Featured pieces come from any genre, and reflect exceptional work from each issue. This semester, we highlight an extended essay from Koki Kobayashi (’21) and a thesis distillation from Bridget Simons (’20).
Though we may be accessing this site from around the world, we acknowledge our affiliation with the University of Notre Dame and thus our presence on the traditional homelands of Native peoples (even if virtually) including the Haudenosauneega, Miami, Peoria, and particularly the Pokégnek Bodéwadmik, who have been using this land for education for thousands of years, and continue to do so.
Miss Americana vs. The Patriarchy:
Feminist Humor in Taylor Swift’s Satirical Music Videos
Winning the War on Drugs: A Case for the Portuguese Policy Model
By Emily Lugg (’23) If drugs are a war, many policy analysts and public health experts would argue that America is losing on all fronts. As Nicholas Kristof notes in his 2017 opinion piece “How to Win the War on Drugs,” despite the fact the American criminal justice system dedicated billions of dollars over the…
“Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” and “Bad Feminism,” Less Antithetical than They Appear But Still Mismatched
By Mannion McGinley (’23) “The Master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house,” Audre Lorde. “I would rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all,” Roxanne Gay. At first glance and out of context from their readings, these two quotes seem to only be at odds with each other. Lorde’s titular claim implies…
The Raven and the Light: A Violation of Story-Telling Sovereignty
By Aidan Gordley (’24) Nigerian novelist and activist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie did justice to the art of storytelling when she wrote, “Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower and humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a culture. But stories can also…
“A Movement, Not a Moment”:
The US Women’s National Soccer Team and Its Fight for Equal Pay, 2016-2020
Intervention as a Spectrum: Results from Independent Research in Cali, Colombia
By Irla Atanda (’21) According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an estimated 6 million Venezuelans have fled their home country since 2014, after Nicolás Maduro succeeded longtime Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez as president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. For the past six years, the Maduro regime has been responsible for violating…
Debating Gender Roles: The Contested History of “Biblical Womanhood” in Evangelical Discourse
By Kiara Schmidt (’23) Introduction While many scholars have argued that the phrase biblical womanhood has a long history dating to the sixteenth century, I argue it largely emerged as a response to the feminist movement of the 1960s. It was promoted by various influential texts, from Marabel Morgan’s, The Total Woman in 1973 to…
The Cultural Association of Air Force 1’s
By: Paige Jenkins (’25) Nike’s Air Force 1 (AF1), the iconic low-top all-white sneaker, shifted from a potential flop to a classic staple in American fashion. The original version of the shoe was created in 1982 by Bruce Kilgore as a high top with a single colorway of white and neutral gray. The iconic all-white…
Americana 