Sophie Chow

Advisor: Reynaldo Baca, Professor, Rossier School of Education

Thesis Title: “Dual Language Programs in America: Creating an American Identity in a Multilingual Environment”

This thesis will examine the implications of developing an American identity in a dual language program, or an elementary school program that promotes bilingualism and biliteracy. My primary research question is: How do dual language programs support, challenge or create an American national identity? My sub-questions include: How does a student become an American through dual language programs? What does an American identity mean in an educational system that promotes multilingual definitions of Americanness? How do dual language programs develop in relation to American discussions on race and multiculturalism, California immigration policy, and changing generational interest? I focus my qualitative study primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area. After proposition 227 passed in 1998, an English-only strategy to education ensued. However, in the Bay Area, dual language public schools like Buena Vista Elementary School and Alice Fong Yu Elementary School continued to attract families from diverse backgrounds to their successful dual language programs. My thesis will examine what makes San Francisco a unique climate for studying language politics in the United States.

Jordan Congdon

Advisor: Robin D.G. Kelley, Professor, American Studies & Ethnicity and History

Thesis Title: “Where is Home?: The African-American Male Raised in the White Suburb”

The study of African-American males ha sbeen a centuries long process.  However, I have noticed a consistent trend in this study.  It often has to do with the negative stereotypes of black men and how they deal with them.  Contemporary discussions also tend to focus on those black males that grew up and live in the “hood”—those who have had to live their lives “outside” of the American Dream.  This has led me to ask, what about those black men that grew up with all the wealth and riches that the American Dream promises?  What happens when they grow up in a suburban neighborhood with all white people?  When they are the “token black guy”?  My thesis seeks to understand how being raised in the white suburbs affects the development of a black male’s identity as a man and more specifically, a black man.

Stephanie Joseph

Advisor:  Michael Messner, Professor, Sociology

Thesis Title: “A Structured Fairytale: A Study of the American institution of Fraternities and Sororities (“The Greek system”) and Gender Interactions”

My project will focus on the institution known as the “Greek system” which is comprised of fraternities and sororities located on college campuses around the United States. Framed by the fields of psychology, critical film studies, sociology, history, and literature, I aim to answer the research question: How do American fraternities and sororities socially construct gender identities and what impact does this have on gender interactions? In an effort to examine these gender interactions, my goal is to reveal how this surreal institution for college students impacts real situations and human relations both during college and in the future. I am interested in seeing how this institution reveals relationships and a social organization structure that both emulates similar structures seen in society as well as creates situational interactions that are completely unique to the Greek system experience. This project proves important as thousands of college students across the country are involved in and affected by this institution yearly.

Marisol Siegel

Advisor: Laura Pulido, Professor, American Studies & Ethnicity and Geography

Thesis Title:    “Multiracial Identity Development at the University of Segregated Children”

The 2000 United States census allowed citizens to mark more than one racial category for the first time in history. Americans of mixed-race ancestry have historically been lumped into monoracial categories, often the category representing their non-white racial heritage in accordance with the rule of hypodescent (or the “one drop” rule). In response to this, several multiracial identity development models have been put forth; however, they all assume that multiracial individuals arrive at a racial identity that incorporates all of their racial backgrounds. I propose that mixed race individuals negotiate their (sometimes conflicting) racial identities in different fashions depending on different life experiences so that they may, or may not, end up identifying as biracial or multiracial. I am particularly interested in how the university environment influences this process of racial identity development. In order to explore this question I will conduct interviews with twenty multiracial students (of various racially mixed backgrounds) at the University of Southern California as well as doing participant observation of an event series designed for and targeted toward mixed race students on that campus.

John Stewart

Advisor: Janelle Wong, Associate Professor, American Studies & Ethnicity and Political Science

Thesis Title: ”The Immigration Debate: Tracking Changing Perspectives”

Immigration reform has been periodically thrust to the forefront of the nations’ attention. As Congress debated the Federal Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, which would have granted amnesty to many illegal immigrants and strengthened border protections, there was much debate both within Washington D.C. and in towns and cities across the country. The question of immigration, both legal and illegal, has long been an issue people have held strong views about. There was a similar furor generated in California ten years prior as sweeping immigration reforms made their way onto the ballot via propositions. California has one of the most diverse populations in the country, and as a result offers a unique opportunity to exam the nature of the immigration debate within the state. By examining news coverage and the content of suggested laws, this project will explore the debates surrounding the immigration propositions of the mid 90’s and the federal amnesty bill of 2006. In doing so the project will reveal how, if at all, views towards immigration within California have changed.