Hannah Drexler

Project Title: The Politics of Naming and Labeling

Project Description: My project examines names and labels, and the act of assigning them, as a political phenomenon with psychological and sociological consequences. I seek to understand how labeling provides individuals and communities with an identity, how labeling creates relationships of power between those who assign these markers and those who receive them, and how an individual’s perception of the world around them is manipulated by the identifying labels or names they encounter. Ultimately, I hope to discover the political force behind these symbols to understand conflicts that occur for reasons beyond economics.

Most Important Accomplishment: Still to come.

Reflections on the College Scholar Program: The College Scholar Program has been a highly rewarding experience for me. I’ve learned research skills that will improve the research I can do in my short time at Cornell and I’ve connected with a close group of peers with academic passions all throughout the university space. Through conversations with classmates in our seminar and with my faculty advisors, I’ve gained valuable new perspectives on my own interests that have pushed me to think about my studies in thoughtful, creative ways.