Digital Commons Network^™

Through The Eyes Of Greek Cypriots And Turkish Cypriots: The Perception Of Cyprus, Mary N. Olin

Dissertations and Theses

It is important to consider the effects of past conflicts on the current perceptions of the people of Cyprus and of the future generations. This thesis contends that the ongoing division of Cyprus along with the many unresolved issues regarding past conflicts have had a profound effect on how the people of Cyprus perceive new information in regard to their future. The inquiry will explore the historical background of Cyprus and the affects of nationalism. The need for enemies, large group identity, divided societies and the need for dialogue will also be examined in relation to perception and new information. …

Violence Against Women In Pakistan, Amina Bath

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Systems At Play: The Construction Of International Systems In Social Impact Games, Jorge Albor

Master's Theses

This thesis explores how game makers conceive of and navigate the intersection between digital systems and real world systems by asking, how can social impact game designers shape procedural rhetoric to effectively address complex real world systems with digital systems? By examining three game case studies, I reach four significant findings regarding player agency, subversive play, design approaches to scale, and game difficulty in regards to systems fluency.

Divergent Discourses: Development Knowledge And Malian Family Planning, Savannah A. Thompson

Master's Theses

I propose that in order to approach corrective recommendations for family planning initiatives an examination of initiative fitness is necessary. Using a Foucauldian approach, this analysis identifies the discursive formations (ideologies) at work in centralized family planning in order to elucidate the female normative model for whom initiative programs are constructed. This norm is contrasted with the lived experiences of Malian women in order to determine if the ideology dictating family planning structures is suitable for the local population. When combined with existing analyses of family planning structures and outcomes, this research helps triangulate family planning in a three-dimensional space, …

Fundamental Rights In Latin America A Comparative Study Addressing Human Rights Violations In Venezuela, Colombia, And Argentina, Maria Eugenia Rios

HIM 1990-2015

Over the last few decades the importance of human rights has increased considerably in international relations. With globalization and democratization, more states and individuals develop concerns about the fundamental rights every human is entitled to; regardless of sex, religion and ethnicity. Latin American countries began obtaining their independence over 200 years ago while progressing into becoming working democracies. Yet, they have been plagued by oscillating authoritarian regimes and social conflicts that constrain and inhibit their hopeful development. The majority of the Latin American states have reached a point where further positive growth was expected; yet human violations have taken a …

Bringing The Outside In: An Examination Of Non-Governmental Aid Organizations In Buenos Aires, Elisabeth B. Tilstra

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Muslim Women And The West: Faith, Feminism, And The Quest For Gender Equality, Kelly Haller

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For centuries the West has seen the Muslim woman as an entire group of people in need of saving. Lacking a thorough understanding of Islam and an incredibly diverse Middle Eastern society, Western powers endeavored to shape women of the Middle East into secular, modern examples of "liberated" women. Completely unacknowledged in this pursuit are the grass roots movements that emerged out of nationalist movements in the early twentieth century. An attempt to understand why the West is so incredibly fascinated by Muslim is undertaken in this scholarly pursuit. Additionally, a case study on the nation of Egypt shows not …

Rethinking Justice In Transitional Justice: An Examination Of The Mãori Conception And Customary Mechanism Of Justice, Stephanie Vieille

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

As a relatively young field of academic inquiry, the transitional justice scholarship presents some important difficulties, not least of which is its lack of critical evaluation of the approaches to justice it adopts and promotes. This research argues that the framework used in the transitional justice scholarship is ill-suited to account for, and to think about, the philosophy of justice embodied in customary mechanisms of justice. It explains that the type of “justice” embodied in customary mechanisms of justice is difficult to appreciate by using the retributive, reparative, and the restorative approaches. These Western, individualistic and legally based approaches are …

The Performance Of Intercultural Communication: China's "New Face" And The 2008 Beijing Olympics, Patrick Shaou-Whea Dodge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores Chinese communication practices. I focus on the performance of intercultural communication and how the "New Face" of China was performed to the world and in day-to-day intercultural communication encounters during the 2008 Olympics. I analyze the Olympic Volunteer Training Manual as performative text as well as interviewed Beijing Olympic volunteers about their encounters with international visitors. Specifically, I discuss why the Olympics were a crucial moment for China to unveil its "New Face" to the world, what the "New Face" of China entails, and the reasons why China is in need of a new image on the …

The Absent Empire: The United States And The South American Regional Subsystem, Carlos Gustavo Poggio Teixerira

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The United States often acted in Latin America as an empire. Nevertheless, there has been an obvious dissimilarity between US actions in South America and US actions in the rest of Latin America, which is illustrated by the fact that the United States never sent troops to invade a South American country. While geographic distance and strategic considerations may have played a role, they provide at best incomplete explanations for US relative absence south of Panama. The fact that the United States has had a distinct pattern of interactions with South America is thus not captured by the typical concept …

Social Trust In Contemporary Rural China: Its Sources And Impacts On Public Goods Provision, Narisong Huhe

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Social trust, as an essential element of political culture, is assumed to strongly affect the effectiveness of political institution. However, such studies in non-democratic settings are scarce, and even scarcer in the Chinese context. This dissertation, using data drawn from an original survey in rural China, examines the extent, sociopolitical origins, and political consequences of social trust in China. The results suggest that China has a unique pattern of social trust owing to its dual Confucian and Communist heritages. While trusts in relatives, neighbors, kinsman, and other villagers (i.e., particularized trust) are extensive, trust in strangers (generalized trust) is scarce. …

Intercultural Competency Training For Semester At Sea, Leah Charbonneau

Capstone Collection

Semester At Sea, a comparative education study abroad program, is a unique experience that provides participants an opportunity to challenge their worldview. Semester At Sea cultivates opportunities beyond the classroom to explore issues of culture and identity. However, little training is provided to give participants the tools to navigate in intercultural contexts.

The proposed Semester At Sea (SAS) Intercultural Competency Training (ICT) program will offer a semester-long intensive training program with the purpose of providing participants with a foundation in intercultural competency and sensitivity. The purpose of the SAS ICT design is to incorporate experiential educational practices and classroom learning …

Emerging Youth Leaders: A Redesign Of A Two-Way Youth Exchange Between The Us And Senegal, Aspen L. Felt

Capstone Collection

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is increasingly focused on youth exchange programs to build bridges of understanding between peoples and address ongoing social, environmental, and political challenges in an increasingly globalized world. The Emerging Youth Leaders program is a unique Department of State exchange program that brought a group of thirty Senegalese and American students together for 6 weeks in Dakar and the San Francisco Bay Area in the summer of 2010 around the themes of democracy and governance in civil society. Over the course of the U.S. based portion of the program I …

Groundwater Research In Middle Earth, Thomas Lapoint

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

My senior project focused on studying saltwater intrusion in a coastal town of New Zealand. I feel lucky that I was able to travel to such a distant place, conduct research that was insightful and interesting, and immerse myself in an international culture all in the name of my education. As a Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies student, I aim to analyze not only the cultural differences and similarities that the foreign environment offers to me but also the detailed, technical, engineering aspect of my research. I believe that my education should be approached with a well rounded perspective that …

Chilean Education & A Radical Atmosphere Of Change, Kelly Scheuer

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Iraqs Post-War Failure: A Result Of Special Interests, Gordon D. Butler

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the causation for entrance and failure of the American intervention in Iraq. While it is commonly understood that President Bush’s insistence on preventing further atrocities after September 11th was a major motivation for launching the war, there exist many more players hidden from the public eye that contributed to the decision. Collaborating as collected special interests, these individuals often manipulated the public agenda, bent factual evidence to their favor, and sold the war to an ignorant American public. As a result, proper planning for post-war reconstruction and the assurance of stable democratic growth after the fall of …

Is Turkey Turning Away From The West?, Saghar Hamidzade

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to answer the question of whether Turkey is turning away from its traditional western allies and reorienting itself towards the Middle East. The first chapter examines Turkey’s past, particularly the legacy of the Ottoman era, the Kemalist period, and the Cold War era, in order to its historical foundations. The second chapter analyzes the changes on the Turkish domestic scene from 1950 up to today. The focus of this chapter is on the Kemalists’ repression of democracy and the social and political shift among much of the population in reaction to their suppressive ways. …

Cultural Definitions Of Health Care: A Case Study Of Burmese Refugees, Marielena Rose White

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

As a result of ongoing civil war and civil unrest in the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar, every year the United States accepts increasing numbers of refugees from Burma of which there is a population of significance within the greater Indianapolis area. When considering options for health care, Burmese refugees may opt for self care as opposed to care from a health care professional as a result of clashing cultural factors or fears of the unknown.

This study aims to uncover how members of the Chin ethnic group have been challenged or confronted by the social, cultural, and political institutions …

Working For Change: Gender Inequality In The Labor Force In Japan, South Korea, And Taiwan, Rebecca C. Tompkins

Senior Theses and Projects

Gender inequality in the labor force is a persistent global problem. Because equality in labor is thought to be key to reversing overall gender inequality, attention to factors affecting the status of women in the labor force (the gender wage gap, female labor force participation, occupational sex segregation, etc.) is crucial to addressing overall gender inequality. Though the effects of labor force inequality are more visible in the culturally similar, highly industrialized, and otherwise highly developed countries of East Asia than in the West, the contrast in the conditions of these indicative factors among Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan may …

Old Actors, New Drama: Chinese Engagement With Africa And The Implications For The United States, Megan Ruth Wanee

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Informal Economy And Women In Latin America, Maria Rein

Honors Capstone Projects - All

My project addresses the issues surrounding the informal economy in Latin America specifically as it pertains to Latin American women. Though my biggest difficulty was the lack of official statistics of an informal economy, I was able to perform my research through an in depth analysis of many other documents concerning social, cultural, economic and political factors. The first part of my research addressed the definition of an informal economy and how it is measured. Importantly, it distinguishes between an “illegal” informal economy and a “proper” informal economy, with most of my research relating to the “proper” informal economy. I …

The Pinochet Project: A Nation’S Search For Truth Memory Struggles In Post-Pinochet Chile, Christine Mehta

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Chile has fought for 21 years to overcome General Augusto Pinochet’s violent legacy, but moving past the pervasive influence of Pinochet’s 17-year reign is a difficult task, even today. The following work is an investigation on memory, and Chile’s struggle to come to terms with its memory of the dictatorship. The key questions asked are: How do Chileans remember the dictatorship? What does each individual’s memory mean to the collective whole? Why is confronting the past important to Chile’s future?

The investigation is divided into two parts: a journalistic portion in which individual accounts are highlighted, and an academic thesis …

Media Bias In Covering The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: With A Case Study Of Bbc Coverage And Its Foundation Of Impartiality, Gerard Mctigue

Honors Capstone Projects - All

In 2009 I began a long process of researching allegations made against the British Broadcasting Corporation and its media coverage of the Israeli Palestinian Conflict. Stemming from courses on European society and politics as well as a summer program examining the British Government’s relationship with the media, I took an immediate interest in the BBC. I was then fortunate enough to know a professor from abroad who worked with the BBC and through his connections I was able to interview a plethora of employees from the Corporation.

The former correspondent from Jerusalem, the Editor of BBC Online Middle East, an …

Under The Surface: The United States’ Failure To Effectively Communicate And Gain Credibility With Iraqis, Julia Dunlea

Honors Capstone Projects - All

In the short term, the United States negatively impacted the relationships among the Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. The United States’ lack of communication and credibility led to this negative impact. Six variables: the United States’ lack of knowledge about Iraq, the preexisting anti-western political culture, removal of local elites and army, inadequate media outreach, impact on reactionary violence, and the inability to fulfill all their promises to the Iraqi population expanded problems in credibility and communication. Although the United States brought democracy to Iraq by enforcing equality for Shiites and Kurds, and expanding Kurdish autonomy in the north, this lack …

Women’S Rights To Contraception And Abortion In Chile And Spain, Erin Kosalwat Elzo

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Abstract

Women’s reproductive rights, particularly the rights to contraceptives and abortions, have been a contentious issue that often divides people into different political spectrums. The objective of this research was to examine women’s rights to contraception and abortion inChileandSpain. The majority of the population in these two countries is Roman Catholic (94% inSpainand 70% inChile). Both countries ratified the United Nation’s Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) as well as signed the Optional Protocol to the CEDAW. This research was based on an extensive review of literature that involved documents from government and non-government …

The Tunnel Operations Under The Gaza-Egypt Border In Rafah, Brandy Castanon

Theses and Dissertations

The negative ramifications of the creation of nation-states resulting in the assignment of arbitrary borders, walls and international border crossings are most vivid, obvious and ridiculous in the city of Rafah. It is an ancient city with a rich history that was divided by the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty separating Egypt and Palestine. This thesis is concerned with how Rafah operates as a divided border town and the illicit tunnels that are used between Gaza and Egypt. It focuses on Egyptian policies towards the tunnels, how they are implemented by Egyptian border officials and how people experience and are affected …

An Exploration Of Alternative Means Of Financial Sustainability For The Church In Tanzania, East Africa: A Donor And Donee Perspective, Juvenalis Baltazar Asantemungu

Dissertations (1934 -)

This academic enterprise is a result of careful research and detailed work that was done for the benefit of the Church in Tanzania in particular but with general implications to the Church in Africa and the Church Universal. According to Kalilombe (2002), "Self-reliance of the local Church in Africa remains a crucial subject matter" (p.2). The Catholic Church in Tanzania, as is true in most of other Churches in Sub-Saharan Africa, has traditionally been dependent to some extent on financial gifts and foreign aid (donations). However, as the financial needs of the rapidly growing dioceses are increasing, subsidies and donations …

Explore The Phenomenon Of Buddhist Temple Stay In South Korea For Tourists, Wei Wang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Temple Stay program is a newly developed but comparatively mature tourism product in Korea, which is to accommodate and cater tourists in Buddhist temples and have them experience over 1700 years Korean traditions of Buddhism and culture. As a product of compromise between Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the most influential Buddhist organization Jogye Order, Temple Stay program was first launched in 2002 during FIFA World Cup to receive excessive international tourists. Through almost ten-year systematical development, Temple Stay program turns out to be a distinctive phenomenon which successfully establishes a unique identity of Korean culture and tourism, …

Cultural Tourism Products: A Case Study In The Xi’An City, Yining Zhang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Nowadays, culture has been a major driver of tourism. Cultural tourism is another form of tourism by involving cultural elements. Some people traveled specifically to gain a deeper understanding of the culture or heritage of a destination. In order to satisfy tourists’ cultural needs and wants, cultural tourism products typically attracts consumers by the cultural attributes. A cultural attest is not a cultural tourism product unless it transforms itself into products that could be consumed by tourists. The market value of cultural tourism can be realized by cultural tourism products. This paper is to explore the development and evaluation of …

El Papel De La Raza En Latinoamérica, Grant Louis Olaf Siracusa

World Languages and Cultures

My project aims to address the ideas, perceptions, and roles of race in Latin America. Latin America is a vast and diverse region that is often misunderstood by those unfamiliar with the culture. By researching the notions of race in this particular region, I aim to provide a clearer understanding on the various topics that stem from race, including racism, discrimination, racial whitening, and racial transformation.

First, I intend on examining the origins and implications of race, relating these topics to the Spanish Conquests. I will then identify and discuss the predominant races found within the region, giving a brief …