{"653108":{"#nid":"653108","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Bunyak Successfully Defends Dissertation on Migrants, Cats, and Kudzu in Atlanta","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOn November 12, 2021,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hsoc.gatech.edu\/graduate\/phd-program\u0022\u003EHistory and Sociology of Technology and Science\u003C\/a\u003E (HSTS)\u0026nbsp;Ph.D. candidate Garrett Bunyak successfully defended his doctoral dissertation on\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EInvasions: \u0026quot;Othering\u0026quot; and the Social Control of Migrants, Cats, and Kudzu in Atlanta, Ga.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026quot;Although the notion of an invasion traditionally referred to military incursions, the dissertation outlines how discourses of invasion have come to shape 21st century efforts to legitimize state sovereignty, control borders, and define citizenship,\u0026quot; Bunyak wrote \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hsoc.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/garrett-bunyak\u0022\u003Ein his profile.\u003C\/a\u003E \u0026quot;Invasions shows how such gendered and racialized discourses serve contemporary logics of profit, security, and white nationalism. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBunyak\u0026#39;s dissertation committee included:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hsoc.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/bill-winders\u0022\u003EBill Winders\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(chair),\u0026nbsp;professor in the School of History and Sociology at Georgia Tech\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hsoc.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/mary-g-mcdonald\u0022\u003EMary G. McDonald\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(co-chair),\u0026nbsp;professor\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;Homer C. Rice Chair in Sports and Society in the School of History and Sociology at\u0026nbsp;Georgia Tech\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hsoc.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/jennifer-singh\u0022\u003EJennifer Singh\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor and\u0026nbsp;director of undergraduate studies in the School of History and Sociology at Georgia Tech\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hsoc.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/allen-hyde\u0022\u003EAllen Hyde\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the School of History and Sociology\u0026nbsp;at Georgia Tech\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/spp.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/robert-rosenberger\u0022\u003ERobert Rosenberger\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERead Bunyak\u0026#39;s abstract below, and\u0026nbsp;learn more about his previous research in our \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hsoc.gatech.edu\/graduate-student-publications-2020-2021\u0022\u003E2020-2021 graduate student timeline.\u003C\/a\u003E Bunyak also taught\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/serve-learn-sustain.gatech.edu\/class-power-and-inequality\u0022\u003EHST 3008 Class, Power, and Inequality\u003C\/a\u003E during his time at Tech and was named the HSOC 2020 Graduate Student Instructor of the Year.\u0026nbsp;He will graduate in the fall 2021 Commencement ceremony along with \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hsoc.gatech.edu\/news\/item\/649008\/clifton-morekis-successfully-defends-doctoral-dissertation\u0022\u003EDr. Clifton-Morekis\u003C\/a\u003E, who successfully defended her dissertation in July 2021.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECongratualtions, Dr. Bunyak!\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbstract\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInvasion metaphors are today commonly used to describe immigrants, refugees, non-human animal and plant species, viruses, and even ideas.\u0026nbsp;Despite the varied and widespread use of invasion narratives within and between species, mainstream research has underrepresented potential connections and relationships between such narratives.\u0026nbsp;In order to better understand the role of invasion metaphors, this dissertation draws on fields such as Critical Animal Studies (CAS), Ecofeminism, and Chicana Feminism while focusing on three case studies exploring the application of invasion metaphors to immigrants, feral cats, and kudzu in Atlanta, GA and surrounding communities.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the first case, I examine several competing narratives related to migration.\u0026nbsp;In the second case, I explore the ambivalent ways deployed to manage and control feral cats.\u0026nbsp;In the third case, I examine the history of the kudzu vine which covers millions of acres of land in the United States. I reveal the changing meanings U.S. scientific or \u0026ldquo;expert\u0026rdquo; claimsmakers have applied to this oft maligned vine.\u0026nbsp;I conclude the dissertation by putting the cases into conversation with one another.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe methods of analysis used in this dissertation are narrative and discourse analysis.\u0026nbsp;The data analyzed included a wide range of representations collected from sources including interviews, corporate media, independent media, social media, academic literature, and websites.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy analysis suggests invasion metaphors coarticulate to reproduce the inferiority and material exploitation of numerous \u0026ldquo;others\u0026rdquo; including migrants, nonhuman animals, plants, and all of \u0026ldquo;nature.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;Further, the dissertation highlights the interconnected roles the state, market, science, and technology play in the social control of people, animals, and \u0026ldquo;nature\u0026rdquo; more generally.\u0026nbsp;These findings not only shed additional light on such conditions, but perhaps more importantly help readers to imagine other possibilities.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ELet\u0026#39;s connect! Follow us on\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/hsoc-gatech\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ELinkedIn\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/techhsoc\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ETwitter\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/techhsoc\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EInstagram\u003C\/a\u003E, and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TechHSOC\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EFacebook\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;to keep up with our students, school news, and upcoming events!\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"History and Sociology of Technology and Science (HSTS)\u00a0Ph.D. candidate Garrett Bunyak successfully defended his doctoral dissertation on\u00a0\u0022Invasions: \u0027Othering\u0027 and the Social Control of Migrants, Cats, and Kudzu in Atlanta, GA.\u0022"}],"uid":"35766","created_gmt":"2021-11-23 17:09:13","changed_gmt":"2021-11-24 14:34:54","author":"dminardi3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2021-11-24T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2021-11-24T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"653109":{"id":"653109","type":"image","title":"Georgia Tech Ph.D. Commencement Ceremony","body":null,"created":"1637688787","gmt_created":"2021-11-23 17:33:07","changed":"1637688787","gmt_changed":"2021-11-23 17:33:07","alt":"student receiving their diploma at a GT PhD commencement ceremony","file":{"fid":"247731","name":"16 x 9 Aspect Ratio (61).png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/16%20x%209%20Aspect%20Ratio%20%2861%29.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/16%20x%209%20Aspect%20Ratio%20%2861%29.png","mime":"image\/png","size":940843,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/16%20x%209%20Aspect%20Ratio%20%2861%29.png?itok=TeQ62kpE"}}},"media_ids":["653109"],"groups":[{"id":"1288","name":"School of History and Sociology"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"365","name":"Research"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDi Minardi\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003Edi.minardi@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["dminardi3@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}