2009 AWARDS
Andrés Bello Award: Hannah Donoghue
Offered by the Consul of Chile to a senior who has excelled in Spanish.
Wendy Berson Language Award: Amanda Pastyrnak
Given to a senior who has demonstrated excellence in the area of Romance Languages in general, but more specifically, to one with the ability to speak one or more of them with great expertise.
Princess Grace of Monaco Award: Elisabel Santos
Offered by the Consul of Monaco, in conjunction with the Consul of Chile, to a senior who has excelled in French.
The Figurito Family Award for Scholarly Achievement in Italian: Joseph A. Forgione
Presented in the name of Joseph Figurito, Professor of French and Italian at Boston College for one half a century, to a student for scholarly achievement in Italian.
RLL Honors Theses
Hannah Donoghue
Thesis Director: Prof. Elisa Rhodes
Paradigms of Representation in Three Films about Immigration
Although this fact has to date escaped the notice of critics, contemporary films about immigration embody distinct paradigms of representation, which suggest a recurrent pattern within this specific film genre. Three in particular, which treat Central American immigration into the U.S. and sub-Saharan African immigration into Spain, exemplify these paradigms: Alambrista (dir.Robert Young; 1977), El norte (dir. Gregory Nava; 1983), and Las Cartas de Alou (dir. Montxo Armendáriz; 1990). Three facets of this generic paradigm are (1) illumination as a signifying technique; (2) the conflict between realityand mythology in the immigrant experience; and (3) the theme of identity
in the immigrant context. Significantly, to date, all directors of films of immigration have been from the dominant group of the country that receives the immigrants. This inevitably entails a problematic relationship between the director and the film; consequently, this project suggests the need for further exploration of the message that each director conveys about the experience of immigration and immigrants themselves.
Alexander Ramos
Thesis Director: Prof. Harry Rosser
The Children's Stories of Horacio Quiroga
This thesis offers a literary analysis of the children's stories of Uruguayan author Horacio Quiroga and seeks to identify literary differences from Quiroga's short stories of adult fiction that maintain themes of death, mortality, and the human perceptions of and interactions with nature. Cartas de un cazador and Cuentos de la selva establish a unique mode of didacticism that functions to mature an adolescent reader without using absolute directives to impose a particular reading onto a story. These children's stories are far from being forgotten and are still read in the schools of Latin America.
Anastasia Semel
Thesis Director: Prof. Irene Mizrahi
"Fathers and Sons: An Analysis of the Paternal-Filial Relationship from Calderon's 17th Century La vida es sueno to Barroso's 20th Century film Extasis."
This thesis investigates the theme of power in the paternal-filial relationship as portrayed in Calderon's Golden Age play La vida es sueno and the Mariano Barroso's 1998 film Extasis. This analysis discusses the distinct roles that the father and son play in their tenuous relationship. The investigation focuses on the son's struggle to form an identity separate from his father's and the father's reluctance to relinquish his position of authoritarian power.
French Book Awards
Kim Addison, Rachel Banke, Nitchel Bastien, Claire Duggan, Victoria Farrell, Jill Forgash, Chris Griesedieck, Melissa Hartge, Maureen Keegan, Courtney Kipp, Viviane Knierim, Erica Lewis, Luigi Manzini, Emma Marr, Caitlin McGovern, Alexandra Mitropoulos, Katharine Moore, Mia Neagle, Alex Nerguizian, Lisbeth O'Brien, Lindsay Oliver, Elisabel Santos, Christopher Terris, Christine Turner, Kelly Yeda, Peter Zimmermann
Italian Book Awards
Danielle Auriemma, Jessica Calandra, Joseph Forgione, Kelsey Garrison, Lauren Gaspary, Meghan Lane, Justin Sileo, Lucie Toutain, Shauna Twohig, Alexandra Ward
Hispanic Studies Book Awards
Sebastian Amaya, Cecilly Brennan, Alison Chou, Christopher Lemming, Brittany Lewis, Caitlin Lortie, John Lowell, Anne Matsko, Katherine McBride, Charles Miller, Amanda Pastyrnak, Christopher Rakovec, Stephen Rice, Alyssa Rivera, Colin Ryan, Daniel Safavi, Thomas Smeallie, Joseph Turnage, Jose Vilaro, Laura Zapata
Sophomore Scholars
Laura Amrein, Hispanic Studies Major
Kathryn Goettl, French Major
Erin Daley, French Major, Economics Major
DEAN'S SCHOLARS
Claire Duggan, French Major, Sociology Major
Courtney Kipp, French Major, Theology Major
Joseph Forgione, Biology Major, Italian Major
PEER ADVISORS
Carly DeFilippo, French Major
Amanda Pastyrnak, Hispanic Studies, Political Science Major
Miriam Michalczyk, Italian Major