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As more and more contemporary scholars begin to reevaluate the roles of female characters in foundational ancient texts, Grace Berg ’16 is this summer assessing scholarly reactions to reimaginings of Penelope, the wife of Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey through an Emerson Summer Collaborative Research Award.  Berg’s project is titled Penelope and Her Odyssey: A Reception Study, and her adviser is Barbara Gold, the Edward North Professor and chair of Classics.

When you think of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Hamlet’s soliloquy “to be, or not to be” is probably the first thing that comes to mind. This scene is just one well-known example of the power of monologues. Monologues, whether in a 17th-century play or a recent movie, have a special power to delve into the mind of characters and connect with audiences. This summer, Kelsey Crane ’17 is exploring the particular power of monologues, working with Professor of Theatre Craig Latrell under an Emerson Summer Research grant.

John Rufo ’16 is taking poetry beyond the personal and into the political this summer with an Emerson project titled “Hybrid Forms, Hybrid Voices: A Creative Study of Contemporary Political Poetics.”

This summer, Marquis Palmer ’18 is exploring conceptual frameworks with the potential to contribute to the recent #BlackLivesMatter movement, focusing primarily on an unexpected and popularly misunderstood school of thought — anarchism. His research is an Emerson project under the direction of John Stewart Kennedy Professor of Philosophy Richard Werner.

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.