We’re excited to announce the three recipients of our 2024 Barnard Library Research Award: Frankie Pokorny, Mila Turner, and Dev Montanez. Each awardee will receive $3000 to help fund research projects that make use of our Zines, Archives, and Special Collections. The selection process was extremely competitive. Congratulations to all!
Meet the awardees:
Dev Montanez
Dev Montanez is a student, community organizer, cake-r and baker, DIY punk and administrative coordinator for the Kinsey Institute. They’re currently finishing their undergraduate degree at Indiana University Bloomington after a ten year hiatus from academia. She currently co-organizes Bloomington Buffy Prom, an annual anti-Valentine’s Day cover show, all ages party, and fundraiser for the only abortion fund in Indiana.
Dev’s research focuses on a historical lineage of queer and trans punk identities and norms, drawing on zines, queercore band multimedia, and ephemera in the Barnard Zine Library and Special Collections. This research will serve as a foundation to create a larger zine project, aimed at sparking conversation and interest in community groups to continue documenting their subcultures outside of the internet.
Frankie Pokorny
Frankie Pokorny (they/them) is a master's student in the American Studies program at Rutgers University - Newark and holds a B.A. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in both Gender & Women's Studies and Political Science. Their previous work centers around queer and lesbian histories, queer theory, print culture and history, and discourse analysis. This includes a zine exploring the genealogy of "The Lesbian" out of notions of lesbianism and womanhood and a senior thesis showcasing historical usages of "womyn" in the Champaign-Urbana lesbian communities. With this grant, Frankie will build upon their work on the historical relationships between lesbianism and womanhood through a study of gendered language usage in lesbian zines in the Barnard collections. Ultimately, the goal of their work is to create a digital exhibit for their master's capstone project that will utilize topic modeling to showcase how gender terminology tied to lesbianism has changed over time and the numerous instances of non-woman identified lesbians.
Mila Turner
Mila Turner is a sociologist, educator, and cultural commentator who specializes in exploring the intersections of culture, environment, and society through her research and writings. With a Ph.D. from Howard University, her recent work delves into Black resistance and expressions of dissent (e.g., graffiti, hair, music, vernacular art) that challenge institutional power structures. Her academic background, coupled with her activism, provides a unique perspective on societal dynamics.
With this grant, she will continue her research on campus movements by studying how Black women activists mobilized to advocate for their needs as well as an Afro-American studies major. She will explore materials related to the Barnard Organization of Soul and Solidarity (B.O.S.S.) and the lasting legacy of its early efforts.