- Wednesday, May 4, 2016
- 3:30 PM–3:30 PM
- Meeter Center Lecture Hall
History students present their research. Projects this year include an honors senior thesis and an African & African Diaspora Studies paper. Please join us in celebrating our students' achievements by hearing their research. All are welcome to attend!
History Honors Senior Thesis
Anna Lindner, "A Clash of Perspective: Slave Women in 19th-Century Colonial Cuba"
As slavery in other Caribbean societies declined at the beginning of the nineteenth century, large numbers of African slaves were transported to the Spanish colony of Cuba. On primarily sugar plantations, African and Spanish cultures collided, creating a new identity: Afro-Cuban. This project utilizes a gendered lens to analyze trends in slave women's lives, particularly their roles in resisting slavery. Primary sources include the first Cuban historian's account of slavery, Cuban newspapers, white British and American travel accounts, and slave autobiographies.
African & African Diaspora Studies Presentation
Jordan Petersen, "Africa, World Music and the West"
Is rhythm the only characteristic of African music? Is there even such as thing as "African music"? And what does "World Music" mean? In Western popular music these are three important factors at the heart of how the music industry interacts with other musical traditions. Beginning in the 1960s and continuing to the present day, Western pop culture has been fascinated with non-Western music. By looking at three music traditions from different regions of the African continent, this project aims to dispel the myth of a universal "African music," while also exploring the cultural ethics of Western music's interactions with non-Western music.
