The American Papers 2019-2020, Volume 38
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The American Papers 2019-2020 1 The American Papers 2019-2020 Volume 38 Editors-in-Chief Laura Fauvor Naja Shabaka Managing Editors Sarita Espinosa Aisha Monks-Husain Editorial Board Nick Catt Maite Gracian Samantha Montalvo Luis Quintanilla Rachel Seymour Celeste Sharp Layout Editor Nicole Dean Faculty Advisor Alison Kanosky Copyright © 2020 The American Studies Student Assciation Cali- fornia State University, Fullerton. All rights reserved. ISSN 10598464 3 The American Papers The artwork on the cover of this journal was designed by CSUF student Michelle Okawa, with additional design assistance from Layout Editor Nicole Dean. The cover was designed using resources from Freepik.com. 4 Professor Kanosky would like to thank the editors for their hard work, camaraderie, professionalism, and resilience while preparing this edition of The American Papers. Their willingness to give freely of their time—even over summer break—to add to this journal and departmental tradition is very much appreciated. I would like to commend the authors for their exceptional papers and good- natured responses to the editorial process. Thanks to editors Rachel Seymour and Aisha Monks-Husain, as well as American Studies Student Association representatives Brandon Ruiz and Julian Orozco for their assistance securing funding from the InterClub Council so that the journal could be printed. Thank you to the staff at PM Group for their work in printing the journal. I also would like to recognize Aisha Monks- Husain and Sarita Espinosa for supervising the editing process as Managing Editors, and for helping to perform secondary edits to all papers. And thank you to Michelle Okawa for designing the artwork for the cover of this year's journal. While the publication of The American Papers always requires the commitment and hard work of its student editorial team, this year made that task exponentially more difficult. Our editorial team persisted despite the myriad challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has shut down our campus in an historically unprecedented way. Despite the regular demands of their school work and personal lives, this pandemic required extraordinary efforts to finalize the publication of this journal. Nicole Dean deserves special recognition for her excellent work on the layout design of this issue despite the campus shutdown. Finally, I especially would like to thank Laura Fauvor and Naja Shabaka for serving as this volume’s Editors in Chief. Their shared leadership, diligence, creativity, vision, and commitment to ensuring a democratic process made the production of the 2019-2020 issue possible. For their tenacity and commitment to The American Papers in the midst of this period of uncertainty, Laura and Naja deserve the highest of praise. 5 The American Papers In recognition of his many contributions to the American Studies department since 1972, and the invaluable lessons he has imparted to his students, the 2019-2020 issue of The American Papers is dedicated to Professor John Ibson, who retired in 2019. 6 Welcome to the 2019-2020 issue of The American Papers! This issue of The American Papers continues the tradition of presenting a selection of quality papers written by undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in American Studies courses at California State University, Fullerton during the preceding academic year. Each paper makes a valuable contribution to the field of American Studies and the legacy of this journal. The essays included illustrate the journal’s progress and strengthen the foundation on which it can evolve, demonstrating the work that has been done and calling attention to issues that are still in need of ex- amination not only within the academic field but society as a whole. The papers featured in this year's issue focus on race, gender, sexuality, public memory, and more, reflecting the diverse courses offered by the American Studies department at CSUF. These courses engage students in various avenues of study with the intention of examination from an interdisciplanary perspective. This year's journal is organized thematically, linking papers that examine similar subject matter to demonstrate the range of study that can be conducted within the various aspects of American culture. We begin with a discussion of Gender and Education before learning about Imagined Communities and their importance. We then see the way Substances and Stigma collide. Afterwards, we look at the messages embedded in and the potential impacts of Pop Culture in America. Next, we learn about Culture and the Environment, particularly the effects that they have on one another. We conclude with crucial observations of Race and Resistance. Each year, The American Papers publishes an exceptional paper chosen by a committee of professors to honor Earl James Weaver, one of the founding professors of American Studies at CSUF. This year's winner is Laura Fauvor for her paper, "Take a Seat: Huey P. Newton's Infamous Chair and the Memory of the Black Panther Party." Similar to the work done in any American Studies course, we hope that this year’s journal is knowledge inducing, sparks critical thought, discussion, and action. The Editors-in-Chief thank our contributors and our editorial board for working together to create this year's issue. We also thank Michelle Okawa for creating this year’s cover, reflecting the journal’s themes. It has been a pleasure to work with our students and our supportive faculty advisor, Professor Alison Kanosky. - The Editors 7 The American Papers Course Descripitons 301: American Character Cultural environment and personality. The extent to which there have been and continue to be distinctly American patterns of belief and behavior. Similarities, as well as class, ethnic, sex, and regional differences among Americans. 345: The American Dream An interdisciplinary analysis, in settings both historical and contemporary, of the myth and reality surrounding the notion of America as a land of unpar- alleled and unlimited possibilities, especially in the achievement of personal material success. 350: Seminar in Theory and Methods of American Studies Provides an understanding and appreciation of methodology, theories of so- ciety and images of humanity as they affect American studies contributions to scholarship. 377: Prejudice and American Culture Concepts and methods of American culture studies as tools for better under- standing the origins and appeal of intolerance, past and present. Particular focus on racism, ethnic and religious bias, sexism, and homophobia. 401T: American Culture and Nature Analyzes the meaning of nature in American culture, past and present. Traces the development of environmental attitudes as reflected and shaped in such cultural landscapes as the frontier, countryside, city, suburb. 401T: American Culture Through Social Science Explores the earliest efforts of American sociologists, anthropologists, psy- chologists, and political scientists to study American culture, and the ways that they understood urban life, racial and ethnic identity, and the role of the individual in modern society. 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. 8 428: American Monsters Interdisciplinary study of the monster in American culture. Monsters in his- torical context as reflection of fears and anxieties surrounding nature, science, gender, race, community, the body. Images of monstrosity in film, literature, folklore, television, performance art, youth culture. 442: Television and American Culture American television as an interactive form of cultural expression, both prod- uct and producer of cultural knowledge. Structure and content of television genres, and social-historical context of television’s development and use, audi- ence response, habits, and environments of viewing. 502: Seminar on Public Memory Analyzes narratives of the past encapsulated in museums, memorials, historic preservation sites, living history projects, and popular culture. Emphasizes the cultural politics and packaging of public memory and tension as between national identity and local, ethnic, and regional identity narratives. 9 The American Papers Table of Contents Gender and Education What They Taught Me 15 by Emilia Gazzoni Gaskell Written for 301: American Character, taught by Professor Sharon Sekhon Women and Education 21 by Valery Zavala Written for 301: American Character, taught by Professor Carrie Lane Imagined Communities The Duality of Dreaming 29 by Kira Sherman Written for 345: The American Dream, taught by Professor Elaine Lewinnek The Witches of Whittier: Exploring the Monstrous and Identity 35 by Sarita Espinosa Written for 428: American Monsters, taught by Professor Adam Golub “Better Me Than Someone Else”: 41 Making Sense of Multiple Publics in Little India by Aisha Monks-Husain Written for 502: Seminar on Public Memory, taught by Professor Alison Kanosky Substances and Stigma The Moral Corruption of Jessica Hernandez 63 by Jessica Hernandez Written for 377: Prejudice and American Culture, taught by Professor John Ibson “They Survive in Perpetual Crisis”: 71 Ethnographers Encounter the Addict by Nick Catt Written for 401T: American Culture Through Social Science, taught by Professor Leila Zenderland Popular Culture Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: 91 Creating