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Hispanic Hoosiers: Ethnonym use among the Hispanic population in the Midwest
Get PDFThis study expands on previous research on one dimension of ethnic identity construction within the Hispanic community by considering ethnonym usage. A majority of the research on Hispanic identity in the U.S. has been conducted in the western region of the country. However, regional differences with varying concentrations of Hispanic populations can have a huge impact on ethnic identity and by extension, ethnonym adoption and usage. For many, ethnonyms are symbols of who a person is, how they perceive themselves, and how they want the world to perceive them. Previous studies have acknowledged the relationship between ethnic identity and ethnonym choice, yet fails to address the specific factors that impact ethnonym choice, codeswitching, and how different terms index different identities. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods that included an anonymous online survey followed by interviews with Hispanic college students throughout the state of Indiana, data revealed more familiarity and usage of terms such as Hispanic and Latino in comparison to Chicano and Latinx. Both the survey and interviews spoke on family and regional influence, community, generational differences, biculturalism, legal status, societal pressures, Spanish language retention, and pressures. For some, identifying with Hispanic is preferred due to its greater usage and familiarity in the state of Indiana than other ethnonyms. However, usage of Latinx is generally expected in specific environments, like academia, in order to practice inclusivity. Nonetheless, individuals demonstrated that adopted ethnonyms acted as symbols of both resistance and expression of cultural identity
Look to Your Own: Human Limits and the Danger of Overambition in Herodotus’ Histories
Get PDFThe final clause of the proem to Herodotus’ Histories promises that the work to come will, among other things, set out “the reason for which [the Greeks and the Persians] fought against one another” (δι᾽ ἣν αἰτίην ἐπολέμησαν ἀλλήλοισι), a story which will be told through the gradual expansion of the Persian empire, its encounters with foreign lands and their peoples, and its eventual conflict with the Greek states. Throughout this narrative, a key theme becomes that of the rise and fall of arrogant kings who, driven by past successes and overconfidence in the course of future events, go a step too far in their ambitions and experience some form of disaster or setback. In this thesis, I follow along with Herodotus’ pattern, positing that the fates of these hubristic rulers are connected by the idea of human limitations and arguing that each of them demonstrates some aspect in which life is limited and even unstable. In doing so, I emphasize the importance of retrospective explicability to demonstrate that events which would have appeared unpredictable to the historical actors themselves are perfectly intelligible to the narrator and his audience. Ultimately, while I shall not attempt to suggest that the Histories are intended to convey a prescriptive moral lesson, I do contend that the text reveals Herodotus’ overall worldview, a perspective which privileges restraint and the value of “looking to your own” rather than pursuing boundless desires and ambitions
Studying Extended Sets from Young Tableaux
Get PDFYoung tableaux are combinatorial objects related to the partitions of an integer that have various applications in representation theory. These tableaux are defined as a left-justified set of n boxes filled with the numbers 1 through n and organized in rows, with the length of each row corresponding to a summand in the partition. In recent work of Graham–Precup–Russell, an association has been made between a given row-strict tableau and three disjoint subsets I, J, and K, also called extended sets. In this project, we begin to classify which extended sets correlate to a valid row-strict or standard tableau. We are able to identify several global properties of these valid sets, and we further find an algorithm that produces a valid tableau given only the extended sets in special cases
Russetid: The Norwegian Ritual Transition to Adulthood
Get PDFRussefeiring (Russ celebration), the Norwegian celebration of high school graduation, is a coming of age rite of passage for contemporary Norwegian youth. Past research has suggested that Russetid (the time of Russ) features the intensified use of alcohol to construct the liminal ritual space and to facilitate social equality, allowing russ to explore their identities with low stakes. However, qualitative interviews with 8 Norwegian young adults suggests that russetid functions to uphold cultural conceptualizations regarding social class, gender, and alcohol use and is not an institution which facilitates equality or social experimentation/self expression. Students self-police each other based on the aforementioned stigmas through physical violence, peer pressure, and harassment. Russetid’s cultural significance comes from its reflection of important Norwegian cultural values. The interviews conducted emphasized the importance of social class, secularism, sexuality, patriotism, nationalistic pride, and gender roles in Norwegian society.Russetid teaches these values through an intensified ritual performance, enculturating russ into the culture of Norwegian adulthood, establishing a concept of Norwegian identity, and creating a homogenized population with a collective system of beliefs regarding the aforementioned themes. The aspect of alcohol use is particularly important in Norwegian culture and Russetid. Excessive alcohol consumption introduces the drinking culture of Norwegian adults to Russetid participants who are newly of drinking age. Taken in its entirety, the Norwegian tradition of Russetid offers a powerful window into both shared and contested values of Norwegian adulthood
