205 The American Papers Vol. 39 Te American Papers 2020-2021 Volume 39 Editors-in-Chief Katherine Morales Michelle Okawa Managing Editors Raymond Gandara Rachel Seymour Editorial Board Nicole Dean Laura Fauvor Grace Johnson Kathleen Loreto Giulia Oprea Luis Quintanilla Tristan Ramsay Layout Editors Kathleen Loreto Nicole Dean Faculty Advisors Dr. Eric Gonzaba Dr. Alison Kanosky Copyright © 2021 The American Studies Student Association California State University, Fullerton. All rights reserved. ISSN 10598464 1 The American Papers Te artwork on the cover of this journal was designed by CSUF student Rachel Seymour. Te cover was designed using free resources from Freepik.com and Canva. Rachel describes her cover design below: "I thought of a tunnel with blurry light at the end of it. We are all trying to get out of the tunnel, to reach the blurry light at the end, but we only have a small yellow candle light to guide us out. Te tunnel could be interpreted as the events of 2020: the Coronavirus pandemic and quarantine, the economic recession, the racism called out by the Black Lives Matter Movement, the 2020 election." -Rachel Seymour, 2021 2 Professors Gonzaba and Kanosky would like to thank the editors for their hard work, dedication, persistence, and creativity while preparing this edition of Te American Papers. Teir willingness to dedicate so much of their time—even over summer break—to contribute to this journal and departmental tradition is very much appreciated. We would like to commend the authors for their thoughtful papers and for their responsiveness to editorial feed- back. Tanks to editor Grace Johnson, as well as to American Studies Student Association representatives Ela Cabrera and Michelle Le, for their assistance securing funding from the InterClub Council so that the journal could be printed. Tank you to the staf at PM Group for their work in printing the journal. We also would like to recognize Raymond Gandara and Rachel Seymour for their work in supervising the editing process as Managing Editors, and for helping to perform secondary edits to all papers. Tey worked diligently and professionally to bring this journal to fruition. And thank you to Rachel Seymour for designing the artwork for the cover of this year's journal. A special thank you as well to Kath- leen Loreto, who came on board as our newest Layout Editor this year and did an extraordinary job, as well as the returning Layout Editor Nicole Dean for her assistance in completing this incredibly important task. Te publication of Te American Papers has always required the commitment and hard work of its student editorial team. As we continue to live through the COVID-19 pandemic, the commit- ment and hard work our student editorial team put into the journal is all the more remarkable. In this entirely virtual academic year, our editorial team rose to the occasion and deftly managed to con- duct a robust and collegial editorial process entirely online, amidst the backdrop of a particularly challenging year. Finally, we especially would like to thank Katherine Morales and Michelle Okawa for serving as this volume’s Editors-in-Chief. Katherine and Michelle flled their positions with energy, original thinking, democratic leadership, strong organization, and compas- sion. Teir hard work and commitment made the production of the 2020-2021 issue possible. For their shared leadership and dedica- tion to Te American Papers, we give Katherine and Michelle our gratitude and the highest of praise. 3 The American Papers 4 Welcome to the 2020-2021 issue of Te American Papers! Tis year’s issue of Te American Papers is further evidence of the department’s perseverance and adaptability in these unprecedented times. Created remotely in its entirety, the journal consisted of countless Zoom sessions, an abundance of emails, and the dedicated work of both students and faculty. Te following works are authored by both undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in American Studies courses at California State University, Fullerton. Each paper is a testament to the applicability and diversity of American Studies as a feld, as well as a reminder of the recurring themes that permeate American culture, past, present, and future. As American Studies students and scholars, we strive to examine and bet- ter understand the diversity of American culture from an interdisciplinary perspective. Tis year we chose the journal’s overall theme, Resistance and Refection, to showcase works that focus on topics of race, gender, sexuality, identity, and many more. Te journal’s layout is organized thematically. Te following themes showcase each work by subject and demonstrate the various topics covered in American Studies: Resistance through Music, California Counter-Histories, Ethnographic Experiences, Creating Identity, Represen- tations of the Body, and Technology: Past, Present, and Future. We would also like to point your attention to two new features in this year’s journal. First, a statement and art piece on racial injustice in 2020; second, the inclu- sion of creative works with visual and personal components. Each year, Te 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. We are happy to present Raymond Gandara as this year's winner for his paper, “Imperial Machinery: Te Roads, Camineros, and Engineers of the U.S.-Occupied Philippines." Te runner-up for the Weaver Prize, also published in this issue, is Michelle Okawa with her paper, “Ghost in the Geisha: A Critical Analysis of Techno-Orientalism and Asian Female Robots in Science Fiction Films.” Trough these works, it is our hope that this year’s journal engages readers by provoking critical thought, encouraging discussion, and inspiring creativ- ity. Te Editors-in-Chief thank our contributors and our editorial board for working together to create this year's issue. We also thank Rachel Seymour for embodying this year’s journal theme with her design cover. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with our authors, editorial team, and our incredibly supportive faculty advisors, Professors Alison Kanosky and Eric Gonzaba. - Te Editors 5 The American Papers On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was killed by a white police ofcer that pinned his knee on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Te deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and countless other Black Americans incited protests against police brutality and systemic racism to take place across the nation and the world. Prominent Black scholars such as Angela Y. Davis, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Michelle Alexander, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, and many more acknowl- edged the nationwide demands for racial justice in the summer of 2020 to be a historic moment. During the midst of nationwide protests and civil unrest, the editorial board of Te American Papers held our frst meeting to discuss the journal’s upcom- ing issue. During this time, it became clear to us that our journal would not be complete without a direct acknowledgment of longstanding violence spurred by systemic racism against Black Americans. With the assistance of a subcommittee, a series of questions were compiled in a survey titled, “Survey on Racial Injustice in 2020.”Te survey was posted to the American Studies Student Association (ASSA) Instagram account and circulated amongst fac- ulty within the American Studies Department who were then invited to share it with their students. Respondents of the survey were asked to answer with as much or as little as they wanted. Te questions were written as follows: 1. Activist Angela Davis called the protests following George Floyd’s death, “an extraordinary moment which has brought together a whole number of issues.” What does “this moment” represent to you? 2. How has the state of racial injustice in 2020 made you feel? 3. What actions would you like to see? (Tis can be at a personal, local, national, as well as legislative level) Te survey was open from October 2020 through January 2021, and survey responses were anonymously collected from California State University, Ful- lerton students. Te subcommittee felt the best way to capture the survey re- sponses was to construct a word collage in the image of a raised fst, an iconic symbol of the Black Lives Matter movement, and a universal symbol for soli- darity. Te responses from all three questions were placed in a word collage generator with frequently mentioned words appearing bigger in size. While all responses are visualized together in the form of a raised fst, the individual questions and responses can be found in the background of this image. We recognize that collecting responses and constructing this image is a small gesture against our nation’s history of anti-Black violence. However, by cap- turing current CSUF student’s thoughts and perspectives, we hope that this piece can serve as both a cultural text to contextualize this historic moment for ourselves and our readers through the lens of American Studies, as well as a statement of solidarity for the BLM movement and other organizations struggling against anti-Black violence and racial injustice. 6 7 The American Papers Course Descriptions 201: Introduction To American Studies With the concept of culture as a unifying principle, focus is on four separate time periods in order to provide the framework for an understanding of American civilization. Several diferent kinds of documents will be used to illustrate the nature and advantages of an interdisciplinary approach. 301: American Character Cultural environment and personality. Te 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 diferences among Americans.