History and Biology

This is a brief history of my intellectual life from age 13 to 29 years—and beyond. It encompasses mathematics, US history, and evolutionary biology, especially social theory based on natural selection.

"Perimeters of Grief": Elegy in and out of Bounds in Fred D'Aguiar's Memorial Poetry

While Fred D’Aguiar’s preoccupation with acknowledging the dead and honoring their memory gives his work an idiosyncratic elegiac quality, it is with the publication of the poetic sequence “Elegies”, from the collection Continental Shelf (2009), that the author overtly pitches himself in the traditional terrain of the elegy as a poetic genre. This sequence, a response to the Virginia Tech shootings (April 16, 2007), the deadliest gun rampage in US history to date, invites critical attention not only because it remains critically unexamined, but also because through its title it presents itself as an elegy when an anti-elegiac turn has been identified in modern poetry. This paper will explore D’Aguiar’s intervention in the debate surrounding elegy’s contemporary function as a genre which oscillates between the poles of melancholia and consolation, thus contributing to shaping the contours of an ancient but conflicted poetic form for the 21st century. I will be arguing that D’Aguiar’s poem suggests that for elegy to serve the troubled present it may benefit from the cultivation of an unembarrassed attachment to the deceased, from avoiding depoliticizing tragedy and from the exposure of its socio-historical underpinnings. In sum, it should be open to engaging with such critical issues as the struggles of collective memory, or the turning of grief into mass-mediated spectacle.

Unusual Case of Head Injury Presented with Brain Gliomas

Seven years female child came with parents who gave us history that 1month back, child during playing had fall on face and lost consciousness which remained for 30 min followed by convulsion. On examination patient was conscious, responds to command, vitals were stable, aphasia was present, pupils were equal and reactive to light bilaterally and horizontal gaze was restricted. There was no facial weakness, Tone increase more in left upper and lower limb .Deep tendon reflexes (DTR) increase in left side. Plantar reflex were extensors. MRI was done which shows intra axial space occupying lesion in brainstem with expansion of brainstem with hydrocephalus. Pt was inoperable and ventriculoperitoneal shunt was done for hydrocephalus. Post operatively patient was kept on assisted ventilation. Conclusion: Unusual presentation of brainstem gliomas as head injury.

“WE LEARNED VIOLENCE FROM YOU”: DISCURSIVE PACIFICATION AND FRAMING CONTESTS DURING THE MINNEAPOLIS UPRISING

Following the murder of George Floyd, Minneapolis became the epicenter of the largest movement in US history. Local Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, dubbed the Minneapolis Uprising, were met by the largest civil police deployment in state history. In the week following George Floyd’s murder, state and local officials convened ten press conferences totaling over 400 minutes of discourse. We use these press conferences, in conjunction with an ethnography of protests, to analyze how state officials counterframed Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd. Building on critical race theory, we consider how the state maneuvered to pacify Black Lives Matter protesters and maintain racial oppression and repression. Minneapolis state officials constructed their counterframe through the (re)ordering of disorder, boundary activation, co-optation, and erasure.

Does violence within a non-violent social movement help or hurt the movement? Evidence from the 2020 BlackLivesMatter Protests

The murder of George Floyd ignited one of the largest mass mobilizations in US history, including both non-violent and violent BlackLivesMatter protests in the summer of 2020. Many have since asked: did the violence within the largely non-violent movement help or hurt its goals? To answer this question, we used real-world data (ACLED, 2020) about the location of all BlackLivesMatter protests during the summer of 2020 to identify US counties that featured no protests, only nonviolent protests, or both nonviolent and violent protests. We then combined this data with survey data (N = 494, Study 1), data from the Congressional Cooperative Election Study (N = 43,924, Study 2A), and data from Project Implicit (N = 180,480, Study 2B), in order to examine how exposure (i.e. living in a county with) different types of protest affected both support for the key policy goals of the movement and prejudice towards Black Americans. We found that the 2020 BLM protests had no impact on prejudice among either liberals or conservatives. However, they were, even when violent, able to increase support for BlackLivesMatter’s key policy goals among conservatives living in relatively liberal areas. As such, this research suggests that violent, disruptive actions within a broader non-violent movement may affect those likely to be resistant to the movement. We connect these findings to the notion of disruptive action, which explains why these effects do not materialize in reducing prejudice, but in generating support for important policy goals of the movement.

Populism in the United States: Binary Constructions by Donald Trump in the Domestic and Foreign Policies

This study intends to explore the rise of Donald Trump to the White House. Why was Donald Trump considered a populist leader, and how did his populist rhetoric and actions impact the contours of American domestic and foreign policies? The study adopted qualitative exploratory and explanatory research techniques. Specific methods utilised to conduct the study remained political personality profiling. It finds that the populist leaders construct the binaries in the society by dividing the nation into two groups: �us� the people, against �them� the corrupt elite or other groups presented as a threat to the lives and livelihood of the nation. Though populism as a unique brand of politics remained active through most of the US history, yet these were only two occasions that populists were successful in winning the American presidential elections � Andrew Jackson in 1828 and Donald Trump in 2016. Structural and historical reasons became the biggest cause behind the election of Donald Trump, who successfully brought a revolution in American domestic and foreign policies. And if structural issues in the United States are not addressed, there is a clear chance that Trump � who is not withering away � will come back to contest and challenge any competitors in the 2024 presidential elections.

Exploring the impact of interactive read-alouds on student perceptions of women’s history

PurposeThis study aims to investigate elementary students’ perceptions about women’s roles throughout US history, and the extent to which these perceptions can be challenged or expanded by interactive read-alouds.Design/methodology/approachThird-grade students participated in interviews designed to investigate their thoughts about women’s historical roles before and after engaging in a series of interactive read-alouds featuring notable women in history. Pre- and post-interviews were analyzed to assess shifts in perception.FindingsThe research findings suggest that students initially perceived historical women as insignificant and held stereotypical views about their roles and that this perception was challenged following the interactive read-alouds. Changes were indicated through increased references to women during interviews and through answers that challenged stereotypical views.Originality/valueThis study adds insight about students’ perceptions regarding women’s history and supports the use of interactive read-alouds to challenge stereotypical views of women’s historical roles.

Colonial Debts

With the largest municipal debt in US history and a major hurricane that destroyed much of the archipelago's infrastructure, Puerto Rico has emerged as a key site for the exploration of neoliberalism and disaster capitalism. In Colonial Debts Rocío Zambrana develops the concept of neoliberal coloniality in light of Puerto Rico's debt crisis. Drawing on decolonial thought and praxis, Zambrana shows how debt functions as an apparatus of predation that transforms how neoliberalism operates. Debt functions as a form of coloniality, intensifying race, gender, and class hierarchies in ways that strengthen the colonial relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States. Zambrana also examines the transformation of protest in Puerto Rico. From La Colectiva Feminista en Construcción's actions, long-standing land rescue/occupation in the territory, to the July 2019 protests that ousted former governor Ricardo “Ricky” Rosselló, protests pursue variations of decolonial praxis that subvert the positions of power that debt installs. As Zambrana demonstrates, debt reinstalls the colonial condition and adapts the racial/gender order essential to it, thereby emerging as a key site for political-economic subversion and social rearticulation.