Undergraduate Fellowship in Digital Humanities (UFDH)

The purpose of this project is to make Parable of the Sower accessible to an audience in a different medium, while also bring together the element of actual California fires. Using spatial storytelling with the Knight Labs StoryMaps tool, 20 fires from both archival California data and the novel were compiled; text and visual elements were included. Further analysis on Parable was conducted, synthesizing the discourse on the genres under which the novel falls under and underscoring the environmental themes found in the novel. While the StoryMap does not offer a significant comparison between actual fires and Parable, it fulfills its purpose as a spatial retelling of the novel. Traditional literary analysis reveals how Butler's environmental themes work as both the foreground and the backdrop to Lauren's journey, underscoring the relationship between humans and nature.

Language is influenced by culture, a development that is unique to humankind. It is specific to a group of people and changes with time. And with all of this, identity is formed, including but not limited to national, cultural, and ethnic. But this system simultaneously divides and oppresses groups, stripping them of their sense of identity to conform them into another. A close examination of the philosophies behind Hangul’s creation, preservation through Korea’s history of colonization, and the uses in the present day can explain the relationship between humanity and language. This research considers the sociocultural impacts of language, using the Korean language as an example and observing its evolution with respect to historical events and timelines. Why is language crucial to humans, other than the fact that it simply allows people to communicate? What significance, or worth, did Koreans find in Hangul that enabled this motivation to protect, and what does this say about humanity? Why and how did language become an essential part of humanity?

This project examines how the Soviet Union shaped cultural identity through children’s animated media, using digital humanities tools to explore some of the values and messages woven in two well known Soviet cartoons. Although these films might appear simple on the surface, they played a crucial role in introducing children to ideas about community, responsibility, and social belonging. By translating and subtitling Cheburashka (1971) and There Once Lived a Dog (1982) myself directly from the original Russian, I was able to engage closely with the tone, humor, and cultural nuance that are often lost in some standard translations. The prototype for this project is an interactive ArcGIS StoryMap that brings together translated clips from each film, thematic analysis, historical context, and photographs. Ultimately, this project shows that Soviet children’s cartoons offer valuable insight into how the state imagined cultural identity and expected it to be passed on. As remnants of the Red Scare linger in the American general public, this project is an attempt to gain a better understanding of the lives Soviet citizens led and the values they believed in. The prototype represents an early version of a larger project that could include more films, additional republics, and broader comparative work on children’s media and ideology.

This project tells the story of Imperial Valley farm workers working in the fields during the 1960s and 1970s during the emergence of the UFW. The Imperial Valley is a county of agrarian small cities near the border of Mexicali, whose biggest industry is agriculture. This research is told in the perspective of the Silva Family, a family of 17, that immigrated from Mexicali to the Imperial Valley in order to work in the fields in the mid-1960s. Research was conducted by interviewing 4 of my family members: Isabel Silva (100 years old), Javier Silva Jr. (82 years old), Gustavo Silva (66 years old) and Maria Silva (66 years old). They talk about their hardships of working in the fields, their activism in the UFW and the effects of the UFW on their community and lives. I would like to tell this story as it is one that often overlooks individual farm workers that were involved in the UFW and it allows my family's story to be heard.This activism is something that deserves to be heard and not forgotten, as my family is still proud of the sacrifices they made to fight for their rights.

TikTok has become a popular source for trend, news, and controversy, pushing out constant videos catering to a new age of digital information. From TikTok came the Chinese food debate, a war between American Chinese cuisine and British Chinese cuisine on which is “better”. Americans, disgusted by British Chinese cuisine’s excessive use of curry sauce and seemingly inauthentic Chinese dishes of prawn crackers and other fried staples, encouraged British diners to expand their palates beyond their seemingly bland and saucy dishes. Even large creators such as Soogia, a Korean American TikToker prominent in Asian American spaces, commented on the debate. Brits, on the other hand, defend their unique cuisine claiming that while it may not be “authentic”, its history born from Chinese diaspora in Britain makes it not as different from American Chinese cuisine as it may seem.

My research, Vision Through Films: Women’s Internalization of a Surveyor Male under Men’s Promise of Power, examines the internalization of the “surveyor male,” a concept stemming from the pervasive “male gaze” that influences women to evaluate themselves through a lens shaped by male expectations. The project blends psychoanalysis, film theory, and feminist theory to explore the complexities of women's representation in visual culture, particularly in the context of contemporary media. The research comprises three parts: psychoanalysis fundamentals, a Knightlab timeline, and a short video collection. The first section introduces Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema by offering a quote from the original essay, along with explanations of key terms and overall meanings. The timeline traces the evolution of male gaze, anti-male gaze, and female gaze, and psychoanalysis in film from the 1960s to the present, showcasing how social awareness has altered and subverted former gender hierarchies. The final section emphasizes how these dynamics manifest in contemporary short videos, where women influencers often conform to societal beauty standards to gain popularity, reflecting the enduring influence of the male gaze on women's self-perception and worth. Through the integration of traditional cinema and new media, this project investigates how women continue to self-objectify and prioritize external perceptions over their intrinsic sense of self, as social media and short video platforms like TikTok and Reels continue to perpetuate the internalization of a surveyor male image, even amid the rise of feminism in a seeming sexually liberated era.