The American Papers 2018-2019 Volume 37
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The American Papers 2018-2019 Volume 37 Editors-in-Chief Michael Paramo José Jaimes Managing Editors Shreshta Aiyar Matthew Sylvester Editorial Board Caitlin Bartusick Christina Brown Evelin Franco Michael Gandara Karina Gonzalez Hunter Moreno Natasha Popowich Naja Shabaka Layout Editors Angie Linzaga José Jaimes Faculty Advisors Dustin Abnet Alison Kanosky Copyright © 2019 The American Studies Student Association California State University, Fullerton. All rights reserved. ISSN 10598464 i The American Papers ii Professors Abnet and Kanosky would like to thank the editors for their hard work, camaraderie, and professionalism while preparing this edition of The American Papers. Their willingness to give freely of their time—even over summer break—to add to this institution is very much appreciated. They also would like to commend the authors for their exceptional papers and good-natured responses to the editorial process. Thanks to editor Michael Gandara and American Studies Student Association representative Barbara Linan-Martinez for their assistance securing funding from the InterClub Council so that the journal could be printed. José Jaimes worked diligently on the layout, and Angie Linzaga deserves special recognition for her beautiful work on the layout and cover design of this issue. Thank you to the staff at PM Group for their work in printing the journal. They also would like to recognize Matt Sylvester and Shreshta Aiyar for supervising the editing process. Finally, they especially would like to thank Michael Paramo and José Jaimes for serving as this volume’s Editors in Chief. Their professionalism, hard work, kindness, and dedication to the success of The American Papers has been remarkable. Together these students’ efforts made the production of the 2018-2019 issue possible. iii The American Papers In recognition of her contributions to the American Studies department, including founding this journal in 1979 as a graduate student, and spending several years as its faculty advisor, the 2018-2019 issue of The American Papers is dedicated to Professor Pamela Steinle, who retired in 2018. iv Welcome to the 2018-2019 issue of The American Papers! The American Papers is a testament to the many faculty mentors that have spent countless hours of their time to assist students at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) in their personal academic development and in making this journal what it is today. Our mission as writers and editors is to hold up the long-standing tradition of presenting the highest quality papers written by both undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in our Ameri- can Studies courses over the current academic year. As American Studies students and scholars, we strive to examine various aspects of American culture from an interdisciplinary perspective. This year’s journal reflects this goal by traversing through the diverse classes that our department offers. At CSUF, the American Studies department has worked hard to develop courses that engage students in many avenues of study, such as fashion, literature, and the built environment. This year’s journal features papers written for new and traditional courses focusing on gender, race, sexu- ality, popular culture, and more. Each year, The American Papers publishes one exceptional paper chosen by a committee of our professors to honor Earl James Weaver, one of the found- ing professors of American Studies at CSUF. However, this year the journal is publishing last year’s Weaver prize runner-up as well as this year’s winner(s) to resync this practice and set a precedent for future issues of The Ameri- can Papers. Bahar Tahamtani’s paper Looking for Mr. Goodbar was last year’s runner-up. Henrik Jaron Schneider's paper "Controlling Technology and the Female Body in Jurassic World" and Kai Lisoskie's paper "'A Regular Morgue:’ American Soldiers, Death, and Dying on the Western Front” were both awarded the prize this year. We hope that this year’s journal will critically engage our readers in ways it has not before. Several of our essays explore relevant topics in American culture that are changing the discourse of earlier scholarship and adding new and exciting pathways to critical discussion and analysis. The Editors-in- Chief thank our contributors and our editorial staff for working together to create this year’s issue. It has been a pleasure to work with our students and our consistently supportive faculty advisors, Professors Dustin Abnet and Alison Kanosky. The Editors v The American Papers Course Descriptions AMST 350: Theory and Methods of American Studies Provides an understanding and appreciation of methodology, theories of society, and images of humanity as they affect American Studies contributions to scholarship. Fulfills the university upper-division writing requirement for American Studies majors. AMST 390: Disability and American Culture Changing meaning, history and experience of disability in American culture through scholarly readings, memoir, film, photography and other cultural documents. Disability in relation to identity, stigma, discrimination, media representations, intersectionality, gender and sexuality, work, genetic testing, and design. AMST 401T: American Suburban Culture What is a suburb, why did America suburbanize, and what sorts of politics do suburbs encourage? This course investigates diverse cultural representations of suburbia in order to consider the cultural power of space, race, class, gender, and the built environment. AMST 401T: American Culture Through Ethnography In this interdisciplinary seminar students will conduct independent research on aspects of contemporary American culture using ethnographic research methods including interviews and participant-observation. A rare chance to not just read others’ research but to actually do your own. AMST 401T: Literature and American Culture 2018 Weaver Award Honorable Mention Course Contemporary literature as a cultural document. The relationship between American culture and its recent fiction, focusing on several important novels and plays since the end of the Second World War. AMST 401T: Race in American Culture This seminar examines how racial difference is constructed in American culture. Readings offer perspectives on the racial meanings within cultural products and practices, the intersection of stereotypes and social experience, and the changing notions of race over time. AMST 401T: War in American Culture 2019 Weaver Award Course Focusing on four different wars in which colonial America or the United States was involved, the course examines how these conflicts both reflected and influenced American culture. vi AMST 442: Television and American Culture American television as an interactive form of cultural expression, both product and producer of cultural knowledge. Examines the structure and content of television genres, and social-historical context of television’s development and use, audience response, habits and environments of viewing. AMST 489: America 2.0: Electronic Culture and Community Practices of electronic participation in American culture 1989-present. Advanced study (in historical context and engaging theoretical perspectives) of the revolutionary cultural impact of personal electronic communications devices, the internet, social media, and applications. Requires a primary research project and paper. AMST 502: Themes in America: American Technocultures 2019 Weaver Award Course Advanced analysis of the relationship between technology and culture in America from industrialization to the present. Explores how technologies have both shaped and been shaped by larger cultural ideas, institutions, values, and processes in America. vii The American Papers Table of Contents AMST 401T: Literature in American Culture Looking for Mr. Goodbar: Reading a Cautionary Tale in Historical Context 11 by Bahar Tahamtani Honorable Mention for the 2018 Earl James Weaver Graduate Paper Prize AMST 350: Theory and Methods of American Studies Painting a New Picture: The Real Faces of Puerto Rican Women 23 by Maria Priscilla Carcido Misconceptions of Those Experiencing Homelessness 27 by Destenee Thomas AMST 390: Disability and American Culture Mad Max: Wastelands, Disability and Gender 35 by Shreshta Aiyar AMST 401T: American Culture Through Ethnography Titan Dreamers Resource Center: The Experience of Titan Dreamers 37 by Emily Ledezma AMST 401T: Race in American Culture A Silent Protest: A Critical Analysis of the Art Created Within the 45 Japanese-American Internment Camps by Michael Gandara One Day at a Time: A Dialogue about Race, Immigration, and Cuban 55 Culture by Danielle Bruncati AMST 401T: American Suburban Culture The Ills Beyond the Thrills at Disneyland 67 by Nicole Corliss viii AMST 442: Television and American Culture Female Sexuality on Shameless 77 by Stephanie Ramirez AMST 489: America 2.0: Electronic Culture and Community Milo: Trolling the University 83 by Kaycee Moser AMST 502: Themes in America: American Technocultures Swipe Left Because it Ain’t Right!: An Ethnographic Study on 91 Women's Interpretations of Negative Responses on Online Dating Apps by Evelin Franco Sex Robots, Representation, and the Female Experience 105 by Christina Brown Controlling Technology and the Female Body in Jurassic World 121 by Henrik Jaron Schneider The 2019 Earl James Weaver Graduate Paper Prize AMST 401T: War in American Culture “A Regular Morgue:” American Soldiers, Death, and Dying on the 135 Western Front by Kai Lisoskie The 2019 Earl James Weaver Graduate