Sewanee: The University of the South
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Examining the impacts of regenerative agriculture on soil carbon: A community-based participatory study.
Full text linkInnovative farmers in the southeastern Cumberland Plateau region are stewarding their lands using regenerative practices, such as improved cover cropping and rotational grazing. These practices have been shown to increase and sequester soil carbon, offering an important tool for mitigating climate change caused by rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations. In partnership with the Southeast Tennessee Young Farmers (SeTNYF) Coalition, we initiated a pilot project to examine the impact of rotational grazing and cover cropping on soil carbon on seven local small farms. We employed a community-based participatory approach to design the research around the needs of the local community and to ensure that farmers were consulted at every step. We compared soil carbon at two depths (0-15 and 15-30 cm) between parcels managed with regenerative practices (rotational grazing or cover cropping) and adjacent non-regenerative plots on seven farms. Using the sampling protocol employed by the Soil Inventory Project, we sampled at a minimum density of 3 samples per acre, although on some farms we sampled more, for a total of 406 samples. We hypothesized that soils under rotational grazing or cover crops would have higher organic carbon than adjacent non-regeneratively managed land. Despite the fact that farms had been rotationally grazed for at least five years, we found no significant difference in soil carbon between rotational grazing and adjacent plots. Only on one farm did we find significantly higher carbon under soils that had been cover cropped. Our interviews with farmers suggested that the sampling density may not have been high enough to detect changes in carbon resulting from highly localized regenerative practices, especially given the inherent heterogeneity of soils, compounded by differing land use histories. More research on other factors influencing soil is crucial for future carbon studies to better understand the environmental benefits of regenerative agriculture. While we found no effect of rotational grazing on soil in this study, these data provide a baseline for continued research on small farms which has been enhanced through our use of the community-based participatory approach.South Eastern Tennessee Young Farmers (SeTNYF) Coalitio
Theosophy: A Spiritual Journey
Full text linkOur research explores the principles of Theosophy, a spiritual and philosophical movement that emerged in the late 19th century. Influenced by Buddhism and Hinduism, founders Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott formulated three “core objects” of Theosophy. Firstly, to form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color. Secondly, to encourage the comparative study of religion, philosophy, and science, and finally, to investigate unexplained laws of nature and the esoteric powers latent in humanity. The Orientalist history of Theosophy’s emergence and its unique conglomeration of religious phenomena continues to animate considerable work among scholars of religious studies. However, public knowledge of this movement remains much more limited. In this project, we describe and analyze Theosophy’s “core objects” and contextualize them by exploring their historical formation, philosophical meanings, and contemporary relevance. Through a study of Blavatsky’s original doctrinal works and analyses of later Theosophist texts, we seek to examine the tradition’s esoteric teachings and provide insights into its mix of various eastern esoteric practices and beliefs as well as its significant relationship to Spiritualist practices. We hope to foster intercultural understanding and contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of this seemingly mysterious religious movement
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Full text linkI was advised to know why I wrote these stories during my defense. It doesn’t really matter what the answer is, but I should be prepared for questions. That’s fair. And I’ve already gotten these questions. My fiancée hates this collection. Earlier visitors to my bedroom have snooped and thought I was writing erotica. Exes think I want to make fun of them. Many others point out that the characters are gross, homophobic, misogynistic, and worse. And I’ll admit, when I read Lolita and even my beloved Catcher, I don’t really separate the authors from Humbert or Caulfield. Martin Amis has had this problem, I hear. If ever I am dually blessed and cursed with public exposure, I will have the same problem.
The reason I write anything is to see if I can make x happen, to see if x could be made plausible, sympathetic, even likeable. I think of a bad idea, and I go for it! I say YES!
That’s my answer, I guess.
There’s a good part of me that’s nervous. I’m a child of the 90’s, and I’m still living there in a lot of ways. It was cool to push boundaries. It’s not right now. But the pendulum swings, and I’m not about to bother with such calculations to publish at the right moment that sales match the public collective consciousness. That’s not my job.
My job is to write the stories. To make them the best I can. I did that, and now it’s your turn to read and decide.
I do think you come out smarter and wiser for it. I really do think that.
But it’s reasonable to disagree
The Effect of Immigrant Discrimination on Wages in the United States
No full textIn the United States, workplace discrimination on the basis of immigrant status is reflected in multiple ways. Although abundant research has been conducted on these forms of discrimination, this study seeks to empirically test the effect of workplace discrimination on the earnings of immigrant employees, which is important to highlight, mitigate, and ultimately reduce the barriers to fair workplace practices faced by immigrants. We approach the problem from the perspective of wage discrepancies. Our research design focuses on cases of employees with similar education levels and occupations and relies on pooled-cross section data from the American Community Surveys (ACS) and U.S. Census data over the years 1980 to 2020, which we analyze by comparing the wages of immigrants to non-immigrants in the same fields. Results show that immigrant discrimination creates wage disparities by lowering the wages of immigrant workers regardless of differences in education level, English proficiency, marital status, sex, and other relevant factors. These results have broader implications of informing policies aimed at creating equitable and inclusive work environments for immigrants.The University of the South Department of Economics, Dr. Marc St-Pierre, Dr. Tao Son
Choosing Appropriate Repertoire for Students Studying Voice
Full text linkAs a voice teacher, choosing repertoire for students is a vitally important task. Assigning repertoire that is too easy will not allow a student to grow their musicianship, while assigning music that is too difficult can stunt development and discourage the singer from continuing lessons. With this issue in mind it can be advantageous to have a system to quickly analyze the difficulty of a piece of music and determine whether to assign it or not, thus reducing the time spent picking repertoire and allowing one to gain an understanding of pieces a teacher might be unfamiliar with. The purpose of this research was to create such a system utilizing a rubric to score the difficulty of a piece of music across a variety of parameters including range and tessitura, rhythmic intricacy, harmonic complexity, linguistic demands, and the difficulty and melodic support of the accompaniment. Drawing inspiration from established practices in the voice pedagogy literature, this project refines already effective metrics into a new rubric, offering a comprehensive and efficient tool for assessing difficulty, and allowing future voice teachers to make informed repertoire decisions.Dr. Kerry Ginge
Les lions de Rosa Bonheur : L'intersection de la colonisation, la science et l’art animalier dans la France du XIVe siècle
Full text link« [Les animaux] sont amis, tu ne vois pas ? Ils ont travaillé avec moi. Je leur dois la moitié de ce qu'on se plaît à admirer dans mes tableaux » — Rosa Bonheur (Stanton 341). Rosa Bonheur (1822–1899) est la femme artiste la plus décorée du XIXe siècle, célèbre pour ses peintures animalières et son approche profondément naturaliste de la représentation animale. Longtemps oubliée dans la littérature artistique, elle a récemment fait l'objet d'une réévaluation majeure, notamment avec l'exposition de 2022 au Musée d’Orsay. Ce projet explore la vie, l’œuvre et l’héritage de Bonheur en articulant ses pratiques artistiques avec les débats contemporains sur le genre, l’écologie, la place des femmes dans l’histoire de l’art et la représentation des animaux. Issue d’un foyer saint-simonien qui prônait l’égalité éducative, Rosa Bonheur a reçu une formation scientifique poussée, disséquant des animaux à l’École vétérinaire d’Alfort et intégrant des savoirs biologiques dans sa pratique. Elle a défié les normes de genre par son mode de vie et ses relations, notamment avec ses compagnes Nathalie Micas et Anna Klumpke. Son art révèle aussi des tensions entre naturalisme, colonialisme et symbolisme, notamment dans ses représentations de lions. En recontextualisant Bonheur dans les débats sur le canon artistique et en analysant son rapport singulier aux animaux comme êtres vivants plutôt que symboles, cette recherche contribue à une reconnaissance critique du travail des femmes dans des sphères historiquement masculines.Dr. Donald Run
The LITS :Latest: Library and Information Technology Services Newsletter, no. 6
No full textLITS Communications Tea
Everette Stutts Oral History Interview Records
No full textEverette Stutts of Sewanee, Tennessee was interviewed by Cameron Thornton, Sewanee student, on February 19th and March 12th, 2024 in person and on Zoom. While their conversation was primarily on the Black Lives Matter Movement, other topics included: discussing the future of the Black Lives Matter movement and the movement’s impact on race relations in the Southern United States. We hope that this conversation will assist scholars with a further understanding of race in the United States during the early twenty-first century. Please click on the link to see the full interview.Dr. Andrew Maginn, Visiting Assistant Professor of Histor
