Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 8 No. 1 (2015)

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https://hdl.handle.net/1794/23443
Cover art by Kathleen Darby.

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Browsing Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 8 No. 1 (2015) by Title

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    Amakosikazi: Undervalued Figures in Zulu History
    (University of Oregon, 2015) Morrissey, Caellagh
    Extractive European Imperial forces often justified colonization as a crusade, bringing civilization to a timeless and barbaric continent. One way of validating this justification was to create a narrative, or a history of the people being colonized, which allowed a European audience to excuse invasions as an attempt to resituate savage peoples away from their own barbaric past. This paper examines the Zulu Kingdom in southeastern Africa that rose to power after 1816 under the rule of Shaka KaSenzangakona, a controversial and powerful figure whose military and political innovations consolidated loosely affiliated peoples into a more centralized and militarized society. This article examines historical record of Zulu history to identify women who articulated agency in the political and religious spheres of Zulu history. This will be accomplished through identifying and examining the roles of specific elite members of the royal family from what is generally considered the rise of the Zulu nation in 1816 until its eventual fall in the early twentieth century. The paper will first detail limitations of sources and explain current academic understanding, and the will progress to an analysis of specific figures in chronological order.
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    Art Feature- "Cryographics Series"
    (University of Oregon, 2015) Carlson, Katherine
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    Cover Art- "Skull Print"
    (University of Oregon, 2015) Darby, Kathleen
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    The Economic Impact of Sporting Events in Lane County
    (University of Oregon, 2015) Cole, David; Hurley, John; Naber, Jeffrey
    When considering the full economic impact of sports in Lane County, the first events that come to mind involve the University of Oregon athletics program. But the Ducks are not the only events that the University hosts. For example, Hayward Field is the home of the yearly Prefontaine Classic. State high school football championships take place in Autzen Stadium, along with the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. The Matthew Knight Arena hosts championships for high school basketball, along with the Duck’s basketball program. Moreover, the University is not the only place in Lane County that holds these events. The Willamalane Center for Sports and Recreation hosts state volleyball championships, gymnastic meets, and even roller derby. There are drag boat races at Dexter State Recreation Park, sailing regattas at Fern Ridge Reservoir, marathons, golf, model airplane, and horsing events held in town. Amazon Pool hosts several swim meets every summer, each with hundreds of athletes and spectators. Understanding the full impact of sporting events on Lane County’s economy requires understanding how varied the sporting culture is in the county.
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    Ecuador's Yasuni-ITT Initiative: A Case Study on International Climate Change Mitigation Narratives
    (University of Oregon, 2015) Peck, Mairin
    In 2007, Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa presented an audacious climate change mitigation plan to the world: Ecuador would leave 846 million barrels of crude oil untouched beneath the Amazon if the global community reciprocated with a contribution of 3.6 billion dollars – half of the oil’s market value (McAvoy 27). The Yasuní-ITT Initiative, named after the area it sought to save, vowed to preserve immense biodiversity, protect indigenous groups, and prevent the emission of 410 million tons of carbon dioxide (Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues). In 2013, Correa abandoned the initiative, lamenting the lack of international support, and approved oil drilling in the Yasuní (Correa, “Anuncio a la Nación” 3). The purpose of this investigation was to identify and examine the various narratives employed in the Yasuní-ITT Initiative, with the hope of discovering transferrable conclusions for other global mitigation efforts. This project relied heavily on speeches, government documents, and media accounts in both English and Spanish to identify common narratives, while secondary scholarly articles were used to frame the analysis. The narratives deployed in Ecuador’s Yasuní-ITT Initiative common but unequal responsibility for climate change, a reconceptualization of value, and Ecuador as martyr and revolutionary – reflect a framework that simultaneously criticized and sought authority from the capitalist ideal. The failure of the Yasuní-ITT Initiative to capture the hearts and wallets of the world provides insight into the dominant global forces and perspectives on climate change mitigation policy.
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    Guest Editorial
    (University of Oregon, 2015) Lim, Adriene
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    Letter from the Editor
    (University of Oregon, 2015) Rheingold, Charlotte
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    A Reality in Question: Negotiating Realism and Storyworld Construction in James Ward Byrkit's Coherence
    (University of Oregon, 2015) Leinonen, Valtteri
    This paper examines how the film Coherence (2013), directed by James Ward Byrkit, challenges foundational conceptions of its diegetic reality as held by the film’s viewer. The discussion centers around a cognitive narratological analysis of the events that help define the storyworld constructed for the film. Included in the analysis is consideration of Coherence’s realist aesthetic which is used as a contrasting plane to the film’s unfurling science-fiction premise of parallel universes. It is posited that realism is a mode which can be applied in a variety of ways, regardless of a film’s genre, subject matter, or sociopolitical motivation. In Coherence’s case, the mode is used to complicate storyworld construction for the viewer and thus engage him/her more closely in the viewing experience. The paper’s principal contention involves cognitive frame systems which the viewer uses to process Coherence’s diegetic reality. By negotiating opposing theories of Manfred Jahn and Marina Grishakova, the paper argues for a frame system which is defined by a single primary frame, allows multiple conflicting frames, and is generally respectful of the comprehension needs of a narrative. Agreement in frame systems and the basics of narrative comprehension, it is concluded, grounds interpretation and discussion of film altogether in a necessary way.
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    Rotational Properties of the Extraordinary Multi-tailed Asteroid P/2013 P5
    (University of Oregon, 2015) Gustafsson, Annika
    Observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope in September 2013 revealed that the asteroid known as P/2013 P5 appeared to have six comet-like tails. Jewitt et al. (2013) concluded that this extraordinary structure and activity could not be explained by traditional near-surface ice sublimation or collision events ejecting particles from the asteroid's surface. Instead, the most likely explanation is that this unusual object has been spun-up by solar radiation forces to a critical limit which has resulted in the rotational disruption of the asteroid causing the unique six-tail structure. This interpretation predicts that the nucleus of this comet-like asteroid should be in rapid rotation. In November 2013, broadband photometry of P/2013 P5 was obtained with Lowell Observatory's 4.3-meter Discovery Channel Telescope using the Large Monolithic Imager to investigate the possibility of rapid rotation. While the variation in the rotational light curve from these data was too small to be justifiable, morphological changes in the nucleus-coma system were observed.
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    This Year the Birds Fly North: An Historical Story of Medicine Man Oytes and the Forced Removal of the Northern Paiute to Yakima
    (University of Oregon, 2015) Dier, Dean
    Through a multi-character narrative approach, this paper tells of several specific struggles for cultural retention, leadership, and survival along the Northern Paiute’s “trail of tears” from the Malheur reservation to the Yakima reservation in 1879, following the end of the Bannock War. This narrative style and the use of multiple, individual histories all speaking to the same swath of time in 1879, challenges the current way history is often read and acknowledged. Voice is given to oral stories, life is given to family histories, and the reader feels the tangible humanity of day-to-day existence during a shared trauma in society. I mainly utilize primary source materials including oral histories, memoirs, letters, newspaper articles, and interviews about Paiute language and culture with tribal elder and Oytes descendant Myra Johnson Orange. I also incorporate multiple secondary sources, including the work of visiting scholar James Gardener, and multiple articles written about the Bannock War, Sarah Winnemucca, the medicine man Oytes, Northern Paiute spirituality, and the march to Yakima. This paper contributes to the recorded history of the Northern Paiute, especially regarding Oytes, who is rarely portrayed as the powerful spiritual leader his descendants know him to be. This paper also contributes an alternative historical experience, giving equal weight to oral histories, personal recorded histories, and scholarly works.