Breaking Taboos: Syrian Women Reshaping Gender Roles In Zarqa, Jordan, Farah Qonaish

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the changes in gender roles among Syrian refugee women in Jordan. Since 2011, more than a million Syrian refugees have settled in Jordan. Around 83% of Syrian refugees have resided in host communities in Jordan and around 70% of the Syrian population come from the rural areas in Syria refugees. Syrian refugees have experienced change on different levels of their lives since the beginning of the displacement. This ethnographic study was conducted in Zarqa, a major city in the middle region of Jordan, and a major host community for Syrian refugees in Jordan. The city is known …

Effects Of Climate Change On Women’S Security Dynamics In Baragoi, Samburu County, Kenya, Rehema Zaid Obuyi

The Journal of Social Encounters

The paper unearths how climate change influences women’s security dynamics in fragile and conflict-affected contexts in Baragoi Samburu County Kenya. It provides an opportunity to rethink security. Security responses must be at par with evolving security underlying forces. One of the precursors is that individuals and groups that were traditionally excluded from combat both as participants and targets such as women and children have now become prime targets. This demands a shift in strategy by not only focusing on traditional threats but also getting more specific linking our approaches to gendered non-traditional security threats. Alternative soft power approaches to addressing …

Recommended List Of References On Sudan And Darfur, Mawa Mohamed, Ronald Pagnucco

The Journal of Social Encounters

We have compiled a list of recommended readings focusing on Sudan and Darfur. While this list provides valuable insights into key topics and issues, it is by no means exhaustive. There are many more scholarly works, articles, and reports that offer further depth and understanding. This compilation is intended as a starting point, and we encourage further exploration to gain a more comprehensive perspective on the complexities of Sudan and Darfur.

Agents Of Change: Women’S Leadership In Peacebuilding And Social Transformation In Abu-Shouk Camp, Mawa Mohamed, Shamsia Ramadhan

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

The Revolution Is Not Over: Sudanese Female Asylum Seekers And Refugees In Belfast, Dianne Kirby

The Journal of Social Encounters

Female Sudanese asylum seekers and refugees in Belfast were instrumental in establishing a women’s collective, Anaka. The original goal was provision of a safe space where the founders could help women confronting the harshness of the asylum system alone and afraid, as they had been. The endeavour to mitigate the hard realities of a challenging system in a hostile environment led to the collective becoming an advocacy and campaigning group. The ethos was one of participation and empowerment, deploying skills, creative capacities and political insights forged in the fight for Sudanese democracy. The key issues confronting female refugees -- housing, …

Darfur’S Armed Movements: Evolution Of Roles And Relations With Actors In Light Of The April 15 War, Marwan M. Hamza

The Journal of Social Encounters

This research comes in eight main sections, comprising a historical background of the conflicts in Sudan in general and Darfur in particular; an intro to armed movements active in Darfur the research team have monitored; and an extensive analysis of interviews the team conducted with members of the armed movements, independent actors and the native administrations.

Focusing on the Darfuri armed movements’ evolution of roles during the April 15 War, an analysis of respondents’ responses highlights varying takes on the impact of the Juba Peace Agreement (JPA). While some deems it futile as to resolve conflicts, others admittedly view it …

Sudan’S Current Conflict: Implications For The Bordering Regions And Influence Of The Key Regional/International Actors, Raimundo Gregoire

The Journal of Social Encounters

Since the beginning of the latest violent crisis, which began in April 2023, Sudan has been suffering the consequences of an armed conflict, that is worsening the humanitarian crisis and sociopolitical instability. In this context, it is worth analysing how this conflict affects the neighbouring region and the influence of the nearby countries and regional and world powers. The aim of this paper is to present the consequences of this conflict for Sudan’s neighbours and the degree of interference of the external powers in Sudan. In relation to this latter issue, it will be established if the foreign presence is …

The Roles Of External Parties In The April 15 War And Their Interests In Sudan, Aseel Abdalla

The Journal of Social Encounters

The April 15 War is frequently portrayed as a power struggle between two generals, a simplistic narrative that overlooks not only internal factors but also external dynamics and the agendas of foreign nations in Sudan. Numerous countries have vested interests in this resource-rich nation, a pivotal gateway to Africa with a strategic position overlooking the Red Sea facilitating over 12% of global trade. However, what exacerbates the situation is the leadership weakness and intense political polarization since 2019, following the downfall of the Inqaz regime.

Following the December Revolution, Sudan's leadership lacked a cohesive foreign relations strategy. The pillars of …

Exploiting Tribal Identity: Evidence From The Darfur Conflict (2001-) And The Chad-Sudan Proxy War (2005-2010), Eline Rosenhart

The Journal of Social Encounters

Using the case of the Darfur conflict (2001-) and the Chad-Sudan proxy war (2005-2010), this study will demonstrate that conflict in Chad and Sudan cannot be fully understood without taking into account how heads of state and rebel leaders in both countries manipulated tribal identities to retain and enhance power. It shows how Idriss Déby, a Zaghawa leader, held onto his tenuous position as President of Chad by leveraging tribal customs and symbols, while the Darfur conflict and the Chad-Sudan proxy war destabilized his rule. It also sheds light on the ways in which Darfuri and Chadian rebel leaders maneuvered …

When Peace Interventions Become Elusive: The Convoluted Darfur Conflict, Elias Opongo

The Journal of Social Encounters

The conflict in Darfur, rooted in longstanding tensions among ethnic and political groups in western Sudan, is marked by widespread violence, displacement, and human rights abuses. Whereas there have been concerted efforts by successive governments and different local, regional, and national stakeholders to resolve these conflicts through various transitional justice and traditional mechanisms, these interventions have largely been ineffective, often resulting in accusations of bias and unequal treatment by the Khartoum government. This article seeks to evaluate conflict intervention efforts by different actors such as the Sudan government, the African Union (AU), Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), regional governments, and …

The Dynamics Of The Resistance Committees (Rcs) Movement Amid The Current Challenges Of Democratic Transition In Sudan, Salih Mustafa, Marafi Albahi

The Journal of Social Encounters

After the wave of protests that led to the fall of the former regime in April 2019 and the establishment of the Transitional Justice in August 2019, Sudan is undergoing transitional phases marked by significant political and social changes since 2018. The Sudanese Resistance Committees (RCs) have played important and crucial roles throughout the whole period since the breakthrough of the Revolution in Sudan in December 2018. Those roles are showcased starting from organizing and mobilizing the protests that took place prior to the fall of the regime. The dynamics of the movement have developed since then due to the …

Reshaping Identity Politics: Capitalising On Shari‘A Debate In The Sudan, Musa Adam Abdul-Jalil

The Journal of Social Encounters

The relationship between religious identity, ethnic identity, and politics has always been a problematic one, especially in plural societies like Sudan. This article is an attempt to understand the reasons behind the insistence of the popular parties of the Muslim majority in Northern Sudan on establishing shar’ia law as the law of the land. By using secondary data on party programmes, public opinion, and an analysis of political events, I reconstruct the evolution of the debate in order to identify its prime movers. My conclusion is that this debate emerged as a result of the quest for a national identity …

Darfur And Sudan: The People, Politics, Conflict, And Recovery: An Introduction, Mawa Mohamed, Ronald Pagnucco

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Carceral Liberalism: Feminist Voices Against State Violence, Andrea Michaels

Feminist Pedagogy

The following book review of Shreerekha Pillai’s Carceral Liberalism: Feminist Voices against State Violence (2023) is an expansive and timely collection of essays on the carceral state in its implications for feminist educators. This review focuses on the connections and connectivity of two essays in the collection that attempt to address a minor examination of the person as political.

(Un)Learning Social Change Storytelling, K. L. Broad

Feminist Pedagogy

In this essay, I discuss a teaching activity I created which embraces the dynamic of learning/unlearning to foster a complex understanding of social change storytelling.

Archetypal Energies And Global Mental Health, Carroy U. Ferguson

Psychology Faculty Publication Series

As a keynote speaker at the Global Mental Health Conference 2024, held at Sophia University, Costa Mesa, CA, in-person and virtually, August 16-18, 2024, my topic was "Archetypal Energies As A Framework for Self-Empowerment and Well Being". The theme of this 2024 global conference was: Enlightened Minds, Compassionate Hearts, and Embodied Wisdom. To supplement my keynote address, I wrote this blog article titled "Archetypal Energies and Global Mental Health".

Eyes Open In The Dark, Brittany A. Forrest

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

An unusual dissertation that presents a science fiction autobiographical narrative, following a trial of trauma and identity dysphoria. Through a trans-queer biological female lens, the vulnerable tone of the author invites the reader into wording that describes matters they will care for on a human level. This study probes the question of what lives within the silence of our perceptions by appraising reverberations between interactions that coerce the human condition. Interrogating memory is inevitable when questioning how defense mechanisms interrelate and adapt to human needs. This study penetrates the complexities of perception fabrications, power dynamics, sensory perceptions, systemic moralities, and …

Understanding The Livelihood Diversification Of Arkansas Women Involved In Agricultural Production, Oluwatoyin Elizabeth Abati

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Agriculture as a livelihood activity entails significant risks and uncertainties, which expose agricultural households to a low standard of living, poverty, and a lowering of their food security status. Women's responsibilities in agriculture are expanding and becoming more critical, and farm women are now broadening their duties to include roles off-farm. More research is needed in Arkansas about agricultural women's roles, challenges, and essential job characteristics. Using a quantitative survey, this research aimed to provide a resource on how women involved in agricultural production diversify their livelihoods. Participants were asked to describe their livelihood diversification by identifying their activities on …

My Last Concussion, Shannon Valkr

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

MY LAST CONCUSSION is a thesis consisting of a critical introduction, a number of poetic influences, and a collection of poems. The introduction touches on the themes of the collection, my personal history with my subject, my changing approach to poetry, and a brief evaluation of the work as a whole. It details my approach to Catholicism, paganism, transgender identity, and oppression. My work grapples with both my current understanding of myself and my inability to enunciate my reality in the past. I aim to view divinity and personal history through a lens of queerness.

Advisor: Kwame Dawes

Praying To Tiktok, Seeking The Self: How Rhetoric Reveals And Conceals The World’S Most Powerful Guru Of The Postindustrial Age, Samantha L. Gillespie-Hoffman

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Imagine a world where the most powerful leader is a wellness guru that runs an elaborate church with millions of followers. The guru is so powerful that everyone believes they can read minds and make ordinary people rich and famous. The guru controls forms of communication, media channels, consumer tastes, and what people eat, drink, say, and even think. What if this guru was not human but actually an algorithm? Does this sound like the plot of a science fiction novel? I argue that this scenario is closer to reality than most will admit. In this project, readers encounter a …

The Transnational Semiotics Of “Policing Murals”: How Representations Of Police Power In Murals Conceal And Reveal State Violence, Vivian A. Swayne

Doctoral Dissertations

Murals tell visual stories that legitimize/delegitimize formations of state power, conceal/reveal state violence, and attract collective interface from diverse parties. Scholars, artists, and organizers have studied murals as an aesthetic medium, tools for social movements, affective memorials, and episodes of conflict in the public space, but patterns and distinctions in the local, global, and digital duration of policing murals requires critical analysis. Policing murals refers to (1) murals made by police (and/or their advocates) to reproduce its preferred representations and (2) the censorship and control of unauthorized murals. Murals painted on police departments share semiotics globally, all of which conceal …

Envisioning Queer And Trans Educational Futures In Contentious Times: Editors’ Introduction, Kamden Strunk, Antonio Duran, Stephanie Anne Shelton

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

The field of queer and trans studies has significantly grown, becoming interdisciplinary and intersectional, yet facing existential threats. A range of anti-queer and trans legislation, particularly targeting trans youth, and polarized political rhetoric have increased risks and eroded public support. This special issue of the Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education explores queer and trans futures amidst these challenges. Highlighting various scholarly perspectives, it addresses educational disparities, decolonial queer epistemologies, and intersectional frameworks. Growing out of interdisciplinary collaborations and years of conversations, the journal aims to provide a rigorous, open-access platform for innovative, anti-oppressive scholarship, fostering activism, practice, …

Decolonizing Queer Epistemology: Boys Love And Cultural Imaginary From The Global Majority, Roland Sintos Coloma

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This article aims to decolonize queer epistemology in order to challenge the hegemony of white/eurocentric LGBTQ histories, cultures, and representations as the universal and normalized standard of queer and trans life and sociality. Toward this objective, it analyzes whitestream queer epistemology, and notes its limits that do not account for its inclusions and exclusions, especially in relation to race, geography, and methodological (homo)nationalism. It draws attention to the works of queer and trans theorists, researchers, and educators from the global majority, especially the growing scholarship on LGBTQ education outside of the United States, to point out a significant gap in …

What Is Decolonial Trans* Feminism And What Can It Do For Queer/Trans Bipoc Education Research? Reimagining Knowledge And Identity Through The Convergence Of Decolonial And Trans* Feminism, Omi Salas-Santacruz

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This paper introduces decolonial trans* feminism, a framework merging decolonial theory with trans* of color feminism to challenge colonial gender oppression. It reimagines knowledge, gender, power, and resistance in educational research for queer/trans BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) individuals by integrating Indigenous metaphysics, diverse self-ontologies, and spiritual dimensions. The asterisk in trans* feminism symbolizes the fluidity of gender identities, challenging rigid boundaries of thought and colonial norms. Emphasizing the Androgynous Whole, the paper explores how different configurations of knowledge inform gender and serve as sites of coalitional resistance. Engaging with Third World Feminists, it calls for a shift to …

“Who All Gon Be There?”: On Blackness, Transness, And K-12 Pedagogies For [Black] Trans Futures, Shea W. Martin

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

Grounded in trans-of-color critique and Black trans studies, this theoretical meditation reckons with the impossibility of Black trans safety, recognition, and futurity within our U.S. K-12 educational landscape. Situated in a “post-Transgender Tipping Point” sociopolitical landscape, I explore how these limitations contribute to Black trans youth’s disparate experiences in today’s schools, particularly with attention to the [in]effectiveness of existing queer and trans pedagogies. In an attempt to locate what is deemed possible for Black trans youth in imagined educational futures, I discuss trends within select K-12 trans pedagogical scholarship through which I explore questions related to authorship, reflexivity, and intersectional …

My Ai Companion: An Examination Of The Removal Of Erotic Role Play From Replika Through User Discussion On Reddit, Chelsee M. Allen

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) software has expanded rapidly in recent years, and thus has emerged the importance of exploring human relationships with AI chatbots. Replika, an app which uses AI to mimic human conversation, removed a function called Erotic Role Play (ERP) that allowed for sexual conversation with users’ customizable chatbots in February of 2023. This exploratory qualitative study examines the aftermath of ERP’s removal through an analysis of user interactions on Reddit. Five overarching themes emerged through the analysis of top posts to a Replika-specific subreddit, encompassing topics around mental health, stigma, coping, sex work and gendered …

Why Courageous Cuentos?, Back Matter 05

CouRaGeouS Cuentos: A Journal of Counternarratives

No abstract provided.

Author Bios, Back Matter 04

CouRaGeouS Cuentos: A Journal of Counternarratives

No abstract provided.

Volume 7 Poster Design, Back Matter 03

CouRaGeouS Cuentos: A Journal of Counternarratives

No abstract provided.

Featured Artist: Yaire Thaiz Barboza, Back Matter 02

CouRaGeouS Cuentos: A Journal of Counternarratives

No abstract provided.