Undergraduate Academic Work
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Collection of unpublished undergraduate work.
Submissions are sponsored by Faculty for inclusion. For details on how to submit Undergraduate Academic Work see: Undergraduate Work in PRISM
For more information about University of Calgary Undergraduate Programs see: Undergraduate Degree Programs
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Item Open Access Backscattered Scraps: Storytelling, History & Apocalypse in Supermodernity(University of Calgary, 2022) Jessica Jane KhuuBackscattered Scraps intertwines personal and collective memory, storytelling, and identity formation through a hybrid theoretical and creative approach. It first delves into the human experiences of World War II, the Cambodian genocide, and their aftermath, focussing on the oral histories of my family in these events. By juxtaposing these personal narratives with the theoretical frameworks of Walter Benjamin and bell hooks, the thesis underscores the role of storytelling in preserving forgotten histories and shaping one’s identity in the present. The thesis further examines the unsettling phenomenon of The Backrooms, a modern internet horror story that reflects anxieties about abandoned spaces and apocalyptic possibilities. This concept is analyzed through Guy Debord’s idea of the spectacle, Michel Foucault’s notion of heterotopias and Marc Augé’s concept of non-spaces in supermodernity. I address the link between our fear of The Backrooms and the horror my family experienced in the abandoned spaces of a war-torn country, arguing that both are closely linked to both the phenomena of non-spaces as well as the dissonance between sanitized media representations of death and the fragile lived experiences of loss embedded in oral storytelling. By integrating creative texts with academic analysis, the thesis argues for the preservation of experiential knowledge against the backdrop of modern desensitization to rapid consumption, mass production death, and the erosion of unwritten histories.Item Open Access Daisy's Life: A Story About the Lifecycle and Ecology of the Goldenrod Crab Spider(2023-04) Zaplachinski, Sophie; Burke, Bean; Tang, Theonie; Kennedy, Kate; Barrette, SamAccompany Daisy the goldenrod crab spider on the marvellous roller-coaster that is life. From finding affordable accommodation, to "meeting" several delectable insects, to hitting it off with the infamous Bob, Daisy has many an adventure during her time on this Earth. Please enjoy this educational and humorous take on Misumena vatia.Item Open Access Being Queer: LGBTQ History, Social Movements and Cultural Evolution Throughout Time in North America(2024-01-03) Christopher CunesBeing Queer: LGBTQ History, Social Movements and Cultural Evolution Throughout Time in North America is a comprehensive paper that draws on the history of LGBTQ movements and social/cultural acceptance throughout time in North America starting with the Stonewall Riots of 1969. This paper examines such topics as the abovementioned Stonewall Riots, to the Canadian decriminalization/recriminalization of 1969, followed by homosexuality within the Canadian Military, religion, and homosexuality to LGBTQ students’ lives within the Canadian education system and, finally, pride semiotics. This paper found that while many important steps have been taken forward with the likes of the Stonewall Riots and the elimination of the ban on homosexuals within the Canadian Military, to the ordination of LGBTQ ministers within the United Church of Canada, we see a step taken back when it comes to LGBTQ students and the education system within Canada. Being Queer: LGBTQ History, Social Movements and Cultural Evolution Throughout Time in North America will take you on a historical and social ride throughout the LGBTQ communities relatively short, but strong fight for justice, acceptance, and freedom.Item Open Access Workplace Diversity in a Canadian Context: Evaluating Moderators as a Means of Improving Organizational Performance(2021-04) Islam, Tahsin; Weatherhead, JulieItem Open Access Critical Commentary: Canadian Educational Systems as Structures of Indigenous Oppression(2021-05-02) King, Abigail; Reid, SashaI was inspired to write the topic of my critical commentary through Episodes 1 and 4 of Sasha Reid’s Podcasts titled Sociology of Indigenous People (2021a; 2021b). In Episode 1, Reid (2021a) gave a brief review of Indigenous history in Canada and touched on topics such as the Indian Act and Residential Schools. Further, Reid asked multiple true or false questions testing students understanding of Indigenous people and discussed her previous classes misconceptions (Reid, 2021a). In Episode 4, Reid delved into the relationship between education and Indigenous people and education as a significant determinant of health (Reid, 2021b). Reid furthered the discussion with the concept of Indigenizing education to combat the negative consequences of a Eurocentric curriculum that stereotypes and misrepresents Indigenous people (Reid, 2021b). The four topics from the lectures I discussed above; the Indian Act, Residential Schools, widespread misconceptions around Indigenous peoples and Eurocentric education, demonstrate Canada’s transition from explicit to implicit oppressive tactics on Indigenous peoples. I believe Canada’s educational system, besides being a major health determinant for Indigenous people, is also working to further the cycle of racism. In the late 1800s to 1900s, Canada used a combination of overtly racist policies and practices including the Indian Act and Residential Schools along with widespread negative stereotypes to create nationwide prejudice against Indigenous People (Reid, 2021a). The stereotypes justified the Canadian government’s control and domination over Indigenous people. Now, I argue Canada uses public education to produce both negative stereotypes about and structural subordination over Indigenous peoples. These topics introduced the question: to what extent is Canadian public education used as a structure of oppression and domination over Indigenous people? To better understand this, I will examine biases within the development and content of the curriculum and how this engenders the cycle of racism. The purpose of this examination is to expand the readers’ knowledge regarding education as a prominent and necessary tactic in the government’s continued racist perspective on Indigenous people and to make more complete, my understandings of Episode 4.Item Open Access Dust, Oil, and Swarm-Selves: Re-Imagining Middle Eastern Subjectivity with Reza Negarestani’s Cyclonopedia(2020-05) Ali, Rukhsar; Camara, AnthonyFor many years, the Middle East and its cultural and political contexts have been examined from solely Western epistemological standpoints, creating an orientalist view of the Middle East which fails to capture the complexity of identity and sentience formation in the region. Previous scholarship uses Western methodologies such as Jacques Lacan’s mirror stage to understand this development, providing an incomplete and essentialized explanation of identity formation. This paper uses Iranian philosopher Reza Negarestani’s Cyclonopedia as the theoretical basis for exploration of the recurring “fragmented” identity motif in Middle Eastern science fiction/horror literature. Cyclonopedia does not claim that there is an “authentic” Middle East to be discovered, as this is also a form of orientalism; instead, it builds on Western thinkers such as Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Sigmund Freud, and Nick Land to form a creative hybrid methodology of Western and Eastern epistemologies called Hidden Writing. Negarestani’s methodology locates points of contention in the creative texts (Peter Watt’s “Malak”, Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein) highlighting connections inter and intra-textually that emphasize the shortcomings of Western conceptions of identity formation, especially through the exploration of different forms of sentience across the texts. The growing technology of artificial intelligence and Negarestani’s development of Hidden Writing highlight different possible forms of sentience that push back against a solely Western anthropocentric view of sentience and subjectivity.Item Open Access Celluloid Thirsty(2020-11-02) Bews, Jacob; van Herk, ArithaIn the exegesis, Bews argues that cities have and act as paratexts which define their borders and interpretations by residents. Situated knowledge and research creation, then, become valuable methods for decoding and exploring the implications of those city-paratexts. This is followed by the novella "Celluloid Thirsty," about a film critic tasked with writing a script by a oil-drinking, cannibalistic cowboy.Item Embargo Loonie Calls(2020-06) Chua, Christian Philip; van Herk, ArithaItem Open Access Louise Ho and the Third Space: Identity Formation in Postcolonial Hong Kong English Literature(2020-07-06) Lau, Isabella; Joseph, Clara; Wiens, JasonThis project intends to explore the issue of identity formation in postcolonial Hong Kong with a focus on Homi Bhabha’s theory of the third space and Edward Said’s theory of the intellectual as exile, in conjunction with the poems “Flags and Flowers,” and “Migratory” by Louise Ho. By analysing these poems, this project considers an important instance of how citizens of postcolonial Hong Kong attempt to reclaim their identity in the face of opposing powers – Britain and China. The study will engage with Bhabha’s and Said’s theories to explore the ways in which Louise Ho utilizes related concepts to construct a local identity for Hong Kong. The idea that Hong Kong is a place of exiles populated by people who live “at the edge of things and between places” is a common theme of literary texts in the handover period. Due to this common belief of Hong Kong as a place of exile, hence vulnerable to the colonial and native sovereign’s project of identity reconstruction, most texts in the handover period all demonstrate concerns and anxieties over Hong Kong’s cultural and linguistic autonomy, as well as the fear of a “homogenizing renationalization”. From such a perspective, Hong Kong presents an identity crisis that is often overlooked by postcolonial scholars: the struggle between identifying oneself with the former colonizer and the present sovereign within the native culture itself. While the idea that Hong Kong is a city of exiles constitutes one of the major themes of Louise Ho’s poems, Ho, however, suggests that it is exactly this very being of “difference,” that marks the local distinctive identity of Hong Kong. Foregrounding these common themes as the basis of Ho’s poems, this study argues that by showing the liminality of Hong Kong’s cultural identification – Not quite British, not quite Chinese – Louise Ho proposes the concept of the third space as a possible means for the formation of Hong Kong’s own local identity. To prove my thesis, I shall first begin with a literary review of Hong Kong literature from the handover period. Then, I will draw upon relevant discussions of Edward Said’s discourse of intellectual exile, in conjunction with one of the selected poems “Migratory”; I will then discuss Homi Bhabha’s theory of the third space and its intersection with the poem “Flags and Flowers”; Lastly, I will provide a close analysis of Ho’s poems with particular focus on the ways in which the poems call attention to the fluidity and multiplicity of identity in Post-Handover Hong Kong, as well as the ways in which Ho foregrounds the theoretical approaches of intellectual exile and the third space as possible means for reclaiming and reconstructing Hong Kong’s cultural identity.Item Open Access Autobiografía lingüística de actitudes de lenguaje(2020-02-11) Schnider, RainaItem Open Access Obtener mi tercera alma: como aprendí mi tercer idioma(2019) Oirá, GB; George, AngelaItem Open Access Mi viaje lingüístico: balbuceo a bilingüe(2019) Mercado, Mia; George, AngelaItem Open Access No soy chilena(2019) Cassie, Tyra; George, AngelaItem Open Access Mexicana hermosa(2019) Arenas, Graciela; George, AngelaItem Open Access El aprendizaje de español(2019) Flores, Gabriel; George, AngelaItem Embargo El Viaje de Aprender Español(2019) Lloyd, Hayven; George, AngelaItem Open Access Una reflexión crítica de mis tendencias personales de aprendizaje(2019) Vollrath, Coleman; George, AngelaItem Open Access ¿Tengo tres primeros idiomas?(2019) George, AngelaItem Open Access Playing Gender: An Analysis of Femininity in the Popular Culture Phenomenon League of Legends(2019-05-11) Kuk, Bryan; Tézli, AnnetteVideo games are immensely popular in contemporary society, and it conveys explicit and implicit messages to the consumer. The author investigates the presence of gender portrayal and how the popular culture phenomenon League of Legends depict and represent women. The author analyzes its content, such as roles and appearances, to develop an understanding of its accuracies regarding femininity in the game, and to expand upon the general body of knowledge on video games. A literature review was conducted by the author analyzing the presence of gender in various forms of media (books, television etc.), and gender in video games, and how women are portrayed in them. As prior literature shows, women are underrepresented, stereotyped, and presented in a sexualized manner. The author contends that media including video games, have an impact on an individual’s identity, socializing them to imitate the content that they see in video games under the pretense that it is ‘normal’ and ‘the way it is’ in reality. As a result, the author draws on the theories posited by George Gerbner and Ann Swidler in order to explain the implications of their theories on socialization. The author then engages in a qualitative content analysis of the roles in the game, and twelve female characters or ‘champions’ in League of Legends to uncover any themes or patterns, in relation to their roles, personality traits, occupation, and appearances etc. In addition, the author briefly discusses the male characters in the game to understand if the results on the female characters were unique only to them and not the male characters. Results suggest that women were more likely to be placed in typically male-coded roles, such as leaders and protectors, but at the expense of being depicted in scantily-clad clothing and sexualized manners. Presented research reflect some of the conclusions drawn in previous studies, but opens the field of video games to more research topics regarding League of Legends as a case study. It is an evolving video game with new content added frequently, as a result, the game can be re-investigated to explore developments on gender representations of men and women.Item Open Access Assessing and Mapping Groundwater Vulnerability to Bacteria in Alberta(2017-04) Van Staden, TamaraAquifer vulnerability index methods are commonly used for assessing groundwater vulnerability to surface contaminants. However, the methods have primarily been developed for dissolved contaminants. Microbial contaminants have unique characteristics that result in different transport behavior in the subsurface, and thus different tools need to be designed. Key vulnerability factors specific to microbial sources and subsurface transport mechanisms were identified in this study and incorporated into a model using an ArcGIS framework to create provincial-scale maps of groundwater vulnerability, specific to E. coli, in Alberta for the year 2012. Examples of these factors include: soil texture based on grain size, soil organic matter, hydrogeologic properties, depth to aquifer, and meteorological conditions. These factors were combined from individual GIS layers to create an intrinsic vulnerability map, demonstrating where aquifers were more vulnerable to bacterial contamination if a source became present. Maps were created for the growing season and cold season, and attempts were made to test the model with E. coli detection data. The results of these statistics were not significant enough for this model to be used for predictive purposes, but this could be caused by the presence or lack of risk (i.e., source of contaminants), as opposed to real differences in aquifer vulnerability. This project helped inform which factors should be considered when making a vulnerability map for bacterial contaminants, most notably temporal factors such as precipitation and soil moisture. The developed map provided insights as to where shallow aquifers in Alberta are intrinsically vulnerable to bacterial contamination.