These senior projects make a big statement. Ranging from zines on women and body politics to a comprehensive guide on inclusivity and intersectionality for Greek organizations, these projects are for more than a letter grade. They are campaigns designed to raise awareness about apathy on campus surrounding racism, homophobia, sexism, classism, and ableism
2018 Senior Projects
#IveGotNoChill
Margaret Blackerby, Audrey Kennedy, Helen Pfaff, & Katherine Longaker
“Chill” implies passivity, a woman who is not going to speak up and challenge the status quo. This passivity can become dangerous when it means that a bystander does not speak up against racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, or non consensual activity happening in any space on campus, but particularly in fraternity houses and other male dominated spaces. In order to effectively critique the status quo and spread the word as quickly as possible, a social media campaign was used to call students to action. Check out the Instagram page below.
Inclusivity & Intersectionality Guide for Greek Organizations
Beth Pearson, Maria Monterde, & Erin Moore
This senior project was aimed at analyzing how students and administrators can make the Greek system at Sewanee more inclusive and intersectional. The group studied the current Greek system at Sewanee, compared it to other institutions, pointed out specific lapses in inclusionary language or protocol, and provided solutions to the problems in one, comprehensive and shareable document. Check out the pamphlet they made.
Humans of Sewanee
Sophie Clark & Destiney Golden
This photo project was initiated to get people talking, to give students a voice, and to raise awareness around certain issues on campus. The project facilitators conducted interviews of diverse populations around campus and asked them to describe their time on the Mountain. They encountered people wanting to remain anonymous, people who were apathetic, and people who wanted their voice amplified. Check out the Instagram page below.
2017 Senior Projects
Zine Project
Rachel Chu
Rachel chose to create a personal zine for this assignment rather than participate in a collective project. She refused to edit her thoughts or self-censure, and she deliberately made only a few photocopies of her zine for a small, self-selected audience. Focusing on the impact of gender norms at Sewanee and in the media on her own perception of her racial, gendered, and sexual identity and her interactions with others, she used the project to question her own internalization of these stereotypes.
Male-dominated spaces
Ella Dermon, Kristy Gray & Eva Faison
The genesis of this group's project stemmed from Kristy's experience as a member of the female volleyball team at Sewanee and her critique of the Fowler Center as a male-dominated space. As her team worked out at Fowler on a regular basis, she and other female athletes increasingly noticed the smaller allocation of space and equipment to women in the weight room as well as in other locations. The project confronts "the challenges young women face participating in male-dominated spaces such as the Fowler Center, even as non-athletes."
Three Queers & a Blog
Alexis Harshbarger, Anne-Stuart Bell & Ridge Davis
These students decided to create a comprehensive resource blog for the LGBTQIA community living in the U.S. South—a project they entitled "Three Queers and a Blog." Pursuing the important work of compiling and sharing legal and cultural resources for each southern state, they additionally created an "In Memoriam" page for individuals in the trans community who were murdered due to their gender identity and/or expression. The "Stories" tab features numerous individual narratives about being queer in the South. The group notes that in feminist theory, the LGBTQIA community in the U.S. South continues to be overlooked in favor of a focus on the northern states, and they hope to bring attention to the distinct challenges and experiences of the former.
2015 Senior Projects
Body Project(ions)
by Allison Smith
Alli Smith completed a project entitled "Body Project(ions)" with an accompanying blog. She framed her approach with Susan Bordo's argument in Unbearable Weight that "the body is a text of culture." Building on her experiences in Full Embodiment: An Empowering Dialogue (FEED) and the Women's Center, Alli launched a body-drawing exercise among a number of women students on campus. Providing participants with a blank piece of paper, she invited them to "draw your body from memory, as you see it," and to "write down any additional commentary, thoughts, or notes as you draw." She then posted her fascinating results on her blog.
Comedy, Gender, and Race at Sewanee
Blair Johnson, Alexa Griffin, Fleming Beaver & Katie Kenerly
This group created, publicized, and even procured sponsorship for a student-led panel and asked them to reflect on issues such as the following: Can a comedian joke about topics like race, gender, and/or sexual assault and at what point do we consider that this person has crossed a line? How important is the audience in determining whether such jokes are funny? Can comedy serve as a means for feminism to reach a broader audience?
Domestic Violence: Opinions and Beliefs
Claire Forbes, Shelby Monahan & Jamie Samociuk
This group's project was entitled "Domestic Violence: Opinions and Beliefs." Forbes, Monahan, and Samociuk's interest in this topic stemmed from classes they took at Sewanee such as WMST 448 and Sherry Hamby's "Psychology of Violence" as well as from Forbes' experience working at a safe house for women who experienced domestic violence. The team posed the following question: Has the recent national and local visibility of feminism and its spotlight on gender-based violence changed attitudes and/or destroyed myths and biases about aggression toward men and women?
