Oppressive Gender Roles in Crime Novels
Alexis Hardee (Adviser: Keaghan Turner)
Throughout history, women have been perceived as unequal or lower-class in comparison to men. This misogynistic opinion makes its way into movies, history books, politics, mass media, novels, music, and employment. Mystery novels are no exception. In this essay, I will specifically target British mystery novels that include these gender stereotypes. The works I chose to research were written by three of the “Queens of Crime” who were extremely famous and influential authors: The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham, The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie, and A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh. This analysis determines that Allingham, Christie, and Marsh helped validate misogynistic views through their novels instead of pushing for gender equality.
Partisan Attachment and Conspiracist Predispositions
Robert Stephen Earnest (Adviser: Holley Tankersley)
Conspiracy theories have increasing relevance in American politics. In the age of the internet, where rumors and their associated conspiracy theories are transmitted and received at much higher frequencies than was previously capable, people can be led to believe in ideas that erode their trust in government and its decision makers. This undermines America’s capacity for self-governance. In this proposal, I articulate a model that fully explains conspiracist thinking in the context of American politics. I suggest that two domains—partisan attachment and underlying conspiracist predispositions—determine whether an individual will accept or reject a conspiracy theory. To measure the effects of these two domains on opinion formation, I propose a cross-sectional analysis that incorporates two separate survey instruments. However, due to time limitations, the scope of this paper is confined to a research proposal; I do not collect any data to support my hypotheses.
Gender and Military Service
Erin Owens (Adviser: Maggi Morehouse)
During the American Revolution and the American Civil War, females were among the many who participated in battle. Many, instead of situating themselves among combat, decided to act as spies in order to show their patriotism for the war effort. These women proved to their male combatants that women were far more capable of a “man’s job” than what was initially thought. They broke away from the gendered mold of domesticity and changed the way in which women were seen. No longer simply fragile housewives who could only handle the duty of running a home and taking care of children, they were now seen as active contributors to the war effort.
The Effects of Vaccinations on Public Health
Caitlin Reveal (Adviser: Ashlee Case)
This is a review of scholarly literature of the importance of vaccinations and the effects of vaccination uptake and vaccination refusal on public health. It assesses how vaccinations came to exist and what they do in the human body. It highlights reasons parents opt not to vaccinate their children and the side effects vaccinations may cause. There is a major emphasis on the effectiveness of vaccinations, especially in schools, where children are much more likely to be exposed to diseases than the general public. Because health care workers are often at the front line of contracting and/or transmitting diseases, the importance of vaccinations in health care professionals is examined. In all, this review is meant to provide evidence that vaccinations are safe, effective and help to implement a healthy population.
The Effects of Military Budget on American Perception
Charlie Hollis Whittington (Adviser: Min Ye)
How do Americans’ perception of a state formulate based on the state’s military expenditure? Conventional research theories indicate that Americans might feel a shared political culture with other democratic nations. Such feelings of solidarity may engender Americans’ trust and favorability of some states’ military development, but provoke negative feelings toward others. Using data mostly from Gallup and the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, this study examines Americans’ attitudes toward major states’ in the world (vis-à-vis military expenditure).
Mandation of Two Police Officers per Patrol Unit and the Impact of Diversity
Jolito Rivera (Adviser: Holley Tankersley)
The purpose of this research is to explore the operation of police patrol units. Many police patrol units currently lack diversity as well as accountability on police officers. The first phase of correcting the deficits of the patrol units is identifying pros and cons of the current police patrolling methods. The second phase involves alternative solutions that could be put in place to create safer and more efficient police patrolling units. I analyze these solutions to determine why they would be positive and what restrictions prevent them from being feasible. In the final phase of the paper, I present a solution to overcome financial and status-quo challenges in the police department for these needed adjustments to be achieved successfully.
Toggling the Switches
Zach Thomas (Adviser: Christian Smith)
In this paper, I use Richard Lanham’s work within the field of rhetoric to explore the rhetorical implications of multilingualism and code switching. Specifically, I will discuss and question some of the basic assumptions of employing another language: What is at stake when we communicate with others in another language, especially native speakers? How might using an L2 language and recognizing/using different dialects within that language cause a speaker to reconsider their native tongue? What does the presence of numerous regional peculiarities and nonstandard varieties within languages say about our desire for “ideal” or “standard” speech?
