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Annihilation, Reconstruction and Harmony in Carnal Desire
Get PDFThis thesis investigates the aesthetic, ethical, and philosophical implications of meat consumption and bodily commodification of humans and animals within capitalist hierarchies through the lens of digital art, performance and sculpture. Focusing on the intersection of humanity, animality, and technological embodiment, the project interrogates how contemporary systems of power aestheticize violence and disguise exploitation under the guise of ethical consumption. Inspired by critical theories, particularly of Amber Husain, Jacques Derrida, George Bataille, and Donna Haraway, the thesis examines the ambivalent tensions between seduction and slaughter, subjectivity and domination, and how these dynamics are embedded in both animal and human exploitation. The mian project, Annihilation, is an experimental 3D animation, textile mixed media sculpture and real-time performance installation composed of six interconnected scenarios: Stunning, Bleeding, Evisceration, Chopping, Feast, and Cultivation. In each stage, I embody a semi-posthuman self, undergoing a speculative slaughtering process wherein boundaries between human, animal, synthetic, and technological are blurred. Through 3D scanning, then, digitizing hand-crafted mixed media textile sculptures as digital landscapes within Blender, I recreate fleshy and translucent terrains. The project further uses AI (Kling) to continuously rupture and regenerate representations of the digital sculpture landscape, producing a recursive tension between organic and artificial, authentic and simulated. The project critiques how human, animal or hybrid bodies are processed into commodified identities and asks whether a future of ethical coexistence beyond hierarchy and objectification is imaginable. Also, Annihilation sheds a latent utopia of future grounded in vulnerability, ambiguity, and unknown multispecies entanglement
The Employment Situation of Veterans: May 2025
No full textIn May 2025, U.S. employment grew by 139,000, with gains in health care, leisure, and social assistance, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%. Veteran unemployment rose slightly overall, with notable increases among younger and mid-aged veterans, while female veterans and Black veterans saw improvements; trends continued to vary across demographic groups
Research That Drives Economic & Social Mobility for Veterans and Military Families
No full textThis poster highlights IVMF\u27s data-driven research and programs that advance economic and social mobility for veterans and military families. It showcases findings on employment, entrepreneurship, transition readiness, and community reintegration, with insights drawn from national surveys and ongoing data monitoring. These findings inform policy, improve program design, and support stakeholders working to enhance veteran outcomes across sectors
OVMA Resiliency Program: A Holistic Approach to Supporting Veteran and Military-Connected Students
No full textThe Syracuse University Office of Veteran and Military Affairs (OVMA) Resiliency Program (ORP), launched in August 2024, is an innovative initiative designed to support veteran and military-connected students. Developed in partnership with the OVMA, School of Social Work, and Hendricks Chapel, the program provides tailored resources and support networks to help students navigate academic, financial, physical, social, and mental well-ness challenges. Staffed by an Associate Director and graduate-level social work interns, the ORP addresses the critical needs identified in a U.S. Government Accountability Office report on veteran college experiences. Through dynamic support systems, the ORP fosters success and engagement, advancing Syracuse University\u27s vision as a leader in veteran education and serving as a national model for holistic student support
Pain Interference and Hazardous Drinking Among U.S. Veterans: The Role of Combat Deployment
No full textChronic pain and hazardous drinking (i.e., patterns of alcohol consumption that elevate risk for negative health outcomes) are both common and often co-occur among U.S. veterans. Research examining associations between pain interference (i.e., extent to which pain disrupts daily functioning) and alcohol use among non-military samples has yielded mixed findings, with some linking greater pain interference to lower levels of alcohol consumption, and others linking it with increased odds of alcohol dependence. However, there has been a paucity of research examining these relations among veterans, and the role of combat exposure remains unexplored. The goal of these analyses was to examine associations between pain interference and hazardous drinking among veterans, including the role of combat-deployment history
Perceptions about Pain and Alcohol in Relation to Hazardous Drinking among Veterans with Chronic Pain
No full textIntroduction. Chronic pain and hazardous drinking (e.g., patterns of alcohol consumption associated with increased risk for negative consequences) are highly prevalent among U.S. military veterans. Perceptions regarding pain-alcohol interplay (i.e., pain as a motivator of drinking, use of alcohol to cope with pain, and pain as a barrier to alcohol cessation/reduction) may contribute to the onset and maintenance of hazardous drinking among individuals with chronic pain. Methods. Participants included 430 veterans who reported current chronic pain and past month alcohol consumption (24% female; 73% White; Mage = 57) and completed an online survey using Qualtrics Panels. Measures included the Perceptions about Pain and Alcohol Scale (PPAS) and the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). Results. A binary logistic regression model indicated that positive perceptions of alcohol for pain coping (aOR = 1.16, p \u3c 0.001) and pain as a barrier to cessation/reduction (aOR = 1.15, p = 0.002) were each associated with higher odds of current hazardous drinking. Perceptions of pain as a motivator of drinking were not uniquely associated with AUDIT scores. Discussion. These findings suggest that perceptions of pain-alcohol interplay may play an important role in the presence of hazardous drinking among veterans with chronic pain. Specifically, for every one-point increase in PPAS subscale scores, we observed a 15-16% increase in odds of scoring above AUDIT hazardous drinking cutoff. Future research is needed to corroborate these findings and to examine the utility of addressing pain-alcohol perceptions in the context of treatment
Exploring Rupture through Documentary and Narrative Filmmaking
No full textThis thesis examines the theme of rupture—familial, cultural, and personal—across three films by the author: the documentaries 8 Years and 90 Miles (2023) and La Atrevida (2025), and the narrative short Family Practice (2026). I explore how my personal/family life and cross-cultural background shape my cinematic investigations of identity, resilience, and belonging. 8 Years and 90 Miles traces Cuban athlete Bruno Rendon’s defection, revealing how the experience of exile fractures a person emotionally and physically. La Atrevida redefines Reggaeton’s history by telling the story of Excenia Knights, the first woman on the Reggaeton scene. It highlights the cultural shifts and erasures in Reggaeton’s origin story (excluding women and other Panamanian artists), and the personal losses that drove Excenia to leave the music industry. Family Practice adapts documentary techniques to reveal how unresolved past trauma can re-surface and lead to the unravelling of a psychotherapist. I analyze my own film-making process using relevant theories, related films, and aesthetic/thematic influences, to demonstrate how visual language—B-roll, archives, color palettes, mise-en-scène—externalizes internal ruptures. These works collectively argue that familial and cultural disruptions, whether through absence or reappearance, leave lasting imprints on individual lives.Exploring Rupture through Documentary and Narrative Filmmakin
Landowners and Class Struggle: Life, Law and the Social Rent Relation in North Dakota
No full textIn the United States, land may be owned by governments, private landowners, corporations, tribes, etc. The rent relation involved in oil and gas extraction on private lands, however, remain largely unexplored in energy geography, and geography more broadly. In this dissertation, I explore the rent relation between the landowning class and oil capital in North Dakota. I argue rent is a class struggle where the interests of oil capital collide with the private landowning class over the capture of surplus-value. My analysis of class struggle is grounded in the social-historical relations that shaped private property and the rent relation in North Dakota. In Chapter 1, I explain private property and rents are a social relation, contrast surface and mineral owners, and describe the need for my research to fill a theoretical gap in rent theory between private landowners and capital. In Chapter 2, I argue the historical development of North Dakota, beginning with indigenous land tenure and later followed by the arrival of settlers via land grants set the stage for the split estate and resource extraction in North Dakota. In Chapter 3, I analyze class struggle between surface owners and oil companies through the lens of Vernon’s (1971) obsolescing bargain model. In Chapter 4, I unravel class struggle between mineral owners and oil capital over post-production costs lowering royalty payments to mineral owners. In Chapter 5, I analyze a court case litigated at the North Dakota State Supreme Court over nullifying the surface owner’s claim to land and rent. In Chapter 6, I argue oil price shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic led to a sudden oil production halt, prompting the state to draw on federal funds to implement a socioecological fix to rescue the oil industry from an ecological disaster in the making. My conclusion makes renewed calls for geographers to more deeply explore private property and rent relation in the United States
Natalie Shapero, Raymond Carver Reading Series, January 29, 2024
No full textA video recording of Natalie Shapero reading on January 29, 2025, as part of the Syracuse University Creative Writing Program\u27s Raymond Carver Reading Series