George Mason Review - 2018-2019

EXEMPLARY UNDERGRADUATE WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM VOLUME 28

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2018 – 2019

E X E MP LA RY UNDERGRADUATE WRI TI NG AC ROSS T H E CURRI CULUM VO LUME 28 | 201 8 – 201 9

M I S S I O N S TAT E M E N T The mission of The George Mason Review is to capture Mason’s spirit, where “innovation is tradition,” through the publication of diverse works from across the curriculum. The George Mason Review, a publication for undergraduates and by undergraduates, seeks scholarship that demonstrates creativity and critical thought.

In its print and virtual forms, this cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary journal features exemplary academic work by Mason’s undergraduates and welcomes submissions that challenge the boundaries of how scholarship has traditionally been defined.

H OW T O S U B M I T YO U R WO R K The George Mason Review accepts submissions year-round. We accept research writing, literary critiques or analyses, creative nonfiction, and all other forms of scholarship. Please submit your work electronically at www.gmreview.gmu.edu.

PEER REVIEW PROCESS Submissions undergo a two-tiered, double-blind peer review process. Initially, each paper is evaluated by two to three Peer Reviewers from different majors.

Once all papers have been read, our Peer Reviewers vote on which papers should proceed to the second round of review. Papers included in the second round of review are assessed by the GMR editorial board, which consists of our Editor-inChief and Assistant Editor. The editorial board proceeds to vote on the selected papers. Through the entire process, the authors’ identities remain anonymous to the reviewers, and the reviewers’ identities remain anonymous to the authors, constituting a double-blind review.

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Photo by: Allie Thompson (Fourth Estate Photo Editor)

GEOR GE M ASON REVI EW STAFF / 2018–2019

Left to right: Lisa Ferioli, Stephen Soliday, Ashley Romulus Bacot, Michael Blackburn, Nandini Tivakaran, Matthew Lamarche, Carolyn Mason, and Matthew Hoang

This volume would not have been possible without the extraordinary efforts of the following people:

E X EC U T I V E B OA R D Ashley Romulus Bacot

Editor-In-Chief

Nandini Tivakaran

Assistant Editor

Mary Jane DeCarlo

Cover Designer

FA C U LT Y A D V I S O R Jason Hartsel

PEER REVIEWERS Ahmad Alach Michael Blackburn Lisa Ferioli

Izz LaMagdeleine* Carolyn Mason Ashley Platenburg

Matthew Hoang

Stephen Soliday

Saahil Iyer

Richard Willing*

Matthew Lamarche

Yun Zhao

* Peer Reviewers who assisted in copy-editing

TA B L E O F CONTENTS NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Ashley Romulus Bacot INVESTING IN OUR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS Dr. Amarda Shehu — Guest Essay

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AN ANALYSIS ON THE EFFECT OF POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT AND BRONZE METALLURGY ON EMERGENT GENDER HIERARCHIES IN BURIALS AND GRAVE GOODS FROM LATE NEOLITHIC AND EARLY DYNASTIC CHINESE SOCIETIES Elise Holliday — Best Submission — 1st Place Winner

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SAMOAN GOVERNMENTAL POLICIES REGARDING THE IMPACT OF WATER POLLUTION ON THE INCREASED RATES OF NCDS AND PREPAREDNESS FOR EXTREME CLIMATE CONDITIONS Vibha Bangarbale — Best Submission — 2nd Place Winner

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ALUMINUM BATTERY POWERED UNMANNED UNDERWATER VEHICLES Delena Angela Bell — Best Submission — 3rd Place Winner

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ALTOGETHER HUMAN: AFRICAN-AMERICAN AGENCY AND BRAVERY DURING THE CIVIL WAR Channing Freeman

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REGULATING SEX SELECTION: THE SOCIAL COSTS AND EFFECTS ON SOCIETY Valerie Cruz-Ortiz

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ARTIFICIAL WOMBS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS Aparna Nanduru

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CLEAN KILLING: OYSTER RESTORATION AND WATER POLLUTION Nadirah Muhammad

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IMPACTS OF HEGEMONY ON THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM AND POTENTIAL ECONOMIC THREATS TO AMERICAN DOMINANCE FROM CHINA Sierra Wilbur

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THE INTERDISCIPLINARY EFFECT Olivia Link

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TO ESTABLISH OR NOT TO ESTABLISH: ENGLISH IN THE UNITED STATES Alyssa Bauer-Coan

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SOURCES FACULTY GUIDE: GMR IN THE CLASSROOM

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PREFACE

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

“Innovation is key to the future, but basic research is key to future innovation.”

Jerome Isaac Friedman

Since 2016 George Mason University has maintained the prestigious R1 rating by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Learning, making Mason one of the best research universities in the United States. Mason also touts the title of the largest public research university in Virginia. Two of Mason’s faculty members have won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. From grants, to programs like OSCAR, to expanding research infrastructure with state-of-the-art laboratories, to publishing scholarly research journals like The George Mason Review (GMR), Mason continues to invest heavily in research. While taking Art 360, 19th Century European Art, Dr. Lisa Bauman reminded my class: “Remember you are attending a level one research university. Our students are among the best this country has to offer. Be proud that you go to George Mason.” As a graduating senior, I am leaving Mason confident in the skills I earned and honed during my time here. These valuable skills, including the vital importance of research, will serve me in my professional life to come. I will always be grateful to my professors and advisors who have believed and invested in me. Without their efforts, I might not be where I am today.

When I saw there was an opening for the editor-in-chief position for The George Mason Review, I immediately knew this was a role I would love to take. As Mason’s exclusive peer-reviewed and scholarly undergraduate journal since 1990, the GMR publishes exemplary cross-disciplinary works that pushes boundaries to create new understandings among multiple disciplines and highlights Mason’s dedication to research. To be published, especially as an undergraduate student, is a wonderful opportunity that will open doors beyond a bachelor’s degree.

There have been many people involved to make this edition of the GMR a success.

Under an unusually tight timeframe this year, the GMR faced additional challenges.

Our faculty advisor, Jason Hartsel, has been an integral part in making this edition happen. Jason, thank you for your faith in me. His encouragement, guidance, and support have given me the confidence to succeed as editor-in-chief. I apologize for my bombardment of emails you regularly received from me. Working with you and learning from you has been an honor. I will take these skills forward in my life beyond George Mason.

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I would like to thank Provost Dr. Wu, Executive Assistant Natalie Davis, and Vice President for Research Deborah Crawford for recommending Dr. Amarda Shehu to write the guest essay. Thank you to Dr. Shehu for taking the time to write the guest essay. Dr. Shehu’s wonderful essay on “Investing in Our Undergraduate Students” highlights her passion for teaching and fostering the current and future generations interest in research.

To my assistant editor, Nandini, thank you for your tireless efforts. From sending emails, to gathering peer reviewers, to encouraging submissions, to organizing meetings, you have made this daunting process more manageable. You have been my right arm throughout this whole process, and without you this edition could not have been completed. Thank you to Mary Jane, for creating an awesome cover for this year’s edition. For someone with only a basic understanding of graphic design, I admire your creativity and vision. Thank you to our peer reviewers who heeded the call and under a tight deadline volunteered to evaluate the submissions we received. Your thoughtful, insightful, and analytical comments were essential in choosing the best papers for publication. Thank you to Izz, who valiantly volunteered due to pizza bribery, and Mr. Richard Willing, who lended his skills as a previous journalist, in our copywriting process. Your comments and diligent work made these fantastic papers the best version they could be. Finally, thank you to the student authors. Your hard work, dedication, and passion were distinctly evident.

Your papers were a joy to read. The work speaks for itself and underscores the level and quality of research the students at George Mason embody.

As Nobel Prize-winning physicist Jerome Isaac Friedman says, basic research is the key to innovation. Innovation keeps us moving forward. I am proud to be a soon-tobe graduate of George Mason. My time as editor-and-chief, while brief, has taught me valuable skills that I am grateful to have learned. From professors, to the staff, to the student authors, to the peer reviewers, I am impressed by what we have accomplished as a team. I will miss my time at Mason and remember it fondly. I look forward to seeing George Mason continue to invest in their students and research.

Sincerely, Ashley Romulus Bacot Editor-in-Chief

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G U E S T E S S AY

Photo courtesy of: Creative Services

INVESTING IN OUR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS DR. AMARDA SHEHU Professor, PhD in Computer Science

“The questions persist: what are we doing with our lives —what are the motives that order our days?

Where is my treasure?”

Howard Thurman These powerful words uttered by Reverend Howard Thurman, a prominent Civil Rights leader and mentor to Martin Luther King Jr., have stayed with me since I first heard them in a wonderful documentary dedicated to Thurman’s life and contributions. These days I find myself having become more introspective on how it is that I find myself here at Mason, as a Professor in the Department of Computer Science, in a country separated by a large and deep ocean from the one where I grew up. Typically, the daily grind of teaching, advising students,

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coding, writing research articles and grant proposals with pressing deadlines, attending committee meetings, and doing a hundred other things does not allow much time for introspection. But next week I am going back to where it all started. I am giving an invited talk in the Department of Computer Science at Clarkson University. Clarkson, a wonderful engineering university in upstate New York, is where I completed my undergraduate studies in Computer Science and Mathematics. So, I am well aware of the implications of my visit and anxious, as well. The emotions of this visit are now hitting me. I am already imagining myself in front of my dear teachers, now twenty years older and counting. How am I to address them? To me, they are still my Professors, and I suddenly find myself back to being a student. How am I to give a scientific talk in front of people that knew me as a student? They will want to hear about my journey, but I have to make sure that they know they are the reason behind it.

To some extent I had always planned on being some kind of a scientist. I loved many disciplines, from Mathematics to Chemistry and Biology. But Computer Science was the one discipline I had never studied in high school. It was simply not available where I grew up. So, how did I end up in it? I listened to my undergraduate advisor, who told me in very clear terms that if I was very good at Math, I should put it to good use, and Computer Science was, in his opinion, the best way to do so. I followed his advice.

I did notice suddenly being among the only two or three girls in classes full of boys.

But it never bothered me, perhaps because my teachers acknowledged me, called me by name, treated me with respect, and nurtured my academic interests beyond class time. Professor Felland, the teacher with whom I took almost all my Math courses, made me part of a group of students that he mentored in preparation for the Putnam exam. We would meet at least twice a week and work through problems. We would even hang out together in the cafeteria. Professor Felland even treated us to Indian food in one of these outings. This was very memorable for me. It was my first exposure to Indian food, and I loved it. I felt that I was part of a community. I belonged.

In fact, I became part of many communities. Professor Tamon, who insisted that we call him Tino, mentored about three of us in graph theory as part of the undergraduate research thesis program. We would meet in front of the small cafe in Science Hall. Because of Tino, I also ended up being part of a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. I spent the entire summer of VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 13

2001 doing research in algebraic graph theory. I met students from all over the United States that shared my passion and dedication.

Through these undergraduate experiences and many others, I saw my professors as close mentors. I saw myself as a researcher of problems to which my professors did not have the answers. I got my first paper as a co-author at a symposium of undergraduate research, SURE. More importantly, I decided I could do this and made the decision to go to graduate school, obtain a Ph.D. in Computer Science, and become a mentor of students myself. This was no trivial decision, when I consider that in my first undergraduate Intro to Computer Science class, I did not know where to find the button to turn on the computer—still a mortifying memory.

In graduate school at Rice University, I was lucky to connect with a Ph.D. advisor that emphasized undergraduate research. There were always many undergraduate students working in projects along us. I was given the opportunity to mentor women undergraduate students visiting our lab during the summers as part of the Distributed Research Experiences Program (DREU) run by The Computing Research Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W). It was through these experiences that I discovered I loved teaching and indeed found it every bit as challenging and fulfilling as research.

These experiences were particularly formative. It was a no-brainer for me to invest in undergraduate students when I joined Mason as an Assistant Professor in 2008. I use the word “investing” purposely because a lot of my time is spent designing activities that inspire excitement and passion for scientific discovery in addition to everyday research in the lab. I am very cognizant that all these activities, in and out of the classroom, are mechanisms or tools with which we invest in our students.

I am unabashed at praising students when I observe an untapped area of strength.

Case in point: After a project presentation in my CS485 - Autonomous Robotics course, after giving my on-the-spot feedback to the group that had just wrapped up their presentation, I turned to their leader, Carlos, and said to him: “Carlos, I am surprised. You never speak out in class, but it turns out you are very good at this. You should go to grad school. Swing by my office so I can advise you how to do that.” He came. He even joined my lab the following semester, and with some steering and a strong recommendation letter to the effect of “You need Carlos,” he 14 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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is heading to Johns Hopkins this summer to participate in an REU program. He is well on his way to putting together a strong CV for a Ph.D. program committee.

Carlos is just a very recent example. Over the years at Mason, I have personally mentored thirty-one undergraduate students. They are not just numbers and hands in the lab. I have met many hours with each one of them. I remember every face, every failure, and every accomplishment.

I remember Beenish in my CS499 - Introduction to Bioinformatics class. I encouraged her to engage in a research project with me over the summer.

Beenish was so shy that her cheeks would often blush when she would speak up.

Recognizing that, I would use every opportunity to build Beenish’s confidence, even going to the extent of telling her very often that she was very capable and indeed a natural leader. I immersed her in a team environment, pairing her up with Rachael, who was at that time doing a summer research mentorship with me, sponsored by the CRA-W DREU program. The girls completed their project, and Rachael presented it at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Technology.

At the end of Summer 2009, Rachael headed back to her undergraduate institution, and Beenish continued the project. We submitted Beenish’s work for consideration in the 2010 nationwide CRA Undergraduate Research Awards Competition. She received an Honorable Mention for her entry, which was also featured in The George. More importantly, both girls continued onto graduate programs; Beenish went to Johns Hopkins for an M.S. in Computer Science, and Rachael obtained an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to pursue a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics.

I have continued this practice faithfully, recruiting undergraduate students from both Mason and other institutions in my laboratory. While Mason students were often supported by REU supplements I would obtain, in addition to my main grants from the National Science Foundation for summer research, undergraduates from other institutions would be supported by the CRA-W DREU program.

I built another team the following year with Jennifer and Bryn. The girls were infectious with their enthusiasm and “joie de vivre.” They added to my reasons to come to the lab every day that summer. Borrowing from my own experiences as an undergraduate, I formed a working group with the girls and my other graduate student at the time, Irina. I fondly remember spending time with them at the newly-opened Thai place at University Mall and getting to know them beyond the research setting. Both Jennifer and Bryn accomplished so much. Bryn presented their project at the Grace Hopper Conference. Bryn then went to join an VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 15

Through Mason’s OSCAR program, I have been privileged to invest in the lives of many undergraduate students, like Bradley, who wanted to rid mankind of aging, Heather, who loved data mining and was always so well-prepared for our meetings, Mazyar, who loved practical tasks like putting together web servers, Songyue, a China 1-2-1 student who struggled with English but never gave up, Herath, who loved molecular simulations, Justin, who was not afraid to stretch outside of his neuroscience background into computing, Ruxi who did everything with a smile, and Sameh, who was very clear he wanted to be an actual M.D., but was so good at this research thing that he ended up obtaining a Finalist Male award in the nationwide CRA Undergraduate Research Awards Competition. Some of these students, Songuye, Mazyar, and Jennifer are shown in this 2014 photo (in order of left to right) that was struck for a highlight accompanying my recognition with an Research/Scholar/Creator Award.

This was two days before I gave birth to my second daughter. These special moments remind me why I love working with undergraduate students.

It is worth noting that many of these students have been published as authors in peerreviewed workshops, conferences, and research journals. These accomplishments have been no coincidence. I emphasize to every undergraduate student that joins my lab that my goal and their goal should be to get published. This often lights up their eyes and gives them a strong motivation to persist through many failures, as is undoubtedly the process of discovery. No matter the outcome, the process itself is greatly beneficial. Not only does it deepen student expertise, but it exposes them to many other experiences that place them on a strong footing for furthering their careers in industry or academia, such as working in a team, articulating their ideas in written form and oral presentations, being in a growing mindset, and finding their passion for life-long learning.

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Photo courtesy of: Creative Services

M.S. program in Quantitative Chemistry at Cambridge, and Jennifer continued in the lab over the next two years, twice supported by the wonderful Mason OSCAR program and by a Jeffress Memorial Trust Award. Her hard work paid off, and she became second author in a conference and a journal publication.

Which brings me back to the quote that I borrowed from Rev. Thurman: “What are the motives that order my days? Where is my treasure?” Lately I find myself asking this question more and more. There is nothing that focuses the mind onto what is important more than the passing of time. I find that it is not awards or numbers that endure, but faces instead. That is what I remember: the students’ faces. They bring me joy and purpose. I have come to realize that I am in the “people business.”

I would not have uttered this phrase ten years ago, when I was so set on making an impact in my research domain. Yet, I find that the real and longer-lasting impact is the one that we make on the next generations. That is why I mentor high-school students and undergraduate students. The “How can I help you?” that I ask of every advisee that comes into my office is not just a polite conversation starter these days. I have an agenda. I am looking to make an investment.

I am very lucky to be part of an institution that shares this agenda and values undergraduate research and scholarship so much that it has institutionalized it. I know of very few places that showcase undergraduate research like Mason does through its OSCAR program and through publications like The George Mason Review. I have been privileged to have served in the committee that reviews undergraduate student applications and to have seen increases both in the number of applications and their quality. What a wonderful statement this program makes about Mason’s investment in its undergraduate students. Through this program, countless engineering students have obtained hands-on research and engineering experiences. Even students from other disciplines have had the opportunity to pursue computing and engineering into their disciplines. I fully expect these experiences to become the norm.

With computing or digital literacy rising so prominently as a skill that every student ought to be given the opportunity to build, no matter the discipline, I fully expect Mason to support more undergraduate programs to bring STEM into other disciplines, such as education, biology, and the humanities. Mason is already doing a lot in this space. Whether through Hackathons or Youth Symposia, Mason is bringing the focus on STEM and STEM skills to high-school students who then become our undergraduate students. Great initiatives are arising at Mason on injecting STEM into every discipline to enhance undergraduate student experiences and better position them for joining the next workforce. This is a great time to be at Mason­—a time of growth and opportunity. I cannot wait to see what the future holds and to play a role into bringing it closer.

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SUBMISSIONS

FIRST PLACE SUBMISSION

AN ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT AND BRONZE METALLURGY ON EMERGENT GENDER HIERARCHIES IN BURIALS AND GRAVE GOODS FROM LATE NEOLITHIC AND EARLY DYNASTIC CHINESE SOCIETIES ELISE HOLLIDAY Majors: Anthropology and History Concentration: Bioarchaeology, Public History Minor: Classical Studies Class of Spring 2021

ABOUT THE WORK The foundation of this work was to use variations in grave goods and burial styles from different cultures in late Neolithic China, in order to track the evolution of social hierarchies as the earliest Chinese dynasties began to emerge. We also take into account the emerging bronze technologies, in correlation with the creation of new social and economic positions having to do with the creation of bronze, and the resulting role of the metal in grave goods. This paper includes evidence from primary sites of villages and cemeteries around north and south eastern China as well as from various burials from the Shang dynasty. This paper applies Marxist theory to Chinese archaeology.

However, because of the nature of primary excavations, in my analysis, I found the Marxist framework to be less effective.

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“It is not the acknowledgement of the existence of women, men, and children that has changed but rather the understanding of their presence, the assumption used to assign roles and importance to gender, and the conceptualizations of women and gender.” —Marie Sorenson, 2000 Gender stratification and the resulting societal gender roles have long presumed to have been complex and strictly enforced throughout the history of many Asiatic cultures, and more famously throughout Chinese history. In this paper, I will look at more recent research regarding the study of gender in burials and the distribution of grave goods in these burials from a feminist perspective, and seek to argue that gender was once a more egalitarian aspect of historic Chinese cultures. Gender began to develop a more strict, hierarchical structure as time progressed and cultures evolved, becoming more complex in all areas of social and gender stratification. The research gathered in this paper lends data from a series of villages in northwestern and eastern China from the late Neolithic, and from the late Shang Dynasty, in an attempt to focus on the idea that gender hierarchy and its reflection in burials and mortuary practices, while very much present, was a much more understated and subtle phenomenon in the later Neolithic cultures. It began to evolve into a stricter practice (one which we may further observe in later and more modern Chinese cultures) as the sociopolitical organization of these expanding societies began to emerge as a more centralized and stratified environment.

Marxist theoretical framework has largely surrounded gender studies in Chinese archaeology since the 1970’s. Marxist archaeology may roughly be characterized as, “[focused] on revealing the history of class, putting the issue front and center” (Praetzellis 2015), with many Marxist thinkers and archaeologists, “utterly rejecting the idea that any interpretation of history or archaeology can ever be value free.”

(Praetzellis 2015). While the use of Marxist framework in gender studies in Chinese archaeology has proven useful in placing the sole focus of study simply on revealing and analyzing the evolving roles and places of women within Chinese cultures, there have been issues in that this fundamentally ignores cultural variants which may influence the path of the evolution of gender hierarchies, such as it has in Chinese archaeology (Peterson 2006). As seen in many case studies (including the three presented here), Marxist theory models associate early Neolithic cultures as being matrilineal or egalitarian settlements, and late Neolithic cultures with the emergence and solidification of the patriarchy and strict gender roles seen in much of later Chinese society (Pearson and Underhill 1987). This association very strongly led to the idea that men somehow took over a previously femaledominated role in the local economies, and led to the presumed association of VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 21

grave goods and gender (i.e. spindle whorls with females, and hunting tools or weapons with males) (Pearson and Underhill 1987). However, as we see much in the following cases, these associations are essentially debunked, making the Marxist framework implemented in Chinese gender studies somewhat less useful.

Perhaps father insight into the roles of women may be provided with the use of differential lenses and framework.

The first case employed in this argument is “Gender Studies in Chinese Neolithic Archaeology�, composed by author Tian Long Jiao. The article centers upon the analysis of grave good distribution and skeletal factors in burials from four central Neolithic Chinese societies: the Lao Guan Tai (5800-5200 BCE), the Bei Xin (5400-4500 BCE), the Yang Shao (5000-3000 BCE), and the Da Wen Kou (4300-2400 BCE). Multiple burials were overall the most common burial practice throughout all four cultures. They existed continuously alongside single burial practices and variations of both forms. The Yuan Jun Miao cemetery, center to the Yang Shao culture has been subject to extensive analysis, yielding important clues as to the lineage of the Yang Shao culture, which has been debated to have followed matrilineal, partilineal, or even perhaps a bilineal familial succession.

One scholar, Zhang Zhong Pei, argues for a martilineal society, based on some analysis of grave good distribution and quality. However, this argument is refuted

by Wang, another scholar, who claims that similar burial statuses are seen in known matrilineal, patrilineal, and bilineal cultures (Jiao, 1999). However, the analysis of Tomb 429 at Yuan Jun Miao may influence the legitimacy of Zhang Zhong Pei’s theory. The tomb is that of two female children, who were found with a substantive amount of luxury grave goods, which significantly outweighed the grave goods found in other nearby burials (BU 1983). However, there remain the issues of firmly sexing an immature skeleton (a conflict which remains prominent in many biological anthropology studies), as well as the lack of the knowledge of who really possessed these grave goods, which may have been a form of communal property (Gao and Lee 1993). The analysis of other cemeteries of the Yang Shao have led to the overarching conclusion that the culture was, in fact, egalitarian and bilineal.

Many other burials show little to no evidence that would have translated to sexual division of labor in life, based on a 1989 grave good analysis by Yan. Spindle whorls and agricultural cultivation tools have been found in burials of both sexes, meaning that men and women may have potentially been equal partners in life.

However, this egalitarian pattern perhaps comes to an end during the Da Wen Kou culture, seen in the skeletal positions and grave good distribution in the few mixed-sex multiple burials to have been excavated thus far. While the tradition was isolated and short lived, it does provide an indication into the transitional 22 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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period from the bilineal and matrilineal societies previously in place, to the strict patriarchal practices seen in dynastic and contemporary Chinese culture. In the few mixed-sex burials from which we may gather evidence, males and females are laid facing each other, with the male lying on his left side, and the female placed on her right. However, grave goods found with these skeletons are consistently placed on the male’s side of the grave, which may indicate the transition from female equality or power to their later subordination (Jiao, 1999).

The second case studied is a paper composed by authors Yan Sun and Hongyu Yan, examining late Neolithic mortuary practices in various villages from both the Ma Jia Yao and Qi Jia cultures in northwestern China (cultures dating to 33002000 B.C., and 2200-1700 B.C. respectively). The paper is prefaced with the acknowledgement that there is a stereotype as to what items and grave goods might be predicted to be in place in individual burials, based on the gender of the individual themselves. Gender differentiation and inequality had begun to emerge within the Ma Jiao Yao and Qi Jia cultures by the middle period of each civilization, yet was not nearly as defined in mortuary ritual as we see in later societies. It is assumed that the development of metallurgy within each culture prompted the shift in gender hierarchy. This development caused a domino effect from the late Ma Jia Yao culture into the early and middle Qi Jia culture. During the later period, these societies were seen to have shifted from matrilineal succession patterns to patrilineal lines. Based on many western notions of and gender ideals, weaponry and agricultural tools are thought to be associated with men, while women are expected to be found with goods related more to household and domestic chores and work, specifically spindle whorls, items used in the weaving and production of fabrics and textiles. The expected association of these specific tools with gender in burials enforces and strengthens the assumed gender division of these societies, as well as the presumed value and importance of labor contributed to these cultures depending on the gender of the individual doing the work. Another important aspect of the depiction of gender in burials came from the examination of skeletal position and location in the instance of communal burials. Should these societies have had rigorous, or even existent, enforced gender roles, burials including both male and female skeletons would be assumed to show the male in a more physically dominating position. The inferences from the positions of the skeletons, and the provisions of grave goods provide some notion as to the differential status of men and women in these cultures, which while indicated to certain extent in mortuary practices, may not have been as reflective in life.

The majority of information collected and analyzed by Yan and Hongyu comes from a series of 1000 cumulative graves (both single and multiple burials) from VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 23

a variety of approximately a dozen burials from both cultures. Burial goods were found as either stone and bone tools, painted ceramic ware, or various ornaments, and commonly a varying combination of all three. A total of 197 single burials were identified as adult males, while 167 were identified to be adult females— the rest of the burials were multiple burials of men, women, and children, usually encompassing between two and seven individuals in a single burial. Hongyu and Yan’s excavation intended to examine three main topics within these burials: the relationship between tools as grave goods and the sex of the individual they were buried with, the treatment of males and females in double burials, and the various images depicted on the painted ceramic ware. Three ritual patterns emerged from the analysis of single burials, which vary between cultures. The first pattern suggests no correlation between the sex of an individual in a burial and the types of tools found in the grave, with evidence from Di Ba Ping and Tu Gu Gai cemeteries. At Di Ba Ping, a single female burial and a separate male burial both included grave goods of any form, and were found to include a stone axe. There were similar findings on a slightly magnified scale at Tu Gu Gai. At a separate village cemetery at Yuan Yang Chi, grave goods were more common, but male and females were found associated with the same types of tools (i.e. bone needles, chisels, and spoons).

The assumed presence of spindle whorls in female burials was realistically vastly underwhelming, with only a single spindle whorl being found in any burial.

An opposing pattern, however, also emerged from the mortuary analysis of some single burials from five other cemeteries, in which there was a distinct variance in the definition of gender stratification, evident through tool distribution. Males were seen to be strictly associated with a variety of stone weaponry, including chisels, axes, knives, and arrow heads, while spindle whorls were, as presumed, signature to female burials. This further solidifies the notion that mortuary rituals were potential reflections of lifetime gender roles, in which men were associated with hunting and gathering, and women more with household tasks and spinning.

A unique third pattern emerges from the final analysis of the cemetery at Zhang Jia Tai, in which most individual male burials were found with tools, while individual female burials had no signature tools other than the occasional pottery sherd. To this extent, males are often seen buried with a small assortment of stone and bone tools, a gender disparity which suggests a favor of males, at least in mortuary rites.

Some double burials were also analyzed, and provide even more of an insight into patterns of gender stratification within the Ma Jia Yao cultures. Two mixed-sex double burials at the Yong Shan cemetery are of special interest, one displaying male dominance, and the other opposingly showing female dominance, both indicated through the positions of the skeletons and presence of grave goods. However, a 24 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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number of other double burials from four different Ma Jia Yao cemeteries show equal body positioning, similar types of grave goods, and overall equality in the evidence for mortuary rites for each individual.

The third case which I examine here is an article entitled, “Women’s Lives Memorialize in Burial in Ancient China at Anyang”, composed by Katheryn M. Linduff, as a piece from the book In Pursuit of Gender: Worldwide Archaeological Approaches. This article approaches the excavations of the tombs of two Shang Dynasty queens, Lady Hao and Lady Jing, as well as the burials of women in other contexts, such as those of other high-ranking women and those buried as result of sacrifice of some form. Previous analysis of Shang dynasty society had revealed a hierarchical sociopolitical organization, and has allowed more investigation concerning the sudden and growing gender disparity between males and females in this newly organized and increasingly socially complex culture. Linduff also prefaces her study by briefly explaining the known roles of women within Shang culture, often as queens, wives, military leaders, consorts, artisans, and slaves. She discusses the differential paths through which men and women rose to power— men usually gaining power and wealth through inheritance and women often advancing in status through marriage, sometimes resulting in a higher social rank than men. Here, again, emerge two noteworthy patterns in the burials at Anyang.

The first: almost every burial, including those of commoners or anonymous mass graves, contained male individuals of royalty or nobility. The second: every burial containing a female skeleton was one of purpose, be it the burial of a queen, consort, servant, or mother. The status of an individual may also be indicated by the construction and context of their tomb. Royal women or women of higher status were buried in their own tombs, near that of the king. Common women were buried in independent caskets, and sacrificed women were buried either inside or outside the royal cemetery, usually based on the type of sacrifice. Regardless of the grave construction, women’s burials were almost always related to the further glorification of their male counterpart.

The burials of the two royal women, Lady Hao and Lady Jing, are the center of Linduff ’s study, and allow a great insight into the gender-based social segregation of the Shang dynasty. The tomb of Lady Jing, the first and likely favored wife of King Wu Ding (the first leader of the Shang dynasty), dates to approximately 1250-1200 B.C.E. and has yielded perhaps the largest bronze ritual vessel found at Anyang so far. Lady Jing’s tomb is also located in the same burial precinct as the king’s tomb, and also possesses a ramp leading into the tomb— a symbol signature to the status of a king. The tomb of Lady Hao, on the other hand, is located instead across the river from the king’s burial grounds, and while her tomb does not have VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 25

a ramp similar to those tombs of Wu Ding and Lady Jing, it is the larger of the two women’s tombs, indicating that in life, she possessed some overwhelming power with the king despite not being his first or favored wife. Aside from these few differences, both Ladies’ tombs were equal in number and status of grave goods.

Both collections were comprised of various types of bronzes and jades, pottery and other vessels, as well as stone, bone, shell, ivory, and wooden artifacts. Both Ladies’ tombs also contained an equal number of sacrificial individuals (around 71 individuals in each tomb), in the same position, indicating a likely equal status in ritual purposes. This is further enforced by a number of bone inscriptions describing Kind Wu Ding’s number of nearly 60 consorts and the prestige which adorned Ladies Hao and Jing in their “mu” or “mother” status. Mothers were traditionally ranked on their ability to bear sons, separating and elevating them from the rest of the king’s consorts. However, analysis of Lady Hao’s remains indicated that she never bore children yet retained the prestigious “mu” title. Bone and oracle inscriptions found in Lady Hao’s tomb elaborate on her success as a military leader, and thus indicate her prestigious title and favor with the king. Her burial was also supplemented with an abundance of bronze weaponry and personalized foreign objects, or those of “frontier,” non-Shang origin. Her possible “frontier” origin leads us to the theory that her marriage to King Wu Ding and her “mu” prestige, despite her lack of child-bearing abilities, may have been intended to secure an alliance between the Shang kingdom and the “frontier” tribes to expand Shang control of the area.

The cemetery at Anyang also contains non-royal burials, and has been key in the study of the emerging stratification of the status of women themselves. The excavation and analysis of other non-royal elite women and women as sacrificial victims is key in understanding this emerging separation. One burial of an elite woman, impersonally named “Burial HPKM 1550:49” (Linduff 2002), was found adorned with 130 hairpins, and bearing various jades, a turquoise disc, three bronze potentially ritual vessels, and three shells placed in her right hand. Her body was also discovered with her head directed south, and adorned with red pigments, and is thought to have been the wife of a lower-ranking nobleman, or another favored consort of the king. There have also been instances of women discovered as sacrificial victims, which, while overall uncommon and usually only seen under specific context, make up a portion of the female burials at the cemetery of Anyang.

One prominent, vertical sacrificial pit was discovered at Anyang, containing 73 total sacrificial victims, and is comprised of three “layers”. The middle layer was of special analytical interest, and, upon excavation, revealed 29 sacrificial victims, adorned with various hairpins and jades, suggesting that the women had a form 26 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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of sociopolitical significance, and were killed before being placed in the grave, not following the tradition of burying sacrificial individuals alive. Although female sacrifices were highly uncommon, sacrificing a woman was thought to have brought peace and good luck to a family or village.

The discussion and analysis of various burial customs within these Neolithic societies largely presents to us the notion that, prior to the development and establishment of the more solidly organized sociopolitical groups, such as the Shang dynasty, gender stratification within society (as reflected through mortuary rituals and grave good distribution) was not nearly as prevalent or male-dominated in Neolithic cultures. However, as discussed in a paper by Li Liu and Xing Can Chen, Sociopolitical Change from Neolithic to Bronze Age China, the development and expansion of bronze metallurgy and technology, and thus the slow but defined transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age in China, led to, or perhaps somewhat allowed the development of the political and social complexity evident within the Shang dynasty (Liu and Chen 2005). This complexity would have been further and solidified by the invention and implementation of the earliest form of Chinese writing, and would have allowed the new Shang government to strengthen its rule in the ability to now keep record of activity in the various Shang-controlled areas (outside of the central dynastic region) and various administrative activity, as well as aid in military campaigns, and the constructions of cities, palaces, and tombs (Lai and Brown 2006). The presence of this new political organization ties into the transition from the previous egalitarian or matriarchal Neolithic cultures to the patriarchal practices, which have dominated much of Chinese history. The Shang Dynasty is known to have been a patrilineal monarchy, a practice which would have firmly solidified the gender stratification which we see implemented in the burials of the Shang queens, Lady Hao and Lady Jing, as well as accounting for the variances in tomb placement, elaborate construction, and presence or distribution of luxury and ritual grave goods, and in relation to the burial and tomb analysis of their husband and king, Wu Ding.

While the transition from matriarchal and rather gender-equal societies, which we see in the middle and late Neolithic period, to the intensely maledominant cultures which become defined in the early Bronze Age and remain present through all of Chinese dynastic history seems rather sudden through our analysis of these cemeteries and tombs, it was not as abrupt as demonstrated in the archaeological record. Instead, this strict gender hierarchy likely emerged in correlation with and as a result of the appearance of the socio-politically complex Shang Dynasty society, brought about largely due to the increasing development of bronze technologies and trade.

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SECOND P L AC E S UB M I SS I ON

SAMOAN GOVERNMENTAL POLICIES REGARDING THE IMPACT OF WATER POLLUTION ON THE INCREASED RATE OF NCDS AND PREPAREDNESS FOR EXTREME CLIMATE CONDITIONS VIBHA BANGARBALE Major: Global Affairs Concentration: Global Governance Class of Spring 2019

ABOUT THE WORK This research discusses future environmental and health policy recommendations for the island nation of Samoa, taking into account existing policies in these areas and their effectiveness. These two policy areas’ effectiveness is then analyzed in regards to possible future extreme climate change on the Earth. Following the analysis of these policies, this research makes compares current health, environmental, and climate change policies of Samoa to the more effective policies of countries in a similar economic bracket and concludes that Samoa should adopt similar policies to improve the island’s environment, health, and resistance to future climate change.

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ABSTRACT Two major dangers to public health in Samoa are rampant drinking water pollution and the rising rate of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). It is proven that environmental degradation increases the rate of NCDs found in the measured area. This research paper will analyze the Samoan government’s response to these two issues and the effectiveness of this response. This research will also discuss the clear and present danger of climate change in negating policy progress, specifically concerning clean drinking water. Overall, the Samoan government’s attempts to increase the Samoan population’s access to clean water have been effective throughout the country, significantly so after the Water Resources Management Act of 2008. While the country has adopted climate change prevention policies such as NAPA and the NPCCC, it should also create an action plan like Kiribati’s to combat the effects of extreme climate change. NCDs continue to be an epidemic in Samoa, with no effective policies in place to combat the spread and effects of the diseases. It would be beneficial for Samoa to take note of methods used to combat NCDs in other countries, such as Tanzania’s healthcare education program and RAPIA in Mozambique.

INTRODUCTION There have been two major public health concerns in the Pacific islands since the beginning of the 21st century and the retreat of imperialism: an increased recorded rate of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and the impact of rampant drinking water pollution (Tuitama, Young-soo, Clark, Tukuitonga, & Beaglehole, 2014). NCDs are a category of diseases which are defined by their inability to spread between individuals infectiously (Tuitama et al., 2014). Examples of this category of the disease are heart disease, chemical irritation, cancer, asthma, and any other disease which is not contagious and cannot pass between individuals like infectious diseases (Bollars et al., 2018). The main causes of NCDs are primarily based on human habits and living environment. Although these diseases are extremely prevalent in Pacific island nations, public health focus currently does not treat NCDs with the level of urgency that it treats communicable diseases (Gani, 2009). Many nations in this region also struggle with the pollution of their drinking water supply caused by factors like environmental degradation and industrial waste (“Samoa,” 2007). These two public health concerns are ultimately linked by the fact that NCDs can be caused by a variety of environmental factors, including water pollution (Gani, 2009).

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However, the overarching problem that affects both water pollution and the growing rate of NCDs is the clear and present danger of severe environmental conditions caused by climate changes now and in the future. In particular, water resources will be heavily impacted by the effects of climate change, exacerbating the existing environmental degradation of an area (Dudula & Randhir, 2016).

Climate change can threaten clean drinking water by shifting weather patterns, which change the amount of rainfall received by an area, resulting in either droughts or excessive rainfall, and causing severe storms (Kim, Costello, & CampbellLendrum, 2015). There have also been reports that the quality of treated drinking water will be lower, caused by a greater amount of sediment and runoff in common sources of drinking water which most current established water treatment facilities will not have the capacity to filter (Field & Barros, 2014, p. 232). This means that even if a nation or community currently has access to clean water, it is possible that increased effects of climate change could ultimately threaten all currently potable water sources (Dudula & Randhir, 2016). As mentioned previously, there is a clear correlation between certain types of environmental degradation, in this case, water pollution, and a higher rate of NCDs which will be exacerbated by the increased rates of polluted water caused by extreme climate change (Boylan, Syrett, & Colagiuri, 2013). In particular, island nations will be disproportionately affected by extreme climate change due to a higher propensity for severe storms, coastal flooding caused by being closer to or at sea level, and a heavy reliance on local environments and ecosystems for sustenance (Kim et al., 2015). This research paper will specifically analyze the Pacific island nation of Samoa and discuss the Samoan government’s policies and responses to the impact of water pollution on the increased rate of NCDs among the Samoan population, along with discussing how future extreme climate change will impact these policies and responses.

BACKGROUND Since the early 1990s, the nation of Samoa has been actively seeking ways to both combat prevalent public health issues and preserve their islands’ environment.

Currently, Samoans who have a non-communicable disease are most likely to suffer from one of the three most commonly observed diseases; obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure (Tauaa, 2017). There is evidence to suggest that newly industrialized or decolonized nations are predisposed to encounter higher rates of NCDs within their populations (Low, Lee, & Samy, 2015). Samoa falls under this category, as it gained independence from New Zealand less than 55 years ago. This high rate of recorded NCDs is attributed to a rapid change in the diet, lifestyle, 30 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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and type of food access found in decolonized countries after the rapid retreat of imperialism (Low et al., 2015).

Along with this, oftentimes members of a community who die from noncommunicable diseases are of a lower economic status without access to proper health care to treat these, in some cases, not immediately deadly diseases (Di Cesare et al., 2013). In Samoa, the overall access of the entire nation to reliable medical services is fairly low, and the number of Samoan adults who suffer from these diseases is far greater than the percentage of residents of a more developed country who suffer from NCDs. Over 50% of Samoa’s adult population has a high risk of developing one of these non-communicable diseases, leaving the government hard-pressed to find an effective method of decreasing the affected percentage of the Samoan population (Bollars et al., 2018).

While there is a human-caused aspect of NCDs such as diet, lifestyle habits, or genetics, there is also significant evidence to prove that the environment around an individual can heavily impact their likelihood of having an NCD later in life (Latu, Amosa, Imo, & Taufao, 2012). Environmental factors such as air pollution and water pollution can lead to higher recorded rates of NCDs in a population (Gani, 2009). In the case of Samoa, the high probability of civilians encountering contaminated drinking water is the primary environmental problem which impacts public health (Latu et al., 2012). When tests were done to determine if fresh water sources around the islands were clean enough for human consumption, it was found that these drinking water sources contained traces of total coliform and fecal coliform bacteria, at levels which led the World Health Organization (WHO) to deem the water unsafe for human consumption (Latu et al., 2012).

The data from that study is evidence to support the known fact that the major pollutants of drinking water in Samoa originate from an improper solid waste removal system and soil eroded from agriculture (Warren, 2016). The Samoan government claims that much of the solid waste being dumped into the drinking water comes from leftover construction materials, as most Samoan homes are built near rivers and streams. Construction near flowing water sources also leads construction crews to divert the rivers or streams so that infrastructure can be built in its place, changing the content of the water. This construction, along with unsustainable agricultural practices, also caused the soil to erode into nearby water sources, creating another pollutant which can harm Samoan individuals. Along with causing landslides, runoff from the soil can also damage the natural ecosystem in Samoa, such as the coral reef. The most notable impact of soil erosion was the near-destruction of the Fuluasou Hydropower Dam reservoir after it was buried in soil runoff. Along with these factors of pollution, it should also be noted that VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 31

Samoa does not have a regimented water sanitation program, which ultimately lets water pollutants remain in the drinking water (“Samoa,” 2007).

Conditions of extreme climate change will only aggravate water pollution in Samoa. An extreme excess of heavy rain will increase the amount of runoff soil and construction waste in the drinking water, along with causing flooding and severe storms. This increased rainfall, along with the melting of the polar icecaps, can contribute to a rise in sea level, which can wreak havoc on an island nation like Samoa (Grasso, Moneo, & Arena, 2014). Studies show that by the year 2100, the sea level will rise anywhere from 0.19 meters to 0.58 meters, which, along with increased chances of flooding in areas of land at sea level will cause seawater intrusion into underground water aquifers (Grasso et al., 2014). Seawater intrusion, which often occurs in island or coastal communities due to environmental degradation or rise in sea levels, is defined as an imbalance in the equilibrium of above-ground salt water and underground fresh water deposits, in which salt water is able to penetrate and pollute the fresh water drinking source below the ground (Kura et al., 2014). These underground aquifers are one of Samoa’s main sources of potable drinking water, and a seawater intrusion would severely decrease the amount of drinking water available to the Samoan population (Grasso et al., 2014). On the other end of this spectrum, changes in weather patterns also cause extreme drought, which will also limit the amount of available drinking water contained in Samoa’s aquifers. In fact, in 2006 Samoa had an annual rainfall which was 57% below its average, creating a severe drinking water shortage as Samoa, an island nation without easy means of accessing resources elsewhere, relies primarily on its aquifers for water (Grasso et al., 2014). Changes in weather patterns caused by climate change will cause extreme droughts to occur in the future, depleting Samoa’s aquifers to an even more drastic degree than the 2006 water shortage.

DISCUSSION To combat the high rate of NCDs in the country, the Samoan government has created a few largely ineffective policy responses which, beginning in the early 2000s, began to address solutions to this public health epidemic (Tauaa, 2017).

For example, the Tobacco Act of 2008 was created to regulate the sale of tobacco products in Samoa, as tobacco is a leading human cause of NCDs like lung cancer, along with other respiratory issues. Another effort by the Samoan government to stop NCDs from developing was to revise the 1967 Food and Drug Act after 2007 in a way that limits sugar and salt intake, therefore hoping to decrease the chances of a Samoan becoming obese or developing diabetes. The Samoan government 32 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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also attempted to create better accessibility of medicine to treat these diseases in the Pharmacy Act of 2007 and the National Medicines Policy. However, while these policies were made around 2007, in 2018 the percentage of Samoan adults at high risk of developing an NCD remained the same as it did in 2007, meaning that not many changes have been made in the Samoan lifestyle or in enforced policies to combat the high rates of NCDs. All of the Samoan government’s documents and policy plans related to combating the rise of NCDs include the previously mentioned policies with no commitment by the government to create a more effective and substantial response to NCDs (Ezzati, Pearson-Stuttard, Bennett, & Mathers, 2018). Instead, these “policy guidelines” seek to utilize ineffective laws to create campaigns promoting lifestyle differences among Samoans already predisposed to NCDs, a significant percentage of the population. These proposed campaigns hoped to lower the rate of recorded NCDs without a significant change in legislation (Ezzati et al., 2018). There is no evidence to suggest that these proposed campaigns were implemented or if so had a significant effect on the lifestyle of Samoans.

In contrast to the Samoan government’s failure to enact effective policies to combat NCDs, recent water cleanliness policies have had a significant impact on the Samoan standard of living (Tauaa, 2017). At the time of Samoa’s independence from New Zealand, the nation already had certain drinking water protections in place. Although clearly an ineffective policy, the Water Act of 1965 was the first Samoan legislation on water after independence. Later, in an attempt to have further regulation and stop any more water pollution, the Watershed Protection and Conservation Act of 1992 was passed. However, these Samoan governmental policies on water sanitation and conservation were relatively ineffective until efforts were made to enforce the most recent legislation on water management, the Water Resources Management Act of 2008 (Tauaa, 2017). According to a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) study, since 2015 over 99% of the Samoan population has had greater access to clean drinking water, and between 90% and 95% of the population had access to running water (Tauaa, 2017).

Samoa has also created policy to combat climate change domestically, along with signing on to a number of international climate agreements (Wong et al., 2013).

Samoa has looked favorably upon climate change prevention measures ever since the nation first signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992, and since then Samoa has been fairly committed to creating climate change policy (Wong et al., 2013). As an island nation, the Samoan government is aware of the specific danger Samoa faces due to climate change, and reflects that awareness in the country’s numerous domestic climate VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 33

change policies and signed international agreements (Kim et al., 2015; Wong et al., 2013). The two most significant Samoan climate change policies are the National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA), created in 2005, and the National Policy on Combating Climate Change (NPCCC), created in 2007. NAPA was a program designed for developing nations by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which tabulated all the greenhouse gas-producing activities of a country (Wong et al., 2013). The NPCC, also focusing on greenhouse gases, promoted clean energy practices in both the energy supply and transportation industries (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, 2007). However, while Samoa has created and agreed to policies preventing climate change, the country has no way of combating the effects of extreme climate change, should those effects come to pass. In an environmental situation totally outside of Samoa’s control, such as seawater intrusion, excess or very little rainfall, and other effects of climate change, Samoa is helpless (Kim et al., 2015).

While legislation on water conservation and sanitation has been effective and has greatly improved the quality of life in Samoa, as stated above, the same cannot be said for legislation regarding NCDs. It also cannot be said that Samoa’s policies regarding water pollution will be able to withstand the effects of severe climate change, although currently one half of the public health epidemic has been addressed effectively in Samoa with efforts to decontaminate the water supply. Due to a lack of effective governmental policy, the human aspect of non-communicable diseases has not received governmental attention through legislation. Although efforts are being made to combat the current possible environmental causes of these diseases, no effective or successful action has been taken to combat the human health aspect of NCDs, nor has a plan been made to address future climate change-caused environmental degradation. In a similar situation regarding high rates of NCDs, the countries of Tanzania and Mozambique are case studies of relative success in creating effective policies to combat NCDs. Both Tanzania and Mozambique have a similar economic status and rate of NCDs as Samoa, making the effectiveness of these countries’ policies the most suitable comparison for Samoa’s epidemic (Di Cesare et al., 2013). Samoa is also not alone in this lack of effective legislation; Tanzania specifically lacks the appropriate governmental policies or laws to effectively decrease the observed rate of NCDs (Davila et al., 2015). Along with this, Samoa should consider an “action plan” similar to the one in Kiribati to prepare for the effects of climate change as an island nation (Office of the President, Government of Kiribati, 2016).

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CONCLUSION Although NCDs are a significant public health issue in many other countries with a similar economic status to Samoa, most of these countries with a similar epidemic have not had any significant governmental legislation to combat these diseases.

Instead, some countries, like Tanzania, have attempted a grass-roots approach to solving issues of NCDs (Davila et al., 2015). Countries like Mozambique, however, where the population is still struggling to combat the prevalence of NCDs, have made significant progress in decreasing the effects of diabetes by implementing a system called the “Rapid Assessment Protocol for Insulin Access” (RAPIA) (Beran, Matos, & Yudkin, 2010).

In Tanzania, a United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) partnership with the Tanzanian Ministry of Health created a pilot program of training public health workers to deal at different levels of NCD control and prevention called “Field Epidemiology Training Programs” (FETP) (Davila et al., 2015). After the pilot program was run and the data was collected, the researchers concluded that the public health workers involved in the study had learned a significant amount about treating and preventing NCDs, which bodes well for expanding this program across Tanzania and the world (Davila et al., 2015). It is possible that as in Tanzania, public health workers in Samoa could benefit from an education program of this type to identify, treat, and prevent non-communicable diseases, therefore decreasing their harmful effect upon health in Samoa.

In 2003, Mozambique adopted RAPIA, a policy initiative to control and prevent the spread of diabetes, a common NCD (Beran et al., 2010). This initiative was modeled after a similar program in the United Kingdom to examine whether this program would be as effective in a less developed sub-Saharan African country.

RAPIA’s goals were to make medicines and insulin for diabetes patients more affordable, raise awareness of the disease itself to educate the population on the causes and dangers of diabetes, and train health care and public health professionals on how to manage and prevent diabetes, similar to the educational program in Tanzania (Beran et al., 2010). Six years after RAPIA was adopted, researchers monitoring the results of the initiative declared that significant gains had been made in Mozambique to combat this NCD (Beran et al., 2010).

By enforcing the methodologies created by RAPIA, the government of Mozambique now treats NCDs as a public health risk, just as a government would treat a contagious communicable disease (Beran et al., 2010). This means that the treatment and prevention of NCDs, specifically diabetes, in Mozambique receives more funding than it did before 2003 (Beran et al., 2010). Prior to RAPIA, VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019

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only one hospital in Mozambique had adequate equipment to treat patients with diabetes. With more access to funds and greater NCD education for health professionals, there are now more hospitals in Mozambique that have the capacity to treat diabetes (Beran et al., 2010). RAPIA has also helped more hospitals gain access to insulin, with diabetes patients receiving an 80% off subsidized rate (Beran et al., 2010). Although the risk of developing an NCD in Mozambique is still higher than in a more developed nation, and issues exist in enforcing RAPIA outside of Mozambique’s control, such as the rising prices of syringes creating a shortage in hospitals (Beran et al., 2010), there has been significant progress made in preventing and treating the NCD diabetes. Samoa could benefit from a program such as RAPIA being implemented in such an effective and aggressive form to combat NCDs in the country, as the program has proven to be significantly effective in Mozambique.

The main similarity between the program implemented in Mozambique and the pilot program tested in Tanzania was the education aspect of the programs. As both were effective programs within the scope of each program’s objective, it would be beneficial to create an educational program for public health workers in Samoa.

While it may not be the case that a program such as RAPIA is adopted overnight in Samoa, a pilot program like the one run in Tanzania would be helpful in gauging the knowledge that health care and public health professionals in Samoa already have in treating and preventing NCDs, that later could be followed by a more comprehensive governmental policy.

While Samoa should use Mozambique and Tanzania as examples of successful NCD policies, it is also necessary for the country to be prepared to combat extreme climate change conditions, as programs combating NCDs will not be as effective if Samoans are exposed to extreme environmental degradation. An example of a climate change action plan in the situation of an island nation which Samoa should consider is the “Kiribati Action Plan” created by Kiribati in a partnership with Australia (Office of the President, Government of Kiribati, 2016). This program established a three-phase action plan over the course of thirteen years in which the nation of Kiribati prepares for the possible extreme effects of climate change.

These phases include measures such as better management of water supply, coastal protection measures like replanting mangroves and strengthening local infrastructure, rewriting laws to end coastal erosion, and population resettlement measures to reduce citizens’ future personal losses (Office of the President, Government of Kiribati, 2016). Although it is hard to tell currently whether these measures will be effective in the face of true extreme climate change conditions, it would be beneficial for Samoa to create similar policies as a preventive measure.

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THIRD PLACE SUBMISSION

ALUMINUM BATTERY POWERED UNMANNED UNDERWATER VEHICLES DELENA ANGELA BELL Major: Electrical Engineering Class of spring 2019

ABOUT THE WORK With the average depth of Earth’s oceans being about 4,000 meters and the deepest known part being approximately 11,034 meters, only 5% of the oceans on Earth are currently explored, as ocean exploration is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. A large part of these issues comes from the power systems used on the underwater vehicles used for exploration. The most common power systems currently used for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) use lithium-ion batteries which have multiple issues of their own. Open Water Power has developed a power system that uses an electrochemical reactor that with aluminum-alloy fuel, a recirculating electrolyte, and sea water to produce electricity. After testing, this new power system appears to fix all issues current UUV power systems have. In addition, the use of the aluminum battery is beneficial for the environment, society, and economy because it reduces production, transportation, and distribution as well as aiding in increasing the knowledge of Earth’s oceans.

The first step in my research process was identifying and developing a topic. I was limited to a current topic in my field, which meant a new technology in electrical engineering. I wanted to choose a topic related to my internship working with acoustic intelligence at The Office of Naval Intelligence.

Ocean exploration has always been a huge interest of mine, as it is shocking that something on Earth is so unexplored. This led me to the topic of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs), as UUVs have made the current amount of ocean exploration possible. My preliminary searches for information lead me to the new aluminum battery power system developed by Open Water Power. I then decided to research the power systems of UUVs. I researched the history of ocean exploration and the development of Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and UUVs. Once this background was established, I located materials on the current power systems used for UUVs. With this foundation,

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I could start finding more information on the aluminum battery powered system developed by Open Water Power. I evaluated the legitimacy of my research based on my qualifications, factual information provided, scholarly intent, and including the use of recent research.

ABSTRACT Ocean exploration is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive — explaining why only 5% of the oceans on Earth are explored. Most of these obstacles come from the power systems on the underwater vehicles used for investigation. A common way to power unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) is using lithium-ion batteries which age quickly, cost a great deal, and have a tendency to catch fire during transportation. A power system designed by Open Water Power is an electrochemical reactor that uses aluminum-alloy fuel, a recirculating electrolyte, and sea water to produce electricity.

Testing of this system found that when it is exposed to extreme temperatures, low pressures, and fires, it does not show any dangers. The components used in this power system are only activated when they are underwater, leading to the battery needing to be replaced less frequently and for a lower price once the aluminum anode corrodes.

This reduces the costs of production, transportation, and distribution of batteries, which is beneficial to the environment as these processes consume natural resources.

This power system could allow deep-diving submersibles to dive deeper and longer, benefiting not only unmanned underwater vehicles, but manned-vehicles as well.

The technology also works in deep and cold water, allowing further exploration and production in the Arctic.

INTRODUCTION The average depth of Earth’s oceans is about 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) with the deepest known part, the Challenger Deep, being approximately 11,034 meters (36,200 feet) [1]. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in 2000 it was estimated that 95% of the world’s oceans and 99% of the ocean floor are unexplored [2]. It has taken centuries to explore 5% of the ocean, with many inventions and advancements to even explore such a small fraction of the ocean. Ocean exploration began in 1882, when the first oceanographic research vessel was built by the U.S. government. In 1914, acoustic exploration of the ocean floor began with the usage of an oscillator to bounce sound waves between an iceberg and the sea floor. With the invention of Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and UUVs, the ability of exploration greatly increased. In 1961, the sonar system called the Deep Tow System was developed and became the leader for ROVs and UUVs oceanographic systems. The automated robotic vehicle, Autosub, VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 39

was launched in 2000. With sensors and pre-programmed missions, Autosub allowed us to travel to formerly unreachable parts of the ocean [3]. A timeline on the history of underwater vehicle ocean exploration can be seen below in Figure (1).

Figure 1: [3]

The beginning of unmanned underwater vehicles started with ROVs. ROVs are remote operated vehicles connected to a ship by cables where a human can give it commands. With the ability to control the vehicle while it is submerged, ROVs are often used in place of divers when the task is unsafe. For instance, ROVs can be used for submarine hull inspection and to collect data from the ocean floor. They are the cheapest of unmanned vehicles, starting around $1,000. ROVs are able to travel around 10,668 meters (35,000 feet) [4]. UUVs are unmanned vehicles assigned a task and route through pre-programming [4]. They are computer-controlled systems with no connection to their operator while submerged. Figure (2) shows an image of depth comparison of the advancement in underwater exploration.

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Figure 2: [5]

As shown in Figure (2), man alone could only reach around 127 meters in depth.

With the invention of SCUBA equipment, divers began to reach an impressive depth of 145 meters. After the creation of deep sea submersibles, ROVs, and UUVs, deep sea exploration became possible.

UUVs range from around 100 pounds to thousands of pounds [2]. With technological advancements in acoustic systems, communication between the UUV and the operator is possible. This can be important for communicating depth, battery level, and sensor data. Figure (3) below shows the results of a shipwreck provided by an UUV using sonar technologies from a sonar mounted on the vehicle [2].

Figure 3: [2]

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Some UUVs can operate up to 6,000 meters (19,685 feet) in depth, with one hybrid vehicle able to reach the bottom of the ocean floor at depths of 11,000 meters (36,089 feet) [2]. With the deepest known part of the ocean floor at about 11,000 meters, it is a wonder why 99% of the ocean floor remains unexplored. According to a livescience Planet Earth article, “Mysteries of the Oceans Remain Vast and Deep”, the reasons for this can be attributed to the fact that it is “difficult, time-consuming, and expensive” to explore the ocean [6].

CURRENT POWER SYSTEMS OF UUVS UUVs have a wide range of abilities by being able to explore the ocean in ways a human diver could not. UUVs have the ability to glide on the ocean floor, stop, and hover. There are different ways to power UUVs including solar energy, fuel cells, and batteries [2]. When choosing a power system, there are multiple factors that are considered including safety, cost effectiveness, reliability, neutral buoyancy, hibernation capability, shelf life, efficiency range, scalable ability, and much more [7]. The power needed to drive the UUV is carried onboard and enables propellers to move the vehicle. Fuel cell options for UUVs include hydrogen, reversible metal hydrides, chemical hydrides, reformed hydrocarbons, and ammonia. Typically, UUVs are powered by batteries. Different types of batteries used for the sea-diving vehicles can be alkaline, lead-acid, lithium ion, lithium polymer, or nickel metal hydride [8].

Most UUVs are powered by secondary (rechargeable) batteries and use a battery management system to keep the battery in its safe operating area, calculate and report data, and monitor its state [9]. Using primary batteries instead of rechargeable batteries provide more endurance but greatly increase the cost of the vehicle. The time and distance limit UUVs can stay submerged is highly affected by their batteries.

A benefit to using battery-powered UUVs is that they have the ability to run from hours to months before needing to resurface for charging [2]. A disadvantage is that when the vehicle is flooded in ocean water, complications can occur. Figure (4) below shows a comparison of the current batteries used for UUV power systems.

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Figure 4: [7]

Currently, lithium-ion batteries lead the rechargeable power-systems for UUVs. This is because lithium-ion batteries have a high energy density, low self-discharge rate, and are low maintenance. Yet, there are still many disadvantages to lithiumion batteries including fast ageing, high costs, complicated transportation issues, and lack of robustness from requiring more protection from overcharging or too much discharging [10]. The reason lithium-ion batteries are hard to transport is because they have an inclination to catch fire [11]. They are also not ideal for deepsea dives, as they are sensitive to pressure and have insufficient specific energy [12]. These disadvantages are contributing to the lack of deep sea exploration.

As stated above, the reason 95% of the oceans of this planet remain unexplored is because it is “difficult, time-consuming, and expensive”.

ALUMINUM BATTERY UUVS A more advanced power system could limit investigation obstructions and advance the Earth into full ocean exploration. A proposed power system that may be able accomplish this is an electrochemical reactor that uses aluminum-alloy fuel, a recirculating KOH electrolyte, and sea water to produce electricity [13].

The proposed structure from Open Water Power is, “safer, cheaper, and longerlasting” [14]. The battery contains an alloyed aluminum, cathode alloyed with a mixture of elements, and an alkaline electrolyte between the electrodes. Currently, when a UUV that is using a battery as its power system is flooded in ocean water, complications can occur. For this system, the sea water only benefits as the batteries “drink” seawater for power. This system uses activated aluminum which is very water reactive. This can be seen in Figure (5) below.

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Figure 5: [15]

The figure above shows inactive aluminum (left) and active aluminum (right) when added to water. When sea water floods the battery, it is split into hydroxide anions and hydrogen gas at the cathode. Matheson from MIT News Office reports that, “The hydroxide anions interact with the aluminum anode, creating aluminum hydroxide and releasing electrons. Those electrons travel back toward the cathode, donating energy to a circuit along the way to begin the cycle anew [14].” Though some power systems can release harmful waste, the waste of these batteries, aluminum hydroxide and hydrogen gas, are discarded as innocuous waste. McKay, one of the inventors of this battery explains this task by saying the power system can, “Drink sea water and discard waste products, but that exhaust is not harmful, compared to exhaust of terrestrial engines [14].” Figure (6) below shows the design of this battery.

Figure 6: [16]

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When a class at Massachusetts Institute of Technology was assigned the task of coming up with a new way to power UUVs, one team, which would soon create the company Open Water Power, came up with the idea of using aluminum batteries.

There are, however, a few reasons why aluminum batteries have not been used in the past for underwater vehicles. The first being that it is complicated to contribute electrons to a circuit because of chemical problems in the battery. Also, further reaction is inhibited from the aluminum hydroxide, which is the product of the reactions, sticking to the electrode surface [14]. Co-inventor Ian Salmon McKay, pushed through this difficulty by producing a gallium-rich alloyed aluminum anode. This aluminum anode achieved the challenge of donating electrons, but rapidly corroded. In response to the new struggle, the inventors worked to evolve electrolytes and alloys that prevent parasitic corrosion processes as well as continuing to avoid the development on the anode from the aluminum hydroxide layer. The final design of the power system uses a pump to “circulate the electrolyte” while simultaneously gathering up the undesired aluminum hydroxide on the anode. This waste is then discarded onto a “custom precipitation trap”. When the traps become saturated from the waste, they are automatically discharged and a new one takes its place. Marine organisms are stopped from growing inside of the system by the electrolyte used.

This power system has the potential to increase the time UUVs can stay submerged and help them complete more successful deep dives [14]. Using the aluminum-based batteries, UUVs will have the ability to be launched from shore eliminating the need for service ships. This would lead to lower costs and increased opportunities. An example of the way these batteries could advance oceanic work is with oil prospecting. Currently, UUVs exploring the Gulf of Mexico need to stay near shorelines, covering an insufficient amount of pipeline assets. Now they can possibly cover hundreds of miles leading to the ability to reach all presented pipeline assets [17]. These aluminum batteries have an increased energy density compared to the other batteries addressed above, as shown in the figure below.

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Figure 7: [18]

Furthermore, the interaction of aluminum and water is safer and more stable than other battery and fuel cell chemistries used in oceanic exploring. The system’s chemicals remain inactive until activation when water floods the system. This means that the system has no risk of explosion, an extremely long shelf life, and a safety level close to household alkaline batteries [18].

The electrochemical reactor manufactured by Open Water Power can be seen below in Figure (8).

Figure 8: [13]

This exact system was tested by NAVSEA Warfare Centers Carderock (NSWC). The preliminary tests that were done comprised of safety testing including transportation, storage, and fire exposure. At NSWC, cells from the aluminum-based power system were tested against conditions that would usually cause lithium-ion batteries to fail. During a surrounding temperature test, the battery cells system shown above in Figure (8) was exposed to a temperature of 71 degrees Celsius and -51 degrees in a temperature chamber. The results from the low-temperature test can be seen below in Figure (9).

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Figure 9: [13]

A summary of the results indicates no bodily impairment, no change in mass, and no uncommon activity. Next, it was tested how the system would do in air transportation. To simulate these conditions, the system was exposed to 8.3 psia.

To simulate the poorest case conditions, fractions of a psia were applied to the system. These results of this test are seen in the Figure (10) below.

Figure 10: [13]

The results were the same for these tests as there was no bodily impairment, no change in mass, and no uncommon activity detected. Next, there was a fire exposure test where for 20 minutes the system was exposed to 10 kW and 20 kW flames. These results can be seen below in Figure (11).

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Figure 11: [13]

The results of this test are that there was no heat release beyond that of the fire, only slight burning on the inlet and outlet ports, and a mass loss of 30 grams.

In conclusion, the reactor remained generally undamaged [13]. These pilot tests expose that when the aluminum-based system is in an inactive state and exposed to extreme temperatures, low pressures, and fires, it does not show any dangers.

The components used in this power system are only activated when they are underwater. Therefore, from an economic viewpoint, the battery can be replaced less frequency and for a lower price once the aluminum anode corrodes. Ocean exploration can be expanded as power system costs drop since UUVs using this system can launch from the coast and do not require service vessels. According to the third volume of a Sparking Economic Growth report published by The Science Coalition from April 2017, in 2016, the Department of Defense (DOD) funded Open Water Power, Inc, $400,000 [19]. Additionally, on April 27, 2016, the U.S. Special Operations Command awarded a research and development contract to Open Water Power for $2,275,261.61 to develop a, “fully integrated, replacement power module for man-portable UUVs” [20]. Open Water is able to keep operational costs low by using commodity metals and plastics, an abundant fuel source, and a lack of need for “designer chemicals” [17]. For example, dissimilar to Tesla who requires a, “complex and expensive Gigafactory” for manufacturing their lithium-ion batteries, Open Water’s cells have the ability to be manufactured in a common machine shop [17].

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ALUMINUM BATTERY UUVS Economically There are many positive impacts in using this aluminum battery powered system. The endurance of a certain UUV has the potential to be extended to more than ten times the existing production capability when using Open Water’s system.

This would lead to the capability to inspect up to 1,000 linear miles with side-scan sonar [21]. This endurance increase can be seen in Figure (12) below which shows the relative performance of a UUV with differing battery options.

The increased endurance would lead to decreased costs from less need of resurfacing of UUVs, and fewer need for recharging and replacing of the batteries of the system [21]. The increased power level of this system also benefits oil and gas industries by allowing for drilling, propulsion, and swiftly opening and closing large valves leading to operational savings and abilities [17].

Figure 12: [21]

Socially The positive impacts this power system has on society is improved underwater exploration for scientists, oil and gas industries, and the U.S. Navy by allowing for safer, more accessible, and non-toxic energy storage [22]. Since the aluminum battery system uses simple chemistry, the fact that more energy stored in a battery leads to more danger can be ignored [17]. An Economist article states that, Open Water is working with the U.S. Navy to replace the existing batteries on a “Shallow Water Surveillance System, a series of acoustic sensors designed to detect enemy submarines” [23]. In addition, the aluminum batteries could be used to power VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 49

deep-diving submersibles. Alvin, the deep diving submersible used to explore the Titanic wreckage, currently uses lead-acid batteries limiting dives to only eight hours. The aluminum battery power system developed by Open Water would allow deep-diving submersibles to dive deeper and longer, benefiting not only unmanned underwater vehicles, but manned-vehicles as well [23].

Environmentally Open Water Power’s aluminum battery system delivers non-toxic energy storage with a high energy density and a large increase in endurance [19]. As compared to other power systems that can release harmful waste, this aluminum battery system does not. This is safer for the oceans and the overall environment. The fact that this power system can last longer before recharge or replacement, also lessens production, transportation, and distribution of batteries. This is beneficial to the environment because these processes consume natural resources and contribute to a quickening reduction of these resources [24].

Globally Using an aluminum battery powered UUV has the potential to develop international influence. Open Water’s technology works in deep and cold water, allowing further exploration and production in the Arctic [17]. Besides ocean exploration and navies uses, the offshore oil and gas industry can benefit. For example, a case study done in the Gulf of Mexico shows that UUVs using the aluminum battery power system from Open Water for inspection operations have

Figure 13: [17]

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decreased costs and an increased range around 750 nautical miles [17]. This is illustrated in Figure (13) on the left.

The black lines depict the pipelines, green displays active oil and gas extraction leases, pink shows current UUV out-and-back ranges, and gray displays Open Water Power UUV out-and-back ranges.

FUTURE OF ALUMINUM BATTERY UUVS The future of Open Water’s aluminum battery power system for UUVs seems bright. After passing preliminary safety testing with flying colors, further testing could be done with the navy and the oil and gas industry. These results proved the system is efficient by finding decreased operational costs and increased access ranges. Considering the successful testing done with the oil and gas industry, it can be expected that aluminum battery power systems will be used in UUVs inspecting pipelines. Also, in view of the current contracts Open Water has with the DOD, it can be anticipated that the U.S. Navy will take advantage of the long-lasting battery powered system for ocean research and submarine and ship inspection.

This system’s ability to successfully work in low depths and cold environments will also lead its usage in research to further ocean exploration.

CONCLUSIONS The ability to do any ocean exploration comes from deep sea submersibles, remote operated underwater vehicles, and unmanned underwater vehicles. 95% of the oceans of this planet remain unexplored because it is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. Most of these hold-backs come from the power systems used on these vehicles. One way of powering underwater vehicles is by batteries. A disadvantage to most batteries is that when the vehicle is flooded in ocean water, leading to the battery being submerged, complications can occur. Lithium-ion batteries, the most common battery used to power UUVs has many issues. These include fast ageing, high costs, and complicated transportation issues [10]. The aluminum battery power system by Open Water Power is breaking these barriers and accomplishing greater ocean exploration due to no danger posed by extreme temperatures, low pressures, and fires. It also has no harmful effects on the environment and is comparably low cost because of less frequent charging and replacement. In conclusion, the electrochemical reactor that uses aluminum-alloy fuel and sea water to produce electricity from Open Water Power Inc. opens the possibilities of furthering ocean exploration, coastal security, and improving oil and gas industry capabilities.

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ALTOGETHER HUMAN: AFRICAN-AMERICAN AGENCY AND BRAVERY DURING THE CIVIL WAR CHANNING FREEMAN Majors: History and Government/International Politics Concentrations: Global History and International Relations Class of Fall 2020

ABOUT THE WORK “Altogether Human: African-American Agency and Bravery During the Civil War” was written for Spencer Crew’s HIST 300 section about Slavery and the Underground Railroad. We could write a paper about any topic related to those subjects. We spoke often in the class about the bravery of “fugitive slaves” who escaped bondage despite the odds. I was drawn to the time period of the American Civil War— what were escapes like then? Were they “easier” or harder? The paper then morphed into a general defense of black Americans from spurious claims that they had no agency before or during the war because of their enslavement.

Of all the marginalization that African-Americans have experienced, perhaps the most ironic is the lack of focus about their experiences during the American Civil War. Rows and rows of books sit on library and bookstore shelves dissecting every aspect of the war down to the most obscure minutiae.

Ken Burns’ popular Civil War documentary, while making it clear that the war was fought because of slavery, only devotes a fraction of its 12-hour runtime to the accounts of enslaved people and black soldiers, yet Shelby Foote receives plenty of airtime to discuss how the average Confederate soldier was a good person who did not own slaves.

I dug through collections of letters and dispatches to learn more about the experiences of enslaved people in the 1860s. I found things that resonate still today: pervasive racism, an insidious paternalism, and, above all, black bravery. Scholarship should not be merely academic in nature. It should be used to defend history against those who would seek to misuse it for their own purposes.

That was my goal with this paper.

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One must wonder if this is intentional, a way to avoid the topic of race in a time when race has become increasingly politicized, but there are more sinister reasons to sideline African-Americans as well. The specter of the “states’ rights” argument has loomed large in debates about why the war was fought, and Confederate apologists have used the power of the Internet to make their voices heard just as loudly, if not more so, than academics and scholars. The fifth result for “Civil War Books” on Amazon is a book titled Everything You Know About the Civil War is Wrong. Ask a Southerner!, written by an author whose bio picture is Robert E. Lee. Earlier this month, the Smithsonian teamed up with the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute to report the cost of building and maintaining Confederate monuments. A tour guide at the Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library was quoted as saying, “I want to tell [children] the honest truth, that slavery was good and bad…it was good for the people that didn’t know how to take care of themselves, and they needed a job, and you had good slave owners like Jefferson Davis, who took care of his slaves and treated the like family. He loved them.”[1] This lie is a common one, and it steals away any agency that African-Americans had in the days of slavery in service to a white supremacist, patron-beneficiary tale that venerates the “old South.” Slave narratives and stories of the Underground Railroad have been superseded by bad-faith arguments about the “Lost Cause” and grievances over the so-called “War of Northern Aggression.” Furthermore, even the most basic and conventional knowledge about the Underground Railroad and slave escapes ends before the Civil War, even though slavery was not outlawed for the states in rebellion until 1863 and did not truly end until after the Confederacy’s defeat. What about those enslaved people who escaped during the war? What were their experiences like? Did they have any effect on changing attitudes toward slavery behind Union lines and in the North? It turns out that those who escaped during the war faced not only harsher penalties in the South, but often a hostile North as well.

Yet they persisted in their quest for freedom, and their bravery was instrumental in bringing about a changed attitude toward slavery and those it affected.

Many of the slave narratives that have found their way into the public consciousness take place prior to the Civil War, but they provide valuable context for the escapes that took place between 1861 and 1865. William Still’s The Underground Railroad: Authentic Narratives and First-Hand Accounts is full of stories about enslaved people fleeing captors by stowing away on ships (sometimes in small boxes or chests), hiding in swamps full of wild animals and slave hunters, or simply failing to return after being sent to find a wife for the master.[2] John Parker’s His Promised Land details the long road he traveled to buy his freedom after failing in his attempts to escape; he then willingly put himself in danger VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 53

hundreds of times to free other enslaved people.[3] Frederick Douglass, in his Narrative of the Life, tells a harrowing story of a failed escape attempt in which he was sent to prison and almost sold south to Alabama.[4] Through luck, he was able to return to Maryland where he finally made his escape. Of the many insights that Douglass provides in his account, the most heartbreaking is when he laments that his escape meant that he would be leaving behind his friends: “It is my opinion that thousands would escape from slavery, who now remain, but for the strong cords of affection that bind them to their friends.”[5] Whether or not escape stories have happy endings, the people left behind should always be considered. Harriet Tubman, who would come to be known as “Moses” because of how many people she aided, had to leave her brothers behind when she finally made her escape from captivity.[6] The details of these narratives, while often distressing, are not as important as the courage that unites the tellers of each narrative. The act of escaping required immense fortitude but going to the North necessitated a certain kind of nerve as well. Because of the Fugitive Slave Acts, safety was not guaranteed even across state and regional lines. The first, in 1793, declared that slaveholders could retrieve their escaped “property” no matter where slaves had escaped to, North or South, and it also stipulated that children born to enslaved mothers were forever slaves.

In 1850, the second Fugitive Slave Act hardened the law by making Northerners responsible for aiding slavecatchers who were operating in their vicinity. Frederick Douglass described a North that did not hold slaves but was nonetheless hostile and unfamiliar to African-Americans.[7] After 1850, this hostility carried a sharper, more dangerous edge. Tensions had already been high in the South because of the Underground Railroad’s work, and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 ensured that tensions were high in the North as well. The shots fired at Fort Sumter in April 1861 broke these tensions and started the war.

Those who made their escapes after the war broke out were essentially following in the footsteps of the thousands before them who had either found aid in the Underground Railroad or had set out on their own paths. Yet there was a new legitimacy to their escape attempts because there was now a war being fought over their freedom. Even though the federal government initially declared that the war would be fought only to uphold the Constitution, and even though the Emancipation Proclamation was still a year and a half away, blacks in captivity had to sense which way the wind was blowing. With this legitimacy came urgency as well. What if the North lost the war? The fighting, however long it lasted, might be the last chance for enslaved people to make their way out of the South toward freedom, and thousands of them would succeed.

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Nathaniel Hawthorne, in an article for Atlantic Monthly, wrote of a time he came across “a party of Contrabands” in Virginia. Though still in a Confederate state, they had clearly traveled far. “So rudely were they attired – as if their garb had grown upon them spontaneously – so picturesquely natural in manners, and wearing such a crust of primeval simplicity…that they seemed a kind of creature by themselves, not altogether human…”[8] Hawthorne recounts this tale to show how, less than one year after the war began, the South’s “social system” had been “thoroughly disturbed,” as “they trudged forward, as dreading no pursuer, and encountering nobody to turn them back.”[9] Their story up to that point remains unknown, but given their disheveled and downtrodden state, their journey prior to meeting Hawthorne was probably fraught with danger.

Some who made it to across Union lines endeavored to continue the noble work of the Underground Railroad conductors, stealing back to the Confederacy to free friends and family. A Captain Page of the Union Army relayed a story in which a “contraband” came to him and asked permission to attempt to free his wife from slavery. “The captain thought the fellow mad,” wrote abolitionist George Stephens in a letter to the Weekly Anglo-African in March 1862, “but he plead so earnestly that he gave him permission…and [the contraband] returned the following night… with his companion, safe and unharmed.”[10] When the man’s friend saw his success, he also crossed battle lines to return with his newly freed wife.

Harsh reprisals awaited those who tried to escape. This had always been true, but in the desperation of wartime, slaveholders were even more determined to keep their property from escaping to the despised North, where they would either fight the Confederacy as part of the army or contribute to its war effort through their labor. A woman named Frances Johnson, in a deposition in 1865, told a harrowing story of escape in which she had to make the heartbreaking choice to leave her children behind.[11] Even after such sacrifices, newly freed blacks were far from safe. Some unscrupulous Union soldiers and commanders would take bribes from masters looking to reclaim their slaves from camp.[12] Others would defend them. Five formerly enslaved women who found employment working in a Union hospital were accosted by their erstwhile master when he came to reclaim them. The doctor who hired them fought the man off, then argued that the women were valuable assets to the North because they were helping the war effort.[13] This master was just one of many Confederate citizens who found themselves suddenly missing their former slaves. Accordingly, they made efforts to stem the tide, underscoring the disadvantage that Southerners created for the Confederate war effort by wasting men and resources on escapees. They had always engaged in patrols for “fugitives,” but during the war, they increased their efforts. The VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 55

state of Florida increased its patrols from weekly to bi-weekly, Georgia no longer allowed citizens to claim an exemption from patrols, and Louisiana even fined those who refused their duty. When Southerners got word that the Union Army was approaching, they “ran the Negroes,” meaning that they moved them from the plantation to places deeper within Confederate territory.[14] Southern citizens feared what would happen if enslaved people kept escaping or were freed by the Union. “There is no doubt but that numbers of them [enslaved] believe that Lincoln’s intention is to set them all free,” wrote John J. Cheatham to the Confederate secretary of war, Leroy Pope Walker in April of 1861.[15] He asked that enslaved people be trained to fight against the Union army. First, it would satisfy Southerners to see their “family” fighting the aggressors, and it might deter Northern soldiers from their cause. Second, “they might be valued as you would a horse or other property, and let the government pay for them provided they was killed in battle…”[16] Even in a time of war, Southerners were looking to profit off the bodies of their chattel. However, these pleas also had an undercurrent of fear that gave the lie to the Southern claim of a mutually beneficial, client-patron relationship with the people they enslaved. “Ether fort them up or put them in the army and Make them fite like good fells for wee ar in danger of our lives hear among them,” a farmer wrote to Jefferson Davis as the war began.[17] They feared the loss of their property, of course, but they also knew that enslaved people were not satisfied with their lot, despite the false image they tried to project to the North.

In the early days of the war, they need not have worried. President Lincoln, anxious to prevent any more states from succumbing to secession, reiterated that the property rights of slaveholders would be respected and that the purpose of the war was to uphold the Constitution, not to rewrite existing laws. Frederick Douglass, though disappointed, would write that he saw “…a brave man trying against great odds, to do right…Time and practice will improve the President as they improve other men. He is tall and strong but he is not done growing, he grows as the nation grows.”[18] Very quickly, though, it became clear that something needed to be done. More and more fugitive slaves were crossing into Union territory, and Lincoln’s reticence to further inflame tensions may have sealed the fate of escapees if it wasn’t for General Benjamin F. Butler.

Although Butler was not a member of the Underground Railroad, he deserves to be mentioned with such well-known figures as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and John Parker. He was one of the first to be confronted with the question of what to do with the people who were escaping their enslavement by the hundreds only a few weeks after the war began. Those who entreated him at the gates of Fort Monroe in Virginia were let in and given food and shelter. Ingeniously, 56 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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he declared them to be “contraband of war”, meaning that they were valuable assets to the Confederacy and could be seized like any other form of supplies. While this declaration, at least on the surface, reinforced the idea of African-Americans as property, it ensured that they would have a place behind Union lines. It did not give them their freedom in the eyes of the federal government, but they would no longer be returned to their former masters in the Confederacy. Butler wrote to General Winfield Scott and Secretary of War Simon Cameron: “As a military question it would seem to be a measure of necessity to deprive their masters of their services. How can this be done? As a political question and a question of humanity can I receive the services of a Father and a Mother and not take the children? Of the humanitarian aspect I have no doubt. Of the political one I have no right to judge.”[19] General Butler set a standard that would be followed throughout the war, but the outcome was not predetermined. Given Union policies prior to Butler’s declaration, it seems clear that if he had decided to tell Scott and Cameron that he would return all escapees to the South, they probably would have accepted that answer as well. Nevertheless, so-called contraband camps began sprouting up everywhere the Union Army went.

The wartime experiences of Harriet Tubman provide what is perhaps the best lens through which to view these camps. Because she was already a free woman at the start of the Civil War, she was well-placed to show the Union how useful AfricanAmericans could be. Crucially, she could also aid escapees as they crossed Union lines, chronicle the fear they experienced in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar faces (and thus their immense bravery), and, ultimately, return to their lives some form of control over their actions and time (or grant it for the first time).

Tubman’s initial time in the war was spent in South Carolina. There, she ensured that newly freed blacks had adequate supplies and clothing, and she assisted in the acclimatization of these new members of the Union to wage-based work.[20] She also worked to create the first black Union Army unit[21] and became “the first woman to plan and execute an armed expedition during the Civil War.”[22] This latter action resulted in the rescue of 730 formerly enslaved people. Those escapees who made their way to South Carolina were lucky to have Tubman, as some Northerners in other parts of Union territory thought that the “contrabands” were only useful to fulfill the “extra duty” labors in camp,[23] like the menial labor from which they had just escaped. Tubman saw something greater for them, and, more importantly, she helped them to see something greater for themselves.

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hapless fool who is bitten several times by a snake that he refuses to kill.[24] She understood something fundamental that still resonates today: moderation in the face of extremism will always be ineffectual.

Harriet Tubman would live to see the fruits of her labor. President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring that all people still held in slavery in states of active rebellion were free in the eyes of the United States government. Later, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendment would further flesh out newly granted rights for black Americans. These laws and the men who enacted them were undoubtedly important in American history. Yet it is imperative to remember the courageous masses who escaped slavery long before the U.S. legislature decided to meet them halfway. As Leslie Schwalm writes in Slavery & Abolition: “…while the war made it possible for military and federal authorities to issue policies and directives that attacked slavery, policy was ethereal: it was hundreds of thousands of enslaved people who severed their bonds and made war on slavery when and where they could.”[25] They did not have the luxury of waiting for the glacially-paced shift toward emancipation and had to take matters into their own hands.

For many, this was their first taste of agency and their first chance to influence the events of their own lives. Both Frederick Douglass and John Parker would recall how the physical privations of slavery – bloody and painful beyond imagining – could not compare to the absence of their free will and the agony of their masters’ control over their minds. Even the outward manifestations of their pain and suffering were co-opted for a pro-slavery narrative. In the North as well as the South, wrote Douglass, people would “speak of the singing, among slaves, as evidence of their contentment and happiness…Slaves sing most when they are unhappy…The singing of a man cast away upon a desolate island might be as appropriately considered as evidence of contentment and happiness, as the singing of a slave; the songs of the one and of the other are prompted by the same emotion.”[26] Such misconceptions – some merely the result of miseducation or ignorance and others willfully malicious – continue to this day.

Far from being passive spectators to their liberation, African-Americans actively changed the opinions and attitudes of Northerners during the Civil War. They could not run for office. They could not write policy or laws. They could not seek employment in the federal government. For a time, they weren’t even considered U.S. citizens. But they could exist, whether as refugees or escapees or soldiers or laborers, and through this existence, they could display their innate humanity that had always been present but was now impossible to ignore by those who could previously turn a blind eye. This humanity was never clearer than when escapees 58 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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found themselves beyond the reach of their enslavers. The relief was immense, almost indescribable and unimaginable for people in modern times. “This Day I can Adress you thank god as a free man,” wrote John Boston to his wife in 1862, after “a little trouble in giting away.” “Rest yourself Contented,” he told her, “I am free.”[27]

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REGULATING SEX SELECTION: THE SOCIAL COSTS AND EFFECTS ON SOCIETY VALERIE CRUZ ORTIZ Major: Medical Laboratory Science Class of Spring 2022

ABOUT THE WORK I had the opportunity to take a genetics class in high school, and that’s when I fell in love with this branch of biology. At the beginning of my HNRS 110 course, I knew that I wanted to learn more about gene modification. While researching, I often ran into the topic of ‘designer babies’ and the ethical debate that comes along with it. Designer babies are genetically modified humans that are engineered to be healthier, smarter, stronger, and can even live longer. At the moment, most of these advancements have yet to be completed, although scientists are certainly working toward it.

One of the characteristics that has and continues to be modified before the child is born is gender.

I found that the way this procedure is regulated worldwide can impact the future of human gene editing. By focusing on this characteristic, I hope to make readers aware that we are not ready to pick our children from a catalog. Many precautions should be considered, and many laws need to be set in place before this fantasy becomes a reality.

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ABSTRACT Sex selection gained popularity in the 1990s when new technology gave rise to more efficient methods. The ethical aspects of these methods have sparked a debate about the medical and recreational use of the procedure. Along with the diverse positions on this debate, the extent to which sex selection is regulated varies across the world. In this paper, I will focus on how the availability of lifestyle sex selection in the US but not in the UK, gave rise to reproductive tourism, and how the increase in the use of the procedure could lead to a more extensive sex ratio imbalance, genetically modified humans, and genetically and physically superior upper-class citizens.

INTRODUCTION Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) have been implemented since July 25, 1978, when Louise Brown, the first human conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF), was born (Kamel 96). Since then, the research and advancements made in this field have been nonstop. As history has proven, with scientific breakthroughs come certain ethical issues. Approximately twelve years after the birth of Louise Brown, the first successful sex selection procedure was achieved (World Health Organization). Initially used for medical purposes, this newfound ability to choose the gender of the child before it is conceived allows mothers with X-linked disorders to prevent the disease from being passed down generation to generation (Kalfoglou, Scott, and Hudson 2733). More recently, this procedure has gained a reputation for being used for recreational purposes (Kalfoglou 2735). Executives in this field are dealing with these two applications of the procedure in different ways in different areas of the world. The largest division is between the relatively lax regulations in America versus the strict laws in Great Britain (Frith & Blyth 516). In this paper, I will evaluate the debate on the legalization of sex selection by analyzing and comparing the laws imposed in the United States and the United Kingdom and how the differences between the laws impact the natural processes of society.

BACKGROUND Sex selection is an ART that allows parents to ensure the gender of their child before it is born. Gender is determined by which chromosome the sperm is carrying, either X or Y. When the sperm containing the X chromosome fertilizes the egg, VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 61

forming an XX pairing, the baby will be a girl, and when the sperm containing the Y chromosome fertilizes the egg, forming an XY pairing, the baby will be a boy (Gender Selection Authority). Aside from these two combinations, there are rare instances (1in 1,000 births) where other chromosomal defects such as an XXY pairing causes the gender to be unclear or a male to display female characteristics and vice versa (Intersex Society of North America).

There are three methods by which doctors can differentiate between the two common chromosomal pairings: the MicroSort method, the Ericsson Method, and Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) (Ulick 48). Both the MicroSort and Ericsson methods are sperm-sorting preconception reproductive techniques, meaning the sex selection process happens before the sperm and the egg are fertilized (Kalfoglou 2731). Since PGD is post conception, this method is more invasive as the fertilized embryo would need to be inserted into the uterus as opposed to the insemination of just the sperm (Kalfoglou 2733).

The Ericsson method, while the cheapest of the three methods, is not as reliable as the other methods (Ulick 48). Available decades before the other methods, this old technique depends on the natural movement of sperm over a thick layer of fluid (Ulick 48). Since the sperm containing the Y chromosomes are smaller than the alternative, they swim faster and reach the bottom of the test tube sooner than the sperm containing the X chromosome. There they are extracted and inseminated into the uterus (Ulick 48). While this technique focuses on the chances of producing a male, there is a higher probability of error. Therefore, it is no longer a commonly used or widely discussed method.

MicroSort, also known as flow cytometry, has an average 90% rate of successfully fertilizing an embryo of the targeted sex (Karabinus 8). This technique is also relatively more affordable with the average clinic charging $1,100 per sort (Bhatia 208). The MicroSort method involves staining the sperm with a fluorescent dye that is soaked up by the chromosomes. The sperm are then illuminated with a laser, and because the X chromosomes are more prominent than the Y chromosomes, they absorb “more dye, glow brighter, distinguishing them from Y chromosomes�

(Ulick 48). Charges are then given to each chromosome, X are positive and Y are negative, so that charged plates can direct them into separate containers.

Depending on the gender desired, doctors will then choose which sperm will be used to fertilize the egg (Ulick 48).

The third technique, PGD, is used to detect genetic diseases at the chromosomal level in the embryo. Unlike MicroSort or the Ericsson method, PGD is completed three days after the embryo has developed (Ulick 48). At that time, a cell is extracted from all of the embryos that were fertilized, and it is examined under 62 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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an electron microscope where the doctors can determine the gender by looking for the presence of the Y chromosome (Ulick 48). When the desired gender has been targeted, those embryos are implanted in the uterus where “success (after achieving pregnancy) is virtually guaranteed” (Ulick 48). However, this technique is the most expensive, costing $2,500 to test four embryos. The parents also have a choice between cryopreservation (freezing the embryos in order to maintain their viability) or essentially aborting the embryos of the other gender making this technique the most controversial (Pegg 39). This ethical issue is one of the many that are responsible for the debate surrounding sex selection as well as the leading argument against the availability of the procedure.

THE DEBATE The arguments in the sex selection debate depend on the conditions under which the procedure is performed. Those conditions refer to the impact the procedure will have on the well-being of the embryo and whether the end justifies the means. A study conducted at Johns Hopkins University gathered “volunteers of different sex, race/ethnicity, religion, age, education level, and parental status” from five different areas in the United States (Kalfoglou, Scott, and Hudson 2732).

Participants were grouped with people of similar demographics and were presented with three scenarios (Table 1) in which they were to discuss their attitudes about the use of preimplantation sex selection (Kalfoglou 2732).

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Since the study focused on the use of the MicroSort method, it is understandable that some of the subjects in these focus groups would rule the use of the sex selection procedure in this way as ethically acceptable as opposed to putting the human embryos in harm through PGD. Another condition under which the participants in the focus groups widely accepted sex selection was the use of the procedure for medical reasons. One of those acceptable conditions, as presented

by Kalfoglou, Scott, and Hudson in Table 1, being the X-linked genetic disease called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (Kalfoglou 2733). X-linked disorders occur as a result of a cell division error that affects only the X chromosome. That is why X-linked disorders are more common in males because their X chromosome is always expressed whereas in females either one of the X chromosomes can be expressed, making females carriers of the disorder and males inheritors of the disorder (Intersex Society of North America). According to the aforementioned focus group study, the medical use of sex selection is a reasonable alternative as opposed to the lifelong financial and emotional burden of caring for a child with a genetic disorder (Kalfoglou 2733).

On the other hand is the use of sex selection for nonmedical reasons. This recreational use of sex selection, otherwise known as “lifestyle sex selection,” includes but is not limited to family balancing, cultural influence, or, simply put, personal preference (Bhatia 186). The most common scenario, when it comes to family balancing, is trying for a girl after having three or so sons, or vice versa. More extreme cases are seen in India and China where the cultures’ stigma surrounding the preference for males over females has boosted the use of lifestyle sex selection (Levy 107). Other scenarios include the parents’ preferring their firstborn or only child to be a specific gender. Common themes discussed by the participants in Kalfoglou, Scott, and Hudson’s focus groups that opposed the use of lifestyle sex selection were concerns over the selfish nature of the parents using sex selection for their own intents and purposes. As exemplified in the following quote, they fear the impact this will have on the population ratio and the ‘slippery slope’ leading to the genetic modification of children: It almost turns into like shopping or something, you know? Okay, I want a boy that’s about 6’4’, muscular, blonde hair, blue eyes, very smart . . . it’s like almost something you do on the computer and a kid pops out and it really takes out the human element.

— man from Colorado (Kalfoglou 2734) Based on the attitudes of this particular study, there’s no telling where the line will 64 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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be drawn, and the focus group participants that are against lifestyle sex selection feel the need to end it now before it gets out of control.

The side of the debate that stands steadfastly against the use of all forms of sex selection often stems from a religious background. The study conducted

by Kalfoglou, Scott, and Hudson ensured that one of their focus groups was composed of Jewish, Protestant, Evangelical, and Catholic women. When presented with all three scenarios, this group disapproved of the availability of the technology. Any modification done to the human embryo was perceived as man playing the role of God and classifying sex selection as “a violation of God’s will” (Kalfoglou 2732-2733). Conversely, some people firmly believe in a woman’s right to choose what she wants to do with her body. Similar to the pro-choice argument, this group advocates the availability of all forms of sex selection for the mother to make her own decision (Kalfoglou 2733). This belief shares another quality with the pro-choice belief in that both of the procedures in question are proven difficult to regulate because any laws set on these issues poses a threat to a woman’s reproductive rights.

Providers of sex selection technology often find comfort in this free will approach to the regulation of the procedure. Puri and Nachtigall conducted a qualitative interview study where they compared the perspectives of American primary care physicians (PCPs) and providers of sex selection technology (SSTPs). Of the 40 PCPs they interviewed 25 were obstetrician/gynecologists, 10 were family medicine practitioners, and 5 were pediatricians (Puri & Nachtigall 2). The 15 SSTPs differed in the methods they employed: three determined the sex through early ultrasound imaging, six used the flow cytometry method, and six used PGD (Puri 2). Puri and Nachtigall found that the SSTPs argument reflected those on the legality of abortion (Puri 3). With the SSTPs’ argument supported by the frequent use of words like “autonomy,” “choice,” and “reproductive rights,” it does not seem possible for a sex selection technology provider to believe in stricter regulations on sex selection (Puri 3). One provider stated: I think that this is all really a matter of individual choice. I don’t see my role as advising them on the ethics of their choices. Only they know their lives best. I just think that even questioning the reasons means that you are judging in some way. (Puri 3) The responses from the SSTPs surrounded this prevailing idea that the women undergoing the procedure know what’s best for them. Some PCPs agreed with that position even though they disagreed with sex selection while others held VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 65

indifferent opinions (Puri 4). Because of familial and cultural influences, several PCPs contemplated that the mother’s choice is sometimes not her own (Puri 4).

This opinion is evident in the following quote: My problem is with the community and with the pressure she [the mother] has to make that decision . . . if it’s really for her, it’s fine.

I mean, I still don’t like it, but I’m not going to tell you what to do with your body. My problem is with the pressure she has that tells her what to do. — Statement from a Primary care physician (Puri 4) If it were not for this uncertainty, both SSTPs and PCPs would share the same opinions as those of the patients in Kalfoglou’s study that supported the women’s choice. Together these different beliefs and positions on the ethics of sex selection are what make developing regulations on the procedure such a complicated process.

RULES AND REGULATIONS By looking into the laws regarding sex selection and other ART in the United States and the United Kingdom, I was able to see different approaches to overcoming this complication. ART in the UK is primarily regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), specifically through their Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Act, which was first passed in 1990 (Ledger 65). During the initial passing of the Act, the primary aspects covered included A.) the restriction to three embryos transferred in an IVF cycle, B.) the requirement to report all cycles and outcomes to the HFEA, and C.) restriction on the exportation of embryos (Ledger 65). From the beginning, the HFEA took an authoritarian stance on IVF, and that characteristic remained as provisions were made over time. The 9th edition of the Code of Practice, released in October 2018, clarifies the restrictions specific to embryo testing and sex selection (HFEA 99-100). Under the HFE Act, licensed clinics are not authorized to test the gender of an embryo unless it is for “establishing whether the embryo has a gene, chromosome or mitochondrial abnormality that may affect its capacity to result in a live birth” (HFEA 99). Therefore, sex selection in the UK is currently only permitted for medical purposes.

The same can’t be said for the regulations implemented in the US. According to Lucy Frith and Eric Blyth, ART regulations in the US exist on both the federal and state level (517). Regulations at the state level vary from a comprehensive overview of allowed procedures to the complete absence of laws concerning sex 66 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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selection. As of 2014, thirteen states lack legislation relating to ART (Frith 518).

Multiple organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), oversee different areas of this technology at the federal level (Frith 517-518). Under their enforcement, fertility clinics require licenses and the Wyden Law was established to require clinics to report their success rates to the CDC annually (Frith 517). However, Frith and Blyth reported that 12% of clinics fail to file their reports every year (517). The resulting US data on ART is, therefore, not as comprehensive as the UK’s where even public consultations are held to discuss the current year’s data (Frith 517).

The American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) established a code of conduct and ethical guidelines for the clinics to follow (Frith & Blyth 517).

However, there is still no legal obligation that the clinics abide by this code.

THE EFFECTS The differences in how the US and the UK regulate ART, especially lifestyle sex selection, has resulted in the development of reproductive tourism which, in turn, continues the use of sex selection devaluing the standards set by the HFEA in the UK. Reproduction tourism is when patients living in regions where sex selection procedures are banned travel to another country where the procedure is legal (Bhatia 188). In this case, it would be patients from the UK traveling to the US to complete the procedure. This process is evidenced through a series of interviews with fertility clinic directors conducted by Rajani Bhatia, who holds a PhD in Women’s Studies (192-195). One US-based clinic estimated that about 60 percent of their “patients come from abroad, mostly from Australia, England, India, China, South Korea, and Canada” (Bhatia 194). Clinics based in countries where the procedure is banned are also taking part in the marketing of reproductive tourism (Bhatia 200). For example, clinics in the UK network with clinics in the US. Through these partnerships, clinics in the UK can conduct the initial tests that are legal, such as monitoring ovulation via ultrasound, then refer their patients to the US-based clinic to complete the sex selection process (Bhatia 201). As a clinic director stated in a January 2011 interview: In London we’ve got some clinics, we keep them busy, but we’re very cautious, we won’t give the patients the names of the places in advance. They’re not doing anything illegal. It’s totally legal; they’re basically doing ultrasounds for us. But I don’t want to expose them VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 67

to that, because they’re very valuable to us and if they shy off, it’s a hard [pause] we’ve developed these relationships over years, and the understanding is we keep it low-key, ‘cause they don’t need the grief.— U.S. clinic A director, interviewed by Bhatia US fertility clinics rely on their business with foreign clinics as a major source of their income. Therefore, as long as the variance in regulating sex selection stands these connections will expand along with the affinity for the procedure (Bhatia 201).

The use of sex selection technology has consequences of its own. A prominent issue is the formation of gender-bias and its effect on the population of females all over the world. Bongaarts and Guilmoto looked at this issue regarding the percent of missing females by comparing the total number of females in the population on a yearly basis based on the United Nation’s (UN) recorded data (Bongaarts 246).

In China, where the preference for male children is very prominent, the percent of missing females was estimated to be around 9.5 percent in 2010 (Bongaarts 246). That is the equivalence of 62.3 million missing females, a hindrance that is affecting the reproductive capabilities of the population there today (Bongaarts 247). The percent of missing women in the entire world increased from 3.3 percent to 3.7 percent between 1970 and 2010 (Bongaarts 247). In 2010, around 125.6 million females were missing and China and India, countries noted by Bongaarts and Guilmoto to show the most sex discrimination, accounted for 84 percent of the world total (246).

Figure 1: Estimated and projected numbers of missing females, 1970-2050

Bongaarts and Guilmoto also proved that son preference alone can’t have such a dramatic impact on the sex ratio (259). In countries such as Afghanistan and even some Indian states, the sex ratios are near average, and that is because of a lack of access to sex selection technology (Bongaarts 259). According to Bongaarts and Guilmoto, it is difficult to project exact future sex ratios because of the many 68 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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factors that affect them (260). Nevertheless, as exemplified in figure 1, the sex ratio will be severely off balanced by 2050, with the absence of females would come the inevitable decline in the population rate.

The concerns expressed by the participants of Kalfoglou, Scott, and Hudson’s study are reasonable when looking at the concept of building a baby and how it may be possible in the not too distant future. In November 2018, the success of editing the human genome of twin girls before birth became proof of that (Regan, Wright, & Field). According to the CNN report, Chinese scientist He Jiankui edited out the CCR5 gene, making the twins resistant to HIV (Regan). This triggered a lot of backlash towards the scientist. Chinese authorities shut down his research and many professionals dubbed the procedure “not medically necessary” because other treatments for HIV already exist, but the fact is genome editing is now achievable (Regan). Along with medical breakthroughs, procedures that would allow parents to choose the hair color, eye color, and height of embryos are in the works and in conjunction with sex selection, there would be nothing left to chance (Ossareh 729). When explaining why genetic modification is a fundamental right, Tandice Ossareh argues that genetic modification is “ethically distinct” from other ART in that it presents a solution to the unethical aspects of PGD (743). The option of making the embryo have all the attributes that the parents desire avoids the disposal of any embryos (Ossareh 743).

While the debate surrounding genome editing is more controversial than the sex selection debate, the effect the availability of sex selection will have on social classes remains. Along with the foreign attributes of the patients partaking in reproductive tourism, Bhatia also found that a subset of those patients were very wealthy: …or if they’re from the country itself, like if they’re coming from India, or Pakistan, or any of these other countries I mentioned, they’re not middle-class people, they’re not upper-middle-class people, they’re like upper-class people that have a lot of money.

People that own big companies, shipping companies, oil companies, computer companies. So, these are people that in their society, I mean even in our society, they would be wealthy people. People that are really high net worth people, maybe 30 million dollars and up type of people. — U.S. clinic B director, interviewed by Bhatia Considering the cost of the methods available for sex selection, it seems only the upper class will have access to these procedures. The price of sex selection is itself, a limitation that will create a visible division between social classes that would be VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 69

irreversible. The wealthy will be superior to the not so fortunate, and one can only imagine the ramifications of such a division.

CONCLUSION This issue concerns people all over the world, but it starts with areas, like the US, that allow fertility clinics to offer sex selection procedures for recreational reasons. The actions taken by the HFEA in the UK would have worked had there not been other areas in the world that allowed lifestyle sex selection. The US should set an example to other countries with lenient regulations on ART by prohibiting the use of lifestyle sex selection. Enforcing strict regulations on sex selection worldwide would counteract the resulting A) sex ratio imbalance that could decrease the population rate, B) the slippery-slope toward designer humans which will C) create a visible division between social classes. If each country can’t manage these regulations on its own, I propose that an organization similar to the HFEA be created to manage all forms reproductive technology across the whole world. That way, reproductive tourism would cease to be an issue and officials can keep a closer eye on the advancement allowing them to enforce laws that will properly regulate sex selection. Needless to say, the present debate proves that this will be a long and rigorous process, but not an impossible one.

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ARTIFICIAL WOMBS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS APARNA NANDURU Major: Chemistry Minor: Biochemistry Class of Spring 2022

ABOUT THE WORK An artificial womb is a novel hypothetical medical device, a “biobag,” that aims to replicate the fetal growth functions of a natural womb by helping carry gestated embryos/fetuses to term. Artificial wombs can provide a reproductive alternative for older women, women afflicted with certain gynecologic health conditions, single parents, members of the LGBTQ+ community, etc. to have their own children, free from the risks of pregnancy and childbirth. This technology is particularly interesting to policymakers, reproduction organizations/lobbyists, bioethicists, and parents looking to utilize this technology. However, there are drastic implications of this technology, raising serious ethical, moral, social, and other concerns, such as lack of prenatal bonding, divergent responses/ reactions, potential devaluation of women’s reproductive rights and voice, and ambiguity with parental consent. This research probes and analyzes the possible advantages, disadvantages, and future implications of artificial womb technology. This will be done by exploring key questions including the redefining of motherhood, philosophical and moral limitations, possible legal changes, and broader future trends in gender-related disparities. I use a secondary research method, using expert opinions from geneticists, research scientists, scientific journals, bioethicists, feminists, healthcare providers, and survey analysis to discuss the major questions mentioned above.

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INTRODUCTION Since the beginning of the human race, there has been only one way for a woman to give birth, often with high risks. Fortunately, emerging breakthroughs in reproductive technologies and practices such as abortion and surrogacy have empowered women to exercise their own choices regarding childbirth. A new technology on the horizon is the artificial womb, a pathway providing fetal nurturing outside the womb (Murphy 1). An artificial womb is a medical device or ‘biobag’ that serves to provide essential nutrients, nourishment, homeostatic temperature, movement, and parental sounds to an embryo that is extracted from a mother or surrogate, through in vitro fertilization, etc. (Prasad pars. 1-4).

In 1924, geneticist J. B. S. Haldane posed the idea of ‘ectogenesis,’ or reproduction external to the womb. In 2017, researchers delivered upon his vision through various research endeavors, such as the implantation of a mouse embryo into an artificial uterus and nurturing of premature lamb fetuses in an artificial womb (Rosen par. 2). Experimental results have led to widespread consensus that the extension of artificial wombs to successfully gestate human fetuses is highly likely in this century (Alghrani 194).

Artificial womb technology provides an opportunity for older women, women afflicted with certain gynecologic health conditions, single parents, and members of the LGBTQ+ community to have their own children. Artificial womb technology can provide an alternative pathway for surrogacy, freeing women from the dangers of pregnancy, and allow them to work during gestation (Kirkey par. 9). This technology is of particular interest to policymakers, reproduction organizations/lobbyists, bioethicists, as well as to would-be parents. This research paper will explore benefits, drawbacks, and possible future consequences to women’s reproductive rights through the redefining of motherhood. Issues that will be explored include questions include new definitions of motherhood, philosophical and moral limitations, possible legal frameworks, and future trends in gender-related disparities through investigation of an array of perspectives and commercial interests.

POSSIBLE ADVANTAGES OF ARTIFICIAL WOMBS From preventative reproductive technologies such as abortion and birth control to gestational reproductive technologies such as surrogacy and incubators, today’s women are presented with a wide variety of reproductive options. Artificial womb technology can prove to be a momentous milestone for mankind by ushering

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new reproductive choice and parity for women, emancipating women and fetuses from the dangers of pregnancy, and making childbirth available to all types of parents (Cohen 1). Artificial wombs may help society take further steps in the direction of the expansion of women’s reproductive rights. In addition, geneticist Aarathi Prasad considers artificial wombs to be “great biological and social equalizers” (Sandoiu par. 4). This could promote equitable sharing of parenthood responsibilities due to removal of biological constraints, reduce workplace discrimination, and eliminate many physical barriers faced by pregnant women (Prasad par. 14-16).

While pregnancy inflicts physical limitations on women, there are some women who are medically unable to gestate their own offspring. Women who have suffered miscarriages, have had hysterectomies due to uterine cancer, women with multiple fetuses, or other gynecological health conditions can benefit from the utilization of artificial wombs (Sandoiu par. 3). Artificial wombs would also provide an alternative to the practice of surrogacy, which has been to be psychological and economic exploitation of women by scholars such as law professor Roger Dworkin (Rosen par. 19).

Finally, artificial womb technology capacitates the spectrum of different parent types to have children of their own. These include single parents, same-sex couples, transgender couples, and sterile or older women. Fetuses can be provided a clinically safe and nourishing environment during all phases of fetal development, such as at the time of embryonic implantation or even during the final months of pregnancy if complications arise in the mother’s womb (Alghrani 196). While artificial wombs offer new reproductive equality and decisions, have medical benefits, and present unbeknownst avenues of childbirth for parents, it is also vital to consider and bridge other gender-related disparities that may arise as a result of this technology.

POSSIBLE DISADVANTAGES OF ARTIFICIAL WOMBS While artificial wombs offer parents a ray of hope, there are significant and considerable risks related to the philosophical, biological, and moral dilemmas attached. There are concerns about ectogenesis harming the emotional, physical, and ethical aspects of the bond between a mother and her child. Women, healthcare providers, and bioethicists around the world warn that incomplete prenatal attachment resulting from artificial womb technology could cast far-reaching implications.

Rosemarie Tong, a feminist and bioethicist, argues that “to the extent that we externalize an experience like pregnancy, it may lead to a view of the growing child as a ‘thing’” (Rosen par. 19). This sheds light on crucial questions such as the 74 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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significance of the mother-child relationship and what it means to be born, not made. Tong conveys that women who opt to use an artificial womb could face ethical dilemmas including parental connection with a child and be denigrated for choosing their child to be grown in a “’machine’” (Rosen par. 22).

Healthcare professionals will be the forerunners in offering artificial womb technology as a medical reproductive option. Healthcare professionals, however, have biopsychological concerns with its use. Neonatal nurse Trish Ringley states, parents will “forgo those early days of bonding if the infants were placed in an artificial womb” and could “take an emotional toll on the parents, and possibly even the babies themselves (Yuko pars. 17-18).” Neonatologist Dr. Sanjay Chawla makes a similar claim, by stating that a baby in an artificial womb may not “benefit from the maternal influences of labor, placental influence of hormones and biochemical signals” that are beneficial for the fetus’ health. This includes biological factors central to the process of pregnancy, such as elevated oxytocin levels during birthing, which are key to establishing a bond (Yuko par. 20). In a graver tone, social theorist Jeremy Rifkin suggested that there could be psychological implications of growing up as a “specimen” (Alghrani 195). This sheds light upon the importance of regulation to enforce treating a fetus/embryo with respect. These discrepancies exist today among non-traditional parents who have adopted or surrogate-produced children, so biological concerns such as attachment are seen as minor, or even negligible hindrances to child-parent bonding.

In addition, medical research breakthroughs such as reproductive cloning pose pressing concerns in regards to what extent researchers and society as a whole can ethically and morally utilize life for scientific purposes (Alghrani 190). Dr. Alan Flake, an artificial womb researcher, warns the “potentially inappropriate application of the technology to extend the limits of viability.” This could include trying to resuscitate seriously ill infants, putting them through unnecessary pain (Yuko, pars. 7-12). Religious and conservative organizations take serious issue with this and believe that humans have no right in gestating or bringing a fetus back from the dead (Yuko par. 11). The question arises as to who should make the informed decision of whether to proceed with an artificial womb: parents, physicians, or bioethicists. This must be clearly defined. In response to these concerns, author Christian Monroy states “Despite the severe ethical dilemmas that artificial wombs present, the sheer benefit that they will bring for premature babies and their families is much too important to deny (par. 6).”

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participants of twenty young Israeli women was used to conduct one such exercise.

After being presented with information regarding what an artificial womb is, the majority of the women described a natural womb as feminine, intimate, tender, and a safe haven, while describing an artificial womb as shocking, detached, and a possible harm to the mother-child relationship. Through the process of the interview, most women felt that the process of becoming pregnant transforms a woman into a caregiver, that the use of an artificial womb was a difficult alternative and last resort. It could also result in a lack of limits and potential abuse (Landau 13). These moral opinions held by the Israeli women are likely one end of the vast spectrum of opinions held by feminists and women’s reproductive activists, which nevertheless provides a new insight into their perspective and brings them into the conversation. It is important to juxtapose these opinions results against differences in socioeconomic, political, religious, cultural background etc.

When surveying the opinions of contemporary women regarding this technology, feminists are concerned with the social harm it may inflict upon women. In her 2014 article, journalist Samantha Allen states that “ectogenesis will pry open every gendered fault-line in contemporary culture politics (par. 7).” Building upon this momentous change, feminist Sarah Langford discusses varying feminist opinions in regards to the moral dilemmas and implications faced by women with the option of using an artificial womb. Langford argues that while artificial wombs enhance reproductive options for women, they are faced with an ultimatum of choosing between gestation and birth or ectogenesis— possibly resulting in the unforeseen mandatory birth of a fetus in all cases, including where the mother does not wish to bring her genetically related children into existence (Langford 264). This raises serious moral dilemmas where the right to decide what happens to a fetus is in every other hand except the mother. A “ectogenetic solution” as a prevention of complete abortion, which perpetuates loss of control of a woman over her life, was condemned (Langford 265). Supporters of women’s rights worry that externalization of the birth process may cause other individuals to exert authority over the fetus via the artificial womb, which may cause the reproductive rights and choices of women to vanish.

POSSIBLE FUTURE IMPLICATIONS OF ARTIFICIAL WOMBS As artificial womb technology dawns upon society in the future, there is widespread concern and undefined specifications about who controls key decisions concerning human life: women, laws, physicians, or even third-party members.

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gestation and abortion rights. Currently, individual states in America continue to regulate, expand, and tighten anti-abortion laws from the original verdicts of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. The vast majority of states require physicians to perform abortions, set varying gestational limits, and many prohibit public funding of abortion (An Overview of Abortion Laws 1). With respect to artificial wombs, the most threatened reproductive right is parental consent, where in some cases, the legal consent of both parents must be obtained in order to proceed with an abortion or fetal removal. In a 2017 journal article, Cohen uses current laws as a framework to probe three primary challenges that the use of artificial wombs will cause for abortion rights. These include prohibition of abortion after viability, allowance of fetal transferal to an artificial womb as an alternative to abortion, or prohibition of both abortion and transfer to an artificial womb (Cohen 1). Forcing women to transfer their unwanted fetuses into ectogenetic incubators would be a gross violation of a woman’s fundamental right to privacy. (Alghrani 198) As a result, women may be facing a state-imposed decision regarding their bodies, threatening reproductive freedom.

Intertwined with possible future legal implications, there is potential for drastic and negative change in the way society views women’s reproductive capabilities.

Feminist theorist Shulamith Firestone argued in her 1970 novel that women’s freeing “from the tyranny of their reproductive biology” can perpetuate social and gender equality. A similar sentiment was conveyed by philosopher Peter Singer in 1985 who stated, “I think women will be helped, rather than harmed, by the development of a technology that makes it possible for them to have children without being pregnant” (Rosen pars. 16-21). Both Firestone and Singer state that the impact of artificial wombs on the reproductive status of women in our society will be positive as they eliminate the biological barrier to childbirth.

However, the reproductive choice to opt for an artificial womb may also spell out a societal devaluation of women. For example, in deeply misogynistic societies, reproduction is the only right and societal power that a woman has. Robyn Sandiou mentions that in these staunchly patriarchal societies, women are at least valued for their reproductive abilities. A history of marginalization and discrimination against women may set the stage for loss of any voice in regards to reproduction and children. If this right is denied, unprecedented violence and suppression may result (Sandiou par. 6). In a 1987 journal article, sociologist Rowland warns that “For the history of ‘mankind’ women have been seen in terms of their value as childbearers…if that last power is taken and controlled by men, what role is envisaged for women in the new world? Will women become obsolete?” (526).

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right to life over the decision of a woman on becoming a mother or terminating her pregnancy. During the decision-making process, regulation, awareness, and informed consent from involved parties are crucial to safeguarding the reproductive rights and choice of women.

In an analytical article, Monroy acknowledges these risks, but states that artificial wombs are a necessary technology that deserve more investment and attention.

He agrees, however, that while embarking upon this technology, society must “be aware of the ways in which employers, insurers or politicians could abuse them, and be prepared to prevent that from happening” (Monroy par. 6). While the burden of childbearing and discrimination against childless women may be on the decline, society must seriously consider and respond to marginalization faced by women in tangential areas of society.

CONCLUSION Artificial wombs are a revolutionary technology with the ability to drastically change women’s reproductive rights as we know them, either favorably or unfavorably, immediately and in the future. Women, feminists, policymakers, bioethicists, religious officials, healthcare industry workers, and other parental care units represent various opinions and vested interests in response to the regulation of artificial wombs. While offering a beacon of hope and new possibilities for women, the transition of motherhood from inside a woman to a medical device may threaten current reproductive rights and significantly impact gender-related social standing through the questioning of new moral and ethical beliefs. Artificial wombs offer glorious advantages such as perpetuating social equalization, increased reproductive options, protection from pregnancy complications, opportunities for all types of parents to gestate their own children, and elimination of physical hindrances experienced by women. Future concerns with this technology, however, include lack of prenatal attachment, divergent response/reactions, potential devaluation of women’s reproductive rights and voice, and ambiguity with regard to parental consent. It remains to be seen when artificial wombs will be used in society and in a manner that is widely accepted. Future research tends towards the need for exploration of legal regulation, propagation of awareness campaigns, and further survey of public response to this paradigm shift. As vast medical research breakthroughs support artificial wombs as a part of the reproductive future of women, societal awareness and legal policies appear to be key in safeguarding these rights of women in the future.

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CLEAN KILLING: OYSTER RESTORATION AND WATER POLLUTION NADIRAH MUHAMMAD Major: English Concentration: Writing and Rhetoric Minors: Philosophy and Law Class of Fall 2021

ABOUT THE WORK This paper is a reflection of a year of my life dedicated completely to learning and researching.

I am very passionate about sustainability and our environment— so much, that I felt compelled to compose a research paper that discusses the necessity of oyster restoration. Oysters have the amazing ability to filter and clean several gallons of water a day. Their bivalve systems enable them to sift through the dirt and other impurities to produce clean, filtered water, improving our estuaries. In Virginia Beach, I lived very close to the Chesapeake Bay, which happens to be the world’s largest estuary. I hope my research speaks for itself and highlights the time and effort I dedicated to learning about sustainability and our environment.

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ABSTRACT This paper explores the effect of water pollution on the depletion of oysters and other bivalve mollusks. In addition, this paper will discuss the filtration abilities of oysters and the benefits of a thriving oyster population to an ecosystem. Being filter feeders, oysters are able to remove plankton and other organic particles from the water column. Therefore, a healthy oyster reef is favorable to the improvement of water quality and water clarity. Furthermore, this paper will recognize the laws and regulations currently implemented nationwide to aid in the preservation of clean water. Several congressional bills and legal cases will also be discussed to observe how laws are being implemented to control water pollution. Continuing to live as carelessly as we do, with no regard for the consequences of our actions, will lead to potentially fatal repercussions.

INTRODUCTION Imagine living in a massive, debilitating landfill, surrounded by waste, sewage and impurities, forced to exist day by day with the knowledge that conditions are worsening. Trash is burgeoning, and although a solution is possible, it is being ignored. Unfortunately, this unimagined nightmare has become a noctambulous reality. Approximately 894 million people do not have access to improved water sources globally, according to a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). According to a survey done by the Food & Water Watch, “approximately 3.5 billion people in 2015 will face water shortage issues.” (“Water Pollution Facts,” n.d).

It is imperative that the human population takes on the responsibility for the preservation of estuary mollusks and the overall environment. The dramatic decline of oyster populations has displayed profound implications on the quality of the local waters such as the Chesapeake Bay and the Lynnhaven River. The quality of the water that surrounds the land directly corresponds with the manner in which waste is treated on land, and the anthropogenic pollution produced.

The anthropocentric nature of human beings, to consider ourselves as the center and priority of existence, exacerbates apathy toward the environment. With an exponentially growing population that is seeing no decreasing growth speed any time soon, water pollution conditions are only worsening. It is the responsibility of the human population to take into account the effects of harmful actions, to preserve the beauty of the world and to protect wildlife as opposed to destroying it.

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bodies of water provide a vague set of regulations for water pollution. Pollution control laws are currently being altered with stricter restrictions and punishments to discourage and reduce the amount of toxins entering local waters such as the Chesapeake Bay and the Lynnhaven River. Stricter pollution control laws along with increased policies set in place such as oyster restoration projects, could significantly decrease the pollution levels in local waters. In addition, educating the public on minuscule efforts such as properly disposing of household chemicals and cleaning agents will further aid in orchestrating the fight against increased water pollution.

WHAT IS WATER POLLUTION? According to section 502 of the Clean Water Act: The term “pollutant” means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water. While the term “pollution” is understood to mean the man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological integrity of water. (“Clean Water Act, Section 502 General Definitions,” n.d) From the definition above, it is evident that water pollution takes on several different forms. It expands much further than fertilizer runoff and corporation oil spills. It is a complex problem that, without reformation, could result in a substantial amount of the population unable to gain access to safe drinking water.

Often, individuals in developed countries like the United States, fail to see the implications of potentially harmful environmental actions. However, developing countries such as India, Kenya, and Bangladesh are experiencing “water stress” due to the contamination of surface water as sewage treatment is deteriorating (“Water Pollution Facts,” n.d.).

POINT SOURCE AND NON-POINT SOURCE POLLUTION It is generally understood that pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the environment, and as a whole, contributes to the increased sedimentation in our waters. This in turn leads to a massive decrease in dissolved oxygen, which leads 82 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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to an olio of several other issues, including the decrease in the fish population, an increase in unemployment rates, as commercial fishermen are unable to meet their daily quota, and a decrease in tourism.

However, there are two particular types of pollution that should be contrasted, as they differ from each other greatly. The first, and most potent, is point-source pollution, which refers to pollution that can be traced back and identified to a specific source or hub. For example, point-source pollution can occur “from pipes, outfalls, and conveyance channels from either municipal wastewater treatment plants or individual waste treatment facilities” (EPA, 2010). The second, and arguably more dangerous type, is non-point source pollution, which “results when contaminants are introduced into the environment over a large, widespread area” (“Point Source and Non-Point Source Pollution,” n.d.).

OYSTER RESTORATION Oyster reef restoration refers to the process of rebuilding or restoring oyster reefs all around the globe. Oysters are extremely vital to the ecosystem and contribute to the purification of estuaries and other bodies of water. The anatomical makeup of the oyster and other mollusks is what enables their ability to filter water and improve water quality. Oysters are bivalves, meaning the mollusks possess laterally compressed bodies, enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As bivalves, “oysters possess the ability to ingest sediment and enjoy eating bacteria or microscopic algae” (“What Is a Bivalve Mollusk?,” n.d.). As sediment is ingested and the phytoplankton is consumed, the oysters “sieve the water around them in search for nourishment” (Palermo, 2014). The tissue that resides in the bivalves absorbs “some of the chemicals and pathogens that [are] present in the water such as herbicides, pharmaceuticals and flame retardants” (Palermo, 2014). As the restoration of these oysters is imperative to a healthy ecosystem, several organizations have made it their objective to protect the oysters that reside in the Chesapeake Bay. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it is estimated that, in the past, oysters were able to filter the entirety of the Chesapeake Bay over the course of a week, with each native mussel filtering about two liters of water a day. However, “the sharp decrease in the number of oysters means that currently, it takes the oyster population about a year to filter the same amount of water” (“Oyster Reefs - Oysters - Chesapeakebay.noaa.gov,” n.d.).

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DOMESTIC LAWS THAT GOVERN OUR WATERS There are currently six main federal statutes that are governing water resources in the United States: The Clean Water Act, The Safe Drinking Water Act, Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, Endangered Species Act, Rivers & Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899, National Environmental Policy Act. The Clean Water Act The Clean Water Act can be identified as one of the most pivotal and influential laws governing the protection and preservation of domestic waters. The Clean Water Act (CWA), in very general terms “sets the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants to waters of the United States.” In addition, it regulates the quality of standards for surface waters. The Clean Water Act establishes that “any pollution that is discharged from a point source into navigable waters is unlawful, unless a permit is obtained” (“Laws, Regulations, Treaties,” n.d.). When discussing the topic of water pollution and oyster restoration, often the CWA is brought into question. Several environmental agencies and protection organizations argue for the strengthening of the CWA, in order to limit the amount of pollution permitted into bodies of water. Although “Congress is unlikely to place water pollution legislation on the agenda soon, people generally should become more aware of the valuable ecosystem services they derive from healthy ecosystems” (Ruhl, 2015).

The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) regulates point sources that discharge pollutants into waters of the United States. As a subsection of the Clean Water Act, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System “requires that all industrial, municipal, and commercial facilities that discharge wastewater or stormwater directly from a point source must obtain a government issued permit.” (“Water Quality Standards,” n.d). The permits are meant to ensure that the waters receiving the wastewater or stormwater will achieve the water quality standards. The introduction of the National Pollution Elimination System has “been responsible for significant improvements [of] our nation’s and state’s water quality” since its introduction in 1972. (“National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) - Wastewater,” n.d).

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Water Quality Standards-based Limits Effluent limitations, also known as water quality standards, serve as the primary mechanism in National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permits for controlling discharges of pollutants to receiving waters. Water “quality standards are state or tribal requirements that define the water quality goals of a lake, stream, or other water body” (“Water Quality Standards,” n.d.). The purpose of these implemented water quality standards is to designate the beneficial uses and set criteria to protect those uses. These beneficial uses could include activities such as fishing, swimming, boating, aquatic habitat etc. When developing effluent limitations for a National Pollution Elimination System permit, a permit writer must consider limits based on both the technology available to control the pollutants and limits that are protective of the water quality standards of the receiving water.

Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a US federal agency whose mission is to protect human and environmental health. Not only does the Environmental Protection Agency protect American citizens from significant risks to their health, but the agency also ensures that “environmental protection contributes to making our communities and ecosystems diverse, sustainable and economically productive” (“Our Mission and What We Do,” n.d.).

WHY DO THE LAWS NEED TO BE ALTERED? As the world population continues to grow, waste and pollution accumulate simultaneously. It is becoming increasingly difficult to contain the waste that is continually being produced without grossly contaminating the waters of the nation.

Freshwater streams, lakes, and estuaries need to be protected to maintain aquatic biodiversity and marine populations. Policymakers are attempting to impose stricter pollution controls to preserve water quality. For example, in 2011, The Obama Administration imposed stricter pollution control laws on millions of acres of wetlands and tens of thousands of miles of streams. This was meant to “prevent the dumping of mining waste and the discharge of industrial pollutants to waters that feed swimming holes and drinking water supplies. This policy change affected tributaries flowing into water bodies such as our Chesapeake Bay” (“EPA Proposes Stricter Controls on Water Pollution,” 2011). When the decision was finalized, water quality standards were applied to a range of waterways, which included “the VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 85

headwaters of lakes and rivers as well as intermittent streams” (“EPA Proposes Stricter Controls on Water Pollution,” 2011).

HOW CAN THE LAWS BE ALTERED? As mentioned by Dr. Ruhl in a earlier section, Congress is unlikely to see any water pollution legislation on the agenda; therefore, the seemingly best way to alter laws to discourage water pollution is to “require more permits and [to make] the attainment of permits increasingly difficult” (“U.S. EPA Avoids Stricter Water Pollution Standards for Gulf of Mexico - Circle of Blue WaterNews,” 2015). In the case of Gulf Restoration Network v. McCarthy, the plaintiffs argue, “numeric limits are key to controlling pollution in the Mississippi River Basin and reducing the dead zone” (“U.S. EPA Avoids Stricter Water Pollution Standards for Gulf of Mexico - Circle of Blue WaterNews,” 2015). According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a dead zone is the adopted colloquial term for hypoxia, which refers to a reduced level of oxygen in the water (“What Is a Dead Zone?,” n.d.). In addition to making the attainment of permits more difficult, several congressional bills are currently being debated on in order to strengthen water pollution control. For example, the Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act of 2013 amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize the administration of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make grants to nonprofit organizations. These grants will provide technical assistance to rural and small municipalities and tribal governments for planning, developing, and financing eligible state water pollution control revolving fund projects. In addition, the grants will provide technical assistance and training to enable rural, small, and tribal publicly owned treatment works and decentralized wastewater systems to protect water quality and comply with the Clean Water Act (CWA).

HOW CAN THE LAWS BE ALTERED? From a local standpoint, the Chesapeake Bay has remained a pollution problem area and has seen its share of governmental efforts to subside the gargantuan amount of pollution for decades. The initial attempt began in 1983 when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Chesapeake Bay Commission, along with the states Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. signed the Chesapeake Bay Agreement. This one-paged document served as the pioneer in clean water reform as it set the “first numeric goals to reduce pollution- a forty perfect reduction by 2000” (“Case in Brief,” 2005). However, upon noticing 86 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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that the set goals were far from being met, the EPA and the states signed a new agreement. The new agreement established one hundred and two goals to reduce pollution by 2010, titled the Chesapeake 2000. The case American Farm Bureau Federation, et al. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency brings up a new issue regarding the total maximum daily load (TMDL) plans for the Chesapeake Bay. “The TMDL is a historic and comprehensive ‘pollution diet’ to restore clean water in the Chesapeake Bay and the region’s streams, creeks, and rivers” (“Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL),” n.d). The issue at hand is the EPA overstepping the boundaries. The plaintiffs argue that the EPA was acting “outside of the scope” of its authority under the Clean Water Act, and that the EPA violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to provide an adequate notice and comment period. Lastly, the plaintiffs alleged that the TMDL was “arbitrary and capricious in that it relied on flawed science” (“Case in Brief,” 2005). The case ended in favor of the EPA, as the Court “affirmed that the pollution limits that [the] EPA established in December 2010 for the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries are within the Agency’s purview and are based on sound science” (“Judge Rambo ruling: American Farm Bureau, Et Al v. EPA, Et Al.,” n.d.).

OYSTERS Oysters, being an extremely vital organism, are essential to any freshwater habitat. Living in an area largely encased by several bodies of water, it is easy to notice the effects an aquatic species has on its habitat. Any source of biodiversity is imperative to a healthy ecosystem and the incorporation of several varieties of aquatic mollusks contributes to a thriving ecosystem.

Filtration Abilities Because oysters are filter feeders, they take in the contaminants that manifest in estuaries and freshwater habitats and thus purify the water. This ability is their way of fulfilling their ecological niche. An ecological niche can be defined as the “role [or] position a species has in its environment; how it meets its needs for food and shelter, how it survives, and how it reproduces.”

From a biological perspective, it is a way for all species to have a purpose in the environmental world: “it is advantageous for a species to occupy a unique niche in an ecosystem because it reduces the amount of competition for resources that species will encounter” (Arrington, n.d.).

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Nutrient Uptake Sequestration In addition to the oyster’s ability to filter out water impurities, oysters also partake in nutrient uptake sequestration. With the increase in global temperatures, the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) within the ocean also begins to reach saturation. As a result of this, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the ocean to absorb the carbon put into the ocean. Therefore, a future concern of several environmental scientists is the extraction of carbon from the ocean. A “method for achieving the removal of carbon from the ocean would be through the ancient practice of shellfish framing” (“Carbon Sequestration Potential of Shellfish,” 2009). The shell that encases a shellfish “absorbs Carbon as it grows”(“Carbon Sequestration Potential of Shellfish,” 2009). “The shellfish [produces] Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) to form its shell, which means a percentage of its shell, contains Carbon” (“Carbon Sequestration Potential of Shellfish,” 2009).

Substrate for Hard bottom Benthos and Refuge for other Biota Oysters have the ability to congregate atop of each other to form reefs where oyster larvae can attach and continue their development. This substrate is not only beneficial to the growth of an oyster colony, but it also has several other ecological benefits for the habitat. As defined by the Oyster Reef Restoration Project: Substrate is the base upon which an organism lives. In the case of oysters, the substrate can be natural material such as oyster shell, mangrove roots, or limestone, or it can be manmade surfaces such as dock pilings or seawalls. (“Oyster Reef Restoration Project,” n.d) Developed oyster reefs provide “important forage and refuge habitat for over 300 species of invertebrates, such as shrimp, crabs, clams, snails and worms, as well as many species of fish such as snook, grouper, redfish, black drum and more” (“Oyster Reef Restoration Project,” n.d.).

Reduced Sediment Resuspension If there is an immense amount of sedimentation in the water, light will be blocked (sediment pollution), and photosynthesis will be impeded. Clearer water 88 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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allows for more sunlight penetration, which can lead to expansion of seagrass beds.

Human impact largely corresponds to how much sedimentation is in the ocean.

The filtration abilities of oysters help to reduce the amount of sedimentation that is in the ocean and other bodies of water. Oyster reefs, in addition to other shoreline plantings such as mangrove forests, serve to stabilize the shoreline and reduce erosion. If there is an immense amount of sedimentation in the water, sunlight will be blocked, otherwise known as sediment pollution, and photosynthesis will be decreased. Generally, human impact determines how much sedimentation is in the ocean. Assuming the oysters will remain protected and able to filter water, the amount of sedimentation in the ocean will remain at a functional level.

OYSTER PROTECTION Although oysters are recognized as being an “extremely resilient species, able to tolerate wide variations in salinity and temperature,” oysters are not resistant to the pressures of disease, overharvesting, and pollution. Due to the stresses oysters have experienced in our Chesapeake Bay, “native oyster populations are at less than one percent of historic levels” (“Oyster Restoration – Oysters Chesapeakebay.noaa.gov,” n.d.). This sizeable decline in oyster populations has “dramatically changed the ecology of the Bay as well as the oyster fishery and then cultural tradition of watermen who harvest seafood from the Bay for a living” (“Oyster Restoration – Oysters Chesapeakebay. noaa.gov,” n.d.). In addition to overharvesting and pollution, oysters endure several other stressors such as low salinities and dissolved oxygen (DO), warm air temperatures, and abundant predators” (“Oyster Restoration Workgroup,” n.d.). Hard substrate, food, and relatively warm water temperatures are important conditions to support sustainable oyster populations (“Oyster Restoration Workgroup,” n.d.).

OYSTER SHELL RECYCLING Recycling oyster shells is a resourceful and recyclable way for oyster reefs to be replenished after human impact, overharvesting, and pollution. Mature oyster shells are used as homes for baby oysters called spats. Historically, young oysters have used the shells of mature oysters from nearby reefs to attach themselves and begin their development; however, due to decreased populations, oyster protection programs have had to come up with alternatives for the spat to settle on to. Oyster recycling shell sites set up by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation such as Smalls VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 89

Smokehouse and Oyster Bar in Norfolk, Virginia places the recycled shells in tanks of water with millions of microscopic oyster larvae swimming and attaching to the shells. After several days, the shell can be used to create a new oyster bar and lead to creating new and thriving oyster reefs. These recycled shells can come from a variety of different sources, such as seafood restaurants, oyster roasts, seafood festivals, and several other events.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR WATERS? Water pollution has remained an issue at the forefront of environmentalists concerns for decades. Water pollution examples include highway litter and groups of contaminants being widely distributed across the watershed. Although both are a concern, a local worry is that the fish and wildlife in the Chesapeake Bay will be affected as a result of the contaminants being introduced into the Bay. Contaminants such as “PCBs, PAHs, herbicides, and mercury … were determined to be of high severity in terms of adverse effects across the watershed or in local areas” (“Contaminants Affect Fish and Wildlife in the Chesapeake Bay,” n.d.). In addition to foreign chemicals, the depletion of natural environmental agents set in place to maintain biodiversity and fish populations has grown as a result of water pollution. Dissolved oxygen content in water is as essential to marine wildlife as oxygen is to humans and therefore contributes directly to aquatic biodiversity. The decrease of biodiversity in our local waters has profound ecological and economic effects, specifically because the city of Virginia Beach attracts tourists. In addition, runoff from point-source and non-point source pollution can contribute to the decrease in dissolved oxygen, which, in turn, decreases the fish population. Since dissolved oxygen is needed for the marine life to respire, “it is necessary for the survival of fish, invertebrates, bacteria and underwater plants, [as well as] the decomposition of organic matter” (“What Is Dissolved Oxygen in Water?” 2010).

WATER PRIVATIZATION Another issue that raises a threat to the quality of water is water privatization.

Several communities may feel pressured to sell and outsource their public water systems to public corporations, therefore sacrificing “the local control of essential services that is so critical for public health and well-being” (“Public Water for All,” 2015). According to the Food and Water Watch Organization, investor owned utilities typically charge 33% more for water and 63% more for sewer service than local government utilities charge (“Public Water for All,” 2015).

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NUTRIENT LOADING Nutrient loading also known as eutrophication is the process in which a mass amount of nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, are introduced to bodies of water, acting as fertilizer and creating excessive growth of algae. Not only do algae blooms decrease photosynthesis levels by blocking sunlight from penetrating deep enough to reach aquatic plants, but the blooms also decrease the amount of dissolved oxygen available for aquatic life—leading to decaying sea grass and increased fish deaths (“What Is Nutrient Pollution?” n.d.).

LEGAL ASPECTS OF WATER POLLUTION Water pollution control laws vary from country to country; however, all maintain similar goals. For example, The London Convention in England limits ocean dumping from vessels, aircraft and platforms due to their belief that marine and ship pollution poses a serious threat to the world’s oceans (Hague, n.d.). China has recently developed a plan to “reverse the deterioration of water quality and improve management of water resources.” The plan is called the Action Plan for Water Pollution Prevention, and it sets “progressive goals over the next few decades, while providing a wide-ranging policy agenda that includes stricter regulation of industry effluent discharges, combined with market-based incentives and promotion of… cleaner technologies” (“China Announces New Comprehensive Water Pollution Control Plan,” n.d.). China hopes the new policy will produce significant changes, as it promises a radical transformation of water quality regulation. Although there are specific water pollution control laws set in place with the intent to meet the specific needs of each individual country, there are some international water quality laws that all nations must abide by. For example, the Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988, enforced by the EPA but acting as an international law, “made it unlawful for any person to dump, or transport for the purpose of dumping, sewage sludge or industrial waste into ocean waters after December 31, 1991” (“Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988,” n.d.).

CONCLUSION Water pollution is a growing problem that affects every creature inhabiting the planet. One of the best combatants to water pollution is water pollution control.

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natural methods, allows for the filter feeders to purify the water naturally while replenishing the previously depleted population. A more man-made approach would be to implement laws and regulations that control water pollution and allow for environmental agencies and restoration programs to gain funding. For example, Senate Bill S. 1523 seeks to renew federal funding to promote the environmental wellness of estuaries. The bill also encourages the National Estuary Program NEP to promote a new grant program that will allow them to tackle issues such as “the destruction of seagrass, algae blooms, flooding, and low levels of oxygen in estuary waters” (“Does the National Estuary Program need to be reauthorized?,” n.d).

Although Congress is unlikely to place water pollution control at a high position on their agenda, water pollution and the severity of it is a growing issue that can be decreased with a few simple human contributions. Individuals can aid in the protection of the water by disposing of household chemicals properly, using environmentally friendly household chemicals, minimizing the use of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, and also turning of the tap water when it is not needed.

Simple acts performed everyday can make a profound impact on the quality of the water with which the human population interacts with daily. The protection of the water is essential and necessary for survival. Although tainted, its purity can be restored with proper strategies and resourceful usage.

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IMPACTS OF HEGEMONY ON THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM AND POTENTIAL ECONOMIC THREATS TO AMERICAN DOMINANCE FROM CHINA SIERRA WILBUR Major: Government Concentration: International Relations Class of Spring 2022

ABOUT THE WORK The fundamental question regarding the sustainability of American hegemony is China’s infiltration of the American political landscape. In order to address the validity of a potential Chinese hegemony, this research analyzes the nature and cycles of hegemony. After addressing the trends of hegemony, I will analyze a brief history of China’s economy to understand what has led to the current boom in its economy. While scholars believe China possesses the ability to eventually earn the title of hegemon, China must first continue to grow its economy and take a more active role in the international system. The United States has placed containment policies on China, which has greatly increased tensions between the two countries and in the international system in an effort to limit China’s ability to rise as a new hegemon. Some scholars argue that the containment policies the U.S. placed on China could result in more damage than good.

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INTRODUCTION Recent policies of the Trump Administration have raised the question of a sustainable American hegemony and have captured domestic and foreign headlines. These headlines claim American dominance will be surpassed by China, who is America’s greatest economic competitor and threat. Throughout history, hegemons have affected the international system by influencing other countries’ ideological, political and economic systems. A change in hegemon would greatly affect countries, as the political and economic ideologies would change to a certain degree. This change is due to each nation reacting to the new influences differently, as each nation possesses a unique culture and history. Therefore, the focus of this research is to evaluate the validity of Chinese ascension and the potential economic threats posed to American hegemony. This research will specifically address: How does hegemony shape the international system and what are the potential economic challenges American hegemony faces from China?

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Before addressing the validity of a Chinese hegemony, the concepts and theories of hegemony must be dissected and discussed. Often, hegemony and unipolarity are interchangeably used despite crucial differences. Unipolarity is a type of power organization with the ability to impose its will on other nation-states by exercising cultural, economic, and militaristic influence (Modelski, 1978). Hegemony is a subset of unipolarity where power organizations have the capacity to impose a system of rules and culture, but these power organizations must also continually and actively do so in order to maintain the hegemonic title. Therefore, unipolarity is the ability to impose, while hegemony is the action of imposing. While many countries are able to identify as unipolar, there can only be one ruling hegemon.

(Ness, 2002). The concept of hegemony originated out of a need for order in the global political system. Political systems are created for the management of nationstate interdependence at different levels. Furthermore, many scholars support the hegemonic stability theory which suggests the international system is more likely to remain stable when a single nation state is the dominant world power (Modelski, 1978). Therefore, through hegemonic cycles, organization and order have been maintained. Hegemonic cycles, the competition amongst nations, and the resulting transitions are not just necessary, but inescapable, as one nation has not been able to permanently maintain the title of world power (Beeson, 2009).

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crucial for understanding the prestige and power of a hegemonic title whose two main factors are the economic and political profiles of a nation state. Therefore, changes in the relative economic or political standings of a nation state can alter or disrupt an established hegemony, consequently affecting the entire international system. These changes undermine balances of power, leading to instability and tension as rising states utilize this transition period to alter the international system and reflect their own interests (Modelski, 1978).

ORIGINS OF AMERICAN HEGEMONY Most scholars tend to agree the establishment and global recognition of American hegemony was solidified at the end of World War II. The United States emerged as the strongest nation due to lack of substantial damage to its infrastructure, housing stock, and demographic profile. Additionally, America became the postwar home of the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank which aided in the significance, prestige, and establishment of the United States as a hegemon. As the established hegemon, American culture, economic theory, and military strategy began to influence nations all around the world (Beeson, 2004).

Through this role as hegemon, the United States exercised its power to alter rules and regulations, which bound the international system, as well as the behavior and culture of this system. However, doubt regarding the sustainability of American dominance began with the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and have increased due to current controversial policies within the Trump administration. Therefore, speculation is growing and many are not confident America can sustain its role as hegemon, and instead believe a new hegemonic cycle may soon begin (Ness, 2002).

THE RISE OF CHINA When debating the sustainability of American hegemony, two critical questions must be answered. First, how quickly are China’s economic capabilities advancing?

This question is important to address because in order to discuss current Chinese development and advancement, I must first analyze China’s past economic strategy. Until 1978, Chinese markets were very limited by state ownership over most companies and services. Although the Chinese central administration coordinated the economy and distributed resources, most of the economic activity was decentralized with little flow of goods and services (Babones, 2015). In 1949, the Communist Party gained power and sought out new objectives: to evolve 96 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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into a modern, powerful nation. China sought to accomplish this rise through economic terms with their goals, including industrialization, improvement of living standards, narrowing of income differences, and production of modern military products. Through the years, the leaders attempted to accomplish these goals, but the economic tactics enacted to achieve said goals were dramatically altered in response to changes in the economy and domestic and international politics (Eckstein, 1964).

In the late 1970s, the Chinese economy went through a drastic change under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping; the economic system switched from communism to capitalism. The opening of the Chinese economy led to rapid economic development. This development was accomplished through agrarian transformation, nationalization of banking, transport, industry and trade, as well as, centralization of fiscal administration, rationing, implementing price and wage control, and a variety of other regulations all designed to assure the goal of economic development (Beeson, 2009).

Due to modernization and rapid economic growth, China altered its interests from a nation “surviving” to one “desiring” a rise in status. Now, China does not want to simply respond to international systems but it seeks to shape the international system (Goldstein, 2001). In order to help accomplish this goal, China has concentrated on expanding the country’s ability to produce capital goods and military material (Beeson, 2009). Through maintaining international conditions and focusing on domestic development, as well as reducing other world powers exploitation of Chinese material advantages, China believes a rise in station is not just possible but assured (Goldstein, 2001).

A substantial amount of foreign policy regarding China centers around the second fundamental question of whether China will be a revisionist state that seeks to change the world order or a status quo state that will respect and play by international rules. For the purpose of this research, a crucial distinction between status quo and revisionist states must be established. These two terms directly correlate to a country’s power status. Extremely powerful and influential states such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan are categorized as status quo states, while others like Iran and North Korea, which are unsatisfied with their place in the international system, are categorized as revisionist states.

Some scholars believe China is an evolving revisionist state.Thus these scholars support and encourage foreign policy that would enact and enforce containment policies on China’s economy (Zhang, 2004).

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answer will directly shape diplomatic attitudes and actions towards China. Currently, American foreign policy toward China and China’s international stance has led to growing tension as scholars have labeled relations between these two countries the “New Cold War” (Beeson, 2009). The robust expansion and development of China’s economy caught the attention of nations all over the world, especially the United States. In response, the United States has adopted containment policies in an attempt to slow China’s growing economy (Goldstein, 2001). Recently, the Trump administration has supported increased tariffs on Chinese goods which may escalate into a trade war between the two economies. The United States implemented tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods while China reacted by taxing $60 billion worth of American products. Through these new tariffs, tensions between China and America have significantly increased, as displayed by China labeling the United States as an “economic hegemon” and the deterioration of the multilateral trading system. Multilateral trading systems are commerce treaties between three or more nations which agree to reduce tariffs and allow for increased efficiency for businesses to import and export products. However, regardless of this treaty, the Trump administration decided to implement these new tariffs in an attempt to slow China’s economic growth and protect American interests. The long term impacts of these tariffs are not yet determined and only time will show the effectiveness of the tariffs. (Kuo, 2018).

THE VALIDITY OF A POTENTIAL CHINESE HEGEMONY While some scholars believe China shows future promise of one day obtaining the title of hegemon, these scholars do not believe a power transition between China and the United States will occur in the near future. Rather, the United States will remain the ruling hegemon for at least the next half-century. Therefore, the United States and China must begin mending their hostile relationship in order to maintain a stable socio-political environment on the international and domestic front. Furthermore, if China improves relations with America, China can expand its engagement in the global system in order to learn crucial leadership skills required of a potential future hegemon. By continually increasing participation in the global system, China will expand its global influence to match its rising economic power. A rise in global influence coupled with economic power will enable China to become a strong candidate for the next hegemon (Zhang, 2004).

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these actions, China fails to seriously compete with the United States on the most crucial pieces of hegemony: national wealth and power. As long as the United States avoids underinvesting at home and overextending itself internationally, the United States will remain the world’s sole superpower (Beckley, 2018). Contrary to recent media reports, the main threat to American hegemony lies not in a growing Chinese economy, but instead in American overreaction to fear of Chinese ascent.

Due to the United States identifying as a polarized nation, hyperbole tends to play a key role in media and impacts American reaction and policy to international relations. Republicans and Democrats have agreed that increasing military presence in Asia, raising tariffs on Chinese goods, and challenging Chinese influence is the best course of action to avoid Chinese ascension. (Babones, 2015).

Experts explain China’s rise by citing its large gross domestic product (GDP) and GDP indicators like industrial and manufacturing output, trade and financial flows, and spending on military, research and development, and infrastructure. However, such indicators are not entirely accurate representations of a country’s power. On the contrary, GDP indicators and military spending may mislead the validity of a powerful nation, since these indicators include the benefit of maintaining a large workforce and military without accounting for the expenses of feeding, policing, protecting, and serving its citizens (Beeson, 2001). While a large population can correlate with power, a large population does not directly equate to power as people both produce and consume resources. To become a superpower, a country must have the population as well as the economic and military resources to support and protect the population. Thus, a country must be simultaneously large and utilize its resources efficiently. GDP and GDP indicators do not tell the full story of a nation.

The net resources or those resources a nation has left after subtracting the costs are a true indicator of the wealth and power of a country (Beckley, 2018).

CONCLUSION While China shows economic promise, as displayed through its growing economy, its increasing global power and its influence in the international system, American hegemony faces no real danger in the near future. One key element to maintaining the sustainability of American dominance relies on how the American people and policymakers will react to the future economic threats posed from China. While policymakers have currently settled on containment policies, in order to avert any potential future damage to the United States economy and alleviate international tension, policymakers should lift the tariffs placed on Chinese goods.

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between the United States and China. This relationship is crucial for America, as the United States, according to historic hegemonic cycles, will eventually surrender its title as hegemon. When that day arrives, the United States must possess and maintain strong relations with other countries and continue to participate in the international system through trade, as well as by influencing political, economic, and ideological policies (Zhang, 2004).

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THE INTERDISCIPLINARY EFFECT OLIVIA LINK Major: Dance Minor: Kinesiology Class of Spring 2019

ABOUT THE WORK In my eyes, imagination defines the essence of human character. Without it, our world lacks its driving forces of culture and innovation. An individual’s exposure to the arts is key to nurturing, appreciating, and developing this intrinsic human quality. I wish to further articulate the measurable social and economic impacts of the arts, particularly its least researched genre: dance. I am interested in the multifaceted benefits and challenges for funding a dance education in public high schools because I attended the city of Boston’s only public performing arts high school. My interdisciplinary dance education profoundly shaped me, and I wonder if it has done the same for other high school students with similar exposure to the arts. If so, then why are the arts always on the chopping block for school district budget cuts?

The concept of “STEAM” pushed me to see this research as an opportunity to incentivize the general public’s curiosity for the artistic medium of dance. STEAM revitilizes the standard acronym of the “science, technology, engineering, and math” careers (STEM) to stand for “science, technology, engineering, arts, and math” professions. During my research process, I discovered immeasurable amounts of academic literature demonstrating the favorably pivotal role the “A” has in STEAM. With my research, I aspire to re-envision the widely-accepted educational standard in the sciences by demonstrating the arts’ effects on student success and employability and, in turn, raise a collective appreciation for the expressive individuality that embodies human nature.

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The following research discloses the unmistakable connection between a strong high school education in the arts and the employability of America’s future generations. I intend to dispute the common belief that an education in the arts, specifically, in its least funded and respected genre of dance, does not prepare high school students for higher education and professional endeavors. My paper will argue that a solid foundation in dance education plays an important part in assuring the success of America’s future workforce. Young high school students participating in dance have enhanced academic productivity, boosted graduation rates, and acquired artistic skills that directly translate into science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. Based on this research, students, teachers, school districts, and the general public must reconsider the value of an arts-based education and appreciate its close connection to employability and marketability of the country’s future workers.

One may question the likelihood of dance playing such a prominent role in employability for students, as it stands at the bottom of the totem pole in academia and in the arts. In “Current Challenges for K-12 Dance Education and Development: Perspectives from Higher Education,” Doug Risner analyses the low ranking of dance in the socio-cultural artistic and academic hierarchy. Risner writes: “Of all the arts education disciplines in K-12 schools in the United States today, dance education continues to hold peripheral significance in most schools... the flatline that K-12 dance education struggles with today is linked directly to the marginal status dance holds in the larger culture” (Risner 1). Unlike visual arts or music, dance has no constituency in a standard high school art curriculum, leading to greater sequestration of professionals in the dance field who intend to pursue dance education with their BFAs. Risner acknowledges the issue of dance’s disregard in our country and later reasons that the artistic diversity of dance has separated its genres within the field. Therefore, Risner asserts that dance holds little prioritization in the U.S.’s overall culture.

Of course some argue that dance deserves its overlooked position in America and does not have the ability to positively impact high school education. Audrey Amrein-Beardsley delves into the nonprofit arts education culture in Maricopa County, the largest county in the state of Arizona. Initially, her article reestablishes the already widely accepted facts about the positive impacts of an interdisciplinary arts education in grades K-12. Later, however, Amrein-Beardsley discloses how artist-advocates justify continued arts funding in Arizona public schools by tossing around distorted pro-arts claims such as ballet helping with mathematical skills due to its numerical foundation in musicality and rhythm. She also challenges the idea that arts help students excel in school by emphasizing that these students are VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 103

already intellectually-inclined and more motivated than the average student; thus, they choose to study the arts.

Though Amrein-Beardsley’s thoughts are bold and passable, they lose credibility when compared with the numerous studies conducted on how the arts motivate high school students to pursue and excel in high-demand areas of study in the sciences. Fay Cobb Payton illuminates to readers in her research article “STEM Majors, Art Thinkers (STEM + Arts) – Issues of Duality, Rigor and Inclusion” the critical need for inclusion of dance science education for students in high school. Payton begins by disclosing that “the United States will need approximately 1 million more STEM professionals than the amount projected to graduate by 2018” (Payton 39). In order to meet the workforce’s growing demand of science, technology, engineering, and math workers, high schools must design incentivized systems to attract and keep unlikely candidates for STEM courses. Typically, STEM culture can best be depicted as a geek and male-dominated culture, that fails to embrace creativity or diversity (Payton 43-44). Payton discusses how the increased diversity and inclusion opportunities characterized by the dance experience provide a safe zone not found within the standard STEM curriculum (Payton 39). Thus, the combination of dance and STEM carries great potential for the heterogeneity and retention of the STEM student community.

There are already examples of such successes with dance and STEM in the classroom. In one participating high school of Payton’s study, students used dance to illustrate the details of several different sorting algorithms by numbering each student and having them use real dance moves to swap places, as elements in an array might when being put through a sorting algorithm. Later, researchers reported overwhelmingly positive feedback from students that participated in such dances and viewed videos of the dances online as evidence of the impact of their work (Payton 41). These particular students utilized dance specifically as a part of their task to understand the complex computer science concept of sorting algorithms.

Not only did the students better understand the lesson through physical movement, but they were also able to share their innovation with others and ultimately receive “overwhelmingly positive feedback” from other students who viewed their work (Payton 41). Using dance as a form of scientific expression encouraged these students to share their knowledge and enabled them to explain difficult topics to a diverse and young audience. Payton’s study exemplifies how dance enhances high school student rationality and academic productivity in a scholarly setting through its entertaining and cognitive kinesthetic avenues.

Not only does dance help students do well in school, but peer-reviewed research also finds that participation in the arts directly correlates with higher rates of students 104 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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who complete high school. In “The Rise of Creative Youth Development,” Denise Montgomery writes about the Creative Youth Development (CYD) program in the U.S. that supports K-12 students to live productive, stable, and enriching lives through the program’s core art education. Montogomery’s article highlights case studies of the CYD program and how it has positively impacted the lives of high school students in a community with high dropout rates and little pursuit of higher education. For instance, Montgomery writes about the students of SAY Sí Intermediate High School of San Antonio, Texas who participate in a total of eight hours of visual arts, dance, theater, and media arts after school and on Saturdays.

This particular CYD program “boasts a 100% rate of graduation and pursuit of higher education in a community with a 45% dropout rate, making it a celebrated success story often cited by elected officials” (Montgomery 3). Against the odds of living in a community with an alarmingly large dropout rate, these San Antonio students are able earn their diplomas through discipline and rigor which they learn in their after school arts classes. SAY Sí is only one of the many CYD programs Montgomery mentions. Others include: Ifetayo Cultural Arts Academy in Brooklyn, New York, the Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, the ZUMIX program in Boston, and hundreds more. From Montgomery’s data, one gains a deeper understanding that an arts education provides benefits for the country’s high school students on a transnational scale. Different states in the U.S. participating in CYD witness firsthand how the arts make their high school students stronger scholars. Therefore, AmreinBeardsley’s critique on the “theoretical” evidence supporting interdisciplinary education stands as outdated compared to Montgomery’s quantitative, current research. As seen with CYD, artistic education revitalizes high school students’ desire to pursue higher degrees in education so that they can complete their schooling to become intellectually capable and employable young adults.

Dance education not only makes its participants more academically inclined and successful, but its systemic values of discipline, teamwork, and problem solving also directly apply to economically productive careers in the STEM field. Having a background in the arts makes an individual more appealing and marketable to employers because they possess abilities to think creatively and to solve complex problems in the workspace. Those working as researchers, STEM doctoral students, lawyers, scientists, and engineers with sufficient dance training claim their rigorous arts background has helped them in a variety of areas (Payton 44). For instance, hypothesis testing in STEM resonates with the movement exploration required of a choreographer. In a choreographic process, a director must drive the basis of his/her work with an impressionable and unique theme similar to a hypothesis in science. A choreographer must be open to the idea that VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 105

artistic assertions or hypotheses, may be void and not correlate with general dance aesthetic. The choreographer has a choice—to refine his or her work to fit into the standard beauties of dance or to stand alone and challenge a common way of artistic thought (Kaufman 1). Similarly, STEM hypothesis testing generally refers to utilizing the practice methods of statistical inference to determine certain parameters of a population. It includes reevaluating the null hypothesis against an alternative hypothesis (Sullivan 1). Useful hypotheses are ones that make strong, assertive statements but that are testable and open for modification. The skill of self-correcting strong, preconceived ideas through systematic methods practiced as a dance choreographer is also developed in a STEM hypothesis testing workspace.

The ability to apply the artistic visualization of body movement through space, a skill regularly used in a choreographic process, to everyday objects also directly translates into working within the STEM workforce. With this creative architectural mindset, one can enhance the efficiency and capabilities of any type of technology.

For instance, renowned artist Elizabeth Demaray, an associate professor of fine art and head of sculpture concentration at Rutgers University, exercised spatial interaction concepts to team with a biologist and computer scientist to envision the Indaplant Project: An Act of Trans-Space Giving. Demaray’s ‘Indaplant’ is a lightsensing, robotic vehicle that responds to the needs of an accompanied potted plant by moving in three-dimensional space in search of sunlight and water (Demaray 2).

Demaray’s engineering of the “Indaplant” replicates the rudimentary choreographic technique of encouraging a choreographer to harness energy and inspiration from surrounding spaces in order to create original products. Literally, Demaray built a unique product which chases the replenishing photosynthetic energy from the sun and moisture of the air to power her ‘Floraborg’ Demaray used her artistic mindset to bring movement and life to everyday, static houseplants. The U.S. needs more STEM workers like Demaray to think with such an unconventional, spatially-aware mindset to create extraordinary innovations like her “Indaplant.” If more youth had a stronger foundation in interdisciplinary thinking, our country could see hundreds of thousands of workers who contribute to STEM’s much-needed growth.

In conclusion, an early interdisciplinary foundation in the arts is essential for the professional success of young adults in any career field. My research highlights that high school students receiving an education in dance have optimized academic success, are more likely to graduating high school to pursue a university degree, and have crucial artistic skills that apply to careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Even former U.S. president Barack Obama’s Committee on Arts and Humanities stated that students need music, dance, poetry, painting and other artistic experiences to promote innovation and economic development for 106 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

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the nation’s necessary leadership roles (Payton 42). The value of an arts education is not subservient to science. We should not prioritize an interdisciplinary education for the sake of enhancing other career fields. The arts provide a creative outlet for youth to showcase their talents—talents that every young adult should have the privilege of sharing with the world and their innermost self. Now is the time to instill this positive morale in our youth because without art, the world loses its truest essence of beauty.

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TO ESTABLISH OR NOT TO ESTABLISH: ENGLISH IN THE UNITED STATES ALYSSA BAUER-COAN Major: Foreign Languages (Spanish) Class of 2022

ABOUT THE WORK This research paper was a very personal project for me. As a Spanish language major and someone concerned with the equal treatment of minorities in the United States, I found the topic of official language very interesting. Originally I was planning on simply exploring the reason for the lack of an official language in the United States, but as I worked more, I began playing with the idea of adding a political twist to it, specifically the potential effects of President Trump’s continued quest for the sole use of English. Trump has said on multiple occasions that “we speak English, not Spanish” (Politico). This blatant disrespect for ‘foreign’ cultures and languages is the primary reason for my exploration of English in the United States. The paper ended up being much more complicated than I originally anticipated it to be because of the new path I chose to follow, but I enjoyed exploring the different perspectives and ideas that I found during the process. Initially, I was not sure of my stance on the issue, but the more I researched, the my position became clear.

Due to time and length restrictions in Honors 110, I was not able to delve as deeply into the various issues and perspectives as the topic really deserves. If I were to further develop this paper, I would delve even further into the passage of “English Only” legislation that has been proposed in each state and the effects that followed. I could then understand the extent to which this legislation would affect daily lives of Americans and the basic functions of government.

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INTRODUCTION Imagine if the government under President Trump were to declare English the official language of the United States. This action would be perceived by many, correctly or incorrectly, to be a direct, negative response to immigrants in the United States and would be a further indication of his ill-will toward those who speak a language other than English in the United States. “America does not currently, and has never had, a legal designation of any one language as its official one” (Yenger Cremean 2018). English as the official language of the United States is a complicated issue, especially in today’s political climate. The issues surrounding the topic originated many years ago, but are now focused on the turmoil surrounding immigration into the United States, particularly from Latin America, given President Trump’s dislike of Latino immigrants (Cremean 2018).

The underlying questions about the consequences of making such a decision and the implied attitudes towards immigration and the languages such immigrants speak are glaring issues that keep the focal point a bit foggy. Whether or not English should be established as the official language of the United States is the main question here. 178 countries worldwide have at least one official language, but the United States is not one of them (McGovern 2017). Due to its ‘meltingpot’ origins and continued appeal to immigrants from across the world, the United States is home to hundreds of languages and has never established one official language. In today’s age there is also a great diversity of languages in the United States owing to the media and technology industry, which has overseas connections to other tech-centric countries that seek to further expand and improve American standing (Burton 2018). This paper examines the reasoning behind and possible effects of establishing English as the official language of the United States today, with a particular focus on the social and political repercussions that would result.

BACKGROUND Many believe that establishing an official language of the United States today would open a ‘can of worms’ surrounding issues on how Americans view immigration in the United States today. One of Michigan’s representatives, David LaGrand (D) says that establishing an official language, even as a technicality in governmental processes, “excludes people who are deaf and who use sign language and people who are immigrants[.] … If we start signaling that we shun differences, this is a dark moment for our republic’” (DeVito 2018). That is to say: establishing English as the official language of the United States may be seen by some as a new VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 109

form of rebelling against the traditional view of the United States as a melting pot country which opens its doors to all who wish to enter. Others, however, argue that establishing an official language would be a simple formality at this point in history and merely another way to ensure efficiency and further establish protocol in the government. The most likely reason for the push for English as the official language of the United States is due to its long standing connection to Great Britain, the original large-scale colonizer of North America, although frequent spoken languages in the United States also include Spanish, Chinese, French (including creole), and many more (Burton 2018).

There are over 350 languages spoken in the United States, a large number by any standard (Castillo 2015). Of these hundreds of languages, English is by far the most spoken, followed by Spanish, Chinese, and French. Approximately 231,122,908 Americans, roughly 71% of the population, speak English. Approximately 37,458,470, roughly 12% of the population, speak Spanish, the language thought to be the most threatening to English today (Burton 2018). Many believe that establishing an official language today would make a statement about the current state of immigration and attitudes toward immigrants, especially Latino immigrants. In fact, many Latinos do not view the establishment of English as the official language of the United States as a positive action, but rather as a pointed comment on their place in the United States based on the current political climate. This has been true throughout most of the 2000s, even before the presidency of Donald Trump. A study in 2010 found that of the English-speaking Anglo-Americans surveyed, approximately 78% favored establishing English as the official language of the United States, and mere 36% of Latinos surveyed favored the establishment of English as the official language of the United States (Gershon 2010). Due to the large amount of unrest surrounding the establishment of an official language in the United States, there are two divisions, each of which appeals to a different demographic.

Within those who support establishing English as the official language of the United States are the “English Only” supporters and the “English Plus” supporters.

“English Plus” recognizes English as the most commonly spoken language in the United States, but seeks to promote bilingualism and support other minority languages, particularly Spanish. Semi-adjacent to them are the “English Only” supporters. This group seeks not only to establish English as the official language of the United States, but to also make it the only spoken language in the United States, stating outright that those who speak another language do not belong (Schmidt 1996). “English Only” supporters tend to be older, white, have a higher rate of education, and self-identify as Republicans, whereas the “English Plus” demographic includes more nationalities and other social classes (Gershon et al.

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2011). Some argue that establishing an official language at this point in history would be to go against the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech: Consequently, the First Amendment has been the judicial doctrine of choice in striking down English-only statutes. Specifically, courts have found that restrictive English-only statutes abridge (1) the free speech rights of government employees; (2) the free speech rights of legislators and elected government officials; (3) the free speech rights of the recipients; and (4) the First Amendment rights of nonEnglish speaking citizens to petition their government for redress of grievances. (Robertson 2001) Concerns for the loss of minority languages and diminishing diversity in the United States drives the English Plus movement, whereas “English Only” supporters dislike the abundance of diversity that has accumulated in the United States over the past 300 years. Ironically, “English Only” supporters seek to protect English, which is an invasive language in North America, while Native American languages continue to fade and disappear from use (Burton 2018). Despite their disagreements on the issues of the use languages other than English, the groups have one common goal: to establish English as the official language of the United States.

BENEFITS OF MULTIPLE LANGUAGES IN DAILY LIFE Language is a key part of identity and is valued by many Americans as an additional means of diversity in a largely homogenous population. Through the use of surveys and literature reviews, it has been determined that a significant number of Americans find language to be an important part of modern life. The data obtained from these public opinion surveys “appear to reflect sustained support for the teaching and learning of foreign languages at all levels and suggest that there is stronger grassroots acknowledgment of the value of languages than is reflected in statements issued by professionals engaged in, and organizations devoted to, the teaching and learning of languages” (Rivers 2013). The results of the surveys conducted by Rivers et al. are broken into three categories of public opinion: (1) attitudes toward language learning, (2) attitudes toward English as the official language, and (3) attitudes toward bilingual education. On language learning, the studies found that the majority of those sampled believed language to be an important part of education and agreed that individuals should learn at least one foreign language before graduating from high school. Studies focusing VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 111

on attitudes toward bilingual education were similar, finding that the majority of respondents favored bilingual education. Attitudes toward English as the official language of the United States were found to favor instating an official language, and a majority were also found to believe that the English language unites Americans in some way. It has been further demonstrated that “bilingualism is ‘protecting older adults, even as Alzheimer’s is beginning to affect cognitive function’” (Dell’amore 2011). Languages are a crucial part of modern life, for reasons including academic benefits as well as mental and social benefits that have been found to result from multilingualism.

CONCLUSIONS A common misconception about the establishment of an official language in a country is that it would disallow or at the very least discourage the use of other languages and thereby decrease diversity. However, this is not the case, as establishing an official language merely applies to the language spoken in governmental affairs and acknowledges that it is the most widely spoken language in that country. This can be seen through the language crisis that occurred in Quebec in the 1960s.

Despite the fact that French was established as the official language of Quebec, the most spoken language in schools and in the workplace was English. There were a series of laws passed in an attempt to bring French back as the predominant language, but all failed to have any noticeable impact until the Charte de la langue Française was enacted in 1976, guaranteeing the right to speak and be spoken to in French. This required that all establishments have French speaking employees, whether they were a government agency or a restaurant (Ossipov 1992). Quebec’s history with this issue shows that establishing an official language would do little to force the public to speak only English. The many laws that Quebec passed in an attempt to protect the French language did very little to encourage its use until the Charte de la langue française was passed. Although the basic goal to establish an official language in the United States and Quebec is similar, there is one key difference: the French language was in danger of being overrun as more and more anglophones moved into Quebec, whereas the English language is in no such danger in the United States (Ossipov 1992). Were the United States to pass a series of laws similar to the Charte, the subsequent consequences would be much different, as they would mandate that all establishments have English speaking employees, meaning that employment of persons who do not speak English would decrease.

An action that could have this effect, however, is the passage of “English Only” legislation, which seeks to take drastic steps to make English not only the primary 112 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

TO ESTABLISH OR NOT TO ESTABLISH

language of the United States, but to also discourage the use of other languages outside the household. The establishment of English as the official language of the United States would have no such direct result.

However, “at least forty-seven million people, or eighteen percent of those living in the United States, speak a language other than English at home,” and there is a significant amount of “English Only” legislation that has been proposed in the past 20 years alone, which would seek to limit free speech and have a drastic effect of the daily lives of those who do not speak English in the United States (Nicolino 2007). Today there are three main organizations that advocate for “‘Official English’ laws at the state and local levels, as well as restrictions on the use of other languages in government, schools, and workplaces” (Cremean 2018). In February of 2018, ProEnglish representatives met with aides to Vice President Mike Pence to discuss the possible support of the Trump administration for acts such as the English Language Unity Act, the RAISE Act, the COST Act, “and the possibility of President Trump repealing former President Clinton’s onerous Executive Order 13166 with a new Executive Order signed by the President,” (Guschov 2018).

These meetings show that the Trump administration is considering more “English Only” legislation, and has aligned itself with “English Only” supporters. These meeting that have already occurred will most likely lead to more meetings, and encourage the Trump administration to make progress on the path to passing “English Only” legislation and establishing English as the official language of the United States as a whole. These meetings between ProEnglish representatives and aides to the vice president are further evidence of the Trump administration’s ties to anti-immigrant organizations: U.S. English and ProEnglish were founded by John Tanton, an anti-immigration and pro-eugenicist crusader who has founded numerous racist organizations. These include the anti-immigration Center for Immigration Studies, the pro-eugenics Society for Genetic Education, and the Social Contract Press, which, with Tanton’s approval, reprinted the notorious The Camp of the Saints, a racist favorite of Steve Bannon. (Cremean 2018) These connections are potentially dangerous for the future of the United States as an inclusive and free-thinking country.

This paper addressed issues surrounding the establishment of English as the official language of the United States. Evidence surrounding the issue, however, suggests that the greatest impact on the daily lives of Americans would come not VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 113

from establishing an official language, but rather from the passage of “English Only” legislation. This would affect state and local levels of government and would seek to limit the use of languages other than English in the United States. Promoting government functionality in English would directly exclude those who do not speak English from participating in government. There are currently thirty two states that have declared English as their official language, subsequently making it impossible for those who do not speak English, including those who use American Sign Language, to be involved in the government. Among the evidence that the Trump administration supports the “English Only” Movement is the recent meeting of ProEnglish Executive Director, Stephen Guschov with aides to the vice president.

Establishing English as the official language of the United States will have little to no effect on the daily lives of the general American population, but rather on the functions of government. However, the passage of “English Only” legislation does affect the general population and will result in the loss of more languages spoken in the United States and make it decidedly more difficult for those who do not speak English to live in the United States.

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Landau, Ruth. “Artificial Womb versus Natural Birth: An Exploratory Study of Women’s Views.”

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Prasad, Aarathi. “How Artificial Wombs Will Change Our Ideas of Gender, Family, and Equality.”

The Guardian, 01 May 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/01/ artificial-womb-gender-family-equality-lamb Rosen, Christine. “Why Not Artificial Wombs?” The New Atlantis, vol. 3, no. 3, 2003, pp. 67-76.

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Sandoiu, Ana. “Artificial Womb Technology: Who Benefits?” Big Think, 23 May 2017, https:// bigthink.com/artificial-womb-technology-who-benefits.

Warmflash, David. “Why Don’t We Have Artificial Wombs for Premature Infants?” Leapsmag, 02 Mar. 2018, https://leapsmag.com/dont-artificial-wombs-premature-infants/.

Yuko, Elizabeth. “Weighing the Ethics of Artificial Wombs.” Health, The New York Times, 08 May 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/08/health/artificial-wombs-ethics.html.

CLEAN KILLING: OYSTER RESTORATION AND WATER POLLUTION by

NADIRAH MUHAMMAD

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(2015, September 01). Public water for all. Retrieved from http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/ campaign/public-water-all (2015, April 20). U.S. EPA avoids stricter water pollution standards for gulf of Mexico - Circle of Blue WaterNews. Retrieved from http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2015/world/u-s-epaavoids-stricter-water- pollution-standards-for-gulf-of-mexico/ Utton, A. E. (n.d.). International Water Quality Law.

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(n.d.). Water quality standards. Retrieved from http://www3.epa.gov/region9/water/waterquality/ index.html (n.d.). What is a bivalve mollusk? Retrieved from http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/bivalve.html (2010, August 12). What is a dead zone? Retrieved from http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ deadzone.html (n.d.). What is dissolved oxygen in water? Retrieved from http://www.fondriest.com/news/ whatisdissolvedoxygen.html (n.d.). What is nutrient pollution? Retrieved from http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/nutpollution.html

IMPACTS OF HEGEMONY ON THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM AND POTENTIAL ECONOMIC THREATS TO AMERICAN DOMINANCE FROM CHINA by

SIERRA WILBUR

Babones, S. (2015). American hegemony is here to stay. The National Interest. Retrieved from https://nationalinterest.org/feature/american-hegemony-here-stay-13089 Beckley, M. (2018). Stop obsessing about China. Foreign Affairs. Retrieved from https://www. foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2018-09-21/stop-obsessing-about-china Beeson, M. (2009). Hegemonic transition in East Asia? The dynamics of Chinese and American power.

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Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42704468

THE INTERDISCIPLINARY EFFECT by

OLIVIA LINK

Amrein-Beardsley, Audrey. “Twilight in the Valley of the Sun: Nonprofit Arts and Culture Programs in Arizona’s Public Schools Post-no Child Left Behind.” Arts Education Policy Review, vol.

110, no. 3, 2009, pp. 9-17, Research Library, https://search.proquest.com/docview/211011272 ?accountid=14541.

Demaray, Elizabeth. “FloraBorg Community Update: 3 IndaPlants Up And Running.”

Elizabethdemaray, 25 June 2015, FloraBorg Community Update: 3 IndaPlants Up And Running Kaufman, Sarah. “Lar Lubovitch Dance keeps smooth, fluid even in a work about disaster.”

The Washington Post, WP Company, 30 Nov. 2012, https://www.washingtonpost.com/ entertainment/theater_dance/lar-lubovitch-dance-keeps-smooth-fluid-even-in-a-work-aboutdisaster/2012/11/30 Montgomery, Denise. “The Rise of Creative Youth Development.” Arts Education Policy Review, vol. 118, no. 1, 2017, pp. 1-18, Music Periodicals Database; Performing Arts Periodicals Database; Research Library: The Arts, https://search.proquest.com/docview/1846067191?acc ountid=14541, oi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10632913.2015.1064051.

Payton, Fay C., Ashley White, and Tara Mullins. “STEM Majors, Art Thinkers (STEM + Arts) – Issues of Duality, Rigor and Inclusion.” Journal of STEM Education : Innovations and Research, vol. 18, no. 3, 2017, pp. 39-47, Research Library, https://search-proquest-com. mutex.gmu.edu/docview/1949082538?accountid=14541.

Risner, Doug. “Current Challenges for K-12 Dance Education and Development: Perspectives from Higher Education.” Arts Education Policy Review, vol. 108, no. 4, 2007, pp. 7-23,

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TO ESTABLISH OR NOT TO ESTABLISH: ENGLISH IN THE UNITED STATES by

ALYSSA BAUER-COAN

Burton, James. (2018) “The Most Spoken Languages in America”. World Atlas, https:// www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-most-spoken-languages-in-america.html Accessed 20 September, 2018.

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Cremean, Samantha Yenger (2017). “Inside The Racist Push To Make English The United States’ Official Language”. The Establishment. Retrieved from https://theestablishment.co/inside-theracist-push-to-make-english-the-united-states-official-language/ Accessed 5 December, 2018.

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DeVito, Lee. (2018) “Michigan House Approves Divisive Bill to Make English Official State Language”. Detroit Metro Times. Retrieved from https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/ archives/2018/02/23/michigan-house-approves-divisive-bill-to-make-english-official-statelanguage Accessed 6 December, 2018.

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Nov. 2016.

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FACULTY GUIDE GMR IN THE CLASSROOM The George Mason Review (GMR) provides prime examples of undergraduate scholarship that can be used to teach students about the characteristics of good research writing, inspire them to explore new ideas, and provide a sense of personal confidence that results from publishing their work for a campus-wide audience of peers and professors. Exposing students to the work of their peers can act as a mirror, reflecting undiscovered personal potential. Incorporating the GMR into your classroom can take many forms including: developing a lesson plan analyzing one of our published works; using the concepts and ideas in these pages to help students brainstorm particular topics to explore; offering extra credit to students who submit their work for publication; or coming up with your own innovative applications.

MAKE THE GMR AN ASSIGNMENT Some professors have found success in raising student achievement by making submission to the GMR a course requirement. Students who write with a wide and diverse potential audience in mind tend to put more thought into their work, improving academic outcomes and encouraging higher levels of critical thinking.

This is a valuable exercise in producing a paper that is accessible to those from varying backgrounds without comprising academic integrity. Knowledge that your work will be publicly available can be a powerful motivator, and publication in an academic journal is a great addition to any résumé or portfolio.

G E T T I N G S TA R T E D Mason’s INTO program, the English Department, and UNIV 100 classes already use the GMR in a variety of ways. We would be happy to make a brief presentation to your class or meet with you one-on-one to create a tailored approach that complements your curriculum.

The GMR is available electronically at www.gmreview.gmu.edu To request hard copies, email us at gmreveiw@gmu.edu 132 | THE GEORGE MASON REVIEW

FACULTY GUIDE

N OT E F R O M T H E A DV I S O R The George Mason Review (GMR) began life as “an annual collection of English 101 and undergraduate writing” in 1992, publishing under the name GMU Freshman Review. That first edition’s introduction reveals the motivations of its creators as they sought to “create a sense of community by publishing work that reflects the cultural and academic quality of GMU’s undergraduate population.”

Their clear intent was to present “models of writing” that could serve as a “learning tool that crosses the curriculum” for both faculty and students: “We want this anthology to help undergraduate writers with what seems to be one of their biggest difficulties — generating ideas and just getting started…

When students know their work is being taken seriously beyond the classroom, they may very well aspire to a whole new set of standards and, with purpose and focus, aim at the highest quality possible in their writing… Instructors can find in the collection a sense of what to prepare themselves for and what kind of standards they should set for themselves and their classes… We hope that the essays are useful — whether you are ‘stuck’ [on an assignment] or an instructor looking to show your students how a research paper ‘works.’”

Some 25 years later, our mission remains the same: seek out and publish exemplary undergraduate writing across the curriculum with the conviction that students grow as scholars by publishing their work for a campus-wide audience and faculty members gain a valuable classroom tool that can help improve academic outcomes.

Since those early days as a freshman English anthology, GMR has evolved into a modern, peer-reviewed, undergraduate research journal that accepts scholarly submissions from all years and all majors. By exploring and challenging the boundaries separating disciplines from one other — the humanities from the sciences, the academic from the creative — The George Mason Review exists as a unique platform where scholarship, creativity, and critical thought can co-exist.

Mason has experienced rapid evolution as an institution over the past several decades, but the lodestar that has guided us through each step (or leap) along the way is our shared commitment to academic excellence, meaningful innovation, and cutting-edge research. The George Mason Review embodies each of these noble pursuits while providing all Mason undergrads with opportunities and VOLUME 28 / 2018-2019 | 133

experiences that pave the way for greatness in the classroom and prepare them for successful careers in the future.

I am extremely proud to serve the Mason community as the faculty advisor for GMR and continue the rich traditions established by that first cohort of educators who recognized the need for this type of forum and made it a reality. Participation is vital to our continued growth as an academic journal, so I strongly encourage all students to submit original work for publication and all faculty members to consider integrating GMR into their curriculum.

Please feel free to reach out directly to me (jhartsel@gmu.edu) with any questions you may have, requests for extra copies of GMR, or with examples of how you have utilized our publication in the classroom.

Reflecting on the history and evolution of this journal has only strengthened my belief in its value and purpose; I look forward to collaborating with the outstanding students, faculty, and staff of George Mason University to share the amazing things we accomplish together with the world.

Sincerely, Jason Hartsel Faculty Advisor

LARGEST CLASSROOM ON CAMPUS THE

Student Media offers Mason students the opportunity to directly apply academic skills in a hands-on environment, and we believe that faculty collaboration is integral to our mission of student success.

Here are just a few of the ways faculty members can partner with Student Media: ü STUDIO RENTALS — Reserve one of our state-of-the-art radio studios for interviews or student projects (ISDN-equipped).

them to submit original work for credit. ü SAMPLE CONTENT — Use content from one of our scholarly or literary journals as source material for readings or critiques. ü CO-CURRICULAR COURSES — Refer students to one of our six 1-credit courses offered through Mason’s Communication Department: COMM COMM COMM COMM

347 (Cable TV) 346 (Yearbook) 148/348 (Radio I & II) 145/345 (Newspaper I & II)

ü RECOMMEND A STUDENT ü SERVE AS A CONTEST JUDGE

ü onMASON.COM — Utilize our free online blogging platform in the classroom for student portfolio projects or to post writing assignments for group discussion. ü CLASS VISITS — Schedule a class visit so your students can learn about exciting media opportunities available to them. ü FOR-CREDIT OPTIONS — Help students earn internship credit through one of our 12 unique media groups or encourage

CONTACT US TO LEARN HOW YOU CAN BECOME A STUDENT MEDIA PARTNER:

703.993.9745 stumedia@gmu.edu The Hub Suite 1201 MS 2C5 4400 University Dr., Fairfax, VA 22030

st ude nt m e di a .gm u .e du