2015

From the rise of the Religious Right to the fall of the Berlin Wall, from the Iran-Contra Affair and Challenger Space Shuttle accident to the launch of MTV, from the plague of AIDS and the crack epidemic to the fierce debates around the sex-porn wars and the “welfare queen,” events, individuals, and policies of the 1980s radically redefined understandings of sexuality and gender in the United States. The students of American Conflicts & Cultures: The 1980s at Trinity College learn to interpret and contextualize cultural objects by connecting the intimate and global topographies of these events and identifying the ways that they still affect our daily lives. As a project of public humanities, students worked together to build a timeline of the key events of the 1980s relating to their paper topic, and edited entries in Wikipedia related to their work to add further citations, data, and information regarding their research topics–read the 2015 class’s work below. The research that students do does not end on the page but serves to extend knowledge to the world while showing students their own agency and role in the production of knowledge. Enjoy!

• Jamilah Ketcham ’18
  • Graffiti in New York City: Keith Haring (paper)
  • NYC LGBT Center and the groups that gathered there (Wikipedia)
• Jordan Cram ’17
  • Did the Reagan Family Embody the Family Values They Acclaimed? (paper)
  • Patti Davis’ relationship to her father, Ronald Reagan (Wikipedia)
• Camden Smith ’16
  • Perception Through Rhetoric: Ronald Reagan, America’s Most Beloved President (paper)
  • Col. Oliver North’s military record (Wikipedia)
• Chris Macca ’17
  • AIDS drugs testing at the Food and Drug Administration (Wikipedia)
• Stew Williams ’18
  • The Video Game Revolution (paper)
  • Lisa Lyon, first US female bodybuilder and model for Robert Mapplethorpe (Wikipedia)
• Camryn Clarke ’17
  • Black Kings: How the Cosby Show and NWA Collided During the LA Riots (paper)
  • the role of N.W.A.’s music and “The Cosby Show” on the L.A. Riots of 1992 (Wikipedia)
• Timmy Galvin ’19
  • The Crack Epidemic (paper)
  • those affected by the crack epidemic (Wikipedia)
• Julia Gorka ’19
  • Gay Bookstores and Community Activism in the 1980s: A Case Study of Washington D.C. (paper)
  • the aim of opening Lambda Rising bookstore, the first of its kind in Washington, D.C. (Wikipedia)
• Becca Levy ’16
  • Fashion Through the Media in the 1980s
  • Bruce Springsteen as working-class representative
• Alex Mejia ’16
  • What Do Madonna, Lauper, and Lennox Got To Do With It? (paper)
  • Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” video (Wikipedia)
• Andrew Meoli ’18
  • The Cold War “On a Sheet Of Ice” (Paper)
  • the details of the games leading up to the Miracle on Ice (Wikipedia)
• Sam Muse ’18
  • The Legacy Miracle on Ice Left on America (paper)
  • broadcasting rights around the Miracle on Ice (Wikipedia)
• Mike Natale ’18
  • How Nike Changed the Game (paper)
  • Bo Jackson’s first marketing campaign with Nike (Wikipedia)
• Gianna Beniers ’19
  • Final Research Paper- ACT UP (paper)
  • Larry Kramer’s role in forming ACT UP (Wikipedia)
• Charley Mericer III ’19
  • N.W.A.’s Political and Societal Influence Through Their Lyrics (paper)
  • MC Ren’s role within N.W.A. (Wikipedia)

Thanks to my students for an incredible semester! Many thanks also to Sara Koopman for the introduction to Wikiwash that allows you to track Wikipedia edits in real time and also show edits from specific editors.