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Still Awaiting Justice: An Analysis On The Impact Of Anti-Immigrant Sentiment On The Reproductive Autonomy Of Migrant Women, Annays Esperanza Yacaman

Senior Independent Study Theses

My research aims to explain the impact of anti-immigrant sentiment on the reproductive autonomy of migrant women. Legislators typically act as their constituents feel on a certain issue, so I aimed to explore how legislators responded with legislation when their constituents held higher levels of anti-immigrant sentiment, hypothesizing that this would lead to more legislation limiting the reproductive autonomy of migrant women. I explore topics of eugenics and how anti-immigrant sentiment has led to modern day eugenics.

My hypothesis did not manifest itself in the expected way, but the results do provide evidence for a causal link between legislation meant …

Desperate Democrats In The Reagan Revolution: A Party Determined To Win The White House, Matthew Maxwell Akins

Senior Independent Study Theses

Bill Clinton’s 1992 election to the presidency as a Democrat ended a series of defeats for that party on the presidential level. Clinton may have won the White House, but he did not do it alone. In the decade before his victory, the “New Democrats” worked to moderate the Democratic Party from within, responding to the presidential losses of 1980, 1984, and 1988. Scholars have explored this topic from many angles, but none have explored it from the perspective of these “New Democrats” in a way that traces their story from Al From and Gillis Long to the DLC and …

Ethnic Nationalism In Postcolonial Disputes: The Epistemic Re-Evaluation Of Interest-Driven Knowledge Claims, Hahyeon Lee

Senior Independent Study Theses

This thesis combines the disciplines of political science and philosophy to illuminate the conceptual links between ethnic nationalism, postcolonial disputes, and epistemology. In doing so, it proposes a novel understanding of postcolonial disputes that moves beyond the politics of national sentiments and socially constructed historical memory to one that also recognizes the epistemic stakes in the contestation. To this end, the research question is stated as, “If postcolonial disputes are intensified by ethnic nationalism, are postcolonial disputes an instance of epistemic subjectivism?” To answer the question, the thesis pursues two objectives (the empirical and the philosophical) that ultimately tie in …

The Nana Yaa Asantewaa War: Analysis Of The Political Institutions Of The Asante During The War Of The Golden Stool And The Existing Narratives, Angela Danso Gyane

Senior Independent Study Theses

The War of the Golden Stool was the last in the Anglo-Asante Wars, where the Asante fought against the British colonial agenda. According to the Asante oral history, Nana Yaa Asantewaa was at the forefront of this war. She was the commander, but most of the literature to not reflect this oral history. Therefore, this study seeks to address two essential questions: how did gender dynamics in the Asante Kingdom's political system shape their Resistance against the British in 1900- 01? Moreover, how does the analysis of oral histories from the matrilineal culture of the Asante decenter Western narratives of …

La Isla Silenciada: A Study On Puerto Rican Attitudes Towards The U.S. Federal Government’S Response To Hurricane Maria And Its Impact On Puerto Rico’S Status, Lizbeth Acevedo

Senior Independent Study Theses

Puerto Rico’s ongoing economic crisis and the inadequate emergency response to the devastation of Hurricane Maria are deeply tied to the island’s neo-colonial political arrangement with the United States. The two-principle alternative political arrangements—statehood and independence—are the subject of vigorous ongoing debate both on the U.S. mainland and the island. However, the results of periodic plebiscites on the island are often poor indicators of the island residents’ true preferences on the matter because they are often subject to politicization and abstention campaigns. Therefore, I use a survey with a representative sample of island residents conducted in the aftermath of Hurricane …

The Somewhere We Wish Were Nowhere: Dystopian Realities And (Un)Democratic Imaginaries, Benjamin B. Taylor

Senior Independent Study Theses

How do political practices influence mass culture? Conversely, how does mass culture influence political practice? This project addresses these questions by turning to the concepts of utopia and dystopia. Imagined utopic and dystopic visions express both the hopes and anxieties of the societies producing them. Dystopias also highlight the mechanisms of power that function within particular social orders. Through readings of Lois Lowry’s The Giver and Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, I demonstrate how utopia and dystopia function and how we can respond to dystopic realities by theorizing solutions that are more conducive to the …

***Blksavage: A Study On The Elements Of Traditional Radical Black Political Theories & Their Contributions To Contemporary Black Political Thought, Jestin B. Kusch

Senior Independent Study Theses

What mechanisms of the Traditional Radical Black Political Theorists' ideologies have crossed into Contemporary Black Political Thought, and how can these elements contribute to the progression of African Americans and racial equality in the United States, today? I approach the theorists (Malcolm X; Huey Newton; Angela Davis; Tupac Shakur; and Patricia Hill Collins) from a historical/ theoretical perspective, while avoiding narrative explanations of each individuals lives. My goal In this study was to do a critical comparative analysis - both within the respective times (1960-1985; 1985-present), and through a cross time analysis to answer my research question. I finally offer …

Armed With An Easel: Understanding Artistic Political Praxis Through The Works Of Theodor Adorno And Chantal Mouffe, Evelyn Yu Yu Swe

Senior Independent Study Theses

This Independent Study is divided into four chapters. The first chapter examines the role of capitalism in the formation of our culture. The argument presented here is that culture plays an important role in reinforcing modern neoliberal capitalism and that neoliberal capitalism has massive control over the dissemination of culture and the arts. The chapter concludes that it is necessary to utilize socio-cultural means in combating the influence of capitalism, and there does indeed exist emancipatory potential in artistic political praxis.

The second chapter focuses on Theodor Adorno’s aesthetic theory in articulating his conception of the emancipatory potential of art. …

Valuing The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: A Defense Of Countercultural Environmentalism, Mae Manupipatpong

Senior Independent Study Theses

No abstract provided.