Berkeley Undergraduate Journal: A Platform for Intellectual Inquiry

Established in 1987, the Berkeley Undergraduate Journal (BUJ) serves as a vital platform for showcasing undergraduate research and fostering intellectual discourse at the University of California, Berkeley. The journal embodies the university's commitment to academic excellence and encourages undergraduates to engage in rigorous inquiry, challenge established norms, and contribute meaningfully to their respective fields.

The Journal's Mission and Values

The Berkeley Undergraduate Journal operates on the principle that undergraduates are a principal strength of the University. The curiosity they bring to the classroom and the culture of discourse in which they participate is its lifeblood. The journal aims to preserve and extend the commitment of Berkeley students to intellectual inquiry, to asking the most uncomfortable questions, to insulting proprieties, to questioning and shaking beliefs, institutions and systems of long standing, and, if necessary, to disturbing the peace.

The journal recognizes that publishing a scientific manuscript brings you into a conversation happening between many members of the scientific community throughout the world everyday. Everyone has a unique human perspective to share in this conversation, and together we aim to understand and predict the human non-human world. This is science.

Open Access and Author Rights

The Berkeley Undergraduate Journal is an open-access journal, ensuring that all content is freely available to readers and institutions without charge. This commitment to open access promotes the widest possible dissemination of undergraduate research, allowing users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.

The journal's agreement with authors reflects a commitment to both promoting research and protecting the rights of student scholars. While authors grant the journal a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free right to publish, reproduce, publicly display, publicly perform, and distribute their work in perpetuity, they retain copyright and significant rights, including the right to reproduce and distribute the submission, post it in an institutional repository or personal web page, and include it in another work. The journal distributes submissions under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), ensuring proper attribution and preventing commercial use or derivative works.

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A Glimpse into Recent Publications (Volume 39, Issue 1, 2025)

Volume 39, Issue 1, published in 2025, exemplifies the diverse and impactful research conducted by Berkeley undergraduates. The issue features articles exploring complex and timely topics across various disciplines.

Exploring Current and Potential Solutions: The Rise of Deepfakes in Legislative, Legal, and Technological Arenas

This article examines the impact of deepfakes on intellectual property (IP) and trademark enforcement. The rapid rise of deepfake technology, driven by advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), presents significant challenges to intellectual property (IP) and trademark enforcement. Deepfakes, created using machine learning algorithms like Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), generate hyper-realistic yet entirely fabricated digital content. These deepfakes have complicated the already intricate landscape of IP protection-particularly on social media platforms-where misinformation, fraud, and privacy violations are growing concerns. As these technologies evolve and become more accessible, distinguishing between genuine and manipulated media has become increasingly difficult. It reviews federal and state legislative efforts and assesses the role of technology corporations in detecting and preventing deepfake content. To mitigate these challenges, the paper proposes a comprehensive approach that includes expanding legislative frameworks, enhancing judicial training, and investing in advanced detection technologies. It also emphasizes the importance of public awareness campaigns and the need for tech companies to enforce strict policies against deepfake misuse.

Divided, We Stand in Agreement: The Obstructive Role of National Identity in Contemporary Taiwanese Society

Jalene Chok's work delves into the complexities of national identity in Taiwan. In the international arena, “Taiwan” brings to mind the conflict between Chinese dominance and American hegemony. Discourse surrounding Taiwan itself centers on its independence or unification with China. In media and popular consciousness, Taiwan’s preference for independence or unification is attributed to a difference in national identities-“Chinese” or “Taiwanese.” This reductive view masks the unique ways in which individuals in Taiwan construct their national identities, particularly given the lack of agreed definitions for basic terminology such as “Taiwan” or “Taiwanese.” Yet, qualitative data shows that national identity has little practical relevance in society, as the general consensus is that peacekeeping via maintenance of the status quo is the only current logical course of action. Despite proof of the population’s pragmatic indifference towards national identity, Taiwan’s primary political parties, the Kuomintang (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) persist in upholding the reductive symbolic national identity as the representative issue in Taiwanese politics, overshadowing even uncontroversial questions of economic reform. In contrast, the recently-formed Taiwan People’s Party and their leader, Ke Wen-zhe, claim to offer a way out of this dichotomy, actively criticizing the KMT and DPP’s political theater. Indeed, most acknowledge the unproductively divisive power of symbolic national identity, and perceive economic questions to be the most urgent to address. Then, the unprecedentedly high level of youth support for Ke Wen-zhe, a first-time third-party candidate, in the 2024 presidential elections may be one visible manifestation of societal frustration towards the roadblock of national identity to social, economic, and political progress.

Movement or Moment?: Exploring the Modern Struggle for Democracy in Iran

Nadia Kazempoor examines the pro-democracy movements in Iran. In a time where democratic backsliding threatens the sanctity of our democratic strongholds, studies on the world’s would-be democracies have been placed on the back-burner. The Middle East has commonly been called a democracy desert: a region where the branches of democracy are incapable of taking root. Whether it be an inhospitable culture or the looming effects of colonial influence, the Middle East has existed in a democracy deficit since its inception following Sykes-Picot. Although semblances of democracy have taken place in various Middle Eastern countries, Iran has remained under authoritarian rule for centuries: from the Qajars to the Islamic regime. Despite wide-spread civil unrest, a lively civil society, and a diaspora who yearns for a democratic Iran, Iran has never democratized. Analyzing the two most modern pro-democracy movements in Iranian history, the 2009 Green Revolution and 2022 Women, Life, Freedom Movement, this paper seeks to explore why Iran has been unable to democratize.

Moved by the Immobile: A Phenomenological Study of the Moving Presence of Works in Alberto Giacometti’s Mature Period (1945-1966)

Erica Lizundia's thesis explores the art of Alberto Giacometti. The impetus of this thesis lies in the moving presence of the art of twentieth-century modern artist Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), understood in the literal and figurative senses of the word “movement.” Its focus is on the way Giacometti’s inanimate works animate their viewers-stirring, moving, and inviting them to move through, around, and alongside his works. In this way, I liken the moving presence of Giacometti’s art to the presence of a human before us. Aided by the insights of twentieth-century philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, readers will be moved to their own phenomenological experiences of Giacometti’s work. Formal studies will reveal the palpable relationships between stillness and movement as well as distance and proximity within Giacometti’s works’ texture, scale, and finally, his artistic process. Drawing upon both formal analysis and phenomenological aesthetic theory, I argue that Giacometti’s lifelong struggle to find an ending point to his works was his primary strength, in allowing his viewers to finish the works with their own eyes.

The Harms of Withdrawal

Camille Miner discusses Scanlon’s paradigm case of “Exit-Style Blame” (ESB), how Agnes Callard’s “co-valuing” framework makes sense of our relational obligations in relationships of attachment, how communicating one’s Strawsonian reactive attitudes is necessary for emotional vulnerability and valuing others, and why exit-style blame is wrong and fails to express our subjective experience and solidify relational expectations. Some may argue that reactive communication of blame will only incite unproductive counter-anger or that this argument wrongly prescribes behavior universally. Nevertheless, without communicating some degree of our reactive attitudes when we are subject to them, we fail to express what we find valuable or harmful in the actions of those closest to us. This exclusion of our emotional experience wrongs the recipient of ESB, as it fails two epistemic and one practical obligation we have in relationships of attachment. Epistemically, we are obliged to explain what actions elicited reactive attitudes and some degree of our subjective affective experience. And since those we are close to regularly rely on our support and valuing, we are practically obligated to grant an opportunity for the wrongdoer to apologize and make amends for their wrong.

Paths toward Sustainable Development in the 21st Century: A Comparative Analysis of “Exceptionalist” Development Models in Costa Rica and Kerala, India

Rohith A. Moolakatt analyzes paths toward sustainable development. In working to overcome the greatest challenges of the century, populous societies and governments have not properly recognized how to improve social conditions within the limits of our biosphere. In search of paths toward sustainable development in the 21st century, I analyzed two case studies known for their remarkable development outcomes: Costa Rica and the Indian State of Kerala. Publicly available data was used to visualize their development and sustainability progress over time. My analysis reveals that Costa Rica serves as a model for sustainable development, although its egregious overuse of agrochemicals is generally overlooked and must be replaced with regenerative agriculture practices. Although the success of the Kerala model is evident in the data, Kerala should not be considered a model of sustainable development due to its rampant pollution, limited economic opportunities, and overreliance on remittances sourced from unsustainable economies. Instead, I call for a continued study of Kerala as the Indian state transitions from development to sustainable development. Based on my findings, the developmental state emerges as a viable path for states worldwide to engage in sustainable development.

Characteristics and Effectiveness of Child Malnutrition Programs in the Philippines

Erika Rizal examines child malnutrition programs in the Philippines. Child malnutrition remains a persistent problem in the Philippines despite the steady implementation of government-sponsored nutrition programs and policies. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of child malnutrition programs in the Philippines. Six child malnutrition programs were examined in the Philippines through in-person interviews and literature reviews. A semi-structured interview guide was used to address four major topics about each program: background information; target population; implementation and challenges; and evaluation methods. This study presented each malnutrition program with its implementation approach and scope. The six programs were compared in their approaches toward health education, feeding, gardening, and medical treatment. Five of these programs teach nutrition education, two of which cover health topics beyond nutrition. In regard to feeding, two programs provide malnourished children with ready-to-use-therapeutic-food (RUTF). Of the six programs, three utilize gardening to tackle malnutrition. Two programs provide medical treatment to malnourished children. Additionally, each program’s funding, partnerships, and evaluation methods were gathered and analyzed. All programs are funded by the Philippine government, with two receiving additional funding from international organizations. Four programs possess methods to evaluate their effectiveness, but data collection and analysis vary widely. Malnutrition programs in the Philippines face challenges in terms of funding, partnerships, and evaluation methods. The findings highlight the critical role of international funding and partnerships in improving program effectiveness and sustainability. Moreover, this study highlights the need for a robust evaluation system involving key stakeholders to identify areas for improvement and to tailor interventions to meet specific community needs.

From People's Park Annex to Ohlone Park: The Wandering Body and Accessible Park Space

Yuqi Tian's paper focuses on disability access in urban greenspace. This paper focuses on disability access in urban greenspace through the case study of Ohlone Park in Berkeley, California. Initially built as People’s Park Annex in the 1960s, Ohlone Park was used as an alternative space for political activism after the first closing of People’s Park. This paper argues that the development pattern of Ohlone Park as a controlled public space away from its radical past suggests an anticipation of an idealized type of user that occupies the park as a temporary recreational area, which perpetuates the exclusion of disabled and unhoused bodies in the park. This idealization extends to the questions of bodies and space as well as perpetuates the hypervisibility of crip movement. The combination of lawn and lane in the park suggests that the dichotomy of nature and culture in landscape design is inter-perpetual with the imagination of an able-bodied walker. This paper explores how the question of body underlies themes including elements of nature in the built environment, history of the Free Speech Movement, and different forms of moving through greenspaces.

The Rise of QAnon: Mechanical Solidarity in the Age of Organic Solidarity

This article explores the rise of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Capitol and, in many ways, American democracy itself. QAnon, a conspiracy centered around the clandestine activities of the elite, was a key group in the attack. Since then, QAnon has featured in many headline-worthy national crimes, including multiple attempts to harm elected officials. While there is value in questioning how QAnon became so powerful, it is more instructive to consider why people are compelled to live, die, and kill for an ideology so outrageous. In this paper, I ask why pockets of mechanical solidarity exist within societies governed by organic solidarity. Following Émile Durkheim’s theory of social solidarity, I interrogate QAnon’s rise and conclude that QAnon exists within two large organic societies-the United States and the internet writ large. However, QAnon exists as a pocket of mechanical solidarity, and its rise is deeply connected to how people seek out and choose their communities. By comparing Durkheim’s theories to those of other scholars, I find that the supposedly anachronistic presence of mechanical solidarity distills a question of trust. I posit the idea that certain people have an affinity for supported trust, naturally occurring in mechanical solidarity. Simultaneously, the unique landscape of platform capitalism exaggerates feelings of rapid change while disseminating sensational and bias-confirming information.

The Editorial Team: A Collaborative Force

The Berkeley Undergraduate Journal is managed by a team of dedicated undergraduate editors who bring diverse skills and perspectives to the publication process. Each editor contributes an excellent work ethic, a positive attitude, a collaborative mindset, and a willingness to learn. The team includes individuals with expertise in various areas of psychology and related fields.

Examples of editors and their interests:

Dana: A third-year Interdisciplinary Studies major focusing on cognitive science and education, with a particular interest in the psychology of storytelling and early childhood mathematical cognition.
Katherine: A fourth-year psychology major minoring in Latin, researching cognitive and perceptual psychology and applying to graduate school.
Nada: A senior psychology major interested in clinical psychology, with a focus on personality and developmental psychology.
Andrew: With eclectic interests including the psychology of creativity and mood disorders, love, neuroplasticity, and people’s (in)ability to change themselves.
Kalley: A Junior at UC Berkeley, studies Psychology and Computer Science. She spends her time promoting the mission of the Journal, absorbing new exciting course material, designing and implementing fun cs side projects, and exploring the local cuisine with her roommates.
Anna: A third-year psychology major interested in clinical neuroscience, working as a research assistant and counselor.

Supporting Undergraduate Research

The Berkeley Undergraduate Journal plays a crucial role in supporting undergraduate research at UC Berkeley. The psychology publications workshop encourages undergraduate participation in the broader academic community by promoting sophisticated undergraduate research and active involvement with other aspiring undergraduate researchers. By providing a platform for students to publish their work, the journal fosters intellectual growth, encourages scholarly engagement, and prepares students for future academic and professional endeavors.

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