The Happiest Senior Thesis on Earth

Go ahead and snicker, it’s not like senior Andrew Nesi hasn’t endured his share of eye rolls over his decision to conduct serious research at Walt Disney World. 

This was no “Mickey Mouse” college road trip. Nesi, an American studies major and Glynn Family Honors Program scholar who maintains a 3.99 cumulative grade point average, received an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) grant supporting five days of research at “the happiest place on earth” after much strategic planning on his part.

He presented his findings May 1 during Notre Dame’s second annual Undergraduate Scholars Conference.

“During the fall of my junior year, I took Professor Susan Ohmer’s course ‘Disney in Film and American Culture,’ as well as ‘U.S. Environmental History’ with Professor Jon Coleman,” says Nesi, of Fairfield, Conn. “I decided to combine final research papers for the two classes by looking at the recreation and representation of nature at Walt Disney World. At the end of the semester, I decided to work with Professor Ohmer to develop the paper into my senior thesis.”

Of course, he enjoyed the rides and toured the park’s Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and EPCOT; however he also explored behind the scenes, interviewed Disney employees and spent a lot of time in the Orlando Public Library’s Disney Archive.

“I ended up focusing on Animal Kingdom and examined the way Disney navigates its often-competing claims of being a space for nature and amusement, as well as the educational and political messages associated with those choices,” he said.  “I wanted to know how Animal Kingdom could be both an authentic nature park and an authentic Disney park.”

Nesi determined that Disney, while aiming high with its environmental rhetoric, offers more entertainment than education and avoids controversial environmental issues, focusing instead on the dangers of poaching and logging.

“Instead of calling for meaningful change to laws or corporate behaviors, it relies on consumption − including attendance at the theme park − as the only effective means of civic participation with regard to the environment,” he said. “Also, while Disney claims to create a natural space in the theme park, it works to tightly control the movement and interactions of animals with guests and other animals.”

Nesi hopes his research sheds light on the environmental and political messages Disney sends and says his time there helped him grasp its massive impact.

“Perhaps no corporation plays a larger role in shaping American and global culture than Disney,” he said. “When Disney tackles an idea loaded with political meaning, as it does in Animal Kingdom, it serves as a pedagogical and political tool. By choosing particular causes to illuminate and telling particular narratives, Disney has the power to shape, reflect and reinforce our consciousness of nature and the place of humans therein.”

Nesi, who had secured an investment banking position at Merrill Lynch/Bank of America, has decided to defer that job to explore other possibilities, including international and domestic service opportunities.

In both the first year, and this year, of the Undergraduate Scholars Conference, Cecelia Lucero, assistant director for undergraduate research, has invited an alum to deliver a keynote address. Last year’s speaker, Dava Newman ’86, was an engineer and space suit designer. This year’s keynote speaker is novelist Michael Collins ’87, ’91 M.A.

“I thought it would be good to have a creative person be the keynote this year because it's important for students, and really the whole University community, to recognize the fine arts and other creative works as part of ‘undergraduate research,’ the life of the mind and intellectual pursuit,” Lucero says.

Or, as Nesi might say, there’s nothing Mickey Mouse about it.

           

Reprinted with permission from ND Works