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Bard Sociology

Student Work

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Sociology Students
Photo by Eliza Watson '21

Sociology Students

After Moderation, sociology students are encouraged to explore the wide range of intellectual and practical offerings available through Bard’s extended network. Many students choose to do a semester abroad. This might be through a Bard-affiliated institution (such as the American University of Central Asia, in Kyrgyzstan, or the Central European University, in Austria) or through a tuition-exchange program with an international college or university. Students might also choose to begin an independent research project by arranging a tutorial with a Sociology faculty member. Because the Senior Project is an intensive experience, both in relation to the amount of writing required and the time commitment involved, we encourage students to complete at least one their two required seminars (300-level sociology classes) in their junior year.

Senior Project Spotlight
Bernadette Benjamin ’20

Senior Project Spotlight

Bernadette Benjamin ’20

Sociology major Bernadette Benjamin’s Senior Project focuses on understanding the experiences of black women in Japan and how women within the black diaspora navigate in that country. In her research, the Brooklyn, New York, native concentrates on how black women perceive their identity—whether racial, gender, national, or combined identity—in their interactions and encounters with others. Bernadette utilizes the idea of “controlling images” by Patricia Hill Collins and the book Stigma by Erving Goffman to evaluate the mechanisms black women use to analyze their experiences and sense of belonging in Japanese society. She also takes Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson to explain the citizen-versus-foreigner dichotomy in Japan and how that contrast, in turn, affects black women’s abilities to integrate into Japanese communities.

Bernadette will soon travel to Japan to begin the JET (Japanese Exchange and Teaching) program. She hopes to remain in Japan for two years before prepping to go to law school to study either educational or international law. While her current plans depend on the spread of COVID-19, she is optimistic about the plans she has in store. 

Senior Project Mini-Conference and Social

  • Coming in May 2021!
    Join us for our annual mini-conference featuring sociology majors and their Senior Projects. Refreshments and fruitful conversation provided! Recent topics have included:
    • Race, Ethnicity, and Social Institutions
    • Racial Identity
    • Social Change, Community Formation, and the Economy
    • Stigma and Media
Senior Projects in Sociology
Photo by Chris Kendall '82

Senior Projects in Sociology

Writing a Senior Project is both challenging and incredibly rewarding. For most students, this is their first experience doing extended, independent research. Students are assigned a faculty adviser, with whom they will typically meet weekly for an hour-length session over the course of the academic year. While the prospect of writing a senior thesis is often intimidating at first, students soon realize that this affords them a unique opportunity to form a close relationship with their faculty adviser, and to develop as an independent thinker and researcher. The quality of many Senior Projects is comparable to a master's-level thesis. Even where students end up wishing that they had written more or differently, they always learn valuable life skills from the experience of working through something challenging. In the spring, we host a mini-conference and social event at which all seniors briefly present their Senior Project research. The large attendance and buzzing excitement around recent sociology mini-conferences attest to the level of pride and satisfaction that seniors feel upon completing their research projects.

Senior Projects 2019

CINDY ARROYO
Brooklyn, New York
Sociology: “Earth Alienation and Space Exploration: Uncharted Territory for Sociology”
Project Adviser: Laura R. Ford

BLYTHE CALDERLEY
New York, New York
Sociology: “Make-Betters, Not Makeovers: The Introduction of Governance into Popularized Media”
Project Adviser: Laura R. Ford

VICTORIA HELEN CHOU
Los Gatos, California
Sociology: “A Conundrum for the East Asian American Woman: Gender and the Perception of the White American Man”
Concentration: Gender and Sexuality Studies
Project Adviser: Peter Klein

ARMANDO D. DUNN
Queens, New York
Sociology: “‘Student, Athlete, or Neither at All’: A Closer Look into the Experiences of Black Basketball Players in the NCAA”
Project Adviser: Allison McKim

MADELINE LUCIE FIRKSER
Montclair, New Jersey
Sociology: “Delivering Identities: A Symbolic Interactionist Study of Doulas and the Decline of Medical Professional Dominance”
Project Adviser: Allison McKim

EMILY H. GILBERT
Tivoli, New York
Sociology: “‘Becoming Our Best, Most True Selves’: An Exploration of the Psychologization of Yoga in the United States”
Concentration: Gender and Sexuality Studies
Project Adviser: Allison McKim

ASHLEY JASMINE JONES
New Orleans, Louisiana
Sociology: “The Road Back Home: A Case Study on How Social Bonds Reduce Recidivism”
Project Adviser: Laura R. Ford

CHARLOTTE KASMIN
New York, New York
Sociology: “Constructing the Sympathetic Addict: Dominant Narratives and Typologies of Opioid-Using Women in the News Media”
Project Adviser: Allison McKim

LILY YASMIN MOJDEHI
La Jolla, California
Sociology: “Checking White, Feeling Brown: Iranian American Racial Ambiguity in Relation to Whiteness and Blackness”
Project Adviser: Peter Klein

EMMA ANNE NEIMAN
Los Altos, California
Sociology: “The Men’s Rights Activists of Reddit: A Study of the Discursive Production of Realities within the Online Public Sphere”
Project Adviser: Yuval Elmelech
Flute Performance (BMus): Telemann: Fantasie in A Minor; Debussy: Six Épigraphes antiques; Schubert: Introduction and Variations on “Trockne Blumen”; Bolling: Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio
Principal Teacher: Tara Helen O’Connor

RHYS VANKESTEREN NORDSTROM
Charlottesville, Virginia
Sociology: “What Is So Bad about Veganism? A Social Media–Based Sociological Exploration and Explanation for Vegan’s Stigmatization”
Project Adviser: Yuval Elmelech

SOPHIA KALI PAPPAS
New York, New York
Sociology: “The Social Construction of Homelessness by Service Providers: A Narrative on Our Country’s Biggest Blindfold”
Project Adviser: Peter Klein

SOFIA ESTHERBRINA PELTZ
Berkeley, California
Sociology: “Cultivating Futures: Creating the Conditions for an Agro-Ecological Farming Tradition in Puerto Rico”
Project Adviser: Peter Klein

JOSHUA MARTIN PEREZ
Bronx, New York
Sociology: “‘A Different World’: Navigating between White Colleges and Low-Income Racially Segregated Neighborhoods”
Concentration: Science, Technology, and Society
Project Adviser: Yuval Elmelech

EVELYN V. REYES DELGADO
Bronx, New York
Sociology: “Defining the Transition to Adulthood among Ecuadorian Immigrants Living in New York City”
Project Adviser: Yuval Elmelech

NINA A. TANUJAYA
San Francisco, California
Asian Studies and Sociology: “The Racialization of the Pan-Ethnic Asian American Identity”
Project Adviser: Li-Hua Ying

ENIYAH WILLINGHAM
Peachtree City, Georgia
Sociology: “Beyond Repair: An Investigation of the Experiences, Interpretations, and Self-Construction of Black Women Welfare Recipients in the Deep South”
Concentration: Gender and Sexuality Studies
Project Adviser: Allison McKim

Senior Projects 2018

AASIYAH AMEENAH ALI
New York, New York
Human Rights and Sociology: “A Case for Inclusion: A Study of the Relationship between Students of Color in Private Progressive Institutions”
Project Adviser: Tabetha Ewing ’89

SHILA BAYOR
Queens, New York
Sociology: “The Experiences of Highly Educated Nigerian Immigrants in the United States”
Concentration: Africana Studies
Project Adviser: Yuval Elmelech

ANALIESE ROSE DORFF
Elmhurst, Illinois
American Studies and Sociology: “(Ab)Normality, Adolescence, and the Politics of Need Interpretation in Three American Sex Education Programs”
Concentration: Gender and Sexuality Studies
Project Adviser: Allison McKim

SHAUNDRANEKA NAKIA GILLS
Garland, Texas
Sociology: “Changing the Narrative for the Culture: A Sociological Analysis of Black Identity in Historically Black Colleges and Universities”
Project Adviser: Lauraleen Ford

AURELIA SOLENE LE VACON
Vaucresson, France
Music and Sociology: “‘I’ll Listen to Anything but Country Music’; the Limits of Musical Omnivorousness: A Study of Listening Preferences at the Root Cellar”
Project Adviser: Maria Sonevytsky

EMMA ELIZABETH RADICH
Sammamish, Washington
Sociology: “Health as an Individualized Project: Gender Bio-Authenticity and Responsibilization Governance in Functional Medicine Discourse”
Concentration: Gender and Sexuality Studies
Project Adviser: Allison McKim

More Senior Projects in Sociology on Digital Commons


 

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