Undergraduate Research Fellows

The Center annually assists undergraduates by funding important parts of their junior or senior independent research. Fourteen students were named Undergraduate Research Fellows for 2007-2008. In addition to receiving research funding these students were invited to present the results of their research at a luncheon with Center faculty and fellows. Several undergraduate fellows also became regular participants in the various seminars and lecture series hosted at the center.

Applications for new Undergraduate Research Fellows are taken at various times annually. An application form is found here.

The 2008-2009 Undergraduate Research Fellows are:

Senior Thesis Awards:

Lily Cowles ‘09, Religion, “Spiritual Reconciliation in Angola.”

This summer I am traveling to Angola to research and film the role of independent Christian churches in the rehabilitation of spiritual, psychological, and social stress caused by colonialism, civil war, and massive displacement. The film will be in conjunction with my senior independent work that investigates the incredible surge of independent churches in post-colonial African countries.

Charlotte Glennie ‘09, Classics, “Ecology and the Societal Roles of Delos.”

I would like to explore the relationship between the ecology of Delos Island and the roles it played for Classical civilization, namely as a shrine to Apollo (and later as a commercial center). For example, my research will attempt to uncover how the ecology of Delos contributed to its becoming a religious sanctuary and how this role in turn affected the ecology of the island (through the Purifications, for instance, when all the buried were exhumed and transferred to neighboring Rineia).

Tao Goffe ‘09, English, “British Islamic Hip-Hop: Exploring the Cultural and Religious Expression of Brtiain's Muslim Youth.”

I am studying and researching a subculture of music called British Islamic Hip-hop. I plan to continue this research for my senior thesis. I am exploring the cultural and religious expression of Britain's Muslim youth through a poetic form of music, hip-hop. I hope to be able to study this cultural and religious phenomenon first-hand by traveling to the United Kingdom.

Robert Griest ‘09, Religion, “Effects of Tourism on Religious Culture in the Himalayas.”

How has a massive influx of foreign tourism to the Himalayan region affected the religious culture of people who remained almost entirely isolated until the mid 20th century? I plan to visit the Hemis Festival at the Hemis Monastery in Ladakh, India, an ancient Tibetan Buddhist ritual that attracts many foreign tourists. I will study both the current and historical climate of tourism at the festival in order to gauge the cultural and religious impact that outside interaction has had on the region.

Laura Johnson ‘09, English, “Religion and the Woman's Voice: Studying Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë in England.”

I plan to use the funding from the Center for the Study of Religion to travel to England for academic research surrounding religion and the woman’s voice in Villette, by Charlotte Brontë, and Persuasion, by Jane Austen. I will center my research at Oxford, where I will begin my thesis work for senior year through seminar work and individual study. I also plan to travel to Jane Austen’s homes in Chawton, Steventon and Bath, and to visit Charlotte Brontë house, Haworth Parsonage.

Jordan Kisner ‘09, Religion, “‘More Life’: Heaven on Earth in Tony Kushner's Angels in America.”

For my senior thesis I will be performing in a Theater and Dance production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America, a six-hour epic concerning the apocalyptic atmosphere of late twentieth-century America. In addition, I will be completing a written thesis on the play's advocacy for locative sacred space, or, a heaven-on-earth world view. The play, in which both Heaven and Hell are metaphorical cities, takes place entirely in New York City, which will serve as the focal point for my discussion of the notion of heaven-on-earth as it is realized in the play.

Alexander Metelitsa ‘09, Politics, “The Role of Islam in Post-Niyazov Turkmenistan.”

Throughout the first two decades of post-Soviet independence, there was a tension in Turkmenistan between the country's strong Muslim society (epitomized by Nasrullah ibn Ibadullah, the country’s chief mufti, or highest religious authority) and President Niyazov's idiosyncratic authoritarianism that above all prized 'positive neutrality' and the dictator's own cult of personality. How is Turkmenistan's domestic and foreign policy view of Islam beginning to change after Niyazov's death in late 2006? What do Turkmen see as the role of Islam in Central Asia (purely secular culture, a united caliphate, or somewhere in between?) And what role does Islam play in this transitional phase of the country's development?

Colin Pfeiffer ‘09, Anthropology, “Spatial Awareness on the Silk Road.”

I will examine how the inhabitants of the old Silk Road envision themselves. This will be done through looking at how they present themselves through their religions, their cultures and their histories.

Kate Poole ‘09, Religion, “The Effects of Marxist Education on Young Peoples' Perceptions of Religion.”

In contemporary China, starting in grade school and continuing through college, children are required to take a politics class, which covers Marxist and Socialist thought. Besides covering political aspects of Socialism, the course also advocates Atheism, and I want to explore the content and structure of these political thought courses in regards to their presentations of religion. Additionally, I want to interview college students about their feelings on the religious content of the courses, and their own perceptions of the role of religion in contemporary China.

Isaiah Soval-Levine ‘09, Near Eastern Studies, “Religion and State in Turkey.”

I propose to study the interaction between religion and state in Turkey, with the goal of seeing how the former has been impacted by the state's intervention. I will do this by interviewing university students and faculty, government appointed religious officials, and normal mosque-goers.

Brandon White ‘09, English/Creative Writing, “Mormon Missionary Activity in Brazil.”

For my project I hope to travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where I will study Mormon missionary activities, the subject of my proposed creative thesis novel. Brazil itself was chosen for this project due, foremost, to its large missionary presence (possessing more active Mormon missionaries than anywhere in the world outside of the United States and Mexico). At the same time, however, Brazil remains a culture wedded to its earlier religious heritage, and nearly 60% of the populace remains Catholic despite conversion efforts; untold numbers more, specifically in the country's northernmost provinces, practice candomblé, a unique fusion of Catholic rites and African ceremonies. Such a diverse religious heritage is pivotal to the work that I eventually hope to produce.

The 2007-2008 Undergraduate Research Fellows were:

Senior Thesis Awards:

Robert Bernstein ‘08, Religion, “Shades of Gray: Religion, Aging, and Adaptation in Retirement Communities of the American Sunbelt.”

Berstein looked at domestic migration patterns from the Midwest and Northeast into the Sunbelt over the last 40 years and the impact of such Sunbelt migration on the religious observance of retiring baby boomers.

Rachel Crane ‘08, Religion, “Documenting Evangelical Education: An In-depth look at Patrick Henry College.”

Crane produced a documentary on evangelical education and their proclivity towards home-school education. More specifically, she focused on home-schooled students’ experiences with the college application process, their transitions to college life, and the unique experiences they encounter when attending a religious institution like Patrick Henry College (which coined itself as “God's Harvard”) whose student body is comprised of 85% home-schooled students.

Sonya Hsieh ‘08, Woodrow Wilson School, “Taiwanese Church and State: Presbyterian Advocacy in the Independence Movement.”

Hsieh explored the intersection of religion and politics in the Taiwanese independence movement by tracing the development of the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan (PCT), a major advocate for independence. Her  research will focused on the question of how the PCT promotes Taiwanese identity and political independence effectively in Taiwan and abroad.

Alexandra Katen-Narvell ‘08, Religion, “Tinseltown Transcendence: How Hollywood Shapes America in Its Image.”

Katen-Narvell’s thesis explored Hollywood as a religion. It reexamined the power of popular culture to shape ways of thinking and redefined religion using the work of Clifford Geertz, Talal Asad, Bruce Lincoln, and Catherine Albanese, among others. She discussed the forms of the religion of Hollywood, including hero-worship of celebrities and sacred spaces such as movie theaters. Katen-Narvell also suggested some possible implications of the morality established by the film industry, spanning issues from sexual assault and prostitution to foreign policy.

Seth Ligo ‘08, Religion, “The Concurrent Transmission of Religious and Musical Culture in Hindu, Islamic and Christian Traditions”

While studying abroad in Banaras, India, Ligo became extensively involved in field-based research of the interaction of music and religion in local Hindu and Muslim communities. He examined certain parallels between the familial traditions of religious musical culture and its transmission in Banaras and the familial traditions in Southern Appalachia. He wrote on how Islamic, Hindu and Christian traditions use music as a vehicle for the transmission of religious culture.

Celene Lizzio ‘08, Near Eastern Studies, “Pragmatics and the Qur’ān: A Juxtaposition of Modern Revisionary Hermeneutics.”

Lizzio’s thesis juxtaposed hermeneutical approaches to the Qur’ān, as proposed by three prominent modern Muslim intellectuals: Sayyid Quṭb (1906-1966), Fazlur Rahman (1916-1988) and Nasr Abū Zayd (b. 1943).  Employing selections from their works, Lizzio outlined sets of largely non-traditional Qur’ānic hermeneutics with attention to how conflicting viewpoints are argued with recourse to the same source material and vis-à-vis a pious orientation.  Through highlighting their notable commentary on the meaning and significances of the Qur’ān, this thesis frames how hermeneutical arguments can inform religious notions of ethics and communal adjudication.  The work raises questions as to the authority of the Qur’ānic text in modern contexts, and therein gauges the potency of anti-traditional or unconventional hermeneutics.

Lubna Malik ‘08, Woodrow Wilson School, “Separation: The Vital Need.”

Malik researched the violation of the human right to free religious expression that members of the Ahmadiy'ya Muslim Movement in Islam face in the South Asian nations of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

Elizabeth Malta ‘08, English, “The Way to Wonder: A Study of Travel and Marvel in Irish Sea-Voyage Narratives.”

A major focus for Malta’s thesis was the intersection of Christianity and pre-Christian Celtic beliefs in the practice of pilgrimage to islands.  In the Irish tradition, journeys to an island began within the scope of religious pilgrimage, to separate one’s self from worldliness and dedicate one’s life to God in solitude.  The literature about this type of journey, however, includes both Christian and pagan elements, blending the two traditions that were much more similar than one might guess.  Islands in the Irish tradition soon became associated with powerful connection to God and divine visions.  The development of this Christian idea coincided with the Celtic conceptualization of islands as magical places, sometimes home of the dead or sometimes home of the ever-living.

Janna McLeod ‘08, Religion, “The Church of St. Francis Xavier: Religious Radicalism and its Limitations in the Roman Catholic Church.”

McLeod completed a case study of St. Francis Xavier, a very successful and very popular Catholic Church on W. 15th Streeth in Manhattan with a congregation of about 1500 people. St. Xavier is very unique for its long-held extremely progressive attitude toward various issues such as women's rights, faith in general, and most importantly, gay and lesbian rights. Because the congregation at St. Francis Xavier is also over 50% LGBT, McLeod used the church as a case study to understand how St. Francis Xavier functions within the diocese as a defiant, progressive church, and also how people who are both gay and Catholic reconcile their faith with their sexuality.

Joseph Muller ‘08, History, “God's Willing Instruments.”

Muller examined the lives of three late eminent Victorians, Prime Minister Gladstone, General Gordon and the journalist William T. Stead, who each believed that they had been appointed by Providence to a particular position of power in the Britain in order to achieve a particular divine mission. Despite coming from three distinct religious backgrounds they shared a common evangelical religious outlook that was considered peculiar and eccentric by most of their contemporaries, yet all three also became very popular public figures and were influential in their respective fields, which they attributed to specific divine intervention on behalf of their causes. Muller investigated where this very personal sense of divine calling came from, and how their distinct religious outlook impacted their understanding of the relationship between democracy and Britain's moral mission in the world.

Daniel Samit ‘08, East Asian Studies, “KUJIRA” (Documentary film on small whaling communities in coastal Japan) and “The Filming of Whales: Towards a Solution to the International Whaling Controversy.”

Samit investigated the culture of Japan’s Small-Type Coastal Whaling communities. He combined his interests in film and East Asia and travel to Wada, a small traditional Japanese whaling town, to make a feature-length documentary film.

Sarah Zaslow ‘08, Religion, “The Priest and the Patriot: The Equality Arguments of the Conservative Christian Public Interest Law Movement.”

Zaslow’s thesis explores the rise of a movement of conservative Christian public interest law firms designed to litigate religious liberty cases and conservative Christian litigators’ development of equality-based claims—equal treatment and equal access arguments—which are both powerful and potentially problematic as legal and rhetorical tools. In writing, Zaslow’s primary interest was not in the success or failure of particular legal arguments, but the attitudes and hopes of religious liberty litigators and their understanding of how their arguments fit into an overall vision of religious liberty in the United States.

Junior Paper Awards:

Tao Goffe ‘09, English, “British Islamic Hip-Hop: Exploring the Cultural and Religious Expression of Brtiain's Muslim Youth.”

Goffe’s junior paper focued on the subculture of British Islamic Hip-hop. She explored the cultural and religious expression of Britain's Muslim youth through a poetic form of music, hip-hop. Goffe has received funding from CSR to continue this research as a senior thesis in 2008-2009.

Abigail Smith ‘09, Religion, “Pentecostals after Pinochet: A Look at the NGO, SEPADE, and its Reaction to the Demise of Chile's Ex-Dictator.”

Smith’s project focused on the work of the Pentecostal NGO, Servicio Evangélico para el Desarrollo (SEPADE), following the arrest (1998) and subsequent stripping of diplomatic immunity and death of Chile's former dictator, Augusto Pinochet. SEPADE gained momentum in the immediate wake of his resignation in 1990, employing a Protestant work ethic of social mobilization and advocating against the numerous human rights violations which occurred during the regime. Her study looks at how the organization has responded to the further diminishing of Pinochet's political power.

The 2006-2007 Undergraduate Research Fellows were:

Cassandra DeBenedetto ‘07, “Questions of division in the Chinese Catholic Church.”
Jonathan Elist ‘07, “Iran’s Regional Influence: Iranian Shiism in the New Near East.”
Maital Friedman ‘07, “Female Missionaries in Kenya.”
Nene Kalu ‘07, “The Feminine in Pakistani Sufism.”
Grace Kim ‘07, “Materialism and Christianity in Korea: is there a distinction?”
Ian McNally ‘07, “Sectarianism, ritualized violence and ice hockey in Northern Ireland.”
Ahmed Meleis ‘08, “Social Axioms in the Middle East.”
Dave Minnick ‘07, “Communication with the Secular World by the Monastic Order of Cluny.”
Blair Moorhead ‘07, “How Women in Conservative and Fundamentalist Religions Find A Sense of Personal Efficacy and Control.”
Christine Murphy ‘07, “Late Medieval Images of the Side Wound of Christ: Representation and Meaning.”
Silvio Pellas ’07, “Democratization Policies promoted by the Catholic Church within Authoritative Governments.”
Helen Rogers ‘07, “Quakers in Revolutionary Pennsylvania.”
Irene Routte ‘08, “The Effects of Christian Base Communities during Periods of Violence: El Salvador 1980-1992.”
Christian C. Sahner ’07, "Heaven on Earth in Late Antiquity: Rome, Constantinople, and the New Jerusalem.”
Sanhita Sen ‘07, “Hindu Fundamentalism in Gujarat and Maharashtra.”