Graduate Profiles

Sonjas honors thesis unpacks the cultural work of American Girls products by looking at the dolls, books, and accessories as tools of childhood education. The histories presented by American Girl characters are often a young girls first foray into American history, giving great power to the stories. Many critics of American Girl question whether or not the narratives are accurate, disregarding that history is a series of ideologies and perspectives retold as truth. American history is regularly told from a white and upper-class perspective, disregarding the experiences of others. The characters of American Girl and their stories tackle gender, race, and class conflicts throughout American history but rarely present histories different from the normatively white cultural readings of history present in textbooks. When the history is presented from a Black or Latino standpoint, the American-ness of the character is questioned, signaling a division in the message and cultural work being done by the narrative. American Girls products reinforce the normative white values instead of pushing boundaries and urging young and impressionable girls to explore new perspectives and question what they have been taught as fact. The first chapter discussed the relationship between dolls, books, and play, giving an understanding of how dolls and doll-play help form understandings of what it means to be young, female, and American. Three character case studies followed, with each focusing on how class and race are constructed within the characters six-book series. The final chapter explored how education and the historical characters were reconsidered under Mattels ownership beginning in 1998.

In her honors thesis, Patty Chen argues that the presentation of African Americans as poor welfaredependentsand Asian Americans as the successful model minority supports the neoliberal notion that a person’s individual choice is the determining factor in their economic success or failure in America. Patty argues that these two images obscure the reality of racial meaning and the existence of institutionalforces that influence the lives of people of color. This leads to an ineffective discussions concerning how race affects the lives of people of colordiscussions that focus on whether racism exists rather than meaningful ways to bridge the gap in the life experiences of people of color and whites.

Sophia Ngs honors thesis, Channels for Change: Sesame Streets Ability to Implement Civil Rights Ideology in Childrens Programming, investigates the interplay between television and the civil rights era. Television played an important role to capture and circulate images of war, rebellion, and social change throughout the United States in the 1960s. Her honors thesis asks, how was Americas changing social landscape portrayed on television to the nations most nascent demographic– preschoolers? Sophias thesis explores this question within the context of the childrens program, Sesame Street, a show known for its lovable puppets, educational content, and integrated urban setting. Sesame Street first aired in 1969, a turbulent year when television was dominated by news of the first man on the moon, the Stonewall Riot in New York City, and the beginning of Nixons Vietnamization of Southeast Asia. Juxtaposing these social realities against Sesame Street, a show that welcomed American youth into an inner city utopia, Sophia draws upon examples, such as Jesse Jacksons recitation of I Am Somebody and songs like Bein Green and People In Your Neighborhood, and explores the ways in which Sesame Street sought to normalize values of justice and inclusivity on the small screen.

Mykiyaa Walker-Sanchezs thesis aims to understand the how structural, environmental, and cultural factors put Black women at higher risk of obesity than white women. By looking closely at health outcomes in Los Angeles county, Mykiyaas thesis analyzes how macro level disparities are reproduced and perpetuated at the local level.

While national homicide rates are at a record low, socioeconomically disadvantaged Black and Latino youth experience death rates disproportionately, violently, and at ages far too young. Anavictoria Avilas honors thesis centers on literal and figurative premature death among disadvantaged Black and Latino youth through street violence and incarceration. Her research includes the contexts and stories behind makeshift street memorials in East Oakland and East Anaheim, where she conducted field work. She considers how street memorials reflect socio-cultural factors as well as criminal and public policy that manufacture premature death for youth in marginalized communities. Anavictoria argues that the premature death of low-income Black and Latino youth is perpetuated by public policy that neglects to consider the racial, political, and social histories that have predetermined the disadvantaged Black and Brown body as disposable, criminal, and unworthy of consideration in legislative and legal decisions. In response to current intervention methods of cracking down on gangs and crime through mass incarceration, Anavictorias honors thesis concludes with an intervention proposal that focuses on human dignity, family, community, education, and youth empowerment.

In an industry that walks the fine line of seemingly shallow aesthetics and class-designated “conspicuous consumption,” Shabnam Banerjee-McFarland’s thesis asks how does the New York Fashion Industry affect the way we see race? New York fashion houses, such as Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger, are arguably some of the most subversive corporate brands in thinking about the politics of beauty, race, and the visual aesthetic due to their constant attempts to steer clear of politics. Shabnam’s thesis deconstructs standards of American beauty, and the ways in which the New York fashion industry cultivates these standards during New York Fashion Week. There is a highly decisive performance that aims to perpetuate white femininity, where whiteness is unmarked and reigns supreme. Subsequently, women of color are routinely compared and contrasted to this paradigm through exoticizing and fetishizing their bodies, ultimately resulting in their erasure. She juxtaposes Vogue’s photo-seriesentitled “Street Style,” or photography captured of those attending the event (fashion bloggers, designers, photographers, journalists, etc) against the meticulously styled models captured on the runway. Representation, as always, matters.