Medusa: How the Literary Muse Became an Emblem for Feminism

From Ancient Greece to Hollywood, Medusa has been a global narrative. This article explores poetry and storytelling through the historical and literary legacy of Medusa; it argues for her importance in feminist history and her continued relevance in our post-MeToo world. While a seemingly straightforward tale, Medusa's story explores female dynamics, feminist power against patriarchal forces, and the ultimate defense against the male gaze. This paper showcases a historical account of the handling of the Medusa myth which proves that the rewriting and reclaiming of the myth by women parallels, if not contributes to the success of female empowerment. Accompanying this paper is a poetry collection that explores varying perspectives within rape culture, including the sexualization of Billie Eilish.

Toward a Rose Forever in Bloom: Translations of Yunus Emre, a 13th Century Anatolian Sufi

Toward a Rose Forever in Bloom is a translation project aimed at creating a sample framework through which Sufi poetry can be understood in its traditional and Islamic context. I outline my translation methodology, as well as the resources that I used in making my translations, such as a new dictionary dedicated solely to the works of Yunus Emre as well as a recent critical edition of his original works, neither of which were available to previous English translators. Through my annotated translations sampled from six overarching themes found in the works of Yunus Emre, a 13th century Anatolian Sufi, an analysis of the legends surrounding his biography, and a discussion of the historical context, I portray Sufism as a path within mainstream Islam, in contrast to modern perceptions and varying translation methods that suggest otherwise.

Love for the Colonizer: Literary and Psychoanalytic Investigations of Brazil's Foundational Trauma

The Brazilian cultural and political project began in 1822 with the end of colonization. At its outset, colonization stood fictitious in its enormous power to shape reality. In Latin America there was a confluence between the politicians and writers of the 19th century that guaranteed wholly pervasive foundational mythologies—the people building the legal-political state were also setting the mythological ideology of the nation in stone. As such, foundational myths served to unify the people under a common national banner. However, in their attempts to overcome the ghost of colonization, they ended up guaranteeing a wholly pervasive structure wherein the repressed trauma could fester. In Brazil, foundational works, like José de Alencar's Iracema, instead of rejecting the trauma of colonization, engendered myths that repressed it, romanticizing a narrative for the people to fall in love with their colonizer. This love, I argue, led to a specific cultural complex that induces a repetition compulsion of the original traumatic event up to this day, guaranteeing unconscious entrapment and a constant return and submission to the figure of the colonizer.

La Rivoluzione Macchiata: The Stained Revolution

Although graffiti gained popularity through the expansion of American pop culture, its origins are greatly embedded in Italian culture and history. Not only does the word graffiti come from the Italian word "graffiato" or "scratched "off", but some of the world's first graffiti was found in Pompeii's ruins. Over the last few years, Italy has been governed by right-wing coalitions that have implemented fascist practices once used by Mussolini. Given that there is little space for leftist ideas to emerge in the public space, Italians have used graffiti as a form of political activism and protest. Conversations surrounding fascism, racism, women's rights, immigration and the LGTBQ community have arisen within graffiti, allowing outsiders to better understand Italians' takes on these issues. This study investigates Italy's sociopolitical climate through graffiti as a form of art, and also sheds light on how graffiti provokes its audience. The graffiti found in Florence, Bologna, and Naples proves to be linguistically complex, and provokes observers both through heightened language and visuals. This study suggests that the majority of Italian sociopolitical graffiti belongs to students who are unable to take part in democracy based on their age or legal status. While often deemed a vandalistic act, graffiti has allowed Italian individuals to protest what is unjust, and make themselves heard in a society where their voices are being suffocated by right-wing political parties and their media.

Identity and Nation: Comparing Egyptian and Israeli Bedouin Policy

In many ways, the Egyptian and Israeli states fail to 'see' the Bedouin and therefore situate them as a group "in but not of the global order," an order where nations and states represent contingent identities and socio-political organizations. However, the Bedouin are not legally recognized as a distinct nation nor as indigenous peoples in neither Egypt nor Israel, and Egyptian Nationalism and Zionism reject the Bedouin as part of their nation, or 'imagined community.' This concept of nationalism strongly influences policy, and as a result, leads to the discrimination of the Bedouin through internal colonial policies, land seizure, suspension of human rights, and exclusionary economic policy. Despite Egypt and Israel's different political systems, the outcome for the Bedouin in both countries is remarkably similar.

Reconsidering Public Space: The Case of Turkish Associations in France

This article examines how immigrant culture in modern-day France is communicated through Turkish associations as a medium of the public space. Through interviews with members of various types of cultural associations, I explore how public and private space dictate how culture and identity are understood within the French context. To better explain their goals and how they fit into larger French "cultural" discussion, I develop a simple typology of these cultural associations as "localizing" or "orientalizing" immigrant culture. Pointing to the space between these categories, I show the need for the immigrant experience to be recognized as part of French history in these public spaces in order to directly confront the issue of "neo-racism."

Art Music as Universal Language: Youth Orchestras' Reactions to Social Conflict

This article identifies the role art music plays in orchestra projects that deal with social conflicts of youth populations. I argue that art music serves well in this context because it is a universal language that allows for an alternative method of communication and expression between the young musicians themselves and with others. I apply metaphysical explanations, studies from cognitive neuroscience, and philosophy of language in three specific youth orchestra contexts: the Retiro Youth Orchestra, El Sistema, and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. These different lenses help uncover why and how art music positively impacts the development, both socially and personally, of young musicians in a healthier or alternative manner.