No More False Heavens: In the Wake of Campus Sexual Violence

Author

Destry Sibley, The Graduate Center, City University of New YorkFollow

Date of Degree

9-2017

Document Type

Capstone Project

Degree Name

M.A.

Program

Liberal Studies

Advisor

Carrie Hintz

Subject Categories

Digital Humanities | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Nonfiction | Women's Studies

Keywords

Feminist autobiography, data visualization, campus rape, sexual violence, life writing

Abstract

This project [https://arcg.is/0zy0eb] explores the crisis of sexual assault on college campuses. The project draws on a collective "biography" of women students and their experiences, as well as creative writing and data visualization. It exists on the web and uses a mix of media -- data interactives, photographs, writing, audio, video, and annotated text are all possible mediums. (Only audio is collected from interviewees.)

Through this project I seek to consider issues of gender and inclusion within a college institution, with a particular focus on the built environment of the campus as metaphor. How does the architecture of a shared academic institution influence the psychological and physical experiences of its students? What is the relationship, if any, between the act of those students' shared intimate stories and the changes that result to their built physical space? How does the psychological healing of individuals contribute to the creation of safer shared physical spaces? And how might personal storytelling, safety, and physical space be reimagined in the digital age? These questions can be considered personally, sociologically, through data, or through literature. The project moves beyond reliance on any one epistemological form. The anecdotal stories shared in written and spoken personal accounts are reinforced by data visualizations that reflect broader components of the sexual assault issue. The broader perspective seen through the data analysis is made concrete by archival materials found from my own undergraduate alma mater.

Comments

Online component hosted at: https://arcg.is/0zy0eb

Recommended Citation

Sibley, Destry, "No More False Heavens: In the Wake of Campus Sexual Violence" (2017). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2430