'21 Fellows
Class of 2021 Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program Fellows
Chioma Anomnachi
Advisor: Rachel Buurma
Chioma Anomnachi is a senior from Washington, DC double majoring in English Literature and Computer Science. She researches African American Literature, specifically relating to Afrofuturism and Science Fiction, and the emerging field of the Digital Humanities. This past summer, she carried out an independent research project exploring themes of collectivism and individualism in the Aforfuturist literary canon. This year, she is serving as an executive board member for Colors, Swarthmore's student group for queer and trans students of color. She is also working with Swarthmore Libraries both as co-coordinator of the Black Cultural Center Library and as a lib/lab fellow, a program designed to explore the theory and practice of digital scholarship through interdisciplinary projects. She spent the spring of 2020 studying literature at the University of Cape Town, though her journey was cut short by the global pandemic. After graduating from Swarthmore College, she hopes to continue to explore the intersections of technology and the humanities in a graduate program.
Paul Buchanan
Advisor: Anthony Foy
Paul is a senior at Swarthmore College completing degrees in Black Studies, English, and Peace and Conflict Studies. He is interested in Black literature, specifically depictions of Black trauma in literature. Last summer, he began research on a project centering these topics, as well as a collection of chapbooks focusing on themes of racial identity, sexuality, violence, loss, and nature. This year, he plans to write a thesis based on his research, as well as continue the chapbook collection with the aim of creating a book length project. After graduation, he plans to continue his education in pursuit of an MFA and PhD.
Fiorenza Herrera Diaz
Advisor: Sa'ed Atshan
Fiorenza Herrera Diaz is a senior double majoring in Economics and Peace & Conflict Studies. She is an intern at the Center for Innovation and Leadership, where she connects her passion for social change with innovation. Her academic and research interests range from voter suppression, mass incarceration, and the criminalization of immigrants. She spent the summer of 2020 researching the criminalization of immigrants under the 287(g) program, which gives participating local law enforcement agencies the power to enforce federal immigration law. Upon graduation, she hopes to enter a master’s program in public policy or international relations.
Sierra Mondragón
Advisor: Bruce Dorsey
Sierra Mondragón is a senior from Santa Fe, New Mexico and is a Special Honors major in Indigenous Interdisciplinary studies and a major in History. Sierra’s research centers on the connections between the historic and literary narratives of Indigenous, Hispanic, and Black women and their ability to use healing in order to confront systemic violence. This summer Sierra did archival research and interviews with grassroots organizations run by and for Pueblo Indigenous women. This year, Sierra will develop a Directed Reading course on Native American literature and begin her Directed Creative Writing project, which will center on issues of family, mixed Indigenous/Hispanic heritage, and the legacy of Southwest history. She recently published the debut cover story for voicesmedia.org about Lakota marathon runner Jordan Daniel and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis. Sierra plans to pursue a graduate program that focuses on her research interests so that she may later teach Indigenous history and literature.
Naomi Park
Advisor: Madalina Meirosu
Naomi Park is a senior from Flushing, NY double majoring in English Literature and Computer Science. Her research interests are in the presence of gender theory and literary theory in science fiction. She spent the summer of 2019 doing independent research familiarizing herself with the work of Octavia Butler and examining it under the framework of feminist theorist Donna Haraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto”. In the summer of 2020, she did independent research on techno-Orientalism in contemporary works of science fiction. She also has a passion for languages and has studied Spanish, French, Latin, and Arabic. Outside of academics and Mellon Mays, Naomi is editor-in-chief emeritus for Swarthmore’s only print newspaper, The Phoenix. After graduating, she hopes to pursue a graduate degree involving English literature in an interdisciplinary manner.
