All News

Classic mythology originated thousands of years ago, yet it still resonates with audiences today. With an Emerson Foundation grant, Rachel Beamish ’16 is examining adaptations of classical and Egyptian mythology within modern young adult novels. She is working with Professor of Africana Studies and Classics Shelley Haley to examine how contemporary novels adapt classical mythology to 21st century American culture.

Paula Ortiz ’18 is taking a shot this summer at an endeavor many professional filmmakers never undertake, let alone rising undergraduate sophomores: crafting a documentary. Ortiz is pursuing this project, titled Textile Patterns and Social Structure: Recapturing the Artistic, Historic and Cultural Legacy of Otavalo, with funding from an Emerson Summer Collaborative Research Award and Visiting Professor of Art History Scott MacDonald as her advisor.

When Njideka Ofoleta ’16 studied abroad in Spain last semester, she noticed something about the population in her neighborhood. She lived in an area with a high immigrant population, and although she saw many African men in public and in the media, she saw few African women. She realized that African women were rarely discussed, and she “wanted to delve deeper into that rarely-covered realm.” With a grant from the Emerson Foundation, Ofoleta has spent time in Morocco, Spain, and the United States to research African women immigrating into Spain.

Amber Torres ’16 is familiarizing herself with the basic economic and political logistics of urban planning this summer through a research project titled “Selling the City.” The project represents “an analysis of the complex relationship between real estate, consumerism and the middle/working class market” and will be undertaken through means of data collection, interviews and site observation. 

While thousands of scientific articles are published annually, relatively few attract the attention of the general public. The gap between what is understood by scientists and what is common knowledge to the public is the focus of a research project being undertaken by Mary Langworthy ’17 in a project titled “Where Geology Meets Literature: A Spatiotemporal Analysis of Science Writing,” funded through the Emerson Foundation.

Mariel Radek ’16 is pursuing research this summer through an Emerson Foundation grant exploring the socio-political position of women in Francisco Franco’s Nationalist Spain. Radek’s research, under the advisement of Associate Professor of History Lisa Trivedi, is delving into the role of the Feminine Section (La sección femenina), and its leader Pilar Primo de Rivera in forwarding an unusually progressive agenda during the largely conservative reign of the Francoists.

Adam Evertz '17 is delving into the limits of human verbal interaction this summer with a research project titled "Failures of Language: Literature and the Indescribable." Evertz is undertaking this research with funding through an Emerson Summer Cooperative Research Award, and under the advisement of The Carolyn C. and David M. Ellis '38 Distinguished Teaching Professor of Comparative Literature, Peter Rabinowitz. 

Jake Meserve Blount ’17 is spending his summer pursuing a fieldwork project under the advisement of Professor of Music Lydia Hamessley titled “Fiddles in the North Country: Uncovering the Ithaca Sound.” Blount’s research is funded through an Emerson Foundation Grant.

Asad Javed ’16 is working this summer through an Emerson Grant to transpose the Molière classic Tartuffe into a number of new settings, in a project titled “Unholy Vanities and Holy Prose: A Reimagination of Moliere's Tartuffe through Costume Design.” Javed, a French and  interdisciplinary studies (film) double major, is undertaking this project in creative collaboration with Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre Andrew Holland.

John McEnroe, the John and Anne Fischer Professor in Fine Arts, is co-leader of a team that is working on a complete architectural survey of the town of Gournia on the island of Crete. The work was highlighted in a lengthy article in the May/June issue of Archaeology magazine. “The Minoans of Crete” focused on site excavation that began more than a century ago.