Undergraduate Journal of Humanistic Studies

Winter 2025

The Undergraduate Journal of Humanistic Studies is pleased to publish our sixteenth issue, presenting four papers that center field and original research to critically examine and challenge traditional dominant narratives. Discussing subjects ranging from voter behavioral patterns in southern Norway to the literary presentation of sociopolitical issues in central Canada, this issue’s authors contest conventional understandings of political attitudes and advocate for innovative approaches to political life. Similarly, our authors bring us from Cape Town, South Africa to Wisconsin, USA to problematize understandings of indigeneity and introduce how, through plants or sports, indigenous communities across the world are resisting colonial trends. 

In “Decolonialism and Indigeneity: A Theoretical Analysis of Morogo – a Naturalized Exotic Plant Group,” Lena Pak notices that invasive species and human immigration discourses use similar language like “exotic”, “foreign”, and “alien” to describe non-native plants and people. While research on the impacts of this overlap has been conducted in Westernized contexts, there is little research on this topic in places subject to colonization. To understand the complexity of invasive species and human immigration discourse within a Southern African context by using the “naturalized exotic” plant group, morogo, as a case study and jumping-off point for larger theoretical analysis. Morogo refers to leafy green plants that are commonly eaten by indigenous people in Southern Africa. Most of these plants are non-native to the region. To gather qualitative data on the relationship indigenous people have with the non-native plants, interviews with indigenous people in Cape Town were conducted, alongside meta-analyses of online blogs and academic sources. The results demonstrate a consensus that despite morogo’s geographic origins, indigenous people claim the plants as indigenous due to multigenerational use. They self-describe indigeneity as deeply cultural, rather than geographical, in part due to historical nomadism, further justifying morogo’s indigeneity. Finally, these results are applied to the decolonial frameworks provided by Edward Said’s Orientalism and Mahmood Mamdani’s Neither Settler nor Native. Analysis demonstrates that the relationship between indigenous people and morogo in Southern Africa serves as a practical and theoretical form of resistance to colonialism. By claiming morogo as an indigenous species, and enveloping it into their culture, indigenous Southern Africans reveal how indigeneity is not a stagnant or isolated experience. People and plants together show that indigeneity can be migratory and inclusive, which debunks the strict and oppressive binaries of “native” and “foreign” established by colonialism.

In “The Medicine of Traditional Lacrosse: Ojibwe Religion, Holistic Wellbeing, and Transcendent Sport,” Lachen Reid relates Fond du Lac reservation’s revitalization of the Ojibwe game baaga’adowewin to the field of religious study by offering a definition of Indigenous religion. By studying the game’s benefits in holistic well-being and interviewing Fond du Lac community leaders, this article presents baaga’adowewin as transcending its physical performance. Further, its role in community education and cohesion are argued to be traits of an Ojibwe religious practice. To construct a functional definition of Indigenous religion which turns into an analytical tool to contextualize Ojibwe knowledge, this article relies on two scholarly precedents. One in the field of religious study, especially pulling from Vine Deloria Jr.’s God is Red and the Ojibwe Medicine Wheel. And two, a paradigm of successful efforts to revitalize Indigenous practices, inspired by Dr. Joseph Gone’s work with reliance on Indigenous knowledge responding to modern community health problems. At Fond du Lac, the religious components and playing of baaga’adowewin have become a mechanism to inspire communal interdependence and improve holistic well-being. Baaga’adowewin’s positive effect on the community functions as a demonstration of how scholarly depictions of Indigenous religion manifest in reality. While this case study supports the scholarly paradigm of revitalization, it most prominently offers a new perspective into the field of religion. This challenge to Western notions of what constitutes religion culminates in a comparison of Indigenous voices on the subject with a real-world case study, demonstrating the practical utility of a more nuanced and diverse conceptualization of religion and religious study.

In “The Power of a Second Chance: Voter Choices in the 2023 Moss Re-Election,” Sofie Norrøne Thelin analyses how voter behavior changed between the ordinary election in Moss (2023) and the subsequent re-election (2023). By using data from a survey and a subsequent statistical analysis, changes in turnout and party choice are examined. The results show that the re-election led to a significant change in both turnout and party references. There was a higher decline in voter turnout among the age groups 18-25 and 67+, where time, information, and availability are highlighted as decisive factors. Strategic voting was stated as the most decisive factor for the respondents’ change of political party, especially among younger voters. The article highlights the need for better logistics and information to ensure a high turnout in future re-elections.

Finally, In “Resonant Realities: Sound, Empathy, and Political Justice in Elizabeth Hay’s Late Nights on Air,” Jessie Wu explores the significance of sound in shaping identity and fostering empathy amidst the backdrop of declining radio relevancy in the Canadian North. Drawing principally on the works of Steven Connor, this essay contrasts the auditory development of Gwen Symon, who cultivates an “auditory self” — an inclusive identity that offers one a way of engaging with the world both subjectively yet “open[ly]” and “responsive[ly]” by “acknowledg[ing] […] [it] rather than violent[ly] alienat[ing] from it” (Connor)— through attentive listening and antiocularcentrism, with Dido Paris, whose emphasized visual appeal hinders her aural development. The essay extends its aural analysis to political justice, highlighting Judge Berger’s “sonic elicitation” (Harris) methodological approach to the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline hearings as an embodiment of sonic engagement. The essay posits that Hay’s novel underscores the transformative power of sound in both personal and collective contexts, aligning Gwen’s journey with the broader struggle for cultural and environmental preservation in the North.

We appreciate all the submissions we received in anticipation of this issue and the work of our editorial board. We are also especially grateful for the ongoing guidance and support of Professor Baird Jarman, our faculty advisor, in putting together this issue. Additionally, this publication would not have been possible without the expertise and patience of the Digital Humanities Team, who consistently take a collection of papers and turn them into the journal we bring you today. On behalf of our entire team, we hope you enjoy reading the Winter 2025 issue of the Undergraduate Journal of Humanistic Studies.