Thank you for visiting my Humanities Portfolio!
My name is Bea Marchesani and I am a first-year student at Davidson College.
In my Humanities class this semester, I explored key sources from a number of historical settings in order to better understand this year’s theme: Justice. As I read and wrote, I had the privilege of learning from professors of Africana Studies, History, Political Science, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Art History, and Dance and Performance Studies.
Over the course of the semester, I took a particular interest in how justice is shaped by what is not there. For this reason, I chose “Absence” as the theme of my Portfolio. I hope that you keep the weight of empty space in mind as you navigate my work.
I suggest that you begin to explore my website in this order:
- Watch my Nontextual Something New: The Shape of Justice. Read the description below it.
- In a split-screen tab, open up my Definition of Justice. Read the definition with the video beside it.
- Explore! Where readings and concepts have directly connected to each other, I have embedded links on the site. Not every page is linked within another page, so you should also use the menu at the top of the website to navigate. To go directly to an assignment, hover over the drop-down menu and select the one you would like to see. For a fun, absence-related surprise, click the general category name without viewing the drop-down menu.
In this portfolio, I have defined justice and created my own sources that take a deeper look at what is and is not included in two artistic representations of justice. Throughout the semester, I annotated various class texts (and non-texts) and kept a key terms journal of words and concepts that appeared across several sources. I also attended campus events and wrote about their impacts on the Davidson community and myself. Finally, be sure to check out my research paper and other writing assignments! At the top of each page, I have drawn connections between individual writings and my theme of Absence.
If you notice anything missing from this portfolio, I ask you to view that as an intentional choice.
Absence is a tool of illumination!
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the professors of the Humanities Program at Davidson College: Dr. Wills, Dr. Wiemers, Dr. O’Geen, Dr. Bory, Dr. Jankovic, Dr. Corso-Equivel, and Dr. Lipsker. I would also like to thank the 2025-2026 Humanities fellows for their support, especially Julia Holt and Sarah Tabor.
