Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Western Corporations And Colombian Labor: Cycles Of Transhistorical Colonial And Economic Oppression In Colombia, Isabella Lazzarino-Buendia

Senior Theses

The relationship between colonial and colonized nations is entrenched in modern politics and history; remaining a transhistorical site of economic, social, and political imbalance. The United States and Colombia have a trans-colonial relationship that is shadowed by colonial gains at the expense of colonized livelihood. Western corporations mimic the patterns of the governments that preside over them, using the land and labor of the colonized “Other” to maximize profit. I investigate postcolonial Colombia through the lens of the transhistorical United Fruit Company and the mass corporation Coca-Cola. The accountability of these corporations and the systems that have allowed them to …

The Integration Of Foreign-Born Dominicans In Spain And The United States 1990-2011: Historical, Spatial, & Racial Considerations, Petros Akosta Gkalinto

Senior Theses

Dramatically shifting immigration patterns, incentives, and origins in the Atlantic have diminished opportunities for Dominican immigrant communities to integrate into traditional host nations like the United States, but created opportunities in emerging host nations such as Spain. Yet, the lingering impacts of the Great Recession and racial segregation have sustained or aggravated inequities in both nations. An immigrant generation cohort method analysis of integration trends between native populations and foreign-born Dominicans in the United States and Spain from 1990 to 2011 confirm persistent or increasingly segregated experiences in education, employment, and urban areas. However, as a result of greater cultural …

The Legacy Of French Colonialism In The Francophone Caribbean: Migration, Anti-Haitianism, And Anti-Blackness In Guadeloupe And French Guiana, Jemina Carla Molines

Senior Theses

Haiti has a huge migration problem. Thousands flee the country every year due to its political and socioeconomic instability. The locations that Haitians prefer to settle in are the United States, Canada, and France. Haitian people have also migrated within neighboring islands in the Caribbean region. Because of Haiti’s current conditions, every country and the territory in the Caribbean Basin has misconstrued views of Haiti. They are very critical of Haitian people and project xenophobia onto those within their presence. The problem is that these are black-majority societies marginalizing another black-majority society. The question this problem raises is why are …

A Fishy Problem: Effects Of Atlantic Salmon Farming In The Pacific Ocean, Madeleine A. Griffith

Student Theses 2015-Present

In this report, I explore the historical, climatological, economic, and ethical issues created by the contemporary industrial salmon farming practices off Pacific coast of the United States and Canada. Chapter 1 utilizes a variety of sources from Stephen Hume’s A Stain upon the Sea to Miller’s Living in the Environment, to examine the integral part salmon plays in both freshwater and marine ecosystems, the ecosystem services salmon contribute in wild and farmed settings, and the trends in salmon consumption around the world. Chapter 2 examines the historically relevant role salmon held among indigenous societies and how that role has changed …

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim …

Impact Of Immigration In Zambia, Sarah Banda

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

The main focus of this paper will predominantly be on African immigrants and the impact of their immigration on the African continent specifically in the country of Zambia. I strongly believe that due to 675,665 immigrants from 57 countries receiving permanent residents status in the United States, among them Nigerian immigrants constituting the top 30 sending nations the economic prospects of many African nations is being compromised. There is no doubt that African is in fact losing many highly skilled people because of this immigration influx. As one of the many African immigrants in the United States, I can't help …

Thugz Theology: Religious Narratives And The Poetic Tradition In Hip Hop, Jenny Portillo

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

Though gangsta rappers are hardly considered bards of prophets, they are the poets and preachers of the modern-day that have chosen to leave the confines of their journals and pulpits. Despite its popularity, rap remains associated with the violence, hyper-sexuality and profanity of marginalized urban neighborhoods, or more simply, the ghetto. Rap lyrics and hip hop beats became the main story telling mechanisms for the urban culture that was born in the impoverished boroughs of New York beginning in the 1970s. Like poetry, the themes of rap lyricism can vary greatly, but there is continuity on the themes between these …

The Exploitation Of College Athletes: Education And Money, Carlton Koonce

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

A football program that has historically struggled to win games, is now winning conference championships year in and year out. The only thing that appears to be able to stop them is themselves. As a result, the university has received record donations from alumni all over the country. The university is expanding with new buildings and facilities that seem to pop up out of nowhere. Ticket prices are through the roof, and games are being sold out in a couple days' time. Not only that, but the applications for incoming freshman have more than quadrupled since the last losing season. …

Affirmative Action In College Admissions: The Past, Present, And Future, Ellen Johnson

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

The Pledge of Allegiance, which supposedly captures the core values of America, is a nostalgic hymn by virtually all citizens of the U.S. We recite it in public schools, at football games, and a wide range of ceremonies and celebrations. From the time we are young, these words become engrained in us, so much so that reciting them becomes second nature. Do we, though, truly practice the concepts held in the Pledge of Allegiance? When we pledge that the U.S. embodies "liberty and Justice of all", do we stop and think of the implications the term carries? Can we, as …

This Land Is My Land: The Evolution And Future Of Urban Homesteading In The United States, Emma Brennan

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Last Of The Bronx Giants: Mayoral Control, School Reform, And The Fate Of Bronx High Schools, Ben Delikat

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Disaster From Above: New York City Teachers' Perceptions Of School Reform, Elizabeth Baker

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Public Housing In The New York City: The Case Of The Red Hook Houses, Michael Kavanagh

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

In the United States, public housing conjures up negative images of decaying high-rise buildings, places ridden crime, drugs and gangs. This stereotype largely represents society's attitude towards the urban poor that has evolved since the housing movement began in the 1920s. When support for public housing took hold, the United States were living in tenements houses under the most horrific conditions. It is easy to forget that public housing was created in order to provide safe, affordable spaces for working and middle class families to live. However, policy changes, mismanagement, and inadequate funding are among the several factors that changed …

Transit-Oriented Development And Sustainability: A Case Study Of The Williamsbridge Metro-North Station In The Bronx, Stephen Erdman

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

The tenets of Transit Oriented Development, a planning philosophy developed during the late 20th century, has informed recent development visions in New York City. Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC 2030: A Greener, Greater New York identifies transit-oriented development as one of the theories it seeks to implement throughout the city as it shapes new development. Likewise, the Department of City Planning's Bronx Sustainable Communities Initiative seeks to implement the ideal of transit-oriented development in the areas surrounding the Bronx's largely underutilized Metro-North stations. However, recent rezonings in the Bronx surrounding the Williamsbridge Metro-North station warrants further investigations into the City's claim that …

Tuzina, Tradition, And Therapy: A Case Study Of Dance/Movement Therapy In Post-Conflict Northern Uganda, Kateashley Clarke

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

Despite great advancement in recent decades, rehabilitation resources for post-conflict communities are often lacking within the humanitarian field. Antonio Donini (2010, p. S233) argues that because humanitarianism is self-defined by those who practice it with little or no consideration for alternative approaches, reinventing a globally accepted notion of 'humanitarianism' is a difficult task. Post-conflict rehabilitation is one of the fields most affected by this 'particularistic' style of humanitarian action, with Western-influenced techniques dominating the spectrum. According to Peter Salama (2004, p. 1810), though mental health is increasingly discussed in policy and research forums as an essential component of emergency programs, …

Global Warming And Fordham University Students, Annie Worden

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

So far, the human race has raised the global temperature 1 degree. We have done so by implementing a social and economic system that relies on burning fossil fuels an in which success is measured by growth. So far, the United States' wealth, the lavish lifestyles that everyone wants to live, and those who are fortunate enough to live them is made possible by depending on fossil fuels and an absolute acceptance that growth is the end all measure of success. Yet we have reached a point in history where we can no longer measure success based on continued growth …

Narrative Of Flight: Camden, New Jersey In The Post-War Era, Chuck Hovanic

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

Commuters boarding the Speed Line in the small town of Lindenwold, New Jersey witness a rapid change in landscape as their train whisks them towards Philadelphia. Each stop on the train represents a distinct stage of suburban development ranging from the sprawling McMansions of Voorhees to the tightly packed two-family houses of Collingswood. The passengers that board a the various stations accurately represents the demographics of each town. This broad range of people is treated to a memorable, yet brief glimpse of poverty when the train enter the City of Camden. Gliding above decaying row homes and empty streets, passengers …

True North: Transportation Issues In Riverdale And Edenwald, Amelia Zaino

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Risky Business: How Policy, Demographic And Economic Changes Have Left The Lower East Side Empty During Daytime Hours, Dustin Molter

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

"When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it's a sign you're getting old". This statement by world renowned Mark Twain perfectly describes change as it often works. When the 'old' is noticeably transitioning to the 'new', the old's age truly starts to show. The unfortunate thing is that this change, and ultimately any type, is inevitable. Whether abrupt or subtle, sought after or fought against, change occurs. In turn, it is the inevitability of change which prompts out need to adjust to such changes. People, places and things alike all change in different ways, and …

"College Un-Readiness: The Lack Of Financial College Readiness In Nyc High Shools", Dominique Coleman

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

Purpose

- The purpose of this research is to explore the rate of financial college readiness amongst New York CIty Public High School Students.

Design/methodology/approach

- The research methodologies employed in this paper consist of interviews and internet research.

Findings

- Scholarships, if that, are the only resources that NYC public high school counselors relay to students in terms of financing their education. Students are not given supplementary resources in the event that scholarships do not cover the entire costs of tuition.

Practical implications

- I believe this is a direct correlation to the student debt crisis. Had students been …

"From Military Space To Community Space: The Readaptation And Reuse Of New York's Armories", Eve Rossmere

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

The purpose of this paper will be to make a case for adaptive re-use as a sustainable and valuable way to preserve historic buildings, while simultaneously providing the community with useful structures. This will be done by examining three New York armories as a case study, two of which have been readapted while the other is under negotiation. After evaluating the first two armories, the Park Avenue Armory on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and the Park Slope Armory in Park Slope, Brooklyn, this research will then be applied to the incomplete Kingsbridge Armory. To fully comprehend the value …

Willie Horton And The 1988 Presidential Campaign: A Tale Of Two Narratives, Jose Soba

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

On the morning of April 4, 1987, Maryland police apprehended a convict by the name of William R. Horton.¹ Horton was a Massachusetts inmate participating in the state's furlough program. Horton had received ten furloughs. On his tenth furlough, Horton failed to return to prison, instead heading to Maryland.² There, Horton assaulted a man by the name of Clifford Barnes, tying up Barnes in the basement of his home.³ When Barnes' fiancée Angela Miller arrived, Horton proceeded to assault the woman, raping her twice.⁴ Horton then fled the home in Barnes' Z28 Camaro, as was captured …

"Ain't No Stopping Us Now": The Fordham Business Improvement District And The Future Of The South Bronx, Fiorela Hamzaraj-Aliaj

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

When you first think of the Bronx throughout the 20^th, up to the 21^st century, what are the type of images that come to mind? Do you imagine The Bronx as a 1940's crime engulfed night, threatening businesses and wealthy merchants everywhere? Do you imagine a hazardous, toxic and drug infested environment during the 1970's, streets filled with hopeless youth wondering aimlessly into desolate buildings in search for cocaine? Or do you imagine a vibrant city full of penetrating, colorful cultures continuously filling up the open air with blasting music joyfully playing on a hot summer's day …

Portrait Of A Drug: Representations Of Crack In The New York Times, 1985-1995, Noel K. Wolfe

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

As an eleven-year-old, he tried alcohol; at twelve he smoked marijuana; and by sixteen he was stealing car radios to support his cocaine habit.¹ Over a four-month period he spent $4,000 on crack and cocaine.² This boy from Long Island was given a choice: jail or drug rehabilitation––he chose the latter.³ Janet, an 18 year old from Harlem, had a different choice. Janet found out she was pregnant around the same time that crack became more prevalent in her neighborhood.⁴ She quickly became a crack addict and her addiction continued even after the birth of her …

A River Runs Through It: Community Access To The Bronx River In Tremont And Hunts Point, Matthew Bodnar

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

Rivers that run through urban areas are often neglected and forgotten. This is because the primary services that they provide for major cities are transportation and shipping. Many urban waterways have become polluted as a result and fail to reach much of their potential. New York City's rivers and waterfronts are not typically a place were people seek recreation in the form of swimming or boating, except for a few places such as Coney Island, City Island, and Rockaway Beach. Other waterways that could be assets for their communities are also sometimes overlooked. After living in the Bronx three years, …

"Misplacement And A Side Of Stigma: The Treatment Of Esl And Special Need Students In A Bronx Middle School", Estefany Lopez

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

The public school educational system in New York City, especially in lower-income neighborhoods, has long been suffering form under funding and budget cuts which lead to important and vital programs being removed or merged, larger classroom sized and general downsizing of schools, including staff. Students of minority groups, Latinos as a focal point of this research, are often misplaced in programs or have certain needs neglected all together. The present study will attempt to demonstrate how this neglect is prevalent using George J. Werdan III, or PS MS 20 as a case study (an elementary school located in the Bronx)––with …

True To The Game-Theory: A Game-Thoeretic Analysis Of Street Team By Joe Black, Jamie Feigenbaum

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

The title of this paper pays homage to the first Street Lit book I ever read: Terri Woods' novel, True to the Game. The title of the book raises the question, what is "the game"? And what does it mean to be "true" to it? In the first graduate-level class in America to read Street Lit as an academically worthy genre, my peers and I settled on several responses: "the game" was the crack-cocaine business, the hustle in general, or the ubiquitous exchanges between sex, money, and power; and to be "true" meant, as one classmate put it, "to keep …

M.O.M. Vs. Millionaires: The Fight For Equal Opportunities, Imani Edwards

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

Racial and social inequality is major influences on areas like the South Bronx that lack resources. It is especially important to know how race plays a role in the poor housing, employment, environmental, and public school conditions in the South Bronx and to what extent it does. Using Wilson's race-complex books, I will explain how over the years, direct racial inequality has been translated into social class inequality.

Imperial Domesticity: Native American Gender Ideology And Conformity In The Late Nineteenth And Early Twentieth Centuries, Christina Moehrle

American Studies Senior Theses

This project is informed by the history of Native American removal across Western lands, and the sociological and economic strategies that forced the assimilation of distinct native tribes into a mass, dominant white culture. Considering this assimilation through the imposition of domesticity and European gender ideology, this project aims to explore the political over and undertones of the cult of domesticity, and to analyze how domesticity and domestication were used to construct gender, social, and economic conformity. Post-bellum American politics regarded the women’s experience and domestic ideals as prototypes for national values. The importance of home production for the …

"The Invisible Victims: Wives And Families With Incarcerated Fathers", Sarah Quinlan

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

In the 2009 spring semester, I walked into the class called 'The Black Prison Experience" not fully aware of what the class entailed and not fully aware of what to expect. Nor did I realize and understand that a massive part of America's infrastructure is invisible to the average American citizen. Today, however, I can confidently say that after almost completing my final semester at Fordham, and in hindsight, this class has had the greatest impact on me in my four years at Fordham University. And without this class, I would have never come to fully understand the invisible victims …