SPRING 2001 MAPS

AFRICANA STUDIES: "Essays on Southern Images." Ellen Sale. [Professor Katya Gibel Azoulay]. The macrocosmic issue I will examine is the image--and image-making process--of "the South" in metaphorical, commercial, historical, political, and artistic terms. "Imagining Mississippi: Representation, Filmmaking, and the Southern Mystique" was presented at the Africana Studies Conference, May 2001.

AFRICANA STUDIES: "Just Keepin' it Reel." Lillian Benjamin. [Professor Katya Gibel Azoulay]. Is it possible for middle-class-educated Blacks to remain "real" to their "community"? In the book The Future of the Race, Henry Louis Gates Jr. states, "[many] enormous … disparities within the 'Black community' are discussed only gingerly and awkwardly, and that's because they undermine the very concept of such a 'community' in the first place"(37). I will examine the validity of Gates' statement by examining one such 'disparity' within the "Black community": economic stratification. The representation of this stratification has led to two views on Black life; the first--the "good Black"--has successfully assimilated into white culture; he is seen as non-threatening, and a hard worker. The second view of Black life sees the Black individual as a social deviant. They are seen as violent, threatening, and lacking economic progress. While the major motion picture industry continues to portray the Black community as either gangstas and hoes or as assimilationist, the complicated and diverse realities within the entire Black community remain hidden. As the films' distorted characters begin to be seen as authentic representations, the lives of Blacks that do not fit these restrictive stereotypes are silenced and forgotten. That is, their achievement of the "American Dream" is overlooked by the prevalence of images of the American nightmare that many Blacks in poverty find themselves living in. Often the Black middle-class no longer feels an association with poor blacks. Thus, the simplistic images of ganstas and assimilationists lead many in the Black middle-class to question whether they can "buy in" without "selling out." Thus these images encourage the Black middle-class to question the meaning of "Blackness" and "community. "Just Keepin It Reel: Is It Possible for Middle-Class Blacks to Remain 'Real' to Their Community?" presented at the Africana Studies Conference, May 2001.

ANTHROPOLOGY: "Cendrillon to Cinderella: An Anthropological Analysis of the Western Fairy
Tale." Laurelin Muir. [Professor Jonathan Andelson]. This thesis examined the "Cinderella" legacy from three schools of anthropological theory: structuralism, psychoanalysis, and feminist/post-modern theory. These three theoretical approaches allowed for a holistic analysis of Cinderella as a cultural ritual, mental tool, and educative/entertaining medium. In addition to these three theoretical interpretations, I conducted ethnographic research among two classes of third and fourth graders at Davis Elementary School. The purpose of this research was threefold. 1) To ascertain the meaning of the Cinderella story to Grinnell children between the ages of eight and eleven; 2) To determine where and how they learned the story; and 3) To learn how they situate the story in American culture. "Where Did That Glass Slipper Come From? An Anthropological Investigation of Cinderella and Folkloric Anthropology" was presented on campus May 2001.

ANTHROPOLOGY: "Orangutan Behavioral Sex Differences." Sarah Burdett. [Professor Vicki Bentley-Condit] This study aims to determine the proportion of time captive orangutans spend on certain behaviors. Of specific interest is the comparison of feral orangutan time budgets to captive orangutan time budgets. Assessing these differences may help explain the effects of habitat on the behavior of orangutans. It may also help to explain the 'asociality' of feral orangutans in terms of resource availability and feeding competition. "Time Budgets and Social/Play Bouts of Captive Orangutans at the Henry Doorly Zoo, Omaha" was presented on campus April 2001.

ANTHROPOLOGY: "Chimpanzee Reconciliation Research." Gary Oppenheim. [Professor Vicki Bentley-Condit]. I will examine reconciliation patterns among chimpanzees at the Detroit Zoo. Over the course of twenty days, I will record reconciliation activities following any aggressive interactions involving contact. Baker and Smuts (1994), in an analysis of Baker's (1992) study of the Detroit colony, suggested that reconciliation patterns among female chimpanzees may be context dependent. Specifically, they suggested that females reconciled more frequently in the Detroit colony than in de Waal and Roosmalen's (1979) study because, at the time of study, the Detroit colony had just recently been formed. They theorized that it was potentially more beneficial for females to engage in sociodynamic activities during initial colony formation than it would be later, and so females simply curtail such activities once the costs outweigh the benefits. Their study, however, was based only on analyses of events during the first two years after the colony was formed, so it remains unknown whether or not reconciliation levels have since decreased. This study will address that concern. "Context-Dependent Reconciliation Patterns in a Captive Chimpanzee Colony at the Detroit Zoo, Detroit" was presented on campus April 2001.

ANTHROPOLOGY: "Debating Land Reform and Constructing a Nation: Perspectives on the Land Reform and Resettlement Programme in Zimbabwe." Allison Brummel. [Professor Montgomery Roper]. In preparation for this paper, I traveled to Zimbabwe for three weeks over Winter Break, interviewing dozens of Zimbabweans from around the country regarding their perceptions of the Land Reform and Resettlement Programme and how these views relate to broader visions of the future of their country. Specifically, I was interested in their conceptions of race/ethnicity and economic liberalization in the "making" of Zimbabwe. I will be presenting my paper twice at The Fifth Annual Africana Studies Conference April 19, 2001. "Debating Land and Constructing Nation: The Land Reform and Resettlement Programme in Zimbabwe" was presented at a departmental seminar, May 2001.

ART: "Senior Project." Idelle Cooper. [Professor Bobbie McKibbin].

BIOLOGY: "Regulated River Ecology." Emily Westergaard. [Professor Peter Jacobson]. This MAP examined how hydrologic regulation of the Middle Rio Grande (MRG) in central New Mexico has affected the growth of cottonwood trees in the river's riparian forests. Leaf litter collections over the past decade suggest that these forests are rapidly senescing. I compared annual growth rates over the past 30 years, measured from tree ring increment cores, with various hydroclimatic variables and with existing records of litter production. Litter production correlated strongly with annual ring records, and the long-term increment record indicated that forest senescence is a recent phenomenon. The decline in growth rate paralleled significant changes in the hydrology of the Rio Grande, most notably an increase in base flows since the mid-1980's. This research suggests that stabilization of the river's hydrology has had a negative impact on the integrity of the riparian forests along the MRG. Research was presented at a Family Weekend poster in Fall 2001.

BIOLOGY: "Quantitative Chicken Lens Response." Cem Efe. [Professor Charles Sullivan]. The goal of this MAP will be to repeat and confirm the results of previous experiments that have shown qualitatively that the lens forming potential of chick head ectoderm is gradually restricted after stage 10, perhaps by neural cell migration. In addition, I will use direct and indirect computer-based analysis of immunoblot results to rigorously quantify the extent to which neural crest cell migration affects lens forming potential in chicken embryos.

BIOLOGY: "In vitro differentiation of the chick lens and optic vesicle." Amanda Chatterley. [Professor Charles Sullivan]. Chemical interactions between tissues in an embryo leads to the formation of specialized cells in vertebrate development. The first of these interactions to be studied was the induction of the lens by the optic vesicle. While the optic vesicle is no longer believed to be the primary inducer of the lens, it is hypothesized that it still plays a role in lens differentiation. I propose to investigate the differentiation of lens tissue grown in culture in the presence and absence of the optic vesicle to observe the effects of the optic vesicle on timing and extent of differentiation of the presumptive lens ectoderm. Additionally, I propose to observe whether or not differentiation of the optic vesicle into the optic cup depends on the presence of the lens. I would like to compare the extent of differentiation in both the lens and the optic vesicle that occurs when these tissues are grown in culture and compare these results to differentiation that occurs normally in living chick embryos. Mandy presented "Analysis of Reciprocal Inductive Interactions between the Developing Optic Vesicle and the Presumptive Lens Ectoderm" in a departmental honors seminar and as a poster during Family Weekend, 2001.

ECONOMICS: "Economic Applications of Game Theory." Ashraf Jaffer, Shekhar Shah, Binyam Taddese. [Professor William Ferguson]. Games of strategy are played all the time, hence, in order to make good decisions, it is important to understand how these games are played and to play them well ourselves. Games are played in Economics all the time, for example, wage negotiations, trade negotiations between two countries and in competitive market theory. This MAP aims to understand the fundamentals of Game Theory and apply this knowledge to an economic issue of our choice. Students presented results at an Economics Department Panel, May 2001. Ashraf discussed "Applications of Game Theory to the Relationship Between Worker Motivation and Wages"; Shekhar discussed "Applications of Game Theory to Strategic Trade Policy"; and Binyam discussed "Applications of Game Theory to the Workings of the OPEC Cartel."

EDUCATION: "Uncovering the Sorcerer's Stone: Curriculum Development and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Josh Blue [Professor Kara Lycke]. This project is intended to examine a quickly rising literary star in school and homes around the world--Harry Potter--and to create an interdisciplinary, multi-leveled fourth grade curriculum revolving around J.K. Rowling's first book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. First, by looking at the world's reactions to Harry Potter through newspaper and journal articles, as well as numerous books that have already appeared about Harry, I hope to uncover the reasons behind Harry Potter's huge success while also examining the backlash and negative criticism J.K. Rowling and her books have received. Then, I will develop a curriculum, which is an advanced area within the field of education and will require application of the theoretical and practical knowledge I have gained over the last three and a half years. I intend to incorporate the latest research and information available on interdisciplinary course work and constructivist curricula in order to create the curriculum for the Sorcerer's Stone. I plan to share my findings and curriculum design with the Grinnell campus and community, and also with teachers and education scholars around the country through inservice and conference presentations.

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: "ENV 395: Topics in Biological Diversity." Angela Bishop, Matthew Charnetski, Philip Ludwig, Emily Mize, Elizabeth Roeder, Anna Swanson, Katherine Wolf, Jodi Ziesemer. [Professor David Campbell]. The eight MAPs will each explore a current issue in tropical biological diversity, either marine (coral reefs) and terrestrial (tropical forests), using the resources of Campbell's permanent plots at the Wildlife Conservation International (New York Zoological Society) Glover's Atoll Marine Lab, or the forests of Cayo District, Belize. The students will be responsible for designing and conducting their individual research projects, under Campbell's supervision. The MAPs will have eight phases: 1) a survey of the contemporary scientific literature pertaining to the research topic, 2) writing a mock "grant proposal" for submission to "peer" review by the other MAP students, 3) revision of the proposal and creation of a research protocol (including equipment needs, time line, sampling protocol, etc.) for the field phase in Belize, 4) data collection during the field phase in Belize over the two-week spring break, 5) analysis of the data back in Grinnell, 5) presentation of the research in the format of Biotropica (the definitive journal on tropical biology), 6) "peer" review of the paper by the other MAP students, 7) revision of the paper and 8) presentation of the research to the Grinnell campus community in the form of a poster and/or seminar.

FRENCH: " Paris: paradis ou enfer? : Le mythe de Paris dans les romans de l'Afrique subsaharienne ." Mary Davis. [Professor Susan Ireland and Professor Philippe Moisan]. For this project, I will be examining the experience of African immigrants in Paris in the 1990s. I will particularly analyze how those who immigrate from subsaharan Africa portray the city of Paris and their experiences of that city in contemporary novels. Through the novels of Calixthe Beyala, Daniel Biyaoula, Alain Mabanckou, and J.R. Essomba, I will try to answer several questions that concern contemporary urban myths. How do these authors interpret urban space? What images do they most often associate with Paris? What does Paris represent for their protagonists? How do their protagonists compare/contrast their expectations and their dreams with their real experiences of the city? What are the most important differences for them between Paris and their home cities/towns? What does "being Parisian" mean for them? By answering these questions, I will try to make the distinction between the myths and the reality of Paris insofar as subsaharan African fiction depicts it. "L'esperience des immigres de l'Afrique subsaharienne a paris" was presented on campus May 2001.

HUMANITIES: "HUM 395: Age of Revolution: Nineteenth Century (Self, Society, Other, State)." David Harrington, Philip Park, Matthew Trager. [Professor Ellen Mease]. An interdisciplinary, integrative trial seminar in the intellectual history of the 19th century, Europe during the period of four major revolutions: in political theory (Marx), in the sciences (Darwin and other figures in the history and philosophy of science), in philosophy (Nietzsche), and in the human sciences (Freud). This course begins with Goethe's Romantic epic Faust and ends with Shaw's Man and Superman. Students will undertake seminar research on a major text, and compose a final comparative paper of significant intellectual value.

INDEPENDENT MAJOR: "Problems Associated with Expanding the Common Agricultural Policy and the Structural Funds to the Central and Eastern European Countries." Gordon Rice. [Professor Wayne Moyer]. My primary focus will be the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the flow of Structural Funds (Development Aid) to the expansion countries. The analysis will begin with previous enlargements in an attempt to find common threads through history. I will then examine the current situation of Central and Eastern European countries in an attempt to find similarities between previous enlargements and the upcoming enlargement, trying to find common themes throughout.

INDEPENDENT MAJOR: "Coping with Migration in Western Europe in the Second Half of the 20th Century: The Inability to transcend Narrow Political Interests of Nation States. " Iva Frkic. [Professor Wayne Moyer]. The main question I seek to answer is how immigration policies - restrictive in nature and intergovernmental in form, fit into the European project based respectively on the principles of inclusiveness ("an ever closer union between the peoples of Europe") and supranational decision-making. The prime place immigration regulation holds on the agenda of the European Union (EU) indicates to what extent it is indeed becoming part of the European project. If that is so, a hypothesis would suggest that the European project itself has been subject to change since the mid-1950s definition by its founding fathers.

INDEPENDENT MAJOR: "Greek Foreign Policy in the 21st Century." Lambis Konstantinidis. [Professor Wayne Moyer]. The aim of the project is to examine the foreign policy of Greece, in light of the recent democratization and economic development of the country, and determine its prospects in the 21st century.

INDEPENDENT MAJOR: "Factors Affecting Tea Earnings in Kenya in Kenya and Sri Lanka." Margaret Orwig. [Professor Wayne Moyer].

INDEPENDENT MAJOR: "US/German Attitudes Regarding One Another Prior to each of the World Wars and How These Attitudes Influenced the Decisions These Nations Made." Shannon Price. [Professor Wayne Moyer].

MATHEMATICS/COMPUTER SCIENCE: "MAT 444: Topics in Geometry." Nicole Nelson, Benjamin Owen, Ruth Pesses, Emily Resseger, Isaac Wohl. [Professor Charles Jepsen]. In this initial offering of the department's senior seminar, students considered a collection of problems in geometry including such topics as convex sets, polyhedra, packing and covering, tiling, and combinatorial geometry. For each problem, students did both homework exercises and extended investigations. To conclude the course, each student selected an investigation project to solve, gave an oral presentation of the problem solution, and wrote a final report containing the solution.

MUSIC: "C'est l'extase: A Study of a Verlaine poem as set by Debussy and Faure." Margaret Higginson. [Professor Jonathan Chenette]. Margaret is studying text setting, interpretation, and performance of a pair of songs by Claude Debussy and Gabriel Faure, both based on the same text by Paul Verlaine. She present these songs as part of her senior recital and also gave a public presentation of the results of her research later. Margaret also created a portfolio of her work.

MUSIC: " Contradiction in Craft: Giulio Caccini's Codification of a Florentine Vocal Style." Hudson Heatley. [Professor Nina Treadwell]. The purpose of the project is to understand how and what Italian composer and singer Giulio Caccini contributed to the 'new style' of vocal music of the early Baroque through an exploration of vocal performance practice as prescribed by Caccini in his writings. The project explores two related questions: firstly, "What is Caccini's conception of sprezzatura, as defined in his extant writings?" and secondly, "In the process of defining, shaping, and evoking the spirit of sprezzatura, how much did Caccini owe to the virtuosity of the performer?" This project brings to light broader philosophical issues in music including the ongoing struggle between composer and performer, between theorist and performer. Research was presented as a demonstration lecture.

MUSIC: "Hildegard of Bingen and her Ordo Virtutum." Talea Townsend. [Professor Nina Treadwell]. The project takes as its focus the music-drama Ordo Virtutum by the 12th-century composer, abbess, writer, and mystic Hildegard of Bingen. The study takes into account the play's relation to other dramatic works, both contemporary and otherwise, but explores in detail the ways in which Hildegard's work distinguishes itself from other dramatic and musical traditions of the time. The project includes a synthesis and critique of the several theories regarding the work's performance context in order to more fully explicate the Ordo's relationship to the convent setting. Research was presented as a demonstration lecture.

MUSIC: "Senior Project." Paul Chaikin. [Professor Roger Vetter].

PHILOSOPHY: "Spinoza and Nietzsche: On Whether Moral Responsibility Can Be Supported Immanently." Melissa Yates. [Professor Michael Rosenthal]. Results were presented on campus May 2001.

PHILOSOPHY: "Quantum Theorization: The Catalyst for a Modification of Explanation." Brandon Olsen. [Professor Katherine VanUum]. This project addresses the ramifications of findings in the field of quantum mechanics (both experimental results and theoretical conjecture) on dominant philosophical theories of explanation. Specifically, the paper will discuss how well data from quantum physics coheres to certain theories of explanation and the implications of this coherence on the debate over which conception of explanation should be widely accepted in a general philosophical (and scientific) context. "Quantum Theorization: The Catalyst for a Philosophical Discussion of Scientific Explanation" was presented on campus May 2001.

PHYSICS: "Star Counts in the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey." Michael Cooper. [Professor Bob Cadmus]. The goal of this project is to study the distribution and characteristics of the stars that comprise our Milky Way Galaxy. What is the total number of stars populating our Galaxy? How are those stars distributed throughout the Galaxy? Is the Galaxy composed of stellar substructures or components? What physical characteristics (e.g., composition, age) if any are common to these Galactic components? To answer these questions, I will be employing deep imaging data collected as part of a large survey project called the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey. The survey is an ongoing scientific project implemented by members of the scientific staff at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). Although designed primarily to study the formation and large-scale structure of galaxies, the survey affords me an excellent environment in which to study Galactic structure and stellar populations.

PSYCHOLOGY: "Neurochemistry of Memory Modulation." Liz Graf [Professor Ken Short]. Memory consolidation is the transfer of memory from short-term to long-term storage and involves several brain regions and neurotransmitters. Previous research, using a passive-avoidance task, has shown that intracranial manipulation, after learning, of ß-adrenergic and serotonin-1 A receptors in the amygdala decreases retention in high-arousal situations. However, recent research found that systemic injections of ß-adrenergic antagonists under conditions of low arousal caused memory enhancement. This study explores the relationship between memory consolidation and arousal and the contributions of noradrenergic and serotonergic receptors in the amygdala.

PSYCHOLOGY: "Neurochemistry of Social Anxiety." Jessica Heard, Brandon Martinez [Professor Ken Short]. We endeavor to explore an ecologically relevant model of stress based on social interactions and determine how our results differ from those using shock. Inescapable shock has been associated with lower serotonin receptor levels in certain brain areas for 48 hours following shock. We will explore whether social defeat and submissive posturing leads to similar receptor down-regulations. Past research on social defeat and social interaction informs our protocol, and suggests that this line of research has potential to yield significant results. Based on these previous experiments, our protocol will include introducing a small young rat to a colony of two larger older rats, from whom aggression and dominance is expected towards the young intruder. Following this experience, we will assess anxiety with behavioral measures, and then sacrifice the young rat to determine receptor levels in relevant brain areas. Therefore, we will collect both behavioral and physiological data to characterize the changes associated with this ecologically relevant stressor as compared with more escapable and inescapable shock.

PSYCHOLOGY: "Distress or Loss of Control: What Really Determines Overeating in the Restrained Eater?" Nancy Shore [Professor Laura Sinnett]. Many women, especially college-age women, suffer from a common eating behavior known as restrained eating. A restrained eater, by definition, is a chronic dieter who restricts her caloric intake in order to maintain the ideal body weight. However, many restrained eaters cannot maintain such strict diets and are prone to unhealthful amounts of overeating. Many theories have been proposed to explain why restrained eaters overeat. One theory is that restrained eaters overeat when they are lonely because their loneliness is an indication that their dieting has not produced the intended effect (e.g., the ideal body and all that our society associates with it), and thus they give up their diets and overeat. Another theory is that restrained eaters experience a loss of control that leads them to overeat. What if, perhaps, loss of control and negative affect are related? Could there be a way to find out if loss of control is a mediating factor that influences the restrained eater to eat significantly more than she would if not distressed? I have created my MAP proposal to answer these questions. For my project, I will generate a new experiment, modeled after the negative affect studies, in which the loss of control theory is tested in a condition where restrained eaters are distressed. If the results indicate that loss of control is the mediating factor for increased eating in a distressed restrained eater, much past research will be brought together to create a more overarching theory explaining what causes restrained eaters to eat past the point of satiation.

PSYCHOLOGY: "Emotion and Appraisal Theory II." Eric Noftle [Professor Laura Sinnett]. This semester I will examine past research in emotional intelligence and consider successful variables used in other studies and determine whether they can be incorporated into a coding scheme of our pilot study, in effect 'mapping' them to our data. One such variable that has been identified is "Repair," which reflects an individual's ability to moderate his or her own emotional state. This variable has been shown to be very significant in successful emotion regulation and will surely factor into the appraisal and response aspects of emotional experiences.

RUSSIAN & EASTERN EUROPEAN STUDIES: RES 495. Gary Oppenheim. [Professor Todd Armstrong].

WESTERN EUROPEAN STUDIES: "Heritage and Tourism in England." Jane Cherry. [Professor Doug Caulkins]. I hope to focus upon the manufacture and use of "authenticity" in tourism, specifically in England. England's heritage industry has built hundreds of museums in the past three decades, many of which attempt to recreate historical periods or events. Such museums can be defined as intentional sites that were constructed as tourist attractions. The country is also graced with a rich collection of original historical buildings and sites, such as cathedrals and castles. These authentic sites have been adapted for the purposes of the tourism industry. I plan to compare intentional and adapted sites in two cities, one in southeast England and one in the Northeast.