Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Arguing For The Philosophy Of Political Science, Robert Herold

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

While there are many working scientists who engage in things like theory building and empirical testing, there has also been a group of scientists who sought to better understand the philosophy behind science. This philosophical study of science as a project is referred to as the philosophy of science and there are different sub-fields for each of the natural and social sciences, except for political science. This lack of an explicit sub-field dedicated to reflecting on our philosophy of science, i.e., our beliefs, values, methods, etc., has caused this knowledge to become tacit within our community. Because the knowledge of …

Girl’S Education In Africa: The Importance Of Culture And State Capacity, Hadley Olivia Hobbs

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Why is girls’ education participation notably below average in countries throughout both North and Sub-Saharan Africa? Previous research has concluded that the low rates of girls’ education in Africa are attributed to economics and more specifically wealth. While wealth needs to be addressed as a part of the discussion of issues surrounding girl’s education, it does not seem to be the primary cause of low participation outcomes. I argue that culture and governance are the primary factors effecting girls’ education in Africa. Moreover, government effectiveness and female genital mutilation are primary causes of the outcomes of girl’s education and appear …

Globalization: A Blessing Or A Curse For Women In Developing Countries, Magaly Denisse Carrillo Terriquez

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Countries have been able to exchange goods and services as well as intellectual property. However, they have not addressed how these changes affect those that are considered a vulnerable population, women. The feminization of poverty is a real problem in our globalized society, where women form 70% of the world’s poor. This paper investigates globalization’s impact on women empowerment by focusing on maternal mortality and female primary education in eighty-seven developing countries. The literature suggests that an increase of globalization leads to a decrease in maternal death and to an increase in female primary education. The pooled data set was …

Decolonizing Urban Indian Institutions: Indigenous Authority In Boise, Idaho, Melanie Lee Fillmore

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

American Indigenous populations are underrepresented in American political science discourse. There is a lack of knowledge on public perception of political trust within Indigenous communities. I argue that contemporary discourses on data and political participation of American Indigenous people are incomplete without framing that data within the context of ongoing settler colonialism. National data shows that nearly 71% of all American Indigenous people live in urban settings. Framing American Indigenous political participation requires an in depth examination of the role of American Settler colonialism. Studies need to account for the impact of Federal government use of authority has had on …

Ideological Misalignment In The Discourse(S) Of Higher Education: Comparing University Mission Statements With Texts From Commercial Learning Analytics Providers, Leif A. Nelson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzes, interprets, and compares texts from different educational discourses. Using the Critical Discourse Analysis method, I reveal how texts from university mission statements and from commercial learning analytics providers communicate and construct different ideologies. To support this analysis, I explore literature strands related to public higher education in America and the emerging field of study and practice called learning analytics. Learning analytics is the administrative, research, and instructional use of large sets of digital data that are associated with and generated by students. The data in question may be generated by incidental online activity, and it may be …

Gender Balance From Civil Strife, Wyndi Shaffner

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of conflict on the sociopolitical status of women in several affected countries. The conflicts analyzed within this work are both violent and non-violent. I infer that conflict acts as an impetus to propel gender equity. I utilize the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) dataset to determine which movements in women’s equality have been made over the preceding twelve years and reinforce that data analysis with qualitative information through case analysis to add context and meaning to the quantitative findings.

This work focuses on two of the four primary indicators of …

Higher Education: The Impact On Bosnian Women Who Came As Refugees To The United States, Belma Sadikovic

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the impact college education has on Bosnian refugee women who resettled to the United States. The research findings help us better understand the effect higher education has on female students who came to the United States as refugees, their self-sufficiency and their overall integration into their new society. Using Kunz’s refugee theory and Bourdieu’s theory on social and cultural capital as a theoretical framework, the study explores socio-cultural factors that enable and constrain the ability of Bosnian women to navigate the facets of higher education, and how those factors affect their self-sufficiency and overall integration. The participants …

Narrating Gender: A Feminist Approach To The Narratives Of The Transgender Experience, Jamie K. Lange

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Gender and identity are complex and often ubiquitous in nature. This is a study about gender and identity and the ways in which they manifest through the narratives of five transgender individuals, who all transitioned after the age of 45, who now live as women. This study about the transgender experience adds a significant and important perspective on gender, identity, identification, and the relationship between gender and identity. The most important conclusions are the lengths to which these people go to support gender social constructs, reinforcing the immense strength of the social construction of gender. The idea that social constructs …