6617 research outputs found
Sort by
Blood on Their Hands: Settler Colonial States in the Arctic
Full text linkThe Arctic is currently the most rapidly warming region in the world. Modern-day media has been transfixed by the image of the poor polar bear, eeking out a difficult living as the sea ice they depend on has been melting. What often remains outside of the frame, however, are the more complex questions about how we got to this point of extreme climate change. Linking the genocidal histories of Indigenous assimilation in the Arctic to the modern-day ecological crises plaguing the region introduces the state as an overlooked climate polluter. While Arctic communities are all on the frontlines of climate change, the Indigenous nations bear these burdens unequally, facing the legacies and everyday enactments of settler colonial violence.
Written from the perspective of a non-Indigenous Global North citizen, this paper utilizes the framework of David Pellow’s Critical Environmental Justice to argue that the Arctic’s role as a stronghold for state power is exactly what makes it a site of critical environmental injustice. On the heels of the Arctic becoming a new frontier for deep-sea mining and territorial expansion, I urge settler scientists and other settler citizens of the Arctic states to take action against the empires in which they live
Solidaristic Grief: A Framework for Political Organizing
Full text linkMy purpose in this article is to outline the potential of grief to be foundational to a collectivist politics of solidarity and interdependence. Drawing on research in human psychology, I will argue that because people form core beliefs based more on emotion than rationality, movements for justice and equality must utilize emotion to convince people to dedicate time and energy to helping their cause. Defined in this article as a process of reconstructing one’s “world of meaning” and very identity in the face of loss, grief is by nature transformative. Grief also challenges atomistic conceptions of individuality to reframe how organizers should understand self-interest, the constellation of forces that motivates a person to act. Strong bonds of solidarity in large social groups allow us to grieve for strangers, which can be the basis of social movements. Grief and solidarity can both be used in service of structures of domination as well, in particular by making certain lives “ungrievable.” I will examine the role of grief and solidarity in two contemporary US social movements, Black Lives Matter and IfNotNow, before discussing the obligations and promise of “transformative solidarity.
Minnesotan Morals: Hmong, Somali, and Afghan Refugees and the Future of Statewide Sanctuary Policy
Full text linkAmidst animosity, tension, and discomfort over the politics and realities of immigration in the United States, Minnesota provides reprieve. The state’s attitudes towards and infrastructure for immigrant communities are distinctly positive. Despite its reputation as a safe haven, in 2021, the state legislature declined to formally adopt the label of “Sanctuary state” proposed in both houses. Sanctuary states, localities, or policies are those that refuse to follow national, often harsh, immigration law. This paper explores the rise of the Sanctuary Movement in the United States in relation to the current, politicized understanding of Sanctuary policy. Using Hmong, Somali, and Afghan waves of immigration to Minnesota as evidence, I argue that Minnesota already promotes Sanctuary polities. With each community, state infrastructure responded to immigrant communities’ history of exit to create positive contexts of reception for individuals and families. Given Minnesota’s network of public and private resources and organizations for immigration, the legislature’s rejection of official designation as a Sanctuary state reflects merely political fears and does not prioritize social realities
From The Lower East Side To Seinfeld : The Radicalization and Corporatization of American Jewish Identity
Full text linkThis essay details the vastly different public expressions of American Jewish identity in the twentieth century through the areas of entertainment and social activism. Critical to this study is a notion I call the Jewish Radical Tradition of Solidaric Jewishness - our culture’s historical legacy of aligning Jewish values with the fight to liberate all oppressed groups, supporting mutual emancipation from systems of social, political, and economic domination that elevate a few individuals at the expense of the collective. I argue that the twentieth century represented the ultimate battle within the American Jewish community to decide what form of Jewishness would triumph in the public eye. This battle was fought between Jews who remained loyal to the radical, leftist politics of the Lower East Side versus those who departed from that phenomenon, either physically or ideologically joining the bourgeois class on Park Avenue through assimilation, depoliticization, and corporatization in order to protect their newly gained whiteness privileges after the Second World War. I explore the continuation of the Jewish Radical Tradition through the six Jewish members of the Hollywood Ten, the trial and lives of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and the transgressive stand-up comedy of Lenny Bruce. I then illuminate the betrayal of the Tradition and the corporatization of American Jewish identity through the hugely successful sitcom Seinfeld. To conclude, I will delineate my vision for how I believe the American Jewish community can continue our Tradition of Solidaric Jewishness in the current political moment
Simulation of Polymerization on Surfaces: Implications for Abiogenesis
Full text linkHow did life arise from the prebiotic conditions of the early earth? This problem has vexed scientists for decades with no consensus on its solution. Significant spontaneous formation of biopolymers such as proteins and nucleic acids in the aqueous phase appears to be improbable due to thermodynamic constraints. It has been proposed that mineral surfaces could have served as a catalyst for the initial formation of biopolymers. However, the feasibility of this mechanism has not been thoroughly studied. In this study, a particle simulation of polypeptide formation on surfaces is developed to assess the feasibility of this mechanism. Elementary processes such as monomer adsorption, monomer and dimer diffusion, desorption, and peptide bond formation are included in the model. The production of long polymers that could serve as building blocks of proteins is considered as a function of bonding activation energy, polymer desorption energy, and the number of wet-dry cycles experienced by the surface
Controlling Knowledge and Critiquing Systems: The Florida Education System
Full text linkThis research paper analyzes the way white nationalism’s impact on the public education system particularly in the South [of the United States], specifically in Florida. The primary focus will involve the discussion pertaining to racial history and how it is taught. In order to effectively address this issue, we must compare the past to the present and how, unfortunately, history is repeating itself. The paper includes a deep dive into Florida’s state history as well as the personal experiences conducted through an interview of myself and my father, who was a student within the Florida public education system and has been an educator for twenty plus years. Major shifts have been taking place within places of power such as the Florida Senate and ideologies upheld by Governor Ron DeSantis. In addition to dissecting Florida’s less popular history, the paper inspects the effects of newer laws such as the Stop WOKE Act and the Don’t Say Gay Bill has on the classroom setting. Humans possess an innate desire to learn. Controlling the education system for K-12 controls the perception our new and upcoming voters will develop. You don’t know what you don’t know. It also poses the following questions: who deserves access? And, does the government reserve the right to censor information
The March Toward Indian Black Solidarity
Full text linkThis essay explores Indian Americans’ nuanced identity, privilege, and historical relationship to Black Americans. Today, Black and Indian American racial identities are often isolated from one another due to the effects of White Supremacy and Anti-Blackness within the Indian American diaspora. This paper assumes that complicity and conflict are not the end, but anti-racism and solidarity are possible within the diaspora. The paper will begin with a brief explanation of terms and phrases concerning my paper. I will attempt to answer two major research questions: What systems were put into place by White Supremacist Institutions to position Indian Americans as a weapon of Anti-Blackness and racial estrangement? How do Indian Americans move toward anti-racism and solidarity? I argue that White Supremacy intentionally created a disconnect between Indian Americans and Black Americans. However, Black and Indian activists of the past teach us that disconnect can be overcome, and learning about the shared history and struggle propels us forward. The goal of White Supremacy globally is to divide BIPOC communities to conquer subsequently. Thus, a broad coalition of BIPOC communities is necessary for liberation. Individuals within the Indian diaspora have been working with Black Americans for a century, and this intertwined history is imperative to consider in today’s new progressive Civil Rights Era
Embody the Cause: Subaltern Body Protests as Resistance Tactics
Full text linkGendered, classed, and racialized bodies differentially experience state-sanctioned violence and societal norms. Body protests — when the body manifests the political messages by drawing attention to itself — manifest in these intersections. Women engaging in body protests garner more attention; a body that is sexualized, controlled, and subjugated draws attention to itself as a political act. To understand this, I ask, what explains the specific tactics that women employ in acts of political resistance? By employing subaltern agency and feminist social movement theories, I use process tracing and comparative analysis of three body protest cases: the incarcerated Armagh women in Northern Ireland in the 1980s, the female suicide bombers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka in the 1990s, and the female self-immolators in Tibet in the 2010s. I theorize that gender as a salient grievance alone cannot explain why women adopt body protests. I argue that three factors — gender/feminist grievances, tactical innovation, and self-sacrifice framing — shape women’s choice to use body protests in social movements. This holistic approach challenges dichotomous perceptions of women and tactics as docile vs. corrupted and peaceful vs. violent
From Field to Fashion: A Journey in Sustainable Design and Regional Understanding
Full text linkAs the fashion industry became globalized over the past century, it has become a major environment polluter and exposed laborers to hazardous conditions. This honors project considers sustainability in the textile industry at large and at the regional scale of the Upper Midwest. Its scholarly component offers an overview of the current textile production, details how the industry may become sustainable, and suggests practices of environmentally-conscious and ethical design. The creative component is a soil-to-soil seasonless capsule collection titled From Field View that incorporates biomimicry and interrogates the concept of place by referencing the Midwest’s flora, wool, and linen fibers