The Koret Scholars Program provides funding for a variety of undergraduate research projects and experiences. The program supports scholarships for undergraduate research projects with faculty and graduate student mentors, undergraduate and graduate student research internships with the Student Success Evaluation and Research Center, and expansion of the year-long College Scholars research development program.
Nirupama Chandrasekhar
Project title: Turtleback Tombs, Paper Cranes, Memorials and Eisa: Modern Contextualization of Death in Okinawa
Faculty mentor: Alice Yang
About Nirupama's project: My project is going to be a short video documentary examining the ways in which death, memory and remembrance play out in Okinawa, both in the public and private realms of existence. It'll be speaking not only to religious ceremonies of death and ways of remembrance, but also to large war memorials and narratives around death talked in the public sphere, especially related to the military presence that continues to exist within Okinawa. Okinawa considers itself a peaceful island in every way, so examining how that shapes the way that remembrance is celebrated to me, seems crucial. I'll be using footage and clips taken from two years of summer trips to Okinawa, done under the umbrella of the Okinawa Memories Initiative with Professors Alan Christy, Alice Yang and Noriko Aso, and I'll be using the oral histories we conducted there to get a solid grounding in the ideas of public versus private ways of thinking about death. My main motivations for doing this are rooted in how omnipresent the scars of war and death on the island remain, even today, almost 70 years after the Battle of Okinawa. It's present in both the gorgeous landscape and the memories that people have. I think there's no real way to talk about Okinawa comprehensively or compassionately, without acknowledging the vast scale of death and destruction, and to me, examining that further is really important.
Samantha Stringer
Project title: Education and Identity in Mandate Palestine
Faculty mentor: Jennifer Derr
