Center for the Arts and Humanities

Maddie Moran '24, (English, Spanish, & Philosophy)

"Digital Finding Tools for the Tenacious Box Set of Zines"  (Advised by Prof. Kirstyn Leuner, English)

As the DH-CAH Fellow, Maddie will be creating a finding aid for the zines contained in our Tenacious Box Set in our special collections at SCU. The Tenacious zines are a series of publications of pieces written by women in prison that have been compiled and arranged into separate collections. In order to present the finding aid, she will use Omeka to construct an index based on subject and arranged by date. The index will organize each individual piece by its primary topic or theme as well as its author and date of publication for ease of access. 

Alexandria Perez '23, (Public Health, Political Science, & Women's and Gender Studies)

"Traveling Tookor (Woman): A Journey of Self-Reflection and Decolonial Knowledge Production Healing through Indigenous Lands" (Advised by Prof. Sharmila Lodhia,Women's and Gender Studies & Prof. Jesica Fernandez, Ethnic Studies)

Alex is exploring the land on which we live through an ethnographic study of her own positionality and the places she travels. The sacred land and our connection to it is full of knowledge, solidarity, and healing. Her project will tap into these resources to produce knowledge that will build a bridge between indigenous learning and Santa Clara University. She will be producing journal entries, notes, interviews, and physical work that embody growth through engagement with the sacred earth. In an attempt to become closer to herself, this project will reveal the importance of indigenous knowledge and the sacredness of the land on which we inhabit.

Bianca Romero '23, (History, French, & Asian Studies)

"Colonial Urban Planning in French Indochina" (Advised by Prof. Naomi Andrews, History)

Bianca is researching how French urban planning was used in colonies as a tool of imperial power. Her project focuses specifically on Vietnam and French Indochina to explore the relationship between landscapes, manmade and natural, and their impact on both colonizers and those they colonized. In order to further understand the role of cities in before, during, and after colonization she will base her studies in conceptions of urbanism and modernity in these respective cultures. Additionally, she intends to examine the intersection of French and Vietnamese philosophies that influenced their perceptions of space and nature. Using historical documents such as newspapers, pamphlets, maps, and fiction in combination with secondary sources she will examine French and Vietnamese histories on perspectives on different landscapes and the impact of imperialism.

Emma Rutter '23, (Neuroscience & Theatre and Dance)

"Dance: A Stimulus for Memory?" (Advised by Prof. Patti Simone, Neuroscience and Prof. David Popalisky, Theatre and Dance)

Emma is researching the connection between dance education and memory recall.  Her plan is to conduct a literature review of existing studies on the topic and primary research in the dance department at SCU. With her interdisciplinary education in neuroscience and dance, she hopes to analyze both verbal memory and movement memory via appropriate tests on a group of dancers and a group of non-dancers. Her goal is to raise and answer the following questions: Is there a significant improvement in memory recall in dancers? If a trend is noticed is it only applicable to movement memory or generalized to verbal recall? The project results will be presented in an educational infographic promoting involvement in dance education and a creative choreographic demonstration explaining the research findings. Her goal is to demonstrate the importance of dance education and funding for arts education. To learn more about Emma and her fellow's project, read the Q&A here.