The Wellesley College website is currently in transition. This temporary site is for current Wellesley College community members. If you're a prospective student or employee, please go to our new site at www.wellesley.edu.
Student Research
Jean Dominique (July 1930-April 2000) was a Haitian journalist and political activist. As the founder of Radio Haïti, the nation’s first independent, Kreyòl-language radio station, Jean spoke directly to and for the Haitian people from the early 1960’s until his assassination in 2000. He sought to counter oppression and support his fellow Haitians during decades of occupation and military dictatorship. Jean is survived by his daughter, writer and journalist Jan J. Dominique. Jan has continued her father’s work as a storyteller and advocate for the Haitian people. In 2008, she published Mémoire errante, a work of meditative nonfiction addressing her father’s death and her personal relationship with her beloved home nation. Wellesley student, Emma Page ’16, is working with Jan and Professor Lesley Curtis to produce an English translation of this French-language text. Mémoire errante already, in many ways, translates the multilingual and multicultural experience of exile for readers interested in the history of Haiti. In creating an English version of the text, Emma hopes to provide a wider audience with access to Jan's eloquent perspective. In her commentary on that translation, Emma is exploring theoretical frameworks which help inform translation in a postcolonial and specifically Francophone context.
Do calorie labels offend your autonomy? If your Happy Meal came with water, would you ask for soda? Is the state justified in placing taxes on sugary beverages? Over the past ten years, insights from the field of behavioral economics have been increasingly incorporated into government policies that aim to improve the public’s wellbeing in all areas of life. While some see these so-called “libertarian paternalistic” or “nudge” policies as less restrictive than traditional paternalism, others worry about their impact on freedom, lack of transparency, and even ineffectiveness. In my senior thesis, I examine the philosophical arguments regarding these strategies, with a special focus on obesity prevention and the three policies alluded to above, with which I have had some contact through public health research. Thus, this project is not only an exploration of the arguments and psychological evidence that underlies paternalism, but also a reflection on what my own place will be in the field of nutrition and obesity prevention in the future.
In this class I investigated the role of the government in the public sphere, particularly with regards public health policy creation. I discussed three potential approaches to government intervention in public health, highlighting libertarian paternalism as the most comprehensive theory. All of the theories I researched in this paper are welfarist, in the sense that they ground political morality in a foundational requirement to promote welfare. They also all consider liberty to be a very important (albeit derivative) value. The major point of contention between them is over how precisely to respect the liberty and autonomy of individuals while still attempting to increase welfare or public health.
Researched BRICS, Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria, and Ethiopia investigating Health Policy & Pharmaceutical Policy as well as investment and engagement of some countries in another, legal and quasi-legal drugs/pharmaceutical drugs and narcotic drugs. Researched transnational drug networks and interviewed manufacturers, researchers, and administrators.
This thesis bridges the transnational discourses on environmental justice and urban social inequality through an in depth analysis of Bangalore, India. I define environmental justice as the meaningful participation in the development of the environment and the fair access to that environment across peoples regardless of difference. Although gaining traction in other global cities, environmental justice has not been considered in Indian cities because the conceptualization of the “environment” is pragmatically restricted to rural areas. I ground this thesis in three core arguments: (1) the natural environment and built environment exist in a hybrid form in both cities and rural areas; (2) by ascribing agency to both the natural and the built components of hybrid environments, it is possible to qualify their nexus as it impacts the human experience; (3) problems that are commonly understood as social injustices are shaped by this natural-built environment (NBE) nexus, and must therefore be reconstructed as environmental injustices. By studying Bangalore’s development using the NBE nexus framework, I am able to understand the city’s dichotomies on a deeper level, as inextricably linked to its environment in both causes and solutions. Chapter 1 places Bangalore in a global context, establishing it as a relevant and useful case study for understanding urban environments and injustice worldwide. In Chapter 2 and 3, I analyze the history of Bangalore’s urban and rural NBE nexuses, respectively, in order to understand the injustices that have persisted through today. In Chapter 4, I analyze Ejipura Slum, a dramatic example of how Bangalore’s NBE nexus creates a negative urban experience for poor people. I conclude with a case-study-based exploration of potential strategies for mitigating environmental injustice and reimagining the NBE nexus to be sustainable and just for all.
The Sea Islands off the coast South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, also known as the Lowcountry, have been home to the Gullah-Geechee community for the past three centuries. The Gullah-Geechee people are African Americans who are descended from the enslaved people who worked the rice and cotton plantations in the Low Country region of Georgia and South Carolina, and who continue to live on the mainland and regions ’Sea Islands to this day. These people have a rich culture; more than any other African Americans, the Gullah-Geechee have been able to retain many aspects of West African culture, from language, to music, to land usage traditions. Unfortunately, the survival of the Gullah-Geechee currently is threatened by a variety of factors-social, economic, and environmental. Today, the people are faced with displacement from their traditional lands and the cultural traditions associated with that land due to the impacts of the rise of tourism and private residential communities. On no Lowcountry island are these challenges more apparent than on Hilton Head, an island off the coast of South Carolina that is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the South. The purpose of this thesis is to examine through a historical lens how the interaction of the Gullah people of Hilton Head island with the land has intersected and been impacted by changes to that land, the justice implications of those intersections, and how the story of the Gullah people and the development of Hilton Head for tourism and private residential communities can add to the literature of environmental studies, environmental justice, and the broader history of African Americans in the United States.
Conducting research on African Presence in Wellesley College since the College's founding and conducting a special case study on the African Students’ Clubs on campus (African Awareness Now and the Wellesley African Students' Association).
I am currently doing a long-term oral history research project on the Japanese Alumnae of Wellesley College. After going through some profiles in the archives, as a Japanese-American student I was appalled that I knew so little about the incredible Japanese women who were at this college before me. Therefore, I have decided to pursue creating a sort of "digital museum" database supervised by the Japanese Department that will make their legacies accessible, and able to be acknowledged. I plan to include photos, audio recordings of interviews interviews, video recordings, and anything I can gather up on these individuals.
