Podium Session C

ABSTRACT:

New research builds upon findings from the Electoral Insentive project which was featured in the 2016 UNLV Undergraduate Research Forum by applying improved calculations and algorithms to measure how competitive newly drawn legislative districts are in Nevada. The Princeton Gerrymandering Project and others measure partisan vote share between the two major parties when evaluating new districts. In Nevada, non-partisan voters decide key elections and need to be represented in scholarly analysis. This new method demonstrates how partisan vote shares are not always what they seem and why non-partisan votes are worthy of attention. Based on this research, there are three ways to win a general election which vary in efficiency and cost:

A) “mass transit” strategy [most cost efficient]

1) turning out enough partisan voters;

B) expansion strategy [costly]

1) maintaining a partisan base; and

2) seeking a requisite number of non-partisan voters

C) persuasion strategy [most costly]

1) relying on a partisan base;

2) seeking non-partisan voters; and

3) persuading voters from the majority party.

(A-B) / C(100)

This equation accounts for variables such as the difference in the number of voters registered with the majority (A) and minority party (B), the number of nonpartisan voters (C), and what percentage of non-partisan voters will be required to overcome a partisan registration disadvantage. Partisan vote shares do not provide a complete picture. A district is only “gerrymandered” when the advantage between parties is greater than the number of non-partisan voters. This project will add statistical certainly to the goal of fair representation.

ABSTRACT:

The "Found Sound" series analyzes the intersections between masculine idealism, nostalgia, and play across a suite of screenprints. The presentation of images of males behaving in emotionally vulnerable ways confuses and challenges the normal ideal of masculinity as reinforced by Patriarchal standards (men are expected by society to be stolid, unwavering, strong, and aggressive). Through a playful breaking-down of visual situations in which males are vulnerable, viewers are invited to imagine the process of emotional reaction as normal and valuable, indulging their emotions instead of compulsively avoiding them in order to retain social respect and value. The use of outmoded media (cassette tape, collaged imagery from old books and magazines) in the series signifies my own pop-cultural childhood memories, and the work examines the power that popular media have in shaping behavior and ideals. "Found Sound" seeks to complicate the relationship between what I’ve been taught and what I’ve learned, investigating memory and nostalgia in relation to the expectations of a gendered social conditioning. The series unravels the cassette tape of my recorded memory and restructures those foundational repetitive loops of instruction into playfully imaginative possibilities for new ways of being. These prints will serve as scripts or keys or legends to aid viewers of my solo exhibition, "Perfectly Natural;" the cassette tape motif present in the prints helps to make the connection of memory and playful restructuring across all the work in the show.

ABSTRACT:

An exploration of the way neoliberalism is mapped onto the parenting body by enforcing self-surveillance and governmentality through societal norms and messages. While neoliberalism is usually associated with ideologies and practices within the political economy, I argue that similar to Foucault (1977), the body is the central cite of neoliberal technologies of control. It is important to consider the ways structures are mapped onto and shape the body and embodied practices of individuals in general, and in my case, of parents in particular. Data is collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with parents, including biological, adoptive, and foster parents. Focusing on parents is crucial to understanding the ways neoliberalism impacts us at our most personal and intimate moments.

ABSTRACT:

Western democratic countries view law as value whereas countries with dictatorship tend to treat law as an instrument for purposes of social control and order maintenance. Myanmar, situated in Southeast Asia, represents such a country of military dictatorship. Since 1962 when the first civilian government was overthrown, the leaders of the Myanmar military, Tatmadaw, have been using law as an instrument for suppressing political oppositions, restricting press freedom, and (re)enforcing its legitimacy. While military reforms and democracy movements led to a five-year quasi-democractic rule from 2015 to 2020, the 2021 military coup effectively averted Myanmar’s political life back into military dictatorship. Citing literature in dictatorship and legal instrumentalism, and employing documentary analyses, this study examines how law is used as an instrument for the Tatmadaw to maintain order after the 2021 coup. More specifically, this study addresses how laws promulgated in 2021 differed from emergency laws passed in the past coups, and how laws were adapted to meet the changing socio-political environment in Myanmar, as social media may have changed the way and form of political protests. This case study offers an insight into the complexity of law, that law is a double-edged sword, and that law can serve as an instrument of an elite class, such as the military, in suppressing the oppressed.

ABSTRACT:

"In the Image of…" is a body of work by artist Laurence Myers Reese that works to examine Jewish paradigms of gender through the transgender lens. Reading the archive diagonally, he examines the gendered perspective of historical Jewish writings. The artwork incorporates projected text in site specific places to comment on the placement of transgender individuals in religious spaces.