Undergraduate Fellowship in Digital Humanities (UFDH)

The purpose of this project is to make Parable of the Sower accessible to an audience in a different medium, while also bring together the element of actual California fires. Using spatial storytelling with the Knight Labs StoryMaps tool, 20 fires from both archival California data and the novel were compiled; text and visual elements were included. Further analysis on Parable was conducted, synthesizing the discourse on the genres under which the novel falls under and underscoring the environmental themes found in the novel. While the StoryMap does not offer a significant comparison between actual fires and Parable, it fulfills its purpose as a spatial retelling of the novel. Traditional literary analysis reveals how Butler's environmental themes work as both the foreground and the backdrop to Lauren's journey, underscoring the relationship between humans and nature.

The variation, politicization, and censorship in American K-12 historical education is most evident in textbook treatments of the American Civil War. This research investigates the development of the American Civil War and how it is taught in K-12 American schools, as well as the extent to which its education varies across time period and location. Previous research has demonstrated the average American adult’s perception of the Civil War’s development to be disparate. In this project, I utilize textual analysis of over a dozen textbooks, using Voyant Tools and critical analysis, to provide a clear depiction of each primary source’s bias and interpretation. I carefully review each reference to enslaved people, enslavers, Black people, and white people. Additionally, I analyze the textbook's explanations of the war’s main cause; the war’s timeline/development; why the Confederacy was defeated, and its features (terms, graphics, etc.). The main indicators of bias are “case studies,” referring to each primary source’s description of John Brown, Stephen A. Douglas, William Lloyd Garrison, and the caning of Charles Sumner. Finally, all states with available data are mapped with ArcGIS, showing one recommended textbook per state. Textbooks from 1956 to 2024 are compared, categorized by age, location, level, and edition. My findings suggest that the most used term is "popular sovereignty," and the most frequently cited cause is enslavement. Moreover, older and newer textbooks both use opinionated language when describing controversy. This project increases awareness of the variation and suitability of textbooks, significant to our modern division and lack of accurate, nationwide standardized education.

Language is influenced by culture, a development that is unique to humankind. It is specific to a group of people and changes with time. And with all of this, identity is formed, including but not limited to national, cultural, and ethnic. But this system simultaneously divides and oppresses groups, stripping them of their sense of identity to conform them into another. A close examination of the philosophies behind Hangul’s creation, preservation through Korea’s history of colonization, and the uses in the present day can explain the relationship between humanity and language. This research considers the sociocultural impacts of language, using the Korean language as an example and observing its evolution with respect to historical events and timelines. Why is language crucial to humans, other than the fact that it simply allows people to communicate? What significance, or worth, did Koreans find in Hangul that enabled this motivation to protect, and what does this say about humanity? Why and how did language become an essential part of humanity?

This project examines how the Soviet Union shaped cultural identity through children’s animated media, using digital humanities tools to explore some of the values and messages woven in two well known Soviet cartoons. Although these films might appear simple on the surface, they played a crucial role in introducing children to ideas about community, responsibility, and social belonging. By translating and subtitling Cheburashka (1971) and There Once Lived a Dog (1982) myself directly from the original Russian, I was able to engage closely with the tone, humor, and cultural nuance that are often lost in some standard translations. The prototype for this project is an interactive ArcGIS StoryMap that brings together translated clips from each film, thematic analysis, historical context, and photographs. Ultimately, this project shows that Soviet children’s cartoons offer valuable insight into how the state imagined cultural identity and expected it to be passed on. As remnants of the Red Scare linger in the American general public, this project is an attempt to gain a better understanding of the lives Soviet citizens led and the values they believed in. The prototype represents an early version of a larger project that could include more films, additional republics, and broader comparative work on children’s media and ideology.