South Korea’s rapid industrialization and democratization led to policy reforms that allowed women to invest more heavily in their education, career, and leisure beyond the domestic sphere. Consequently, these women became active participants and consumers of the goods and services within their society, as exemplified by their consumption of media. Given that Korean women in their twenties and thirties have embraced strategies to improve their status as citizens who operate in society in ways that transcend traditional normative, restrictive spheres of action, we would expect them to explain their consumption habits in terms of how the cultural objects resonate with their own experiences. Instead, they reveal ambivalence with regards to the value of these dramas as accurate representations of Korean society. Why? I argue that the widespread consumption of Korean dramas replete with mixed messages that call into question these women’s self-fashioning aspirations can be explained as a function of their ability to detect and stand apart from the submissive qualities reflected in female characters whose behavior represents a capitulation to traditional gendered norms. Through open-ended interview questions about professional women’s viewing habits and career objectives, I demonstrate how the critical distance attendant upon drama consumption is an agentive coping mechanism beyond a passive act of acquiescence to gendered discrimination, and is premised on self-perceptions of critical acumen nurtured by their academic and vocational background. Such knowledge resulting from women’s intense focus on education derives from their perception of education as a conduit for the actualization of career aspirations, which equipped them to interrogate gendered power relations that pose challenges to their success. Critical acumen is viewed as the source of their capacity to recognize and distance themselves from popular media’s representation of gendered socio-economic inequality and the broader patriarchal discourse in Korea that perpetuates norms of women’s submissive position.

 Our research is focused on the travel ban from President Trump’s Executive Order 13780: “Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”. We are looking specifically at the impacts of the travel ban, commonly referred to as the “Muslim Ban,” on the Muslim community in Washington state, focusing even more narrowly on the UW student population. The purpose of our research is to find out the direct effects of the ban on people’s lives, opposed to statistics we receive in the news and through social media outlets. We are conducting interviews with affected Muslim communities in Washington State. We are reaching out to friends and community organizations that provide aid to Muslim communities affected by the travel ban. We conducted two separate types of interviews: one for people affected by the ban and one for relief providers. Our results show that the ban has largely impacted people’s abilities to see their family and has imposed a lot of doubt and uncertainty about their future. Additionally, interviewees expressed a lack of awareness of their rights.

Beginning in the 1960s, civil unrest in Latin America engendered worldwide concerns. The uprisings were fundamental to the Cold War as tensions were heightened between the capitalist U.S. and the communist U.S.S.R. The U.S. worked to prevent communism from spreading to the Americas. My research explores the degree to which the United States' economic policies played a vital role in the outcome of Argentina's Dirty War and how they impacted U.S. relations with Latin America today. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, U.S. foreign policy elites viewed Argentina as an essential puzzle piece whose loyalty was critical to maintaining order in Latin America while preventing other countries from turning to socialism. I hypothesize that by issuing economic policies that funded a capitalist and U.S.-friendly Argentine government, the U.S. hoped to prevent socialist ideas from developing in the Americas. In turn, the economic policies would create a domino effect of capitalism across Latin America that would ultimately help win the Cold War. Drawing on several scholarly articles, declassified documents, and secondary sources, I argue that the configuration and development of U.S. policies were done primarily for American gain, to continue being a superpower and prove that capitalism was the most superior social system. By taking a look at hidden involvement of the U.S., one can begin to understand the reasoning behind the implementation of policies. In my research, I analyze the consequences, both good and bad, of the U.S. economic policies throughout the Dirty War, as well as how attitudes changed and shaped current relations not only with Argentina but with other Latin American countries as well. Ultimately, I hope that the findings of my research will give more emphasis on the financial role the U.S. had and its core responsibility in atrocities committed by its economic policies.

The North Korean nuclear crisis is severe, with North Korea having developed missiles potentially armed with nuclear weapons that can reach the continental US. However, the international response has mainly been ineffective in stopping North Korea. Additionally, South Korea’s new attitude going towards negotiation with North Korea is an important game-changer. Through this research, I plan to explore the questions of why the international sanctions have been ineffective, how South Korea’s changing attitude can influence this issue, and what can be done to solve this issue completely. For this research, I have collected information from many sources both from the US and in Korea, including books, journals, and newspapers. Some of my findings are that there are loopholes to the sanctions, especially China not enforcing the sanctions and trading key goods with North Korea, especially oil. Additionally, the Moon Jae-In administration’s new strategy towards the issue, going more towards negotiation, may be catastrophic and must stop immediately. To solve this issue, South Korea must stop doing peace talks with North Korea, as such talks were catastrophic during the past, and stay on the same page with the US to motivate China from not trading with North Korea, especially oil which is crucial to its survival, as North Korea cannot produce its own oil. This may be enough to force North Korea to denuclearize. A better solution is to assassinate the dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, which will lead to disorder in North Korea as Kim Jong Un does not have a successor currently, and South Korea and the US can use this opportunity to destroy the weapons of mass destruction in North Korea. This research is crucial for maintaining the peace and security not only in the East Asia region, but also for the entire world.

Recent advancements in North Korea’s nuclear program prove that it will soon be capable of targeting the US mainland. The Trump administration's imposition of aggressive sanctions and threats towards Pyongyang have been met by retaliatory statements from the Kim regime. Aside from these threats, lack of communications between the two nations have raised international concern over the possibility that war will resume on the Korean peninsula. Therefore, this student-run task force team takes up a detailed study of this emerging crisis using open-source data with three main objectives: 1) to determine the goals of NK's nuclear and missile programs by studying the historical relationship between the US and Korea; 2) to gauge threat potential by analyzing North Korea’s offensive capabilities; 3) to use local perspectives to determine how this crisis affects relations between the US, China, South Korea, Japan and how each nation views the NK threat; and 4) to learn from past mistakes in order make viable recommendations for the current US administration to de-escalate current tensions and provide a new framework for a peaceful solution to the North Korean crisis.

This project, spearheaded by Dr. Tony Lucero, showcases the work of Dr. Clyde Snow, a renown forensic anthropologist, and Dr. Mary-Claire King, a geneticist and UW-faculty member, in the field of forensic anthropology in advancing human rights in Latin America. Our project was started by Dr. Lucero to show how various parts of the university can come together to do good for the world. This project focuses on Dr. Snow and Dr. King’s work on advancing cases of disappeared persons in Argentina and impacting trials in Guatemala, ultimately showing the world the importance of forensics in attaining justice and accountability. By conducting in-depth research and illuminating key stories of the pursuit for justice, we will answer the question of how Dr. Snow and Dr. King have revolutionized the fields of forensic anthropology and human rights. To highlight the importance of their work, we will study newspaper articles and court cases. Analyzing the news is crucial to piecing together the multi-faceted nature of their work and examining court cases is necessary to identify exactly how forensic evidence was used to hold human rights abusers accountable. By analyzing media and presenting it in an accessible form, we hope to increase the public's knowledge of forensics through extensive research of the value of the field in finding justice and closure for families of the forcibly disappeared. The output will be a culmination of independent studies conducted by members of the project team and will be presented as digital media components on a central website that is accessible to everyone. Creating digital media that showcases this information will allow us to organize it in a way that engages the public and visually explains the importance of the fields of forensic anthropology and genetics in attaining justice in Latin America and ultimately around the world.