Session I

Sarah Bennett, "A Comparative Analysis of Nationalism Through Early Twentieth Century Literature in Colonial Ireland and India"

Ireland and India each spent hundreds of years as colonies under the British Empire. In the years leading up to and following their respective independences, each country was grappling with the idea of national identity. With British influence making such a deep mark on the country, it was hard to separate British identity from identity of the independent country. This struggle was demonstrated across many mediums, but this project will explore the search for a national identity and nationalism through literature. Many novelists wrote about the struggle through political essays, historical fiction, and poetry. This project will examine Irish authors W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, and Padraic Pearse, and Indian authors Rabindranath Tagore and Mulk Raj Anand. This project will uncover how culturally distinct nations react differently to colonialism and grapple with nationalism as seen through literature.

Student Majors: Chemistry Major, History Minor

Advisor: Dr. Kathrin Levitan

Jack Hales, "The Washington Conference, 1921-1922: The Clash of Naval Security and Domestic Politics"

The Washington Conference on the Limitation of Armament, held in Washington D.C. from 1921-1922, aimed to accomplish naval disarmament amongst the five primary naval powers: the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, and Italy. As a corollary to this effort, the Conference sought to create the groundwork for lasting peace in the Pacific. Examining primary documents from the Conference’s central figures, such as Charles Evans Hughes and Theodore Roosevelt Jr., as well as State and Navy Department documents, this article expands existing scholarship on the Conference by focusing on the development of the American “Stop Now” disarmament proposal and the effects of the Washington Treaties on American naval security. This article argues that, in approaching naval disarmament, the American delegation prioritized domestic political gain and marginalized expert naval advice, which compromised American security interests by crippling the U.S. Navy’s ability to project power into the Western Pacific.

Student Major: History Major

Advisor: Dr. Michael Butler

Arjun Ramakanth, "Flying Columns: Guerilla Warfare in 20th Century Ireland and What We Can Learn from It"

The purpose of this study was to better understand the organization, tactics, and mentality of the Irish Republican Army's flying columns during the Irish War of Independence. A combination of orders issued to various units, accounts of battles by former members, and surveys of battle sites were used to demystify the workings of the flying column. This research was about more than just understanding how columns operated, as the IRA's unconventional tactics in the early 20th century are well regarded for their effectiveness, and this project sought to find out if certain extrordinary techniques could be replicated for the modern battlefield. However, the research indicates that the IRA's strategy was almost textbook, and that there are few new ideas to adopt. It would be much more valuable to use IRA operations as a warning on what we may have to fight, rather than a lesson on how we should fight. 

Student Major(s): History and Data Science Major

Advisor: Dr. Irina Gorbunova-Ford

Session II

Joylyn Agbetiafa, "Man-Made Hunger: A Review of Agriculture, Trade, and Food Insecurity in Nigeria"

Nigeria possesses vast agricultural resources, and it is expected to develop into one of the most populated nations worldwide by the year 2050. The country has potential agricultural productivity, yet it suffers from ongoing food insecurity problems and depends on food imports. The study examines the reasons behind Nigeria's continued need for imported food products to determine whether the main problem stems from the push into the global market or domestic government operations. Through a comprehensive 20 page literature review involving scholarship in food production & food importation within the nation and a qualitative assessment of literature. I hope to learn in the end why this increasingly import dependence persists, and elaborate on how this contributes to food insecurity. My end goal for this literature review is to provide a solid framework for an extensive research paper regarding Nigerian agriculture.

Student Major/Minor: Government Major, Anthropology Minor

Advisor: Dr. Adrienne Petty

Lyndsie Beavers, "Sanctuaries and Passages: Basilica of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception & Virginia's Waterborne Underground Railroad"

In 2019, construction workers uncovered a tunnel beneath Norfolk’s Basilica of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception, prompting renewed interest in the site’s potential connection to the Underground Railroad. To address this question, the study will draw on archival research, historical maps, church records, and oral histories from long-standing members of the Saint Mary’s congregation, alongside secondary scholarship on regional freedom movements. By jointly analyzing documentary evidence and the Basilica’s physical environment, the project aims to clarify how the site potentially facilitated resistance and local pathways to freedom within the broader Black community and religious networks in the Tidewater Region of Virginia. Because this topic remains understudied, its findings may deepen understanding of how religious institutions contributed to regional freedom efforts. 

Student Major/Minor: Government Major, Sociology Minor

Advisor: Dr. Adrienne Petty

Annie Eason, "WMSURE Oral History Project"

This project aims to explore the history of the William & Mary Scholars Undergraduate Research Experience (WMSURE), a program founded in 2010 by Dr. Anne Charity Hundley and Dr. Cheryl Dickter, through oral history interviews with people involved in the group. The primary method of this project was directly talking with the interviewee about their upbringing, as well as their experiences that led up to their involvement in the program, and furthermore their experience in the program and (if applicable) after experiencing WMSURE. Some major results include: detailed histories of how the program came to be, experiences of both faculty and students who participated in the program, and more. Some possible implications include: a better understanding of WMSURE as a whole, its past and its future and its impact. 

Student Major/Minor: Theatre and Marketing Major

Advisor: Dr. Adrienne Petty

Zewen Liu, "WMSURE Oral History Project"

This project aims to explore the history of the William & Mary Scholars Undergraduate Research Experience (WMSURE), a program founded in 2010 by Dr. Anne Charity Hundley and Dr. Cheryl Dickter, through oral history interviews with people involved in the group. The primary method of this project was directly talking with the interviewee about their upbringing, as well as their experiences that led up to their involvement in the program, and furthermore their experience in the program and (if applicable) after experiencing WMSURE. Some major results include: detailed histories of how the program came to be, experiences of both faculty and students who participated in the program, and more. Some possible implications include: a better understanding of WMSURE as a whole, its past and its future and its impact.

Students' Major(s)/Minor: Human Health & Physiology Major

Advisor: Dr. Adrienne Petty

Turner Lott, "From Achukma to Jockomo:  An Indigenous History of New Orleans’ Black Masking Indians"

This project presents a historical analysis of the Native American roots of the Black Masking Indians of New Orleans. This unique cultural tradition involves intricate costumes and celebrations that take place every year, starting on Mardi Gras, among Black New Orleanians. The practice is generally portrayed as paying homage to Indigenous people in Louisiana who harbored escaped slaves, but this project seeks to go deeper into the historic ties between Indigenous and Black people in the region that led to this practice. More specifically, it aims to parse out what is authentically Indigenous and what is based in caricature and stereotypes. Based on an analysis of historical documents, oral histories, and the work of other historians, I believe that the practice has stronger Indigenous roots than it often receives credit for.

Student Major(s)/Minor: History and French & Francophone Studies Major, Native Studies Minor

Advisor: Dr. Andrew Fisher

Maya Meehan-Ritter, "Gender and Creative Power: The Ideology of Queenship in Kush and Egypt"

This project will investigate the power of the often overlooked royal women of Ancient Nubia (the Nile Valley region south of Egypt). While many recognize female Egyptian rulers such as Cleopatra and Hatshepsut, the names of Nubian queens such as Shanakdakhete or Amanishakheto remain largely ignored by popular history. Unlike Egyptian female rulers, who most commonly functioned as placeholders within patrilinear succession, Nubian royal women were heiresses to a long-established institution of queenship. Furthermore, Nubian rulers did not trace their lineage through male ancestors but female ones–practicing matrilinear succession. This project will examine textual, representational, and archeological evidence to answer the following questions: Who were the kandake (queens) of the Kingdom of Kush (Nubia)? What political and religious roles did they assume, and how did these roles compare to those of Egyptian queens? What did female power look like in the ancient Nile Valley–in theory and in practice?

Student Major: Classical Studies Major

Advisor: Dr. Jeremy Pope

Ty’Jenya Pinkney, "WMSURE Oral History Project"

This project aims to explore the history of the William & Mary Scholars Undergraduate Research Experience (WMSURE), a program founded in 2010 by Dr. Anne Charity Hundley and Dr. Cheryl Dickter, through oral history interviews with people involved in the group. The primary method of this project was directly talking with the interviewee about their upbringing, as well as their experiences that led up to their involvement in the program, and furthermore their experience in the program and (if applicable) after experiencing WMSURE. Some major results include: detailed histories of how the program came to be, experiences of both faculty and students who participated in the program, and more. Some possible implications include: a better understanding of WMSURE as a whole, its past and its future and its impact.

Students' Major(s)/Minor: Human Health & Physiology Major, Africana Studies Minor

Advisor: Dr. Adrienne Petty

Allannah Rivera, "WMSURE Oral History Project"

This project aims to explore the history of the William & Mary Scholars Undergraduate Research Experience (WMSURE), a program founded in 2010 by Dr. Anne Charity Hundley and Dr. Cheryl Dickter, through oral history interviews with people involved in the group. The primary method of this project was directly talking with the interviewee about their upbringing, as well as their experiences that led up to their involvement in the program, and furthermore their experience in the program and (if applicable) after experiencing WMSURE. Some major results include: detailed histories of how the program came to be, experiences of both faculty and students who participated in the program, and more. Some possible implications include: a better understanding of WMSURE as a whole, its past and its future and its impact.

Students' Major(s)/Minor: Psychological Sciences Major

Advisor: Dr. Adrienne Petty

Colin Treatman-Clark, "Charting Freedom: Who Ran Away in Early America"

Charting Freedom is a project that answers the question: "who ran away in early America?" The project seeks to dive into the historical record to uncover information about unfree people who ran away in the 18th and early 19th centuries by looking at advertisements for runaways in historical newspapers. I specifically focused on the years 1770 to 1774, looking at the Maryland Gazette's runaway advertisements. I read through every page of the Gazette from those years and transcribed every advertisement for a runaway unfree person or people, notating information about each person, including their unfree status, race, destination, and more. What I found was that unfree people of all kinds were running away from their masters. This included enslaved people, convict servants, indentured servants, apprentices, and sometimes women of unknown status, presumably some of them being wives. With the data gathered from this project, we will develop a greater understanding of who ran away, and where and why they went.

Student Major: Undeclared

Advisor: Dr. Nicole Dressler

Video Presentations