Ali Aoun is a third-year MA student in Social and Cultural Analysis. They received their BA in Social Relations & Policy and International relations from the James Madison College at Michigan State University in 2019. His capstone explored sex & gender identities through document analysis, participant observation, interviews and documentary filmmaking. Additionally, he has conducted filed work in Sri Lanka’s agricultural sector. Following his BA, he has held positions in non-profits, the Michigan Legislature, and Governor Whitmer’s office. Ali’s research interest lie in critical theory, political theory, culture, film studies, globalization and inequity.

Stevie Elkington is a second-year MA student in Social and Cultural Analysis. She received her BA in American Studies from the University of Sussex. Her final year dissertation explored the history and impact of political narratives within three iconic 1930s American movie musicals. These films represented and furthered New Deal ideologies through the eroticisation and exploitation of women. Stevie’s research interests include the representation of the United States in 20th century film, the evolution of consumerism on culture, US imperialism and gender studies. 

Jasper Florack is a fourth-year MA student in Social and Cultural Analysis. They received their BA in American Studies with a specialization in literature, religion, and politics from Heidelberg University in 2018. Their senior thesis explored the religious beliefs and communities of gay Mormons. As an interdisciplinary scholar, Jasper’s research interests lie in queer history and culture.

Madeleine Horn is a first-year MA student in Social and Cultural Analysis. She received her BA in Geography from Durham University, UK.  Her final year dissertation centred around emotional geography and queer studies, exploring encounters of heteronormativity within the LGBTQ+ community. This involved considering performativity within gender, as well as fears relating to direct and indirect violence, and invisibility contrasted with hyper-visibility. 

Tiger Hornby is a second-year MA student in Social and Cultural Analysis. She received her BA in American Studies from the University of Manchester in 2020. Her thesis focused on political polarizations in the USA, focusing on moving images. Tiger’s main area of research is American film. Her work involves a mixture of critical theory, film analysis and her own screenplay writing. She incorporates her studies with filmmaking. 

Candace Maldonado is a first-year MA student in Social and Cultural Analysis. She received her BA in Political Science with a Minor in Women’s Studies at California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2020. Following her BA, she has been employed at a Los Angeles based non-profit, and worked with Los Angeles County on allocating funding for their first ever Care First Jails Last initiative. 

Caroline Vasile is a first-year MA student in Social and Cultural Analysis. She received her BA in American Studies and Africana Studies from New York University in 2022, graduating Summa Cum Laude and receiving the Departmental Award in American Studies for having represented excellence in the American Studies field. She is a participant in the BA/MA Accelerated Program and prioritizes her research around police militarization and abolition. Her current thesis work revolves around the manipulation of the modern police project and the access to old military equipment through the 1033 Program, utilizing social conflict theory, broken windows theory, and police theory. Caroline also works at NYU as the Student Employment Captain at the Wasserman Center. 

David Wolff is a second-year MA student in the department of Social and Cultural Analysis. He earned his BA in Anthropology with a focus in social action from the University of Vermont in 2019. His projects focused on informal citizenship practices, modern relationships to materiality, and post-colonialism. Following his BA he held several positions in the development and programming departments at the Smithsonian Associates, where he worked to bring the humanities to the public through lectures, museum tours, and art workshops. His current research interests are oriented towards understanding issues of intersectionality, race and gender, and identity by evaluating how they manifest in virtual spaces, as well as how those spaces differ from communities in the real world.