Swarthmore College Writing Associates Program alchemy 2 0 0 9 & The act of writing is the act of making soul, alchemy. - Gloria Anzaldúa Staff Editors-in-Chief Judy Browngoehl Sean Nesselrode Editorial Board Arly Gease Isaac Hock Connor Morrison Jackson Swearer Alba Villamil Julie Wang Acknowledgments The editors would like to thank Jill Gladstein and Jacqueline Emery for their support, the Provost’s Office, and Delco Printing. Alchemy 2009 Contents ¿En el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y de la prosperidad puertorriqueña? Isabel Rivera ’10 • History.............................................. 3 How is the Health of Mytilus Edulis Affected by pH? A Sarah Bedolfe ’11 and Niki Machac ’11 • Biology.................................... 12 l c h Biography of a Factory Girl: e Life and Death in the Early Republic m Miriam Rich ’11 • History...................................................... 20 y 2 Jacobean Deference and Feminine Subversion 0 in Ben Jonson’s The Masque of Blackness 0 Justin diFeliciantonio ’10 • English.................................... 28 9 The Impact of the Internet and New Media on Malaysian Politics and the 2008 General Election Andrew Loh ’10 • Political Science..................................... 37 Alchemy 2009 & Welcome to Alchemy , Swarthmore College’s journal of academic writing. Each year a group of Writing Associates publishes several academic papers written by members of A l the Swarthmore student body. In this year’s issue, Isabel Rivera explores the social c influence of Christian religious institutions on the Puerto Rican community of h e Philadelphia. Sarah Bedolfe and Niki Machac outline the environmental effect of pH m on the health of ocean mussels, while Justin diFeliciantonio investigates race and gen - y der in Ben Jonson’s The Masque of Blackness . In addition, Miriam Rich uses a case study of an American factory worker to draw larger conclusions about nineteenth-century 2 0 American life. Finally, Andrew Loh discusses the role of new media in contemporary 0 Malaysian politics. 9 Each of these of papers represents an individual perspective on a specific topic of interest to the author. They represent a variety of approaches to an equally diverse group of subjects. Every author collaborated with the editorial board to produce the final version of the paper that you see in this journal. We believe these papers represent a cross-section of the student-motivated research that happens both inside and outside of the classroom. The hard work and commit - ment to academic inquiry that these authors demonstrate is just one small glimpse of the Swarthmore experience. We hope that you will enjoy reading what Swarthmore students have been writing over the past year. Judy Browngoehl and Sean Nesselrode and the Editorial Staff of Alchemy 2009 1 Alchemy 2009 Isabel Rivera ¿En el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y de la prosperidad puertorriqueña? The Role of the Catholic and Protestant Churches in the Puerto Rican Community of Philadelphia Isabel Rivera ’10 In the 1950s, a time known as the the mid-twentieth century. As a Great Puerto Rican Migration, the result, many Puerto Ricans looked to Puerto Rican population of Protestant faiths for the politicization Philadelphia grew at an exponential that the Catholic Church did not pro - rate. During this time, the Catholic vide, shifting the religious make up of Church played a crucial role in inte - the community. A grating the new migrant community l into city life. Some scholars have In the 1920s, the passage of a series c argued that the Catholic Church of immigration acts, including the h e adopted the role of an “Americanizer Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and m of immigrants” in response to criti - the National Origins Act of 1924, lim - y cisms regarding its lack of ited the percentage of foreign immi - 2 Americanism during the mid-nine - grants permitted to enter and reside 0 teenth century. Others maintain that in the United States. However, Puerto 0 the Catholic Church assumed the Ricans, having been granted U.S. cit - 9 role of a not-for-profit organization izenship in 1917, were viewed as a because it provided care services to source of cheap labor. Consequently, the needy. 1 However, both camps in the 1950s and 1960s, the disap - recognize that at present many pearance of the tobacco and sugar Puerto Ricans in the United States do industries on the island and the not view the Catholic Church as a emergence of farm labor programs breeding ground of deep faith. caused a flood of migrants from the Evidence for this lies in statistics that towns of Salinas and San Lorenzo to attest to the high percentage of con - seek seasonal labor contracts in the versions within the Puerto Rican U.S. 2 Many of these Puerto Ricans community, particularly to various came to the U.S. through family con - Protestant faiths. An examination of nections, assistance from the Puerto the history of the Catholic Church Rican government’s Migration within the Puerto Rican community Division Office, or through a season - and the illuminating story of Marcus al labor contract. Between 1945 and Delgado, a Puerto Rican migrant in 1965, Philadelphia was the second 1950s Philadelphia, reveals that the most common destination for Puerto contemporary image of the Catholic Ricans. By 1954, Puerto Ricans had Church as an apolitical institution become the largest Latino group in that provided formal and informal the city. care services to the Latino communi - ty alienated Puerto Rican youth in At the onset of the Great Migration, 3 ¿En el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y de la prosperidad puertorriqueña? the Catholic Church in Philadelphia ized would now be brought to the full played a critical role in settling understanding and practice of true migrants in the U.S. However, schol - Catholicism.” 7 Simultaneously, mis - ars offer various interpretations for sionaries intended to Americanize the Catholic Church’s motivation in Puerto Rican Catholics by teaching integrating Puerto Ricans into the and conducting mass in English and larger U.S. society. For instance, in by reinforcing the hierarchical struc - “The Puerto Rican Religious ture of the Catholic Church. This Experience,” Jaime Vidal argues that missionary relationship continued on the Catholic Church’s involvement in the U.S. mainland as the Catholic the Puerto Rican community was a Church strove to establish itself as result of institutional power dynam - an American institution for the new ics within the U.S. In response to wave of Puerto Rican migrants. nineteenth century criticisms that claimed the Catholic Church to be Thus, despite regional and class dif - “incompatible with basic American ferences present on the island, the values,” 3 the Church attempted to U.S. Catholic Church reached out to 9 legitimize itself as an American insti - the new migrants. The Church 0 tution by becoming the “Americanizer believed that in order to Americanize 0 4 2 of the immigrants.” However, and maintain the loyalty of this pre - according to Vidal, Puerto Ricans on dominantly Catholic migrant group, y the island viewed Catholicism as the it had to tailor itself to the needs of m e religion of high society. Similarly, Ana the Puerto Rican community. In cities h María Díaz-Stevens claims that the like Philadelphia and New York, the c practice of Catholicism varied by the number of Puerto Ricans was too sig - l A location and socioeconomic status of nificant for the Catholic Church to the congregation. She argues that the lose from its constituency. Catholicism practiced by the Puerto Consequently, during the Great Rican elite was an institutionalized Migration, parishes like La Milagrosa form that contrasted with the “folk and Santa Agonía opened in major Catholicism that survived in the Northeast cities to address the needs [Puerto Rican] countryside.” 5 The of the growing Puerto Rican commu - latter type sometimes included ele - nity. ments of Santería, an Afro-Caribbean religion whose strong influence could As new migrants, the majority of be identified in “supplications to the these young Puerto Ricans experi - household saints and personal spirit- enced difficulty in adjusting to guides [that] are… necessary to many Philadelphia. 8 According to historian Catholic Puerto Ricans.” 6 Thus, in Carmen Teresa Whalen, “Puerto “taming” the religious beliefs of Rican migrants who settled in Puerto Ricans, the more institution - Philadelphia confronted their new alized Catholic Church saw its job as urban environments as young adults a missionary one “in which a people from the countryside, with little for - who had been superficially evangel - mal education, who had worked 4 Isabel Rivera mostly in agriculture, agricultural Philadelphia Story: How Local processing, and the garment indus - Congregations Support Quality of Life try.” 9 Moreover, the cold climate, in Urban America , Ram Cnaan writes, language barrier, and urban racial “religious congregations and other segregation were major impediments faith communities shoulder a consid - in their adjustment to the city. erable portion of the burden of care for the needy people in America.” 11 Seeking a familiar and accessible The Catholic Church of Philadelphia institution through which they could served as a place where Puerto Rican find connections to other migrants could seek some informal Philadelphia resources, many Puerto care services like “counseling, senior Ricans turned to the actively welcom - care, children and youth services, ing Catholic Church. Catholic mis - health programs for homeless