ABSTRACTS
2019 National McNair Scholars Conference at UCLA
Researcher: Nailah Bush
Presentation Title: Genetic Testing and the Pursuit of African Ancestry
Research Focus: The utilization of genetic DNA testing to uncover lost African identity in order to secure a sense of self-identity within the Black community.
School: Eastern Michigan University
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
The Transatlantic slave trade engendered a profound rupture between Africa and its diaspora. For people of African descent, this separation has produced a longing that has traversed time and space. Extensive scholarship focuses on this longing and the accompanying identity complex amongst diasporic people. One of the latest tools that people of the diaspora have deployed to connect to their African heritage is genetic testing. Indeed, the aim of African genealogies is to reconstruct “a stolen identity.” However, the process can be difficult for African Americans because of the erasure of the histories of millions of Africans as a result of the Transatlantic slave trade.
While many researchers focus on the scientific outcome of genetic testing, this paper will discuss how African diasporic people use genetic testing as a means of bridging the perceived gap between themselves and their African counterparts. The goal of this paper is to explore Africa’s contemporary relationship to those who are the descendants of the victims of the Transatlantic Slave trade and their ongoing struggles with issues of ethnicity, separation, continuity, and rupture, utilizing genetic testing. In order to do this, I will explore the scholarship around diasporic people’s use of genetic testing to trace their African heritage in an effort to construct a more holistic identity for themselves.
Researcher: Jadyn Guess
Researcher Title: Rhetorical Analysis of the Cruise Industry’s Sustainability Practices
Research Focus: Cruise Industry
School: Eastern Michigan University
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Cruise Lines International Association (2017) reports that over 26.6 million passengers embark on a cruise annually. It is estimated that by 2026 the global fleet will serve 33.4 million travelers (Cruise Industry News, 2016). As the cruise industry grows, the need for accountability regarding environmental practices has become an issue of utmost importance, particularly over the impact of cruise tourism on coastal and marine environments [and] local economies (Klein, 2011). This paper will examine the types of pollution created by the cruise industry and offer a rhetorical analysis of the industry’s claim to mitigate pollution through the sustainability practices discussed in their annual reports. Five of the world’s best-known cruise lines (Statistica, 2016) will be examined.
Researcher: Zarre’a Mason
Presentation Title: Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois and the Battle for Black Excellence
Research Focus: African American Studies
School: Eastern Michigan University
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
The fifties following the Civil War were some of the most critical in the social development of African American life. This presentation will examine the differing opinions of Booker T. Washington, founder of the Reconstruction-era Tuskegee Institute, and Dr. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, the first African American to earn a doctoral degree from Harvard, on how to raise a generation that would “be most readily positioned to integrate, and be seen as equals with their white middle class counterparts” (Gates 2011). Their differing opinions include debates on the quality of Black education versus employment in the service sectors, voting rights and integration versus segregation.
Researcher: Clayton Sigmann
Research Title: Conflict in Africa: An in Depth Analysis of Motivations to Conflict
Research Focus: African Conflict
Institution: Eastern Michigan University
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Africa, a continent of 54 states, has experienced centuries of conflict. This research will analyze the underlying factors present in conflict throughout the continent. The research will use case studies based on Algeria, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Liberia and the Sudan to discuss the effects of colonialism, intrastate and ethnic conflict, and to identify the deeper structures behind such conflict. This research will discuss the positive role of post-conflict governance and sustainable human development in post-conflict society (Ogbaharya, 2008).