UNDERGRADUATERESEARCH

MARCH 2021 | VOL. 6

Inquiry @ Queen's

March 11th & March 12th, 2021

Inquiry@ Queen's is more than a conference; it is an approach to learning where the teacher and the learner reside in the same person. It is a natural extension of a university that prides itself on the quality of undergraduate education and its scholarship and research. The 15th annual I@Q conference will take place online to promote and showcase undergraduate research and creative work.

In a world of ubiquitous and competing information, the ability to pose critical questions and forge a path to answer them has never been more important. Students who engage in inquiry projects are better able to analyze, synethsize, and evaluate information; develop discipline-specific research skills; persevere and make intellectual and personal gains; demonstrate greater problem-solving and research skills; and are more satisfied with their overall educational experience.

Please join us for the HIST 515 Panel on March 11th from 3:30-4:45PM by registering here. You will learn about the individual research projects undertaken by History 515 students and have an opportunity to discuss the challenges and rewards of conducting undergraduate research.

HIST 515 PANEL

HIST 515: IndependentStudy Project

This course provides anopportunity for history studentsto delve deeper into a researchtopic of personal interest to themin their final year of study.

Students work closely with afaculty supervisor whosespecialization closely aligns withtheir research topic.

To learn more about HIST 515please visit our website:https://www.queensu.ca/history/undergraduate/independent-research

This research paper seeks to explore theintersection of race, seen through thepredominantly Black athletic body of the NBA,with the rise of the capitalist, consumer-orientedentertainment industry of professional sportsthroughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries.It will attempt to illustrate how racial identity andcapitalism have reacted to one another to createone of the biggest – and one of the mostcomplicated – entertainment entities in NorthAmerica. To explore this issue, I will outline thesocial setting from which Black athletes grew toparticipate in spectator sports, touching onnotable persons such as Jackie Robinson,Muhammad Ali, and Bill Russell. I will thenexamine the importance of broadcasted sportsand race’s role therein during the 20th century tocontextualise capitalist practices inentertainment. I will conclude with anexamination of capitalist practice as regulators forBlack identity in the NBA by focusing on its directand indirect attempts towards regulation. This willbe done through an examination of Black athletes’participation in social justice movements asmeasures of regulation, using the 1992 RodneyKing trial riots and the events of Summer 2020 ascomparative case studies.

“Shut up and Dribble”: TheIntersection of Race andCapitalism in the History of theNBABy: Philippe HaddadSupervised By: Dr. Martina Hardwick

While this may appear to simply be anexploration of sports history, one should considerthat sports are a primary form of entertainment inboth North American and global popular culture.As such, this research project goes beyond anattempt to contribute to sports history, insteadseeking to delve into the complementarity ofsocial history, consumerism, and race.

The institution of child marriage throughout thenineteenth and early twentieth century not onlystripped Indian girls of their agency, but alsofrequently denied them their education. In 1884,Rukhmabai, a young Indian girl of just eleven-years-old, was married to Dadaji Bhikaji, a maneight years older. Although Rukhmabai was ableto resist the forced marriage and eventually wenton to become India’s first female doctor,Rukhmabai’s victory was generally an anomaly ofthe time and reflected a tenacity to attain greatereducation. Throughout her writings, Rukhmabaiexpresses deep sadness from being denied theopportunity for an adequate education, andidentifies female education as one of the chiefdisproportionate impacts of child marriage forgirls. This project will trace the evolution of childmarriage negotiations from the 1891 Age ofConsent Act to the 1929 Child Marriage RestraintAct, specifically addressing the way that relateddiscussions allowed Indian women to establish the

The Indian Girl-Wife: Not Even aWoman, But Already a WifeBy: Prishni Seyone Supervised By: Dr. Ishita Pande

importance of their adolescent years in theireducational pursuit. By uncovering the voices ofboth child marriage victims and female reformers,we are able to garner an understanding of thechanging Indian social landscape at the time andthe way that Indian women negotiated theiragency against the backdrop of globalization, thenationalist agenda, and caste, religious, andregional differences. This project will stressfemale adolescence as an evolving conceptthroughout twentieth century India, and will drawon the important relationship between educationand female agency.

The Proposal of a Prince orDelegation of a Duke? Britain’sInvolvement in the DiplomaticRevolution of 1756By: Trevor DaleSupervised By: Dr. Andrew Jainchill

Out of concern for maintaining a ‘balance ofpower’ between states, the major Europeanpowers in the 18th century were continuallyshifting alliances with each other in what has beenreferred to as a “stately quadrille” (a quadrillebeing a dance characterized by a constantchanging of partners). Most synonymous with thisnotion are the events of early 1756, a few monthsbefore the outbreak of the Seven Years War,where there was a dramatic reversal of alliances.It saw Austria and France put aside theircenturies-old rivalry

in response to an equally unlikely alliance betweenBritain and Prussia. This ‘diplomatic revolution’, asit has since been known, is often attributed to theclever machinations of the Austrian Prince Kaunitzwho sought to dislodge France from their previousalliance with Prussia to win an alliance with Francefor himself. However, my research project seeks to

emphasize Britain’s role in this affair, where I willillustrate that the Duke of Newcastle, despitebeing adamant on continuing the ‘old system’,nonetheless contributed significantly toactualizing this reversal. Throughout this project, Ihave faced many exciting challenges that have ledme to a fuller understanding of what actuallyconstitutes ‘historical investigation’. I find this tobe especially true with the experience ofthoroughly examining and responding to the fullhistoriography of a particular topic; somethingthat was both a challenging but immenselyrewarding experience.

NATIONALITY, AUTHENTICITYAND FOOD: A REVISITING ONTHE HISTORY OF CHOP SUEY

By: Yizeng WeiSupervised By: Dr. Emily Hill

In the early twentieth century, the authenticity ofchop suey was challenged by mainstreamAmerican media, as journalists could not findevidence of the dish in China. This caused adecline in the availability of chop suey in theAmerican restaurants.

However, chop suey was simultaneouslyrecognized as a Chinese food by educated Chineseelites such as Liang Qichao, who raised noconcerns about its authenticity. This articleexamines the difference between Chinese elitesand the American media and discusses therelationships among food, authenticity andnationality. It argues that despite the differentperceptions of Chinese elites and the Americanmedia, they both used a single standard todetermine whether chop suey was “Chinese food”and failed to realize the close relationshipbetween the Chinese community and Americansociety. Both were influenced by a commonperception of Chinese communities as isolatedwithin American society and separate from othergroups and close contact with China.

PREVIOUS HISTORYINQUIRY @ QUEEN'SPRESENTATIONS

2020

Presenter: Isobel Gibson

Title: "Renaissance Humanist

Reinterpretations of Eve; The Writings of

Christine De Pizan and Isotta Nogarolla"

Presenter: Katherine Clare Simon

Faculty Supporter: Dr. Lisa Pasolli

Title: “Not just somebody’s mother”:

University Campus Daycare Co-operatives

in Ontario and British Columbia, 1960s to

1970s"

2019

Presenter: Henry Y. Jeong

Faculty Supporters: Dr. Ana Siljak and

Dr. Vassili Schedrin

Title: "The Allegiance of Vladislav

Felitisianovich: The Jewishness of

Khodasevich’s Nekropol understanding his

views towards Russian Emigre literature"