Alexa Rojas, ELTS minor in Italian Studies
Alexa Rojas, an undergraduate minor in Italian Studies, has been awarded two major prizes: The Velli Prize given by the American Boccaccio Association and the Keck Humanities scholarship. The Velli Prize comes from research Rojas developed as part of Professor Roberta Morosini’s Italian 102A class and will be presented in October at the Boccaccio conference co-sponsored by ELTS. Rojas is a Psychobiology and Sociology double major with minors in CESC and ELTS with Italian. Her project, “Do Clothes make the (Wo)man?”, explores the role of clothing in The Decameron as a means of expressing both outward characteristics and inner identity — whether that identity is consciously chosen or externally imposed. Through a close reading of several stories, she examines how clothing reflects and constructs identity. She says that she was drawn to this particular topic because of its relevance to contemporary conversations around immigration, where clothing often serves as the first — and sometimes only — marker of identity and privilege. Clothing transcends language and remains a powerful form of communication, both in Boccaccio’s time and today.