The following list includes current and historic, individual student research projects; public presentations from conferences; symposia and exhibitions; and peer-reviewed publications.
For abstracts on each project see Students as Scholars. For the Africana studies research guide, see Africana Studies: Choosing a Topic.
Students can get a list of their projects by going to CLIQ in the Gateway. Under the CLIQ menu, go to Profiles and then My ePortfolio. If you are an alum and would like a copy of your projects, please submit a research project request form.
“Supported by” on Student Conference Presentation records indicates the entity or funding mechanism that supported the student’s participation in the conference, e.g., travel expenses, poster costs. For on-campus conferences, the supporting entity is usually the academic department sponsoring the event.
“Supported by” on Student Research Project records indicates the entity or funding mechanism that supported the student’s research costs, e.g., supplies, materials, equipment, stipends and local or international research travel.
2022
| Student Name | Project Title | Faculty Mentor | Event Name | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petia Nimley |
The Queering of (Black) Parenthood: A Literary Analysis of Danniel Black's Perfect Peace and Don't Cry for Me |
Lynn Johnson |
Africana Studies and Latin American, Latinx & Caribbean Studies Senior Symposium |
2022 |
|
Deanna Findlay |
Relationship between Participating in Urban Agricultural Initiatives and Having Positive Health Outcomes in NY during COVID-19 |
Lynn Johnson |
Africana Studies and Latin American, Latinx & Caribbean Studies Senior Symposium |
2022 |
|
Jena Blair |
What You Call an Icon Living?: Understanding the Influence of the Public on Icon Formation |
Lynn Johnson |
Africana Studies and Latin American, Latinx & Caribbean Studies Senior Symposium |
2022 |
|
Destiny McFalls |
Reimagining Black Student Identity: The Power of Black Student Advocacy at Dickinson in the 1960's and 1970's |
Nadia Alahmed |
Presentation: 2022 Africana Studies Archives and Special Collections |
2022 |
2021
| Student Name | Project | Faculty/Mentor |
|---|---|---|
| Jesler M Lino | Why do Black Male Youth Join Gangs? Conference: Africana Studies Senior Research Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Nadia Alahmed |
| Krystal A Ramirez | The Black Panther Party and How FBI Repression Affected Individual Panthers Conference: Africana Studies Senior Research Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Nadia Alahmed |
| Karim Jacques Williams | Rethinking Stigmatization of Drug Dependent Black Women and Mothers Conference: Africana Studies Senior Research Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Nadia Alahmed |
2020
| Student Name | Project | Faculty/Mentor |
|---|---|---|
| Sakinah Aminah Hobbs-Jones | Black Doulas Sustaining Traditional Practices on Instagram Conference: Africana Studies Senior Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
| Isoke Izgebe Senghor | "One Man Can't Satisfy Her": An Exploration of the Triangulated Relationship between Jamaican Sex Workers, their Families, and the Jamaican Government Conference: Africana Studies Senior Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
| Myriam Elizabeth Smith | Tricks of the Mind or Metabolic Dysperceptions?:(Dis)Figuring Fantasies of Black Male (Corpo)reality Supported by: R&D Dana Research Assistant Number of Weeks: 26 | Lynn Johnson |
| Taeya Jade Viruet | The New York Young Lords and Puerto Rican Identity Construction Conference: Africana Studies Senior Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
2019
| Student Name | Project | Faculty/Mentor |
|---|---|---|
| Janaiya Banks | Beyond Scared Straight, Shucking and Jiving in a New Age Conference: Africana Studies Senior Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
| Keson Torell Bullock-Brown | Mo' Money, Mo' Problems: Examining Rhetoric of Liberation in Contemporary Black Capitalism Movements Conference: Africana Studies Senior Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
| Quadrese Glass | Keep Up the Signifyin(g): Black Boys' Revision, Repetition, and Response to Censored Speech Conference: Africana Studies Senior Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
| Rachel Gross | "Tomatoes & Taxi Ranks" Conference: U.S. and African Foodscapes AFST-220 Supported by: Food Studies Department | Jane Battersby |
| Kennedy Brescha Lewis | Directors Cut: The (De)construction of Black Torture Porn in Filmic Adaptations of Slave Narratives Conference: Africana Studies Senior Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
| Naji Nazima Thompson | Through Shadows and Shallows: 19th Century Free Black Authors Construction of Black American Citizenship and in-between Spaces in Fiction Conference: Africana Studies Senior Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
2018
| Student Name | Project | Faculty/Mentor |
|---|---|---|
| Emoni Anderson | Independent Filmmakers (re)scripting the Lives of Black Women with Mental Illness Conference: 2018 Africana Studies Senior Research Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |
| Melissa Luiga Anese | Who Says Fat Can't Move?: Exploring how Black Women Reshaped the Plus-size Industry Conference: 2018 Africana Studies Senior Research Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |
| Markiah E Baker | Whose Lives Really Matter? The Disabled Black Woman and Why She Can't Say #MeToo Conference: 2018 Africana Studies Senior Research Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |
| Kaila Santa Burke-Ozuna | "Ethnoracial Identity Formation in Evelio Grillo's Black Cuban, Black American and Piri Thomas' Down These Mean Streets" Conference: 2018 Central Pennsylvania Consortium Annual Africana Studies Conference Supported by: Central Pennsylvania Consortium | Trent Masiki |
| Asazina Cooper | Making Reality Television Real: Representations of Black Queer Men on "Love & Hip Hop" Conference: 2018 Africana Studies Senior Research Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |
| Hyla Ehrenberg Jacobson | Crossing the Black Mediterranean: Migration from Africa to Italy Conference: The Central Pennsylvania Consortium (CPC) Annual Africana Studies Conference: Migration, Displacement, and Reintegration in Africa and the African Diaspora Supported by: Central Pennsylvania Consortium | Susan Rose |
| Sara Johnson | Crossing the Black Mediterranean: Migration from Africa to Italy Conference: The Central Pennsylvania Consortium (CPC) Annual Africana Studies Conference: Migration, Displacement, and Reintegration in Africa and the African Diaspora Supported by: Central Pennsylvania Consortium | Susan Rose |
| Madigan Behrens Kay | Crossing the Black Mediterranean: Migration from Africa to Italy Conference: The Central Pennsylvania Consortium (CPC) Annual Africana Studies Conference: Migration, Displacement, and Reintegration in Africa and the African Diaspora Supported by: Central Pennsylvania Consortium | Susan Rose |
| Karem Emmanuel Mathiang | "The Epic Trickster": Dave Chappelle, African Resistance, and Oral Tradition in a Tricky World Conference: 2018 Africana Studies Senior Research Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |
| Manuel A Ocampo | Gifted and Uplifted: Black and Brown Sonic Spaces in L.A. and the Role of Hip Hop Conference: 2018 Africana Studies Senior Research Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |
| Sofina Kolanya Odero | Reclaiming the Mind, Body and Soul: Black Womxnhood and Self-Care at Predominantly White Institution Conference: 2018 Africana Studies Senior Research Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |
| Jessica Louise Smith | Crossing the Black Mediterranean: Migration from Africa to Italy Conference: The Central Pennsylvania Consortium (CPC) Annual Africana Studies Conference: Migration, Displacement, and Reintegration in Africa and the African Diaspora Supported by: Central Pennsylvania Consortium | Susan Rose |
| Taeya Jade Viruet | "African-American Oral Culture, Yoruba Spirituality, and Stages of Afro-Latino Identity Formation in Black Cuban, Black American: A Memoir, and Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina" Conference: The Central Pennsylvania Consortium (CPC) Annual Africana Studies Conference: Migration, Displacement, and Reintegration in Africa and the African Diaspora Supported by: Central Pennsylvania Consortium | Trent Masiki |
| Mergitu Shinka Yadeto | Songs for our Healing: Analysis of "A Seat at the Table" and Black Healing Spaces Conference: 2018 Africana Studies Senior Research Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |
2017
| Student Name | Project | Faculty/Mentor |
|---|---|---|
| Brandi Noel Hunter | "Simultaneously Brilliant and Beyond Bearing: The Socially Constructed Image of the Smart Black Girl" Conference: Africana Studies and Latin American, Latino & Caribbean Studies Senior Research Presentations Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
| Naji Nazima Thompson | Psychodietetics and the Anxieties of Wellness in the African American Literary Imagination Supported by: R&D Dana Research Assistant Number of Weeks: 13 | Lynn Johnson |
2016
| Student Name | Project | Faculty/Mentor |
|---|---|---|
| Sarah Rachel Kleine | "Enough of the White Boys and Dogs! African American Young Literature and the Politics of Access" Conference: 2016 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |
2015
| Student Name | Project | Faculty/Mentor |
|---|---|---|
| Dominique Charmian Brown | Whose Choice?: Reproductive Coercion and Black Women's Fight for Medical Justice Conference: 2015 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
| Reiva Joyce Kibbee | "Our Task is to Make Ourselves the Architects of the Future": From Independence to Vision 2030, Where is Kenya Now? Conference: 2015 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |
| Megan Baker O'Neill | The Influence of South African Music on the Black Community in the Anti-Apartheid Movement Conference: 2015 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
| Frank Henry Williams | Mothering a Movement: An Examination of Black Mothers' Participation in the #BlackLivesMatter Movement Conference: 2015 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |
2014
| Student Name | Project | Faculty/Mentor |
|---|---|---|
| Danielle Lynn Clausnitzer | The Power of Parallel Belief: Re-Establishing Literary Syncretism in Toni Morrison's Beloved, Song of Solomon, and Sula Conference: 2014 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
| Reginald James Glosson | No Vote, No Freedom: The Black Existential Problematization of Voter ID Laws Conference: 2014 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
| Jessica Anne Shaffner | The Postmodern Integrated-Masculine: A Literary Breakdown of the Masculine-Masculine and Masculine-Feminine Fracture Conference: 2014 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
2013
| Student Name | Project | Faculty/Mentor |
|---|---|---|
| Alexandra Uka Amaka Agiliga | Reclaiming and Asserting Sexual Agency: Black Women In Sadomasochism Conference: 2013 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Megan Glick |
| Andrew Gavin Hill | The Emancipation of LeBron James: Re-Defining the Slave Narrative of the NBA Through the Histories of the Athlete Conference: 2013 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
2012
| Student Name | Project | Faculty/Mentor |
|---|---|---|
| Barbara Crentsil | Indigeneity and Nationalism Conference: 2012 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |
| Eric Sohan Joseph | Expressing Gender in Cultural Production Conference: 2012 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |
| Christina Kay Mullen | Politics of Representation Conference: 2012 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |
| Elizabeth Anne Stuhr | Reframing Philosophies and Practice Conference: 2012 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |
2011
| Student Name | Project | Faculty/Mentor |
|---|---|---|
| Benjamin James Hanbury-Aggs | Trading Places: Is the 21st Century African/Tribal Art Market Ethical? Conference: 2011 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
| Corinthia Kenya Jacobs | Reviving and Revising: The History of Dickinson College from an Africanist Perspective Conference: 2011 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
| Tarra Kathryn Maxwell | The Resiliency of Women: Surviving the Rwandan Genocide Conference: 2011 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
| Rockyatu Dakuan Otoo | "Don't Make a Black Woman Take off her Earrings": Undressing Madea and the Impersonation of Black Womanhood Conference: 2011 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
| Grace Perry | Resisting the Machine: Toward a Theory of Transnational Feminist Anti-Capitalism Conference: 2011 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
2010
| Student Name | Project | Faculty/Mentor |
|---|---|---|
| A Atandi Anyona | Song, Dance, and Resistance in South Africa during the Apartheid Regime Conference: 2010 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Lynn Johnson |
| Quinnelle Lilian Gomez | Caribbean Media Representations Supported by: R&D Dana Research Assistant Number of Weeks: 13 | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |
| Quinnelle Lilian Gomez | Caribbean Media Representations Conference: 2010 Africana Studies Senior Symposium Supported by: Africana Studies Department | Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy |