Humanities: Prerecorded - Panel 2
Monday, May 19 12:01AM – 11:59PM
Location: Online - Prerecorded
Presenter 1
YESSENIA SANCHEZ CRUZ
Sueños en Sacrificio investigates the cascading effects of post-2024 immigration policy shifts and implementation on undocumented populations within higher education spaces. This research centers the voices of undocumented individuals, navigating precarious existences subjected to rapidly evolving policy and targeted social dehumanization and criminalization. This three-phase study employs a mixed-methods approach to document experiences across diverse demographics: university students, university staff, and broader community members. Through structured interviews, anonymous surveys, autoethnography, and contextual analysis, the research quantifies and qualifies impacts on educational access, mental health outcomes, employment opportunities, and identity formation. Building upon established literature regarding self-determination within undocumented communities and the social construction of illegality, this study addresses critical research gaps concerning ongoing post-2024 policy impacts. With robust ethical protections including participant anonymity, findings contribute vital data to inform policy advocacy for comprehensive immigration reform, establishment of urgent protections, and highlights of evolving community needs. Study showcases not just statistical outcomes but profound human cost of policy decisions that remain largely invisible to privileged populations. This confronts an uncomfortable truth: society's treatment of its most vulnerable members ultimately defines not their humanity, but our own.
Presenter 2
CHAUNTI T. HATCHETT
The proposed research and creative inquiry aims to bridge knowledge gaps surrounding the Reconstruction while drawing similarities to the period and modern times through speculative fiction.
The story collection for presentation is set in the 1870s and follows a young, Black, blind heiress named Beatrice. Through pure dumb luck, Beatrice’s life becomes entangled with that of the ancient Greek Gorgon, Stheno, following Stheno’s accidental appearance in Virginia.
This collection will draw heavily on historical and social sources of the time, such as W.E.B Du Bois, and analyze the idea of liberal sabotage on social movements. It will also shed light on the under researched mythological character, Stheno, by supplying scholarship into her myth and cultural impact as a symbol and Black icon. Both streams of research will demonstrate the dehumanization inherent in supremacist imposed paradox. Finally, the collection will further the Afrofuturism genre and put Dr. Saidiya Hartman’s concept of critical fabulation into action to subvert paradox.
Presenter 3
WANNING HE, Patricia Greenfield.
As a lifelong player of traditional Chinese instruments, I have personally witnessed how traditional Chinese music has evolved across generations in China. Based on Patricia Greenfield’s theory of social change and human development, this project explores the shifting values, learning methods, and creative expressions surrounding traditional Chinese music. I examine how motivations for learning—once rooted in career aspirations—have shifted toward cultural preservation and personal identity. Learning methods have also diversified, moving from formal in-person instruction to informal, social media-driven tutorials. Additionally, traditional instruments are now being used to perform not only classical pieces but also pop, anime, and video game music, reflecting a growing trend of cultural hybridity. These changes are fueled by loosening political constraints, the rise of digital platforms, and the forces of globalization. This project offers insight into how tradition and modernity intersect in the lives of contemporary Chinese musicians.
Presenter 4
Fernando Carrillo
Archiving and Analyzing Email Signatures and Greetings: A Longitudinal Study of Digital Communication Practices
Evolving Norms in Professional Sign-Offs
Across Eight Decades
Fernando Carrillo
University of California, Los Angeles
April 2025
This study investigates the evolution of email signatures and greeting conventions from 1930 to 2010, with a focus on how gender dynamics have influenced and been reflected in these communicative practices. Drawing on a diverse archival corpus of professional and personal digital correspondence—including early digital messaging systems, corporate emails, and transitional forms such as typewritten memos—this research traces shifts in tone, formality, and stylistic choices across eight decades. Special attention is given to how these features vary depending on the sender’s and recipient’s gender, revealing patterns in how professionalism, politeness, and authority are linguistically encoded. By examining changes in sign-offs, honorifics, and personal identifiers, this study contributes to broader discussions on digital communication, gendered language, and the socio-cultural evolution of workplace norms. The findings illuminate how conventions once grounded in formal written correspondence have adapted to evolving technologies and changing expectations around identity and interpersonal communication.