education. I was never meeting anybody face-to-face worked on producing a descriptive analysis besides my boss, so trying to find my which is a type of statistical modeling. I place in the organization was definitely helped translate qualitative data and make more difficult. it quantitative in order to advocate for more funding and really show the success How did you go about of the Institute. It was really exciting to finding these social justice be a part of something so tangible and see research opportunities? immediate effects of it all. I spent a lot of time researching different Right now, I’m getting ready to work with organizations in Chicago and began coldthe Chicago Public Health Department emailing people. For example, to get in

FEATURE

“What I contribute in the long run is a sense of optimism [by] being a new person who says, ‘I care about this work; I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help [make] it happen.’”

to start to work against these disparities. I’ve been trying to act on the things that I find the most important and help alleviate the racial, economic, and health disparities that we spend so much time talking about in the classroom.

What is the most rewarding aspect of doing handson social justice work?

The biggest things that I’ve gained are the out-of-the-classroom knowledge and the mentors. I can learn more about these disparities and how to work against them while also gaining connections with people who care about me getting the right experience and education. My supervisors in both of those research positions have really been ahead of the game in terms of touch with the brilliant woman who I’m being women in the global health field. working for right now, I messaged her They’ve helped lead me through the process on LinkedIn. She’s the medical director of and also connect me with the right people. the CPHD, and she got back to me almost immediately. We were able to coordinate How has getting involved in this a time to talk, and seeing as our interests type of research during your aligned, they put me in their HR system — undergraduate years impacted the rest is history.

What do you think these organizations really value about undergraduate students and specifically you? What do you think you contribute in the long run?

your desire to get involved in research after you graduate?

Getting involved in social justice research has shown me what I don’t want to do as well as the research that I’d be interested in doing in the future. My first experience with the Global Health Institute was a lot of data analysis. I realized that it’s one thing to learn about global health disparities in classrooms and another to just write down numbers pertaining to grants. Those are two very different things in terms of quantifying the work.

I would hope that what I contribute in the long run is a sense of optimism [by] being a new person that says, “I care about this work; I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help [make] it happen.” There’s so much work that needs to be done, especially in the context of Chicago. It’s really hard to take part in all that My current research interests are in work by yourself; I hope to equalize quantifying the disparities along racial the burden they’re carrying right now lines in cities like Chicago and other urban 26

FEATURE

areas. I’m interested in breaking that down further and understanding the function of the neighborhood and where these arbitrary neighborhood lines are as well as how that impacts people for the rest of their lives. I’d like to focus on interacting with the individuals that these disparities impact and working hands-on with these communities rather than simply quantifying the research on the back end.

justice workers and researchers are really excited to see young people who care so much and have the tactical skills to impact the work.

How do you balance social justice research work with onthe-ground activism work?

In terms of balancing them, I spend more time on the research right now than on on-the-ground activism just because Do you have any advice for that’s how I am. Currently, it’s really hard undergraduates who want to to engage in activism because it’s hard to get involved in the field but meet people as a result of the COVID-19 are intimidated by the amount pandemic, so I think my answer is skewed of opportunities or needing in terms of what facilities I have access to. to reach out to independent Both research and activism actionably organizations on their own? impact the world and make it a better My biggest advice is always to just ask. The place. I think as long as we’re intentional worst thing that can happen is that they in the way in which we walk through life don’t email you back. In terms of mitigating and interact with people, we can create that fear and intimidation, I think that the positive change that we want to make. there’s so much work to be done, and social

Madeline Baxter’s success in finding and pursuing research demonstrates how important it is that students continue to seek out opportunities to gain knowledge and create tangible change in our communities. Baxter encourages students to be bold in reaching out to individuals in the professional world who share their research interests, as they are waiting for undergraduates to share their insights as much as the undergraduates are hoping to learn from the professionals in the field. Through participating in social justice research, one can develop valuable skills and connections that will carry throughout the remainder of one’s professional career. ■

FEATURE

Department of African American Studies Faculty Adviser: Prof. Marquis Bey, Ph.D.

What is Political Ontology by John Sweeney

Preface As I have progressed in this paper, I have asked myself, and been pushed to seriously think by my partner, about the ethicality of writing such a large work on matters of incredible violence to which I am not subject. I especially need to take into account how my discussions of race are entering predominantly Black discourses, since my presence in these spaces may contribute violence toward Black people.1 As my partner has reminded me, it is white fragility that orders me to remain silent on these questions, and so I take inspiration from her and Jennifer Nash, in her elaboration of bravery, to address this directly. As Barbara Christian, in her groundbreaking article “The Race for Theory,” asks white academics and herself, “For whom are we doing what we are doing when we do literary criticism?”2 I write for my partner, because the theory that I encounter that does not broadly engage with

Black theory excludes her and her experience. I cannot leave that be, so I must act, even if I may not have an impact. I also recognize that I have privilege as a white cisgender straight male in this racial cisheteropatriarchy, and when I speak, I am not giving space for those who are actually subjected to these systems to speak. Additionally, there is the great risk of liberal intentions that are in reality voyeurism, which will always lead to an unempathetic engagement, as the theory turns into another game. If I am guilty of this, I deserve to be called on it. I hope to move through this entire paper in an ethical manner — that is, with humility, respect, deep engagement, intention toward dialogue, and realizing that I am no one’s savior and that this is not an intellectual exercise. I write about violence because this violence continues, and I cannot turn away.

1 While this is not the purpose of this paper, extremely important work on the intramural dimensions

of race and ideology within the Black community and with other people of color has been created. See Michelle (2020). 2 See Christain (1988, pg 77).

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The terms of political ontology are opened up by a robust engagement between different traditions that all maintain a certain critical attitude towards the current political ontology.

Introduction This paper aims to enter into a complex and ongoing conversation among critical theorists regarding Black sociality, antiblackness, and political ontology.3 Black studies has participated in an “ontological turn,” often expressed in the afropessimist versus Black optimist debates. This paper will first engage with Black nihilist and afropessimist works to tease out what is actually being discussed. Then, it will engage their work in conversations with progressive critical theorists — particularly Oliver Marchart, Fred Moten, and Enrique Dussel — to open up the philosophical terrain of political ontology. This paper critically analyzes the work of political ontology produced in recent years, and it heeds a warning from one of Calvin Warren’s recent articles: Most Black studies “neglect the ontological dimension of antiblackness, in order to provide resolution and resolvability of the tension between blackness and being.”4 In order to avoid this pitfall, this paper sets out to center the ontological dimension of antiblackness, in the post-Heideggerian sense that Warren has in mind. It is more than possible that this paper sets out to do much more than one paper can coherently accomplish, but I believe these moving parts are all essential and mutually sup-

” porting. This paper argues that the terms of political ontology are opened up by a robust engagement between different traditions that all maintain a certain critical attitude towards the current political ontology. To begin, since this is a work of political ontology that hopes to make the topic more accessible and decipher some of the jargon, we shall start with a brief overview of the afropessimists Frank Wilderson and Jared Sexton. Unfortunately, this deciphering will not be simple, as, “‘Ontology’ as an analytical category is used in different ways by different authors.”5 We could easily add metaphysics, race, and gender to that description.

Brief Overview of Wilderson and Sexton This section will unpack some of the grammar Warren and afropessimists use for those of us who do not have as much familiarity with it. First, we can begin by noting that the similarities Wilderson and Sexton bring as afropessimists are the focus on social death, the centering on the political production of ontology, the orientation to fully be with antiblackness, and the emphasis on world-ending practices as the only

3 I am profoundly influenced by the work of scholar Christina Sharpe, and I follow her notations of

Black, blackness, and antiblackness. See Sharpe (2016). 4 See Warren (2017c, pg 272). 5 See Burman (2016, pg 7).

solution. On social death, they are very impacted by the work of sociologist Orlando Patterson, notably quite the conservative. Patterson developed his notion of social death to define the position of enslavement, which has three factors to it: (1) natal alienation, which means removal from the community in which one is born; (2) general dishonor, which refers to quite literally a status of constant disrespect and devaluement; and (3) permanent violence and domination.6 Wilderson and Sexton argue that social death is the constitutive feature of blackness, and is the crucial foil to the ontological production of the Human in modernity. This leaves Wilderson and Sexton to separate gender and other categories, such as class, out from race. They label race as the most fundamental category.7 As Warren succinctly puts it, Wilderson and Sexton “would argue for the non-ontology of blackness. For Afro-Pessimists, the grammar of bio-futurity and political programs will do very little to bring blacks into the fold of humanity; in fact, this grammar is the source of black suffering and dread.”8 The abjection of Blackness preconditions and foils the Human for afropessimists. Afropessimists also focus on the political production of ontology, which is what we should understand the concept of

political ontology to be doing. That is, to use the prefix “political” is to mark the contingent,9 contested, and historical nature of that which we are labelling ontology. Warren again helpfully puts it, “Afro-pessimists demystify ontology, stripping it of its assumed ‘purity’ in the Western tradition, and expose ontology as the product of political processes.”10 The dominant order presents itself as natural, but afropessimists point out that it is naturalized through politics. Thirdly, afropessimists insist on fully confronting the whole terror of antiblackness. As Sexton writes, “For the immediate question facing such judgment is: resistance or survival in the face of what, precisely?”11 This intense focus on thematizing the structures of abjection through antiblackness has misled some into believing afropessimists do not believe in Black social life. However, this is a mischaracterization, as Sexton explains, “Nothing in afro-pessimism suggests that there is no black (social) life, only that black life is not social life in the universe formed by the codes of state and … the modern world system.”12 In the dominant world system, which has been constituted by colonialism,13 antiblackness does not recognize Black life as social life at all. Lastly, afropessimists explicitly contend that in a world sutured by antiblack-

6 See Patterson (1982, pg 13). 7 See Wilderson (2010, pg 23). 8 See Warren (2017a, pg 220). Afropessimists sometimes use language like “the non-ontology of black-

ness.” While I of course got the gist, at another level I felt this is a very different usage of the concept of ontology than even other places in their work. I would say that “non-ontology” can be roughly translated as non-being, as imposed by the being of whiteness. 9 I want to clarify that when I say contingent, I do not mean it in contradiction with afropessimists who say anti-Blackness is non-contingent and necessary in a world that is invested in the Human. Rather I simply mean that this ontology is not ‘natural’ or divine, and instead the product of human struggle. 10 See Warren (2017a, pg 223). 11 See Sexton (2016a, pg 19). 12 See Sexton (2016b, 29); also see Ziyad (2016) for real world application of this perspective. Thank you, Dr. Marquis Bey for sending me this. 13 See, Silva (2016).

ness, only world-destroying measures are fundamentally worth pursuing. As Wilderson writes: “Frantz Fanon came closest to the only image of sowing and harvesting that befits this book. Quoting Aimé Césaire, he urged his readers to start ‘the end of the world,’ the ‘only thing … worth the effort of starting,’ a shift from horticulture to pyrotechnics.”14 As he makes clear, the only thing worth pursuing is the destruction of the world, not piecemeal reforms or anything else, literally, an investment in pyrotechnics. Afropessimists have had a strong effect on many thinkers over the years, so this will help us transition to delving more deeply into the language/grammar of political ontology.

Brief Introduction to the Language/Grammar of Warren Brief Notes This paper hopes to avoid the potential pitfalls that others may have encountered in attempting to engage with Warren’s work, specifically: (a) engaging Warren’s work on Warren’s terms, which is to say, post-Heideggerian ontological terms; and (b) conceding without argument that, compared to other racial categories, Blackness is unique in its constitution under colonialism as absolute abjection. In order to allow greater dialogue, with (a), I hope to avoid a potential counterargument that Warren may deploy against those who do not start from a strictly (post-)Heideggarian perspective, which is that a given engagement relies on the antiblack structure of metaphysics. For many not steeped

in white philosophical background, and even those of us who are, the distinction between metaphysics and ontology is either fundamentally unclear or wholly non-existent, and their definitions are often vague and unelaborated.15 However, Martin Heidegger has a fundamentally different understanding of metaphysics that is pejorative in nature; in fact, he argues metaphysics is properly understood as domination and violence. While Warren does not uncritically engage with Heidegger, Warren does agree that metaphysics is violent. This paper is an attempt to tease out how we could take this seriously and move forward in dialogue. With (b), Warren takes as a key point for him, as do other afropessimists, that blackness is uniquely placed as abjection in relation to whiteness and that all other racial locations are able to take recourse from gratuitous violence and towards ontology. Some have taken issue with this, particularly those in critical settler colonial studies who argue for a more complicated organization of race where Native peoples are in a different relation but are not necessarily privileged in this difference. However, this position is not one I am fundamentally wedded to. I think to argue for it would warrant an entire paper in its own right and would result in a failed dialogue in the other ontological parts of the discourse in which I want to engage. Before proceeding much further, it is relevant to note another thing, as a signpost. Frantz Fanon has been a central thinker for afropessimism, and as a Black psychoanalytic thinker (the larger discourse I will not take up here16), Fanon has an important impact on my thinking.

14 See Wilderson (2010, pg 337). 15 See Wiley (2016, pg 20). 16 Psychoanalysis has been seen as a crucial site of academic engagement for those in the afropessimist

However, I have chosen to elide focusing on Fanon, and therefore I hope to avoid engaging with the Fanon wars, to borrow a frame from Jennifer Nash.17 In my analysis, the Fanon wars describe the “discursive, political, and theoretical battles” marked by an affective posture of defensiveness that emerge over divergent readings of Fanon’s work.18 Part of this defensive posture is created by the elevation of Fanon’s work to, borrowing another phrase from Nash,19 the status of directed by the Holy Spirit. That is, if Fanon says it, it is the fundamental truth. To be clear, I think of Fanon as an important philosopher. But, I also believe that scholars like David Marriott, Frank Willderson III, Jared Sexton, and Calvin Warren are vastly beyond my level of studying Fanon, and in their intense investment, Fanon as a figure in some ways has become overdetermined. Thus, I believe it would cause more obstruction than care for dialogue were this paper to invest in a different reading of Fanon over these thoughtful scholars. Key Terms: Metaphysics, Ontological Difference, Ontics, Ontological With those disclaimers out of the way, we can begin to unpack the key terms in Warren’s thought. Calvin Warren relies crucially on German philosopher Martin Heidegger to help develop his understanding of ontology. Warren even goes as far as to say Heidegger “more than any

“To use the prefix ‘political’ is to mark the contingent, contested, and historical nature of that which we are labelling ontology.” philosopher understood the violence of metaphysics.”20 With the ontological turn on Black study, which is to say study, Warren’s mediation is a relevant and unique point in this trajectory, and thus, I believe it should be engaged. However, I am worried the obscurity of Warren’s reliance on technical philosophical language primarily derived from Heidegger has made any engagement on equal terms difficult. Unfortunately, as in all languages, words can only be understood with reference to other words in that language, and so it is impossible to coherently define one concept at a time. Instead, we must attempt to explore one ensemble of related concepts at a time. The first ensemble of concepts to be unpacked are (1) metaphysics and (2) the ontological difference between (3) ontics21 (beings) and (4) the ontological (Being),

tradition. However, I must confess I know next to nothing about the white psychoanalytic tradition of Lacan, Zizek, and Freud, and I have (perhaps, ironically) an aversion to it. Regardless, my fundamental lack – pun intended – of understanding of psychoanalysis has led me to exclude it almost entirely. However, Black psychoanalysis, such as through Fanon, has much more sway for me, and so we might have some throughout the work. 17 See Nash (2019, pg 35) regarding the intersectionality wars. 18 See Nash (2019, pg 36). 19 See Nash (2018). 20 See Warren (2016b, pg 58). 21 I use “ontics” instead of “ontic” because it does not follow for me that ontic is supposed to be the same as beings and politics and doesn’t have an “s” at the end.

because this is the origin of Heidegger’s project and his continued relevance to Warren. Heidegger, and therefore Warren, is very precise in his understanding of metaphysics, and we should first note that for Heidegger, metaphysics and ontology are absolutely not interchangeable. Heidegger introduces (2) the ontological difference, to distinguish what he calls the ontological and ontics. (3) Ontics is not a common word at all. It roughly translates to a focus on empirical references — which is to say that which can be measured or standardized objectively,22 with beings then referring to actual wholes in their material sense — and is the study of being-quaunderstanding.23 In contradistinction with this idea of ontics, (4) the ontological refers to the level of Being, a transcendental level, being-qua-being, and ground.24 Ontics and the ontological are related but different levels from each other, as the ontological difference signifies. Put another way, the “Ontological difference marks a distinction between Being (capitalized) as event, happening, or opening and being (lowercase) as a metaphysical object, a grounding, and representation.”25 Metaphysics can be understood as a system that attempts to get at Being through ontics, the empirical, and forgets the level of the ontological. Metaphysics, because it only thinks in the register of ontics, can only think through things that are objects; in this way, metaphysics requires objectification and schematization of everything in order to explain the world. To understand this, I find the saying, “when

you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail,” a helpful metaphor. This objectification is understood by Heidegger and those that have followed him as violent, and since the main tool of metaphysics is objectification, therefore, “The aim of metaphysics is domination.”26 Warren succinctly defines it: Metaphysics should be understood “as constituting a particularly violent episteme, one that reduces the grandeur of being into a scientific plaything — an object of rationality, calculation, instrumentalization, and schematization.”27 Metaphysics reproduces violence, and ontology moves away from this objectification (ontology will be problematized later). While we have a brief summary of key terms in Warren, I still think that we are at a disadvantage in being able to robustly engage in this post-Heideggerian discourse. This paper hopes to remedy this by discussing three broad thinkers, who are themselves post-Heideggerians and deeply invested in political ontology, to give us a literature review so that we can see what moves are possible while being faithful to a post-Heideggerian ontological theory. First, I will cover postfoundational political thought, specifically Oliver Marchart,28 who are white theorists who are explicitly motivated by Heidegger’s work but want to rehabilitate it to move against his Nazism and make it more explicitly political. Second, I will cover philosopher Enrique Dussel, who is a landmark philosopher of liberation in Latin America and who himself is deeply invested in Heidegger and ontology but

22 See Marchart (2007, pg 15). 23 See Marchart (2018, pg 9). 24 See Marchart (2018, pg 9). 25 See Warren (2019, pg 48). 26 See Warren (2016b, pg 56). 27 See Warren (2016b, pg 56). 28 Who is explicitly interested in Ernesto Laclau’s political ontology in his book Thinking Antagonism.

is explicitly decolonial in purpose. And lastly, I will cover the philosophy of the eminent Fred Moten, who again is deeply impacted by Heidegger and works to revitalize ontology.

Organizing Definitions In reviewing literature, I have felt that different authors employ different meanings of ontology. I have delineated three different meanings of the word below. This format is regrettably sharp in its format; however, it is important to be specific in the meanings of ontology throughout this paper: • Ontology (1): dominant ontology, and therefore usually unmarked as such since it is hegemonic, which produces white people as having Being and Black people as having non-Being • Ontology (2): the ontology produced outside the dominant ontology • Ontology (3): the (meta?) ontology that contains both ontology (1) and ontology (2)

Literature Review: PostFoundational Political Thought Post-foundational political thought offers three key tools for helping us think through an ontological theory invested in thinking through Blackness and anti-

blackness:29 (1) demonstrating how the “nothing” can be thought through, (2) elaborating that at the ontological level all grounds are politically produced, and (3) giving an account of how grounding unfolds, through their conception of politics. (1) The ontological ground of the social is founded upon contingent, temporary, and malleable grounds that are ultimately founded upon nothing.30 As Warren explains, post-foundationalism centers on a “lack of an absolute ground for society. This is not to suggest that there is no ground or that one can offer no claim to a foundation; rather, the ground of the social, the foundation, is weak, contingent, and not absolute.”31 Taking this thought seriously, there is no recourse to some ground that itself does not require grounding. This provides a fruitful orientation for understanding the social (society), not as eternally the same throughout all historical conjunctures, but rather continuously constructed through action. Post-foundationalists argue that the nothing can be properly incorporated into a political theory by placing the nothing in an interplay with the ground itself because the ground is founded upon nothing.32 The nothing and the ground are constantly in play with each other, chasing each other away and back again. Because there is no absolute ground as in meta-

29 Post-foundational political thought is not meant to describe beyond all foundation similar to an-

ti-foundationalism but also to denote a movement away from strong foundationalism.The anti-foundationalist position is mostly self-explanatory; literally, there is no ontological ground whatsoever that can explain how things are. Conversely, strong foundationalists believe in an absolute ground, which can account for everything, and that itself requires no additional ground. Examples include God, Reason, and dialectical idealism/materialism. 30 The social means society and is at the ontic level. 31 See Warren (2010, pg 14). 32 This recognition of the nothing is relevant because metaphysics, as discussed earlier, strives to objectify everything, and the nothing always escapes objectification and thus threatens the episteme of metaphysics with collapse by exposing its limitations. In this way, metaphysics hates the nothing, so to speak, and as Warren argues, projects it onto Blackness in order to control and neutralize it (Ontological Terror 5).

physics, post-Heideggerians argue that there is in fact nothing upon which the ground of society is founded because that would become the absolute ground, and again we are back at metaphysics. Therefore, if we take seriously the idea that an absolute ground is a metaphysical illusion, then there can be no deeper level that fully grounds the previous ground; put another way, the essential metaphysical quest is to desperately disprove that the social is not in reality founded, in the end, upon literally nothing.33 Therefore, the post-foundationalist embraces this which terrifies so many metaphysical theorists, which is that there is no fundamental logic or foundation for the social. (2) However, as aforementioned, unlike anti-foundationalists, who argue that there is no foundation whatsoever, post-foundationalists argue that there is no absolute, final ground, but there are contingent, temporary grounds constructed. This is the essence of why they are identified as post-foundationalists; according to them, there is a foundation, but it is founded about an abyss, and so it is necessarily contingent, and importantly, this contingent ground can never assume a total, absolute, or final ground status.34 So, grounds are real, which is self-evident to those of us who seek to understand the colonial nature of our present

world, but these grounds are contingent, which is to say created through politics. But what is politics from a post-Heideggerian perspective? (3) Politics is understood as the social actions that either sediment or unsettle the ontological order,35 which is to mean, that which functions to stabilize or destabilize part of the current hegemonic distribution. The hegemonic order in this case is meant to delineate the link from ontics to the ontological; “Grounds emerge from hegemonic paradigm shifts,”36 which is to mean grounds “emerge from … political struggle.”37 In the register of ontics, hegemonic distribution refers to the “terrain of sedimented practices.”38 When this paper speaks to sedimentation, it is referring to the condition of routinized repetition, where there can be more or less sedimentation of a given practice, and the more sedimented it is, the less it is questioned, or even able to be questioned, and vice versa; “sedimentation emerges from repetition.”39 Post-foundational political thought creates an important link for political ontology by labeling the link from ontics to the ontological, via intense sedimentation as the grounding or instantiating of the social world.40 Grounding is the level of the ontological, and “politics should be seen as an attempt at instantiating the [ontological].”41 Politics is nothing

33 See Warren (2010, pg 15). 34 See Marchart (2018, pg 26). 35 These thinkers believed that there is a usefulness in creating a distinction for clarity purposes between

the term “politics” and the term “the political,” which follows the distinction of the term “ontics” and the term “the ontological.” Oliver Marchart helps elucidate this position by labelling this separation the political difference, a deliberate homage to Heidegger’s “ontological difference” (Post-Foundational Political Thought 4). 36 See Marchart (2018, pg 172). 37 See Marchart (2018, pg 171). 38 See Marchart (2018, pg 91). 39 See Marchart (2018, pg 94). 40 See Marchart (2018, pg 91). 41 See Marchart (2018, pg 238).

“

Politics is understood as the social actions that either sediment or unsettle the ontological order, which is to mean, that which functions to stabilize or destabilize part of the current hegemonic distribution.

other than “ontic struggles” that prevent the closure of the social, which is to mean prevent an ultimate ground;42 these ontic struggles (politics) attempt to produce one reality which by definition excludes other possible realities, which is what is meant by attempts at grounding. Therefore, our social world is in a constant cycle of grounding and de-grounding, then grounding and de-grounding again,43 and “politics” is the name of the concept that describes the actions that produce this cycle of grounding. While the ontological institutes ontics, post-foundationalist thought recenters that ontics (politics) produces the ontological. Beyond some interesting exercise of post-Heideggerian thought, I go over this first and foremost to give us the tools to analyze political ontological thought that borrows from these same thinkers. The above overview allows us to answer the question: But what creates ontology? I believe Marchart’s work, for all its failings, creates an essential intervention. The play of difference does not make the ontological subordinate to ontics, and so too does it not make ontics subordinate to the onto-

42 See Marchart (2018, pg 151). 43 See Marchart (2018, pg 234). 44 Through an eternal interplay of difference. 45 See Marchart (2018, pg 145), Maldenado-Torres (2008, 221); See also, Maldenado-Torres (2007). 46 See Marchart (2018, pg 145). 47 See Warren (2010, pg 56).

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logical: They create each other, so yes, the ontological institutes ontics, but ontics is what creates the ontological.45 As Marchart puts it, “every form of ontological institution must be ontically mediated via action and agency.”46 Ontics is what determines the ontological.47 To put it succinctly, so long as the field of ontics (the social) cannot be closed (which is to say all conflict/change ends), so too can the ontological not be closed. We can never make claims that the order we live under, at the ontological level or at ontics, cannot be closed because politics is what creates the ontological, and politics is always present. In this section, we covered the three tools we might gain from post-foundational political thought for theorizing political ontology, namely: (1) how the nothing can be thought through, (2) the contingent nature of the ontological, and (3) an explanation of how ontics produces the ontological ground, through its conception of politics. In this next section, we will go over the philosophy of Enrique Dussel and discover what tools we might glean from his work. 44

Literature Review: Enrique Dussel The philosophy of Enrique Dussel gives us two additional insights into political ontology:48 (1) the concept of the totalizing system (or totality), and (2) the concept of the trans-ontological. A quick note: Dussel’s work is profoundly marked by an anticolonial posture, which is an improvement on post-foundationalist thought, but a major weakness is his refusal to thoroughly engage with race and gender. Additionally, when he does, he tends to collapse all non-white races in a similar structural position of subjection. As I laid out in the beginning, this paper is operating with the assumption that the structural position of Blackness under colonialism is uniquely subjected, and so Dussel’s collapse is inappropriate. I would argue that this point of view of Dussel does affect his work, but we can still easily translate his work to our current assumption, and when Dussel claims the domination of non-white (or more often in his words, dominated) people, for the purposes of this paper I will read this as Black people. (1) The concept of a totalizing system, or totality, refers to the dominant ontological order that attempts to institute complete control but ultimately never succeeds. Dussel’s totalizing system links well with the post-foundational notion of the impossibility of a final ground so that the totalizing system never ultimately can close. The totality (which is just a shorthand for

totalizing system), attempts to annihilate opposition, but the colonial world never completes its impulse toward complete closure, which is just another way of saying what we discussed earlier, that the final ground can never be reached.49 Marchart writes, “The social is laden with conflict on the ontic plane, because society cannot be concluded into a totality.”50 Dussel and post-foundationalists agree; the social can never be closed into a totality, can never reach a final ground. I want to spell out this implication a bit clearer. To say that the totalizing system never closes, that there is never a final ground, means (a) that the dominant order does not control all possible actions/possibilities/futures, and (b) there exists something outside this control. We can speak of the internal lives of the oppressed as not totally being controlled by nor ultimately reducible to the colonial situation. This can be seen through the revolutionary struggle, the intramural, and the social life (even if) within the social death of blackness and Black people.51 (2) The analytic of the trans-ontological describes how there exists something beyond the dominant ontological order. Dussel introduces the transontological by defining it in relation to the dominant order, writing, “the transontological level, that is, beyond the dominating totality.”52 Since the totality of the dominant ontological system is fundamentally exclusionary of some people and their politics, there are people outside,

48 Philosopher Enrique Dussel is extensively influenced by Heidegger’s work and is without a doubt with-

in the post-metaphysical tradition (Ethics of Liberation 376-377, 593). 49 See Mills (2018, pg 22). 50 See Marchart (2018, pg 150). 51 See Mills (2018, pg 37). 52 See Dussel (2013, pg 337).

though not totally,53 this totality.54 The two fundamental interventions I then take from Dussel, is that (a) there exists material (ontic) content beyond the dominant ontology, and (b) these people have an ontological being that escapes the directive of the totality.55 According to the dominant system, the colonized are other, and “as other than the system, … one is beyond Being. Inasmuch as Being is and non-Being is not, the other is not.”56 Dussel’s elaboration of the relation of non-being and the system of dominant ontology makes clear that the statuses of Being and non-Being are politically constructed and imposed upon existents.57 Dussel’s analytic of the transontological argues that not only is there social life, but this very sociality constitutes the Being of blackness, which is not reducible to the imposition of antiblackness by the colonial order. As Dussel explains, he uses the prefix “trans-” to get across there is a passing beyond the ontology of the dominant system (ontology (1)), and since the dominant order is de facto hegemonic, this ontology invisibilizes other ontological systems. Nevertheless, in reality, the place that the transontological attempts to go to, which is produced by the oppressed, is itself ontological in a genuine way, by which I mean not an illusion of the dominant system.58 This, I believe, already gives us

powerful tools in working with Warren, who reflects about Moten’s mysticism: “What Black mysticism offers is a lexical imagination that aims to take us outside of political ontology and into the metaphysical (or the spiritual).”59 Dussel often refers to the transontological as the metaphysical (breaking with Heidegger and Warren), which makes Dussel’s work appear to follow Warren’s praise of the language of metaphysics to escape ontology: “It is precisely this mysticism that provides our fugitive escape from the confines of ontology. … Thus, mysticism is not inimical to freedom; it is the only aspect of existence that provides hope.”60 Dussel’s philosophy gives us the emphasis on the Black ontic and ontological experience that (1) exceeds the totalizing system, which we find in the (2) transontological level, outside of the dominant ontology. Warren’s praise leads us to our next thinker, Fred Moten.

Literature Review: Fred Moten One final addendum to create a somewhat accessible ontological language is the brilliant work of Fred Moten.61 Moten gives us two tools that overlap with what we already have discussed: (1) the concept of paraontology as that which describes the

53 See Dussel (2003, pg 47). 54 See Dussel (2013, pg 558). 55 See Dussel (2013, pg 339, 558). 56 See Dussel (2003, pg 51). 57 What I find brilliant about Dussel’s analysis is that he correctly identifies that the ontology of the

dominant system is not the only field of ontological existence, and beyond the ontology of the dominant system, there is a different ontology produced by the oppressed. “The ‘liberation project’ is ontological. However, since it unfolds beyond (in exteriority) the current system... I frequently refer to it as transontological” (Ethics of Liberation 628). 58 See Dussel (2013, pg 628). 59 See Warren (2017, pg 220). 60 See Warren (2017, pg 222). 61 This brings us closer to our aim since Moten has had an active and ongoing discussion with afropessimists, and as Calvin Warren notes, Moten is himself a “neo-Heideggerian” (Black Mysticism 221).

“To use the language of Moten, this ontology is fugitive because it escapes and cannot be contained by the dominant ontology, no matter the desire of the dominant ontology to capture and destroy it; Blackness ‘is a theft of being.’” level of Being for Blackness,62 and (2) the elaboration of how even under conditions of “social death,” there is still Black social life. As Moten puts it, “blackness needs to be understood as operating at the nexus of the social and the ontological.”63 Hopefully, this is what this paper is doing. (1) Moten deploys the concept of paraontology to signify the ontological register of Blackness (ontology (2)),64 where the dominant ontology (ontology (1)) excludes Blackness from ontology. Dominant ontology places blackness as abjection, but blackness is not reducible to this abjection, and therefore ontology in this sense is not up to the task of Black thinking, which is to say thinking about blackness. When I say “ontology in this sense,” I am talking about ontology (1). I believe Moten says it well: “What is inadequate to blackness are already given ontologies. The lived experience of blackness is, among other things, a constant demand for an ontology of disorder, an ontology of dehiscence, a paraontology whose comportment will have been (toward) the ontic or existential field of things and events.”65 I take Moten to link “already given ontologies” as equal to ontology (1), which is to say, dominant ontology.

Moten’s analysis of paraontology provides a consensus with post-foundationalist political thought and Dussel’s work, in that ontology (1) is not the only ontological system. The colonial world always seeks to create a totality, but as we discussed before, this is impossible. Moten becomes our third figure profoundly influenced by Heidegger to come to the same conclusion: the dominant ontology is not total. And, we can add another conclusion that Moten and Dussel share: If there is life that exceeds the ontology of the dominant system, this too produces its own ontology. To use the language of Moten, this ontology is fugitive because it escapes and cannot be contained by the dominant ontology, no matter the desire of the dominant ontology to capture and destroy it; Blackness “is a theft of being.”66 This fugitive ontology is the ontology that exists in a non-reducible way beyond the dominant ontology, which is to say the ontology (2) that exists beyond ontology (1). Moten (and Chandler) gives ontology (2) the name of paraontology.67 I argue that Moten’s paraontology and Dussel’s transontology can be productively understood as one and the same, as expressing what I have before (in the poverty of language68) labelled ontology (2).

62 First introduced by Nahum Chandler in Chandler, 2013, Moten modifies his version. 63 See Moten (2018b, pg 150).

64 We should take care to remember “the paraontological distinction between blackness and black people”

(The Universal Machine 242). 65 See Moten (2018b, pg 150). 66 See Hart (2016, pg 24). 67 “Moten carries Heidegger’s … ontic/Ontological into the distinction between blacks … and blackness” (Black Mysticism 225). The paraontology level is on something like an ontological level. 68 What Warren might label “grammatical paucity” (Black Mysticism 220).

To reiterate, in a post-Heideggerian vein, one can only speak “ontology” when there is actually something in the empirical realm, i.e., some ontics to speak of. And as Sexton writes, of course there is Black social life, but the point is that this social life is lived in social death.69 But now moving beyond this misunderstanding, I think a critical question that can be posed is: Is all Black social life reducible to this position of social death? (2) Moten responds to this by clarifying that what is called social death is only a death for a part of the Black social life.70 His intervention is helpful because it helps clarify a distinction that sometimes our language can obscure: that the social death spoken of, in being a political death, is not the totality of what we can call Black social life (or Black sociality).71 The needed intervention that I believe Moten’s work demonstrates is that this political death does not kill the totality of what we can call the social (ontic), or something like it. As Moten expertly puts it, “Stolen life [Black life] is not equivalent to social death or absolute dereliction.”72 One life is killed, and another begins, and this life is not reducible to the ongoing death (and violence) being imposed on it. Since we can now say that all Black so-

cial life (or something like it) is not reducible to ontic powers of the colonial system, we can so too understand the Blackness is not reducible or wholly captured by the ontological system of colonialism, which is what Dussel calls the transontological, Moten the paraontological, and I earlier called ontology (2). According to Moten, Black social life “causes us to recognize the paraontological as the ontological’s (im) proper name.”73 This follows Dussel’s claim that the transontological is ontological.74 Moten makes very explicit that it is this Black social life that exceeds the imposition of domination by whiteness that creates paraontology.75 Moten gives us the (1) paraontological, which is in many ways the same as the transontological, and (2) an elaboration of Black social life non-reducible to conditions of social death, which can productively be understood as expressing similar ideas as the lack of closure of the social for post-foundationalists and the totalizing system of Dussel.

Conclusion This paper argues that the language of political ontology that is important to many Black theorists can be productively opened up by a dialogue between the work of

69 See Sexton (2016b, pg 15). 70 I would note, from my own perspective, Moten, in (correctly) tracing this genealogy to Arendt, per-

haps becomes Arendtian himself in some of his analysis, creating a strict separation of the political and social. To be clear, the post-foundational thought that I elaborated above is at odds with Arendt’s understanding of the political because it argues that which is commonly described as political, which is often what Arendt means (e.g., public debate), is itself part of our social (ontic) world. Moten himself notices this and problematizes it (Moten, 2018b, pgs 101, 107); however, when Moten talks of political death instead of social death, I want to put a caveat that I am unsure is explicit in Moten: that this political death is in itself social. (To clarify, I do not claim to correct Moten, I believe we agree completely in the end, but I wanted to make a clarification of translation between his works and how this paper unfolds.) 71 See Moten (2018b, pg 194). 72 See Moten (2018b, pg 151). 73 See Moten (2018a, pg 35). 74 See Duseel (2013, pg 628). 75 See Moten (2017, pg 312).

Oliver Marchart, Enrique Dussel, and Fred Moten. Each author’s unique work offers overlapping and complementary insights that help reveal the plane of political ontology. First, post-foundationalist thought demonstrates how the “nothing” can be thought through, elaborates that at the ontological level all grounds are politically produced, and gives an account of how grounding unfolds through its conception of politics. Secondly, the philosophy of Enrique Dussel gives us the concept of the totalizing system and the concept of the

trans-ontological. Finally, Moten gives us two tools of the concept of paraontology as that which describes the level of Being for Blackness and the elaboration of how, even under conditions of “social death,” there is still Black social life. These insights allow a deeper engagement with the political ontology laid out by Calvin Warren and afropessimists such as Wilderson and Sexton. This is just an introductory effort that hopes to enable fellow scholars to engage with their important work in richer ways. ■

Bibliography Burman, Anders. “Damnés Realities and Ontological Disobedience.” E. Velasquez, R (2016). Chandler, Nahum Dimitri. X—The Problem of the Negro as a Problem for Thought. Fordham University Press, 2013. Christian, Barbara. “The Race for Theory.” Feminist Studies 14.1 (1988): 67-79. Dussel, Enrique. Ethics of Liberation: In the Age of Globalization and Exclusion. Duke University Press, 2013. Dussel, Enrique. Philosophy of Liberation. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2003. Hart, William David. “Constellations: Capitalism, antiblackness, Afro-pessimism, and Black optimism.” American Journal of Theology & Philosophy 39.1 (2018): 5-33. Maldonado-Torres, Nelson. Against War: Views from the Underside of Modernity. Duke University Press, 2008. Maldonado-Torres, Nelson. “On the Coloniality of Being: Contributions to the Development of a Concept.” Cultural studies 21.2-3 (2007): 240270. Marchart, Oliver. Post-Foundational Political Thought: Political Difference in Nancy, Lefort, Badiou and Laclau. Edinburgh University Press, 2007. Marchart, Oliver. Thinking Antagonism: Political Ontology after Laclau. Edinburgh University Press, 2018. Michelle, Leilani. Black Fragility: Black Affect in the Post-Colorblind Era. Unpublished Honors Thesis. Northwestern University, 2020.

Mills, Frederick B. Enrique Dussel’s Ethics of Liberation: An Introduction. Palgrave Macmillan Press, 2018. Moten, Fred. Black and Blur. Vol. 1. Duke University Press, 2017. Moten, Fred. Stolen Life. Vol. 2. Duke University Press, 2018. Moten, Fred. The Universal Machine. Vol. 3. Duke University Press, 2018. Nash, Jennifer C. After Intersectionality. Northwestern University African American Studies Salon and Social, Fall 2018. Nash, Jennifer C. Black Feminism Reimagined: After Intersectionality. Duke University Press, 2018. Patterson, Orlando. Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study. Harvard University Press, 1982. Sexton, Jared. “Affirmation in the Dark: Racial Slavery and Philosophical Pessimism.” The Comparatist 43.1 (2019): 90-111. Sexton, Jared. “Afropessimism: The Unclear Word.” Rhizomes (2016). Sexton, Jared. “The Social Life of Social Death: On Afro-Pessimism and Black Optimism.” Time, Temporality and Violence in International Relations. Routledge, 2016. 85-99. Silva, Denise Ferreira da. Toward a Global Idea of Raceace. Vol. 27. University of Minnesota Press, 2007. Sharpe, Christina. In the Wake: On Blackness and Being. Duke University Press, 2016. Warren, Calvin L. “Black Mysticism: Fred Moten’s Phenomenology of (Black) Spirit.” Zeitschrift für Anglistik

und Amerikanistik 65.2 (2017): 219229. Warren, Calvin. “Black Time: Slavery, Metaphysics, and the Logic of Wellness.” The Psychic Hold of Slavery: Legacies in American Expressive Culture (2016): 55-68. Warren, Calvin. “Calling into Being: Tranifestation, Black Trans, and the Problem of Ontology.” Transgender Studies Quarterly 4.2 (2017): 266-274. Warren, Calvin. “Improper Bodies: A Nihilistic Meditation on Sexuality, the Black Belly, and Sexual Difference.” Palimpsest 8.2 (2019): 35-51. Warren, Calvin. Ontological Terror: Blackness, Nihilism and Emancipation. Duke University Press, 2018. Warren, Calvin L. The Absent Center of Political Ontology: Ante-Bellum Free Blacks and Political Nothingness. Yale University, 2010. Wilderson III, Frank B. Red, White & Black: Cinema and the Structure of US Antagonisms. Duke University Press, 2010. Wiley, James. Politics and the Concept of the Political: the Political Imagination. Routledge, 2016. Ziyad, Hari. “Black Folks Should Consider Pessimism.” The Black Youth Project, The Black Youth Project, 7 Oct. 2016, blackyouthproject.com/ study-shows-young-people-of-colorremain-optimistic-about-their-future-but-its-time-black-folks-consider-pessimism/.

Studying Art History By Joni Rosenberg

Art History Professor Jesús Escobar shares his COVID-19 pandemic experience as an educator and researcher of architecture and urbanism in the Spanish Habsburg Empire.

hen the COVID-19 pandemic first sent college students home in March 2020, no one knew exactly how daily life would change. Art History Professor Jesús Escobar was guest lecturing at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore when its campus, along with others all across the country, was shut down. At the time, Escobar was involved in three different research projects at various stages of completion. Although their timelines were once very clear, they had to be altered to accommodate the pandemic. As a researcher of architecture and urbanism, Escobar often travels to cities of interest for onsite visits and archival research. However, the travel restrictions first implemented in spring 2020 meant that it was impossible for Escobar to travel internationally that summer. The largest impact was on a project Escobar started in 2018. Because it uses biographical

in the Age of COVID-19 information to help explain transatlantic architectural patronage in the Spanish Empire, the project requires extensive archival research. “[During the] summer of 2020, I obviously wasn’t going to get back to that research project that required the archive,” he said. He instead focused on another ongoing project about architecture in Madrid under the Habsburg Monarchy (1504–1700). “The key tasks ahead were to get some final revisions done with the copy editor and then to … start dealing with all the images for the book,” Escobar said. However, the image acquisition process was altered by the pandemic too. “The book has 143 images in it, and when you publish in art history, you have to get permission for photography that’s not your own,” he explained. “It’s a really long process, and I thought, ‘I better start early because it’s going to take extra long.’” But not all of these changes have been negative. In fact, Escobar said that he has found new ways to approach research and teaching as a result of the pandemic.

The inability to travel has led Escobar to “discover all these amazing online tools that really saved a lot of scholars during the pandemic.” Online libraries such as the Biblioteca Nacional de España have extensive digital libraries that include primary sources typically acquired through on-site research. He also credited pandemic-related adjustments with further encouraging him to “[figure] out ways to make the research relevant to students.” Escobar also discussed how the pandemic has impacted his third project, which covers nearly 300 years of architectural history. Because it is meant to be easily digestible for readers new to the history of the Spanish Habsburgs, less archival research is necessary than for the other projects. “I think it’s a kind of research agenda that adjusts well to COVID,” he said. Although he still has to travel for the third project, he said that those plans were relatively easy to postpone based on the project’s tentative schedule. Despite the obstacles posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Escobar is excited to continue his research and teaching. ■

Department of Sociology Faculty Adviser: Prof. Anthony Chen, Ph.D.

Networking for Gender Justice:

Women’s Arts Organizations as Facilitators of Gender Equity in the Arts Industry

by Jade Davis

Introduction The later 20th century brought many drastic changes in the United States in terms of occupational sex segregation. In the 1970s, segregation began to decline substantially across the board as more women found their way into traditionally male-dominated careers, which continued into the 1980s and 1990s.1 The art industry was no exception, as women artists began to be nearly as visible and successful as their male counterparts in art-rich cities such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Artists such as Joan Mitchell, Judy Chicago, and Louise Bourgeois hit their strides and became some of the most well-known and well-paid artists of their time. At the same time, The Guerrilla Girls — masked artists who adopted names of deceased women artists — became some of the most outspoken critics of the treatment of female bodies in the largest museums, creating billboards with phrases such as “Do

women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?”2 Between this group of women and other efforts throughout the U.S., women had a voice in the art world, both becoming part of the mainstream and creating their own alternative spaces where they could be as politically and socially vocal as they wished. However, this progression has slowed since the late 1990s, and the gender disparity persists in the arts today, something that contemporary sociologists, other researchers, and the media continue to examine. Like in many other professions that have traditionally been male-dominated, the number of women artists has increased slightly, but their pay, ease of success, and other individualized experiences are still gendered and inequitable. Recent article headlines such as “A New Study Shows That Most Artists Make Very Little Money, With Women Faring the Worst”3

1 Roos, P. A. & Stevens, L. M. (2018). Integrating Occupations: Changing Occupational Sex Segregation in the United States from 2000 to 2014. Demographic Research, 38, 127-154. dx.doi.org.turing.library.northwestern.edu/10.4054/DemRes.2018.38.5 2 Naked Through the Ages. (n.d.). https://www.guerrillagirls.com/naked-through-the-ages 3 Kinsella, E. (2017, November 29). A New Study Shows that Most Artists Make Very Little Money, with Women Faring the Worst.

and “The 4 Glass Ceilings: How Women Artists Get Stiffed at Every Stage of Their Careers”4 suggest that there is concern for all facets of equality for women in the arts, from pay to opportunities for career advancement. Research from government entities such as the National Endowment for the Arts finds that women visual artists earn on average 74 cents for each dollar their male counterparts make and that the earnings ratio of these artists declines with age. Women artists age 18–24 will earn 97 cents per dollar earned by men artists of the same age, but those 55–64 will earn just 66 cents per dollar that male artists of the same age will make.5 Although this collection of data is valuable for determining where to focus on mitigating gender inequality in the arts, most research has focused on the current state of inequitable environments, pay gaps, and lack of opportunities for women, rather than on how women first became more integrated into the art industry to begin with: what enabled women like Joan Mitchell and Judy Chicago to become well-known and successful. The addition of a historical perspective may elucidate the steps toward gender parity in the arts by identifying which aspects of an artist’s interactions with their surroundings and institutions have historically contributed to their successes or challenges. This could then determine how women can navigate through their art communities toward more equitable pay, gallery space, attention in larger galleries and the media, and increased monetary value of artworks by collectors and in auctions. My thesis is therefore a historical case study of Chicago’s art scene and its gender integration

process, drawing mainly from the perspectives of women artists who were active in the art scene during this period of change between the 1970s and the 1990s. My research questions are as follows: 1. What institutional structures or independent actors allowed women artists in Chicago to become more integrated into the city’s mainstream art scene? 2. When did these changes occur, and why did they occur when they did? 3. How strongly were these changes led by the women artists themselves?

Research Design In order to understand the role of women’s art organizations, including cooperative galleries and more traditional galleries, I utilized a combination of archival research and semi-structured interviews. This combination was ideal to answer my research questions because the archival material provided a more objective background of what organizations existed, when, and how they were integrated in the community. The interviews, which primarily focused on artists, allowed me to hear first-hand from those in the art community about the organizations’ effects. With more time, I would have conducted more archival research in order to understand more deeply how each organization related to the larger community, as well as specific initiatives they took or exhibitions they held to support the women involved in their organizations. However, I was able to get much of this information from the interviews I conducted.

4 Halperin, J. (2017, December 15). The 4 Glass Ceilings: How Women Artists Get Stiffed at Every Stage of Their Careers. https://news. artnet.com/market/art-market-study-1179317 5 National Endowment for the Arts. (2019, April). Artists and Other Cultural Workers: A Statistical Portrait. Office of Research & Analysis.

Archival Research I primarily used the sources I had to create a list of women artists’ organizations which were active in Chicago during the time period of focus and to understand generally how they functioned. I also found lists of artists involved in the first few years of each organization’s existence and any leadership or founders involved in the creation and running of the organizations, which I used to create a list of artists to contact for recruitment. Sample and Recruitment I conducted 13 semi-structured interviews using a non-random convenience sample.6 I spoke with 10 women artists who worked in Chicago from the 1970s through the 1990s and three women curators or art historians who worked among them or have conducted extensive archival research on their organizations. I used my archival sources to create a list of the first or founding members of Artemisia Gallery, ARC Gallery, and Woman Made Gallery, as I had access to lists of founding or primary members, as well as some lists of members or exhibitors for each year. I searched for current artist websites or other sources of contact information for the living members and interviewed all participants who responded to my email inquiries. Interviews The interviews lasted between 45 minutes and one hour and 45 minutes. They were all done over the phone except for one artist, whom I met at her studio in Chicago. The interview guide contained four sections, each detailing different aspects of interview participants’ experiences with Chicago’s art community, women artists, and women’s art groups

(see Appendix). Some questions were specific to certain organizations, which I did not move forward with if the participant stated that they were not familiar with the organization. Probes were used to ask for clarification or examples. Data Analysis In order to analyze my data, I first identified and operationalized the dependent variable, or “navigating the city’s art scene.” I determined “navigating” to mean that a woman artist was able to create artwork regularly, whether it was their full-time career or they had another career or source of income: They did not stop working as an artist due to implicit or explicit gender-based discrimination, and they were able to show in a gallery on a semi-regular basis (at least every five years). I defined “Chicago’s art scene” to mean the network of commercial galleries in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, as well as the related organizations for artists, including but not limited to women’s art organizations and others such as the Chicago Artists’ Coalition and the Chicago Public Art Group. Larger institutions, such as the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Art Institute of Chicago, are important aspects of the city’s art scene as a whole, especially considering the role of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in training many of Chicago’s most wellknown artists. However, I found through my research that most of Chicago’s artists were not represented in these museums during this time period and that it was not necessarily gendered, although the museums had a separate issue in their representation of women artists as a whole. Therefore, I excluded these institutions

6 Participant data are not consolidated, and comments are not attributed to individual participants or given pseudonyms in order to preserve confidentiality, due to the small size of the community.

from the analysis of women’s integration into the art scene as they are not relevant to a vast majority of the women involved in the women’s art organizations studied. I listened to the 13 interview audio clips and transcribed relevant information from the respondents, keeping in mind possible ways that women artists could have been impacted by these organizations. If my hypothesis was supported, and if women’s art organizations did indeed play a significant role, I expected respondents to discuss themes mentioned in previous literature. At the same time, I kept in mind a set of alternative hypotheses that could also explain what allowed women artists in Chicago to become more involved in the community, unrelated to the existence of women’s art organizations. I used research on other industries and instances of women breaking into formerly male-dominated groups as well as research on other aspects of the art industry (including Art Worlds by Howard Becker) to inform these hypotheses. I transcribed any information from the interviews that could either support or refute these other hypotheses, in order to have a more well-rounded idea of how women could have navigated Chicago’s art scene outside of these women-specific institutions.

Empirical Analysis The current hypothesis posits that the presence of women’s art organizations in the 1970s through the 1990s in Chicago had a significant positive effect on women artists’ ability to navigate the art scene. The analysis of my interviews provides support for this hypothesis, suggesting that the organizations provided internal connections with other women artists and external connections to curators, gallery owners, and other actors, both of which

were necessary components of success as a woman artist in the field. Historical Background According to archival research, as well as narratives from Chicago’s scholars and curators, the city’s first women’s art galleries in the period of interest began in April 1973, with the openings of Artemisia Gallery and ARC Gallery. These galleries were some of the first women-focused art spaces of their kind in the country. The Chicago art scene was also well-known at this time, from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, for its world-renowned School of the Art Institute of Chicago. It was also known in the national art scene for a group of artists known as the Chicago Imagists, as well as the “Hairy Who,” many of whom were graduates of the art school. Although several women were members of the Chicago Imagists, women artists in general were not a large part of the otherwise small art scene of the time. Nearly all of the women who were part of Artemisia and ARC Galleries stated that one particular artist, a woman named Ellen Lanyon, was the catalyst of these groups. Lanyon had spent time in New York City and had encountered another gallery, Artists in Residence (AIR) Gallery, which inspired her. AIR was a cooperative gallery rather than a commercial gallery. Artists involved in the cooperative paid a membership fee to rent the gallery space together and take turns holding exhibitions in the gallery space. AIR was also the first gallery of this type in the U.S. that focused on women artists. Along with this gallery, Lanyon had worked with a feminist art critic and activist, Lucy Lippard, as well as other feminist artists who were working in New York City at the time. Upon returning to Chicago, Lanyon 47

gathered a small group of recent graduates from the School of the Art Institute and other working women artists. They then began the initial recruitment process. However, too many women artists were interested in the cooperative gallery, and not enough spaces were available for one gallery. So, some artists branched off and created the second of the two galleries. Thus, Artemisia Gallery and ARC Gallery were opened in the same building and within one week of one another in the spring of 1973. Approximately 20 artists in each organization shared the lease, taking turns operating the gallery space and holding a two- to three-person show monthly. Although Artemisia and ARC were the first women’s galleries in Chicago, they were not the first women artists’ organization. The National Women’s Caucus for Art opened a chapter in Chicago one year earlier, in 1972. Many artists were both involved in cooperative or commercial galleries and the Chicago Women’s Caucus for Art (CWCA). The organization was comprised of both women artists and others in the arts community, including art historians, curators, professors, and others. The CWCA held several exhibitions of its artists in women artist gallery spaces. Artemisia and ARC Galleries were crucial institutions for many women artists in Chicago in the 1970s and 1980s. Their location on the north side of the city attracted artists and others in part due to their proximity to other galleries and museums at the time, including the initial location of the Museum of Contemporary Art, the N.A.M.E. Gallery, and the Randolph Street Gallery. However, due to their location on the north side, an indirect consequence was that the women who were drawn into these organizations were predominantly white women. At its creation, Artemisia Gallery 48

“The organizations provided both internal and external connections that allowed women to create and show their work in a supportive environment.” had no members who were women of color; ARC Gallery had one. In part due to this lack of women-specific arts organizations that would function as well for women of color, the organization Sapphire and Crystals was created in 1987. Rather than a gallery space, it was a collective that served Black women artists who also exhibited in women artist gallery spaces. Several of these women were also part of the CWCA. In 1992, two women founded Woman Made Gallery under the premise that Chicago still did not provide the community that the city’s women artists needed. They felt that the cooperative structure of Artemisia and ARC Galleries was limiting and that the organizations did not provide enough exhibitions for women artists who were not members of the collective. Therefore, Woman Made Gallery was created as Chicago’s first commercial gallery that focused on women artists. It was unique among the other women’s arts organizations in that it had a physical space, unlike CWCA and Sapphire and Crystals, and that

it also allowed more women to become involved without necessarily needing to be a member and regularly contributing to the gallery financially, completely planning their own shows, or otherwise being involved in the running of the organization. This overview of Chicago’s women’s organizations suggests that there was both a need for a community of women artists and an interest in creating said community. However, it also raises the following questions: How beneficial were each of these organizations to the women artists? “How did they help their members navigate the scene and perhaps become successful working artists?” Findings and Interpretation My interviews with the women artists who were involved in women’s art organizations suggest that in the beginning of the time period of interest, the early 1970s, most women artists in Chicago were unable to break into the city’s art scene. However, I find that these organizations were significant in allowing women to more easily navigate the city’s art scene, supporting my hypothesis. The organizations provided both internal and external connections that allowed women to create and show their work in a supportive environment and led them to networking opportunities to become more involved in the mainstream art scene. Organizations as Sources of Internal Connections Women’s art organizations from the 1970s to the 1990s provided a space where artists could create connections with other women artists to build a community within and separate from the mainstream art scene. One significant facet of these internal connections was that nearly all of the artists found that

the women’s art organizations provided spaces for critiques or other dialogue that allowed women artists to develop their body of work in a productive and encouraging environment. The close community of women artists allowed for discussion about each artist’s body of work, as well as other discussions about the experience of being a woman artist in Chicago. One artist discussed how Artemisia used a “feminist approach to conversation,” inspired by women’s rights activists at the time who were becoming more aware that they were often being interrupted by men around them. As they wanted to make the cooperative a space where everyone could speak without fear of interruption or overshadowing, they designed their meetings and conversations so that everyone would take turns speaking on the topic at hand. This artist also stated that after each exhibit, artists would meet and talk about the work. She and other participants lamented that other art communities they had been part of later in their careers did not have this opportunity to speak to one another and called the cooperatives a “giving, encouraging” space with “heartfelt … conversations” that kept artists “spiritually and intellectually alive.” These organizations often held their artists to a high standard, which drove members to develop their work further than they may have otherwise. One participant said, “We held a high standard for exhibiting. The quality of your work and the presentation both had to be top-notch or [the organization’s founder] wasn’t going to help sell it.” This space for critique and collaboration even affected some artists who passed through the cooperatives and were not initially accepted into the group. One participant mentioned 49

an artist, now internationally renowned, who had interviewed for one of the cooperatives when it initially launched and had been turned down. She had said to the research participant, “I deserved to be turned down. My work was really crappy. I threw it out and started to do all different work and then got in [later]. You were absolutely right to turn me down.” Several artists also stated that they began doing more experimental work, as they were inspired by how the women artists around them utilized themes and materials that they had not thought about before. They found that women’s galleries provided a space to do work that would not have been accepted in more traditional galleries. Topics that were seen as specific to women, or not universal enough, were welcomed in women’s art spaces: The more places there are for women to show, the more opportunities they have to share their work … and talk about difficult topics, like menstruation. Nobody wants to talk about that. … You wouldn’t have a chance at a commercial gallery because they wouldn’t be able to sell it.

The participants provided mixed perspectives as to whether competition existed among the women in the organizations or if the space was completely collaborative and helpful. Half of the participants had no negative experiences with other women in terms of competing for resources, grants, or other shows in the area. They described the atmosphere as “warm” and “supportive,” even if many of the other artists were mostly invested in their own work. The other half of the women stated that since the art world itself was competitive, all members in the cooperative had various reasons for membership. They said that some members had ulterior motives 50

“Being involved in a women’s art organization ... provid[ed] a sense of community and camaraderie for female artists.” for joining or only had regard for their own work and well-being. One participant stated that there were “slight issues of dominance and that some people were ‘stronger’ than others.” Overall, however, the members cheered each other on and supported each other to get shows in other commercial galleries. Only one participant gave an example of a specific negative experience she had with another artist in the gallery: One day, a big curator from New York came to the gallery and asked to see my work. And [the offending artist] was the only one in the gallery. We had hired someone to also sit in the gallery … [who] told me the story. This artist just told her that there were no visuals of my work, which was totally untrue. She showed [the curator] her own work instead. She’s a big deal artist in Chicago now.

The interviewee said that other than this member, everyone in the gallery was “very helpful, willing to help out, and [gave her] a good feeling in the gallery.” This was the only time a participant recounted a negative social experience within the cooperative community. This anecdote also suggests that several such opportunities existed for the women artists like the

“Women’s art was most often seen as separate and lesser by male artists, curators, dealers, and the art scene overall.” curator visit, but some manipulated the situations to prioritize their own work and career trajectory over those of others. Two of the women I interviewed from Artemisia and ARC galleries had not gone to graduate school; most of the others had attended the School of the Art Institute. Both of these artists stated that the community was like graduate school to them, and one other who had gone to graduate school likened her experience in the gallery to that of her graduate education. One felt like “her work developed and everything else developed with it.” Another stated that her “work kept changing and evolving from being in the cooperative. [She was] interacting with other people’s work, exchanging ideas.” She also stated that when it was an artist’s turn to be part of a two-person show in the gallery, this became an especially valuable opportunity to work with another artist and think about their ideas and how their bodies of work could relate. They would “bounce back and forth, project [themselves]. ... There was a lot of collaboration.” Organizations as Sources of External Connections Not only was the experience of being involved in a women’s art organization helpful in providing a sense of community and camaraderie for female artists, but it

also provided opportunities to connect with outside actors and create relationships needed to get to the “next level” of success in becoming an artist. All of the artists stated that the organizations they were involved in were not meant to be their only source of networking, or in the case of the cooperatives and galleries, gallery representation. However, they understood that the connections they could potentially make with curators, gallery owners, and others in power were important in showing at a commercial gallery later, a goal shared by most artists. Several interviewees stated that they were able to get commercial gallery representation as a direct result of either exhibiting in a women’s gallery space or knowing someone who visited the organization. Some took these opportunities for connection into their own hands. One participant said, “From Artemisia, we had a woman showing at another gallery. I said to myself, ‘If they’re interested in her work, surely they’ll be interested in my work.’ I contacted [the gallery owner] in New York, and I got into her gallery.” All of the artists involved in Artemisia and ARC Galleries said that the location of the galleries was significant in allowing the largest possible audience to attend their shows. Both galleries, before they moved to other locations, were initially in the same building as one another, along with several other relatively well-known galleries at the time. In addition, they were on the same block as the Museum of Contemporary Art’s initial location. The artists in these cooperatives coordinated their exhibitions to open on Friday nights, similar to several other large and well-respected galleries in the area such as the Museum of Contemporary Art and N.A.M.E. Gallery, 51

so that the audiences from other galleries and museums would spill over into their own exhibition openings. The smaller art community in Chicago at this time only served to aid this closeness, as one could visit nearly all of Chicago’s most prominent galleries in one night. One artist stated that a gallery owner saw her work and offered her a show at their gallery as a direct result of one of these nights. Another participant said that the president of the Museum of Contemporary Art had visited the gallery during her exhibition opening and was interested enough in her work to commission a portrait of his family from her that evening. In addition, the organizations provided programming that invited visiting artists into the spaces, provided outreach into the community, and allowed some connections with other galleries. One of the cooperatives hired a director after their first building move to help coordinate exhibitions and seek opportunities for artists, including assistance with grants and exhibitions at commercial galleries. The other cooperative began a resource center earlier in its time in Chicago and had also used this opportunity to provide its artists with connections to other artists in the area. The organizations invited successful artists, mainly from New York City, to show in their gallery spaces or hold artist talks. Most of the participants stated that they did not remember their organizations interacting much with other women’s organizations. However, they would occasionally have shows at non-women-specific galleries, art centers, and other organizations in the Chicagoland area, allowing the artists to expand their potential audience further. Finally, the organizations with physical gallery spaces provided an area to show artwork that did not otherwise exist for 52

most women, creating a space for others in the scene to see their work and invite them to show in their own galleries. One woman stated that for most women artists: Their work [didn’t] fit into the gallery. … At the time, getting into a gallery in Chicago was difficult. You had to be recognized, the work would have to be sellable, or in some way the gallery would have wanted to risk investing in promoting your career. It’s a very difficult path.

Another participant described the women’s organization spaces as “opening up the doors to show what [women’s] work was like ... it was like a breath of fresh air.” Gallery spaces that focused on women artists, especially the cooperative spaces which guaranteed their members an exhibition, allowed women to show their work without feeling pressure to make it “fit” into the gallery and be similar to the art of male artists at the time. Other Findings One significant finding that only some of the women interviewed directly mentioned — but was clear in the structure of the organizations and the feminist movements of the decades — was that race played an important role in the success and the makeup of the women artists and galleries at the time. Only one of the interview participants was a woman of color, and she stated that she did not have any negative experiences with women’s organizations due to her racial identity. However, most of the women’s organizations at the time were made up of predominantly white women and to some extent were created to benefit mainly white women. As previously stated, the first two cooperatives, Artemisia Gallery and ARC Gallery, were mostly white at their creation, with Artemisia gallery having no members who

were women of color and ARC Gallery having one. A member of one of these galleries stated that, “It was a very white group. … The school [of the Art Institute] at the time was very white.” It is important to consider the possibility that these numbers were merely reflective of the number of women of color who were working as artists in the 1970s through the 1990s. However, several wellknown working artists of the time were women of color, mainly Black women. One artist discussed how there were several successful Black women artists she admired: “I think Black women in the ’70s were hot stuff. They were being shown in the ’80s as well. … They were being recognized, maybe more so than Black male artists.” Black women artists and others may have found other avenues for success that were not the predominantly white women’s organizations. Alternatively, they may have been disenfranchised with the women’s movements of the time, which had historically been created by and for wealthy white women. Organizations for women of color, such as Sapphire and Crystals, founded in 1987, were created to help fill this gap; according to a current member, founder Marva Jolly “had expressed concerns about the lack of opportunity for African American female artists to exhibit. … Rather than wait around for someone to discover them, [she wanted to] begin to create shows and opportunities.” However, it is still not clear how exactly Chicago’s women of color artists navigated their communities before and during this period. The current research mainly focuses on white women artists and therefore does not fully and accurately depict the experiences of women of color in Chicago who were attempting to navigate the art scene at the same time. Another theme discussed by several

women artists was the idea of the “male aesthetic” versus the “female aesthetic” of visual art. One woman artist said that there was a “very specific female aesthetic that was so gorgeous but not respected at the time” and that women’s art was most often seen as separate and lesser by male artists, curators, dealers, and the art scene overall. Men’s work was described as “aggressive” and “minimalist,” using heavier materials and angular edges as well as what were described as “universal ideas.” Women’s art, conversely, was described as being more specific to feminist or feminine themes, ideologies, or perspectives, which was often brought up as a possible reason that women’s work wasn’t being shown as often. Women’s art was also described as using “fabric, paper, ethereal materials” and being “softer, more emotional, using materials that used to be attributed to craft but were being used in an extremely unusual way.” Artists also described more “feminine” work as shaking up the status quo and critiquing the idea that only certain materials should be used in a certain way. They describe this as one of the positive results of the feminist movement as a whole, for women’s work and the art world overall. Several participants stated that women artists were very much aware of this divide: These weren’t women artists who were chasing any kind of trend. … They weren’t interested in any way in fitting in, but just describing what was in their heart and soul. … Of course they knew that, but they weren’t going to chase a different aesthetic.

It is not clear whether this gendered difference in aesthetic was a cause of women’s exclusion from the art scene or whether it was a consequence of it. Nor is it clear whether this difference was truly as 53

“

‘These weren’t women artists who were chasing any kind of trend. … They weren’t interested in any way in fitting in, but just describing what was in their heart and soul.’

widespread as it seemed or if the “softer, more emotional” art was also a gender essentialist perspective supported by both men and women artists. In any case, women artists knew that their work was not respected. Nevertheless, they did not let their knowledge of the dominant trends in the art scene or the judgment of the male art lens impact their art production. A final trend seen among the interviewees was that nearly all of the women artists saw the difficulties that women artists experienced as not only due to their gender, but also other factors. Several mentioned that being a successful artist in Chicago was a matter of having a strong personality or “grit,” traits they believed women artists in particular may have had a harder time with. Other participants lamented the difficulty of being an artist in Chicago in general and stated that it was seen across the board as lesser or secondary to the art and artists in New York City. Finally, many artists stated that a major factor in the success of women artists depended on their financial status nearly as much as their gender and that the disparity in wealth among artists led to infighting among women artists themselves. This trend parallels that of the women lawyers studied by Pringle et al., in that successful artists acknowledged the difficulty of the field but said that learning how to “play the game” and developing traits such as ambition and time management would often

”

suffice in overcoming structural barriers.7 Many participants cited individual personality, interest, and ability of women artists — both their own and others’ — as defining factors in their success. One artist said of herself, “I find the whole art of getting into galleries difficult. … I don’t have the right personality to persist in the quest for the gallery. You have to have a certain persona, a perseverance. … You have to invest the time and energy to get into a gallery.” Others said that many of the women in organizations, who often self-defined as feminists, were “angry at what was going on” in the art scene, which fueled their drive. However, some of these participants also acknowledged that the right personality and perseverance were not enough and that they knew many women artists who worked hard but were still not successful, as other factors were at play. One of these factors, which was shared by nearly all interviewees, was the difficulty of being a Chicago artist in general. Most artists described the art scene at the time as being very small and insular. Most attention given to Chicago’s art scene in this period, the early 1970s and the decade before, was directed toward the Art Institute of Chicago and its school, as well as the Chicago Imagists and the Hairy Who. However, participants also cited these groups as being an inspiration for women artists, as there were “several” women, even “half” of the group, involved.

7 Pringle, J. K., Ravenswood, K., Harris, C., & Giddings, L. (2017). Women’s Career Progression in Law Firms: Views from the Top, Views from Below. Gender, Work and Organization, 24(4), 435-449. DOI: 10.111/gwao.12180

This is especially interesting, as the Hairy Who, made up of six artists, included two women; the Chicago Imagists, with 13 total members at their creation, only included three women. The true number of women involved in these organizations was small — less than half of the total members. Still, these were exceptionalized or sensationalized by other women artists who would have otherwise had very few women in the field to look up to, especially in Chicago’s otherwise barren art scene. Chicago’s art world was most often compared to New York City, the city with the most well-known art scene. Many artists, including the women interviewed, saw Chicago as a stepping stone to New York, which was the “dream” city to get a gallery or show and where the best and most successful artists ended up. One participant said, “Unless you were from New York, really knew New York, and had a lot of family and money to really support you, it was almost impossible.” This combination of needing financial resources and being in New York City to be a successful artist was often stated as an indisputable, if not unfortunate, fact. The same artist said later, “Somebody said to me, you gotta go and buy drinks for these curators. At the time they were $8 drinks. In 1979, these were really expensive drinks.” This was one of the many examples given that heavily suggested that financial ability was tied to success for women. This problem persisted after the creation of women’s art organizations but was especially prevalent before their arrival in Chicago. One artist stressed the importance of having both the “right personality” and wealth. She discussed a friend, now internationally renowned, who was the hardest working artist the interviewee had ever known. She “had the money

to spend the time to do it” and was able to take commissions that lost her many thousands of dollars in transportation and material costs during the process of becoming more well-known. Another participant relayed a difficult experience of looking over a 20th anniversary catalogue for her organization to see which artists were still alive and working. Everyone who was a living, successful artist was, she said, “married, with professional husbands, or they came from very wealthy families who were supporting them. It was a real hard one for me to swallow. Most of them were in New York, with pretty well-to-do families.” A pattern with these wealthy women that caused rifts in the art scene was that many of them gained their wealth from marrying well-off, professional men. One participant said: The women that I know that really have careers. … They were all married to very successful husbands who were making a lot of money; [the women] didn’t have jobs. They spent 100% of their time doing their art. … They were able to spend a lot of time in the studio, and that makes all the difference.

According to the women artists who had families and were able to be supported by their husbands, this perspective was harmful and degrading. Some of the women’s organizations and other galleries often looked down upon women with wealthier families as being lesser than the women who lived in the city and were not married. This view extended, as well, to those who lived in the suburbs, stayed home and took care of their children, or did not hold a career outside of their art. One artist recounted her experience of going to a meeting of members of her organization after it closed and discussing 55

the success of the former members: “One of the women said, ‘I don’t think we should count her, after all, she was rich and married.” So, I stepped in and said, ‘I think we should applaud her, because she was rich. Despite being a socialite, she managed to figure out a way to have a career and do important work.’ ”

Some artists suggested that this divide was due in part to a greater societal bias against women who attempted to work and also have families and children. Women’s arts organizations welcomed artists of all types and backgrounds: both those who lived and worked in the city and those whose homes were the suburbs, and with a variety of financial resources available. However, the above suggests a split in the relationships between artists considered wealthy and artists who were not, undermining the suggestion that the connections among artists were an essential part of what made these organizations successful. More research is needed to fully understand the dynamics between those with more resources and those with less, as the connections between artists may have indeed been mainly with others of a similar economic background. Nevertheless, my interviews suggest that women’s arts organizations may have provided a means for partial democratization of Chicago’s art scene for women artists. Other than Sapphire and Crystals, most of these spaces predominantly served white women artists and therefore were not necessarily providing full, equitable community among all of Chicago’s female artists. However, the

spaces allowed for the gap to be bridged to allow women artists with fewer financial resources to be in the same space, doing the same type of work as wealthy women. Future Directions Chicago’s women’s arts organizations overall had a lasting impact on the community. Although Artemisia closed in 2003 for financial reasons, the other four organizations researched are currently in operation. ARC Gallery and Woman Made Gallery are still exhibiting, and ARC Gallery remains a cooperatively structured gallery. Chicago’s Women’s Caucus for Art and Sapphire and Crystals are also active to some extent. Several shows and exhibitions, including a recent exhibition at the Glass Curtain Gallery in 2018,8 have been created to archive and remember the legacy of these women artists and organizations, and art historians have become dedicated to better understanding these groups and their effect on Chicago’s art history. Future work could be done to continue focusing on both the organizations and Chicago’s female artists and art history more broadly. In addition, the importance of financial resources to women artists, as suggested by my data, should be explored further. Other possible directions include investigating how women artists’ perceptions of gender and gender exploration affected their experiences and the work they produced, looking further into other non-women-specific arts organizations in the city, or researching what specifically pushed women artists out of careers in the arts. ■

8 Glass Curtain Gallery’s show, Where the Future Came From, was open from November 2018 through February 2019. It showcased projects and programming related to women’s organizations such as Woman Made Gallery and Sapphire and Crystals as well as others including Chicago Women’s Graphics Collective, SisterSerpents, and Mujeres Mutantes.

Appendix Interview Guide What was the participant’s role in the Chicago art scene? • How long did you live in Chicago? How did you begin working there? • Why did you stay there? [If no longer in Chicago:] why did you leave? • [If an artist:] what media, themes, ideas were prevalent in your work at the time? • [If a curator, museum director, gallery owner:] what was your role in your organization? • How would you describe Chicago’s art scene? • What did you like or dislike about it? What would you have liked to see happen that wasn’t happening? What were the participant’s views on being a woman artist in Chicago? • Do you think women artists faced obstacles in their work? • [If so:] what obstacles? Were these barriers removed? How? • Since you’ve been aware of Chicago’s art history, when do you think it was the most difficult time to be a woman artist in Chicago? • [If a specific time period or other suggestion of difficulty for women artists:] did you see a change in this difficulty? Was there a time in which it became easier for women artists to be successful? • Why do you think this occurred? • Do you think this was specific to Chicago, or was this the case everywhere? • [If specific:] what makes Chicago unique? • [If everywhere:] how did this reflect the dynamics across the nation? • Do you think Chicago changed at the same rate as other cities? • How easy do you think it was to be a successful artist as a woman in Chicago when you were living/working there? • Do you know of any examples of women artists trying to break into the scene but failing? Why do you think this happened? • Do you think there was a time while you were there in which the ability to become a successful woman artist changed in difficulty? • How would you describe a successful artist? • What do you think separated a successful woman artist from an unsuccessful one? How did the participant interact with women’s arts organizations? • Were you part of any women’s art groups or organizations? Describe the group and your role in it. [If not part of a group, describe groups they worked with in their careers, or were familiar with.] • Why was this group founded? Why was it focused on women? • [If they are a founder:] did you personally experience the problems that led to this group needing to be founded? • Were there other efforts, to your knowledge, to create groups that failed immediately? • What types of people were members of, or attracted to, this group? Who did you surround yourself with? • How much did you lean on each other for support? Were members often collaborating and networking, or did many keep to themselves? • Was it competitive? Were many women fighting for the same resources or shows? • How would you describe the initial success of the organization? • Did you feel like Chicago’s art scene was ready for its presence? Was it easy to get others involved, or did you have a difficult time getting interest? • How did you advertise? How were artists able to become involved? • How did the organization sustain itself financially? Did it have major benefactors, or was it financed by the members? • Did this group interact with other organizations (from other smaller, independent galleries to large museums)? • How was your organization viewed among these other organizations? How was it viewed in the larger artist community? • Was there any mentorship (official or unofficial) in your organization? • How much did men, artists or otherwise, interact with the group? • How much do you feel like your organization/other organizations around you affected how women artists in Chicago engaged with the community? • What aspects of these organizations were most influential? • Were you part of any other art groups that weren’t focused on women? • What were some similarities and differences between these groups? • Were any of the people you knew in these groups also in women-focused groups? • How did these groups interact with women-focused groups? • Were there other groups you weren’t part of that were focused on supporting artist women? • [If in a group:] how were these groups similar and different to your own? • How did these groups operate? • Did you or others around you feel these groups were successful in supporting artist women? • How would you describe the difference between a cooperative and a regular gallery? • Do you think your organization would’ve been different (received differently, operated differently, would you have enjoyed it as much, etc.) if it was a gallery rather than a cooperative? • If familiar with ARC and Artemisia: • ARC and Artemisia were created around the same time. How were they similar and different?

• • • • •

• Did they fulfill the same needs or niches? • Were you or others you knew active at both? • How was the communication between the two organizations? Did they ever collaborate? • ARC and Artemisia are often described as “alternative spaces.” What do you think this meant in Chicago’s art community at the time? If familiar with Artemisia: • What were your reactions to the news that Artemisia was closing? • Why do you believe it shut down? If familiar with ARC: • What do you think ARC did to be able to stay open in Chicago that other groups (Artemisia) weren’t able to do? If familiar with Chicago Women’s Caucus for Art: • How did the Caucus function as an organization? How was it different to other organizations with permanent spaces? If familiar with Sapphire and Crystals: • How would you compare Sapphire and Crystals to other women’s arts organizations working at the time? • How do you feel about the group’s media coverage? If familiar with Woman Made: • Woman Made was created several years after Artemisia and ARC. Was it created as an additional organization that filled the same niche but for a different audience? Or was it created to fulfill a need that these groups weren’t covering? • What were other similarities and differences between Women Made and other groups?

How did the participant feel about other aspects of being a woman artist? • How did you notice the media talking about women artists and their work? • What role did the media play in how well [your work and] the work of artists around you was known? • [If in an organization:] did having alternative spaces like [organization] provide name recognition in the media that audiences could connect to that wouldn’t exist otherwise? • How many of the women artists you knew were able to show at galleries and museums? • Were any of them showing as a result of being at [organization]? • Why do you think this is? • Did this change over time? • Were there any other people, organizations, or institutions that you believe had an influence on the ability of women artists to be successful in Chicago? • Were these more influential, in your experience, to your success/the success of women artists around you than women artists’ groups? • If [your organization] did not exist, how do you think you would have navigated Chicago’s art community? • Do you think it would have been possible at the time?

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Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Medical Social Sciences Research By Vibhusha Kolli

As a quality of life researcher at the University of Miami, Patricia Moreno has been able to conduct therapy and intervention-based work throughout the pandemic.

FEATURE

edical Social Sciences Professor Patricia Moreno was shocked that her research continued to stay active with data collection and enrollment recruitment after the first few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. At the beginning of the pandemic, only minor adjustments were needed to accommodate the new circumstances. Couples Cope, one of Moreno’s studies that looks at couples who are undergoing diagnostic assessment for metastatic breast cancer, remained relatively the same through the use of online consent forms, intervention, follow-up assessments, and introductory letters. There were, however limits on in-person interactions with patients. “You have the opportunity to have some face-to-face interaction while you answer questions, explain the study, and describe what it will entail,” Moreno explained. “There is an aspect that I think is lost. However, with telephone contact, I think that you’re able to recover some of that ability to build rapport and connect with the patients.” These restrictions have also affected how Moreno and fellow researchers interact with their team and lab members. “The day-to-day structure that we used to move forward our projects in our

research involved a lot of face-to-face contact. … The absence of that has made things a little bit more logistically challenging.” Moreno also said she modified the projects to make the studies accessible in the pandemic. “The weight affecting other researchers who do research like mine … depended on whether or not they had that adaptability to make all of their research activities online — from how you recruit patients, to how you enroll them, to how they participate.” Although there have been challenges in conducting quality of life research, Moreno said that the pandemic has also brought a new perspective to the research. “The pandemic has induced a lot of chronic structural stressors into people’s lives. [This has shifted] focus on their immediate day-to-day lives and the things that they’re doing in order to be as well as possible and take care of their families,” she said. Some social sciences studies have stayed relatively consistent during the pandemic despite impacts to patient interactions, the lab environment, and general research processes. Still, Moreno is grateful to be able to continue her research and looks forward to furthering her research projects and contextualizing her findings in the pandemic. ■

Department of Anthropology Faculty Adviser: Prof. Mark Hauser, Ph.D.

Swimming Upstream:

Decreasing Salmon Populations in the Columbia River Basin Through Infrastructure and Its Impacts on Indigenous Welfare by Simone Laszuk Abstract Since 1854, when tribal treaties began to allocate sustainable quantities of fish to different actors along the Columbia River, there has been tension between governing state bodies and those populations reliant on fish for sustenance and livelihood. This project critically analyzes the systemic obstruction of the Yakama tribe, settled along the Columbia River, to salmon and their gradual and ongoing subjugation in the context of environmental conflict. Additionally, I use (GIS) mapping to demonstrate water culverts’ effect on drastically lower salmon spawning, resulting in significant stress on the fish, a staple resource for the Yakama. This paper connects urbanization and infrastructure in Washington state with an environmental crisis that disproportionately impacts native groups in the area. This research will bring to light how governing bodies do not prioritize Indigenous welfare, especially in the context of environmental justice.

Introduction In a popular Seattle neighborhood, hidden behind a garden and a forest preserve, is the Ballard Lock Salmon Ladder. Tourists walk across gated bridges to watch the lock let in water, see the sea level rise, and then cross the channel to witness the main event. On the far side, past the twists and turns of bridges and down a flight of stairs, is an aquarium-like cement room with small glass windows caked in algae. Onlookers peer into the openings to watch salmon, the show’s unassuming protagonists, struggle against the man-made tide. I observed the scene for a whole 10 minutes to see one salmon get through, after which the whole room erupted in cheers. On my way out, I stopped at the gift shop and picked out a hat with a colorful salmon on it. I put it on and walked out, passing under a screen counting the number of salmons that passed through the lock that day. I thought to myself, The salmon pictured on my hat will soon be nothing more than a relic of a fish that no longer lives here. This paper examines the historical and contemporary dynamics of interactions among Indigenous groups (the Yakama tribe), infrastructure (in the form of culverts), and the legal and governance techniques that mediate between them. I will argue that the body of legal work surrounding these tribes does not adequately protect their way of life and that the prioritization of infrastructure is harmful to the salmon populations. I will show this through an analysis of the literature and court cases, as well as the use of GIS mapping to show that salmon physically are barred from the areas in which the tribe fishes.

Salmon For salmon spawning to occur, the fish must annually return to their natal streams for repopulation. Any obstruction to that stream (e.g., culverts) will hinder reproduction. I argue in this work that salmon represent an important pool resource that is strained in the same way many other resources are. Yakama Tribe The Yakama tribe is settled along the Columbia River. Members describe their nation’s history, culture, and lives as “intertwined with the salmon and the Columbia [River].”1 In addition to the integral role of salmon to their identity, the fish are fundamental to their economic livelihood and well-being. Thus, public health researchers posit a direct link between the impact of polluted waters on the salmon population and the wellbeing of members of the Yakama.2 And while the Yakama are by no means the only tribe with significant ties to salmon populations, in this paper, they are a case study showing the importance of maintaining fish populations in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). Culverts Culverts divert water under newly constructed roads, and thus represent the expansion of urban and infrastructure projects3 — in this case, at the expense of pre-existing ecological and Indigenous ways of life. Culverts have become a key impediment to salmon spawning, with direct consequences to the Yakama that impact their standard of living. Impeding the access of salmon to spawning grounds

1 Yakama Nation Fisheries, n.d. 2 Chrisman et al. 1999. 3 Davis and Davis 2010.

is the most direct cause of the decrease in this fish population.4 This paper builds upon both the local legal-historical context, as well as environmental subjects literature, to elucidate the connection among culverts, impacted salmon populations, and the Yakama tribe’s well-being. On a broader scale, I am critically examining the link between the urbanization of states and the wellbeing of interdependent human and animal populations.

Analysis Salmon Populations Salmon spend one to seven years in the ocean after birth. They must overcome rising ocean temperatures, evade predators, and avoid commercial fishers to achieve their end goal of returning to their natal streams. These salmon must return to their natal streams to reproduce and repopulate, or they will not spawn. One barrier they encounter as they travel back into the streams is dams. On average, 7–15% of salmon will die trying to pass each dam they encounter.5 The introduction of dams in the Columbia River Basin has rendered half of the area virtually inaccessible to salmon populations.6 From a population of 10–16 million in the early 1900s, dams have drastically lowered the number of salmon in the area.7 But while the impact of dams on fish populations has been widely surveyed, culverts remain a controversial character in the ongoing fish wars. In the next section of this paper, I will focus my analysis on culverts specifically. But first, a final point on the role of salmon as a common pool resource is necessary.8

“Governing bodies do not prioritize indigenous welfare, especially in the context of environmental justice.” Common pool resources, or resources to which there is relatively open access, are successful only if all parties are mindful of their use of and interactions with the resource. Infrastructure projects, by contrast, are conducted by somewhat separate logic. They claim to connect populations or to forward economic expansion; they contain their own purpose. For example, the purpose of dams is to generate power. And while salmon may not factor into their planning, these projects can affect both the fish and, by extension, all other actors making use of this common pool resource. In an effort to decrease the number of fish trapped or impeded by barriers, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) introduced the National Fish Passage Program in 1999.9 Since its inception, the program has successfully removed or bypassed over 3,000 barriers to fish movement and reopened almost 60,000 miles of upstream habitat for fish. The barriers listed include dams, water diverters, and culverts.10 The program’s mandate points to the connection between the well-being of fish populations and native groups, explaining that:

4 McClure et al. 2008. 5 “Columbia River Salmon, Pacific Northwest | Chinook Salmon” n.d. 6 CRITFC, Columbia River Basin Salmon Extirpation Map. 7 “Columbia River Salmon, Pacific Northwest | Chinook Salmon” n.d. 8 Hardin n.d. 9 “Fish Passage Reconnects Habitats for Healthier Fish and Wildlife!” n.d. 10 “Types of Fish Passage Barriers” n.d.

removal [of barriers to fish movement] also improves lives of tribal cultures like those along the Klamath River Basin in California and Oregon. There have been recent cases where they have not been allowed to fish their ancestral waters because of decreases in fish populations. The salmon that migrate in the Klamath are the source of the tribe’s food, income, and are at the heart of their ceremonies.11

Still, the impact of culverts on salmon populations in the Columbia River Basin and in turn on local tribal welfare remains unclear. Culverts Many governing agencies, including the USFWS and Snohomish County, have marked culverts as a priority barrier for removal to increase fish passage.12 Current environmentalist efforts to remove culverts are met, however, with equal strength by pro-urbanization actors. Specifically, city governments looking to increase the number of their inhabitants and extend the reach of road networks see culverts as an important means to those ends. As a geomorphologist at the USFWS explains, however, the threat of culverts to fish is explicit: Streams are linear systems that move mass … along the channel primarily in upstream/downstream directions and through the floodplain in all directions. … Improperly installed culverts compromise or eliminate fish and other aquatic species passage and can alter the quantity or quality of stream corridor habitat. Even properly designed and installed culverts

can become fish passage barriers if channel incision occurs downstream and migrates upstream to an existing culvert, since culverts are static structures in dynamic systems.13

The image of a static structure effectively highlights the problem with these culverts: They do not change to meet the needs of the populations existing in the area before they did. Figures 1-5 show a variety of types of culverts, all large and intimidating barriers. Even at a glance, it is evident that some culverts are undeniably inhibitory to fish passage. At an institutional level, culverts have been identified by the USFWS, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), and various counties across the state of Washington as a priority concern in addressing salmon issues. The WDFW created a formula to assess the different culverts in an area and determine a hierarchy of priority of which culverts to replace.14 Snohomish county in Washington created a similar but more simplistic formula, called the Priority Index (P.I.), to aid in altering culverts on a smaller scale. At first, the solution to the environmental harm culverts cause is to get rid of them entirely. However, a relatively new area of exploration looks at fixing existing culverts and setting a standard for future culverts. The WDFW published a report on fish passage performance as well as an updated manual (inculcated in 1998) in 2019. It begins with the definition of key terms, including “fish use potential,”15 which evaluates how accessible a culvert (specific to this manual) is for salmon through the measurement of

11 “Why Fish Passage Is Important. And Why We Should Care.” n.d. 12 “Fish Passage Culvert Program | Snohomish County, WA - Official Website” n.d. 13 Castro 2003. 14 “Fish Passage Culvert Program | Snohomish County, WA - Official Website” n.d. 15 Barrett, 2019 “Consistent with earlier editions of the Manual the term ‘fish use potential’ refers to the potential for adult salmonid use at an instream feature; a determination of ‘potential fish habitat’ is not intended to be an indicator of usability for all fish species and life stages.”

“If culverts are directly reducing salmon populations, and tribes rely on salmon for sustenance and identity, how can economics and infrastructure imperatives outweigh the well-being of humans?” various barrier properties.16 This manual provides instructions to identify, assess, and prioritize human-made instream features that preclude or impede upstream fish passage. The federal government claims they gave these parameters to Washington state, while Washington v. United States (1975) holds that Washington violated these guidelines. The WDFW aims to remove or fix culverts impeding the fish potential, but the cost of doing so is high. The decision of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington v. United States dictates that Washington state should replace culverts that are identified as bad for salmon, potentially as dictated by the WDFW formula mentioned previously, which would cost upwards of $3 billion. In 2019, state Rep. Andrew Barkis questioned how this cost could be justified, especially when culvert replacement and fixing must be done at a large-scale.17 The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has an estimated 2,000 culverts across the state, 992 of which are covered under the court injunction. The court case stipulates that at least 400 culverts — those with a fish habitat of a quarter mile or more — be fixed by 2030. If the state does not fulfil the requirement, they will be liable to fix an additional 600. Figure 6 shows the common salmon

passages towards the Yakama Nation, where fishing takes place. Evidently, there are a multitude of culverts impeding the travel. If each culvert hinders a majority, if not all, of the salmon that attempt to pass through, there must be almost no salmon left for the Yakama to harvest. This all begs the question: Which culverts are demoted to the second round of importance? Why are all culverts not mandated to be fixed, if more than the required ones are serving as a barrier to fish passage? Additionally, this tension between legal rulings and local representatives represents the main conflict this paper settles on: If culverts are directly reducing salmon populations, and tribes rely on salmon for sustenance and identity, how can economics and infrastructure imperatives outweigh the well-being of humans? Yakama The Yakama Nation has a Yakama Nation Fisheries (YNF) group dedicated “to honor, protect, and restore the treaty trust natural resources of the Yakama Nation.”18 The group’s website breaks down these three tenets to connect the importance of these fish populations to the tribe: The fish in Nch’í Wána (the Columbia River) and its tributaries are of paramount importance to our people, our diet, and our health. … Through our treaty-reserved rights, we advocate

16 The successful upstream passage of adult salmonids continues to be the basis for barrier determinations. The criteria for velocity, depth, and water surface drop remain the same. A feature that is determined to be ‘passable’ using the methods described in the 2019 Manual, and earlier editions, is considered to be passable to adult salmonids and should not be construed to be passable for all salmonid species and life stages. 17 “Cost of Removal of Barriers to Salmon Hits $3.8 Billion | Tacoma News Tribune” 2019. 18 “About Yakama Nation Fisheries | Status and Trends Reporting” n.d.

“By prioritizing urbanization and infrastructure, Washington state is actively harming the tribes that Washington v. United States mandates it protect.” for resources that cannot speak for themselves, and provide outreach and education activities that empower others to do the same.19

The YNF is staffed by over 200 people and combines scientific expertise with traditional ecological knowledge. The YNF website focuses on four different dams where the organization counts salmon passing: Prosser Dam, Roza Dam, Lyle Falls, and Castile Falls. Their efforts to illuminate impacted salmon populations through tracking changes in populations have not been as effective as possible, as they are fighting an uphill battle. Even with the YNF’s attempts to strengthen salmon populations, or at least keep them steady, the populations have rapidly declined over the past 10 years. Prosser Dam is impacted directly by a few significant culverts, and its feeder stream to the west is littered with significant barriers (Figures 1-5). A map of Prosser Dam, nearby culverts, and the Yakama Reservation are shown in Figure 7. YNF salmon counts at

Prosser Dam are detailed in Figures 8–10. Because this location is a dam itself, any change in the number of salmon crossing this area must be due to another barrier factor. That is, if the number of fish crossing the dam changes but the dam does not, there is another factor contributing to the access change. The only other barrier noted in this area — and in other areas of decline — is culverts. Of the salmon the YNF monitors, the harvestable fish will be defined as the sum of all adult chinook salmon, total steelhead salmon, sockeye salmon, and coho salmon over the course of a year. In 2000, the area saw 26,532 harvestable fish pass through the dam. In 2019, the exact same area saw only 6,371 harvestable fish (Figures 8, 10). This is a 76% decrease in salmon across just 19 years. Conversely, the population of the tribe has stayed relatively stable. The U.S. Census Bureau counted 31,799 people living on the reservation in 2000 and 30,810 in 2014.20 This is a mere 3% decrease in population on the reservation. The more substantial decrease in fish population is harmful to the well-being of the Yakama Nation. The Yakama Nation’s identity is deeply intertwined with the salmon. The YNF website presents a vignette that illuminates the time-honored traditions upheld by the Yakama Tribe that are connected to salmon: One of Yakama children’s earliest memories is sitting at the ceremonial table and waiting for the water to be poured. Next, the salmon is placed on the table, followed by the deer, roots, and berries. We complete the meal with water. We are taught this order and that water is the lifeblood of our existence.21

The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish

19 “About Yakama Nation Fisheries | Status and Trends Reporting” n.d. 20 Center for New Media & Promotion (CNMP) n.d. 21 “Honoring the Salmon | Yakama Nation Fisheries” n.d.

Commission (CRITFC) is a collaboration between four tribal groups in the Columbia River basin: the Umatilla Tribes, the Warm Springs Tribes, the Nez Perce Tribe, and the Yakama Nation. The CRITFC has four main goals: (1) “Put fish back in the rivers and protect watersheds where fish live,” (2) “Protect tribal treaty fishing rights,” (3) “Share salmon culture,” and (4) “Provide fisher services.”22 The organization’s website offers a comprehensive explanation of the necessity for this commission, as well as an involved exploration of the importance of the salmon in the cultures of these four tribes: “The cultures, intertribal interactions, fishing technologies, and very religions of the Pacific Northwest tribes were all impacted and influenced by salmon. … Salmon play an integral part of tribal religion, culture, and physical sustenance.”23 The CRITFC explains that salmon are a source of livelihood for many tribes and are important for their health. The Commission also shares that annual salmon harvests act as a stage for passing traditional values to younger generations and that salmon returning to streams represents “the renewal and continuation of human and all other life.”24 These tribes, the Yakama included, are explicitly bound to the salmon populations. CRITFC explicitly connects the success and well-being of the tribes — culturally, economically, and environmentally — to the fish population. The Yakama Nation has built a foundation of identity upon the survival of salmon. It is not too ardent to claim that the survival of salmon means the survival of the Yakama tribe. Recalling the legal framework discussed above, since 1905, the Washington

state government has taken on the role of carer for the tribes residing within the state. By creating this paradigm of governance, Washington state has made it its requirement to ensure the survival of the Yakama tribe. It would be naïve to say that the standard set by the state, which renders Indigenous groups lesser, is disrespectful and essentially dehumanizes these people. However, if Washington state created this framework, it must be willing to exist within it. The WSDOT has published the information on culverts and is aware of their harm. Additionally, the YNF updates their fish counting portal multiple times per month and has records going back years. CRITFC, the Yakama Nation website, and various news outlets have consistently explained how salmon are integral to the success of tribes. All the information is available to the Washington state government, which it could use to make the same conclusions I am making here. By not prioritizing the adjustment of culverts to render them harmless to salmon, then, Washington state is actively impeding the survival and well-being of the Yakama tribe, which is something it is legally required to avoid.

Results The analysis and description of culverts, as a concept, show that if the culverts are not held to certain standards, fish will find it difficult to pass through these areas. Furthermore, because salmon are natal stream-dependent for reproduction, their accessibility to waterways impacts their population size. The question remains if culverts can be directly tied to Yakama

22 “About CRITFC | Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission” n.d. 23 “Salmon Culture | Pacific Northwest Tribes, Columbia River Salmon” n.d. 24 “Salmon Culture | Pacific Northwest Tribes, Columbia River Salmon” n.d.

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Indigenous communities and tribes have essential insight into projects happening on and around their land, and their voices must be included in decision-making.

reservation declining salmon numbers. In Figure 6, the circled areas show significant fishing areas for the Yakama Nation that also function as natal basins for the salmon populations. Therefore, these are critical areas of examination. Seeing how many fish can access this area indicates not only the amount of fish able to reproduce, but also the access of Yakama Nation to the fish there. The arrows are the pathways that salmon must take to reach these circled basins. As seen in the Figure 6, the red and yellow dots represent culverts: Yellow dots represent culverts that are partial barriers or ~66% passable,25 and red dots represent culverts that are complete barriers26 that fish have to find a different path to pass. There are at least eight barriers to passage on the Northeast side and at least 10 on the Southwest side. At each complete barrier, fish must either turn around and swim back the way they came or find a smaller waterway that goes around the obstacle. At each partial barrier, over 30% of the fish cannot get past and turn around the way they came. The streams that break off by culverts are usually too small for large populations of salmon to pass through, so the number of fish that find their way around these complete barriers is deficient.27 Washington state has historically ruled to allow Indigenous groups access to fish and understood the salmon’s connection to Indigenous survival. However, the

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state has also ruled that it is responsible for making decisions for Indigenous groups because the tribes cannot act in their own best interest, but the government can and will. These two legal rulings dictate that if the government understands that fish are essential for survival, it would protect tribal welfare by ensuring that salmon populations are at adequate levels. This does not even need to be an active attempt to increase populations higher than they were at the time of these cases; the government could passively ensure it is doing nothing to hurt salmon populations. However, that is not the case — by prioritizing urbanization and infrastructure, Washington state is actively harming the tribes that Washington v. United States mandates it protect. There are checklists for building culverts accessible to salmon; but as this map shows, many were built before these checklists were required. Culverts are created to divert water to allow for infrastructure and roads. Their implications for wildlife were a secondary thought. To rebuild a culvert up to the standards set for population health, state governments must choose to spend money to fix something that is already serving its original purpose. Conclusion and Further Implications The example of Washington state and the Yakama Nation is a disappointment. Because Yakama people were not consulted, or even considered, when urbanization

25 “2019 WSDOT Fish Passage Performance Report,” n.d. 26 “2019 WSDOT Fish Passage Performance Report,” n.d. 27 “FishPassageReport_Appendices.Pdf” n.d.

was booming, the state’s decisions have had significant negative impacts on their lives. By impeding salmon access to natal streams, and coincidentally Yakama fishing areas, Washington has prioritized the expansion of urban areas and infrastructure over the wellbeing of people living within its borders. This comes down to a tension between urbanization and tribal welfare. The structures that led to urbanization 100 years ago separated these two concepts; however, these two do not have to be synonymous. The WSDOT has published extensive information since the early 2010s about how to make culverts and dams safe for fish passage. However, in order to make the current culverts fish-friendly, the government would have to spend massive amounts of money. These culverts are still serving their initial purpose (to build roads over waterways), but the government’s perceived need for change is not imminent. This work is vital for understanding how to analyze infrastructure. Often, construction intention does not match consequences: This thesis does not say that Washington state maliciously built culverts to hurt Indigenous tribes. However, once the state was aware of the unintended consequences of its urbanization, it was its duty to pay to fix it. By choosing to turn a blind eye to the problems it created, Washington state prioritized urban expansion over the wellbeing of its Indigenous peoples.

From this work, the most important takeaways are the need for comprehensive urban planning analysis, legal-historical analysis, and incorporation of Indigenous voices. First of all, before planning major infrastructure, there needs to be a more comprehensive understanding of potential impacts. That is a more common practice in modern urban planning (and was not when these culverts in question were initially built). In terms of legal-historical exploration, this case study shows how easy it is for the Washington state government to overlook its past decisions in the application of the law. There must be a better standard for translation of statute into its application. Finally, if Indigenous voices are included in the stage of urban planning, these environmental injustices could be avoided or at least lessened. Indigenous communities and tribes have essential insight into projects happening on and around their land, and their voices must be included in decision-making. Not all future infrastructure demands need to be met with such devastation to people or ecological populations. A deeper analysis of potential impacts must be done in the future of all urban planning projects. Most importantly, and more specifically, money needs to be put into fixing the culverts in Washington state to ease the pressures put on both salmon and the Yakama Nation. ■

T Figure 1. Photo 1 of barrier 990189 near Yakama reservation.

T Figure 2. Photo 2 of barrier 990189 near Yakama reservation.

T Figure 3. Photo 1 of barrier 990857 near Yakama reservation.

T Figure 4. Photo 2 of barrier 990857 near Yakama reservation.

T Figure 5. Photo 1 of barrier 991955 near Yakama reservation.

T Figure 6. Map of salmon pathways to Yakama reserve.

W Figure 7. Prosser Dam in relation to Columbia River, Yakama Reservation, and recognized culverts.

1391

Prosser 12/14/2019

Prosser 12/15/2019

Prosser 12/16/2019

Prosser 12/17/2019

Prosser 12/18/2019

Prosser 12/19/2019

Prosser 12/20/2019

Prosser 12/21/2019

Prosser 12/22/2019

Prosser 12/23/2019

Prosser 12/24/2019

Prosser 12/25/2019

Prosser 12/26/2019

Prosser 12/27/2019

Prosser 12/28/2019

Prosser 12/29/2019

Prosser 12/30/2019

Prosser 12/31/2019

Totals

209

661

2261

211

291

1483

Marked Steelhead

1494

Total Steelhead

110

Sockeye

2506

Coho

Jack Coho

Lamprey

S Figure 8. Chart 1A: Yakama Nation Fisheries 2019 salmon count at Prosser Dam; 6,371 harvestable fish [adult chinook + total steelhead + sockeye + coho].

*Counts for the most recent days may be partial counts.

Adult Adult Adult Total Jack Jack Total Jack Fall Unmarked Spring Summer Fall Adult Spring Summer Jack Chinook Steelhead Chinook Chinook Chinook Chinook Chinook Chinook Chinook

Prosser 12/13/2019

Date

Prosser 12/12/2019

Facility Name

Bull Trout

10845

Prosser 12/13/2010

Prosser 12/14/2010

Prosser 12/15/2010

Prosser 12/16/2010

Prosser 12/17/2010

Prosser 12/18/2010

Prosser 12/19/2010

Prosser 12/20/2010

Prosser 12/21/2010

Prosser 12/22/2010

Prosser 12/23/2010

Prosser 12/24/2010

Prosser 12/25/2010

Prosser 12/26/2010

Prosser 12/27/2010

Prosser 12/28/2010

Prosser 12/29/2010

Prosser 12/30/2010

Prosser 12/31/2010

Totals

2766

13611

1830

126

1956

6429

206

Marked Steelhead

S Figure 9. Chart 1B: Yakama Nation Fisheries 2010 salmon count at Prosser Dam; 25,066 harvestable fish.

Adult Adult Adult Total Jack Jack Total Jack Fall Unmarked Spring Summer Fall Adult Spring Summer Jack Chinook Steelhead Chinook Chinook Chinook Chinook Chinook Chinook Chinook

Prosser 12/12/2010

Date

Prosser 12/11/2010

Facility Name

6635

Total Steelhead

4809

Sockeye Coho

184

Jack Coho

Lamprey

Bull Trout

17376

Prosser 12/14/2000

Prosser 12/15/2000

Prosser 12/16/2000

Prosser 12/17/2000

Prosser 12/18/2000

Prosser 12/19/2000

Prosser 12/20/2000

Prosser 12/21/2000

Prosser 12/22/2000

Prosser 12/23/2000

Prosser 12/24/2000

Prosser 12/25/2000

Prosser 12/26/2000

Prosser 12/27/2000

Prosser 12/28/2000

Prosser 12/29/2000

Prosser 12/30/2000

Prosser 12/31/2000

Totals

1879

19255

1566

450

2016

1783

Marked Steelhead

S Figure 10. Chart 1C: Yakama Nation Fisheries 2000 salmon count at Prosser Dam; 26,532 harvestable fish.

Adult Adult Adult Total Jack Jack Total Jack Fall Unmarked Spring Summer Fall Adult Spring Summer Jack Chinook Steelhead Chinook Chinook Chinook Chinook Chinook Chinook Chinook

Prosser 12/13/2000

Date

Prosser 12/12/2000

Facility Name

1825

Total Steelhead

Sockeye

5452

Coho

259

Jack Coho

Lamprey

Bull Trout

Bibliography “2019 WSDOT Fish Passage Performance Report.” n.d., 145. “About CRITFC | Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.” n.d. CRITFC. Accessed March 12, 2020. https://www.critfc.org/about-us/ mission-vision/. “About Yakama Nation Fisheries | Status and Trends Reporting.” n.d. Accessed March 12, 2020. http://dashboard. yakamafish-star.net/AboutYNFisheries. Agrawal, Arun. 2005. “Environmentality: Community, Intimate Government, and the Making of Environmental Subjects in Kumaon, India.” Current Anthropology 46 (2): 161–90. https:// doi.org/10.1086/427122. Barrett, Daniel (WDFW). 2019. “Fish Passage Inventory, Assessment, and Prioritization Manual,” 284. Bentley, Shannon. 1992. “Indians’ Right to Fish: The Background, Impact, and Legacy of United States v. Washington.” American Indian Law Review 17 (1): 1. https://doi. org/10.2307/20068716. Castro, Janine. 2003. “Geomorphologic Impacts of Culvert Replacement and Removal,” 19. Center for New Media & Promotion (CNMP), US Census Bureau. n.d. “My Tribal Area.” Accessed March 12, 2020. https://www.census.gov/ tribal/?aianihh=4690. Chrisman, Noel J., C. June Strickland, KoLynn Powell, Marian Dick Squeochs, and Martha Yallup. 1999. “Community Partnership Research with the Yakama Indian Nation.” Human Organization 58 (2): 134–41. “Columbia River Salmon, Pacific Northwest | Chinook Salmon.” n.d. CRITFC. Accessed March 12, 2020. https://www.critfc.org/fish-and-watersheds/columbia-river-fish-species/columbia-river-salmon/. “Cost of Removal of Barriers to Salmon Hits $3.8 Billion | Tacoma News

Tribune.” 2019. Accessed March 12, 2020. https://www.thenewstribune. com/news/local/article233124201. html. Davis, Jeffrey, and Gay Davis. 2010. “The Influence of Stream-Crossing Structures on the Distribution of Rearing Juvenile Pacific Salmon.” Accessed March 12, 2020. https:// bioone.org/journals/freshwater-science/volume-30/issue-4/10-090.1/ The-influence-of-stream-crossingstructures-on-the-distributionof/10.1899/10-090.1.short. “Fish Passage Culvert Program | Snohomish County, WA - Official Website.” n.d. Accessed March 12, 2020. https://snohomishcountywa. gov/3987/Fish-Passage-Culvert-Program. “Fish Passage Reconnects Habitats for Healthier Fish and Wildlife!” n.d. Accessed March 12, 2020. https://www. fws.gov/fisheries/fish-passage.html. “FishPassageReport_Appendices.Pdf.” n.d. Accessed May 12, 2020. https:// www.calfish.org/Portals/2/Programs/PAD/docs/FishPassageReport_Appendices.pdf. Hardin, Garrett. n.d. “Tragedy of the Commons.” Econlib. Accessed March 12, 2020. https://www.econlib.org/ library/Enc/TragedyoftheCommons. html. “Honoring the Salmon | Yakama Nation Fisheries.” n.d. Accessed March 12, 2020. http://yakamafish-nsn.gov/ our-mission/honor-protect-restore. McClure, Michelle M., Stephanie M. Carlson, Timothy J. Beechie, George R. Pess, Jeffrey C. Jorgensen, Susan M. Sogard, Sonia E. Sultan, et al. 2008. “Evolutionary Consequences of Habitat Loss for Pacific Anadromous Salmonids.” Evolutionary Applications 1 (2): 300–318. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.17524571.2008.00030.x. “On the Water - Fishing for a Living,

1840-1920: Commercial Fishers > Columbia River Salmon.” n.d. Accessed March 12, 2020. https:// americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/ exhibition/3_6.html. Robbins, Paul. 2011. Political Ecology: A Critical Introduction. John Wiley & Sons. “Salmon Culture | Pacific Northwest Tribes, Columbia River Salmon.” n.d. Accessed March 12, 2020. https://www.critfc.org/salmon-culture/tribal-salmon-culture/. “Supreme Court in U.S. v. Winans Hands down First Native American Fishing Rights Case in 1905.” n.d. Accessed March 12, 2020. https:// www.historylink.org/File/2595. “Treaty of 1855 | Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.” n.d. Accessed March 12, 2020. https://ctuir.org/treaty-1855. “Types of Fish Passage Barriers.” n.d. Accessed March 12, 2020. https:// www.fws.gov/fisheries/fish-passage/ types-of-fish-passage-barriers.html. “US v. NICE United States Supreme Court.” 1916. Findlaw. Accessed March 12, 2020. https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supremecourt/241/591.html. “U.S. v. Washington.” 2015. April 13, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/enrd/ us-v-washington. “Washington v. United States.” n.d. SCOTUSblog. Accessed March 12, 2020. https://www.scotusblog.com/ case-files/cases/washington-v-united-states/. “Why Fish Passage Is Important. And Why We Should Care.” n.d. Accessed March 12, 2020. https://www.fws. gov/fisheries/fish-passage/why-fishpassage-is-important.html. Yakama Nation Fisheries. n.d. “Yakama Nation Fisheries.”

Leading the Fight Against SARS-CoV-2: Dr. Robert L. Murphy

by Kallista Zhuang

aking up at 5:45 a.m., Dr. Robert L. Murphy starts his days early. In just an hour and a half, he will hop on live television to answer coronavirus-related questions from viewers of Chicago’s WGN-TV morning news. Even after 236 consecutive days (as of February 6, 2021) of voluntarily participating in the new station’s coronavirus segment, Murphy never runs out of questions to answer. This isn’t surprising, as Murphy has decades of experience in global health as a researcher, doctor, professor, and institute director. However, similar to many accomplished academics, Murphy did not know he would end up here. In fact, after graduating high school, he first pursued aviation. With a family of engineers and jet pilots, Murphy’s choice to study aviation was nothing out of the ordinary. However, during the Vietnam War era, aviation opportunities were limited to the military. Instead, Murphy opted to go back to school to pursue his interest in science; this time, he would attend Boston University for a biology degree.

Unsure what to do with his biology degree, Murphy looked for future career paths and was drawn to medicine. Due to a physician shortage from the Vietnam War and other factors, there was a push to expand medical school spots and condense medical school curriculums. Thus, with only four weeks off per year, Murphy was able to graduate from Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine in 1978 within three years. Wanting to stay in Illinois, Murphy came to Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine for an internal medicine residency. It was during an infectious disease elective rotation at the Veterans Affairs hospital that he realized the appeal of studying infectious disease. Like detectives, infectious disease specialists work backwards to determine the roots of diseases. The profession employs critical thinking and is similar to solving a mystery, both of which appealed to Murphy. Following this interest, Murphy began a three-year infectious disease fellowship in 1981. Within his first week, the first case of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was reported: “I had read this little report MMWR, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from [Centers for Disease Control]. It comes out every week. They had talked about these 16 men. … A friend of mine had called me from the emergency room and said, ‘Hey! Maybe we have one of those cases here. This guy’s got a weird pneumonia and purple things on him.’ And sure enough, he was our first case. …We weren’t swamped with cases in that first year or two, but they grew exponentially.’’

Murphy unintentionally became an AIDS doctor and was treating a third of the AIDS patients in Illinois, he says. He recalls not only becoming the biggest admittor of AIDS patients at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital but also the biggest signer of death certificates due to the high death rates associated with AIDS. He felt that his physician role had physical constraints and combatted the epidemic indirectly, but he wanted to take a more active role in controlling the epidemic. Thus, over the next ten years, Murphy switched gears and shifted into HIV and clinical research, continuously testing different anti-viral treatments and diseases related to HIV. When he was caught in a bad ski accident in 1994 and found himself no longer able to physically look after patients, he shifted even deeper into research. Released in 1995, the triple or combination therapy (also known as the triple cocktail) was a drug therapy used to suppress HIV replication and dramatically slow AIDS

“Just as quickly as he had become the biggest admittor for AIDS patients, Murphy remembers admitting almost no patients in 1996.”

“There’s no place for politics with a pandemic and public health.” –Dr. Robert L. Murphy progression. Just as quickly as he had become the biggest admittor for AIDS patients, Murphy remembers admitting almost no patients in 1996. After attending a conference where Nelson Mandela spoke of the need for increased attention to the HIV crisis in Africa, Murphy became a visiting professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and started working in Africa. Through Harvard’s School of Public Health, he and few others were able to receive the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) grant under former President George W. Bush’s administration. To this day, the PEPFAR grant is the largest public health implementation plan. Working in Nigeria, Mali, and South Africa, he eventually became the country director for Nigeria and facilitated the treatmet of 175,000 people at 53 different sites, according to a Northwestern Magazine feature. The position was soon given to a Nigerian physician, and Murphy became a consultant for the country for handling the AIDS epidemic. Soon after, he became the administrative science director for Mali during the Ebola epidemic, running testing in Northern Guinea, which had thousands of cases, alongside Mali, which only had eight cases.

“I ha[d] never washed my hands with so much bleach before in my life,” he said.

Now, the next deadly infectious virus he is tackling is the SARS-CoV-2 that has caused the COVID-19 pandemic. With its overuse, the word “pandemic” has lost its sensationalism and has been equated to a bleak reality. But for Murphy, the death rate and intensity of this virus is nowhere near ordinary. This pandemic in particular has had the most impact on his career as a global health professional. Not only is the virus dangerous, but the handling of it has also cost many lives. “The United States has the worst statistics. We have the worst metrics because we’ve politicized the whole thing. It’s not supposed to be politicized; we’re all in this together. There’s no place for politics with a pandemic and public health. Unfortunately, that’s what happened,” Murphy explained.

Even with almost a dozen ongoing projects in Africa, Murphy still manages to make strides within the COVID-19 research realm locally. In Evanston, he is currently working with students on a viral dynamics study as a part of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics or “RADx,” a $500 million initiative launched by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to increase COVID-19 testing. As of February 2021, Murphy and his research group have tested dozens of devices and are currently letting students use a “Point of Care” (usually done at a doctor’s office) device at home to test for COVID-19. Within 15 minutes of using a nasal swab and buffer, students can find out whether they test positive or negative for the virus. This rapid antigen 78

test, BinaxNOW, was used as a supplement and temporary replacement for COVID-19 testing at Northwestern University during the shutdown of postal services from intense snowstorms and subzero temperatures in February 2021. As a leader and a part of the program planning committee in the Northwestern COVID-19 Vaccine Communication and Evaluation Network (CoVAXCEN), Murphy aims to create a space for important discussions surrounding the logistics of the COVID-19 vaccine. With the live segment on WGN every morning, Murphy addresses COVID-19 related questions from viewers and hopes to quell the misconceptions around the vaccine. According to a Pew Research Center study conducted in February 2021, 30% of the American public does not currently plan to get a vaccine. Although Murphy believes that there was mismanagement with the COVID-19 pandemic, he also believes the money put into the vaccine was useful and the majority of people in the last phase — college students — will be able to be vaccinated by summer 2021. He projects that a semblance of normality may be reached by fall of 2021, but that the disease will probably not go away for a few years, as other countries must control the disease, as well. With still so much to learn about the disease and how long the antibodies generated by the vaccine last, we may never entirely eradicate COVID-19. Murphy also warns of the possibility of another pandemic in the near future. Many of these natural disasters are uncontrollable, so our response to these events are crucial for maintaining and improving the well-being of the people. ■

“According to a Pew Research Center study conducted in February 2021, 30% of the American public does not currently plan to get a vaccine.”

Department of Psychology Faculty Adviser: Prof. Dan McAdams, Ph.D.

Stories of Regret in Late Midlife and Their Relation to Psychosocial Adaptation by Joy Hsu Abstract Previous research indicates that regret is a painful experience for people but often leads to enhanced self-meaning and personal growth. In this study, we employ a narrative approach to explore the architecture and coping methods of regret experiences in late midlife adults. We relate variation in regret narratives told by 163 adults aged 55–57 to psychosocial adaptation, conceptualized in terms of psychological well-being and Erik Erikson’s adult-developmental factors of generativity and ego-integrity. Two coders analyzed interview transcripts of regret narratives for numerous content categories, including type of regret, source of regret, degree of resolution of the regret (coming to terms with it, making peace with it, solving the problem), and hopefulness for the future. The qualitative results illustrate the diversity and richness of regret experiences in late midlife and flesh out the expression of 12 different coping methods for dealing with negative life experiences. The quantitative results provide empirical support for the hypothesis that degree of regret resolution is positively associated with overall psychosocial adaptation. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of the bidirectional relationship between regret resolution and psychosocial adaptation, as well as the role of regret experiences more generally in life stories and in late midlife development.

“ Narratives of regret may provide insight into the unique ways in which people make sense of difficult events in their lives, with potential implications for psychological development and adaptation.

Introduction While regret has been a topic of psychological study for over two decades, researchers have rarely focused on the kinds of personal stories people tell about their experiences of regret. Narratives of regret may provide insight into the unique ways in which people make sense of difficult events in their lives, with potential implications for psychological development and adaptation. Adopting a narrative approach,1 the current study examines how a sample of late midlife adults — approximately half of whom are white and half of whom are African American — narrate experiences of regret. Regret and Coping Regret is the aversive emotional and cognitive sense of loss due to an unfavorable outcome. According to Janet Landman, the six most common sources for regret concern education, career, romance, parenting, the self, and leisure.2 Not surprisingly, people tend to regret more strongly outcomes in which they assign blame to themselves rather than outcomes in which they place blame externally. When blame is external, people often feel as though the situation was out of their control,

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enabling them to avoid self-blame. When this happens, it becomes easier to resolve the cognitive dissonance that the self was responsible for the undesirable outcome.3 Researchers have also distinguished effects between omission regret and commission regret. Omission regret involves feeling regret for not taking a particular action, while commission regret involves feeling regret for taking a particular action.4 While commission regret may be more intense in the short term, omission regret is often described as having longterm negative consequence.5 Research investigating the transformation of negative experiences of regret in this manner has been focused on understanding how people construct, maintain, suppress, or cope with their regrets. Emotion-focused coping relies on avoiding or suppressing the negative emotions associated with regret or distracting oneself with positive emotions in order not to dwell on the regret. Problem-focused coping involves attempting to manage or solve the problem caused by the regret and working towards rectifying the unfavorable decision or outcome.6

1 Adler, J. M., Dunlop, W. L., Fivush, R., Lilgendahl, J., Lodi-Smith, J., McAdams, D. P., McLean, K. C., Pasupathi, M., & Syed, M. (2017). Research methods for studying narrative identity: A primer. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8, 519-527. 2 Landman, J. (1996). Social control of “negative” emotions: The case of regret. The emotions: Social, cultural, and biological dimensions, 89-116. 3 Ibid. 4 Dibonaventura, M. D., & Chapman, G. B. (2008). Do decision biases predict bad decisions? Omission bias, naturalness bias, and influenza vaccination. Medical Decision Making, 28(4), 532-539. 5 Gilovich, T., & Medvec, V. H. (1995). The experience of regret: what, when, and why. Psychological review, 102(2), 379. 6 Folkman, Susan, Richard S. Lazarus, Rand J. Gruen, and Anita DeLongis (1986), “Appraisal, Coping, Health Status, and Psychological Symptoms,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50 (3), 571-79.

Life Stories Researchers who have studied regret have generally not focused on how people narrate their regrets and how they incorporate them into their life stories and self-understanding. The current study, therefore, adopts a narrative approach to examine the different kinds of stories people tell about regrets in their lives and the implications of those stories for psychosocial adaptation.7,8 Many researchers who employ a narrative approach draw conceptually upon the idea of narrative identity. Narrative identity is a person’s internalized and evolving story for their life, incorporating a broad reconstruction of the past and anticipation of the future.9 As a feature of personality itself, narrative identity functions to provide people with a sense of purpose and unity in their lives, allowing them to form a temporally coherent account of how they have come to be who they are. Among the most important features of a person’s narrative identity are the stories they tell about the most difficult and challenging events in their life, including their regrets. As people move through midlife and later adulthood, they may reflect more heavily on their life narratives. It may become more common to contemplate past experiences, including regrets, in attempts to gain acceptance and understanding of their lives. Done successfully, this process of life review may bring a sense of satisfaction, coherency, serenity, and fulfillment, but those who are not able to reconcile difficult pasts or resolve

“Among the most important features of a person’s narrative identity are the stories he or she tells about the most difficult and challenging events in his or her life, including his or her regrets.” past conflicts may instead face excessive guilt, panic, or despair.10,11 Psychosocial Adaptation In considering psychosocial development in the second half of life, Erikson’s model of the stages of psychosocial development is especially instructive.12 In each stage of development, Erikson argued, the person faces a particular issue that is resolved in the dynamic between the needs of the self and the demands of society.13,14 The final two stages in Erikson’s scheme apply to midlife and late adulthood. In Generativity versus Stagnation, adults are faced with the virtue of Care — caring for future generations by leaving their mark on society, or by creating a better

7 McAdams, D. P. (2001). The psychology of life stories. Review of General Psychology, 5, 100-122. 8 McAdams, D. P., & McLean, K. C. (2013). Narrative identity. Current directions in psychological science, 22(3), 233-238. 9 Ibid. 10 Butler, R. N. (1963). The life review: An interpretation of reminiscence in the aged. Psychiatry, 26(1), 65-76. 11 Butler, R. N. (1974). Successful aging and the role of the life review. Journal of the American geriatrics Society, 22(12), 529-535. 12 Erikson E. H . (1963). Childhood and society (2nd Ed.). New York, NY: Norton. 13 Ibid. 14 Erikson E. H . (1982). The life cycle completed. New York, NY: Norton.

world and passing down their knowledge or resources to younger generations. Successfully resolving this stage leads to a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. Failure to resolve this stage results in a sense of disconnect from society and the feeling that the self does not matter and will not be remembered.15 The last stage of Erikson’s model is known as Ego-Integrity versus Despair. Older adults may contemplate the course of their lives and decide whether they have accomplished what they hoped to do and whether they are satisfied with the lives they led. Erikson argued that successfully resolving this stage leads to the virtue and and sense of acceptance and peace.16 It would be expected, therefore, that older people experiencing high levels of ego-integrity might have better resolved their regrets and be at peace with their lives. If the stage-related constructs of generativity and ego-integrity mark psychosocial developmental indices, a third more generic index may be overall psychological well-being.17 Psychological well-being refers broadly to the extent to which a person feels happy and satisfied with his or her life. It indeed makes intuitive sense that people who experience higher levels of overall well-being are more adapted to their current life stage, regardless of what that developmental stage is. In the present study, therefore, psychosocial adaptation is operationalized through self-report measures of generativity, ego-integrity, and psychological well-being. An important goal of this study is to provide descriptive information regarding stories of regret and to report similarities and differences in regret stories as reported

by men versus women, and African American participants versus white participants. We do not aim to test hypotheses regarding mean group differences based on gender or race. However, we do aim to test hypotheses regarding how thematic variation in regret narratives is related to self-reported psychosocial adaptation in late midlife adults. Since unresolved regrets and failures may prevent one from accepting the course of one’s life and achieving high levels of well-being, we hypothesize that the extent to which adults resolve or reconcile their regret challenges will be positively associated with overall psychosocial adaptation, as operationalized through generativity, ego-integrity, and psychological well-being. We expect the hypothesized relationship to be especially strong for the index of ego-integrity, which captures the broad idea of life acceptance. Similarly, we hypothesize that late midlife adults scoring high on psychosocial adaptation, will (1) attribute blame for regret experiences to more external rather than internal sources, and (2) maintain more hope for the future in the wake of their regrets.

Method Sample The data used for this study comes from the Foley Longitudinal Study of Adulthood (FLSA), which includes transcribed life-story interviews from 163 adults (64.42% female, 35.58% male) aged 55–57 in 2009–2010. Participants were recruited by a social-science research firm in the greater Chicago-Illinois area targeting white and African American adults. For the collected sample, 55.21% of participants were white and 42.94% were African

15 McAdams, D. P. (2019). “I Am What Survives Me”: Generativity and the self. In J. Frey and C. Vogler (Eds.), Self-Transcendence and virtue: Perspectives from philosophy, psychology, and theology (pp. 251-273). London: Routledge. 16 Erikson, The life cycle completed. 17 Keyes, C. L. M. (1998). Social well-being. Social psychology quarterly, 121-140.

American. Additionally, participants filled out online self-report measures before each interview to collect information on demographics and measures of generativity, ego-integrity, and psychological well-being, among a host of other psychological and social constructs. Measurement Generativity. Each participant completed the Loyola Generativity Scale before each interview to measure generativity.18 The scale measures concern about and activity involving the promotion of the well-being of future generations. Participants rate 20 items on a 4-point scale ranging from zero (never applies to me) to three (always applies to me). Ego-integrity. Each participant completed the Northwestern Ego Integrity Scale19 before each interview to measure ego-integrity. The scale measures both ego-integrity and despair as well as coherence, acceptance, and wholeness, and asks participants to rate 15 different items on a 6-point scale ranging from one (strongly disagree) to six (strongly agree). Psychological Well-Being. Each participant completed the 42-item scale of Psychological Well-Being (PWB) designed by Ryff and Keyes.20 The scale measures six different aspects of well-being: autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance. Participants rate 42 items on a 6-point scale ranging from one (strongly disagree) to six (strongly agree). Regret Narratives. In The Life Story Interview, participants were asked to de-

scribe their respective lives as if they were novels, being sure to name chapters, key scenes, characters, and themes. To sample the narration of regret, we considered the following question that was asked as a part of the larger interview: “Everybody experiences failure and regrets in life, even for the happiest and luckiest lives. Looking back over your entire life, please identify and describe the greatest failure or regret you have experienced. The failure or regret can occur in any area of your life – work, family, friendships, or any other area. Please describe the failure or regret and the way in which the failure or regret came to be. How have you coped with this failure or regret? What effect has this failure or regret had on you and your life story?”

Procedure A graduate student or postdoctoral fellow administered interviews lasting approximately two hours to each participant at three different points over a 10-year period using a standardized life-story protocol developed by Dan P. McAdams.21 Interview questions asked about the life stories of participants, including questions on best and worst memories, turning points, and regrets, but only the interview question on regret was used for data analysis. The coding scheme was developed by reading the first 40 interviews. Two independent coders assigned quantitative values for each item and recorded descriptive information about what the regret was about and what the methods of coping were.

18 McAdams, D. P., & de St. Aubin, E. (1992). A theory of generativity and its assessment through self-report, behavioral acts, and narrative themes in autobiography. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 1003–1015. 19 Janis, L., Canak, T., Machado, M. A., Green, R. M., & McAdams, D. P. (2011). Development and validation of the Northwestern Ego Integrity Scale. Evanston, IL.: Northwestern University. 20 Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 719-727. 21 McAdams, D. P. (2013). The redemptive self: Stories Americans live by (revised and expanded edition). New York: Oxford University Press.

1. Object of regret: The topic or object of the participant’s regret. Coding for this collects basic descriptive. Coders classified each participant’s response as fitting in at least one of the following categories, which were not mutually exclusive: romantic love or marriage, children, other family issues (e.g., parents, siblings, in-laws), friendships, career, financial issues, education, physical appearance, personality/character (personal traits), and other (list). 2. Omission versus commission: Whether participants have regrets of omission, meaning they regret not taking certain actions, or regrets of commission, meaning they regret taking certain actions. Like coding for object of regret, coding for omission and commission collects descriptive. Coders rated participant responses on a 3-point scale, with a score of one indicating a regret of omission, a score of two indicating a mix of commission and omission, or if it was indeterminate or could not be coded, and a score of three indicating a regret of commission (inter-rater reliability: r = 0.66). 3. Method of coping: The ways in which participants chose to cope with, deal with, resolve, or handle their regrets. Coding for method of coping collects descriptive information about the kinds, frequency, and effectiveness of the coping methods participants used. The following were the methods that participants used most often to cope with their regrets, which were not mutually exclusive: denial, ignoring the problem/issue, rationalization (explaining or finding an excuse), cognitive reframing (finding a good way to think about it), benefit finding (construing a positive meaning), develop-

ing goals, taking direct action to solve the problem, religion, social support (from family or friends), atonement, forgiveness, and rumination. 4. Degree of resolution: The degree to which participants are perceived to have resolved their regrets. Coding for degree of resolution allows for analysis of the first hypothesis. Coders rated participants on a 5-point scale, with one being low and five being high (inter-rater reliability: r = 0.59). 5. Internal versus external source of regret: Whether the source of regret is internal and it is perceived that the participants blame themselves for their regret, or if the source is external and it is perceived that the participants blame someone or something else for their regret. Coding for the source of regret allows for analysis of the first part of the second hypothesis. Coders rated participant responses on a 3-point scale, with a score of one indicating the regret is internal and caused by the self, and a score of three indicating the regret was caused by someone else, something else, or the environment (inter-rater reliability: r = 0.51). 6. Hopefulness for the future: The degree of overall optimism or pessimism that the subject expresses throughout the narrative. Coding for hopefulness for the future allows for analysis of the second part of the second hypothesis. Coders rated participant responses on a 5-point scale, with a score of one being low and five being high (inter-rater reliability: r = 0.55).

Results Taking scores for generativity (M = 43.16, SD = 8.88), ego-integrity (M = 4.32, SD = .66), and psychological well-being (M 85

T Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of Total Sample.

Mean

Standard Deviation

Minimum

Maximum

Generativity

43.16

8.88

17.00

58.00

Ego-Integrity

4.32

0.66

2.33

5.93

Psychological Well-Being

202.65

26.45

113.00

245.00

Omission vs. Commission

1.68

0.74

1.00

3.00

Internal vs. External

1.64

0.75

1.00

3.00

Degree of Resolution

2.87

0.98

1.00

3.00

Hopefulness

3.46

1.11

1.00

3.00

T Table 2. Descriptive Statistics Comparing White Adults and African American Adults.

White Adults

African American Adults

Mean

Standard Deviation

Mean

Standard Deviation

Generativity

41.16

8.76

45.54

8.52

Ego-Integrity

4.17

0.68

4.54

0.60

Psychological Well-Being

195.50

26.37

211.70

24.18

Omission vs. Commission

1.69

0.73

1.65

0.73

Internal vs. External

1.62

0.71

1.65

0.79

Degree of Resolution

2.92

1.04

2.81

0.90

Hopefulness

3.40

1.11

3.52

1.13

T Table 3. Descriptive Statistics Comparing Men and Women.

Men

Women

Mean

Standard Deviation

Mean

Standard Deviation

Generativity

42.40

8.82

43.48

8.93

Ego-Integrity

4.19

0.71

4.39

0.62

Psychological Well-Being

196.10

26.11

206.30

26.07

Omission vs. Commission

1.75

0.73

1.65

0.74

Internal vs. External

1.55

0.70

1.69

0.77

Degree of Resolution

2.66

0.94

2.98

0.98

Hopefulness

3.28

1.10

3.56

1.11

=202.65, SD =26.45), we converted them to Z scores and added them together in order to assign scores for each of the participants for the variable of psychosocial adaptation (M = -0.022, SD = 2.48). We found that scores for omission versus commission and internal versus external source of regret tended to be below the arithmetic midpoint, suggesting a slight tendency towards more regrets of omission rather than regrets of commission (M

= 1.68, SD = .74) and towards more regrets attributed to internal sources rather than external ones (M = 1.64, SD = .75). Similarly, scores of resolution (M = 2.87, SD = .98) were a bit below the midpoint, while scores of hopefulness (M = 3.46, SD = 1.11) were a bit above the midpoint. Table 1 displays the means, standard deviations, minimums, and maximums of scores of psychosocial adaptation, generativity, ego-integrity, psychological well-being,

T Table 4. Frequencies and Instances of Objects of Regret.

Object of Regret

Instances

Frequency

Career

24%

Education

23%

Marriage/Romantic Relationships

21%

Children/Parenting

17%

Family

Friendship

Financial Issues

Personal Character Trait

Other

T Table 5. Frequencies and Instances of Methods of Coping.

Method of Coping

Instances

Frequency

Rumination

32%

Direct Action

26%

Rationalization

24%

Cognitive Reframing

20%

Benefit Finding

18%

Ignoring the Regret

12%

Forgiveness

11%

Social Support

Religion

Atonement

Making Goals

Denial

degree of omission versus commission, degree of internal versus external source blame, degree of resolution, and hopefulness for the future, with respect to the overall sample, inclusive of white adults, African American adults, men, and women. African American adults (M = 1.06, SD = 2.13) scored significantly higher than white adults (M = -.78, SD = 2.46) on psychosocial adaptation, t(128) = 4.38, p < .001. Indeed, African American adults scored significantly higher than white adults on generativity (M = 45.54, SD = 8.52; M = 41.16, SD = 8.76), t(157) = 3.17, p < .01; ego-integrity (M = 4.54, SD = .60; M = 4.17, SD = .68), t(128) = 3.19, p < .01; and psychological well-being (M = 211.7, SD = 24.18; M = 195.5, SD = 26.37), t(158) = 4.01, p < .01. However, when examining the architecture of the regrets themselves, there were no significant group differences for regrets of omission and commission, source of regret, degree of resolution, or hopefulness for the future. Table 2 displays race differences. There were only group differences in gender in relation to psychological well-being, with women (M = 206.3, SD = 26.06) scoring significantly higher than men (M = 196.1, SD = 26.11), t(161) =2.39, p < .05. Similar to our findings with race, there were no significant group differences for regrets of omission and commission, source of regret, or degree of resolution. However, there was a trend towards women showing higher hopefulness for the future (M = 3.56, SD = 1.11; M = 3.28, SD = 1.10), t(147) = 1.92, p = .056. Table 3 displays gender differences. When examining participants’ objects of regret, we found that 24% had regrets of career choices, 23% had regrets of education, 21% expressed regrets in their marriage or romantic relationships, 88

17% regretted parenting or relationships with their children, 9% had regrets relating to other family members, 9% had regrets concerning friendships, 7% regretted financial issues, 6% regretted some personal character trait, and 3% had other regrets not included in our coding scheme. Table 4 displays the instances and frequencies of the different objects of regret. Similarly, when studying methods of coping, we found that 32% ruminated and excessively worried about their regret, 26% took direct action, 24% rationalized or explained away the regret, 20% utilized cognitive reframing to think about their regrets in a positive way, 18% found some benefit in their regret, 12% ignored the regret, 11% forgave themselves or others, 9% reached out for social support, 7% turned to religion, 5% atoned for their regret, 3% developed goals to assist with coping, and 3% utilized denial. Table 5 displays the instances and frequencies of the different methods of coping. Overall, we found strong support that psychosocial adaptation is related to degree of resolution. As predicted in our first hypothesis, we found a significant positive correlation between degree of resolution and psychosocial adaptation (r = .25, p < .01). In fact, there was a small but positive correlation between resolution of regret and all the variables that operationalized psychosocial adaptation, including generativity (r = .19, p < .05), ego-integrity (r = .19, p < .05), and psychological well-being (r = .25, p < .01). After running a partial correlation controlling for income, which was significantly positively correlated with degree of resolution (r = .27, p < .001), we found that degree of resolution was still significantly positively correlated with psychosocial adaptation (r = .26, p < .01). Essentially, findings indicate that late to

“The most common regrets in late to midlife adults are those relating to career decisions and education, followed by regrets concerning relationships with significant others and family members.” midlife adults who scored high on self-report measures of psychosocial adaptation, generativity, ego-integrity, and psychological well-being tended to tell stories of regret in which their regrets were more resolved than adults who scored lower on these measures. Our second hypothesis was only partially supported in that while there was a significant positive correlation between psychosocial adaptation and hopefulness for the future (r = .24, p < .01), there was no significant correlation between psychosocial adaptation and attribution of external regrets. These findings indicate that late to midlife adults who scored higher on self-report measures of psychosocial adaptation tended to tell their stories of regret with more hope for the future or belief that the future would be more favorable than the past and present.

Discussion Turning to understand how regret is related to psychosocial adaptation, we hypothesized that the degree of resolution of regret is positively associated with psychosocial adaptation. This hypothesis was supported, as not only was degree of resolution positively associated with psychosocial adaptation, but it was also positively associated with generativity, ego-integrity, and psychological well-being. However, these associations were all small, and the largest relationship was not

with ego-integrity, as predicted. We had hypothesized that ego-integrity would have the strongest correlation with degree of resolution since at its essence ego-integrity is about acceptance of one’s life and life choices, which aligns with resolving regrets. This hypothesis was not supported, as psychological well-being had a stronger association with degree of resolution than ego-integrity, although this difference was not significant. For our second hypothesis, we predicted that psychosocial adaptation would be positively associated with both attribution of external blame and hopefulness for the future. However, we found that psychosocial adaptation was only positively associated with hopefulness. These results show that blaming the self as the source of regret does not have a significant relationship with psychosocial adaptation. Rather, the amount of hope for the future plays a role in determining this. This was as expected, as previous findings have shown that having hope is linked to psychosocial adaptation, especially in patients under medical care.22 As applied to late to midlife adults, hope may be key in securing high psychosocial adaptation because it may allow people to accept the possibility of a better future in which the regret is less salient or relevant, giving them something to work towards and expect. Results from this study indicate that the most common regrets in late to midlife

22 Livneh, H., & Martz, E. (2014). Coping strategies and resources as predictors of psychosocial adaptation among people with spinal cord injury. Rehabilitation psychology, 59(3), 329.

adults are those relating to career decisions and education, followed by regrets concerning relationships with significant others and family members. This may be the case due to the demographics of the participants, who are all baby boomers. Indeed, according to the Pew Research Center, only 24% of baby boomers received a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 39% of millennials.23 Additionally, we found that the most common method of coping — or rather handling the regret — was rumination. In essence, our findings showed that a large number of participants relied on rumination, therefore failing to cope with the regret, rather than utilizing healthy methods of coping. Of those who were able to cope with their regrets, the second and third most common methods were using direct action and rationalization, respectively. Direct action is a kind of action-focused coping and involves actively doing something to reverse the regret, such as going back to school to complete a bachelor’s degree that one regretted not finishing. Rationalization, on the other hand, is more cognitive and involves explaining away the regret and justifying it to the self in order to alleviate the negative effect caused by regret. Since the most common regrets of this sample were related to career and education, problem-focused coping may have been the most appropriate since many of these regrets were able to be reversed or reconciled by taking action to undo the cause of the regret, such as by finishing college education. Discrepancies in the number of participants who produced self-reported

measures of generativity, ego-integrity, and psychological well-being were a limitation to the study. Due to the nature of the FLSA study and dataset, measures for ego-integrity were not set in place until later in the longitudinal study. As a result, while 163 participants produced scores for generativity and psychosocial well-being, only 133 participants produced scores for ego-integrity. Therefore, there were only 132 standardized scores for psychosocial adaptation, as it was necessary for each participant to have all three scores in order to produce scores for psychosocial adaptation. Additionally, only 149 participants were able to articulate regret narratives, as the others claimed they had no regrets in their lives. Findings from this study will provide insight into adult personality development and provide an overarching framework on how regret influences social and personality development. As midlife adults transition into late adulthood, some may have difficulty adjusting and display lower generativity, lower ego-integrity, or lower psychological well-being. Especially as adults belonging to Generation X reach late adulthood, more and more will find themselves facing their regret narratives. Although still far off in the future, millennials, who are currently the largest generation according to Pew Research Center, will likely also grapple with similar struggles as they reach mid to late adulthood.24 As a result, forming a strong understanding of how regret stories influence this life stage transition can be key in helping struggling adults overcome these developmental obstacles. Future studies should

23 Bialik, K., & Fry, R. (2019, February 14). How Millennials compare with prior generations. Retrieved May 16, 2020, from https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/millennial-life-how-young-adulthood-today-compares-with-prior-generations/ 24 Fry, R. (2020, April 28). Millennials overtake Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation. Retrieved May 16, 2020, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/28/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers-as-americas-largest-generation/

explore the direction of causality between these associations, as it is currently uncertain whether low psychosocial adaptation leads to regret stories with lower regret resolution, or vice versa. Though there is much work to do, the findings from the

current study and other similar studies on generativity, ego-integrity, and psychological well-being such as the one proposed may inform research in clinical settings in developing interventions for late to midlife adults struggling with psychosocial adaptation. ■

Bibliography Adler, J. M., Dunlop, W. L., Fivush, R., Lilgendahl, J., Lodi-Smith, J., McAdams, D. P., McLean, K. C., Pasupathi, M., & Syed, M. (2017). Research methods for studying narrative identity: A primer. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8, 519-527. Bialik, K., & Fry, R. (2019, February 14). How Millennials compare with prior generations. Retrieved May 16, 2020, from https://www. pewsocialtrends.org/essay/millennial-life-how-young-adulthood-today-compares-with-prior-generations/ Butler, R. N. (1963). The life review: An interpretation of reminiscence in the aged. Psychiatry, 26(1), 65-76. Butler, R. N. (1974). Successful aging and the role of the life review. Journal of the American geriatrics Society, 22(12), 529-535. Dibonaventura, M. D., & Chapman, G. B. (2008). Do decision biases predict bad decisions? Omission bias, naturalness bias, and influenza vaccination. Medical Decision Making, 28(4), 532-539. Erikson E. H . (1963). Childhood and society (2nd Ed.). New York, NY: Norton. Erikson E. H . (1982). The life cycle completed. New York, NY: Norton.

Folkman, Susan, Richard S. Lazarus, Rand J. Gruen, and Anita DeLongis (1986), “Appraisal, Coping, Health Status, and Psychological Symptoms,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50 (3), 571-79. Fry, R. (2020, April 28). Millennials overtake Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation. Retrieved May 16, 2020, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/28/ millennials-overtake-baby-boomers-as-americas-largest-generation/ Gilovich, T., & Medvec, V. H. (1995). The experience of regret: what, when, and why. Psychological review, 102(2), 379. Janis, L., Canak, T., Machado, M. A., Green, R. M., & McAdams, D. P. (2011). Development and validation of the Northwestern Ego Integrity Scale. Evanston, IL.: Northwestern University. Keyes, C. L. M. (1998). Social well-being. Social psychology quarterly, 121-140. Landman, J. (1996). Social control of “negative” emotions: The case of regret. The emotions: Social, cultural, and biological dimensions, 89-116. Livneh, H., & Martz, E. (2014). Coping strategies and resources as predictors of psychosocial adaptation among

people with spinal cord injury. Rehabilitation psychology, 59(3), 329. McAdams, D. P. (2001). The psychology of life stories. Review of General Psychology, 5, 100-122. McAdams, D. P. (2013). The redemptive self: Stories Americans live by (revised and expanded edition). New York: Oxford University Press. McAdams, D. P. (2019). “I Am What Survives Me”: Generativity and the self. In J. Frey and C. Vogler (Eds.), Self-Transcendence and virtue: Perspectives from philosophy, psychology, and theology (pp. 251-273). London: Routledge. McAdams, D. P., & de St. Aubin, E. (1992). A theory of generativity and its assessment through self-report, behavioral acts, and narrative themes in autobiography. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 1003–1015. McAdams, D. P., & McLean, K. C. (2013). Narrative identity. Current directions in psychological science, 22(3), 233-238. Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 719-727.

The Dearborn Observatory in 1889. University Archives, Northwestern University Libraries. (1889). Dearborn Observatory, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. Retrieved from https://dc.library.northwestern.edu/ items/4257692e-8d56-4593-b316-1a57042e6716

FEATURE

A Brief History of the Dearborn Observatory By Andrew Laeuger A brief history of the Dearborn Observatory, from its historic rise to its quiet and unsuspecting presence on campus today.

Hidden in the cove formed by the Technological Institute, Silverman Hall, and the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, the Dearborn Observatory lies secluded from Northwestern’s skyline. Here, it serves as a reminder of the University’s historical role in observational astronomy. The Observatory began not as a project funded by bureaucratic grant sources nor by University budget decisions, but instead out of pure public interest in the beauty of the heavens. Documents from the establishment of Dearborn tell how money was raised under the condition that donation size would correspond to a patron’s level of access to the telescope. For

FEATURE

example, a donation of $100 in the 1860s would earn one lifetime access to the observation room. In that same spirit of enthusiasm for astronomy, the Chicago Astronomical Society would not settle for anything less than the best. One of the founding members of the Society, Thomas Hoyne, traveled from Chicago to Boston in four days to purchase what was, at the time, the largest refracting lens ever produced. The polished piece of glass had a 1.5-foot diameter! Equipped with one of the most powerful refracting telescopes in the world, the Observatory became effective at producing high-resolution images of the night sky on photographic plates. This precision allowed for two types of 93

astronomical measurements to be carried out with great accuracy: the determination of the distance from Earth to a star based on its parallax1 and the detection of double stars.2 Throughout its lifetime, Dearborn has accounted for the discovery of more than 100 binary stars and thousands of long-exposure observations of dim red stars.3 It has also improved precision in models of the positions of objects orbiting throughout the solar system.4 One of the most famous discoveries from the lens that was installed in Dearborn’s main telescope was the detection of Sirius B. While testing the lens prior to its sale to Hoyne, lensmaker Alvin Graham Clark became the first person to observe that Sirius A, the brightest star in the night sky, has a companion (Sirius B) that is about 10,000 times dimmer than itself. Additionally, in the early 1930s, astronomers used photographs taken by the Dearborn telescope of the dwarf planet Eros as it completed a nearEarth pass to conduct one of the most

complete measurements of the parallax of the sun to date. However, as early as the late 1910s, ambient light pollution began affecting astronomical data collection at the Observatory. Then-Director Philip Fox began to grow wary of the proliferation of Chicago’s presence in the night sky, citing the inexorable spread of smoke and electric lights as the city continued to expand. Even today, new sources of light pollution, like the clusters of StarLink satellites launched by SpaceX starting in 2019, make the work of ground-based astronomical observatories ever more difficult. One can only hope that we begin to appreciate the role of astronomy in both the ancient stories that have inspired our modern culture and the contemporary discoveries that drive us towards new understandings of the universe. Then, with steps to reduce light pollution and bring new sources of funding to this all-important science, observational astronomy may once again thrive in Chicago, and Dearborn may bring its guests the same wonder it brought 150 years ago. ■

1 A parallax is the slight change in a star’s location in the sky based on our own position in our orbit about the sun. 2 Double start are stars which when seen through our eyes appear as one bright spot, but are actually composed of a pair of stars orbiting about each other. 3 With enough searching, one can dig up the hundreds of pages of meticulously catalogued observations, dating back to the first years of the 20th century, which the observatory’s directors published in hopes of passing on all that they learned to the next generation of astronomers. 4 Today, the original Dearborn refracting telescope has a home in Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, where the public can continue to admire the skill and craftsmanship required to assemble such a powerful and elegant instrument.

FEATURE

Department of Legal Studies Faculty Adviser: Prof. Joanna Grisinger, Ph.D.

“Territory Folks Should Stick Together”: The Role of the Law and the “Other” in Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma!

by Taris Hoffman Oklahoma! was written with the intention of boosting morale and celebrating the strength of a unified United States of America post-World War II.1 The play tells the story of a young woman named Laurey Williams who is being courted by the heroic cowboy Curly McLain and her menacing farmhand Jud Fry. When Laurey chooses Curly as her husband, Jud returns on their wedding day to dispute the match, and the encounter escalates to violence, leaving Jud dead at the hand of Curly. A trial ensues in which Curly is found not guilty, and Curly and Laurey come of age with the Oklahoma Territory as it moves towards statehood. This thesis analyzes the role of the law in Daniel Fish’s revival of Oklahoma! in order to discern how the production portrays the legal repercussions of violence towards the “other”

and to examine how legal proceedings are represented in contemporary pop culture. By subverting traditional interpretations of Oklahoma!, Fish uses a piece about the greatness of an idealized America to implicate audiences in and express displeasure with the corruption in the American legal system, a directorial stance not often taken in artistic renderings of court cases.2 During the historical era of Oklahoma!, the Oklahoma Territory had a strong Black presence and frequent racial conflict. The post-Reconstruction era saw many African Americans emigrate to the Oklahoma Territory and attempt to form allBlack settlements in areas that were previously inhabited by mostly white and Native American populations.3 While emigration was happening in large numbers and other Black settlements were developing

1 Kirle, “Reconciliation, Resolution, and the Political Role of Oklahoma! in American Consciousness,” 251-274.; Bond, “Still Dreaming of Paradise: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, South Pacific, and Postwar America.”; Filmer, Rimmer, and Walsh, “Oklahoma!: Ideology and Politics in the Vernacular Tradition of the American Musical,” 381-395. 2 Papke, “The American Courtroom Trial: Pop Culture, Courthouse Realities, and the Dream World of Justice,” 919-920, 931.; Kuzina, “The Social Issue Courtroom Drama as an Expression of American Popular,” 94-95.; Kohm, “The People’s Law versus Judge Judy Justice: Two Models of Law in American Reality-Based Courtroom TV,” 725. 3 Catherine Lynn Adams, “Africanizing the Territory: The History, Memory and Contemporary Imagination of Black Frontier Settlements in the Oklahoma Territory.,” (PhD diss., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2010), 9-11.

across the United States of America, these all-Black communities were particularly concentrated in the Oklahoma Territory.4 White popular culture mocked these Black separatist communities and committed acts of racial violence against them. However, despite the racial backlash, these settlements continued to grow and make both economic and political advancements.5 White settlers and Native Americans, feeling threatened, took legal action against these African American settlements, attempting to enact laws that would limit the civil rights of the Black population, make segregation legal, and discourage any further immigration.6 When statehood was established, “Black codes” and Jim Crow laws were put into place, causing political and social conditions to worsen for the Black settlers and thus ending the All-Black Town Movement, as there were no longer opportunities for African Americans to create a better life for themselves in Black settlements.7 These all-Black settlements would have existed during Oklahoma!, but they are not acknowledged by the script or traditionally considered in casting. Daniel Fish’s production of Oklahoma! acknowledges the historical Black presence in the Oklahoma Territory with its casting. The pared-down cast of 12 consists of 10

central characters, one ensemble member (Mike), and one dancer (Lead Dancer).8 This cast is diverse in race and physical ableness, a choice that is Fish’s alone, as it is not designated by the script.9 The show’s heroine Laurey Williams is played by Rebecca Naomi Jones, a biracial woman, and Gabrielle Hamilton, a Black woman, represents Laurey’s inner thoughts during the Dream Ballet as the Lead Dancer.10 Additionally, the federal marshal Cord Elam and the ensemble member Mike are both played by Black men.11 The community’s matriarch (Aunt Eller), judge (Andrew Carnes), local “Persian” peddler (Ali Hakim), hero (Curly McLain), villain (Jud Fry), and other members (Will Parker, Ado Annie Carnes, Gertie Cummings) are all cast as white men and women. The 1955 Oklahoma! film features traditional casting and expected characterization. The 31-person ensemble is comprised of white or white passing actors that all “radiate good cheer … except for the baleful Jud.”12 The swarm of traditionally beautiful actors are able to create a visually codified ensemble, as they all resemble each other. This differs from Fish’s production, in which each actor functions as an individual with a unique point of view. Fish’s retelling also chooses to infuse race more

4 Adams, “Africanizing the Territory: The History, Memory and Contemporary Imagination of Black Frontier Settlements in the Oklahoma Territory.,” 11-12. 5 Adams, “Africanizing the Territory: The History, Memory and Contemporary Imagination of Black Frontier Settlements in the Oklahoma Territory.,” 11-14. 6 Adams, “Africanizing the Territory: The History, Memory and Contemporary Imagination of Black Frontier Settlements in the Oklahoma Territory.,” 14-15.; Contested Territory: Whites, Native Americans, and African Americans in Oklahoma, 1865-1907 (1996) by Murray R. Wickett covers the legal battles between these racial groups. 7 Adams, “Africanizing the Territory: The History, Memory and Contemporary Imagination of Black Frontier Settlements in the Oklahoma Territory.,” 17. 8 Program for Roger and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma at the Circle in the Square Theatre, New York. Playbill, 2020 9 “Oklahoma! Musical Script,” The Musical Lyrics, accessed January 8th, 2020, https://www.themusicallyrics.com/b/348-broadway-musical-scripts/3611-oklahoma-musical-script.html. 10 Program for Roger and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma at the Circle in the Square Theatre, New York. Playbill, 2020.; Ellen Gamerman, “‘American Idiot’s’ Rebecca Naomi Jones on Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong, and Singing in Her Underwear,” The Wall Street Journal, April 2, 2010, https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/04/02/american-idiots-rebecca-naomi-jones-on-green-day-billie-joearmstrong-and-singing-in-her-underwear/. 11 Program for Roger and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma at the Circle in the Square Theatre, New York. Playbill, 2020. 12 “Oklahoma! (1955),” IMDB, accessed January 8, 2020, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048445/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0.; William K. Zinsser, “‘Oklahoma!,’” Herald Tribune, October 11, 1955.

prominently into the storytelling by putting a Black woman and her sexuality at the center of the narrative and giving a Black man a leadership role within the community as a federal marshal. In reviews of the film, Shirley Jones is described as playing Laurey to perfection as the “epitome of well scrubbed Midwestern girldom” with the film “[capturing] the light in her eyes … and the horror that clouds her face when Jud gets too close. Those are her two main emotions, but they may well be the only two that the role calls for, and Miss Jones is an engaging heroine.”13 Rebecca Naomi Jones completely rejects this interpretation with her Laurey, as reviews describe her as “arresting, determined, and smart. She is presented unvainly, in jeans and a plaid shirt, but she radiates confidence and beauty, a notable contrast to Curly’s ambling peacock.”14 Jones gives Laurey a point of view and a voice in Fish’s production, as she experiences a large range of conflicting human emotions. Laurey’s love interest is also subject to reinterpretation, as reviews of the revival argue that he is

Curly is not seen in the 1955 film. Instead, Gordon MacRae is a “wonderfully relaxed and unaffected” hero who is “not ... everybody’s idea of a raw-boned cowboy, but he is all smiles with exuberance.”16 MacRae’s Curly is a traditional hero who is in control of his actions, and he establishes himself as a trustworthy protector. As with Laurey, Aunt Eller projects more strength in the revival than the 1955 film. Charlotte Greenwood’s Aunt Eller is described as “rangy,” with “real compassion to the robust rusticity of the role,” while Mary Testa’s Aunt Eller is “rough,” and “authoritative.”17 She is no longer a simple, delicate maternal figure, but a significant matriarch with control over the community. The shift in casting and characterization differentiates Fish’s production from its predecessors and allows it to engage with America’s relationship with race and the law. The characterization of the racialized foils Ali Hakim and Jud Fry is significant to the interpretation of the legal elements in Oklahoma!. The two men’s actions define them as distinct opposites. Ali Hakim exists as a sympathetic, comedic figure, not your usual solid slab of beefcake and although the traveling peddler is an with a strapping tenor … this lad of the outsider, he is ultimately accepted into the prairies is wiry and wired, so full of unchanneled sexual energy you expect community because of his willingness to him to implode. … Doing his best to assimilate. Aunt Eller initially rejects his project a confidence he doesn’t entirely attempt to align himself with her when she feel, to the accompaniment of a downsays, “I ain’t yer Aunt Eller! Don’t you call home guitar, he seems so palpably me Aunt Eller, you little wart. I’m mad at young. As is often true of big boys with you,” and criticizes the quality of his produnsettled hormones, he also reads as ucts, but she still humors him, eventually just a little dangerous.15 relenting and saying, “Bring yer trappin’s This charged and immature version of inside; mebbe I c’n find you sump’n to eat 13 Zinsser, “‘Oklahoma!.’” 14 Sarah Larson, “Daniel Fish’s Dark Take on Oklahoma!,” New Yorker, October 15, 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/22/daniel-fishs-dark-take-on-oklahoma. 15 Ben Brantley, “A Smashing ‘Oklahoma!’ Is Reborn in the Land of Id,” New York Times, April 7, 2019, https://www.nytimes. com/2019/04/07/theater/oklahoma-review.html. 16 Bosley Crowther, “The Screen: ‘Oklahoma!’ Is Okay,” New York Times, October 11, 1955.; Zinsser, “‘Oklahoma!.’” 17 Crowther, “The Screen: ‘Oklahoma!’ Is Okay.”; Larson, “Daniel Fish’s Dark Take on Oklahoma!.”; Brantley, A Smashing ‘Oklahoma!’ Is Reborn in the Land of Id.”

“

Each design element in Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma! rejects the abundant, rose-tinted depiction in the [1955] film, setting the trial scene up to be an impactful reflection of reality.

and drink.”18 Despite being described as “Persian” in the script, Ali Hakim is clearly coded as a Jewish character by Rogers and Hammerstein.19 Historically, many Jews, specifically of German descent, were peddlers on the American frontier, and his last name is most likely derived from the Yiddish word “hacham,” meaning “clever man.”20 Despite possessing racialized traits that “other” him, Ali Hakim is constantly inserting himself into the community, and by the end of the play, he has fully assimilated, as he marries one of the central characters, Gertie Cummings.21 Ali Hakim is a racialized “other” that actively assimilates into the community by complying with the community’s moral code in both the 1955 film and the Daniel Fish revival, and he is accepted by the farmers and the cowmen as Oklahoma becomes a state. The character of Jud Fry starkly contrasts to that of Ali Hakim, but is still coded as a racialized “other” by Rogers and Hammerstein. Jud lacks Ali Hakim’s theatricality and eagerness to assimilate, with a performance grounded in realism and

”

isolation from the rest of the community.22 Both Jud and Ali Hakim are drifters, as a farm hand and a peddler respectively, but Jud is perceived as a “cultural outsider.”23 While Ali Hakim is coded as a “white” immigrant, Jud is characterized as a “dark” man.24 Stage directions refer to Jud as a “burly, scowling man,” “bullet-colored,” and “growly.”25 In reviews that address the film adaptation, he is referred to as “dark and vengeful,” “a meaty brute with an unplaceable accent,” and “less degenerate and little more human and pitiful than he is usually made.”26 The unshaven, dirtsmeared villain is both visually coded as a racialized “other” in his disheveled, dark appearance that directly contrasts with the clean-cut, bright ensemble, and also aurally, as his accent in the film differentiates him as an ambiguously racialized figure separate from the all-American community.27 He is also geographically separated from the community, as he does not live in the pristine house28 of his employers Aunt Eller and Laurey, but in a smokehouse with the rats and his collection of pornographic

18 The Musical Lyrics, “Oklahoma! Musical Script.” 19 The Musical Lyrics, “Oklahoma! Musical Script.”; Most, “‘We Know We Belong to the Land’: The Theatricality of Assimilation in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!,” 82. 20 Most, “‘We Know We Belong to the Land’: The Theatricality of Assimilation in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!,” 84. 21 The Musical Lyrics, “Oklahoma! Musical Script.” 22 Most, “‘We Know We Belong to the Land’: The Theatricality of Assimilation in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!,” 81. 23 Larson, “Daniel Fish’s Dark Take on Oklahoma!.” 24 Most, “‘We Know We Belong to the Land’: The Theatricality of Assimilation in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!,” 81. 25 The Musical Lyrics, “Oklahoma! Musical Script.” 26 Zinsser, “‘Oklahoma!.’”; Larson, “Daniel Fish’s Dark Take on Oklahoma!.”; Crowther, “The Screen: ‘Oklahoma!’ Is Okay.” 27 Oklahoma!. Directed by Fred Zinnemann. Los Angeles, California: Rogers & Hammerstein Productions, 1995: 16:00, 19:57. 28 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 19:20.

images lining the wall.29 Jud is not only an outsider but also a deviant. With his production, Fish keeps these “othering” traits of isolation, sexual aggression, poverty, and filth as an undercurrent of Jud’s characterization but also layers in moments of sympathy for Jud, as he “is played with great sensitivity and quaking instability by the lean, fair Vaill. This complicates him; he could be your high-school crush, with a frisson of Kurt Cobain.”30 This iteration of Jud possesses a “charismatic, hungry loneliness to the part that’s guaranteed to haunt your nightmares,” and plays to the humanity of the character instead of the villainy.31 By strengthening the sympathy for Jud, the trial of Curly, his murderer, becomes a significant event in the play instead of a procedural roadblock to overcome to achieve the happy ending. The design elements of Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma! also diverge from traditional expectations and allow audiences to view this show as a part of the real, contemporary world that they can actively engage with. While reviews describe the 1955 film as “gay to look at,”32 Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma! is “staged plainly.”33 Instead of beautiful party gowns, colorful neckerchiefs,34 and billowing suede chaps,35 designer Terese Wadden takes a contemporary direction with the costumes. Distressed denim, crop tops, flannel, and skin-tight, well-worn leather chaps adorn Fish’s ensemble. Even their party items are simple, functional, and contemporary, with the women donning apparently handmade canvas dresses and the men swapping their flannel work shirts for Jericho western shirts. Instead

of creating another magical world of whimsy and beauty, Wadden’s costumes ground the play in a gritty sense of reality. The harsh lighting choices made by designer Scott Zielinski contribute to this mood. The house lights are up for almost the entirety of the show, except for a few moments of complete darkness and some green- and red-outs. The uniform lighting throughout the audience and playing space creates a sense of community, encouraging audience members to interact with each other as well as the actors. Instead of experiencing a theatrical experience from a distance, the line between actor and audience becomes blurred. The set design is also minimalistic, featuring only a few picnic tables and chairs identical to the ones that serve as seating for the onstage audience members, a minimalistic sepia-toned backdrop loosely evoking the Oklahoma plain, guns ominously hanging on the walls, and multicolored foil fringe strung up across the theater’s ceiling. Each design element in Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma! rejects the abundant, rose-tinted depiction in the film, setting the trial scene up to be an impactful reflection of reality. The specific design elements in the final scene of Fish’s Oklahoma! further diverge from tradition and contribute to the messaging and emotional intensity of the production. When Jud enters at the beginning of the scene, he has on an ill-fitting, worn brown suit. This is the first time Jud has appeared on stage without his ragged base costume of old boots, jeans, and a tattered flannel, and this shift in physical appearance establishes a sense

29 Most, “‘We Know We Belong to the Land’: The Theatricality of Assimilation in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!,” 82. 30 Larson, “Daniel Fish’s Dark Take on Oklahoma!.” 31 Brantley, A Smashing ‘Oklahoma!’ Is Reborn in the Land of Id.” 32 Zinsser, “‘Oklahoma!.’” 33 Larson, “Daniel Fish’s Dark Take on Oklahoma!.” 34 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 1:35:13. 35 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 27:05.

“No one speaks for Jud at this trial, alluding to historical instances when white men could kill Black men with impunity.” of rehabilitation and cultivates ethos. In the 1955 film, Jud dons a filthy costume of a once-white, short-sleeved henley with a deep v-neck, work pants, heavy boots, a belt, and suspenders,36 changing into a mismatched shirt and vest when taking Laurey to the dance.37 During the scene in which he is murdered, Jud is again filthy. He has removed his vest, his party shirt is unbuttoned with his sleeves rolled up, and he is still wearing his work pants and boots. His appearance closely resembles his initial costume, signifying regression, and it supports the subtext that Jud deserves his death.38 Another significant design element in Fish’s Oklahoma! is Laurey and Curly’s wedding clothes. At the beginning of the wedding scene, they are joyous and pure newlyweds wearing white. However, when Curly shoots Jud, the pair is sprayed in fake blood, completely tarnishing the cleanly white garments. The murder of Jud has tainted this new matrimony, physically marking both Laurey and Curly as guilty 36 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 16:55. 37 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 1:32:18. 38 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 2:19:32. 39 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 2:19:54. 40 Ibid. 41 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 2:24:28. 42 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 2:18:39. 43 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 2:23:15.

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parties, and they remain in these clothes during the trial scene in which they manipulate the law. In the film, there is no gore or blood depicted, and Laurey’s and Curly’s costumes remain unscathed, neither of them carrying the emotional burden of Jud’s death.39 The various lighting choices made in the film and Fish’s revival both hold significance as well. During the post-wedding encounter with Jud in the film, it is a dark and shadowy night, obscuring the heroic Curly’s vision and resulting in Jud falling on his own knife.40 In Fish’s version, both the stage and house lights are up when Curly shoots Jud and is tried for murder, implying that Curly took a much more active role in Jud’s demise and involving the audience as witnesses and ultimately excusers of the crime. After being found not guilty in the film, Laurey and Curly literally and figuratively emerge from the darkness and step into the bright sunlight as they begin their lives together.41 The lighting design in Fish’s revival emphasizes Curly’s culpability while the film’s design detracts from his guilt. Similarly, Fish takes a minimalistic approach to sound design, with the deafening gunshot being the only distinct noise in the calculated final portion of the play, where the movie leans on the aural chaos that ensues42 during and after43 Jud’s murder. Both the set in the stage and the film version indicate to audiences that they are being invited to view something private, but the two portrayals have different degrees of intimacy. During the trial in the film adaptation, audiences are given a window into the home, a private

space.44 In Fish’s version, the set includes the audience as the attendees of the trial, as the cast shares picnic tables with the audience members. The specific design choices made in the final moments of Fish’s Oklahoma! create sympathy for Jud, emphasize Curly’s autonomy in murdering him, and actively invite audiences to engage in the scene’s heightened emotional intensity. The staging of Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma! is rich in nuance and meaning, revealing much about the production’s point of view about the law. The show is performed on a thrust stage, which extends into the audience on three sides, with the audience sitting in the theater’s built-in seats as well as at picnic tables that line two sides of the stage. Instead of a traditional orchestra positioned out of sight in a pit, the re-arranged score is played by a seven-piece folk and bluegrass-inspired ensemble that sits on the stage and interacts with the actors freely, creating a sense of reality and cultural authenticity. At intermission, all audience members are given chili and cornbread, further strengthening the sense of community and camaraderie in the space. The thrust stage and close proximity to the actors mean that audience members are constantly interacting with each other or the actors via eye contact or even direct address. The seating, the acknowledgement of the existence of the band, and the presentation of a shared meal for the show’s attendees ground the production in a sense of reality and allow bonds to develop between actors and audience members. These staging elements create an overwhelming sense of intimacy

and community. Audiences are adopted by what feels like a real community as opposed to watching a theatrical spectacle from an emotional and physical distance. Involving audiences implicates them in events of the play and encourages a personal stake in the legal elements. The 1955 film adaptation of Oklahoma! shares very few staging similarities to Daniel Fish’s revival during its last few scenes. During a good-natured shivaree,45 Jud returns to the farm and begins lighting haystacks on fire, including the one that Laurey and Curly are perched upon, as he laughs manically. Curly acts quickly, pushing Laurey off the haystack to safety and then jumping off the haystack himself, knocking Jud to the ground.46 Once Curly sits up, he realizes that Jud has fallen on his own knife and is dead.47 The men encircle Curly and Jud, attempting to help any way they can and rushing to bring Jud to a doctor.48 The trial then occurs, and the entire community piles into Aunt Eller and Laurey’s modest dining room. This creates a claustrophobic, frenetic stage picture as the cast huddles around the table where Judge Carnes is sitting to shout, laugh, and interject their personal biases.49 The blocking of these scenes emphasizes Jud’s culpability, as he instigates a life-threatening, overwhelming event in which Curly is forced to respond instinctively. Curly’s actions are rational given the circumstances and would not have resulted in death had Jud not been holding a knife. The community witnessed this event, so the trial does not hold significance, as they had already decided that Curly would receive the “not

44 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 2:21:56. 45 A noisy mock serenade for newlyweds. 46 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 2:19:54. 47 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 2:20:12. 48 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 2:20:26. 49 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 2:21:38.

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“The power struggle between the Black and white members of the ensemble and the eventual silencing of the people of color ‘others’ them collectively.” guilty” verdict. Additionally, community members made their best effort to save Jud, getting him immediately to the doctor. No one in the community feels responsibility for the death of Jud, so Curly’s trial is not treated as a weighty event in the film. The staging decisions made by Daniel Fish in the final scene of Oklahoma! inform the production’s representation of the law. The scene begins with the introduction of Curly and Laurey as a married couple, and the raucous celebration immediately falls silent when Jud enters, announcing that he’s “got a present for the groom, but first [he] wants to kiss the bride.” He then slowly crosses the stage to tenderly kiss Laurey while a single tear falls down his cheek. After crossing back to stand face to face with Curly, Jud unwraps the box and drops it to the ground to reveal a pistol, which he loads and places in Curly’s hand. For a few moments, the men remain in this intimate position, with Jud’s hand wrapped around the wrist that Curly is using to hold the weapon, gently petting him with his thumb and tearfully staring into Curly’s blank, hardened eyes. Anticipating an altercation, Laurey disrupts the stillness of the scene by hurriedly crossing to stand between Curly and Jud, acting as a human shield, standing equidistant from both men. This instinctual fear and urgency dissolves into thoughtful indecision as she looks back and forth between these two men. Eventually, she walks to Curly’s side, clinging on to his arm. Jud absorbs her decision and begins to take a deliberate step forward, both towards the newly married couple and the 102

exit that is positioned behind them. Curly immediately and unflinchingly raises his arm and shoots Jud with the gun that was his wedding gift. This staging allows the audience and the majority of the cast to witness Curly murdering Jud unnecessarily, humanizes Jud by exhibiting his inner turmoil, and emphasizes the indecision Laurey feels about aligning herself with the community or the “othered” individuals. After the gun goes off, Curly and Laurey are left covered in blood, while Jud stands there staring at them. This stage picture is held in extended silence, and no effort to feign death or injury is made by the actor who portrays Jud. Finally, the ensemble begins quietly asking questions about what happened and if Jud is alive. After a few more seconds of stillness, Jud walks around Laurey and Curly, making eye contact with the pair and laying down on his back behind them. Laurey maintains eye contact with Jud while Curly does not, as his eyes are still trained straight ahead with the same glazed look he had when he shot Jud. Laurey quickly becomes distraught, dropping Curly’s hand and running back to Jud to kneel by his side. Curly then drops to his knees and acknowledges the weapon and the literal blood on his hands. However, he ignores Jud’s body completely. Jud’s body is not touched for the remainder of the show. His body remaining on stage is a physical reminder of the murder; yet, it is not acknowledged by anyone but Laurey, as Curly is only concerned about himself. Jud is a dispensable “other,” and no one will miss him. This blocking indicates that Laurey is

questioning her choice to align herself with Curly and the community, abandoning her individual autonomy as an “other.” The blocking during Curly’s trial is static, heightening the tension between the characters on the stage. Laurey remains stationary next to Jud’s body with her gaze primarily trained on him, while Curly stands behind and offsets the pair. The rest of the ensemble remains lining the edges of the stage. Notably, the three main players in the trial are positioned in a triangular configuration. Aunt Eller and Andrew Carnes, the acting judge, are sitting next to each other on one side of the stage, while Cord Elam, the federal marshal, is sitting positioned in between them on the other edge of the stage, physically representing the two-against-one power struggle. The entire ensemble is abnormally still, and when micro-movements are necessary, they are done at an incredibly slow tempo. This minimalism heightens the importance of the trial, as it strips away all other distractions, and audiences are forced to be complicit in deliberate and obvious legal corruption. The tone of the murder and trial scenes in the 1955 film and Daniel Fish’s revival is starkly different. In the film, Jud is portrayed as deranged, and his attack on Curly and Laurey is both unexpected and immediately dangerous. The act of Curly tackling Jud is a justified response to the intensity of the situation and is not an action that should have resulted in Jud’s death. The film version frames Jud’s death as his own fault, as he instigates a dangerous situation and is brandishing a weapon while no other characters are armed. The

ensuing trial is then viewed as a mere formality, as the community believes, with only Cord Elam weakly protesting, that the vilified Jud is deserving of his fate.50 Aunt Eller and the rest of the ensemble push the trial along as quickly as possible saying, “C’mon, Andrew, and start the trial. We ain’t got but a few minnits,”51 and that they need to “get the happy couple on the train for the States”52 in order to celebrate their honeymoon. Aunt Eller makes jokes such as, “Well, le’s not break the law. Le’s just bend it a little,”53 and the crowd rowdily echoes her, undermining the severity and procedures of the trial. No significance is placed on the trial in the film, as it takes place during the falling action and a vast majority of the characters do not take it seriously. The community’s collective moral compass decides Curly’s fate as opposed to the letter of the law. The film is not critical of this disregard for the law, and it glamorizes the lawlessness of the Territory. The historical context of 1955 contributes to the tone of these scenes, as America was eager to legally condemn the “other” during the Red Scare in order to protect itself from the threat of communism and fortify the nation from foreigners during the Cold War era.54 Additionally, the civil rights movement had just begun, and racial conflict was at the forefront of the American consciousness.55 Daniel Fish radically reimagines the tone of the murder and trial scenes, and as a result, he redefines Oklahoma!’s messaging. Unlike the frantic, rushed tempo in the film, Fish’s interpretation features eerily slow and deliberate pacing. This departs from the majority of the play, which

50 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 2:23:36 51 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 2:22:26. 52 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 2:23:42. 53 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 2:22:20. 54 Joseph Locke, John Wright, The American Yawp (Stanford University Press, 2020) chap. 25, 26, http://www.americanyawp.com/ index.html. 55 Ibid.

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embraces a sense of realism that is not often seen in other stagings of Oklahoma!. Jud entering the stage during the wedding celebration marks the abandonment of realism, and this tonal shift draws focus to the unique significance that this revival places on the final scene. While the film uses Jud’s final moments to emphasize his villainy, Fish creates pathos for the character. The rejection he has experienced from Laurey specifically and the community as a whole has not caused him to return for revenge but instead to pitifully surrender himself. Unlike in the film, Jud is portrayed as a deeply wounded character that is not an active threat to the community in this scene. Curly’s lack of emotion tonally contrasts with Jud’s tearful plea for his pain to be recognized. Although Jud is moving in the direction of the exit in a physically non-threatening manner, the hardened Curly shoots him. The action taken against Jud is not portrayed as a de-escalation tactic or self-defense, as in the film. Instead, it implicates Curly as a murderer. With the suggestion that Curly has committed an unwarranted crime, Fish’s trial shoulders a new significance, and the tone of the revival reflects this shift. No longer is the trial simply an obstacle threatening a young couple’s honeymoon; now it is a moment in time that can disrupt the delicate balance of a volatile community that is just barely maintaining peace as statehood looms on the horizon.56 The social events of 2018 also color the tone and interpretation of these scenes, as 2018 was a year in which powerful men such as Judge Brett Kavanaugh and President

Donald Trump evaded the hand of the law and “othered” immigrants were deported by the legal system.57 The bizarrely slow tempo, extended moments of silence, and almost completely static blocking is consistent throughout the trial, and it gives both the actors and the audience time and stillness to understand both the severity of the situation and the community’s criminal complicacy as they use the law to excuse murder. Curly abandons his cocky confidence, suddenly appearing immature and completely lost as he is guided through his trial. Conversely, Aunt Eller emerges as a powerful and threatening matriarch, willing to cold-bloodedly manipulate the law in order to best benefit her and her loved ones. Lines that were delivered with glib humor in the film, like “Well, le’s not break the law. Le’s just bend it a little,”58 and “You’ll feel funny when I tell yer wife you’re carryin’ on ‘th another womern, won’t you? [CORD ELAM: I ain’t carryin’ on ‘th no one.] Mebbe not, but you’ll shore feel funny when I tell yer wife you air,”59 become chilling threats. Similarly, Judge Andrew Carnes’s tone is elevated from abrasive to threatening in Fish’s revival, as he barks at Federal Marshal Cord Elam “Oh, shet yer trap. We can give the boy a fair trial without lockin’ him up on your weddin’ night!”60 Carnes not only follows suit with Aunt Eller’s intimidation tactics, but also very clearly baits Curly into saying just enough so that he can give the “not guilty” verdict. While Carnes appears as an impartial figure who is attempting to maintain order and give Curly — who is not familiar with the legal system — a fair

56 Altercations between the farmer, cowman, and peddler occur throughout the show, but the physical violence is contained until a brawl takes place during “The Farmer and the Cowman.” 57 History.com Editors, “2018 Events,” History.com, December 6, 2018. https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/2018-events. 58 The Musical Lyrics, “Oklahoma! Musical Script.” 59 Ibid. 60 Ibid.

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“

Leaving the text largely untouched, [Fish] completely reimagined the messaging, using a play originally about the strength of idyllic America to highlight systematic legal flaws that existed at the conception of the nation and still plague society today.

trial in the film, he is very clearly biased in Fish’s adaptation. Carnes adopts a different tone of voice when addressing Curly, as if he were sternly speaking to a clueless child, and he very deliberately steers the trial as he teaches the younger, more foolish man what to say. Aunt Eller and Judge Carnes reveal themselves as corrupt community leaders as they manipulate the law to protect their community’s hero. While the white members of the ensemble unwaveringly support Aunt Eller and Judge Carnes’s abuse of power, the people of color in the cast express their displeasure with the corruption they identify, departing from the relative unity depicted in the film.61 Most notably, the Federal Marshal Cord Elam’s weak protests have deepened to resistant argumentation. When Aunt Eller pushes a wavering Judge Carnes to hold the trial in her home, where she holds a position of authority, and “say we did it in court,” Cord firmly protests.62 He advocates for proper procedure, saying, “’T wouldn’t be proper. You have to do it in court. … We can’t do that. That’s breaking the law. … Andrew — I got to protest,” which culminates in Carnes om-

”

inously telling him to “shet [his] trap,” and continuing the trial without the Federal Marshal’s blessing.63 A tense power struggle between the white and Black authority figures reveals that the voice of the white man is more powerful, and when Cord “feels funny” about the plea of self-defense, Aunt Eller ensures that this skewed power dynamic remains by threatening to ruin his marriage if he does not comply with their rigged trial.64 She even screams at Cord aggressively, in an act of disrespect for him and his authority, “Oh, shet up about being a marshal! We ain’t goin’ to let you send the boy to jail on his weddin’ night. We just ain’t goin’ to let you. So shet up!”65 When Carnes asks for witnesses of Curly’s act of self-defense, the white ensemble members respond hurriedly and earnestly that they saw it happen. However, Mike, the only person of color asked to testify, derisively says, after breaking the rhythm of responses, “self-defense all right.”66 Mike ultimately conforms to communal pressures, but he subtextually communicates that he does not believe that justice is being served. Ali Hakim remains silent and continues his journey of assimilation.67

61 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 2:22:26. 62 The Musical Lyrics, “Oklahoma! Musical Script.” 63 Ibid. 64 Ibid. 65 Ibid. 66 Ibid. 67 Ibid.

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While the community is engrossed in the trial, Laurey is the only person, Black or white, that shows any emotion towards Jud’s body or grief towards his death. No one speaks for Jud at this trial, alluding to historical instances when white men could kill Black men with impunity.68 The responses of various racial groups towards Jud’s death and Curly’s trial reveals the production’s messaging about the law’s relationship to the “other.” Historically, Black people inhabited the Oklahoma Territory at this point in time, living in their own self-sufficient communities.69 Despite their independence, the citizens of these settlements still experienced extensive racism.70 This historical reality is mirrored by the way that people of color function within the trial scene. The Black individuals are all pushing for an impartial trial that follows proper legal procedure, only to be screamed at or dismissed by the white community leaders. As with their historical counterparts, the people of color are simply trying to lead a just life. Their refusal to assimilate into this community and its morals, like Ali Hakim has, inspires a violent backlash from the other characters. Just as the all-Black, well-established settlements threatened the rest of the historical Territory, the white characters in Oklahoma are disturbed by the independence and strength of the people of color. Even after removing the racialized threat of Jud’s existence, the community still experiences unrest. The power struggle between the Black and white members of the ensemble and the eventual silencing of

the people of color “others” them collectively. The community is defined by the white matriarch — Aunt Eller — and how she manipulates the law to protect the individuals that conform to her idea of what the Territory should be. The outsider Jud and the individuals who fought for legal justice are all racialized characters that are ultimately not protected by the law, just as the all-Black settlements were not protected by the law. As a biracial woman, Laurey straddles the racial divide presented in the trial scene. She and her husband benefit from the protection of Aunt Eller and the rest of the community’s support, but she understands the injustice that has befallen Jud. While she is eager for Curly to receive his “not guilty” verdict, Laurey also spends the final scenes kneeling next to Jud and crying over his body. She participates in the systematic legal corruption but has sympathy for the “othered” community to which she inherently belongs. Historically, the territory of Oklahoma had difficulties embracing the legal reformations that came with the transition to statehood. Hewes describes how the common man, not just the elite, began attaching himself to the pioneer landscape in Oklahoma during the 1890s. The territory soon fell into lawlessness, drunkenness, and violence due to legal ineffectiveness; the analysis of legal disputes reveals that herd and free range laws were unclear, and law enforcement was inconsistent and biased, specifically when enforcing laws concerning prohibition, gambling, and violence during the early 1900s.71

68 Most, “‘We Know We Belong to the Land’: The Theatricality of Assimilation in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!,” 84. 69 Adams, “Africanizing the Territory: The History, Memory and Contemporary Imagination of Black Frontier Settlements in the Oklahoma Territory.” 70 Adams, “Africanizing the Territory: The History, Memory and Contemporary Imagination of Black Frontier Settlements in the Oklahoma Territory,” 11-15. 71 Leslie Hewes, “Making a Pioneer Landscape in the Oklahoma Territory,” Geographical Review 86, no. 4 (1996): 588-603. doi:10.2307/215934.; W. Edward Rolison “Murder in Custer County: A Case Study and Legal Analysis of Herd Law vs. Free Range in Oklahoma Territory,” Chronicles of Oklahoma 90 no. 3 (2012): 260-285.; Orben J. Casy “Governor Lee Cruce and Law Enforce-

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Law enforcement officials routinely broke these laws and looked the other way when their friends wanted to participate in illicit activities.72 Creel further details this legal ineffectiveness, as he noted that the new state struggled to keep a murderer in jail that had been convicted when Oklahoma was a territory.73 Dale claims that during the years 1900-1936, the United States attempted to control popular justice by professionalizing policing and adapting the criminal justice procedure to increase the number of fair trails, but that these federal and state-level changes had not yet reached Oklahoma in the first decade of the century.74 Before and during its transition from territory to state, Oklahoma was a place composed of often corrupt quasi-legal figures that served the interests of the immediate community, not the larger legal system. The manipulation of the law that occurs in Oklahoma! is not an invention of Rogers and Hammerstein; rather, it is rooted in a documented historical reality. Despite the radically different representations of the law that Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma! and the 1955 film portray, there are very few discrepancies in the scripts, especially in the murder and trial scenes. In fact, most of the lines are translated wordfor-word from the stage to the screen, and Fish chooses to embrace this text mostly as it was written. Any mentions of the shiveree, the knife, and the fire are cut for continuity in Fish’s version, as those events and props are not used in his staging. Additionally, Jud does not get an opportunity to kiss Laurey in the film due to staging

“The manipulation of the law that occurs in Oklahoma! is not an invention of Rogers and Hammerstein; rather, it is rooted in a documented historical reality.” limitations, so he says “I didn’t get to kiss the bride” instead, and there is an additional threat made to Cord Elam made during the trial scene, as he is told, “If we get to be a state we gunna elect ourselves a sheriff. If you don’t keep your mouth shut, ain’t nobody gonna vote for yuh.”75 The lack of significant script alterations highlights the weight of the directorial choices made by Fish. Leaving the text largely untouched, he completely reimagined the messaging, using a play originally about the strength of idyllic America to highlight systematic legal flaws that existed at the conception of the nation and still plague society today. In between Jud’s death and Curly’s trial, Aunt Eller comforts Laurey and tells her, ‘At’s all right, Laurey baby. If you cain’t fergit, jist don’t try to, honey. Oh, lots of

ment in Oklahoma, 1911-1915” Chronicles of Oklahoma 54 no. 4 (1976): 435-460. 71 Casy, “Governor Lee Cruce and Law Enforcement in Oklahoma, 1911-1915,”435-460. Casy, “Governor Lee Cruce and Law Enforcement in Oklahoma, 1911-1915,”435-460. 73 Von Russel Creel, “Vignette,” Oklahoma City University Law Review 29, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 441-448. 74 Elizabeth Dale, Criminal Justice in the United States, 1789-1939 (New Histories of American Law. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 97-121. 75 Zinnemann, Oklahoma!, 2:23:34

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things happen to folks. Sickness, er bein’ pore and hungry even-bein’ old and afeared to die. That’s the way it is-cradle to grave. And you can stand it. They’s one way. You gotta be hearty, you got to be. You cain’t deserve the sweet and tender in life less’n you’re tough.76

In Fish’s revival, a single word is changed, as Aunt Eller says “lots of things happen, folks,” and the direct address of the audience causes the monologue to shoulder a much stronger significance. No longer is this speech a simple source of comfort for her niece; now it is a proclamation of her intense ideology to the larger community. Each audience member is directly implicat-

ed as the impassioned Aunt Eller justifies the legal corruption she will instigate in the following scene and perpetuates the concept of the mythological “American Dream” — that those who work hard and weather the storm can achieve whatever they set their minds to in the budding nation, and those who do not achieve success do not deserve it. During the trial scene, Aunt Eller protects her family and treats those who she perceives as threats abusively, effectively expelling them from her community. This quote itself, as well as the act of altering it, perfectly signifies the messaging and intentions in this reimagined Oklahoma!. ■

76 The Musical Lyrics, “Oklahoma! Musical Script.”

Bibliography Primary Sources

Gamerman, Ellen. “‘American Idiot’s’ Rebecca Naomi Jones on Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong, and Singing in Her Underwear.” The Wall Street Journal, April 2nd, 2010. https://blogs. wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/04/02/ american-idiots-rebecca-naomijones-on-green-day-billie-joe-armstrong-and-singing-in-her-underwear/. IMDB. “Oklahoma! (1955).” Accessed January 8th 2020. https://www. imdb.com/title/tt0048445/?ref_=nv_ sr_srsg_0. Program for Roger and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! at the Circle in the Square Theatre, New York. Playbill, 2020. The Musical Lyrics. “Oklahoma! Musical Script.” Accessed January 8th, 2020. https://www.themusicallyrics. com/b/348-broadway-musical-scripts/3611-oklahoma-musical-script.html. Tony Awards. “Winners.” Accessed October 24, 2019. https://www. tonyawards.com/winners/. Zinnemann, Fred. Oklahoma!. Los Angeles, California: Rogers & Hammerstein Productions, 1995.

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Secondary Sources

Adams, Catherine Lynn. “Africanizing the Territory: The History, Memory and Contemporary Imagination of Black Frontier Settlements in the Oklahoma Territory.” PhD diss., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2010. Bond, Randall Ives. “Still Dreaming of Paradise: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, South Pacific, and Postwar America.” PhD diss., Syracuse University, 1996. Boss, A. G.. “(Un)Related Purposes: Theatre and Law.” Canadian Theatre Review no. 142 (Spring 2010): 30-37. Brantley, Ben. “A Smashing ‘Oklahoma!’ Is Reborn in the Land of Id.” New York Times, April 7th, 2019. https://www. nytimes.com/2019/04/07/theater/ oklahoma-review.html. Calavita, Kitty. Invitation to Law & Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Casy, Orben J. “Governor Lee Cruce and Law Enforcement in Oklahoma, 1911-1915.” Chronicles of Oklahoma 54 no. 4 (1976): 435-460. Cook, Susan C. “Pretty Like the Girl: Gender, Race, and Oklahoma!.” Contemporary Theatre Review 19 no. 1 (2009): 35–47.

Cote, David. “Is Oklahoma! Still Okay?” American Theatre: Critic’s Notebook (September 7, 2018): 44-47. Creel, Von Russel. “Vignette.” Oklahoma City University Law Review 29, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 441-448. Crowther, Bosley. “The Screen: ‘Oklahoma!’ Is Okay.” New York Times, October 11, 1955. Dale, Elizabeth. Criminal Justice in the United States, 1789-1939. New Histories of American Law. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Filmer, Paul, Val Rimmer, and Dave Walsh. “Oklahoma!: Ideology and Politics in the Vernacular Tradition of the American Musical.” Popular Music 18, no. 3 (Oct., 1999): 381-395. Galella, Donatella. “Redefining America, Arena Stage, and Territory Folks in a Multiracial Oklahoma!” Theatre Journal, Volume 67, no. 2 (May 2015) 213-233. Hewes, Leslie. “Making a Pioneer Landscape in the Oklahoma Territory.” Geographical Review 86, no. 4 (1996): 588-603. doi:10.2307/215934. History.com Editors. “2018 Events.” History.com, December 6, 2018. https:// www.history.com/topics/21st-century/2018-events.

Kirle, Bruce. “Reconciliation, Resolution, and the Political Role of Oklahoma! in American Consciousness.” Theatre Journal 55 no. 2 (May 2003): 251-274 Kohm, Steven A. “The People’s Law versus Judge Judy Justice: Two Models of Law in American Reality-Based Courtroom TV.” Law & Society Review 40, no. 3 (2006): 693-727. Kuzina, Matthis. “The Social Issue Courtroom Drama as an Expression of American Popular.” Journal of Law and Society 28, no. 1 (March 2001): 79-96. Larson, Sarah. “Daniel Fish’s Dark Take on Oklahoma!.” New Yorker, October 15th, 2018. https://www.newyorker. com/magazine/2018/10/22/danielfishs-dark-take-on-oklahoma. Leiboff, Marett. “Ditto: Law, Pop Culture and Humanities and the Impact of Intergenerational Interpretative Dissonance.” Australian Feminist Law Journal 36 (2012): 145-164. Locke, Joseph and John Wright. The

American Yawp. Stanford University Press, 2020. http://www.americanyawp.com/index.html. Most, Andrea. “‘We Know We Belong to the Land’: The Theatricality of Assimilation in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!.” PMLA 113, no. 1, Special Topic: Ethnicity (January 1998): 77-89. Oldenquist, Amy L. “Law, Justice, and All that Jazz: An Analysis of Law’s Reach into Musical Theater.” Masters thesis, University of New Hampshire, 2014. Papke, David Ray. “The American Courtroom Trial: Pop Culture, Courthouse Realities, and the Dream World of Justice.” South Texas Law Review 40, no. 4 (Fall 1999): 919-932. Rolison, W. Edward. “Murder in Custer County: A Case Study and Legal Analysis of Herd Law vs. Free Range in Oklahoma Territory.” Chronicles of Oklahoma 90 no. 3 (2012): 260-285. Rogers, Nicole. “The Play of Law: Com-

paring Performances in Law and Theatre.” QUT Law and Justice Journal 8 no. 2 (2008): 429-443. Sherwin, Richard K.. When the Law Goes Pop: The Vanishing Line between Law and Popular Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. Sook, Sandra Mae. “AN ANALYSIS OF THE ARISTOTELIAN RHETORICAL APPEALS OF ETHOS, LOGOS, AND PATHOS IN SELECTED MUSICAL PLAYS OF RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN.” PhD diss., Texas Woman’s University, 2015. Taylor, Betty Sue. “An Analysis of the Script and Score of Oklahoma! A Prototypical Musical Play.” PhD diss., City University of New York, 1985. Zinsser, William K. “‘Oklahoma!.’” Herald Tribune, October 11, 1955.

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by Joy Zhao

Ryan Serrano is a graduate student in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures. He is in the final year of his Ph.D. studies and is finalizing his dissertation. Serrano is a teaching assistant for “Introduction to Russian Literature,” which is taught by Professor Gary Morson, and “Economics and the Humanities: Understanding Choice,” which is co-taught by Morson and Economics Professor Morton Schapiro. [This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.]

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Tell us about your path from your undergraduate studies to where you are today. I was an undergraduate at Princeton University and planned to pursue mathematics. Before having to declare my major, I realized that, despite my interest, it wasn’t what I wanted for my future. So, I looked at the classes that I’d enjoyed most [up] to that point, computer science and Russian literature. After taking another one in each area, I decided to major in Russian literature and minor in computer science. After graduating, I took a year off and gained some real-life experiences by working various jobs. I chose to attend Northwestern University for graduate school primarily because of its location, reputation, and the faculty I met during the process.

What drew you to Russian literature? At the time, I had a hard time accepting that I wasn’t going to be a mathematics major, something that defined my identity and interests for a long time. In that emotional time, Russian literature felt important to my growth as a person. There was a depth and urgency in the way it addressed the big questions of life that I hadn’t seen elsewhere. I was also lucky enough to take a class with the incredible Caryl Emerson, whose enthusiasm for the subject was infectious. Since I was learning Russian as a second language at the time, I thought, If the English translations of these books are this incredible, imagine reading them in the original Russian!

Do you have a favorite Russian novel? Yes, “Petersburg” by Andrei Bely. I was immediately drawn to it because it didn’t feel like anything I’d ever read before. It presents a unique take on the city of Petersburg and incorporates famous works of Russian literature, like Pushkin’s “Bronze Horseman.” There are also some really weird moments. For example, one character’s thoughts escape from his brain and become another character. The book also has an oddly mathematical feel at times, which of course I love. I wrote my junior paper at Princeton on “Petersburg,” and it was the writing sample I ended up submitting in my Northwestern graduate school application. I could reread it endlessly.

What does being a graduate student look like? At each stage, it looks very different. The first and second years are pretty similar to being an undergraduate. Once the teaching requirement starts, you have to take on an authoritative role while continuing with your own learning, so that’s certainly an interesting balance. When you are done with your classes and the qualifying exam, the challenges become totally different as you start writing your dissertation, which is a massive project that you work on for years. While writing the dissertation is your main focus during this time, you also attend conferences, submit publications, and teach along the way.

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“With everything that’s been happening in the world, I really wanted to work on something that feels important and relevant to the world at large.” Was it easy for you to choose the topic for your dissertation? Not at all! It’s really difficult to choose a topic that you will work on for several years. I actually started with a very different idea and completely switched gears to my current topic, which focuses more on close reading and literary analysis. It took me several years to settle on my topic, and I spent another year revising my main thesis.

What is your thesis for your dissertation? I’m proposing something that I call “prison of performance,” a category of characters whose self-performance causes moral problems for them. We all take on roles to some extent when we interact with others. My argument is that there are people who play roles so often that playing them becomes second nature; eventually, these roles invade their inner consciousness, and the individual becomes an audience to their own behavior. They lose control of their own choices, and this causes moral problems. In the different chapters, I apply my idea to superfluous men (a literary type), Dostoyevskian characters, and modern social media culture. Essentially, social media is a constant performance, and I draw conclusions about potential moral problems that we could fall into. With everything that’s been happening in the world, I really wanted to work on something that feels important and relevant to the world at large.

Looking back, what is your proudest moment? In 2016, I successfully defended my master’s thesis on Valentin Rasputin’s “Farewell to Matyora” and Venedikt Erofeev’s “Moscow-Petushki.” There were moments along the way when it felt like I would not ever finish it, but with help from a few of my professors, I managed to produce something that I think was meaningful. It was definitely a highlight!

If you could give some advice to graduate students, what would it be? The biggest thing I would say is to be your own advocate in terms of pursuing opportunities and getting what you want out of the program. Compared to undergraduate studies, you have to take a lot more initiative and ownership in terms of meeting deadlines, getting the most out of your classes, and applying for fellowships. It’s important to not wait around for opportunities to arrive, but to actively look for things to deepen your experience. 112

Did you experience any challenges along the way? Definitely! Every graduate student I know has questioned whether they belong in graduate school. It can be a challenge to stay upbeat and to focus on getting what you want out of the program. For a while, I had a hard time with the feeling that I always could be doing more, since there is no rigid division between when you should work and when you can relax like in a traditional 9-to-5 job. It can be very stressful! I had to come up with better systems for apportioning my time for the sake of my own mental health. I also originally had a vision of graduate school that was kind of naive; I thought it would be a magical place where everyone is only occupied with intellectual pursuit. But a lot of it is not like that, so I think it’s important to be realistic and treat it like any other career path.

How has being a teaching assistant (TA) changed your perspective? Originally, I considered my TA duties as a requirement that I had to check off. But now, my TA duties have become the most rewarding part of my day. I really enjoy running discussion sections, interacting with students, and even grading (to an extent). I didn’t expect to like it as much as I do, and I honestly value it even more than my own scholarship. After all, only so many people will read my dissertation, but I can reach so many students and hopefully make a positive impact on their lives.

What are your plans after graduating from graduate school? Originally, my goal was to become a professor, and I could still see myself teaching eventually. However, I would not be surprised if I end up outside of academia for the immediate future. For now, I’m focusing on finishing my dissertation and will take a few months off afterward to figure out the next step.

What advice would you give to students who are interested in graduate school? My first piece of advice would be to take some time off after graduating so you don’t spend 10+ years straight in school and burn out. Real-life experiences are important! My second piece of advice would be to make sure you really, really love your field and aren’t just going to graduate school because it seems like the “obvious” next step. ■

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Department ‌of‌ ‌Performance‌ ‌Studies‌ Faculty Adviser: Prof. Joshua Chambers-Letson, Ph.D.‌ ‌Department of ‌Art‌ ‌History Faculty Adviser: Prof. Rebecca Zorach, Ph.D.

Knowledge‌ ‌and‌ ‌Wonder’s‌ ‌Place,‌ ‌Policy,‌ ‌and‌ ‌Publics:‌

Kerry‌ ‌James‌ ‌Marshall‌ ‌and‌ ‌the‌ ‌Henry‌ ‌E.‌ ‌Legler‌ ‌Library’s‌ ‌Percent-for-Art‌ ‌Commission‌ ‌ by Meghan‌ ‌Clare‌ ‌Considine‌ Abstract Despite its unique position within Kerry James Marshall’s (b. 1955) celebrated body of work, the public mural Knowledge and Wonder (1995) has received little scholarly attention to date. It was loaned for exhibition only once and was featured in just a brief footnote in the artist’s now-definitive 2016 monograph before it was embroiled in controversy in October 2018, when then-Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel attempted to sell the work as a municipal asset at auction, resulting in major media coverage and widespread public outcry. By tracing a longer history of the work, or what theorist Arjun Appadurai would name the “social life” of Knowledge and Wonder, I argue that this mural is resoundingly site-specific, responding to the unique space and history of the Henry E. Legler Regional Library. By elaborating on the history of this library and its surrounding community of West Garfield Park, collecting and synthesizing oral histories from key participants in the commission, and critically engaging the logics of the 2016 exhibition Kerry James Marshall: Mastry, I attempt to fill a lacuna in discourse surrounding the artist’s practice, which is typically discussed in relation to the scopic regimes of whiteness within Western art history as a disciplinary formation and the complicity of museums in shaping that canon. Ultimately, I endeavor to demonstrate that Knowledge and Wonder presents a formal anomaly within Marshall’s broader body of work, one that can be accounted for by the fact that it was forged within a network of relations for a specific community, not a museum industrial complex comprised of galleries, collectors, curators, and other institutional actors. This mural’s eventual confiscation from West Garfield Park marks a particular, and perhaps irreparable, violence in that it emblematizes the exploitation of Black labor and extraction of value from Black communities that is, and has been, a constant feature of American life. 114

“

This mural’s eventual confiscation from West Garfield Park marks a particular, and perhaps irreparable, violence in that it emblematizes the exploitation of Black labor and extraction of value from Black communities that is, and has been, a constant feature of American life.

”

Introduction Seventeen enraptured Black figures plant themselves upon a checkered precipice. This intergenerational group, composed predominantly of children, stands with their backs to the viewer in varying states of curiosity, shyness, and sheer awe. Heads are cocked, hands are held, and arms are crossed. This assembled collective bears witness to three larger-than-life-sized books: A Big Book of Knowledge, The Golden Book of Wonder, and The Wonderful Book of If. These texts are overlaid and intersected with astrological phenomena: stars, comets, planets, and constellations. Toward the left of the canvas a terrific solar eclipse casts its beams far and wide. Creatures of the imagination then come to the fore: a pink and red dragon with delicate white

spots, and the strong blue arms of a hero whose fist is limned with gold. One of their number rockets off to the stars in what appears to be a flying saucer (Figure 1). Unabashedly stylized instances of dripping paint soon make it clear to the viewer that this all-encompassing scene is indeed just a painting, and the hypothetical viewer is whisked back into reality. Kerry James Marshall’s 10- by 23-foot mural Knowledge and Wonder was commissioned in 1993 specifically for a public library on Chicago’s West Side, the Henry E. Legler Library in West Garfield Park (hereafter referred to as the Legler). For nearly 25 years, the mural, installed in 1995, activated an entire wall on the library’s second floor (Figure 2), flanking the children’s section

S Figure 1. Kerry James Marshall, Knowledge and Wonder, 1995. Acrylic on paper and canvas, 10 feet by 23 feet. Henry E. Legler Regional Library, Chicago, Illinois. Photo provided by the City of Chicago for the New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/05/arts/design/ kerry jamesmarshall-painting-chicago-proposed-auction.html

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W Figure 2. Kerry James Marshall, Knowledge and Wonder, 1995. Acrylic on paper and canvas, 10 feet by 23 feet. Henry E. Legler Regional Library, Chicago, Illinois. Photo by Nathan Mason posted to Facebook 4 January 2018.

X Figure 3. Elizabeth Catlett, Floating Family, 1995. View from entryway. Carved primavera wood, dimensions unknown. Henry E. Legler Regional Library, Chicago, Illinois. Photo by Nathan Mason posted to Facebook 4 January 2018.

and crowning a suspended sculpture by the renowned artist Elizabeth Catlett (b. 1915) entitled Floating Family (1995) (Figure 3). Located at the apex of a grand marble staircase, the mural, its monumental scale coupled with its formal lavishness, lends majesty to the quotidian act of a trip to the local library, interpellating the presumed viewer, a Black child, in meaningful ways. One can recognize a Marshall canvas from across the room. Throughout his celebrated career, the artist’s use of highly saturated and literally black pigments for the skin of Black subjects, coupled with an extensive repertoire of identifiable art historical signifiers, has allowed a resounding narrative of his practice to emerge:

Marshall’s body of work, particularly his figurative painting, is consistently framed as an intervention in redressing the scopic regimes of whiteness within Western art history itself, or as the artist himself has suggested, “an argument for something else.”1 Marshall confronts his audiences with the Black body’s systemic absence from the transhistorical genre scenes made familiar by the institutional authority of the museum’s white walls, a confrontation that is made formally legible by the majority of figures across his oeuvre who look out beyond the picture plane, locking their eyes with the viewer. The 17 figures in Knowledge and Wonder, however, with their backs turned to

1 Kerry James Marshall, “An Argument for Something Else: Dieter Roelstraete in Conversation with Kerry James Marshall, Chicago, 2012,” in Kerry James Marshall: Painting and Other Stuff, exh. cat., ed. Nav Haq (Antwerp: Ludion, 2014), 28.

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the picture plane, do not bear the burden of such a confrontation. Rather, they invite a viewer who is not necessarily presumed to possess any preexisting art historical lexicon to congregate and imagine. The formal qualities of the mural and the historical factors that ultimately led to its commission and installation at the Legler, I argue, render Knowledge and Wonder as singular and resoundingly site-specific within the artist’s broader body of work. The artworks at the Legler have received scant scholarly attention to date. This is surprising for a city known for its rich and widely touted history of public art, from Pablo Picasso’s untitled sculpture in Daley Plaza (1967) (Figure 4), to Bronzeville’s 1967 Wall of Respect (Figure 5), which was created by the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC) and sparked a nationwide community mural movement. More contemporary icons such as Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate (2006), colloquially referred to as “The Bean,” in Millennium Park (Figure 6) have crystallized the city’s reputation for public artwork, and the city’s Department of Cultural Af-

fairs and Special Events even declared 2017 as the “Year of Public Art.”2 My research endeavors to broaden the scope of scholarly and civic engagement with the mural to relay a longer history of the object, or what Arjun Appadurai might name its broader “social life.”3 Dominant accounts of Knowledge and Wonder emphasize its unfortunate (though others might argue inevitable) fate: its sudden removal in October 2018, when then-mayor Rahm Emanuel announced his intention to sell the mural as a municipal asset at auction for an estimated $10–$15 million, proposing to use the revenue to restore the library’s former status as a regional branch, of which it had been stripped in 1977. This rash decision was thankfully reversed due to sustained public outcry and is further detailed in the complete thesis, where I argue it was emblematic of a tendency scholars Lawrence Bobo, James R. Kluegel, and Ryan A. Smith have called “laissezfaire racism.”4 In this project, I map out the space of the Legler and its surrounding community, emphasizing how the realm of the aesthetW Figure 4. Pablo Picasso, Untitled (“The Chicago Picasso”), 1967. Welded steel, 50 feet tall. Richard J. Daley Center Plaza, Chicago, IL.

2 One of the many celebrations of the year was the installation of a new large-scale public mural by Marshall on the facade of the Chicago Cultural Center. Marshall accepted a single dollar as compensation for the project, entitled Rushmore (2017). 3 Arjun Appadurai, ed., The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective (Cambridge, UK: University Press, 1986),3. 4 Lawrence, Bobo, et. al. “Laissez-Faire Racism: The Crystallization of a Kinder, Gentler, Antiblack Ideology.” In Racial Attitudes in the 1990s: Continuity and Change, ed. Steven A. Tuch and Jack K. Martin, 17.

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S Figure 6. Anish Kapoor, Cloud Gate, 2006. Stainless steel, 33 feet × 42 feet × 66 feet. Millennium Park, Chicago, IL. S Figure 5. Visual Arts Workshop of the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC), Wall of Respect, 1967–1971. Paint on Masonry, dimensions unknown. 43rd Street and Langley Avenue, Chicago, IL. Photography by Robert A. Sengstacke: Image courtesy of LUNA, University of Chicago.

ic works toward resisting dominant and racist accounts of deprivation and decay. Further, I explore how this particular mural might fall outside of the logic and assumptions of the celebrated 2016 traveling exhibition, Kerry James Marshall: Mastry. Ultimately, I endeavor to demonstrate that Knowledge and Wonder presents a formal anomaly within Marshall’s broader body of work, one that I argue can be accounted for by the fact that it was forged within a network of relations for a specific community, not a museum industrial complex comprised of galleries, collectors, curators, and other institutional actors. This mural’s eventual confiscation from West Garfield Park marks a particular, and perhaps irreparable, violence in that it emblematizes the exploitation of Black labor and extraction of value from Black communities that is and has been a constant feature of American life. In what follows, I reconstruct the story of the commission on the basis of oral

histories with key participants, emphasizing the informal artistic networks within Black cultural life in Chicago and beyond.

A Historic Commission The library in question was closed entirely for nearly two years prior to its rededication on July 31, 1993. In sociologist Eve L. Ewing’s recent ethnographic research on Chicago Public School closings under Emanuel’s administration, she introduces the concept of “institutional mourning.” I apply this hermeneutic to the site of the Legler library to emphasize the gravity of slowly, then suddenly, losing a community gathering space and sanctuary such as a local library existing under increasingly precarious conditions. Defined by Ewing as the “social and emotional experience undergone by individuals and communities facing the loss of a shared institution … especially when those individuals or communities occupy a socially marginalized status that amplifies their reliance on the institution or its significance in their lives,”5 this definition resonates with the Legler’s precarious history. Although the voices of many library users are woefully obfuscated in contemporaneous news

5 Eve L. Ewing, Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018), 127.

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“In an increasingly privatized public sphere, considering public art and its dynamic relationships with site, space, the law, and constituents, offers opportunity to reflect upon democratic ideals themselves.” accounts, we can infer that decreased resources, the threat of complete obliteration, and an eventual two-year closure not only came with such institutional mourning, but that the artists Marshall and Catlett likely felt it imperative to recognize and celebrate the stakes of the reopening through their respective commissions. A question that might arise after considering the history of the Legler is: How did a mural and a sculpture by two renowned artists find their way into a so-called “blighted landscape”?6 One reason attending to public art is important is

that it allows a rethinking of conventional frameworks of value and ownership. For art historian Rosalyn Deutsche, public space itself is the corollary of democracy.7 In an increasingly privatized public sphere, considering public art and its dynamic relationships with site, space, the law, and constituents, offers opportunity to reflect upon democratic ideals themselves. With Catlett and Marshall having works in the collections of major museums around the world, typically flanked by the likes of guards and glass and security alarms, their unassuming presence in a West Side public library presents a remarkable story. In retelling it, depending largely on oral histories I conducted in the fall of 2019, I endeavor to position these works not as the commodities the museum industrial complex might frame them as, but rather instead as a result of sustained, careful engagement with the site, exemplifying an informal but nonetheless rich gift economy between Black artists in Chicago, and indeed beyond. Before delving into the relationships between historical actors, however, it is prudent to outline the municipal policy that enabled this commission. While many details behind the Legler commission have eluded the archive, the fact that the project was funded by the city’s Percent-for-Art Ordinance is widely known. In fact, most objects in the municipal collection on view throughout the Chicago Public Library system (that are not products of earlier Depression-era Works Progress Admin-

6 Amanda I. Seligman, Block by Block: Neighborhoods and Public Policy on Chicago’s West Side (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005), 41. Seligman highlights the fact that this term is borrowed from the study of ecology, blight representing “a physical decay with organic qualities … a blighted structure had the potential to infect nearby properties with its decay, thereby threatening the vitality of the surrounding neighborhood.” The term “blight,” along with ideas such as urban decay, came into mainstream use in the 1960s, when West Garfield Park’s Black population grew from 15.79% to 96.83% Black, and 83.65% to 2.82% white. The term is, of course, racially coded. It is perhaps worth additionally noting that the 1999 Northwestern University department of History PhD dissertation that germinated this book was titled Block by Block: Racing Decay on Chicago’s West Side, 1948–1968, (emphasis my own). Amid these dominant accounts of decay, cultural production such as Knowledge and Wonder, Compensation, and Floating Family presents an image of flourishing germination. 7 Rosalyn Deutsche, Evictions: Art and Spatial Politics (Cambridge and London: The MIT Press, 1996), 274.

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istration cultural projects) arrived by way of this particular ordinance. In 1978, the Chicago City Council unanimously approved the Percent-for-Art Ordinance, which stipulates that 1.33% of the cost of constructing or renovating a public space or municipal building be reserved for the purchase or commission of artworks.8 One half of these funds must be reserved for local artists; Marshall had lived in Chicago since 1987,9 and although Catlett was by this time based in Mexico, she had social ties to Chicago; she graduated from the School of the Art Institute in 1941 and ran in the same South Side cultural circles as the founder of the DuSable Museum (and skilled artist in her own right), Margaret Burroughs.10 Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, federal agencies like the General Services Administration, the National Endowment for the Arts, and states and cities across the country began advocating for the purchase and commission of public artworks,11 which notably followed on the heels of countercultural community art movements sparked by the OBAC’s Wall of Respect (1967) in Bronzeville on Chicago’s South Side. According to Miwon Kwon, the leading theorist on the problem of site-specificity in contemporary artistic practice, the aim of this sort of codified public art policy and legislation was to “promote the aesthetic edification of the American public and to beautify the urban environment.”12 While the intent of such an ordinance, to increase exposure to the arts to the greater populace, is undoubtedly democratic, there is a degree of condescen-

sion inherent to this formulation. Present, too, is a problematic assumption that the “public” is a homogenous body in sore need of moral and intellectual improvement, and that the “urban environment” is inherently ugly, as opposed to a landscape reflecting structural inequities that disproportionately allocate and concentrate resources, including green spaces and cultural institutions, in predominantly white and affluent downtown areas that generate revenue as tourist destinations. When Emanuel proposed the sale of Marshall’s mural in October 2018, he ignited a deluge of media coverage and public outcry around the mural. None of that attention addressed the piece as a pendant to the as-striking Catlett sculpture, and none of the coverage addressed the mechanisms and matrices of relationships that led to the commission of these works at all. Many people experience public art as a permanent feature of the urban landscape. Retelling the story of this commission and foregrounding the human actors who facilitated the Percent-for-Art commission offers insight instead into a dynamic unfolding in time and space marked by a series of contingencies and relationalities. Downtown Chicago’s Harold Washington Library, which happens to be home to dozens of public artworks whose origins can be traced to the aforementioned ordinance, houses an impressive archive of Marshall-related ephemera in its collection of “artist files.” In Marshall’s file, one can find news clipping after news clipping on his exhibitions, his rising fame, and his

8 City Council of the City of Chicago, “City of Chicago Percent-for-Art Ordinance,” accessed 25 April 2020. https://www.chicago. gov/city/en/depts/dca/auto_generated/public_art_program_ publandreports/new_art_on _pink_line.html 9 Jason Farago, “Kerry James Marshall Paints for Chicago. His Mural Should Stay There,” New York Times, October 5, 2018. https:// www.nytimes.com/2018/10/05/arts/design/kerry-james-marshall-painting-chicago-proposed-auction.html 10 Bertrand D. Phillips, phone interview with author, December 5, 2019. 11 Miwon Kwon, One Place After Another: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity (Cambridge and London: The MIT Press, 2002), 56-99. 12 Kwon, One Place After Another, 64.

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impressive grants and fellowships, but a glaring lack of coverage regarding this particular commission at the Legler. My mistake was in looking for a front-page story, when details regarding the Legler appeared instead as a passing sentence in a 2003 Chicago Magazine article. The curator Hamza Walker, who was then working at the Renaissance Society in Hyde Park, was asked to provide some brief commentary on Marshall’s practice. To contextualize their relationship, the author of the profile wrote, “[Walker] helped Marshall get a commission for a mural in the Legler Branch Library on the West Side.”13 When I contacted Walker for an interview, he expressed surprise that public information regarding the commission was so sparse, and acute frustration that no one had contacted him for commentary in the immediate aftermath of the proposed sale. At the time of the Legler renovation, Walker was only a recent graduate from the University of Chicago’s undergraduate art history program. He was working his first post-graduate job as the public art coordinator in the city’s Public Art Program (PAP). While more senior PAP staff members including curators Mike Lash and Steve Mitchell were busy assembling a public art collection with the significant Percent-for-Art funds that were generated by, as it happens, the new Harold Washington Library which had opened in 1991, the young Walker was left to work independently without significant oversight or conventional bureaucratic hurdles. He assembled acquisitions and organized commissions for smaller local branch libraries

predominantly on the South and West Sides, gaining significant curatorial skills, instincts, and contacts in the process. His final project before taking a job back in Hyde Park at the Renaissance Society was the Legler commission.14 After being closed for construction for two years as a result of Bethel New Life (a West Side community organization still active today)’s dedicated lobbying, the newly renovated Legler reopened in 1993, leaving $20,000 for a Percent-for-Art commission or acquisition. Walker and Marshall were personal friends; Walker had been a major advocate for the artist when he was getting started in Chicago in the late 1980s, where he had moved after completing a fellowship at the Studio Museum in Harlem to be closer to the family of his wife, the actress Cheryl Lynn Bruce. Notably, Walker was also aware, though the information had not yet been publicly announced, that Marshall had been selected to participate in the 1997 iterations of both Documenta (X) and the Whitney Biennial.15 1997 would also prove to be the year that Marshall was awarded the MacArthur Foundation’s “Genius Grant.” The artist was on the brink of becoming much busier, and his work was about to become prohibitively expensive for any municipality to think of purchasing or commissioning. Evidently resisting the language of market speculation, however, Walker instead insisted that he had so staunchly advocated for Marshall to secure the commission because he knew that Marshall had “always dreamed of illustrating a children’s book.”16 Walker recalls circumventing typical pro-

13 Mara Tapp, “Visible Man,” Chicago Magazine, October 2003, 136. 14 The city of Chicago has a vast collection of public artworks in its branch libraries, many of which were commissioned or acquired by Hamza Walker early in his career, which further researchers might consider taking up. Take for example, the photographs by Carrie Mae Weems at the Chicago Bee Branch Library in Bronzeville. Hamza Walker, personal interview with author, October 31, 2019. 15 Hamza Walker, personal interview with author, October 31, 2019. 16 Ibid.

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“The sustained composition, the view from behind, offers young viewers an invitation into an assembly, positioning the library itself as a platform for accessing the very wonder and knowledge promised by the title of the mural.” tocol by bringing the Project Advisory Panel to Marshall’s studio in lieu of a formal perusal of the city’s designated slide registry. He even remembers, with some fondness, forgoing his position’s designated neutrality in the deliberation processes, for example, by successfully convincing a community member on the Project Advisory Panel to reconsider her assumptions when she expressed offense toward the artist’s trademark hyper-concentrated rendering of Black skin tones in his previous paintings.17 Walker shared that one of the artist representatives on the panel was Bertrand (Bert) D. Phillips. In fact, in Phillips’ account of the same selection process, Walker remained a far more impartial facilitator, instead electing to relay his emphatic preference for Marshall in the privacy of Phillips’ car while hitching rides to and from meetings and site visits.18 By Phillips’ recollection, which he admitted was blurry after more than 20 years, the most vocal party in group deliberations was not Walker at all, but instead the other artist representative on the panel, Thomas Skomski.19 This representative also happened to be the only white person on the seven-person panel, which always comprises two local artists, three community representatives, a repre-

sentative from the library, and the public art coordinator. Phillips recalled Skomski’s relentless advocacy for the commission to be awarded to an unnamed white artist, but others felt it was imperative that Black artists be selected to take on this commission for a majority Black community. Skomski’s inability to recognize the importance of such a gesture led to significant tension among the group,20 and a frustrated Phillips (who had the bold suggestion to write to his acquaintance Elizabeth Catlett to gauge her interest in the first place)21 left the project dissatisfied, never seeing the completed Legler commission.22 After receiving Phillips’ letter, Catlett paid her own plane fare from Mexico to come back to Chicago and conduct a site visit at the Legler.23 Clearly inspired by the existing architecture of the building, she elected to suspend her sculpture from the ceiling so that those on the second floor balcony near the Marshall mural might experience the work from above, and those entering through the front door or waiting in line at the circulation desk could look up at Floating Family. She signed her contract on Jan. 26, 1994, and her sculpture was installed on May 24, 1995.24 Marshall signed his contract just be-

17 Ibid. 18 Bertrand D. Phillips, phone interview with author, December 5, 2019. 19 Skomski was not willing to provide a comment and did not recall his participation, but Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events records do confirm his participation. Thomas Skomski, email message to the author, January 5, 2020. Daniel Schulman, email message to the author, February 20, 2020. 20 Bertrand D. Phillips, phone interview with author, December 5, 2019. 21 Ibid., and Hamza Walker (untitled presentation presented at the Department of Art Theory and Practice at Northwestern University “Visiting Artist Talk,” October 31, 2019. 22 Bertrand D. Phillips, email message to the author, December 6, 2019. 23 Ibid. 24 Daniel Schulman, email message to the author, February 20, 2020.

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S Figure 7. Kerry James Marshall, Knowledge and Wonder Preparatory Sketch, 1995. 25 by 58 inches. Photo by Daniel Schulman.

fore Catlett, on Dec. 3, 1993, and completed the mural onsite at the library in 1995, though archival documents relaying the precise dates of the installation have since been lost.25 Although he was already preparing for prestigious international exhibitions, this local commission presented a major opportunity in and of itself: it was to be Marshall’s largest work in terms of size and scale to date. At 10 by 23 feet, Walker recalls Knowledge and Wonder being far too wide to fit into Marshall’s cramped studio space at 1325 S. Wabash Ave., so it was instead to be painted at the library during open daytime hours.26 Imagining Marshall completing this mural onsite not only helps account for notable changes from the initial study to the final mural, but strengthens our understanding of the work as a site-specific intervention dependent not only on existing library architecture and infrastructure, but an interpersonal relationality contingent upon the moment of bodily encounter, as well. Any adolescent library-goer approaching the monumentality of the mural’s all-encompassing scale is invited into a visual field far larger than

S Figure 8. Kerry James Marshall, detail of Knowledge and Wonder, 1995. Acrylic on paper and canvas, 10 feet by 23 feet. Henry E. Legler Regional Library, Chicago, Illinois. Photo provided by the City of Chicago for the New York Times.

themselves, absorbed into the same collective enrapture as the 17 pictured figures. Indeed, the mural’s original accompanying didactic text notes that Marshall expressed a desire that young library patrons might literally “become a part of [the mural],” indicating that an affective embodiment was central to both the initial conception and realization of the work. We might see both Percent-for-Art projects at the Legler as embodying a category of public art identified by Kwon as “community based site-specificity,” wherein “members of a community … will see and recognize themselves in the work, not so much in the sense of being critically implicated but of being affirmatively pictured or validated.”27 Though Kwon remains ambivalent on the political efficacy of such

25 Ibid. 26 Hamza Walker, personal interview with author, October 31, 2019. 27 Kwon, One Place After Another, 95.

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a gesture,28 this formal choice is undoubtedly emotionally charged. On the most basic level, Kwon’s formulation is evident in that the skin color of the figures mirrors the racial demographics of the neighborhood. Along with skin color, but far more subtly, the artist’s decision to render the figures from behind has significant implications for how library-goers, particularly youth, might identify with them. At a nearly larger-than-life scale, the assembly allows for immediate bodily identification within and among the ensemble on the part of the presumed viewer. Figures seen from behind have a longer history within European painting, specifically German Romanticism. Sometimes referred to as the “Rückenfigur,” this not uncommon trope in Western painting corresponds to themes including man’s domination-cum-triumph over the natural world, as evident in many paintings by the artist Caspar David Friedrich. It is far rarer, however, to see this compositional strategy mobilized under the sign of Blackness, of youth, and of the collective, as Marshall so deftly demonstrates. Turning to Marshall’s initial sketch of the work (Figure 7), housed today in the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events office suites at the Chicago Cultural Center, we notice that in spite of significant

iconographic changes occurring between the sketch and the final mural, this unique compositional assembly remains almost identical. Admittedly, certain figures in the final mural do tend to be more daring than their predecessors in the sketch. For example, the figure in a green top and black pants lying prone on the checkered floor; where in the initial sketch each subject stays cautiously far from the edge of the precipice, in the final iteration this bold child precariously and precociously searches beyond, teetering over the edge. This figure is not content merely watching from a distance; the child takes the risk to satiate their curiosity (Figure 8). Additionally, in the initial sketch, the group is flanked by a massive pterodactyl, whose almost-frightening scale dwarfs those watching from below (Figure 9). Painted without contours or facial features and in Marshall’s characteristic jet-black, the silhouette operates as a void within a composition rife with movement and bright color. By choosing to eschew the pterodactyl in favor of a jetpack-clad child commandeering a flying saucer, Marshall offers further agency to young library visitors who might too take control of their own fate (Figure 10). The myriad evolutions from the sketch to the final mural are perhaps the inevitable result of delights and distractions

28 Ibid., 95-99.

S Figure 9. Kerry James Marshall, detail of Knowledge and Wonder Preparatory Sketch, 1995. 25 by 58 inches. Photo by Daniel Schulman.

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S Figure 10. Kerry James Marshall, detail of Knowledge and Wonder, 1995. Acrylic on paper and canvas, 10 feet by 23 feet. Henry E. Legler Regional Library, Chicago, Illinois. Photo provided by the City of Chicago for the New York Times.

“

[Mayor] Emanuel thereby articulated market value as the mural’s primary point of social relevance, rather than as an opportunity to picture and celebrate the richness of Black life in a community that has continually been pathologized.

accompanying the painting of a large-scale mural onsite in a public location, but what remains across the iterations relays just as much information. I have argued that the sustained composition, the view from behind, offers young viewers an invitation into an assembly, positioning the library itself as a platform for accessing the very wonder and knowledge promised by the title of the mural. This phenomenological reading has major implications that situate the mural outside of the discourse in which Marshall’s work has typically been framed. What would it mean to consider that invitation into the community alongside the historical factors and relationships that led to the Legler commission? From Marshall’s personal friendship and private carpools with Hamza Walker to Bert Phillips’ epistolary relationship with Elizabeth Catlett,

”

not to mention Catlett covering her own plane fare, the commission evidently rested on a collegial network of collaborations between Black artists and art workers that operated within and sometimes circumvented traditional bureaucratic frameworks. This ethos continued into the installation process with the onsite completion of the mural and emphasizes the commission’s place within a quasi-gift economy.

Labor and Extraction “… it’s up on the second floor. Not many people knew it even existed.” —Rahm Emanuel, Oct. 1, 201829

The mural was removed suddenly and without warning in October 2018; then-mayor Emanuel announced his intention to sell the mural as a municipal asset at auction for an estimated $10–$15

29 Jennifer Smith Richards, “Valuable painting heading to auction to fund West Side library expansion,” Chicago Tribune, 1 October 2018, https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-kerry-james-marshall-mural-legler-library-20180929-story.html

W Figure 11. Blank south-facing wall, second floor of the Henry E. Legler Regional Library, Chicago, IL. Photo taken by the author on 19 July 2019.

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million, and use the revenue to restore the library’s former status as a regional branch, of which we know it had been stripped in 1977.30 A municipality considering selling their collection is not unheard of, but it is nearly always controversial. For example, when the city of Detroit, Michigan filed for bankruptcy in 2013, there were major, though since-halted, plans to sell works from the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts. These proposals are seen as gravely unethical, since these works are purchased or accepted in the public trust. Significant outcry quickly prompted Emanuel to reverse his decision and keep the mural in the city’s public art collection; however, as of spring 2020 when I first wrote this paper, the mural remained confiscated, off view and in an undisclosed location (Figure 11).31 I use the verb “to confiscate” above, with its myriad connotations of delinquency and presumptions of inadequate use or care, quite intentionally. The etymology of the word is telling, as it comes from the Latin root “fiscus,” or “a money bag,” which over time became “fisc,” or “the state treasury.”32 Thinking of the mural’s sudden removal as a confiscation illuminates the imbalanced power relations and inherent logics of value at play. Indeed, the controversy and its discursive afterlives present occasion to call attention to the ongoing extraction of resources from Black communities. I situate the mural’s ontological position throughout its social history as oscillating between something like a gift into a clear commodity not to obfuscate questions of labor but rather to foreground them, as

S Figure 12. Black Lives Matter youth artworks. Second floor of the Henry E. Legler Regional Library, Chicago, IL. Photo taken by the author on 19 July 2019.

well as the ways in which that labor becomes something immediately exploited in the construction of the commodity. Kwon has suggested that “ … the drive toward identificatory unity that propels today’s form of community-based site specificity is a desire to model or enact unalienated collective labor, predicated on an idealistic assumption that artistic labor is itself a special form of unalienated labor, or at least provisionally outside of capitalism’s forces.”33 Her choice of the word “provisionally” is telling in this case, which reads here as the impending reality of what Appadurai would name the “commodity situation.” For Appadurai, the commodity situation occurs when an object’s exchangeability

30 Mayor’s Press Office, “Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Library Announce the Transformation of Legler Branch into a Regional Library on the West Side,” news release, 1 October 2018, https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/mayor/ Press%20Room/Press%20Releases/2018/September/100118_Legler.pdf, accessed 1 December 2019. 31 Daniel Schulman, email message to the author, August 8, 2019. The city was held accountable to find funds for the library’s renovation elsewhere, and the Legler finally reopened as a regional branch, for the first time since 1977, in late December 2020. 32 James Douglas, English Etymology: A Text-Book of Derivatives (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, Tweeddale Court, 1872), 53. 33 Kwon, One Place After Another, 95.

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becomes its “socially relevant factor.”34 It would be naïve to pretend the commodity situation did not, to an extent, haunt the commission from its very inception — recall the young Walker’s astute speculation that it would be impossible for the city to afford Marshall’s work after his participation in the Whitney Biennial and Documenta X was announced; to linger, however, in that commodity situation is dangerous and exploitative in that it distracts from artistic labor and local relevance. In October 2018, Mayor Emanuel asserted the mural as a commodity by suggesting that to auction off a community’s cultural heritage, to recognize the mural’s exchange-value for a staggering sum, would be the only way to afford to restore the library to its pre-1977 regional status.35 Emanuel thereby articulated market value as the mural’s primary point of social relevance, rather than as an opportunity to picture and celebrate the richness of Black life in a community that has continually been pathologized. The mural was returned upon the library’s reopening in December 2020 to a community that has since borne disproportionate suffering in the ravaging wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The question now becomes whether the commodity situation is a

social reality and mode of relation from which an aesthetic object can recover. Will Knowledge and Wonder remain a surprise for those wandering upstairs, interpellating children, filling an entire wall, and responding to Catlett’s Floating Family? Or, will the work return encased in glass, surveilled and policed, and in a prime position for art world aficionados to come take their picture with the now widelypublicized work, leaving before they have to interact with community members? Library users are crafting their own responses. Children are tacking up their own assembly of Black Lives Matter-inspired graphic works, which are installed directly parallel to the big, now-empty, white wall (Figure 12). The vastness of that south-facing wall across from this array of colorful artwork is staggering, but they speak to each other in meaningful ways. Despite the historic and ongoing violence of white supremacy in the United States, which Marshall deftly tackles in his work for both museums and public libraries, Marshall ardently demonstrates the rich plurality of Black life in America, asking us to reconsider not only entrenched historical narratives and assumptions, but the possibilities for the future. ■

34 Arjun Appadurai, The Social Life of Things, 13. 35 Ibid.

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Bibliography Interviews

Hamza Walker, interview with author, 31 October 2019, Evanston, IL. Daniel Schulman, personal email communication, 8 August 2019- 25 March 2020. Bertrand Philips, phone interview and email communication with author, 5-6 December 2019. Thomas Skomski, personal email communication, 5 January 2020.

Lectures

Walker, Hamza “Visiting Artist Talk,” Northwestern University Department of Art Theory and Practice 31 October 2019.

Published Sources

Appadurai, Arjun, ed. The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986. Bobo, Lawrence, James R. Kluegel, and Ryan A. Smith. “Laissez-Faire Racism: The Crystallization of a Kinder, Gentler, Antiback Ideology.” In Racial Attitudes in the 1990s: Continuity and Change, edited by Steven A. Tuch and Jack K. Martin, 15-42. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997.

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“City of Chicago Percent-for-Art Ordinance, 1978.” City Council of the City of Chicago. Accessed April 25, 2020. https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/ depts/dca/auto_generated/public_art_program_publandreports/ new_art_on_pink_line.html. Deutsche, Rosalyn. Evictions: Art and Spatial Politics. Cambridge and London: The MIT Press,1996. Douglas, James. English Etymology: A Text-Book of Derivatives. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd,Tweeddale Court, 1872. Ewing, Eve L. Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2018. Farago, Jason. “Kerry James Marshall Paints for Chicago. His Mural Should Stay There.” New York Times, October 5, 2018. https://www.nytimes. com/2018/10/05/arts/design/ kerryjames-marshall-painting-chicago-proposed-auction.html Kwon, Miwon. One Place After Another: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2004. Marshall, Kerry James. “An Argument for Something Else: Dieter Roelstraete in Conversation with Kerry James Marshall, Chicago 2012,” in

Kerry James Marshall: Painting and Other Stuff, ed. Nav Haq (Antwerp: Ludion, 2014), 28. Mayor’s Press Office. “Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Library Announce the Transformation of Legler Branch into a Regional Library on the West Side.” October 1, 2018. https://www.chicago.gov/ content/dam/city/depts/mayor/ Press%20Room/Press%20Releases/2018/September/100118_Legler. pdf Richards, Jennifer Smith. “Valuable painting heading to auction to fund West Side library expansion.” Chicago Tribune, 1 October 2018. https://www.chicagotribune. com/news/ctmet-kerry-james-marshall-mural-legler-library20180929-story.html Seligman, Amanda I. Block by Block: Neighborhoods and Public Policy on Chicago’s West Side. University of Chicago Press, 2005. ———. “Block by Block: Racing Decay on Chicago’s West Side, 1948–1968.” PhD diss., Northwestern University, 1999. Tapp, Mara. “Visible Man.” Chicago Magazine. October 2003, 136.

Department of American Studies Faculty Adviser: Prof. Mark Sheldon, Ph.D.

A Reckoning with Medicine’s Past by Meilynn Shi As the fear of contagion pushed us apart, the thread of something else — justice, humanity, frustration — pulled us back together, tugging at our consciences, driving us into the streets, and sharpening the demand for transformation. The racial reckoning of 2020 fired up a radical momentum to break down old walls and build up new visions. However, in medicine, as elsewhere, little will change if there isn’t first a reckoning with why so little has changed in the past. While medicine may sit atop a high tower of prestige, in its shadow is a long and ongoing history of injustice. Forty-five years ago in Chicago, interns and residents at the Cook County Hospital went on strike for 18 days, fighting to fix a lack of baseline equipment and services for patients.1 As Chicago’s sole public hospital, County was the only hospital in the city that took in all patients who came to its doors. Patients who were “undesirable”2 to private hospitals — patients who could not pay or who had the “wrong”3

color of skin — were often “dumped”4 at County’s steps, bifurcating the delivery of care along racial divides. Hospitals in Chicago were not as segregated as they were in the South, but the color line still ran deep. County was once the premier place for residency, where some of the best physicians in the country trained. In 1945, about one in every five physicians in the United States received some type of training at County.5 But as more physicians began pursuing specialties and employment at private practices that offered higher salaries, better working conditions, and greater autonomy, County fell into a chronic state of neglect. Frustrated with administrative disregard, house staff at County mobilized in the late ’60s and formed the House Staff Association (HSA) in 1974, leveraging the tools of union organizing to claim a voice in hospital decision-making. The HSA set forth a list of demands, all but two of which — an 80-hour workweek limit and

1 Devinatz, V. G. (1996). “Never before have M.D.’s done so much for their patients”: The 1975 strike by the Cook County Hospital House Staff Association against the Cook County Hospital. Journal of Collective Negotiations in the Public Sector, 25(2), 117-136. 2 Cook County Hospital perpetuates dual health system. (1970, September/October). The Struggle, 6. Northwestern University Archives, Evanston, IL, United States. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. 5 Illinois Legislative Investigating Commission. (1979). Cook County Health Hospitals Governing Commission (Final Report).

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a pay increase to make salaries comparable with those at public hospitals in New York and Los Angeles — focused on directly improving patient care.6 The HSA was demanding, as one physician said, “just the mechanical nuts and bolts of things that you need to keep people alive,”7 including fully equipped crash carts so that physicians wouldn’t be delayed in administering CPR, 24-hour X-ray and EKG services so that patients wouldn’t have to wait seven days to get a routine chest X-ray, and Spanish and Polish translators so that patients with life-threatening conditions wouldn’t mistakenly be turned away.8 Some of the other demands were as simple as bedside curtains to provide privacy, bedside lamps to see patients at night without needing to light up the full ward, and bedside juice boxes for patients with diabetes.9 But despite more than five months and 20 rounds of contract negotiations, hospital administration would not budge. In an open letter to the community, the HSA explained that it was being “forced to strike by an administration who is telling us that these things are none of our business.”10 And at 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 27, 1975, a group of interns and residents, clad in white coats, stethoscopes, and strike buttons, willing to risk their professional careers, walked out, formed a picket line, and began a strike.11 For the next 18 days, talks continued

“In medicine, as elsewhere, little will change if there isn’t first a reckoning with why so little has changed in the past.” to fail, and the HSA went on to lead one of the longest physician strikes in U.S. history. Many criticized the physicians for degrading the medical profession, some framed the strike as an attempt by radical physicians to take over the hospital,12 and some even condemned the strike as an attempt by white doctors to seize control from a Black administrator by withholding health services from a largely Black patient population.13,14 But such backlash was more rhetoric than anything else. The HSA had rallied a coalition of allies, from senior physicians to trade unions to community leaders to patients themselves, who postponed their appointments and stayed home during the strike.15,16 What drove the physicians to go on strike was a professional duty to patients, to healthcare equity, and to the Hippocratic Oath. Yet, not much changed after the strike. It was one of many job actions that disrupted hospitals across the nation in the ’70s, and it stood at the center of tensions

6 Devinatz, “Never before have M.D.’s.” 7 Hoffman, J. (Producer). (1975). HSA Strike 1975. [Film]. Kartemquin Films. 8 Bonnell, M., Fischer, T., & Moore, D. (1975, November 12). Studs Terkel interviews three Cook County Hospital doctors about their 1975 strike [Interview]. Studs Terkel Radio Archive; The Chicago History Museum. https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs/studsterkel-interviews-three-cook-county-hospital-doctors-about-their-1975-strike 9 Ibid. 10 House Staff Association. (1975, October 26). Physicians on Strike [Open letter to Communities Served by Cook County Hospital]. Quentin Young Papers (Box 23, Folder 6), Northwestern University Archives, Evanston, IL, United States. 11 Devinatz, “Never before have M.D.’s.” 12 Young, Q. (2013). Everybody in, nobody out: Memoirs of a rebel without a pause. Copernicus Healthcare. 13 Jarrett, V. (1975, November 9). Under the knife at County Hospital. Chicago Tribune. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. 14 County Hospital Crisis. (1975, October 28). Chicago Defender. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. 15 Devinatz, “Never before have M.D.’s.” 16 Bonnell, Fischer, & Moore, Studs Terkel interviews.

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“Since the ’60s, medical students have been grappling with how to remain ’radicals in the professions.’” arising from an agitated labor movement, a changing medical profession, and the shadow of the civil rights movement. But it became another instance of how an attempt at reform galvanized momentum, seemed on course to reimagine social structures, but then quietly sputtered out. However, physicians have never stopped fighting. Since the ’60s, medical students have been grappling with how to remain “radicals in the professions,”17 how to not lose sight of what happens on the ground from the high office windows of the M.D. With the Medical Committee for Human Rights, Student Health Organizations, Physicians for a National Health Program, White Coats for Black Lives, and more, physicians have written their own history of rising up against the status quo and taking the gavel into their own hands to try to bend the arc towards justice. During the summer of 2020, in the days following the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Sean Reed, Tony McDade, Rayshard Brooks, and too many more, medical students rallied alongside Black Lives Matter, urging for a re-examination of the medical curriculum, the construction of race, and the physician’s voice. But it was not enough in the ’60s and

’70s, and it was not enough in 2020. As physicians scramble to contain transmission of SARS-CoV-2, especially in public hospitals and communities of color, the medical institution is once again facing the cracks in its reflection. Medicine has recognized that it must do better, but it has never fully reckoned with its own institutional complicity. The profession’s privilege and prestige have allowed it to look past its history of abuses and shift the focus toward remaining “apolitical.” But medicine has never been apolitical — not since the founding of the American Medical Association and organized medicine, not since the first attempt to pass a national health care bill in the early 1900s, not since the rise of third-party payers, pharmaceutical corporations, and managed care organizations. Rather, the medical profession can provide an anchor in modern civil rights movements. As a profession that catches the victims of our deepest social and political struggles, it can lead the vanguard to create change not only within but beyond its white walls. It requires change at the top, but it must begin among physicians themselves, in the ways that physicians understand people, in the ways that hospitals serve communities, in the ways that the profession carries out its codes, and in the ways that physicians break down the walls built to isolate medicine from the messy world outside. In the years following the 1975 strike at County, the HSA never stopped fighting for its patients. If it weren’t for its efforts, County most likely would have been shuttered and repurposed. Instead, in 1994, Illinois approved the construction of a new county hospital, and in 2002, the John H.

17 Fein, O., & Fein, C. (1967, July). Notes on Alternatives Facing the Radical in Medicine. Quentin Young Papers (Box 46), Northwestern University Archives, Evanston, IL, United States.

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Stroger, Jr. Hospital opened its doors.18 Today, the old County building remains as a historical landmark, and last year, after more than $140 million of renovations, it reopened as a Hyatt Place Hotel.19 After a century of disinvestment as a public hospital, money is now pouring into the building. But behind the façade of marble and terracotta is a history of some of the worst abuses of the medical institution. Until the

medical profession dismantles the façade and looks deeper into how and why it got to where it is, its shadow of injustice and complicity will only continue to grow.

Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Dr. Mark Sheldon for his guidance on the research and writing. ■

18 Raffensperger, J. (Ed.). (1997). The Old Lady on Harrison Street: Cook County Hospital, 1833-1995. Peter Lang. 19 Kamin, B. (2020, May 22). An exclusive look at the reborn Cook County Hospital: Once facing the wrecking ball, the West Side landmark is about to reemerge, beautifully remade. Chicago Tribune. https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/blair-kamin/ ct-biz-old-cook-county-hospital-kamin-20200522-rspawd7gbbcwtd5fh4at5r4rja-story.html

Bibliography Primary Sources

Bonnell, Mark, Tessa Fischer, and David Moore. “Studs Terkel Interviews Three Cook County Hospital Doctors About Their 1975 Strike.” By Studs Terkel. WFMT, November 12, 1975. Studs Terkel Radio Archive. https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/ programs/studs-terkel-interviewsthree-cook-county-hospital-doctorsabout-their-1975-strike. Chicago Defender. “County Hospital Crisis.” October 28, 1975. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Defender. Hoffman, Judy, prod. HSA Strike 1975. Chicago: Kartemquin Films, 1975. https://docuseek2.com/kq-hsa75. Illinois Legislative Investigating Commission. Cook County Health Hospitals Governing Commission (Final Report). Chicago: Illinois Legislative Investigating Commission, 1979. Jarrett, Vernon. “Under the Knife at County Hospital.” Chicago Tribune, November 9, 1975. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune. Kamin, Blair. “An exclusive look at the reborn Cook County Hospital: Once facing the wrecking ball, the West Side land-

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mark is about to reemerge, beautifully remade.” Chicago Tribune. May 22, 2020. https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/blair-kamin/ct-biz-old-cook-county-hospital-kamin-20200522-rspawd7gbbcwtd5fh4at5r4rja-story.html The Struggle. “Cook County Hospital Perpetuates Dual Health System.” September/October 1970. Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections. Young, Quentin. Papers. Northwestern University Archives. “Cook County Hospital Community Education Project.” 1975. Box 23, folder 6, Quentin Young Papers, Northwestern University Archives. Fein, Ollie and Charlotte Fein. “Notes on Alternatives Facing the Radical in Medicine.” July 1967. Box 46, Quentin Young Papers, Northwestern University Archives. “Re: Physicians on Strike, An Open Letter to Communities Served by Cook County Hospital.” 1975. Box 23, folder 6, Quentin Young Papers, Northwestern University Archives.

“The Residents and Internes Association of Cook County Hospital.” May 17, 1971. Box 23, folder 3, Quentin Young Papers, Northwestern University Archives. “Treatment of Prisoners.” Box 46, folder 2, Quentin Young Papers, Northwestern University Archives. Young, Quentin. Everybody In, Nobody Out: Memoirs of a Rebel without a Pause. Chicago: Copernicus Healthcare, 2013.

Secondary Sources

Devinatz, Victor G. “‘Never Before Have M.D.’s Done So Much for Their Patients’: The 1975 Strike by the Cook County Hospital House Staff Association against the Cook County Hospital.” Journal of Collective Negotiations in the Public Sector 25, no. 2 (1996): 117-36. Raffensperger, John, ed. The Old Lady on Harrison Street: Cook County Hospital, 1833-1995. New York: Peter Lang, 1997.

Tracking Pandemic Sociology The Coronavirus U.S. Project by Prerita Pandya and Grace Lee

oronaData U.S. is a nationally representative longitudinal survey that tracks U.S. public opinions, behaviors, and attitudes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The principal investigator of the project, Beth Redbird, discussed the motivations and implications of her research with the Journal.

FEATURE

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“If you want to not just solve this pandemic but help with future pandemics, you need to understand not just how diseases and viruses work, but also how people work.” Sociology Professor and Principal Investigator of CoronaData U.S. Beth Redbird remembers when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit the United States in early 2020. She, like many other Americans, wondered how this virus would impact her life. As she began to realize how quickly and drastically the virus was changing the lives of many across the country, Redbird decided to use her expertise as a survey researcher to investigate the sociological effects of the pandemic. With a team of other Northwestern University researchers, Redbird assembled a survey aimed to capture the sentiments of the nation. She explained that the goal of the CoronaData U.S. project is “to preserve as much data as possible for future researchers.” Redbird understands the pandemic as not only a public health issue, but also a social issue — one that greatly affects people’s behaviors, opinions, and social interactions. “How the pandemic spreads, how prevalent it is, and how it works is in part about how we treat each other, what we do, how we behave, and how we interact,” Redbird said. 134

Redbird believes it is crucial for people to have this understanding about the pandemic, especially going into the future. “If you want to not just solve this pandemic but help with future pandemics, you need to understand not just how diseases and viruses work, but also how people work,” she emphasized. Once the initial survey was finalized in March 2020, invitations to participate in the survey were distributed to randomly selected addresses across the country. Participants who accepted the invitation were sent the survey and paid for their participation. Redbird explained that participants were chosen in this manner to ensure that the survey results would be nationally representative. “It’s not the kind of thing people select into. We’re trying to get people from all walks of life — all political orientations, all social statuses, all income groups, [both] rural areas and urban areas,” she said. As of February 2021, Redbird and her team have a panel of about 8,000 participants to whom the survey is regularly sent in order to track changes in opinion over time. Since the first rollout of the survey, Redbird and her team have been constantly updating, editing, and adding questions to reflect the changing social and political landscape of the country. For example, questions about face masks were not initially included in the survey. “In March, states had started with stay-at-home orders, and everybody was being told, ‘Don’t wear masks. Preserve those for healthcare workers,’” Redbird explained. “So we didn’t ask any mask questions, and it wasn’t until the summer, when masks became a ‘thing,’ that we started to adjust the survey to capture that.” Currently, the team is working on the fourth wave of surveys and plans to include questions regarding newer aspects

FEATURE

“Typically during disasters, there’s this kind of a solidarity effect. We didn’t really see that in the pandemic, so the question is, did we not see that because the pandemic is so long?” of the pandemic and current life, such as vaccination and the Biden administration’s policies. They plan to continue conducting the survey every six months until about 2022 in the hope of capturing how life returns to normal. Of all the trends Redbird has observed through the survey, the lack of solidarity in the country was something she did not expect. “Typically during disasters, there’s this kind of a solidarity effect,” she said. “We didn’t really see that in the pandemic, so the question is, did we not see that because the pandemic is so long?”

Rather than coming together in this time of upheaval, people seemed to drift apart and away from the idea of community, possibly due to the isolationist nature of pandemic public health measures. As life gradually returns to normal, people will likely begin to come together in the aftermath of this shared experience that has altered every aspect of our lives. As the isolation of the pandemic becomes a thing of the past, the ideals of community and interaction that we have lost can be rebuilt, and CoronaData U.S. will be here to document it. ■

To learn more about CoronaData U.S., visit the project website at https://coronadata.us/.

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Department of Sociology Faculty Adviser: Prof. Jeannette Colyvas, Ph.D.

Designing Equity:

Stakeholders’ Perceptions of an Equity Initiative in a California School District by Riley Ceperich Introduction Once championed as the great equalizer, the American education system has now been exposed by researchers for the systematic role it plays in reinforcing inequality. It is well documented that large achievement gaps continue to exist between racial groups as a result of structural inequalities. In 2015, the average score of Black students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress was 26 points lower than that of white students.1 Many factors explain this gap. For example, 71% of white students attend schools that offer the full complement of courses that the United States Department of Education deems necessary to be college ready, compared to only 57% of Black students.2 Black students are also more than twice as likely to attend schools with higher concentrations of first-year teachers and are four times more likely to attend schools where

80% or fewer teachers have obtained their teaching certification.3 Further, Black students are more likely to attend schools with fewer resources and suffer more disciplinary action than white students due to teachers’ and administrators’ underlying biases.4 In order to combat these inequities, public schools have been implementing reforms for decades. Yet, despite major efforts, large gaps persist, and some educational leaders even assert that certain reforms are “making things worse.”5 Therefore, the solution to educational inequity remains unclear. In order to narrow achievement gaps, agents of change must think critically about why equity reforms have failed so consistently. My thesis aims to answer this question by analyzing teacher and administrator perceptions of an equity initiative,

1 “K-12 Disparity Facts and Statistics,” UNCF, UNCF, 2019. 2 Rhonda Tsoi-A-Fatt Bryant, “College Preparation for African American Students: Gaps in the High School Educational Experience,” CLASP, CLASP, 2015. 3 UNCF. 4 Ibid. 5 Valerie Strauss, “Perspective | Yes, Teacher-Preparation Programs Need to Be Fixed - but More than 350 Education Leaders Say Reforms Are ‘Making Things Worse,’” The Washington Post, WP Company, 2019.

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“In order to narrow achievement gaps, agents of change must think critically about why equity reforms have failed so consistently.” SPARK,6 with the goal of understanding how those perceptions might be related to the reform’s strengths or pitfalls. My central research question is: How do stakeholders perceive equity-oriented reforms? I studied the interview transcripts of teachers, principals, and district leaders in two historically underserved elementary schools where a large-scale equity reform was implemented. I investigated variation between organizational levels in order to better understand both how different types of stakeholders perceive reforms and whether school organizational level maps on to differences in perceptions. My findings shed light on the problems with current equity reforms and provide recommendations for future initiatives.

Literature Review Sociologists have studied both educational inequity and school organization at length. Much of the literature surrounding edu-

cational inequity focuses on achievement gaps between racial groups and identifies the social and institutional factors that contribute to these gaps. Considerable literature also highlights the ways that school organization affects students and teachers broadly, as well as the ways in which individuals from different levels of school organization perceive school policy and processes. The overlap of these two fields has received decidedly less attention. In particular, no studies have addressed the way that individuals from different school organizational levels perceive equity-oriented reforms. My study aims to fill this gap in the literature. Many school districts have implemented initiatives to combat educational inequity. Initiatives include creating teams of teachers to review student performance data by racial group, changing how the curriculum addresses race and power dynamics, and training educators on equity pedagogy, particularly outlining and discouraging them from falling into “equity traps” such as “color-blindness.” It is fairly well-documented that these diversity initiatives have high rates of failure.7 Researchers have attempted to explain this. Theorized reasons for failure include a lack of specialized support to marginalized populations8 and teachers’ unawareness of the existence of equity initiatives.9 Research exists about teachers’ perceptions of testing structures, sex equity in schools, and students of different races than them, but limited research explores teachers’ and administrators’

6 “SPARK” is a pseudonym I am using to maintain the privacy of subjects. All names of schools and individuals have also been pseudonymized for this reason. 7 Adrianna Kezar et al., “Examining Organizational Contextual Features That Affect Implementation of Equity Initiatives,” The Journal of Higher Education, The Ohio State University Press, 2008. 8 Sabrina Zirkel, “The Influence of Multicultural Educational Practices on Student Outcomes and Intergroup Relations,” Teachers College Record, Teachers College, 2007. 9 Kezar et al.

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perceptions of school reform.10,11,12 There is also well-documented research about the differences between teacher and administrator perceptions of district policy and processes.13,14 However, there is a lack of research comparing teacher and administrator perceptions of school reform and, in particular, equity reform. My project aims to bridge this gap by studying stakeholders’ perceptions of an equity-oriented reform. By “stakeholders,” I refer to those who hold a stake in the school. Edward Freeman’s Stakeholder Theory explains that organizations should try to consider all of the goals and mindsets of those involved in the organization in order to enhance its success.15 I limit my definition of stakeholders to teachers, principals, and district leaders because those are the interviews to which I had access. I lacked access to the interviews of students and parents who I would otherwise include under my definition of stakeholders, and I recommend that their perceptions be studied in future research. Yet, excluding students and parents does allow me to focus on differences in perceptions between organization levels in education. I plan to examine the ways that stakeholders perceive a specific equity reform. By “perceive,” I refer to stakeholders’ opinions of the reform — how they describe the reform and what they identify as the strengths and weaknesses of the

“There is a lack of research comparing teacher and administrator perceptions of school reform and, in particular, equity reform.” reform. I draw on James P. Spillane’s idea of sense-making to underscore the complexity of these perceptions and therefore the depth of information they could conceivably offer.16 By “equity-oriented reform,” I refer to an initiative, which I will henceforth call SPARK,17 implemented in 2018 in a California school district with the stated goal of increasing the educational outcomes for Black students. Further detail about this initiative is located in the methodologies section. Hypothesis: Stakeholders’ perceptions of the design of SPARK vary between organizational levels. Past research indicates that teachers, principals, and district leaders have fairly different opinions about school processes which are guided by norms and structures

10 Emily R. Lai and Kris Waltman, “Test Preparation: Examining Teacher Perceptions and Practices,” Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, vol. 27, no. 2, 2008, pp. 28–45. 11 Patricia S. Griffin, “Teachers’ Perceptions of and Responses to Sex Equity Problems in a Middle School Physical Education Program,” Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, vol. 56, no. 2, 1985, pp. 103–110. 12 Julie Landsman and Chance W. Lewis. White Teachers, Diverse Classrooms: Creating Inclusive Schools, Building on Students’ Diversity, and Providing True Educational Equity, Stylus Pub, 2011. 13 Nanette M. Keiser and Jianping Shen, “Principals’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Teacher Empowerment,” Journal of Leadership Studies, vol. 7, no. 3, 2000, pp. 115–121. 14 Anne Spidell Rusher et al. “Belief Systems of Early Childhood Teachers and Their Principals Regarding Early Childhood Education,” Early Childhood Research Quarterly, vol. 7, no. 2, 1992, pp. 277–296. 15 R. Edward Freeman, “Divergent Stakeholder Theory,” Academy of Management Review, vol. 24, no. 2, 1999, pp. 233–236. 16 James P. Spillane et al., “Policy Implementation and Cognition: Reframing and Refocusing Implementation Research,” Review of Educational Research, vol. 72, no. 3, 2002, pp. 387–431. 17 See note 6.

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“

Teachers explained that they would like more strategies or examples of culturally relevant pedagogy and ‘more trainings on just how to make culturally relevant teaching in differentiating instruction.’

within their organization level.18,19 I therefore expected that my analysis of the interviews would uncover differences in opinion between organizational levels about the design of SPARK. Using the Consortium for Policy Research in Education’s framework for studying comprehensive school reform programs, I posited that stakeholders’ perceptions of SPARK would fall into three main categories: design, implementation, and efficacy.20 For this condensed version of my thesis, I focused solely on stakeholders’ perceptions of the design of SPARK. By “design,” I refer to an improvement process undergone by a school based on a strategic plan that may include curricular or instructional changes to the existing organization and offers research-based evidence for the strategies and a guide for how to implement them.21 The Consortium explains that designs must include both an effective instructional and implementation strategy to effect change in learning or instruction.22

Methodologies

”

To answer my research question about the way that stakeholders perceive equity-oriented reforms, I conducted an exploratory case study23,24 of an equity initiative, SPARK, at two elementary schools with the goal of exploring diversity in perceptions of an equity reform. I employed qualitative methods for the individual unit of analysis.25 My analysis examines individuals across the classroom and school within a single district. The study was cross-sectional26 in that it examined stakeholders’ perceptions of SPARK at one point in time rather than exploring how their perceptions changed over time. Interviews allowed me to dive deeper into each individual’s perceptions of the initiatives, whereas survey data would have only offered a cursory glance of perceptions and inhibited me from delving into the complexities in opinions that might uncover greater variation in stakeholders’ perceptions.27 I examined the interview transcripts of stakeholders from two elementary

18 Nanette M. Keiser and Jianping Shen, “Principals’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Teacher Empowerment,” Journal of Leadership Studies, vol. 7, no. 3, 2000, pp. 115–121. 19 Anne Spidell Rusher et al., “Belief Systems of Early Childhood Teachers and Their Principals Regarding Early Childhood Education,” Early Childhood Research Quarterly, vol. 7, no. 2, 1992, pp. 277–296. 20 Rowan, Brian, et al., “School Improvement by Design: Lessons From a Study of Comprehensive School Reform Programs,” 2009. 21 Ibid. 22 Ibid. 23 Earl R. Babbie, The Practice of Social Research, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2013. 24 Charles C. Ragin and Lisa M. Amoroso, Constructing Social Research: the Unity and Diversity of Method, SAGE, 2019. 25 Babbie. 26 Ibid. 27 Robert S. Weiss, Learning from Strangers: the Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies, Free Press, 1995.

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schools in one California school district. I refer to the school district as “S District.” I refer to the two schools as “Paul Robeson” and “Davis.” Both schools were included as part of SPARK. The goal of SPARK is to increase educational achievement outcomes for Black students by identifying the reasons why Black students are not succeeding at their schools and then developing and implementing strategies to address those reasons. SPARK was implemented in two types of schools throughout S District: historically underserved schools and schools with a high equity gap. For a school to qualify as underserved, more than 75% of students at the school must identify as “African American,” “Latino/Hispanic,” or “Samoan”; more than 70% of students must qualify for free or reduced lunch; teachers must have less than six years of teaching experience; and schools must earn less than a 30% proficiency rate in the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) English language arts (ELA) test or SBAC math test. Both Paul Robeson and Davis qualify as “historically underserved” under these criteria. The two schools share many similarities in terms of their demographics and achievement data. See the demographic and achievement data tables in Appendix A for more details. The interviews that I analyzed were conducted by members of Cynthia E. Coburn’s data collection team for an elementary coherence study (COHERE). The data collection was supported by generous grants from the Heising-Simons Foundation and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund to principal investigator Cynthia E. Coburn. I had access to these data as a research assistant for the Coburn lab. The COHERE study was initially designed to study various schools in S District, includ140

ing Paul Robeson and Davis, with the goal of exploring curriculum coherence within and between grades. SPARK, the equity initiative that I study in Paul Robeson and Davis, was implemented in 2018. Prior to its implementation, Coburn’s data collection team for COHERE received a grant to specifically study SPARK at both Davis and Paul Robeson. The interviews were conducted by three researchers from Coburn’s lab over the course of the 2018-2019 school year. Three levels of stakeholders were interviewed. At the classroom level, 17 elementary teachers were interviewed. At each school, the principal, assistant principal, and instructional reform facilitator (IRF) were also interviewed. Seventeen district leaders were also interviewed, but, as many were not highly involved in SPARK, I chose to only analyze the interviews of the seven leaders who were most involved. Thus, I was able to sample across the organizational levels of district, school, grades, and classrooms, holding the district and most school attributes constant (see Appendix B for interview guides). My project progressed in six parts. First, I assembled and identified the secondary interview data needed for this study, categorizing the individual by position (i.e., teacher, principal, or district leader). Second, I read through the interviews and pulled out excerpts related to SPARK. Third, I read these excerpts by each individual interview to get a holistic sense of stakeholders’ perceptions. Fourth, I wrote memos after I finished reading through all interviews at each organizational level, documenting my thoughts, preliminary findings, and analysis to be tested along the way. These memos helped me draw connections between existing literature, my hypotheses, and the themes emerging

in the data. Fifth, I coded for three content categories: design, implementation, and efficacy. Finally, I analyzed the codes, comparing and contrasting them by organization level.

Empirical Results This section provides supporting evidence for my hypothesis. I uncovered variation in the perceptions of the initiative by organizational level, which I will evidence with findings. While I did find variation between the groups, however, I found that teachers and principals had fairly similar perceptions of SPARK and that much of the variation in perception exists between stakeholders at the school level (teachers and school leaders) and those at the district level (see Appendix C and Appendix D for tables of my findings). In general, I found that most teachers do not have a strong understanding of the design or goals of SPARK. Some are completely unaware of the program (five of 17), while others recognize the name and goal of the initiative but admit they “should know more” (nine of 17). Very few know any strategies SPARK has employed to decrease racial achievement gaps (three of 17). School leaders also have a somewhat limited grasp on SPARK. Both principals reported that they did not fully understand the initiative. Zulma, the principal at Davis, explained that at back-to-school night, “We gave a presentation, Esther (the assistant principal of Davis) and I, around what it means to be a SPARK school, what SPARK stands for. We didn’t have very much information ourselves, in terms of the exact resources that we would receive, and so it was very general information.” Kevin, the principal of Paul Robeson, told a similar story. When asked how Paul Robeson had received SPARK, he responded,

“We haven’t done really much. That’s the thing. It’s still once in a while talked about at principal meetings, but nobody really quite understands what [SPARK] is.” School leaders were also aware that the teachers do not know much about the initiative. When asked if teachers at her school would be able to correctly answer if their school was a SPARK school or not, Louise, the IRF at Davis, replied “I don’t think they would know. They’d say, ‘What are you talking about?’” Kevin explained that teachers were unaware at Paul Robeson because he had not told them much about the initiative: “There’s no point in having a formal conversation with teachers because none of it is anything I can do myself. It’s just a matter of asking the right questions and waiting,” he said. Kevin decided not to share information about SPARK until he believes there is anything the school can actually do to implement it. Paul Robeson’s principal (Kevin) and assistant principal (Edward), along with Davis’s IRF (Louise), also believed the initiative’s design had considerable room for improvement. For example, Kevin assumed that SPARK was tossed together with little forethought: I have no problem saying [SPARK] just looks like a bunch of things that people contributed in a dark room on a Friday night of best practices that they’re already seeing schools do because, to me, it’s a little insulting when you throw on a rubric lesson study as something that’s a marker of something. It makes it seem as though it’s just something any school can do. It’s very difficult. It takes a lot of trust, and you have to have retention of highquality staff and general interest. You’re sending lots of people in to observe public lessons, and also, there’s a lotta collaboration around the development

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of this and the learning and all the stuff that happens beforehand. It’s not just a thing.

Kevin believed that district leaders carelessly designed SPARK and failed to understand or acknowledge the difficulty of elements they include in their rubric. Two of the school leaders also discussed confusion as to whether schools would receive money as a part of the initiative and cite poor communication from district leaders as a cause of this confusion. Kevin noted, “The only thing we heard was that there was $500,000 that was going to be set aside for SPARK schools, and there would be some sort of application to determine how we get it. … There still has been no application.” The other school leaders did not discuss any funding related to the initiative or the application process. District leaders shared some of these perceptions while challenging others. They were all aware of the initiative, and many had a deep understanding of it as they were members of SPARK’s design team. Yet, some district leaders understood that not everyone in the district had fully grasped SPARK. One leader, Calvin, mentioned that he “ha[s] heard expressed that SPARK has yet to penetrate school communities down to the teacher level and that teachers may not yet understand what it means to work in a SPARK school or what SPARK is.” In other words, he had some awareness of the way that schools were (or were not) interacting with SPARK. The district leaders were more knowledgeable about SPARK than teachers and school leaders, given that they served as members of the design committee. However, Collin, the Deputy Superintendent of Instruction, did indicate that uncertainty about SPARK existed even at the district level. He admitted: 142

I don’t know that we ever really fully landed the plane on what SPARK is. [chuckles] Is SPARK a framework for describing the conditions and the practices necessary for the success of African American students? I think that’s understandable. Is SPARK some type of a program? I think that’s less palatable, frankly. I didn’t see it as a program.

His quote demonstrates that the design and goals of SPARK are not concrete. Many district leaders were also confused about SPARK’s funding situation, just as the school leaders were. Samiya, who worked at the district’s central office admitted, “To be honest, the money part has been fuzzy for SPARK. That’s my only drawback.” Olaf, the district’s math content specialist, asserted, “Apparently, there is money attached to it, but the SPARK schools have to apply for that money and make some kind of proposal and say ‘this is how we’re gonna change things.’ Then they can get the money. That’s about what I know right now.” Another district leader, Sana, contradicted Olaf’s claim. Sana said: We have all this money. I thought we were gonna give it to schools. When someone in the group asked the question, “Are we going to get money?” The superintendent said, “You will be getting no money. You’re only going to get resources in the frame of strategies.” I didn’t understand that piece, because frankly, then it becomes very top down.

District leaders also differed from school leaders in their perception of the forethought of the design. Sana, a member of the design committee, explained that counter to the principal at Paul Robeson’s beliefs, substantial research, time, and effort went into producing SPARK: We took each component of SPARK and we developed a really nice, detailed

rubric around it. … We looked at L.A., we looked at Chicago, we looked at New York. We looked at Connecticut with that, which I liked the most. We looked at Texas. One of the districts — it was Houston or Dallas, one of the two, … we took the components of SPARK, and we broke it down, like with professional capacity. It is development and coaching, but it’s also the use of evidence and continuous improvement. The instruction — it is a critical instruction assessment, but it is also strength-based. Understanding assets and prior knowledge, having high expectations, and differentiating, then transforming. That way, we broke it up, and we created the rubric. I’m giving you the subsections of the rubric, and we created an evidence column so that schools can see what that looks like. It’s not abstract.

The design for this initiative actually was, according to district leaders, very thoughtful, but district leaders did not effectively communicate the extensive design process to school leaders. This was evident in Kevin’s (Paul Robeson principal) assumption that SPARK was thrown together. His assumption may also suggest that while district leaders considered many variables in creating the initiative, they may not have considered the right variables to make SPARK truly effective. District leaders and teachers did agree, however, that concrete strategies must be added to SPARK’s design. Teachers explained that they would like more strategies or examples of culturally relevant pedagogy and “more trainings on just how to make culturally relevant teaching in differentiating instruction.” District leaders also discussed that while strategies to go along with their rubric for an equitable school were necessary, they

were struggling to create ones that felt new. Sana said, “You can’t begin a whole strategy implementation with the rubric. Because even though it’s saying, ‘Hey, let’s all get on the same page and agree on what the expectations should be,’ [schools] are desperate to know how are we going to get there.” She agreed with school leaders that strategies must be added to SPARK in order for it to be successful. My findings suggest that there are both similarities and differences in the perception of design between organizational levels. All levels showed some confusion about the design of the routine, yet school leaders had more knowledge than teachers, and district leaders had the most knowledge of the three groups. School and district leaders also differed in their perception of how carefully or haphazardly they believed SPARK was designed.

Discussion This study aimed to explore stakeholders’ perceptions of the design of an equity-oriented school initiative (SPARK) for the purpose of identifying its potential strengths or weaknesses in order to aid in the creation of new reforms that are more successful at decreasing racial inequity in education. Through qualitative interviews, I uncovered variation in the ways that individuals perceived the design of SPARK within and between three levels of school organization: teachers, school leaders, and district leaders. Many of my study’s findings are consistent with existing education literature, while some challenge or complicate current understandings of school reform. I first relate my findings to other education reform studies, then I make suggestions about how to construct more effective equity reforms going forward. 143

“In order for new equity initiatives to be successful, they must have a clear design with concrete goals and strategies, and they must be accompanied by frequent and truthful communication of information and perceptions of the initiative between stakeholders.” Relation to Existing Literature My analysis of perceptions of SPARK between organizational levels finds that important variation exists in the way that teachers, school leaders, and district leaders perceived SPARK. In particular, school and district leaders differed in their awareness of SPARK and whether they think SPARK was well designed. These differences are consistent with research that different organization levels hold disparate opinions of reforms.28,29 However, I also found many instances in which members of different organizational levels share the same opinions with respect to their confusion about SPARK and frustration with its design and funding. Teachers and school leaders in particular did not vary considerably in their perceptions of SPARK. The degree of confusion among all three organizational levels is also consistent with existing literature. Kezar et al. explain that, “Reforms may be unsuccessful because educators are often completely unaware of the existence of equity initiatives in their schools, or that equity is a major focus of their initiatives.”30 I found this to be the case with SPARK; some of the teachers in my study were completely unaware of SPARK, while others did not know that SPARK specifically targets the achievement of Black students. At Paul Robeson, teachers’ lack of awareness 28 Keiser and Shen. 29 Rusher et al. 30 Kezar et al. 31 Spillane, 2002.

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stemmed from Kevin, the principal, who did not inform them about SPARK due to his own confusion about it. Other school leaders at Davis shared this confusion. Even district leaders who took part in designing SPARK were uncertain of its goals, strategies, and funding. This finding is congruous with Spillane’s assertion that policy makers often fail to create “clear and consistent” policy initiatives.31 Going Forward My analysis highlights several barriers to SPARK’s success: confusion over its design, goals, and funding. Based on my findings, I identify two possible solutions to these barriers which could increase the effectiveness of future reforms: (1) better communication between and within organizational levels and (2) a more concrete design of initiatives. One reason Paul Robeson’s principal, Kevin, gives for disliking SPARK is that it “looks like a bunch of things that people contributed in a dark room on a Friday night of best practices that they’re already seeing schools do.” This led him to distrust the initiative and not implement it. If district leaders better communicated SPARK’s design process to principals, Kevin might have seen SPARK in a different light and been more willing to engage with it. Kevin also seemed to have a strong distrust of district leaders, which is fairly

commonplace in the education field.32 This distrust seemed to stem from a notion that the two levels have different perceptions and goals. However, my research shows that in reality, school and district leaders shared many of the same perceptions. School and district leaders expressed skepticism over the funding, goals, and lack of strategies of SPARK. Both levels even expressed frustration with (fellow) district leaders. Yet, the groups seemed to be hiding their true perceptions from each other. Sana, the Chief of Research, explained, “With [principals], I’m not going to say anything I said to you. I’m going to hold a very, very strong district voice and defend everything we are doing.” By playing into the politics of the district, she may have been hurting student outcomes because the tension she is exacerbating between school and district leaders impedes equity reform. School leaders Edward and Kevin also chose not to openly communicate their perceptions. Edward explained that rather than telling district leaders upfront that SPARK was not what his school wanted and that he would not implement it, he said, “We’re moving forward, and it’s just like this SPARK, it’s embedded here. We’re just gonna do our thing, and when they’re ready to ask if this is what we need, then this is where we’re gonna perform.” In the meantime, while Edward and Kevin are waiting for district leaders to ask them about SPARK, students are failing to meet standards. This lack of communication slows down change and aggravates tension between organization levels. Added tension increases the difficulty of implementing future reforms due to increasingly jaded administrators, like Kevin, who are skeptical that any reform can produce change. It also inhibits district leaders, the

creators of the reforms, from knowing what the school leaders truly want, which leads to poor design of the initiative. Samiya posited that school leaders do not want new initiatives and will just brush off novel programs or ideas. Yet, Kevin states that he does not like SPARK precisely because it is not new. If school leaders and district leaders communicated more openly, then Kevin’s needs for SPARK to be novel might be better satisfied, which might lead him to implement it. A clearer design of SPARK could also alleviate communication problems. If district leaders identified clear goals and strategies and understood SPARK’s funding before rolling it out to schools, then school leaders like Kevin may have had more faith in the initiative and chosen to implement it sooner. Kevin may then have had a conversation with teachers to increase their awareness of SPARK. A more concrete initiative would also have mitigated communication between leaders, as district leaders would have been clearer about SPARK and therefore more able to respond to questions about it.

Conclusion This study examined stakeholders’ perceptions of SPARK, an equity initiative, in two historically underserved elementary schools in California, filling a gap in existing literature. Analysis of 31 interview transcripts uncovered variation in the perceptions between three organizational levels: teachers, school leaders, and district leaders. My project has several main limitations. First, while I hope to uncover stakeholders’ perceptions of school reforms more generally, I understand that the perceptions represented in my case study do not necessarily represent the perceptions

32 Tina M. Trujillo, “The politics of district instructional policy formation,” Educational Policy, 2012, 27(3), 531-559.

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of all teachers, principals, and district leaders of all equity reforms. The stakeholders at Davis and Paul Robeson may not be representative of all teachers, principals, and superintendents. They may be more or less acquainted with issues of equity than the average educators, and they may have more or less exposure to the initiatives than other stakeholders might. They may also not be a representative sample of stakeholders in terms of their age, race, gender, and years of experience on the job, which would diminish the generalizability of the study.33 Additionally, SPARK does not represent all equity reforms, which vary widely in their design and implementation. Thus, stakeholders’ perceptions of this initiative do not necessarily represent what their perceptions of all initiatives would be, which also limits the study’s generalizability. Further, my study is limited in that it only analyzes interviews from the first year of the initiative. Opinions could very well change over the course of a couple years as stakeholders get a better sense of SPARK or if positive adjustments are made. This may affect the validity of my study.34 If stakeholders’ perceptions drastically changed after the first year of implementation, my study would not truly examine stakeholders’ complete perceptions of the initiative, but rather examine their initial perceptions

33 Babbie. 34 Ibid.

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of it. Further research could be conducted to determine if stakeholders’ views of initiatives change over time. As mentioned earlier, additional research might also explore student and parent perceptions of the initiative. Furthermore, my analysis is marked by my biases. My identity and experiences as a white woman with a privileged education are inherently entangled in my methodologies, findings, and analysis of race and education. By focusing on the perceptions of teachers and administrators, I was able to analyze the problems with SPARK that designers and implementers identify in order to inform more successful equity initiatives in the future. Existing research examines both the failures of equity reforms and the way that opinions vary by organizational level. My research is novel in its comparison of perceptions of an equity reform between organizational levels. The results of my study offer a more nuanced understanding of stakeholders’ perceptions. They suggest that in order for new equity initiatives to be successful, they must have a clear design with concrete goals and strategies, and they must be accompanied by frequent and truthful communication of information and perceptions of the initiative between stakeholders. ■

Appendices (A-D) Appendix A: Demographic and Achievement Data Tables

Demographic Data Table % of students % of students % of students % of students Number of en- that identify as that identify % of students that identify % of students that are socio- % of English rolled students Black or Afri- as Hispanic/ that identify as as Asian that identify as economically language % of homeless in 2018-19 can American Latinx Pacific Islander American white disadvantaged learners students

School Davis

200

50%

20%

80%

20%

10%

Paul Robeson

200

40%

20%

90%

40%

Achievement Data Table School

% of students that met or exceeded state standards in Literacy

% of students that met or exceeded state standards in Math

Davis

15%

Paul Robeson

10%

Appendix B: Interview Guides Note that the following interview guides have been edited for brevity and relevance to the subject of this paper, i.e., the SPARK equity initiative. Teachers 1. [All] We are interested in learning about SPARK-related work at your school. a. What have you heard about the SPARK initiative? b. [If yes] What’s your sense of the mission and goals of SPARK? c. [If yes] How is SPARK different, if at all, from previous district or school efforts to support African American students? d. How have parents responded to SPARK? [Probe: any push back regarding focusing on African American students, or particular strategies…] e. How have other teachers responded to SPARK? f. How have the principal responded to SPARK? g. And what about students, how have they responded to SPARK? 2. [Ask 1-4 only if they are on the school’s Instructional Leadership Team and/or report strong understanding of SPARK] Can you tell us about the SPARK activities at your school? a. How were you involved, if at all, in designing the SPARK plan/activities for your school? b. How is implementation going so far? c. How, if at all, are you involved in implementing your school’s SPARK plan? d. Bright spots? Challenges or roadblocks? 3. What professional learning opportunities have you been offered, by the district or the school, as part of SPARK? [trainings regarding Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, …?] a. What was the purpose of this training? What did it focus on? b. What, if anything, did you take away from the training? c. Are there things that you’re doing differently as a result? 4. How, if at all, does SPARK related to/interact with other reform efforts at your school? 5. [All] Attitudes regarding African American learners and pedagogy. We know that the district created SPARK to promote the academic success of African American students. Is this an issue that is relevant at your school? School Leaders SPARK Q1. Your school is a SPARK school. How has your school community received SPARK? [Probe] How did teachers/families/students learn about SPARK? How have they responded?

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SPARK Q2. All SPARK schools conducted a self-assessment before the start of the school year on the SPARK Continuum of Effective Practices. Who was involved in the self-assessment at your school? [Probe] School leadership/staff [Probe] Ferlisha, Samiya, Sana, other district staff [Probe] Input from students, families, partners SPARK Q3. What were the main findings of the root cause analysis? [Probe] What measurable goal for improvement did you select? Why that goal? [Probe] What strategies did you identify to implement? Why those strategies? Grade-level/s? SPARK Q4. Did you request supplemental funds and/or resources to carry out the SPARK work? Did the district grant your request? SPARK Q5. Have you started implementing the strategies? [Probe] If yes, how is it going? What do those strategies look like in PreK, TK, K-2? [Probe] If not, what are next steps? SPARK Q6. How will you know if the strategies led to improvement? [Probe] Are you engaging (or do you plan to engage) in PDSA cycles? If yes, what are you trying to accomplish? Who is/ will be involved? Timeline? SPARK Q7. Are there any challenges or drawbacks associated with being a SPARK school? SPARK Q8. Are there any supports that you wish you had to move forward the SPARK efforts at the school? District Leaders Background 1. What’s your (current) role in the district? a. How long have you been involved with the SPARK Initiative and what are your specific responsibilities with regard to this initiative? b. What percentage of your time is devoted to SPARK? SPARK History and Vision 2. Can you briefly describe the history of the SPARK Initiative? a. How did SPARK come about? b. What was your role in developing SPARK? c. What are the problems SPARK is designed to address? d. Who were key players in the creation of the Initiative? e. What are the long-term goals of SPARK? 3. In your view, what are the main things the district should be doing to support the achievement of African American students? 4. How is SPARK different from previous district approaches to support African American students? SPARK Dimensions and Toolkit 5. Can you briefly describe the key components of SPARK? a. Why those components? 6. Were you involved in designing the SPARK toolkit and improvement process guide? If so, a. What sources of information or models helped inform the SPARK continuum? b. Why was improvement science/continuous improvement integrated into the school planning process? District Coordination 7. How is the district coordinating SPARK efforts? a. Who is responsible for managing this initiative? b. What other departments and/or individuals are involved, and how? SPARK Implementation and Impact 8. Who reviews and approves school SPARK plans (root cause analysis, self-assessment on SPARK continuum, measurable goal, & selected strategies)? 9. What resources and/or financial support is provided to schools to implement SPARK? a. How are resource requests evaluated and allocations determined? b. Who is in charge of making those decisions? 10. What does high quality SPARK implementation look like? a. What evidence do you look for in relation to 1) “understand the problem”; 2) “focus efforts”; and 3) “test the change” stages of implementation? 11. Who monitors and evaluates the implementation of SPARK? a. How will the district be holding the SPARK schools accountable for implementing their plans? b. What are major milestones and steps in the process? 12. How is implementation going so far? a. Bright spots? b. Challenges or roadblocks? 13. How do you measure impact of the SPARK initiative? a. What are key indicators of success in the short, medium, and long-term? SPARK Supports 14. What are ways in which the district supports the SPARK schools? a. Prompt for supports in relation to each of the dimensions of SPARK.

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15. What professional learning opportunities are available to SPARK schools? [trainings regarding equity-centered leadership and improvement science?] a. What are the purposes and why are these considered to be important? b. Who participates in the trainings? Is participation optional or mandatory? c. Does the district provide coaching to schools on their approved SPARK strategies? Who provides the coaching support? School-Level Planning/Implementation 16. We are interested in learning about SPARK-related work in two specific schools. Can you tell us about SPARK activities at Davis? Paul Robeson? a. To what extent will mathematics instruction be altered? b. What will this school approach look like at the PreK-3 level? 17. How have principals, teachers, students, and parents responded to SPARK? [Probe: focus on African American students] a. How have parents and community members been engaged in the SPARK process? Concluding Questions 18. How, if at all, does SPARK related to/interact with other reform efforts in the district? 19. Is there anything that I have not asked about that would help me better understand SPARK? 20. Are there other individuals in the district or elsewhere that you recommend we contact in order to get a better understanding of the design and implementation of SPARK? 21. We are eager to stay in touch with you as the initiative continues and would greatly appreciate you sending us any emails or materials you develop so we can track the initiative and its activities over time.

Appendix C: Coding Schema Codes

Design

Content of Perception

Implementation

Efficacy

Definitions

Examples

Instances where an interviewee discusses how the initiative was created or planned, including research that went into it and what players were involved.

We took the components of SPARK and we broke it down, like with professional capacity. It is development and coaching, but it’s also the use of evidence and continues improvement. The instruction, it is critical instruction assessment, but it is also strength-based. Understanding assets and prior knowledge, having high expectations, and differentiating, then transforming. That way, we broke it up and we created the rubric. I’m giving you the sub-sections of the rubric, and we created an evidence column so that schools can see what that looks like. It’s not abstract. We’ve done that in terms of our contribution, but at this point what is needed is, how do we get there?

Instances where an interviewee discusses how the initiative has actually been put into practice.

Nikil: We have an implementation issue at our school, so whether our teachers or our staff have new materials, new resources, until we implement it in the classroom and actually do the work, I think the impact will be minimal.

Instances where an interviewee discusses the effectiveness of the initiative in increasing educational outcomes for African American students in the district.

Right. I just feel like most of the equity PDs I’ve done at the schools I’m at, they never seem to actually go deep into where we’re challenging core beliefs. We all just talk about, “Oh, I’m white. These are the things that being white... Yes, I have privilege.” But, I have questions about why am I struggling in my classroom with African American boys? No, it’s okay. Where’s that discussion? Why are children sitting in the hall? What’s happening in our classrooms that kids are walking out? We don’t have those conversations. And, I think as long as we keep it adult focused and we’re all talking about what equity means to us, or the definition of equity, or all this really stuff, we’re never going to address those issues that keep recurring.

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Appendix D: Analysis of Content *Note: Paul Robeson is abbreviated as PR. Content of Perceptions Within and Between Organizational Levels Design • • Teachers (17)

•

• • School Leaders

• • • •

District Leaders

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•

Implementation

5 know nothing about SPARK (4 PR, 1 Davis) 9 know something about SPARK (4 PR, 5 Davis) 3 are fairly knowledgeable (1 PR, 2 Davis)

•

2 from PR concerned about funding Both principals feel they lack full information about SPARK PR leaders know that teachers unaware of SPARK PR principal thinks SPARK was haphazardly designed

•

6 confused about funding 2 disagree about whether SPARK should be a rubric or just have strategies Understand that schools do not know about SPARK

•

• •

•

Efficacy

1 says she has seen no implementation of SPARK 9 talk about Professional development where they reflected on their biases (2 PR, 7 Davis)

•

Davis carried out SPARK self-assessment, PR did not PR has not had formal conversation with teachers about SPARK, Davis has PR principal thinks slides and letters DL gave them to show families were inappropriate

•

2 from PR think SPARK offers nothing new, 1 from Davis

1 thinks was inappropriate to rollout SPARK without having concrete strategies 1 thinks PR has applied for funding when the PR principal says he has not seen any application

•

All think SPARK offers two new things: equity gap schools and “transforming mindsets” One thinks not offering much novelty is a strength

• • •

•

2 think SPARK offers nothing new, both Davis 3 like SPARK (2 PR, 1 Davis) 5 are critical of curriculum (3 Davis, 2 Paul Robeson; 4 white, 1 Asian) 1 likes curriculum (Davis, Black)

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of a Lab

By Rachel Chiu

Principal Investigator Prof. Adrianna Weisleder, Ph.D.

Research Study Coordinator Gaby España

Graduate Student Anele Villanueva

Undergraduate Research Assistant McKenna Lanter

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Feature: Portrait of a Lab

research lab often involves individuals at various levels of scholarship, including principal investigators, lab coordinators, graduate students, and undergraduate students. In order to better understand this ecosystem, the Journal interviewed four individuals from one such lab to see how their work fits together as an interconnected research effort. The Child Language Lab (CLL) in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorder (CSD) was founded in 2018 and is directed by CSD Professor

How long have you been in the Lab, and what is your role there?

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and CLL Principal Investigator Adrianna Weisleder. The Lab studies how children learn language through interactions with the world and people around them. It is especially interested in language development in bilingual children as well as the socioeconomic conditions in which children learn languages. The NURJ interviewed Weisleder, research study coordinator Gaby España, graduate student Anele Villanueva, and undergraduate research assistant McKenna Lanter about their role in the CLL.

Weisleder The CLL has been around for a little over three years. We’re the newest lab in the CSD department! I guide the broad directions of the Lab: I write grant proposals so that we can do that work, but I also view my role as enabling students to work on their own questions through independent projects.

Lanter

Villanueva

I’ve been in the Lab since winter of my first year, so three years. I got involved through the Early Research Experience Award in CSD.

This is my second year in the Lab. I’m a Ph.D. student so I have my own research projects, but I also try to lead a subcommittee of students in the group that goes over antiracist, equitable assessments. I feel like I’m a mentor or leader but also learn from others, too.

España Since May of 2019. I have an interesting position in that I am a part of the CLL and also a part of another study called the Stress, Pregnancy, and Health Study. In the CLL, we have weekly meetings, and I help facilitate some of those meetings. We have a newsletter that comes out of the Lab, and I also help spearhead that.

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Feature: Portrait of a Lab

What do your day-to-day tasks look like?

Villanueva My day-to-day tasks vary week to week. Typically, I wake up early to reply to emails and then try to work on my Qualifying Research Project (QRP) for one hour. I try to block time to work on different projects or tasks, and I have meetings with different members of the lab to discuss our research projects or train a research assistant to help me with my QRP.

Weisleder On a weekly basis, it’s a little easier to describe. We have weekly lab meetings with everyone in the Lab, where we discuss articles and also think about directions of the Lab and new projects. I have project meetings for each of the studies in the Lab to talk about what’s going on in them. I also have individual meetings with students.

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Lanter My day-to-day varies a bit based on what the project needs me to do. This year and last year, I was involved in a graduate student’s dissertation project. We had to go back and code the kids’ behaviors while they did specific tasks. Now, I’m starting the training for doing language transcriptions so that they can later be analyzed for utterance, number of words, etc.

España Always moving. I do a lot of scheduling of participants, starting to consent them, mailing out CLL materials, managing students, and creating a lot of processes and systems. I do a lot of immediate things that are participant-facing but then also create background systems so that everything goes smoothly.

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Feature: Portrait of a Lab How do your personal research interests intersect with the Lab’s research interests? Lanter

España Before coming to the Lab, I was part of a Chicagoland college access program. I was a family program associate, so I did a lot of parent education, one-on-one meetings, and mentorship with students. I’m really interested in making sure that these research questions really come from a peoplefirst lens.

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I remember that I was really interested in learning about how poverty impacts children’s language development and bilingualism. I’m also now also interested in kids’ behavioral and emotional regulation, dysregulation, and how language ties into that. Metacognition is also super cool and is super important for that emotional and behavioral regulation.

Weisleder Because we’re a pretty new lab, there are many things I’m interested in and many directions that are in the pile of things to be done. I’m also very excited if there’s a student who wants to take the lead on one of those questions or come up with their own question that is related to the broad goal of the projects.

Villanueva In the Lab, I am working on a project examining how dual language input varies by social context in immigrant families in the U.S. I’m really interested in how language can be linked to a person’s identity. I’m also interested in how young children may understand different language hierarchies in the U.S., especially in a society that’s pretty English-dominant.

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Feature: Portrait of a Lab Do you have a favorite part of what you do, or is there a favorite finding that you have?

Villanueva My favorite finding is that … children are shifting their language dominance to the societal language even though the adult caregivers are still speaking that home language. That can have lots of implications for how they perceive languages and speak other languages. My favorite part is also talking out loud about my research project because that helps me to … get feedback and other perspectives on my research projects.

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España When I get to consent parents or do interviews with them, there’s something really nice about getting to build rapport. The thing I love about the CLL is the team meetings — it’s a very unique meeting in that we include undergraduates, graduate students, and the research coordinators and we are all learning together.

Weisleder I have such a hard time answering that question because I have so many favorite things! Definitely one of my favorite parts is the people in my lab. I love to hear what people have to say, people’s questions, people’s insights. I love little kids and seeing what they think and what they say. … When I get to watch a video and see how kids are responding to different tasks, that’s a highlight.

Lanter The project that I’m working on now, looking at language development in late talkers, has the coolest setup. We are looking at how kids process language semantically and phonologically. For example, there’s a picture of a bed and a car on the screen. If the [late talkers] hear “look at the gar,” [since their] representation of the sound is fuzzy, they’ll look at the car on the screen whether the sound is “car” or “gar.”

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Feature: Portrait of a Lab Do you feel like your role differs greatly from others in the Lab? In what ways do you think having all of these different levels of involvement are essential for the Lab to run?

Lanter

España I’m always one foot in, one foot out because I’m in so many different areas. I came in [without] a background in developmental psychology and communication sciences and disorders [like] everyone else. In college, I studied education and sociology, and we’re now steering towards an area of anti-racist research. I was very interested in systems of inequality, especially in education, so I’m very comfortable [with] this shift [in] the CLL.

My role as a research assistant doesn’t differ much from other research assistants in the Lab. It does differ from say, seniors in the Lab who are doing their own independent research projects. It’s cool to bring all of those different perspectives together. The Ph.D. students bring the questions; the undergraduates bring the energy and activism and social justice work. It’s really cool to see a science and human perspective come together because of the different people in the Lab. 162

Villanueva I think my role being a graduate student is to set a good example for other students. My role is also galvanizing other people [to show that] research is awesome! Whenever there are people in the Lab who are applying to graduate school, I’m happy to help and share my materials. My role is also to acknowledge that we all make mistakes and that learning from one another is very valuable, so [I] really uplift voices from various levels of the research team. I don’t want to have a hierarchy in the Lab.

Weisleder

I think back to when I was an undergraduate and getting started in research, and my questions came from experiences in the world. The more I learned, the more my questions started to become more in line with the research in the field. Having involvement from different levels helps to keep the Lab dynamic. We have questions from people who are just getting started and still have their eyes wide open, but it’s also helpful to have people with expertise, people who turn a big idea into something that’s operationalizable and can be turned into a research study. ■

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Department of Sociology Faculty Adviser: Prof. Andrew Papachristos, Ph.D.

Developments or Division? The Role Large Public Investment Projects Play in Gentrification: A Case Study on Chicago’s 606 Bloomingdale Bike Trail

by Yu Wang Abstract Efficiency and equity have always been key dilemmas in local economic developments. On one hand, economic prosperity is crucial for sustainable growth; on the other hand, the neighborhoods might undergo gentrification, transforming to appeal to high-end markets. Hence, vulnerable or indigenous residents might face displacement. This thesis project quantitatively examines a hybrid form of gentrification in modern American cities by using the difference-in-differences method. More specifically, the research narrows its lens on the 606 Bloomingdale Bike Trail in Chicago to gain generalized insights for these newly formed rail-to-trail projects. In order to examine the treatment of this bike trail, Chicago census data from 2010–2017 were collected and divided into two groups: one that is within a mile of the bike trail and one that is not. My findings only partially support my hypotheses. The data show that gentrification is exacerbating segregation within the community instead of converting disinvested neighborhoods. The bike trail fortifies the barriers to live in the wealthier regions while continuing to isolate the disinvested parts. Further research using spatial regression is required to determine the extent and the composition of the 606’s effect on its surrounding neighborhoods.

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Introduction Large public investment projects are crucial to urban developments. They are the key screw in the urban growth engine, bringing convenience, economic opportunities, improved aesthetics, and leisure amenities to a neighborhood. In order to maximize efficiency in the limited space of an urban area, a good public investment project should meet all these criteria. The 606 Bloomingdale Bike Trail seems to be a perfect fit. It offers another route for people to commute to work, it creates jobs and attracts tourists from Chicago and beyond, is no longer an abandoned rail line but an artistic elevated bike trail, and provides green spaces for residents to exercise, walk, and relax. The trail would not only be a good infrastructure for the existing residents but would also be an even greater selling point to attract affluent potential residents. On the surface, this development appears to be a great booster for surrounding neighborhoods. However, it induces gentrification by abruptly changing the area’s physical landscapes, causing displacements of the indigenous residents and widening inequality within the community. Gentrification takes on many forms in urban areas, from transportation infrastructure and environment beautifications to the revitalization of abandoned sites and promotion of green spaces. These developments attract the affluent, educated, young, and generally white population to the once disinvested neighborhoods, creating positive feedback by encouraging more public investment projects in the area. Indigenous (or former) residents are not only excluded from these amenities and benefits due to various discriminatory practices based on

income, race, etc. but they might also face displacement due to construction. Nonetheless, without these large public investment projects to stimulate growth and create a positive feedback loop in the neighborhood, the community may forever be trapped in the spiral of disinvestment. Thus, the dilemma of whether and how to welcome these revitalization initiatives remains crucial for neighborhoods. In other words, how could and should developments be planned in order to minimize potential damage from gentrification? The answer would affect the balance between equity and economic developments and the consideration for indigenous residents. The government, which is normally the primary funder of public investment projects and should be the gatekeeper of equitable developments, often favors certain sides due to political and monetary considerations or time constraints. Some may argue that gentrification is an inevitable outcome of economic development, but research in sociology has shown that institutions often exploit gentrification as a tool to stratify certain groups of people.1 In other words, gentrification helps to solidify an existing social hierarchy to ensure the supremacy of a dominant group. As a sociologist, I am interested in measuring the degree of inequality gentrification creates in a neighborhood and its mechanisms of change. The degree of inequality would not only reflect common socioeconomic status indicators, such as household income, property values, tenure status, etc.; it would also indirectly influence social factors like racial composition, educational attainment, and residential stability. The 606 Bloomingdale Bike Trail

1 Zuk, et al., “Gentrification, displacement, and the role of public investment,” 2018.

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used to be an abandoned rail line, but the City of Chicago partnered with Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail (an organization formed by local residents) and The Trust for Public Land (a non-profit organization known for raising funds and overseeing park constructions) to transform it into an elevated trail (Figure 1).2 Construction on the trail began in 2013 and was completed and made open to the public in 2015. The mixed views since then highlight the inequality this project reinforces on the surrounding neighborhoods. A study by Smith et al. shows that the local housing market has surged since the groundbreaking of the 606.3 However, neither this study nor research by Rigolon and Németh show the 606’s impacts beyond the housing market.4 Moreover, their main methods — interviews, archival research, and Hedonic Price Model — fail to account for longitudinal changes. In order to examine how large public investment projects can lead to gentrification, this thesis dives into a case study of the Chicago 606 Bike Trail using a quantitative approach, namely the difference-in-differences method. I aim to build on prior theories and drill deeper to discuss the overall phenomenon’s social implications. First, I ask to what extent the 606 Bloomingdale Bike Trail, an example of a large public investment project, has influenced housing affordability in the surrounding neighborhoods. However, housing affordability is just a number. To make that number significant, I examine other commonly-studied aspects of gentrification in sociology.

Therefore, my second research question is: What impact does the 606 have on the surrounding neighborhoods’ social composition? My independent variable is the census tracts that are one mile within the 606 Bike Trail versus the non-606 census tracts in the rest of Chicago. My dependent variables are housing affordability, racial composition, educational attainment, percentage of migration, and percentage of renters. By testing these variables, I can evaluate the role the 606 Bike Trail plays and the extent of the effect it has on the gentrification process in those neighborhoods.

Theory and Hypothesis My definition of gentrification builds upon the definition proposed by Glass.5

S Figure 1. This map of Chicago with highlighted community areas presents the study site of this thesis project. The boundaries with lighter weight are the census tract boundaries in 2017 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The boundaries with heavier weight are the borders of Chicago community areas. The highlighted regions are the neighborhoods surrounding the 606. They are on the northwest side of the Chicago downtown area, The Loop. The green line indicates the 606 Bike Trail.

2 Rigolon & Németh, “We’re not in the business of housing: Environmental gentrification and the nonprofitization of green infrastructure projects,” 2018. 3 Smith, et al, “Measuring the impact of the 606: Understanding how a large public investment impacted the surrounding housing market,”2016. 4 Rigolon & Németh, “We’re not in the business of housing: Environmental gentrification and the nonprofitization of green infrastructure projects,” 2018. 5 Glass, London: Aspects of Change, 1964.

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“Without these large public investment projects to stimulate growth and create a positive feedback loop in the neighborhood, the community may forever be trapped in the spiral of disinvestment.” I define gentrification as the process of replacing and displacing indigenous residents through urban development or revitalization initiatives until the culture and population are completely changed. Urban developments can take many forms, from public investment projects to private developers and private funding to residents’ personal initiatives. As indicated in Rigolon and Németh’s research,6 the partnerships among the City of Chicago (and Chicago Park District), The Trust of Public Land, and the Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail form this exact triangular relationship, which reinforces gentrification and marginalizes vulnerable and financially-deprived residents. The marginalized residents eventually face threats, or at least the pressure, from displacements. In Marcuse’s theory on

displacement, residents are either forced out of the neighborhoods directly when landlords drastically increase the rent or indirectly through the heightening displacement pressure of visible and foreign economic and community changes.7 Examples of displacement pressure would be the establishment of a high-end and locally owned boutique store that indigenous residents cannot afford. Although they are still living in the neighborhood, these buildings raise an invisible wall and block them from their community power. This displacement pressure will not necessarily dislocate indigenous residents, but it will widen the segregation within the community. Given that the 606 Bike Trail is a hybrid form of gentrification with its transportation infrastructure, urban green space, and local art works, I theorized that it would lead to gentrification based on the past findings. To assess the effect of these mechanisms on the surrounding neighborhoods, I investigated the gentrification outcomes mentioned earlier. The dominant group that reinforces displacement is usually whiter, more educated, and more affluent than indigenous or former residents. Past research in sociology has documented the social composition of gentrification, especially on race.8 In these studies, residents of color have attempted to resist development in their own areas but are eventually displaced as the living cost becomes too high for them. Eventually, the area is transformed into a white-dominated space. Danley and Weaver further expand on this theory of white

6 Rigolon & Németh, “We’re not in the business of housing: Environmental gentrification and the nonprofitization of green infrastructure projects,” 2018. 7 Marcuse, “Gentrification, abandonment, and displacement: Connections, causes, and policy responses in New York City,” 1985. 8 Bader et al., “Community attraction and avoidance in chicago: What’s race got to do with it?” 2015; Krysan et al., “Does race matter in neighborhood preferences? Results from a video experiment,” 2009; Hwang & Sampson, “Divergent pathways of gentrification: Racial inequality and the social order of renewal in Chicago neighborhoods,” 2014.

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space, explaining that it creates a sense of unwelcomeness for residents of color and pledges to a specific type of lifestyle that can only be afforded by an affluent population.9 Therefore, my first hypothesis is as follows: Hypothesis 1: The 606 encourages a more white, affluent, and educated population to move in, while displacing or segregating people of color or indigenous residents. This study on the 606 will focus not only on the social compositions of the bike trail’s surrounding neighborhoods, but also on housing affordability in the area. Zuk et al. indicate in their reviews of public investment and gentrification that desired public investments such as transit could lead to higher rents and living expenses.10 As the new community attraction, the 606 drove housing demand up, but the supply remained the same. However, private developers could demolish old buildings in order to rehabilitate them into appealing single town-homes. Consequently, the neighborhood might lose affordable housing and low-income residents while blocking other low-income individuals and families from moving in. One study has shown that the housing prices on both sides, but particularly the west part of the trail, went up after construction began.11 My second hypothesis builds on this conclusion to study the results using a different time frame and method to further validate it. My second hypothesis is as follows: Hypothesis 2: The 606 public investment project will lower housing affordability in the surrounding neighborhoods. Nevertheless, not all neighborhoods

exposed to the 606 experienced the same degree of impact. In other words, gentrification is the most apparent at margins. It most severely affects the disinvested neighborhoods that are undergoing the initial redevelopment process. Lees et al. argue that in order for a neighborhood to experience residential gentrification, it must be an underserved neighborhood.12 The introduction of the 606 to already-gentrified neighborhoods (such as West Town in this case) will not have a great effect since the social composition already matches with the one mentioned in Hypothesis One. Thus, my final hypothesis is: Hypothesis 3: The impacts of the 606 are greater in disinvested neighborhoods than already-affluent and developed areas. If my findings had matched my three hypotheses, I would have identified a steep upward trend in both housing prices and the proportion of white, affluent, and educated residents in the study site. I expected to find more people of color moving out after the trail was made open to the public. If the displacement effect was not significantly strong, I might have noticed exacerbated segregation within the neighborhood, which can be seen by comparing the growth and declines in property values and demographic changes between already-affluent neighborhoods and the disinvested ones.

Methods and Data The main goal of this research project was to examine the changes in social composition and housing affordability

9 Danley, S., & Weaver, R. (2018). “‘They’re not building it for us’: Displacement pressure, unwelcomeness, and protesting neighborhood investment.” Societies, 8(3), 74. 10 Zuk, et al., “Gentrification, displacement, and the role of public investment,” 2018. 11 Smith, et al., “Measuring the impact of the 606: Understanding how a large public investment impacted the surrounding housing market,” 2016. 12 Lees, et al., Gentrification. London: Routledge, 2008.

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in the surrounding neighborhoods of the 606 Bloomingdale Bike Trail using census tracts from 2010–2017. One issue with the former studies, particularly one by Smith and colleagues, is that the Hedonic Price regression model can only calculate housing prices.13 It also assumes that all buyers have full knowledge of the market and the power to choose what they prefer if given the resources. These calculations cannot reflect social changes that happened throughout 2010–2017, when the 606 was planned, constructed, and made open to the public. Therefore, a regression model that can encompass social composition variables is essential for this project. Hence, I selected the difference-in-differences model. The basic structure to achieve this goal was to divide the census tracts into two groups: one with the treatment of the 606 Bike Trail and one without. The two groups were then compared with time series and other independent variables. The coefficients acquired at the end would provide insights into the question: To what extent has the 606 Bike Trail socially influenced the surrounding neighborhoods? This study took a quantitative approach because it worked best to examine changes over time. This methodology enabled me to comprehensively gather empirical evidence and hence minimize potential spurious variables and alternative explanations. Of course, I could have relied on ethnographic studies and anecdotal evidence. Nevertheless, gentrification happening in the surrounding neighborhoods complicates the process of tracking down indigenous residents, since they might have already been displaced.

Additionally, many residents have recently moved into the area, so qualitative evidence would potentially be less accurate in this sense as well. Data Quantitative longitudinal data collection for this study contained census tract level data for the period 2010–2017 from the American Community Survey via the portal of the National Historical Geographical Information System (NHGIS) in Integrated Public Use Microdata (IPUMS). The American Community Survey is a yearly report based on an ongoing survey that aims to capture demographic information on the population of the United States. I also created seven indicator variables manually: (1) whether the tract is exposed to the 606 within a mile, (2) whether the observation is made after the 606 was made open to the public, (3) the interaction of the 606 and time, (4) whether the tract is considered non-affluent, (5) the interaction term between non-affluency and the 606, (6) the interaction term between non-affluency and time, and (7) the interaction term of all three together (which will be further discussed in the section below). To construct my master dataset, I first imported my data and shapefiles into ArcGIS Pro. Since the census tract shapefiles covered the entire U.S., I cross-compared with the city boundary of Chicago (also a shapefile) and selected the tracts within the boundary. Then, I joined my tables of data with the designated census tract shapefiles based on a system-generated series number

13 Smith, et al., “Measuring the impact of the 606: Understanding how a large public investment impacted the surrounding housing market,”2016; Rigolon & Németh, “We’re not in the business of housing: Environmental gentrification and the nonprofitization of green infrastructure projects,” 2018.

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called GISJOIN. The series number was different for every tract in every year, so the process was about matching and merging. Once the data were joined, I exported the attribute table to obtain files that I could work with to Microsoft Excel and Stata. The same process was repeated for every year. I merged each year’s dataset in Microsoft Excel to create the master dataset. I started by sorting tract numbers from the least to the greatest. Then, I imported individual data to the main dataset. Because the census tracts did not change from 2010–2017, I did not have to reallocate data entries. After completing the master dataset, I recoded the variable names. Additionally, I used “Select by Location” in ArcGISs Pro to extract tracts within a mile radius of the 606. I then compared the exported census tracts with the master dataset. Lastly, I isolated and separated the treatment and control groups. Chicago is known for its distinguished neighborhoods, so census tracts provide the most detailed data available. This is useful when examining the nuances within a neighborhood. However, census block groups do not overlap perfectly with Chicago’s neighborhoods, which may result in reduced accuracy. Model I built a linear regression model using the difference-in-differences method to examine the relationship between the 606, a massive public investment project, and gentrification on social composition and housing prices, while considering the division between affluent and impoverished areas. I chose this analysis method for its intuitive visualization and ability to obtain a causal relationship. In addition, the absolute values in the dataset do not matter

“Gentrification helps to solidify an existing social hierarchy to ensure the supremacy of a dominant group.” since the model only reflects changes over time, not the actual observed data points. The difference-in-differences model records the average change over time in the treatment group (which is the census tracts around the 606 in this case) and the control group (the census tracts that are not around the 606). It then calculates the effect of the “treatment,” which is the 606 Bike Trail.14 One challenge when answering my research question is the uncertainty of the causal relationships between variables. For instance, although property values went up around the 606 from 2015–2017, it actually could have been due to the overall rising in Chicago’s real estate market. However, the difference-in-differences method accounts for this uncertainty. It already considers the existing difference between the treatment and control group, so the effect of the treatment can be isolated. According to Angrist, the most critical element to determine the validity of this model is whether it follows Parallel Trend assumption. Essentially, the treatment group and the control group would share a similar trend until the “treatment” is introduced, and the observed group will presumably deviate away from the parallel path. The exact linear regression function is given below: Yit = β0 + β1606i + β2postt + β3(606i × postt) +

14 Angrist & Pischke, Mostly harmless econometrics: An empiricist’s companion, 2009.

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β4Wealthyi + β5(Wealthyi × postt) + β6(606i × Wealthyi) + β7(606i × postt× Wealthyi) + εit

Yit is the tract-level outcome for tract i of time t. 606i is whether a tract contains the 606 Bike Trail. postt is whether an observation was made after the 606 has been built (or after 2015, including 2015). Wealthyi indicates whether a tract is considered affluent (the criterion of being affluent is discussed below). β0 is a constant; β1 is the coefficient associated with 606i; β2 is the coefficient associated with postt; β3 is the coefficient associated with the interaction term between 606i and postt. β4 is the coefficient associated with Wealthyi; β5 is the coefficient associated with the interaction term between Wealthyi and postt; β6 is the coefficient associated with the interaction term between Wealthyi and 606i; β7 is the coefficient associated with the interaction term between Wealthyi, postt, and 606i; εit is the error term for tract i at time t. Variables Dependent Variables In order to examine my hypothesis that the 606 Bike Trail public investment project would indeed lead to gentrification, the key dependent variables are housing affordability and the social composition of the surrounding neighborhoods. Housing affordability is measured with median property values. Since this is already the median, it is resistant to outliers and extreme values. Thus, it does not need to be weighted with the number of properties in a census tract. Although the difference-in-differences method is only interested in changes over time, the median property values are not calculated into percent change. When analyzed with the regression model, it will show the exact change in numerical form, which can then be con-

sidered with inflation and interest rates. The social composition outcome variable consisted of racial composition, education attainment, residential stability, and the percentage of renters. Racial composition differentiates between white and non-white Latino individuals, to distinguish the ethnic factors within racial composition. Educational attainment indicates the percentage of people with a Bachelor’s degree or higher in a census tract. Migration is obtained by dividing the number of people who live in a different house than the previous year by the total population in the census tract. It measures the residential mobility within a census tract. Percentage of renters examines the tenure status; it is simply the proportion of the number of renter-occupied housings and the number of owner-occupied housings. The social composition variable is the percent change from 2010–2017, and the obtained value is multiplied by 100 in order to intuitively evaluate the coefficient later acquired from the regression model. By calculating the changes in percentage, I would be able to identify the trend, instead of just observing the numerical value. Independent Variable My independent variable is the treatment of the 606 Bike Trail to the surrounding census tracts. The difference-in-differences method separates two groups into treatment and control groups and observes the changes in the groups over time. It not only comprises the treatment and the time variable but also their interaction term. The independent variables therefore have to be dichotomous variables, also known as indicator variables. First, I separated Chicago census tracts by dividing them into two groups: the ones that are within a mile of the 606 Bike Trail and the ones 171

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The 606 Bike Trail builds a social moat allowing gentrifying areas to resist drastic change over time.

that are not. The independent variable is called “606_MILE.” In this way, I set up the difference between the treatment and control group. As for the time series variable, I set 2015 as the dividing point since it was the year when the bike trail was made open to the public. The variable is named “POST_606.” Although Rigolon and Németh show that the planning process is crucial for the development of a public investment project (in that case, I would have set 2013, the year construction began, as the dividing point),15 this project measures the impact of the 606 Bike Trail after it was built. My third hypothesis predicts that the gentrification caused by the 606 would be greater in disinvested neighborhoods than in already-affluent neighborhoods. To test this hypothesis, I divided census tracts into “affluent” and “non-affluent” to create a treatment of “non-affluency.” In order for a tract to be considered “affluent,” a tract’s median household income must be one standard deviation above the average from 2010–2017 and vice versa. One caveat is that inflation might affect the exact amount of dollars, but the number is only marginal and thus would not affect the results in a statistically significant way. I then crossed this independent variable with both the 606 and time variable, essentially creating an interaction term that has all three independent variables. The goal is to use these independent variables to predict the dependent variables

Discussion By aggregating census data over eight years, my findings suggest that property values and social composition are changing around the 606, but whether the agents of these changes fit the initial impression is unclear. In addition, my findings show that gentrification is actually creating more divisions between neighborhoods around the 606, instead of exploiting the potential of further gentrifying disinvested areas. The inequality is therefore exacerbated, even though there would otherwise seem to be no significant changes over the course of study timeframe. Gentrification has always been considered a mechanism to transform a neighborhood into a more homogenous, economically well-developed, and culturally uniform place. The key characteristics of “change” are in the core of gentrification. In this thesis project, however, the “change” is actually resistant to other changes. For instance, I hypothesized that housing affordability would go down after the 606 was finished. While the housing price did not show any changes, housing was not more affordable when compared with other real

15 Rigolon & Németh, “We’re not in the business of housing: Environmental gentrification and the nonprofitization of green infrastructure projects,” 2018.

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and extract the coefficients from the linear regression model. The coefficients of the interaction terms will show the changes over time. Nonetheless, the “606_MILE” or “POST_MILE” variable is still crucial to set the base number. The base value will be used to compare with the interaction term.

S Figure 2. Distribution of Dependent Variables in Chicago 2010 vs. 2017. The outlined census tracts are the ones qualified as “close to the 606 Bike Trail” in this study. The bike trail itself is highlighted to indicate its geographical location. As one can see, Chicago is segregated in terms of property values, racial composition, and educational attainment. The northern region, especially the northeast side, has the most of the expensive housing. They also have a larger white population and more people with a bachelor’s degree or above. Renters and migration pattern, on the other hand, do not have a clear concentration in neither 2010 nor 2017. The overall difference between 2010 and 2017 in terms of these variables is slim. It is hard to identify whether any major shifts happened within the study timeframe.

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estate in Chicago. From this perspective, I argue that the 606 Bike Trail builds a social moat allowing gentrifying areas to resist drastic change over time. One interesting note is on the social composition of the area surrounding the 606 in 2010 (Figure 2). Residents were already whiter, more educated, and younger (given that there were more renters) than those of other Chicago areas. Essentially, some parts of the neighborhood were already gentrified, and having the 606 was just fortifying, if not worsening, the existing inequality. If a neighborhood is already affluent or gentrified, more development projects solidify and preserve that status, blocking any social groups that do not match with the area’s specific profile. At the same time, the surrounding non-affluent areas may not necessarily undergo the gentrification process due to such projects. They may not be converted or transformed into a homogenous space like their affluent neighbors, as Glass and Zukin16 suggest. The distinction between affluent and non-affluent areas would instead become more significant. From another perspective, gentrification is not an endless journey but a temporary phase. Neighborhoods that are initially poor may present as gentrifiable because there is great potential for development. Therefore, a massive public investment project would likely drive up property values and displace indigenous residents. However, if the public project is introduced in an already-gentrified neighborhood, then the neighborhood has surpassed the gentrifiable period. While the project may not necessarily continue to increase living costs, it will certainly protect the areas from, or at least slow down,

potential economic downturns. On the other hand, it is possible that the creation of the 606 Bike Trail was spurred by the existing wealthy and advantageous groups in the neighborhood. As the literature mentions, gentrification can encourage more gentrification. Thus, having a public investment project that appeals to a certain lifestyle of a specific social group in an already-gentrified neighborhood would actually add fuel to the gentrification engine. As a result, regions with a higher population percentage of white people continue to expand their populations of white residents, whereas poor neighborhoods welcome Latinos and other people of color. Since educational attainment is highly correlated with racial composition, the same logic can be applied here. The polarization, supplemented by low residential stability and high renting status, continues to engrain segregation into the neighborhood. In the 606, more people come and go, and fewer people own a home. Thus, the demographic is constantly changing, forcefully displacing the indigenous residents. My findings add a new piece of discussion to the literature of gentrification by focusing on the resilience of gentrification. The project compares changes in two different groups longitudinally. Unlike other gentrification initiatives, the 606 consists of transportation infrastructure, urban green space, and artwork. Because of these characteristics, the 606 should be generating growth in the surrounding neighborhood, based on what the literature shows. However, if one only looks at the descriptive results, one can easily identify that the numerical values do not show a clear upscale growth. While other parts of the city

16 Glass, London: Aspects of Change, 1964; Zukin, “Gentrification: Culture and capital in the urban core. Annual Review of Sociology,”1987.

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“In the modern hybrid form of gentrification, gentrification no longer has a prominent effect on one single social factor. Instead, it combines every aspect of development and complicates the change process as investment projects build on one another.” are deteriorating or declining in market value, the 606 public investment project may not necessarily skyrocket neighborhood growth but maintain its situation. In other words, hybrid forms of gentrification such as the 606 could increase segregation and attract a certain group of people. This is one of the last phases of gentrification, when there is enough of a tax base to afford it. Although it may be in the ending stage, my difference-in-differences regression model shows that changes are still present. Since the project is implemented by the advocates of gentrification, it excludes disadvantageous groups and continues to polarize the neighborhood. On the contrary, a classic gentrification example (such as the one in Neo-Bohemia) may argue that gentrification is about attracting young, poor professionals, who will slowly transform the neighborhood. In those cases, developments can be more single-function because they will spark large growth regardless. In the case of the 606, the project is more hybrid in terms of functionality and thus is more efficient in terms of space. The results also have several policy implications. Local ownership is the key to combating gentrification. Although the bike trail is currently overseen by The Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail, the board members mostly share similar social profiles. Having diversity in such an organization will welcome more voices to the planning process, and residents

can reach compromises that serve t h e best interests for all, ideally. Secondly, since the bike trail is a public investment project, the government has played an essential role in everything from the planning phase to daily operations. Therefore, careful and comprehensive assessments from all perspectives (economic, urban planning, sociological) must be considered in order to reach a balance between equity and efficiency. Lastly, the gap between affluent and non-affluent tracts can be bridged with appropriate incentives, such as housing subsidies. Financial injection may start the long-stalling wheel of growth in a disinvested neighborhood, and this may initiate a positive feedback loop that attracts more equitable and thoughtful developments for indigenous residents.

Conclusion This study aims to use the 606 Bloomingdale Bike Trail to build on the relatively new literature on rail-to-trail public investment projects under the gentrification umbrella. From a quantitative approach, I collected census data on a mass scale that examines the city of Chicago in its entirety. By comparing the property values and the social composition in the surrounding community between two timeframes, I found that the bike trail does have an effect on social factors in those neighborhoods. Moreover, gentrification is actually creating more division and exacerbating 175

economic segregation in the community; the wealthy areas only welcome a certain type of resident while the impoverished ones remain disinvested. In the modern hybrid form of gentrification, gentrification no longer has a prominent effect on one single social factor. Instead, it combines every aspect of development and complicates the change process as investment projects build on one another. The debate between eco-

nomic prosperity and equity is therefore never-ending. Certainly, developments are important for the locals’ livelihood and for sustainable growth. Nevertheless, the indigenous residents should not be excluded from the returned profits, as they are the ones defining the authenticity of the community. Thus, it is important to conduct more research to encourage a robust yet considerate economic development in the future. ■

Bibliography Bader, M., Krysan, M., Lee, B., Firebaugh, G., Iceland, J., & Matthews, S. (2015). Community attraction and avoidance in chicago: What’s race got to do with it? The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 660(1), 261-281. Danley, S., & Weaver, R. (2018). “They’re not building it for us”: Displacement pressure, unwelcomeness, and protesting neighborhood investment. Societies, 8(3), 74. Glass, R.L. (1964). London: Aspects of Change. London: MacGibbon & Kee. Hwang, J., & Sampson, R. J. (2014). Divergent pathways of gentrification: Racial inequality and the social order of renewal in Chicago neighborhoods. American Sociological Review, 79(4), 726–751.

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Krysan M., Couper M.P., Farley, R., & Forman, T. (2009). Does race matter in neighborhood preferences? Results from a video experiment. American Journal of Sociology. 115(2):527–59 Lees, L., Slater, T., & Wyly, E. (2008). Gentrification. London: Routledge. Marcuse, P. (1985). Gentrification, abandonment, and displacement: Connections, causes, and policy responses in New York City. Washington University Journal of Urban and Contemporary Law, 28, 195-248. Rigolon, A., & Németh, J. (2018). We’re not in the business of housing: Environmental gentrification and the nonprofitization of green infrastructure projects. Cities, 81, 71-80.

Smith, G., Duda, S., Lee, L.E., & Thompson, M. (2016). Measuring the impact of the 606: Understanding how a large public investment impacted the surrounding housing market Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University. Retrieved from http:// www.housingstudies.org/media/filer_public/2016/10/31/ihs_measuring_the_impact_of_the_606.pdf Zuk, M., Bierbaum, A., Chapple, K., Gorska, K., & Loukaitou-Sideris, A. (2018). Gentrification, displacement, and the role of public investment. Journal of Planning Literature, 33(1), 31-44. Zukin, S. (1987). Gentrification: Culture and capital in the urban core. Annual Review of Sociology, (13), 129-147.

Department of Anthropology Faculty Adviser: Prof. Robert Launay, Ph.D.

Hungry Thirsty Roots:

Imagining and Constructing Ethnic Otherness in 1800s England by Zoe Miller

Abstract My research is a historical ethnography of depictions of the racial and cultural other in 19th century England. I was motivated to do this research by my curiosity about how cultural and racial otherness and national belonging were constructed historically. Although my work does not directly relate to modern conceptions of national belonging, I was inspired to do my research by seeing ideas about this shift during my own lifetime. I researched depictions of immigrants to England in the 1800s in various mediums. Some of the materials I used, like Dracula and Goblin Market, are presented as fiction by their authors, while others, like newspaper articles and the political cartoons of George Cruikshank, are presented as nonfiction. From these materials, I draw two primary conclusions. The first is that perceived racial difference is not based fully on physical differences and instead is heavily influenced by cultural factors. The second is that “foreignness” or racial difference is thought of as having a supernatural quality that presents a social, sexual, and political threat. Not being “of the nation” is construed as being inhuman, magical, and sinister. My work adds to the anthropological understanding of national belonging and racial identification that has already been studied in ethnographies, like Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power by Laura Ann Stoler, and has implications regarding modern modes of thought about immigrants, race, and citizenship.

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What happens when the racial and cultural other comes back home, in a time when clear definitions of us and them are vital to the functioning of the imperial state?

Introduction “Lie close,” Laura said, Pricking up her golden head: “We must not look at goblin men, We must not buy their fruits: Who knows upon what soil they fed, Their hungry thirsty roots?” “Come buy,” call the goblins Hobbling down the glen.

“Oh,” cried Lizzie, “Laura, Laura, You should not peep at goblin men.”

So writes poet Christina Rossetti in her 1862 narrative poem Goblin Market. A member of a family of artists at the center of the nostalgic, pastoral Pre-Raphaelite movement,1 Rossetti describes two young sisters being menaced by animal hybrid “goblin merchant men,” who pressure them in broken English to “come buy” their exotic fruits. One of the sisters, Laura, is tempted by the fruit and pays the goblins for it with a lock of her “golden” blonde hair with disastrous consequences. The process of eating the fruit takes on a sexual, sensual quality in Rossetti’s writing,

”

and Laura subsequently becomes addicted to the magical fruit as if it were a drug. The scene of the strange, alien fruit market would have been recognizable to British urban dwellers at the time of Goblin Market’s publication. It wasn’t goblins that sold oranges on the street, however;2 it was simply whichever group of immigrants was newly-arrived and the poorest. During Rossetti’s lifetime, the orange vendors in England shifted from being primarily comprised of Eastern European Jews to newer, poorer waves of Irish immigrants; the image of a fruit vendor would have been synonymous with poverty and racial otherness as it was defined then. I seek to answer the following questions: What was happening culturally with immigration in England at this time that would prompt Goblin Market, and similar works that depict inhuman, sexually dangerous immigrant figures, to be written? What is the context of this work? What did immigration threaten in the British imagination? I used media from the 1800s as data for this research. England at this point in history was transforming into a different kind of nation, one with industrialized cities and growing immigrant populations.3 The media produced in England at this time — both “high art,” like literature and poetry, and less elevated works, like

1 Roe, Dinah. The Pre-Raphaelites. The British Museum, 2014 https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-pre-raphaelites. 2 Endelman, Todd M. The Jews of Britain, 1656 to 2000, London: University of California Press Ltd, 2002. 3 Williams, Raymond. The Country and The City. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973.

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W Figure 1. Heath, Henry. An Irish Tilting Match, 1824. London: The British Museum.

political cartoons — reflected discomfort with the increased presence of non-English people in England. Some of these pieces of media express their views in very explicit terms, like the racial caricatures of prolific 19th century cartoonist George Cruikshank. Other depictions of foreign presences in England are more subtle, measured, and ambiguous in nature, like the inhuman and predatory Eastern Europeans that populate Bram Stoker’s famous horror novel Dracula. My method of analysis is historical ethnography, with my analysis of the primary materials informed by historical texts. I argue that the combination of the industrialization of England, arrival of new waves of immigrants, and growth of a new eugenic model of race encouraged by England’s imperialism abroad created widespread fears of immigration. These fears were primarily that (1) a culturally and racially diverse England would be generally unpleasant or unsafe, (2) undesirable racial mixing would occur, and (3) a foreign takeover of England’s government would take place. I also argue that distinguishing between “races” is in part based upon culture rather than appearance. My work builds upon previous schol-

arship on England and immigration, as well as works on empire and race, in the 19th century. I add to Ann Laura Stoler’s work on the latter in Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power and Jeffrey Weinstock’s analysis in Circumcising Dracula.

Notes on Race and Difference Before I delve into depictions of race, I would like to clarify what I am speaking about when I say race. I do not mean the American conception of race, which is determined primarily by continent of origin and skin color, with a few exceptions for people with religious and cultural differences that are considered extreme enough to place them outside of the racial categories under which they might otherwise fall. Sometimes, when we talk about racial differences in the modern-day United States, we refer to these differences, which are constructed from religious and cultural differences, as ethnicity, for the sake of clarity. However, I found that referring to some combinations of physical and cultural difference as race, and others as ethnicity, raised more questions than it answered and obscured more than it clarified in my writing. Thus, for simplicity, all of these differences are referred to as racial differences. 179

W Figure 2. Rowlandson, Thomas. “Traffic,” 1791. New York City: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Social Construction of Racial Markedness Looking at art from this time period, I noticed that some European ethnicities seem to have been considered racially different while others were not — and not in the way one might expect. I define socially constructed “racial difference” in this context as being depicted both in caricature and non-caricature images with specific, exaggerated features that are different from those in depictions of English people. I noticed that images of Scottish people in political cartoons were drawn with smooth, unexaggerated features, while Irish people in another political cartoon were depicted with ape-ish looking, lumpy faces. These two groups are very similar to each other in appearance by the modern American view, but they are portrayed as completely different from each other in the historical English view. The racial markedness ascribed to different racial groups does not directly correlate to how different in appearance I have been socialized to believe various groups are, as the model of racial difference is a different one. In addition to this, racial difference is depicted as existing in an almost magical, almost demonic way; 180

in the drawings of George Cruikshank as well as in works of fiction like Dracula and Goblin Market, interracial unions take on a demonic meaning.

Imperialism as a Background for Xenophobia Everything that took place culturally in England cannot be removed from England’s presence abroad as an imperial power. Imperialism, by its nature, forces the colonizing power to reckon with identity. For example, a phenomenon among Dutch colonists in Java in Stoler’s Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power describes the need for a strict definition of race in order to avoid the lines of belonging being blurred between self and non-self, nation and outsider. However, my research engages with the flip side of this cultural development. Instead of being concerned with differentiating between the self and the other abroad, my research is concerned with how that differentiation occurs back home. What happens when the racial and cultural other comes back home, in a time when clear definitions of us and them are vital to the functioning of the imperial state? The belief that English people were

X Figure 3. Hogarth, William. A Harlot’s Progress, 1732. London: The British Museum.

inherently superior to the rest of the world was not just a feature of colonialism; the whole psychology that made colonization morally tolerable to colonizers required this belief. The pieces of writing and illustrations that I have looked at are not directly about colonialism, but colonialism contextualizes the racial worldview that these works express.

a group of Irish women with apelike faces tossing a group of helpless British soldiers up and down in the air (Figure 1). In this model, a non-English populace living in England makes law enforcement impossible. Or, if the cartoon does not declare it to be outright impossible, it at least suggests that maintaining the peace requires more force then is being used. That is, the soldiers are depicted as partially at fault for Public Space being ineffective and emasculated by the One of the concerns expressed through masculine Irish women they encounter. English media during this time period is that an immigrant presence in England would lead to disorder or unrest or, if not something that extreme, a general reduction in the quality of life for English people living among their non-English neighbors. There are many depictions and descriptions of rowdiness in the streets and of bad noises and smells accompanying an immigrant presence in England. The early verses of Goblin Market invoke this idea of immigrants creating disorder and nuisance; the goblins are unpleasantly noisy and harass the two girls in the poem to “come buy, come buy” the fruits they are vending. An 1824 political cartoon depicts a more violent disruption than the annoying noise in Goblin Market; it depicts

“Dirty cartoons that depict women engaging in real, unacceptable interracial sex suggest a permanent tainting and ruining, with no magical fix.”

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Women and Men The second kind of concern expressed in media from this time regarding immigration is the fear that immigrants will have sex with British women, or vice versa. One might think that fears about racial mixing only really came along later in the 1800s, when Francis Galton named the concept of eugenics and described race and heritability in a mix of scientific and pseudoscientific terms,4 but this is not true. Galton’s ideas about the importance of keeping racial purity in England reflected already established ideas; he simply restated and justified them using new terms. The concept of eugenics was not invented out of thin air; it was formed and influenced by existing ideas of race, sex, and racial purity. This sexual, “race-mixing” fear around immigration shares some overlap with the quality of life fear, as there are a fair number of political cartoons where the two overlap. A 1791 print entitled Traffic mixes these two themes by sneaking sexual imagery into a non-sexual scenario. In the print, two caricatured Jewish used-clothes sellers thrust their wares upon a British maid, and one of them accidentally sticks his hand through a hole in the crotch of

a pair of pants. This both illustrates the poor quality of their merchandise and transforms his hand into a phallic symbol (Figure 2). Their intrusion on the public space transforms into a sexual intrusion. The line between the threat to public space and the sexual or procreative threat is also blurred in Rossetti’s Goblin Market. The goblins begin by just being a loud, unpleasant disruption to the public space, but they progress to being sexual figures when Laura eats the fruit they offer her. The way she is described as she eats the fruit is unsubtly linked to sex acts almost too explicit to quote; she sucks “their fruit globes fair or red” until “her lips were sore.”5 Although Goblin Market is poetry and is thus generally considered a higher form of art than the explicit sexual cartoons that I encountered in my research, beneath its veneer of autumnal fantasy imagery, it is very much the same as the cruder, less elevated pieces of media. Laura engages in socially unacceptable sex acts with socially unacceptable partners and afterwards is considered a “ruined” woman. Dracula’s relationship with the British women Lucy and Mina in Dracula is depicted in a similar manner. In the

4 Galton, Francis. Hereditary Genius. 1892. London: MacMillan. 5 Rossetti, Christina. Goblin Market, 1862. London: Macmillan.

X Figure 4. Cruikshank, George, “How happy I could be with either,” 1817-1819, London: The British Museum.

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X Figure 5. Cruikshank, George, "Susanna and The Two Elders," 1818, London: The British Museum.

passage in which we see him forcing Mina to drink his blood, the process of consumption through the mouth, as in Goblin Market, is used as a proxy for sex, only in this case it is consumption of blood rather than fruit. The Count “gripe[s] her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down on his bosom,” which the novel characterizes as having “a terrible resemblance to a child forcing a kitten’s nose into a saucer of milk to compel it to drink.”6 As in the case of Goblin Market, the transgressive eating bears a resemblance to oral sex, and the woman involved is “ruined” afterward. In these fantasy stories, the tainting of the women who engage in unacceptable unions is reversible through magical means. Laura’s wiser sister, Lizzie, goes back to the goblins and purchases more fruit, which reverts Laura to her previously healthy state, and Mina is ultimately cured of her vampirism when Count Dracula is killed. However, it is not totally clear whether or not the real-life “tainting” of women is reversible. Dirty cartoons that depict women engaging in real, unacceptable interracial sex suggest a permanent tainting and ruining, with no magical fix like those in Goblin Market and Dracula.

In one such cartoon, A Harlot’s Progress, we see a young British woman being permanently tainted by first having sex with a foppish British Colonel and then becoming a prostitute for a Jewish pimp, whose cultural otherness is a centerpoint of the illustration (Figure 3). The scene of the brothel is “exotic” looking; it includes a monkey knocking over a table and a small Black boy dressed in a turban. In many ways, it closely resembles the harem of women the Count keeps in Dracula; there’s a recurring theme in this type of work of an imagined Oriental East being depraved in ways that are unknown in the West. The caption of A Harlot’s Progress reads: Robbed of her Chasity and honest frame-The Col’el, Satan like, deceives the Dame-But Beauty never wants Vot’ries (sic?) yet; Now with a rich, gay Keeping Jew she’s met-Practiced in vice, the modest air no more is seen; she laughs at what she blushed beforeSpurns at her keeper with his jealous (Pale?); and snaps her fingers-Sir, I care not That-Thus when debauch’d the Sex forever burn in lawless fires; Virtue know’s no return-Dishonor never gives a second blow-And once a whore, she ever more will be so.

6 Stoker, Bram. Dracula, 1897. London: Constable & Robinson.

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W Figure 6. Cruikshank, George, "Object: The new Union-Club.," 1819, London: The British Museum.

These pieces of media, both those that engage in magical metaphor and those that do not, seem to serve a double purpose. They act overtly as warnings and covertly as sources of titillation at the taboos depicted.

Men and Women Media where English men have unacceptable sex with non-English, racially othered women (and sometimes, men) have a different connotation than media in which the opposite occurs. When it is the man who is considered foreign and the woman who is English, the situation is often non-consensual; the man, or the monster meant to represent a man, forces himself on her or pressures her by holding financial power over her. The end result is that the woman is “ruined,” permanently in non-magical depictions and temporarily in fantastical depictions. When it is an English man who is performing the transgression, he is not considered “ruined” in the same way. He is not transformed or made sick in a magical way like the women in Dracula or Goblin Market, and he does not become a permanently socially-lowered sexual captive like the woman in A Harlot’s 184

Progress. However, he is held more personally responsible for having done something wrong. These images often use the idea of having sex with Black women as a short hand for being immoral. Being not legally and culturally of-the-nation and being considered racially different, while different in their implications in everyday life, are used to the same symbolic effect in these pieces. In one cartoon by caricaturist and illustrator George Cruikshank, How happy I could be with either, dated 1817–1819, a white cleric stands between two female caricatures, one white and one Black, with his eyes crossed outward to look at each of them at once (Figure 4). They seem to be almost poised pre-threesome. The incorrect racial choice of partner is an indictment of every aspect of the clergy in this cartoon. In the gender-reversed scenarios with white English women and non-white or non-English men, the sexual encounter is portrayed as an unfortunate thing that happens to a girl or woman who otherwise might have led a good, morally upstanding life. When it is a white English man and a non-English woman, the encounter is a consequence of his amorality and not the other way around.

“Because popular understanding of immigration, race, and citizenship remain relevant globally, understanding how conceptions of these concepts were formed and reproduced in past societies can help us understand ourselves and our own societies.” Cruikshank seemed to be a fan of drawing these interracial threesomes. In another Cruikshank cartoon, Susanna and The Two Elders, a rabbi and a cleric sandwich a Black woman, who appears to be a prostitute (Figure 5). The rabbi beckons to the cleric to join him. All three are depicted with caricatured features. There is a fascinating element to this cartoon that is not present in anything else I have come across; it directly shows a racial hierarchy between the three figures. The rabbi character has a double identity of someone who is sexually transgressing below his racial status, by having sex with the Black prostitute, and someone who is below the racial status of the cleric, whom he is inviting to join him in a threesome. Because he is framed as both convincing someone to engage in transgressions and someone who has been lured into racially transgressive sex himself, he reveals his status as intermediate between the Black and cleric figures.

that he will not be considered inferior for being foreign when he comes to England. Indeed, Dracula reveals that he wants to maintain the social status he enjoyed as a nobleman in his native Transylvania when he arrives in England. He has “been so long master that [he] would be master still.” He is not content to just come to England; he wants to be socially superior to the native English, presumably with the same kind of political power his nobility status affords him in Transylvania. This fear is also present in political cartoons. Sometimes Black people are the subject of this type of political fearmongering. T Figure 7. Anonymous. Object: The Jews Triumph, and England’s Fears, set forth ... / The Circumcised Gentiles, or a Journey to Jerusalem, 1753.

Politics The final fear about immigration to England is the fear of England being ruled by non-English people. Bram Stoker introduces this fear at the very beginning of Dracula when Johnathan Harker discovers that the Count has a private library of books about English law and culture. When he asks the Count why he has these books, Dracula responds that he is studying English language and culture so 185

S Figure 8. Lockwood, Frank. Lotinja quite/ the gentleman at/the Hebrew Ball, 1847-1897. London: The British Museum.

For example, one Cruikshank cartoon depicts a group of members of the Union Club, a political gentleman’s club. They are engaged in an interracial flirtation with a group of Black women as other Black men and women cause chaos in the background, thus representing the disloyalty of the white figures in the images to the white, British people (Figure 6). In this case, the Black caricatures are not representations of real people who were involved in the Union Club, but simply metaphors for political corruption and chaos. However, while these Black caricatures sometimes represent the political fear, the majority of illustrations that focus on this concern express a belief in Jewish control over governmental figures. Circumcision of Christian members of the nobility and government is a common theme in these illustrations. Unlike the scene with the Black women, which represents corruption and disorder, here, 186

the Christian British are emasculated or dominated by Jews. Thus, the active parties in the political and sexual domination are different. One such image, The Circumcised Gentiles, or a Journey to Jerusalem, imagines a newly circumcised, regretful British member of government going on a hellish pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Figure 7). With him are two Jews, who speak in caricatured, germanically-inflected broken English; one is carrying a “circumcision salve” and the other declares “me am naturalize (to England),” and refers to the circumcised British official as his “Bruder.” They are depicted as having the helpless English government under their thumb, quite literally in a hold by the penis, which allows them to immigrate and become naturalized as English citizens. Not only are they becoming citizens by force and coercion, but they are also marked by their stereotypical speech as fundamentally foreign and unsuitable as citizens. Another, subtler illustration of this theme is an 1847 British cartoon, credited to Sir Frank Lockwood, with an inscription underneath reading, “Lotinja quite/ the gentleman at/the Hebrew Ball” (Figure 8). The caricature is drawn with a smug, sleepy look and is dressed in evening wear with cartoonish little “shining” lines emanating from a button of his waistcoat, as though mocking the fact that he is wearing a waistcoat. His expression, his caricatured ugliness, and the ill fit of his clothes indicate some contempt from Lockwood. The fact that he is dressed in fancy, Western looking clothing is framed as a humorous, unsuccessful imitation of the English upper class, much in the way Dracula is framed as imitating the English in a threatening way.

Conclusion

understanding of immigration, race, and citizenship remain relevant globally, understanding how conceptions of these concepts were formed and reproduced in past societies can help us understand ourselves and our own societies.

In these pieces of media, race and national belonging take on qualities of good and evil, magical and mundane. National concerns regarding who is acceptable as a citizen are embodied through both the highAcknowledgements brow and lowbrow media of the time. The particular fears related to immigration are My sincerest thanks to Professor Robert very specifically named and shown through Launay, Professor Ana Aparicio, and these various forms of art. Because popular Mariam Taher. ■

Bibliography Anonymous. Object: The Jews Triumph, and England’s Fears, set forth ... / The Circumcised Gentiles; Or, A Journey to Jerusalem, 1753. Chavez, Leo. The Latino Threat. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2008. Cruikshank, George, “How Happy could I be With Either” 1817-1819, London: The British Museum. Cruikshank, George, “Object: The new Union-Club.,” 1819, London: The British Museum. Cruikshank, George, “Susanna and The Two Elders,” 1818, London: The British Museum.

Endelman, Todd M. The Jews of Britain, 1656 to 2000, London: University of California Press Ltd, 2002. Galton, Francis. Hereditary Genius. 1892. London: MacMillan. Heath, Henry. An Irish Tilting Match, 1824. London: The British Museum. Hogarth, William. A Harlot’s Progress, 1732. London: The British Museum. Lockwood, Frank. Lotinja quite/the gentleman at/the Hebrew Ball, 18471897. London: The British Museum. Perkin, Harold. The Origins of Modern English Society 1780-1880, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969. Roe, Dinah. The Pre-Raphaelites. The

British Museum, 2014 https://www. bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-pre-raphaelites Rossetti, Christina. Goblin Market, 1862. London: Macmillan. Stoker, Bram. Dracula, 1897. London: Constable & Robinson. Stoler, Ann Laura. Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power. London: University of California Press Ltd, 2002. Weinstock, Jeffrey. “Circumcising Dracula,” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, Vol. 12, No. 1 (45) (2001). Williams, Raymond. The Country and The City. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973.

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FEATURE

GOING GREEN WITH

MORGAN GASS by Catherine Campusano and Clare Zhang Morgan Gass is a third-year undergraduate majoring in environmental engineering and minoring in environmental policy. She is a sustainability intern under Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Charles Dowding. In this capacity, she works on the sustainability section of the Winnetka Futures 2040 Plan. Most local governments draw up comprehensive plans for the future, detailing how they intend to manage their municipality’s resources in the long term. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Winnetka government put their 2040 Plan on hold. In 2018, Winnetka adopted the Greenest Region Compact 2 (GRC2), an agreement to work towards sustainability goals to improve quality of life for residents. As of February 2021, the GRC2 has been adopted by 133 communities across Chicagoland. Its companion document, the GRC Framework, provides tools to help communities reach the goals of the Compact. The prominence of environmental issues in the last two decades led the Winnetka Environmental and Forestry Commission to add a sustainability section to the Plan for the first time. Gass’ job is to build the section from the ground up by applying the Framework’s strategies to Winnetka-specific situations. She intends to complete it in spring 2021. [This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.]

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used to educate the Winnetka village on current environmental initiatives towards sustainability and how they can help to Essentially, it’s a collection of [Winnetka] work towards achieving those goals. city goals and targets for 2040. I’m working on the Greenest Region Compact 2 (GRC2) What does the typical day look like Framework with various targets and goals in terms of doing that work? for sustainability. It involves a lot of reading, parsing Do many cities in Cook County have documents, and reorganization. I take a sustainability comprehensive plans? grand scheme of 100+ goals and separate them into the different categories. I go Both Morton Grove and Evanston have to the Winnetka Forest Commission sustainability comprehensive plans that and different environmental committees’ I’m partially basing mine off of, and I know meetings for the village to better understand a lot of cities have [agreed] to following the Winnetka-specific goals. Mostly, I do the GRC2. I would say that municipal a lot of research into documents about governments have been gearing more specific Winnetka data, information, towards environmentalism, especially with and goals. For example, I had to research a lot of the [Environmental Protection Winnetka beaches and how they close Agency] pushbacks that happened during very, very often due to bacteria. I explained the Trump administration. the issue and potential solutions for the Winnetka resident that would be reading How did you get involved with the document. It’s a lot of compiling and this project? organizing information to hopefully get a I heard about it through the Society of single document that people can read with Environmental Engineers. There was a all the initiatives and goals that need to be posting to work with a professor in the achieved by 2035 and an index to show the department on the sustainability plan for different city mandates on what has and has Winnetka. I have a background in policy, not been achieved. as well, so I was interested in working with Has your work been impacted by more city mandates and initiatives.

What is the 2040 Comprehensive Plan of Winnetka?

What are the main responsibilities of your work as a sustainability intern? I read over the GRC2 document, which has all of their goals and mandates. I also read over city documents regarding what those specific goals are, why they’re put in place, what initiatives are implemented to achieve them, and what has already been achieved. I organize those goals, initiatives, and Winnetka-specific information into a compact plan. This document is then 190

the COVID-19 pandemic?

I actually got this position post-pandemic. I started working with [the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department] partially because of the pandemic — they planned to have it done by 2020, but the pandemic put them a bit behind. I can’t physically go to city meetings because those aren’t being held. Since the village meetings aren’t being held in person, a lot of residents of the city can’t really go either. It makes it harder to connect between the

FEATURE

different groups virtually as opposed to in person. But other than that, my work is very online-based, so that part would’ve been the same either way.

What has been the most rewarding part of your research experience? Seeing how far the village has come and seeing what initiatives have already been put into place. For example, the GRC2 has an entire section focused on the fact that Winnetka has already implemented recycling in all of its municipal buildings. I think it’s really interesting seeing all the work that’s already been done because when you’re in the environmental circuit, sometimes it feels like you fixate on the worst, and you feel like nothing’s being done. But when you can see others accomplishing their goals, it makes you more optimistic for the future. Seeing everything that has already been achieved has made it feel really worthwhile.

jobs I’m applying for. Having to read over official documents, organize information, email different contacts, and go to meetings is invaluable. A lot of engineering is numbers- and models-based. This research has been really interesting because it has allowed me more creative freedom in finding the easiest way to communicate to the members of Winnetka how there’s bacteria in their beaches or storm water overflow in their systems. You start with something really complicated and make it seem really simple, so people can change their behavior and understand what’s going on around them. I’ve been getting really interested in potentially working in sustainability within communities, and I think that working so closely with Winnetka and creating a tangible sustainability document are definitely beneficial. I would like to continue doing similar work in the future.

What skills have you gained through doing research?

Do you have any advice for undergraduates who want to get involved in research?

In a really broad sense, time management. I do all my work independently, set my own hours, and make sure that I have time dedicated to work and staying focused. Also, reading professional documents has been really helpful in becoming familiar with how city councils release their mandates or initiatives. [This has also] exposed [me] to writings and publications that get an idea across as efficiently as possible.

Reach out to faculty. They are so helpful, and they really do want students who are interested in their research to get involved. I would recommend thinking of a general idea that you want to work in, going to the different research departments, finding someone who’s researching something similar, and emailing them. Even if you don’t think you’re qualified or that you don’t have the experience, just email and ask. ■

Has this experience given you any insight into what you might want to do in the future? Oh, absolutely. I’ve been leaning a lot more into the environmental policy side of things, especially for other internships and

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Department of Psychology Faculty Adviser: Prof. Eli Finkel, Ph.D.

Knowing What You Want:

Sexual Self-Insight and Attachment Style in Romantic Relationships by Kaylee Guajardo Abstract Positive sexual experiences and knowing oneself are beneficial to romantic relationships. I investigated the intersection of these two domains by developing a new construct, sexual self-insight: clear knowledge of what one enjoys sexually. In my study, I examined sexual self-insight within the context of romantic relationships, in relation to sexual self-pleasure, sexual communication satisfaction, attachment style, and various relationship outcomes through an online survey. Findings suggest that sexual self-insight is negatively associated with insecure attachment, and sexual self-insight mediates the negative association between insecure attachments and relationship outcomes. As a novel construct, sexual self-insight opens new doors to understanding the importance of knowing ourselves in a sexual light.

Background The benefits of positive sexual experiences go well beyond the bedroom. In the longterm, sexual satisfaction is positively associated with greater subjective well-being.1

Furthermore, higher frequency of sexual activity is associated with greater cognitive functioning later in life2 and greater well-being, although the benefits peak

1 Buczak-Stec, E., König, H.-H., & Hajek, A. (2019). The link between sexual satisfaction and subjective well-being: A longitudinal perspective based on the German Ageing Survey. Quality of Life Research: An International Journal of Quality of Life Aspects of Treatment, Care & Rehabilitation, 28(11), 3025–3035. 2 Wright, H., & Jenks, R. A. (2016). Sex on the brain! Associations between sexual activity and cognitive function in older age. Age and Ageing, 45, 313–317; Wright, H., Jenks, R. A., & Demeyere, N. (2019). Frequent sexual activity predicts specific cognitive abilities in older adults. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 74(1), 47–51.

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at a frequency of once per week.3 Sexual enjoyment is also positively linked with self-esteem, autonomy, and empathy.4 Furthermore, positive sexual experiences are particularly beneficial in the context of romantic relationships. For example, sexual interactions with a partner elevate mood and reduce stress.5 Positive sexual experiences are tied to greater physical, mental, and social health in adolescents.6 Finally, sexual satisfaction is heavily correlated with self-reports of greater health and relationship happiness/satisfaction.7 Positive sexual experiences and sexual communication go hand in hand; greater amounts of sexual communication are associated with increased orgasm frequency in women, as well as greater relationship and sexual satisfaction for all genders.8 However, in order to communicate what we want, we must first know what we like. Research has yet to examine individuals’ clear knowledge of what they enjoy sexually. In the present research, I propose a novel construct, sexual self-insight, which describes the extent to which people have a

clear sense of what they enjoy sexually. This construct is a potential precursor for sexual communication. I also investigate sexual self-insight within the context of romantic relationships — particularly in regards to anxious and avoidant attachment. Self-Concept Clarity Having a clear sense of self is crucial; people who have a clear and coherent understanding of who they are experience more positive life outcomes. Specifically, self-concept clarity captures the subjective clarity, coherence, and stability of one’s self-belief.9 Self-concept clarity is associated with positive outcomes for individuals, such as higher self-esteem, more active coping styles, and greater psychological well-being.10 Moreover, self-concept clarity is positively associated with relationship satisfaction, commitment, and use of positive dyadic coping behaviors within a relationship,11 as well as sexual well-being in women.12 Self-concept clarity is therefore beneficial in achieving not only a happy life but also a successful romantic relationship.

3 Muise, A., Schimmack, U., & Impett, E. A. (2016). Sexual frequency predicts greater well-being, but more is not always better. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 7(4), 295–302. 4 Galinsky, A. M., & Sonenstein, F. L. (2011). The association between developmental assets and sexual enjoyment among emerging adults. Journal of Adolescent Health, 48(6), 610–615. 5 Burleson, M. H., Trevathan, W. R., & Todd, M. (2007). In the mood for love or vice versa? Exploring the relations among sexual activity, physical affection, affect and stress in the daily lives of mid-aged women. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36(3), 357–368. 6 Hensel, D. J., Nance, J., & Fortenberry, J. D. (2016). The Association Between Sexual Health and Physical, Mental, and Social Health in Adolescent Women. Journal of Adolescent Health, 59(4), 416-421. 7 Fisher, W., Donahue, K., Long, J., Heiman, J., Rosen, R., & Sand, M. (2015). Individual and partner correlates of sexual satisfaction and relationship happiness in midlife couples: Dyadic analysis of the international survey of relationships. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44(6), 1609–1620; Laumann, E. O., Paik, A., Glasser, D. B., Kang, J.-H., Wang, T., Levinson, B., Moreira, E. D., Jr., Nicolosi, A., & Gingell, C. (2006). A Cross-National Study of Subjective Sexual Well-Being Among Older Women and Men: Findings From the Global Study of Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 35(2), 145–161. 8 Jones, A. C., Robinson, W. D., & Seedall, R. B. (2018). The role of sexual communication in couples’ sexual outcomes: A dyadic path analysis. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 44(4), 606–623; Blunt-Vinti, H., Jozkowski, K. N., & Hunt, M. (2019). Show or tell? Does verbal and/or nonverbal sexual communication matter for sexual satisfaction? Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy; Cupach, W. R., & Comstock, J. (1990). Satisfaction with Sexual Communication in Marriage: Links to Sexual Satisfaction and Dyadic Adjustment. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 7(2), 179–186. 9 Campbell, J. D., Trapnell, P. D., Heine, S. J., Katz, I. M., Lavallee, L. F., Lehman, D. R. (1996). Self-Concept Clarity: Measurement, Personality Correlates, and Cultural Boundaries. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(1), 141-156. 10 Campbell, J. D. (1990). Self-esteem and clarity of the self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(3), 538–549; Smith, M., Wethington, E., & Zhan, G. (1996). Self-concept clarity and preferred coping styles. Journal of Personality, 64(2), 407–434; Wu, J. (2012). Self-concept clarity of Hong Kong university students: Measurement and relations to psychological well being. In K. Gana (Ed.), Psychology of self-concept. (pp. 21–35). 11 Lewandowski, Nardone, & Raines, 2010; McIntyre, Mattingly, & Lewandowski, 2017; Parise, Pagani, Donato, & Sedikides, 2019 12 Hucker, Mussap, & McCabe, 2010.

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“Those who had engaged in higher frequencies of sexual self-pleasure prior to their current relationship had more sexual self-insight, which in turn was associated with higher sexual communication satisfaction.” Moreover, positive sexual interactions are strongly associated with thriving romantic relationships. This begs the question: Could clearly knowing what one enjoys sexually play an essential role in cultivating a successful romantic relationship? The present research introduces the novel construct of sexual self-insight: having a clear and coherent sense of what one enjoys sexually. I propose that sexual self-insight is distinct from self-concept clarity — one can subjectively know who they are but be unfamiliar with what they enjoy sexually. Sexual self-insight likely comes from sexual experiences with partners, but for individuals in their first relationship, sexual self-pleasure and exploration may be a source of sexual self-insight. Indeed, masturbation and sexual self-pleasure are important components of developing healthy sexuality.13 One study found that young adult women who had experienced orgasm through masturbation had greater sexual communication and sexual agency compared to women who had not done so.14 Thus, both masturbation and sexual experience with a partner may play a role in understanding our sexual selves and acquiring sexual self-insight. However, developing sexual self-insight is not limited to certain sexual ex13 Smith, Rosenthal, & Reicher, 1996; Hogarth & Ingham, 2009. 14 Horne & Zimmer-Gembeck, 2005. 15 Bowlby, 1969; 1973; 1980. 16 Hazan & Shaver, 1987. 17 Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991; Shaver & Mikulincer, 2012.

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periences and behaviors. In fact, certain groups of people may particularly struggle with sexual self-insight, such as those with anxious or avoidant attachment. Attachment Style and Sexual Self-Insight Attachment theory15 outlines how humans emotionally attach or bond to a caregiver when young and how this attachment shapes long-term perceptions of and interactions with others. Styles of attachment, which are not isolated to childhood and extend well into adulthood, have a significant impact on romantic relationships.16 These styles exist on two orthogonal dimensions, anxiety and avoidance. The anxious dimension captures how one views the self on a spectrum from positive to negative; this positive to negative view of the self corresponds to both low versus high attachment anxiety and low versus high attachment avoidance. Conversely, the avoidant dimension encapsulates how one views others on a spectrum from positive to negative. High attachment anxiety is associated with a fear of abandonment, while high attachment avoidance is associated with a fear of intimacy.17 Individuals who are anxiously or avoidantly attached often struggle in their relationships. People with these attachment styles are significantly less satisfied and committed in their relationships, tend to have dysfunctional communica-

“

Those with more sexual self-insight had greater relationship satisfaction and commitment.

tion, and are more likely to divorce.18 Sex is also more complicated for those with anxious or avoidant attachment. On the bright side, frequent and more satisfying sex may hinder some of the negative relationship outcomes that are typically associated with these attachment styles.19 That being said, insecurely-attached individuals are more likely to have sex for reasons that supersede sexual pleasure. Specifically, individuals with anxious attachment report having sex to reduce insecurity, while individuals with attachment avoidance report having sex to impress peers.20 Additionally, adults with high attachment anxiety or avoidance experience less sexual satisfaction and less sexual communication in their relationships.21 Perhaps some of the challenges that anxious and avoidant individuals face could be due to a lack of insight into what they enjoy sexually. Past research has found that both anxious and avoidant individuals have lower self-concept clarity.22 I hypothesize that they may also have lower sexual self-insight, which may in turn be associated with lower relationship satisfaction and commitment.

”

outcomes. My hypotheses are as follows: Hypothesis 1: Higher frequencies of sexual self-pleasure prior to a relationship will be linked with sexual self-insight, which in turn will be positively associated with greater sexual communication satisfaction in a relationship. Hypothesis 2a: Insecure attachment (avoidance and anxiety) will be negatively associated with sexual self-insight. Hypothesis 2b: The tendency for avoidant and anxious individuals to have lower sexual self-insight will in turn be associated with less relationship satisfaction and commitment. I tested these hypotheses by conducting an online survey of individuals who were currently in their first romantic relationship. In the survey, I investigated how sexual self-insight is related to pre-relationship self-pleasure frequency and sexual communication (H1), as well as anxious and avoidant attachment (H2a) and various relationship outcomes (H2b).

Methods

This study was an initial investigation of how sexual self-insight develops and its possible links to attachment insecurity. Hypotheses and Research Overview The present research examines the novel Specifically, I investigated two hypotheses: construct of sexual self-insight and its (H1) whether sexual self-insight mediates links with attachment and relationship the association between pre-relationship 18 Li & Chan, 2012; Diamond, Brimhall, & Elliot, 2018; Candel & Turliuc, 2019; Domingue & Mollen, 2009; McNelis & Segrin, 2019. 19 Little, McNulty, & Russell, 2010. 20 Schachner & Shaver, 2004. 21 Bennett, LoPresti, & Denes, 2019; Timm & Keiley, 2011; Khoury & Findlay, 2014; Davis et al., 2006. 22 Wu, 2009; Emery, Gardner, Carswell, & Finkel, 2018

195

T Figure 1. Sexual self-insight mediating the association between pre-relationship solitary sexual pleasure frequency and sexual communication satisfaction in Study 1; **p < .001; *p < .05.

.59**

.13* .14*

T Figure 2. Sexual self-insight mediating the association between anxious attachment and sexual relationship commitment in Study 1; **p < .001; *p < .05.

-.61**

.34** -.45**

Anxious Attachment

Relationship Commitment

(-.24**)

T Figure 3. Sexual self-insight mediating the association between avoidant attachment and sexual relationship satisfaction in Study 1; **p < .001; *p < .05.

-.58**

Avoidant Attachment

196

-.15* -.55** (-.64**)

Relationship Satisfaction

sexual self-pleasure frequency and sexual communication satisfaction, and (H2a and 2b) whether sexual self-insight mediates the association between insecure attachment (avoidant or anxious) and relationship outcomes (satisfaction or commitment). Participants and Procedure Participants were 266 individuals23 who were in their first romantic relationship (54.9% male, 41.7% female, 3.4% non-binary; 79.7% heterosexual, 12.0% bisexual, 3.8% gay/lesbian, 3.8% asexual, .7% other; age M = 29.9, SD = 7.01). The participants were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk), and all participants were located within the United States at the time of the study. Participants were screened through an initial questionnaire to make sure they fit the study criteria. They then completed the survey in a single session. Measures All items were assessed on a 7-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) unless indicated otherwise. Sexual self-insight. To measure sexual self-insight, I modified the self-concept clarity scale24 (12 items, assessed on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree; α = .92, M = 2.85, SD = .803). See Appendix 1 for full list of items. Sexual desire. Participants reported their average sexual self-pleasure frequency prior to their relationship (M = 4.47, SD = 1.94), and responded on an 8-point Likert scale from 1 (not at all) to 8 (more than once a day). See Appendix 2 for all additional,

altered desire items from the Sexual Desire Inventory-2.25 Sexual communication satisfaction. Participants reported their satisfaction with their sexual communication with their romantic partner26 (22 items; α = .94; M = 5.17, SD = 1.14; e.g., “I tell my partner when I am especially sexually satisfied”). Attachment style. Participants reported their level of attachment anxiety27 (6 items; α = .83; M = 3.54, SD = 1.41; e.g., “I need a lot of reassurance that I am loved by my partner”) and avoidance28 (6 items; α = .83; M = 2.69, SD = 1.24; e.g., “I am nervous when partners get too close to me”). Relationship commitment. Participants reported their commitment to their current relationship29 (7 items; α = .88; M = 5.63, SD = 1.08; e.g., “I am committed to maintaining my relationship with my partner”). Relationship satisfaction. Participants indicated their current relationship satisfaction30 (5 items; α = .90; M = 5.64, SD = 1.13; e.g., “Our relationship makes me very happy”). Results I standardized all variables (M = 0, SD = 1) prior to analysis. See Table 1 for associations between all variables. First, I investigated H1 by analyzing the associations between sexual self-insight, pre-relationship sexual self-pleasure frequency, and sexual communication satisfaction. In line with H1, sexual self-insight was positively associated with pre-relationship sexual self-pleasure frequency (r = .13, p = .028) and sexual communication

23 I initially received responses from 284 participants. However, 18 participants did not complete the survey, so I excluded them from analyses. 24 Campbell et al., 1996. 25 Spector, Carey, & Steinberg, 1996. 26 Wheeless et al. 1984. 27 Wei, Russell, Mallinckrodt, & Vogel, 2007. 28 Ibid. 29 Rusbult, Martz, & Agnew, 1998. 30 Ibid.

197

T Table 1. Bivariate correlations of variables from Study 1; **p < .001; *p < .05.

Measure

1. Sexual Self-Insight

—

.60**

-.58**

-.61**

.13*

.49**

.22**

—

-.76**

-.51**

.08

.65**

.54**

—

.58**

-.10

-.69**

-.55**

—

-.04

-.45**

-.22**

—

.16

.11

—

.58**

2. Sexual Communication Satisfaction 3. Avoidant attachment 4. Anxious attachment 5. Solitary sexual frequency 6. Relationship commitment 7. Relationship satisfaction

satisfaction (r = .60, p < .001). People who had engaged in more sexual self-pleasure prior to their current relationship also had more sexual self-insight and sexual communication satisfaction in their present relationship. Next, I conducted mediation analysis using model 4 of PROCESS, a macro for a data-analysis software called the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), used as a tool for regression path analysis.31 In support of H1, sexual self-insight mediated the association between pre-relationship sexual self-pleasure frequency and sexual communication satisfaction (Figure 1). Participants who reported higher frequencies of sexual self-pleasure prior to their current relationship scored higher on sexual self-insight, which in turn was associated with greater sexual communication satisfaction in their present relationship. 31 Hayes, 2013.

198

—

Next, I tested H2a by first analyzing the associations between sexual self-insight, anxious and avoidant attachment style, and relationship commitment and satisfaction. Consistent with H2a, sexual self-insight was negatively associated with anxious (r = -.61, p < .001) and avoidant attachment (r = -.58, p < .001), and positively associated with relationship commitment (r = .49, p < .001) and satisfaction (r = .22, p < .001). Individuals who had anxious or avoidant attachment style had less sexual self-insight, and individuals who had more sexual self-insight had greater relationship satisfaction and commitment. Next, I conducted a mediation analysis to first examine whether sexual self-insight mediated the association between anxious attachment and relationship commitment (H2b). In support of H2b, individuals who reported higher anxious attachment had less sexual

self-insight, which in turn was associated with less relationship commitment (Figure 2). I then conducted a mediation analysis to determine whether sexual self-insight mediated the association between anxious attachment and relationship satisfaction (H2b); however, I did not find a significant indirect effect (indirect effect = -.08; 95% CI = -.19, .01). I then conducted parallel analyses for avoidant attachment. Specifically, I analyzed whether sexual self-insight mediated the association between avoidant attachment and relationship satisfaction (H2b). In line with H2b, individuals who reported higher avoidant attachment had less sexual self-insight, which in turn was associated with less relationship satisfaction (Figure 3).32 I did not find that sexual self-insight mediated the association between avoidant attachment and relationship commitment (H2b; indirect effect = -.07; 95% CI = -.15, .01). Discussion This study revealed that pre-relationship sexual self-pleasure is positively associated with sexual self-insight, which in turn is associated with greater sexual communication satisfaction (H1). Furthermore, anxious and avoidant attachment had significantly less sexual self-insight, thus supporting H2a. Additionally, individuals with anxious attachment had lower sexual self-insight, which in turn was associated with less relationship commitment. Individuals with avoidant attachment also had lower sexual self-insight, which in turn was associated with less relationship satisfaction. Therefore, H2b was only partially

supported, as sexual self-insight did not mediate the association between anxious attachment and relationship satisfaction, nor the association between avoidant attachment and relationship commitment.

General Discussion In light of the established positive outcomes of sexual experiences and knowing oneself in romantic relationships,33 the present research investigated the intersection of these domains. Namely, I investigated the novel construct of sexual self-insight — knowledge of what one enjoys sexually — in the context of romantic relationships. I anticipated that individuals may gain sexual self-insight through solitary sexual experiences, such as masturbation, prior to their first relationship. Thus, I hypothesized that for individuals in their first romantic relationship, higher frequencies of pre-relationship self-pleasure would be positively associated with sexual self-insight, which in turn would be associated with more sexual communication satisfaction. Additionally, I hypothesized that those with greater anxious and avoidant attachment would have less sexual self-insight. I also predicted that the tendency for avoidant and anxious individuals to have less sexual self-insight would in turn be associated with less relationship satisfaction and commitment. In this research, I examined sexual self-insight in those that were currently in their first romantic relationship. For these individuals, I found that those who had engaged in higher frequencies of sexual self-pleasure prior to their current

32 In this mediation analysis, mediator sexual self-insight was negatively associated with relationship satisfaction. This finding contradicts my hypothesis that sexual self-insight would positively predict relationship satisfaction, which serves as the mediator for the avoidant attachment and relationship satisfaction pathway. I suspect this is a case of the suppressor effect (Cohen et al., 2003), which would have been caused by introducing avoidant attachment into the model, which is robustly negatively associated with relationship satisfaction (Table 1). This suspicion is further supported by the significant, positive bivariate correlation between sexual self-insight and relationship satisfaction in my data. 33 Fisher et al., 2015; Lewandowski et al., 2010; McIntyre et al., 2017; Parise et al., 2019.

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relationship had more sexual self-insight, which in turn was associated with higher sexual communication satisfaction (H1). I also found that those with more anxious or avoidant attachment had less sexual self-insight (H2a) and that those with more sexual self-insight had greater relationship satisfaction and commitment. For individuals with anxious attachment, this lower sexual self-insight was negatively associated with relationship commitment. Additionally, those with avoidant attachment had less sexual self-insight, which in turn was negatively associated with relationship satisfaction (H2b).

relationship. While these findings are only correlative and do not imply causality, these associations nonetheless suggest that sexual self-pleasure may serve as a means to understand one’s sexual self, which in turn may lead to a higher frequency and quality of sexual communication. In the future, researchers could conduct experimental studies in order to determine if a causal relationship exists between sexual self-pleasure and sexual self-insight, as well as sexual self-insight and positive sexual communication. If more sexual self-pleasure is determined to increase sexual self-insight, which in turn is found to increase positive sexual communication, Implications and Future Directions These findings highlight the promising this could influence sex education curricpotential of this new construct, sexual ulums and how they discuss masturbation. self-insight, in the realm of romantic Strengths and Limitations relationships. My findings highlight a new This research developed a novel construct, domain with which insecurely attached sexual self-insight, and highlighted the poindividuals struggle: knowledge of what tential importance of knowing what one they enjoy sexually. Specifically, I con- enjoys sexually in the context of romantic sistently found that people with anxious relationships — a construct that, to my or avoidant attachment have less sexual knowledge, has yet to be investigated in self-insight. Past research has found that the existing literature. individuals with insecure attachment An additional strength of this reoften have sex for reasons that supersede search is that this study included particexperiencing sexual pleasure. People with ipants who were not exclusively college anxious attachment often have sex out of samples, a common limitation in psychoinsecurity, while those with avoidant at- logical research. That being said, the study tachment pursue sex to gain social status.34 sample was relatively homogenous, in that Thus, my findings bring to light a possible the participants were mostly young adults, product of this phenomenon: a lack of white, Christian, and heterosexual. In the clear insight into what they enjoy sexually, future, I aspire to have a more diverse, repor sexual self-insight. resentative sample in understanding sexual Finally, I found that those who en- self-insight, particularly in regards to age gaged in higher frequencies of sexual and sexual orientation. self-pleasure prior to their first romantic My research is further limited by severrelationship had more sexual self-insight, al factors. Because this research is exclusivewhich in turn was associated with more ly cross-sectional and correlational, I cannot sexual communication satisfaction in said draw causal conclusions. I intend to inves34 Schachner et al., 2004.

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tigate whether causation underlies these findings in future research, either through longitudinal or experimental research. Finally, one major measurement limitation in this study was that I did not ask participants whether they were generally sexually active with their partner. By failing to do this, questions inquiring about participants’ sexual communication satisfaction were inapplicable. I hope to replicate these findings in a future study with a sample of participants who are all sexually active.

While only associative research was conducted in this study, sexual self-insight may be an underlying phenomenon as to why those with insecure attachment face challenges personally, romantically, and sexually. Future research should examine whether a causal relationship exists in this respect. Until then, I hope that my research provides a springboard for future research endeavors to expand our knowledge on the importance of knowing our sexual selves.

Conclusion This study investigates the novel construct, sexual self-insight, both in the context of attachment style and romantic relationships. Self-concept clarity and positive sexual experiences are both associated with greater well-being35 and higher quality romantic relationships.36 My research suggests that to know oneself sexually may also have positive associations in romantic relationships. Additionally, my findings suggest that sexual self-insight may come harder to some than others — particularly those with insecure attachment. Unfortunately, individuals with insecure attachment have less self-concept clarity37 and less satisfactory sexual experiences.38

Acknowledgements Research presented here was supported by Northwestern University’s Summer Undergraduate Research Grant during the Summer of 2019. First, I want to thank Dr. Eli Finkel for supporting and overseeing this research as my faculty thesis advisor, Dr. Wendi Gardner as my second reader, and Dr. Daniel Molden for the honor’s thesis instruction. Last but never least, I would like to thank Dr. Lydia Emery for serving as my mentor throughout this research process. Without her sincere guidance, insight, and support, this research would not have been possible. ■

35 Wu, 2012; Buczek-Stec et al., 2019. 36 Lewandowski et al., 2010; McIntyre et al., 2017; Fisher et al., 2015; Laumann et al., 2006. 37 Emery at al., 2016; Wu, 2009. 38 Davis et al., 2006; Khoury et al., 2014.

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Appendices Appendix 1 Sexual Self-Insight Items1 1. My beliefs about what sexual activities I enjoy often conflict with one another. 2. On one day I might have one opinion of what I enjoy sexually (e.g., rough sex, certain sexual stimulation, etc.), but on another day I might have a different opinion. 3. It is often hard for me to make up my mind about sexual activities, because I don’t really know what I enjoy sexually. 4. I spend a lot of time wondering about what I enjoy sexually. 5. Sometimes I feel that what I enjoy sexually is not what it appears to be. 6. When I think about the sexual activities I have pursued in the past, I’m not sure what I really like. 7. I seldom experience conflict between the different sexual aspects I enjoy. 8. Sometimes I think others know what they enjoy sexually better than I know what I enjoy sexually. 9. My beliefs about what activities I enjoy sexually seem to change frequently. 10. If I were asked to describe what I enjoy sexually, my description might end up being different from one day to another day. 11. Even if I wanted to, I don’t think I would tell someone what I really enjoy sexually. 12. In general, I have a clear sense of what I enjoy sexually. 1 All items are reverse scored, except items 7 and 12.

Appendix 2 Sexual Desire Altered Items 1. During the last month, how often would you have liked to engage in sexual activities with a partner (for example, touching each other’s genitals, intercourse, etc.)? 2. During the last month, how often did you engage in sexual activities with a partner (for example, touching each other’s genitals, intercourse, etc.)? 3. During the last month, how often have you had sexual thoughts involving a partner? 4. When you have sexual thoughts, how strong is your desire to engage in sexual behavior with your partner? 5. When you first see an attractive person, how strong is your sexual desire? 6. When you spend time with an attractive person, how strong is your sexual desire? 7. When you are in romantic situations (such as a candle lit dinner, a walk on the beach, etc.), how strong is your sexual desire? 8. How strong is your desire to engage in sexual activity with a partner? 9. How important is it for you to fulfill your sexual desire through activity with a partner? 10. Prior to your current relationship, when you had sexual thoughts, how strong was your desire to engage in sexual behavior with yourself? 11. Prior to your relationship with your significant other, over the course of a month on average, how often would you have LIKED to behave sexually by yourself (for example, masturbating, touching your genitals, etc.)? 12. Prior to your relationship with your significant other, over the course of a month on average, how often DID you behave sexually by yourself (for example, masturbating, touching your genitals, etc.)? 13. Prior to your relationship, generally how strong was your desire to engage in sexual behavior by yourself? 14. Prior to your relationship, how important was it for you to fulfill your desires to behave sexually by yourself? 15. How much do you agree with this statement: Prior to my current relationship, I would often enjoy behaving sexually by myself.

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munication on sexual and marital satisfaction: A path analysis. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 37(3), 206–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/00 92623X.2011.564513 Wei, M., Russell, D. W., Mallinckrodt, B., & Vogel, D. L. (2007). The Experiences in Close Relationship Scale (ECR)-short form: Reliability, validity, and factor structure. Journal of personality assessment, 88(2), 187204. Wheeless, L. R., Wheeless, V. E., & Baus, R. (1984) Sexual communication, communication satisfaction, and solidarity in the developmental stages of intimate relationships, Western Journal of Communication, 48(3), 217-230, doi:10.1080/10570318409374158 Wright, H., & Jenks, R. A. (2016). Sex on the brain! Associations between sexual activity and cognitive function in older age. Age and Ageing, 45, 313–317. doi:10.1093/ageing/afv197 Wright, H., Jenks, R. A., & Demeyere, N. (2019). Frequent sexual activity predicts specific cognitive abilities in older adults. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 74(1), 47–51. https:// doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbx065 Wu, C. (2009). The relationship between attachment style and self-concept clarity: The mediation effect of self-esteem. Personality and Individual Differences, 47(1), 42–46. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.paid.2009.01.043 Wu, J. (2012). Self-concept clarity of Hong Kong university students: Measurement and relations to psychological well being. In K. Gana (Ed.), Psychology of self-concept. (pp. 21–35). Nova Science Publishers.

2020 Research Award Winners Sigma Xi Undergraduate Research Awards The Northwestern University chapter of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society, partners with the Office of Undergraduate Research to fund awards at the University’s annual Undergraduate Research and Arts Exposition (Expo). Expo is the largest student conference on campus and focuses on original research and creative work by Northwestern’s undergraduates across all disciplines. The $500 Sigma Xi Best Overall Poster Presentation Award was presented to Sophia Liu for her project entitled “Exploring the Effects of Phonetic Overlap and Background Noise on Incremental Processing in Children.” The $500 Sigma Xi Best Overall Expo Oral Presentation Award was presented to Julia Dierksheide for her presentation entitled “Exploring the Detection of Missing Tissue in Planarian Regeneration.”

Sigma Xi Best Overall Poster Presentation Award recipient at the Northwestern Undergraduate Research and Arts Exposition

Sophia Liu Project Title: Exploring the Effects of Phonetic Overlap and Background Noise on Incremental Processing in Children Sophia Liu (’21) is a senior from Birmingham, Alabama majoring in neuroscience and minoring in global health studies. She first learned of the field of communication sciences and disorders in the freshman seminar “Language and Childhood.” As an immigrant who grew up speaking both Mandarin and English, Liu is interested in how children with different experiences acquire language and use it to communicate with the world. As a result, she joined the Hearing and Language Lab (HLL) to learn about how people’s experience with sound affects their ability to understand and learn language. Over the past two years in HLL, Liu helped research how children learn new words and how children with and without hearing loss process phonologically-competing words. In the summer of 2018, Liu received a Summer Undergraduate Research Grant (SURG) for her independent project to study the effects of phonetic overlap and background noise on incremental processing in children. After assisting a graduate mentor with her study on phonologically competing words, Liu became interested in how children process rhyming words, since they exist in nursery rhymes, songs, and poems. Moreover, since communication rarely occurs in perfect silence, Liu wanted to explore the effects of background noise. Her study found little to no effect on how children process different rhyming words. However, data suggest background noise can slow down children’s processing ability by making it harder to listen to the target speech.

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Sigma Xi Best Overall Expo Oral Presentation Award recipient at the Northwestern Undergraduate Research and Arts Exposition

Julia Dierksheide Presentation Title: Exploring the Detection of Missing Tissue in Planarian Regeneration Julia Dierksheide (’20) recently graduated from the Integrated Science Program with a second major in biological sciences. She became interested in research early on in her Northwestern career and joined the Petersen Lab at the beginning of her sophomore year. Dierksheide has since had the privilege of working with Professor Petersen and his amazing team of graduate students on the project she presented at Expo. She plans to continue to pursue a career in research, and she started her doctoral studies in biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in fall 2020. Dierksheide’s Expo project focused on regeneration, a specialized healing process that replaces lost and damaged tissue with fully functional tissue. In the Petersen Lab, researchers use planaria, small aquatic flatworms capable of amazing feats of regeneration, as model organisms to dissect the molecular mechanisms that control this process. Dierksheide’s work focused on the molecular differences between “simple” wound healing and regeneration, digging into how planaria sense and respond to different injuries.

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About the

CONTRIBUTORS

Andrew Wayne Riley Ceperich John Sweeney Simone Laszuk Yu Wang Joy Hsu Zoe Miller Taris Hoffman Kaylee Guajardo Meghan Considine Jade Davis Meilynn Shi

Andrew Wayne–

Opinions in Flux: An Exploration of the Perceptions of Concussions in Youth Sports Andrew Wayne (’20) majored in social policy. He is currently studying at the Kellogg School of Management (‘21) where he is pursuing a Master of Science in management studies.

Sports Medicine at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital. Here, I was provided the opportunity to conduct a project about head trauma in youth sporting leagues.

In a nutshell, what is your research topic?

What are possible future directions for your work? How might researchers build on your research?

Participation in youth sports carries risk of head trauma as millions of sports-related concussions occur each year. This research was designed to examine the decision-making processes that go into enrolling a child in youth sports, as well as the established frameworks for understanding youth sport involvement. In addition, the research aimed to highlight current narratives that affect parental decision making and how parents weigh the positives and negatives associated with a child’s involvement in a sport. How did you come to your research topic? I have always been fascinated about the connections between head trauma and sports in the contemporary world. In 2019, I worked in the department of Orthopaedic Surgery and

Much is still left to be known regarding head trauma and the effects it may have later in life. Thus, the potential effects of playing youth sports may not be fully understood. In addition, the data from the project suggests that many misconceptions exist amongst parents who have a child who actively participates in a youth sport. Therefore, research may need to be done to see how these misconceptions are acquired and how they can be rectified. Where are you heading after graduation? I am currently at Kellogg School of Management where I am a candidate for a Master of Science in Management Studies degree.

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Riley Ceperich–

Designing Equity: Stakeholders’ Perceptions of an Equity Initiative in a California School District Riley Ceperich (’20) graduated with a bachelor’s degree in both sociology and economics. She is currently working for Cynthia E. Coburn as a research assistant and is involved with several other educational research projects. Ceperich is planning to pursue a doctorate in sociology.

stakeholders. I also found that this project filled a gap in the literature.

In a nutshell, what is your research topic?

This research could be furthered to understand how principals who are committed to equity goals approach equity reforms that they view as poorly designed and what effective principals can do to implement equity even with challenges from the district. Researchers could also explore how perceptions of equity initiatives change over time and how approaches to and the success of equity reforms have changed and continues to change in different political climates.

My research topic is race inequity in education. I studied stakeholder perceptions of an equity reform in two elementary schools in California with the stated goal of increasing the educational achievement of Black students. How did you come to your research topic? I became interested in educational inequity after taking the sociology class: School and Society. After I began working as a research assistant in Cynthia Coburn’s lab in the School of Education and Social Policy, I had access to data sets and asked around for what I could study related to equity. There were interviews with stakeholders of an equity initiative, and I chose to study the perceptions of those

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What are possible future directions for your work? How might researchers build on your research?

Where are you heading after graduation? I am currently working as a research assistant on several education-related research projects with professors at Northwestern and the University of Colorado Boulder. I am applying to sociology doctorate programs with a 20212022 start date.

John Sweeney– What is Political Ontology John Sweeney (’20) majored in African American Studies. They owe all their gratitude to the wonderful people they met at Northwestern, most profoundly their fiancé Leilani. Additionally, they must deeply thank Dr. Jennifer Nash, Dr. Marquis Bey, Dr. Alvin Tillery, and Dr. José Medina.

means, and wondering what would be gained by a rigorous investigation of these authors.

In a nutshell, what is your research topic?

I think the future direction of this work leads to a richer field of political ontology in all fields that use the concept of political ontology from a perspective that is highly critical of modernity and colonialism. Future research could build on my work to bring into conversations the deeply rich fields, such as Black feminism, that do not explicitly use the language/grammar of post-Heideggerian political ontology.

My research topic explores the concept of ‘political ontology’ from a post-Heideggerian sense, specifically starting from the emerging literature by Black scholars who identify as Black nihilists or afropessimists who use the term, and engaging their brilliant work in a conversation with other critical theory thinkers who use political ontology, such as Oliver Marchart, Fred Moten, and Enrique Dussel. How did you come to your research topic? I came to my research topic by engaging deeply with all of these thinkers, struggling to understand what “political ontology” truly

What are possible future directions for your work? How might researchers build on your research?

Where are you heading after graduation? I am heading into political work to attempt to assist in the creation of a better world. I just finished working for the Biden campaign in Wisconsin to defeat Trump.

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Simone Laszuk– Swimming Upstream: Decreasing Salmon Populations in the Columbia River Basin Through Infrastructure and Its Impacts on Indigenous Welfare

As an undergraduate, Simone Laszuk (’20) studied anthropology, environmental policy, and sustainability. She truly found a home at Northwestern in the anthropology department, as well as the admissions office where she worked. Laszuk is pursuing a master’s degree in sustainability. She hopes to take her passion for the environment and work in corporate social responsibility, using money and influence to make a tangible change in our world! In a nutshell, what is your research topic? I focused on the Yakama Tribe in Washington state and their connection to salmon, both as a critical resource and as an important cultural figure. I then analyzed their access to this critical resource and how infrastructure, namely culverts, were creating barriers for salmon to mate and for indigenous people to access them appropriately. By synthesizing historical resources and legal documents, I dove into this environmental injustice case study happening in Washington.

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of sight, out of mind) but it is happening in major cities and major areas across the world. Additionally, I have always loved fish. On a trip to Seattle, my family and I stopped at the Ballard Locks to watch the salmon cross a “salmon ladder.” It really led me down a rabbit hole of reading about how these man-made changes to natural landscapes have caused so much tension on this population. What are possible future directions for your work? How might researchers build on your research? I am taking my studies in the direction of sustainability, so this was a really exciting way to bridge my studies in college with the policy and practice of environmentalism that I hope to go into. Ideally, I would love future researchers to keep highlighting cases of environmental injustices with easy fixes, to put pressure on city and state officials to address the problems of inequality and environmental racism.

How did you come to your research topic?

Where are you heading after graduation?

Throughout my studies, I have been interested in the intersection of anthropology and environmental policy, specifcally in terms of environmental justice. I think that most people think that happens so far away (out

I will be continuing my studies at Northwestern, pursuing my Masters in Energy and Sustainability at the Institute of Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN).

Yu Wang– Developments or Division? The Role Large Public Investment Project Plays in Gentrification: A Case Study on Chicago’s 606 Bloomingdale Bike Trail

Yu Wang (’20) majored in sociology and minored in general music. Coming to Northwestern University as an international student from Taiwan, Wang found the uniqueness of his identity when doing research in sociology. Additionally, his passion in urban developments has inspired him to investigate inequality and gentrification in American cities. In a nutshell, what is your research topic? My research looks at the relationship between public investment projects and gentrification in Chicago neighborhoods through a case study of a newly built elevated bike trail, The 606 Bloomingdale Trail. In other words, I looked at whether government-financed development would decrease housing affordability and change social compositions in both developed and developing neighborhoods. The research takes a quantitative approach by aggregating census data from 2010 to 2017 in different Chicago census tracts. The findings suggest that the investment project, in this case, actually solidifies the inequality gap, instead of assimilating the underdeveloped neighborhoods into a more middle-class one. How did you come to your research topic? Growing up in a populated urban area, I naturally developed my interests in urban plannings and organizations in cities. After coming to Northwestern, I realized my

passion in studying social functions and inequality in society, which has prompted me to take several courses related to urban politics, urban sociology, and gentrification. Eventually, I used the opportunity of a thesis project to dive deeper into the topic of inequality in American cities. Instead of focusing on a more individual level, I took a more macro approach in the research by looking at census data in Chicago. What are possible future directions for your work? How might researchers build on your research? Developments in American cities would continue to polarize economic and social benefits for their residents, and the form of developments would take a more hybrid approach, meaning that these projects would not only serve a single function (such as a bike trail would not only be for transportation but also for recreational purposes). Therefore, different research methods, from ethnographic studies to data modeling to indepth survey, must be implemented to get a more holistic view on this topic. Where are you heading after graduation? I will be pursuing a Master of Science in Management Studies at the Kellogg School of Management over the next year.

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Joy Hsu– Stories of Regret in Late Midlife and Their Relation to Psychosocial Adaptation

Joy Hsu (’20) is currently a Post Baccalaureate Research Fellow in the Technological Innovations for Inclusive Learning and Teaching Lab at Northwestern University. She is a recent graduate who double majored in communication studies and psychology, with a certificate in integrated marketing communications and a module in health communications. She first got involved in research through the Early Research Experience Award, which allowed her to work as a research assistant in the Health Communication Interaction Design Lab. As a co-recipient of the Hunt Award for the best honors thesis in the Psychology Department, she is incredibly thankful for all the wonderful opportunities N.U. has provided for her academic journey thus far. Some of her favorite memories at N.U. include the time she has spent with Asian American InterVarsity and WildCHAT. In a nutshell, what is your research topic? My research topic is about regret in late midlife adults. It both describes the content of regrets and the ways in which these regrets manifest. The study I conducted also investigates how these adults make sense of and cope with their regrets, as well as how their narration of regret relates to psychosocial adaptation, assessed as a combination of generativity, ego-integrity, and self-reported well-being.

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How did you come to your research topic? I am interested in social, personality, and developmental psychology, which is why I chose to work with Professor McAdams, who is the leading expert in narrative identity. I talked with him about several ideas I had regarding research topics, and he gave me feedback and let me know what sources of data were feasible for me to use. What are possible future directions for your work? How might researchers build on your research? Future researchers should explore direction of causality between the associations found in this study, as it is currently uncertain whether low psychosocial adaptation leads to regret stories with lower regret resolution, or vice versa. These findings may inform clinical research in developing interventions for late to midlife adults struggling with psychosocial adaption. Where are you heading after graduation? I have just started a position as lab manager in the Technological Innovations for Inclusive Learning and Teaching Lab at Northwestern.

Kaylee Guajardo– Knowing What You Want: Sexual Self-Insight and Attachment Style in Romantic Relationships

Kaylee Guajardo (’20) double majored in psychology and statistics and minored in religious studies. She volunteered as a research assistant for the past year with Dr. Eli J. Finkel’s RAMLAB, and still attends the biweekly lab meetings. When she isn’t doing psychology of sexuality research, she enjoys all activities outdoors, crocheting blankets for the kittens she fosters, or making a mess in the kitchen. This winter, you can catch Guajardo breathing in the cold mountain air, with a huge smile across her face, as a ski instructor in Big Sky, Mont.!

than others. In other words what behavior or experiences may precede more frequent and satisfying sexual communication between partners? Through reflection on past conversations and studies I learned about in Dr. Finkel’s Science of Relationships course, I realized that in order to communicate what one wants sexually, they must first know what they want. Thus, with the help and support of my mentor, Lydia Emery, I developed the novel construct, sexual self-insight, to measure how well one knows themself sexually.

In a nutshell, what is your research topic?

What are possible future directions for your work? How might researchers build on your research?

My research investigates (1) how sexual self-pleasure, sexual communication, and attachment style correlate and (2) how knowing what one enjoys sexually mediates the relationship of these variables in the context of romantic relationships for those that are sexually active. How did you come to your research topic? I served as one of Northwestern’s Sexual Health and Assault Peer Educators (SHAPE) for my latter two and a half years at N.U. Part of SHAPE’s mission is to educate people on the absolute necessity of consent throughout sexual encounters. Ideally, consent should be enthusiastic, verbal sexual communication about what one wants or does not want sexually with their partner(s). Through my peer education experiences, I began to wonder what elements may allow sexual communication to come “easier” for some

First of all, all the research executed in my senior thesis is purely correlational. Thus, ideally future researchers can use this study as a springboard to understand whether sexual self-insight, or knowing what one enjoys sexually, plays a causal role in predicting higher usage and quality of sexual communication. Additionally, if more sexual self-pleasure predicts greater sexual selfinsight, which in turn predicts more sexual communication, this may influence how we discuss masturbation in sexual education. Where are you heading after graduation? I am exploring my options with a gap year (or two) before heading to graduate school to pursue a doctoral degree.

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Taris Hoffman– “Territory Folks Should Stick Together”: The Role of the Law and the “Other” in Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma! Taris Hoffman (’20) is a proud graduate of Northwestern University, where she majored in theatre and legal studies with a minor in dance. She graduated with honors, the Departmental Excellence Award in theatre, and the Distinguished Honors Thesis Prize and Departmental Honors in legal studies. During her time at N.U., Hoffman was a member of Griffin’s Tale Children’s Repertory Theatre Company, a writer for Sherman Ave, a DJ for WNURFM, and a member of Lambda Pi Eta. Postgraduation, Hoffman is pursuing her dream of being a Chicago-based artist. She is an exclusively signed stage and screen actor with BMG Talent Group, a copywriter for an online toolkit in partnership with The Talk documentary, and a tour coordinator for Redfin Real Estate. She is looking forward to assistant directing American Idiot under N.U. professor Halena Kays at the American Blues Theater next summer. In a nutshell, what is your research topic? My thesis analyzes the role of the law in Daniel Fish’s “Oklahoma!” in order to examine how the production portrays the legal

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repercussions of violence towards the “other” and how legal proceedings are represented in contemporary pop culture. How did you come to your research topic? Originally, I planned to expand on a previous project and write my thesis on the impact of the death penalty on the victims’ families, specifically in relationship to their media portrayal. On the first day of the legal studies thesis seminar, Professor Grisinger told us all that we had to write about something we were passionate about or else we would never be able to make it through our respective theses. I remember my jaw actually dropping open because in that moment I realized the thing I currently could not stop thinking about, an astounding production of “Oklahoma!” I had seen a few days ago in New York, had a large legal component and layered political messaging. The idea of combining my two majors (theatre and legal studies) and the chance to closely analyze a piece of art that was personally inspiring to me was instantly irresistible. The rest is history.

What are possible future directions for your work? How might researchers build on your research? Daniel Fish’s “Oklahoma!” is subtextually rich and layers in arguments about privilege in relationship to gender, age, and physical ableness, not just race and class. Continued analysis of this play would yield more in-depth conclusions about how privilege functions in relationship to the law holistically. Putting this revival in conversation more closely with the original Broadway production, in addition to the 1955 film, would also allow for conclusions that speak more to the original intention of the text that Fish then intentionally subverted. Similarly, additional historical legal information, such as a data set of murder cases in the setting and era of the play and during the years of each iteration (1943, 1955, and 2018), would allow more nuanced conclusions to be made about the power of the influence of historical law versus the contemporary cultural context on Fish’s directorial choices. I believe that Fish’s “Oklahoma!” is the model

for a more thoughtful and progressive theater industry. As a director, actor, and playwright, it encourages me to honor tradition while still interrogating uncomfortable conventions and reframing them to be more relevant to contemporary society. This production never strays away from difficult questions, therefore furthering the conversation instead of maintaining the status quo. Where are you heading after graduation? Post-graduation I am pursuing my dream of being a Chicago-based artist. I am an exclusively signed stage and screen actor with BMG Talent Group, a copywriter for an online toolkit in partnership with The Talk documentary, and a tour coordinator for Redfin Real Estate. In my spare time, I keep the writing skills I honed in creating my thesis sharp by playwriting and tutoring high schoolers in essay writing. When the pandemic ends, I am looking forward to assistant directing American Idiot at the American Blues Theater, taking dance classes in person, and creating immersive art.

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Zoe Miller– Hungry Thirsty Roots: Imagining and Constructing Ethnic Otherness in 1800s England Zoe Miller (’20) is a writer for multiple forms from New York. She graduated from the School of Communication with majors in cultural anthropology and radio/television/film. Her focus in cultural anthropology was primarily writing, art, and religion in Europe and the United States. She achieved departmental honors in anthropology and is a member of Lambda Pi Eta. Miller’s anthropology research won the Oswald Werner Prize for Distinguished Honors Thesis in Anthropology and the People’s Choice at the 2020 Undergraduate Research and Art Expo. During her time at Northwestern, she was a city reporter and opinion contributor at the Daily Northwestern. Recently, her short play “The Hamster” was produced at the Naked Angels Young Writers Festival. In a nutshell, what is your research topic? My research is a historical ethnography of depictions of the ethnic and cultural other in 19th century England. Some of the materials I used are presented as fictional by their authors, like Dracula and Goblin Market, while others are presented as nonfiction, like newspaper articles and the political cartoons of George Cruikshank. From these materials I draw two primary conclusions. The first is

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that perceived racial difference is not based fully on physical differences and instead is heavily influenced by cultural factors. The second is that “foreignness” or racial difference is thought of as having a supernatural quality that presents a social, sexual, and political threat. Not being “of the nation” is construed as being inhuman, magical, and sinister. How did you come to your research topic? I’ve always loved fantasy and horror literature and I’ve had an awareness for a long time that some of my favorite classic pieces in these genres contained racial and/or cultural coding of their supernatural threats. This inspired me to look more closely into these kinds of depictions. I was advised to narrow the scope of my research to England specifically so that I’d be fluent in the language of the material with which I was working. I chose the time period just by seeing when the pieces of most interest to me were published. What are possible future directions for your work? How might researchers build on your research? I think the cultural processes of nation building and determining insider-hood

verses outsider-hood are always continuing around us as history progresses. As long as nations, culture, and race exist there will be new things to discover about this subject. My research also really only covers a little, scant piece of culture and is my own interpretation of what that culture really means. There’s almost endless more ground that could be covered and other interpretations that could be formed. Where are you heading after graduation? I’ve been writing for theater. Since graduating, I have had readings and performances of my work in New York and London. The actors, directors and producers I’ve worked with have been so welcoming and encouraging; being involved in theater really was a beacon of light for me during the worst of the pandemic.

My favorite piece of mine that’s been performed since my graduation is a short play called The Hamster; it was first read at the Naked Angels Young Writer’s Festival last summer. It’s about a man who has been transformed into a hamster by a witch. As the play goes on, we learn that she transformed him as a punishment for a sexual assault that he commited. I feel that being turned into a hamster would be a terrible fate because I think pet hamsters must live extremely lonely lives. I am currently working on a couple new pieces of long form writing for various mediums. Hopefully now that things are reopening I’ll be able to move at least one of them forward towards publication or production.

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Meghan Considine– Knowledge and Wonder’s Place, Policy, and Publics: Kerry James Marshall and the Henry E. Legler Library’s Percent-for-Art Commisssion Meghan Clare Considine (’20) studies the relationships between art, politics, and power in American cities from 1945 to the present. She graduated with honors in performance studies and art history. Considine was a 2019–2020 Franke Undergraduate Fellow at the Kaplan Institute and has worked on curatorial and engagement projects at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. This year, she is the O’Brien Curatorial Fellow at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities’ Weisman Art Museum. In fall 2021 she will enter the Williams College and Clark Art Institute Graduate Program in the History of Art. In a nutshell, what is your research topic? I offer a theoretically inflected historiography of a critical, but overlooked, site-specific work by Kerry James Marshall. I argue that his mural illustrates not only the limits of the manner in which Marshall’s

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practice is typically characterized, but also the ways in which the instrumentalization of an object — and its attending social, political, and aesthetic forces — by and within networks of capital can change the ontological status of an object itself. How did you come to your research topic? The controversial proposed sale of the mural in question received nationwide coverage in Fall 2018. It coincided with my taking a very influential course, “Chicago 1968,” with Rebecca Zorach, who would become one of my two advisors. In that course I focused on the city’s rich community mural movement of the 1960s and 70s, and its subsequent institutionalization by museums. I was curious about this event as an inheritor of that legacy. I also spent two quarters as a curatorial intern at the MCA Chicago where I had the opportunity to learn more about the 2016 exhibition “Kerry James Marshall: Mastry,”

which also happened to be the first museum show I saw as a Northwestern undergraduate.

researched collections housed in libraries and public spaces around American cities.

What are possible future directions for your work? How might researchers build on your research?

Where are you heading after graduation?

I am always encouraging people invested in images and the ways they reveal and index power relations to look beyond museums, galleries, and archives. Future researchers might then, as I mention in the paper, consider conducting a study of the vast and under-

I am currently working in Minneapolis as the 2020-2021 O’Brien curatorial fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum. I have also accepted a fellowship to pursue a master’s degree in the Williams College/Clark Art Institute Graduate Program in the History of Art beginning in autumn 2021.

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Jade Davis– Networking for Gender Justice Jade Davis (’20) graduated with a double major in sociology and art theory and practice. Her first encounter with research was through the Posner Research Fellowship in 2017, where she worked with her future advisor, professor Anthony Chen, on his research of the origins of race-conscious affirmative action programs in selective universities. She has since received a Summer Undergraduate Research Grant and a Weinberg Research Grant for her research on Pilsen’s muralist community. She was also a Research Fellow Mentor for the Posner Fellowship and the Summer Undergraduate Research Grant. Her research experiences have culminated with her sociology honors thesis on women’s arts organizations in Chicago in the 1970s through the 1990s. Davis is currently attending Adler University in Chicago for a dual-degree Master of Arts program in counseling and art therapy. In a nutshell, what is your research topic? My research focuses on Chicago’s female artists in the 1970s through the 1990s, a time in which the city’s primarily male art scene became more amenable to women. This paved the way for later struggles for equitable representation, pay, and other

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issues affecting women in many careers today, which are often a greater research focus than the initial “breakthrough” point. Specifically, I researched how women’s art organizations contributed to this breakthrough for women into the art scene. I found that these organizations were significant to Chicago’s women artists during this time period in that they provided a space to make connections with other women artists as well as opportunities to network with Chicago’s art community. How did you come to your research topic? As someone who is passionate about both sociology and the arts, I’m interested in the intersection of art and social change. My previous research focused on the history of muralists in the neighborhood of Pilsen, but I quickly realized that the mural movement had a distinct lack of female artists, and the women who were in the movement faced discrimination throughout their careers. After this realization, I began learning more about Chicago’s women’s art history, and I was intrigued by the art spaces that female artists created in response to the art community.

These organizations became my new focus for this research. What are possible future directions for your work? How might researchers build on your research? Women’s arts organizations have provided spaces for female artists for decades across the United States and would all benefit from indepth research on their histories and impact. Within Chicago’s women’s art history, future research could be done on those who were not involved in women’s art organizations to compare their experiences, difficulties, and

successes. In addition, my interviews with the artists alluded to important aspects of their careers which could all use future research, such as the rifts between women who had families and lived in the suburbs and women who lived alone in the city, or the reality that most of the organizations were nearly completely made of white women, many of whom were middle-class or wealthy. Where are you heading after graduation? As of August, I am studying at Adler University in Chicago in their dual-degree Master’s program in Counseling and Art Therapy.

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Meilynn Shi– A Reckoning with Medicine’s Past Meilynn Shi (’20) recently graduated with a major in American studies and a minor in political science. She was part of the Honors Program in Medical Education (HPME) and is currently a first-year medical student at the Feinberg School of Medicine. In a nutshell, what is your research topic? My thesis studied the 1975 physician’s strike at Cook County Hospital as a case study of some of the political, ethical, and historical structures that have shaped medicine into what it is today. How did you come to your research topic? I came across the strike while going through the Quentin Young Papers at the Northwestern University Archives.

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What are possible future directions for your work? How might researchers build on your research? As a medical student, I have been thinking deeply about how I hope to contribute to the profession. I can’t help but feel that there is no other time like now for us to look back at medicine’s past and reflect upon its histories — both the triumphant and the painful — before we can truly move forward. The 1975 strike is but one of those histories. Where are you heading after graduation? I’m currently a first-year medical student at Feinberg.

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NURJ Print Vol. 16 (2020-21)

Articles inside

Feature

Psychology

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African American Studies

Sociology

Social Policy

Feature

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Letters and Dedication