Nirjhar Dutta , CBS/CLA 2008
Changes in American Mythology Before and After 9.11.2001
Major
Biology and Physiology
Mentor
David Karjanen, American Studies
Brief Bio
I came to the US from Bangladesh when I was 15. Lived in Rochester, MN ever since. I became interested in American Studies as a way of learning more about America and that's why I did this research.
Future Plans
Medical School
Why Research?
I used to be an American Studies major. I did this research to gain greater understanding of the field and this project was going to be my senior thesis.
What Did I Get from Research?
I have definitely gained greater understanding of how research is done in the field of American Studies. I did my project with a friend and we came up with a methodology that is very likely to improve the way research is done in the field of American Studies and in other social studies disciplines.
How Did I Start?
I took a class with Professor Karjanen and the idea came from a brainstorming session with my friend.
My Advice for Another Student:
Try to come up with a project idea, instead of letting your faculty mentor telling you what to do. Also, be involved in the project and understand each step, you'll get a lot more out of the experience. But, most of all, do the research because you won't regret it.
Research Summary
Our project was to see if America changed after 9.11.2001. Changes in society is reflected through popular culture (this is one of the fundamental assumptions of social studies); so we decided to analyze a comic book series from 5 years before September, 01 and a series of comic books from 5 years after (we chose Marvel Avenger's series). We came up with a methodology that analyzes the qualitative textual data (the story) and visual data (pictures) in a quantifiable manner. This methodology is likely to improve the way research is done in the field of American Studies and other social studies. We quantified the changes in "political metaphors." We found that in the story line for post-9.11 the characters had a choice between fighting and making a peaceful choice and they chose to be violent far more often. We also found that public and media also played a much more active role in post-9.11 narrative. We believe these to be reflections of American violent foreign policy and domestic political activism.