Black to the Kitchen: A Genealogical Cookbook

Dillon Harp, Other Graduate Student

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

"Black To The Kitchen: A Genealogical Cookbook" intertwines culinary exploration with genealogical research to illuminate Afro-cultural foodways. From traditional family recipes rooted in West African heritage to adaptations born out of diasporic experiences, the book celebrates the richness and diversity of Afro-descendant cuisines. Moreover, the book explores the concept of the Black Kitchen as an "under commons," highlighting its historical significance as a site of resistance, resilience, and community organization, where cultural practices were preserved, solidarity was forged, and resistance movements were incubated.

Blockburger v. United States

Mason Gardner, Politics Undergraduate Student

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

One day, you decide to use a firearm to rob a convenience store. You are caught, and are charged with first degree robbery and brandishing a deadly weapon. These two charges came from the same crime; would this be considered double jeopardy? Blockburger v. United States, a landmark supreme court case, settled this legal question in 1932. The case established the "Blockburger test", which states that the government can only prosecute an individual for violating two different statutes in a single crime/act if each statute requires an element/fact for the government to prove that is independent of the other statute.

Bones Grow, but Do They Shrink: A Taphonomic Study on Postmortem Bone Shrinkage

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

An important aspect in biological anthropology and forensic cases is determining an individual’s stature in life. Stature estimation involves the use of formulas that have been derived from measurements taken from an individual’s bones. Bones, in life, are encased in the body, which is a wet environment. Our research looks at the postmortem taphonomic processes which may lead to the bone shrinking after death, in the relatively dryer outside environment. Bone shrinkage could have an impact on stature estimations in forensic and other anthropological cases. Our preliminary findings indicate that environment and time affect bone shrinkage rates.

Boundaries in Death: Deviant Burials and Mortuary Practices of Slavic Cultural Origin

Rowan Vespia, Anthropology Undergraduate Student

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

The goal of this presentation is to analyze the ways in which beliefs surrounding death and mortuary practices were changed in the Medieval period by the introduction of Christianity to Slavic cultures– focusing primarily on Poland and atypical burials. I have a poster and power point recorded presentation available.

Breath of Life: Revitalizing California’s Native Languages Through Archives

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

The Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival held its first Breath of Life Workshop in 1996. The Breath of Life Workshop connects tribal participants with Native American language archival collections at the University of California at Berkeley for the purpose of bringing back into use languages with no living fluent speakers. During Breath of Life, participants use archives to complete a research project that can be completed in a week. Participants finish the workshop prepared to conduct archival research independently at any archive, including Humboldt State University's Humboldt Room, home of the Center for Indian Community Development Collection.

Bridging the Gap in Education: At-Risk Students in Court Community Schools

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

This project aims to demonstrate to educators about students being a product of their own environment by observing the Humboldt Office of Education’s-Court Community Schools’ classroom environments. These observations will be compared to a variety of different learning styles that work best with at-risk youth. These learning styles would be recommended ways for educators to help bridge the gap between at-risk students’ academic and social skills in traditional-learning classroom settings.

Bridging the Gap: Environmentalism & the Military

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

The United States military has a long and well documented history of environmental degradation, contamination, and environmental injustice. Today, the U.S. military has taken steps to attempt control, regulation, and conservation in a growing environmental sector. Current relations between environmentalists and military personnel are still plagued with contention. This has created a stigma on bases about environmentalists and their contributions to military base lives. By reconciling my knowledge of the military and the environment with the tools of an environmental studies major I hope to show ways in which we can improve the relationship with the military and environment.

Broken Spirits Rising: Grief Support Group for those Who Have Experinced the Murder of a Loved One

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

I am interning at the District Attorney's Victim Witness program located in Eureka California as an advocate. There has been a long standing need for a grief support group for those who have lost a loved one to murder. As a mother of a murdered daughter I understand how important a grief support group becomes for this population. This unique need has become my community project focus and passion for those who've experienced complicated grief related to homicide. Broken Spirits Rising can offer people who are grieving a supportive environment in which to work through their grief when,for many of them there may be few places in their lives in which they can get this support and be themselves

Building Community Through The Sustainable Practitioners Directory

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Climate change, the most pressing issue of our contemporary world, will not be addressed without coming up with local solutions to this global problem. My project focuses on creating an avenue that would allow the campus community and the local community to work together to tackle local concerns. In tandem with HSU’s sustainability office and Center for Community Based Learning we’ve been able to develop such a resource: The Sustainable Practitioners Directory. This directory will allow faculty to easily find community partners working to resolve critical economic, social and environmental challenges, and who are willing to bring their work to the classroom.

Building Support for Study Abroad at HSU

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

This project will investigate the current support mechanisms for students intending to study abroad and how HSU could both better prepare students for their experience and help re-acclimatize them on their return. This work would involve interviews with those working with students as faculty and staff as well as student interviews about what they would find valuable in terms of support. The aim for this work would be a set of practical proposals for the marketing and outreach to encourage more students to study abroad as well as more aware pre-departure preparation and return programming.