Room 9 Schedule
Ford 302
Wednesday, April 15th, 2026
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During the Spanish Civil War and the following decades of dictatorship, Spanish women were confronted with a unique set of oppressive systems to navigate in order to survive. In her novel Cuando ya no quede nadie, Esther López Barceló blends fiction and historical accounts to tell a story of female resistance and connection in the face of oppression. This thesis explores how López Barceló's characters demonstrate the true struggles of women in this era and analyze how the female characters' actions of resistance compare to historical accounts of feminine resistance under the dictatorship. Delivered in Spanish.
Faculty Sponsor: Maria Blanco-Arnejo
Discipline: Spanish -
Federico García Lorca was a Spanish poet, playwright, director, and outspoken socialist. Born in 1898, he was among the members of the Generation of ‘27, considered some of the last great Spanish authors preceding the Spanish Civil War in 1936. In 1929, Lorca traveled to New York City to find new artistic inspiration due to his growing depression. During his stay, he wrote his only known cinematic script, “Trip to the Moon.” This project explores the themes of this surrealist script, demonstrating how politics, sexuality, and the human experience are entrenched in this societal commentary. Presentation delivered in Spanish.
Faculty Sponsor: Maria Blanco-Arnejo
Discipline: Spanish -
This work will analyze the novels Nada and Viento del norte by Spanish authors Carmen Laforet and Elena Quiroga through the lens of the “chica rara,” a literary concept developed by Carmen Martín Gaite. The “weird girl,” as it is called in English, served as a way for Spanish authors to circumvent the censors of the Francoist regime while criticizing the treatment of women under the dictatorship. This thesis will demonstrate how Laforet and Quiroga used the literary concept of the “chica rara” to paint their own criticism of conditions for Spanish women at the time. Delivered in Spanish.
Faculty Sponsor: Maria Blanco-Arnejo
Discipline: Spanish -
This thesis examines how immigration shapes family life and contributes to the formation of Chicano culture. Through Borderlands / La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldúa, Cajas de cartón by Francisco Jiménez, and the film Mi familia, migration is analyzed as a human experience that transforms identity, family relationships, and cultural values. The study highlights how human experience can be the basis for culture creation. This thesis will be presented in Spanish.
Faculty Sponsor: Maria Blanco-Arnejo
Discipline: Spanish -
In my thesis written and presented in Spanish, I examine the historical figure of Malinalli as an interpreter and cultural mediator in the conquest of Mexico. Drawing on analysis of historical sources, my research contributes to the contemporary critical conversation that reevaluates her position in terms of power and identity and goes beyond traditional representations of Malinalli or “Malinche” as a traitor. Based upon the novel Malinalli by Verónica Chapa (2025), I explore how Malinalli is represented in contemporary literature and compare this fictional re-interpretation of her legend with colonial chronicles, engaging current critical readings of this complicated, elusive figure.
Faculty Sponsor: April Overstreet
Discipline: Spanish -
This paper explores the social critiques of Jennie Livingston’s documentary Paris Is Burning (1990). My research addresses the criticisms of Livingston by Judith Butler, Kimberly Chabot Davis, and bell hooks, particularly regarding her use of cinéma vérité and an ethnographic film style. I put these arguments into conversation with the perspective of Deborah Jackson Taffa, who expresses that the ability to tell one’s own story is a means of pushing back against outside interpretation. I also touch upon themes of archival refusal and scholarly research on the pre-Columbian era.
Faculty Sponsor: Leslie Dunlap
Discipline: Women's & Gender Studies, and History -
Centered on Throckmorton and Cedar Springs the “Gayberhood” is a safe haven –the first of its kind in Texas. A close examination of stories and photographs from The Dallas Voice, a local LGBTQ+ newspaper, reveals a microhistory of community organizing and self-reliance that revises historiography of the era that emphasizes repression and gay invisibility in the post-World War II period known as “the Lavender Scare.”. This complicates narratives that queer southerners are without a home and exist only at the fringes of society, instead honoring Queer Texan's important role in the fight for Queer liberation.
Faculty Sponsor: Leslie Dunlap
Discipline: Women's & Gender Studies, and History -
This paper challenges the notion that the archive, in its ideal form, is an untouched object of objective historical truth, which the faithful archivist stewards with a puritanical kind of care. Through an autoethnographic interrogation of the author’s time spent at the Lesbian Lives conference, the archive will be revealed as a living object and participatory project, whose value and power lies not in its assumed objectivity but in its subjective and ever-changing nature. The archivist’s role, too, will transform, shifting from an ascetic devotee to the preservation of the archives purity into an active augmentor of the remembered past.
Faculty Sponsor: Leslie Dunlap
Discipline: Women's & Gender Studies, and History -
This project takes a comprehensive look at the unique pedagogical practices within Japan’s schooling system, collectively referred to as tokkatsu, with a specific emphasis on the elementary school level. It will detail three particular practices—cleaning (osouji), school lunch (kyuushoku), and special events like the sports festival (undoukai) and music festival (ongakkai)—while also exploring the attitudes and beliefs held by educators. Furthermore, beyond investigating the societal and cultural significance of each component of tokkatsu, the psychological effects of these practices on child development will be analyzed and discussed.
Faculty Sponsor: Miho Fujiwara
Discipline: Japanese Studies -
This project delves into two relatively new music genres called Kawaii Futurebass and Kawaii J-Future Core. These genres emerged from Japan roughly 10 years ago. Kawaii is often roughly translated into English as “cute,” but has a much more nuanced definition of which no word in the English language can properly match one to one. What makes music kawaii has not been discussed. This project investigates the possibility of lyrics as a contributing factor of “kawaii-ness.” To investigate, various songs from these genres are translated and analyzed. The results that have been found thus far will be revealed and discussed.
Faculty Sponsor: Miho Fujiwara
Discipline: Japanese Studies -
This project provides a proposed re-translation of one section of the Japanese game Piofiore no Banshou and an analysis of how the concept of yakuwarigo (role language), a phenomenon of Japanese fictional speech that allows the audience to understand various characteristics of characters through unique aspects of their dialogue, can be conveyed in translation. Problem lines in the original localization of the game will be analyzed to explain why they fall short, and the unique form of yakuwarigo used by the primary character in the translated section will be identified and discussed.
Faculty Sponsor: Miho Fujiwara
Discipline: Japanese Studies -
This project explores and explains how the Japanese term yoshoku, Japanese western-inspired food, is used to categorize what Japan considers western food. Examining prior sources and common perceptions in the current day, there is no set definition for yoshoku, yet it is a vital component of Japanese cuisine. My goal is to define in succinct terms what constitutes “western-inspired” food as a part of Japanese cuisine. This presentation focuses on western cooking techniques and ingredients as a part of Japanese cuisine, specifically to discuss the usage of meat and frying techniques.
Faculty Sponsor: Miho Fujiwara
Discipline: Japanese Studies