Walvis Bay is the largest port in the southern African nation of Namibia, and handles a majority of Namibia’s ocean cargo. In 2016, the Namibian government issued a contract to a Chinese state-owned enterprise to modernize the port. Using first hand interviews on site, the project explores how the expansion affected the city’s local businesses and the community’s opinion of the Chinese, and potential for future economic growth. This project aims to contribute to a growing body of work examining the impacts that little-known Chinese investments are having across the world.
Faculty Sponsor: Yan Liang
Discipline: CCSRG/Economics
I will present information on the use of music in prisons based on my observational experience of musical programs in prisons and reintegration centers, along with interviews I conducted this past summer. I will outline the programs at each facility I visited, and how I observed music being used in each situation. I will also discuss what I learned from the people leading these programs and from talking to the participants of these programs.
Faculty Sponsor: Scott Nadelson
Discipline: CCSRG/PPLE
This research project investigated the transformations throughout the 60-year career
of Bob Dylan using a digital humanities approach.This project builds on previous research to explore the psychological categories employed in Dylan’s lyrics corpus over time, and how these trends changed when adding archival material and covers. 771 songs were imported into LIWC software to discern what percentage of words in Dylan’s lyrics fit into 12 chosen psychological categories. Significant increases were observed in Authenticity, Positive Emotion, and Religion, while many categories experienced significant median variability during important periods, and adding archival material and covers revealed differences in psychological trends.
Faculty Sponsor: Erik Noftle
Discipline: CCSRG/Psychology
No More Death/No Más Muertes (NMD) provides humanitarian aid to migrants who have crossed the United States/Mexico border. This organization also performs searches, rescues, and recovers human remains. However, they are not the only humanitarian aid organization present at the border. Why do so many people choose to volunteer with them? NMD centers migrants' expressed needs and provides volunteers with food and housing so that they can focus on supporting the people who have crossed. This creates an empowered community united around the goal of ending suffering in the desert.
Faculty Sponsor: Jeanne Clark
Discipline: CCSRG/Public Health