INQUIRY

INQUIRY • Volume 19, 2015
of the role of the father in a son’s life. These conclusions
exhibit the ways in which Greek myth, in its performed,
pictorial and poetic guises, encouraged certain types of
behavior. These ideal behaviors ensured the preservation
of the norms and morals of the community and, thereby,
the continuation of ancient Athenian society.
“Freedom:” The Abrams Struggle
Selena Chen, History
Sponsor: Professor Jonathan Soffer, Technology, Culture
and Society, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering
This thesis aims to explain the complex intellectual
relationship between three prominent legal figures of the
twentieth century and their contribution to the advancement
of free speech rights during a period, World War
II, when speech against the government was heavily
restricted. Through examining their involvement in the
Supreme Court case Abrams et al. vs. United States, this
study explains how Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell
Holmes Jr., Judge Learned Hand and Harvard judicial
philosopher Zechariah Chafee advanced the necessity of
the protection of free speech by seizing upon this particular
case of violation of the free speech rights of six Russian
immigrants by the United States government. It was
through the exchange of ideas between Holmes, Hand and
Chafee that ultimately allowed Justice Holmes to develop
the argument of his famous Abrams dissent, which was
championed by later liberals as the greatest enunciation for
the necessity of free speech. This thesis describes instances
where the collaboration between multiple academic and
legal luminaries ignited the flame to showcase greater freedom
of speech. Holmes, Hand and Chafee had little power
beyond their reputation and influence. Yet, they managed
to sensitize the American public to speech-related issues.
Through their collaboration, they gave America a coherent
argument for the social necessity of free speech based on
the conception of a marketplace of ideas: only through the
allowance of unrestricted speech can the “truth” emerge.
“A King of Infinite Space:” The Textual and Spatial
Management of Henry VIII’s Legacy
Cara Cifferelli, English and American Literature, History
Sponsor: Professor John Archer, English and American
Literature
This project centers around three examples of Henry
VIII’s historical presentation: Polydore Vergil’s The
Anglica Historia, William Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, or,
All is True, and Hampton Court Palace, a historic palace
and museum. The media in which he is represented as
a historical figure further affect how he is remembered:
text, play and artifact all play a role in the massive space
Henry occupies in the public memory. This research
moves beyond historical events to understand the historiographical
effect of the various media in which history
is presented. Through changes, new media and various
curated iconographic decisions, Henry VIII is expanded,
simplified, fictionalized, but also complicated, lost and
re-found over and over by different groups and through
different historical ideas and sources. The process of making
Henry is ongoing; our understanding of history is only
maintained through the consistency of its changes.
Excavating the Photo-Archive: Exploring Memory
and Healing through the Creation of Radical Archives
Clancy Cornell, Global Liberal Studies, Spanish
Sponsor: Professor Christopher Packard, Global Liberal
Studies
This project considers the use of photographic
archives in works of two contemporary artists, Diego
Cirulli and Ayana V. Jackson, because their work results
in the production of radical archives. Radical archives
depart from traditional archives in curatorial intention,
form and function to reveal narratives previously unexplored.
Through the analysis of the archival artwork of
an Argentine artist and North American artist, this project
explores the radical archive as a mechanism of repurposing
knowledge and memory transmission in two specific
regions that bear unique histories of oppression. These
artists provide alternatives to the often problematic nature
of traditional archives. Archival art is best understood
by analyzing its construction, performative aspects and
engagement with public feelings. The production of radical
archives through archival art has therapeutic effects that
enable healing processes in response to histories of trauma
and mis-representation not only to the individual artist
but to the community. This work is a contribution to the
developing study of radical archives in terms of memory
and historical representation.
Inventing the Petite Patrie: The Félibrige as a Nationalist
Project
Philip Dalgarno, European and Mediterranean Studies
Sponsor: Professor Madigan Fichter, European and
Mediterranean Studies
In 1854, a group of seven young Provençal poets
gathered to found the Félibrige, a literary society that
aimed to revitalize their regional language—the langue
d’oc or Occitan—faced with the increasing dominance of
the national language, French. While the Félibrige is best
remembered for the literary achievements of its leader and
Nobel laureate Frédéric Mistral, the movement to preserve
Occitan was also inherently political. The Félibrige grew
out of the broader réveil des nations, a national awakening
across Europe that revalorized popular literature and local
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