Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 21 No. 2 (2023)

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https://hdl.handle.net/1794/28901

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    Art Feature: “Emerald Pools”
    (University of Oregon, 2023-09) Schmitt, Jadon
    I took this photograph at Zion National Park’s Upper Emerald Pools. At the end of a grueling hike, I was treated to this awe-inspiring waterfall. Shot from a low vantage point looking up the sheer canyon wall, the composition of this photograph emphasizes the expansiveness of the magnificent scene.
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    Art Feature: “Gold Beach, Silver Sky”
    (University of Oregon, 2023-09) Collins-Burke, Drew
    I took this photo while on vacation with my family during spring break of 2022. According to Oregon Coast Beach Connection, the rocks seen in the ocean were formed by lava rivers around 12 to 18 million years ago. These lava rivers would have devastated any forests they touched, stemming from volcanos 300 miles away. This volcanic activity would have made this area a terrifying sight to see, but millions of years later, it led me to have a serene experience, indicating how experiencing nature and environmental history can inspire both happiness and fear.
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    Cover Art: “The Only Constant Is Change”
    (University of Oregon, 2023-09) Collins-Burke, Drew
    "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." This quote, attributed to the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, reminds me that our lives are constantly changing. Just as the waterfall constantly erodes and reshapes the surrounding rock, our environment is constantly reforming us and informing our choices. I have to thank a friend of mine for helping me realize Heraclitus was right—we should respond to the gentle nudges our lives offer, just as rock gives way to a stream.
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    Culture in Higher Education: Understanding the Dimensions of Educational Inequality
    (University of Oregon, 2023-09) Berk, Luca
    By connecting historical context and a statistical review of the present-day consequences of White hegemony within higher education, I argue that the exclusion of students of color in higher education by means of cultural isolation is a verifiable issue today. The distinctive habits, customs, and norms of White, Anglo-Saxon, protestant (WASP) cultural practices function as a system of gatekeeping, limiting access to higher education for communities of color that cannot conform to these cultural practices. While the barriers that disproportionately block students of color from accessing higher education were initially a formal institution of segregation—which was since outlawed—universities still contain vestiges of this system, continuing to extend cultural barriers that inhibit minority students seeking access to higher education. Statistical analysis of the discrepancies in success rates of students of color and White students demonstrates the material outcomes of unequal access within higher education. While some scholars point strictly to economic factors or different individual aspirations or values to explain these discrepancies, these theories fail to address the root causes of the inequalities that minority students face—namely, that historically segregated systems remain ineffective at fostering diverse and representative student bodies. By actively recognizing these systems as fundamentally unjust by design, the conversation regarding how to fix or approach racial inequality in higher education can be effectively begun.
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    Journal Editorial: “A Gradient Invisible—Blurring Disciplines Through Undergraduate Research”
    (University of Oregon, 2023-09) Wakefield, Eleanor
    "Sparrows were feeding in a freezing drizzle That while you watched turned to pieces of snow Riding a gradient invisible From silver aslant to random, white, and slow. There came a moment that you couldn’t tell. And then they clearly flew instead of fell." -Howard Nemerov
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    Letter from the Editors
    (University of Oregon, 2023-09) Schmitt, Kyla; Taylor, Jay
    Welcome to Volume 21, Issue 2 of the Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal (OURJ).
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    Marilyn in the Media: The Male Gaze of Conspiracy
    (University of Oregon, 2023-09) Wehn, Lena
    2022 marked the 60th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death. Her name is once again making headlines. The notable uptick in recent media coverage surrounding Monroe underscores that her cultural significance extends far beyond being an iconic actress. Monroe’s life and legacy have become inseparable from her death, which is famously wrought with conspiracy. Conspiracy theories, typically associated with the socio-political sector, have pushed beyond the political sphere and permeated pop culture. Conspiracy theories stem from a fixation with and desire to rationalize the unknown. For celebrities that reach superstardom, coupling their fame with any mysteriousness creates the perfect breeding ground for conspiracy theories to brew. By examining several theories about how and why Monroe died (in lieu of suicide), this paper dissects how her life and death have been permanently punctuated by conspiracies pushed by men. Monroe was not only at the mercy of conspiracy, but she was infamously, inescapably defined by men. Her story has been told through men’s eyes, both in life and after death. In addition to conspiracy theories, I use news reports (entirely written by men) from the day she was found dead to investigate the extent to which Monroe’s life and legacy was impacted by being hypersexualized. I propose that conspiracy theories, like pop culture and the media, are subject to the male perspective creating, dominating, and directing the narrative. I use Monroe and the conspiracy theories which surround her as a case study to exemplify how destructive and reductive the male gaze becomes when it is left unchecked.
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    Media Conglomeration, Automation, and Alienation: A Marxist Critique
    (University of Oregon, 2023-09) Tokos, Lauren
    The rise of the so-called “digital age” in the twenty-first century absorbs individuals’ livelihoods and disconnects them from the natural world. Over time, modern society has adapted to digital news and entertainment media’s unremitting chokehold on daily life. What enabled this change and how does the corporate structure of digital news and entertainment media impact the everyday worker? The contemporary American digital news and entertainment media market is almost exclusively regulated by five major corporations: AT&T, The Walt Disney Corporation, NewsCorp, Paramount Global (formerly Viacom CBS), and Comcast. Although the titles and rank of these corporations have changed over time, their ownership has stayed consistent. Through corporate conglomeration and horizontal and vertical integration, the major five media corporations vie for control over the media marketplace. Those in positions of power seldom experience the effects of their decision-making; instead, the worker, producing intellectual or material commodities, fails to truly experience the creative realization of their labor. Instead, the worker’s labor is the property of the corporation for which they work. Media workers are alienated from the product of their labor, as it belongs to the owners of the means of production. Mass media stakeholders, as owners of the means of production, maintain structural control over the dominant social ideology, reflected in the economy, government, and media. Media workers, beholden to mass media stakeholders, are unable to realize their full creative capacity, as they are confined to the restrictions set forth by the capitalist media economy.
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    Meet the Editorial Board
    (University of Oregon, 2023-09)
    The editorial board for OURJ Vol. 21 No. 2 (2023).
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    Sociality and the Microbiome: Gut Microbial Convergence with Infant Presence in the Black-and-White Colobus (Colobus vellerosus)
    (University of Oregon, 2023-09) Freedman, Emma
    While previous studies have demonstrated that social behavior plays an important role in gut microbial variation, there is limited understanding of how changes in social cohesion affect the gut microbiome. This study provides a comprehensive examination of this longitudinal relationship in a population of black-and-white colobus monkey (Colobus vellerosus) at the Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary (BFMS) in Ghana. Adult female C. vellerosus display increases in social interaction after the birth of an infant, indicating a social shift which I utilized to explore the association between changes in social cohesion and the gut microbiome. I used previously collected field data (2018–2020) across four social groups, resulting in 218 total fecal samples and a mean of 17.2 hours of behavioral data per female. These data sets were employed to characterize microbiomes using 16S rRNA sequencing and quantify changes in social cohesion via social network analysis. Infant presence was significantly associated with gut microbial similarity (PERMANOVA: p<0.01), and for three of the social groups, gut microbiomes became more similar after infant birth (GLMM: p<0.036). Social network analysis did not reveal significant changes in social cohesion with infant presence, indicating that other changes in social interactions not included in this analysis may explain this pattern. Future work would aim to evaluate the basis for differences in gut microbial variation between social groups and explore the presence of grooming with an infant present. Investigating the relationship between social interactions and microbial variation ultimately contributes to our understanding of the factors influencing the assembly, composition, and diversity of the gut microbiome.