Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Rethinking The National Question: Anti-Statist Discourses Within The Kurdish National Movement, Ozum Yesiltas

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Why and under what conditions have the Kurds become agents of change in the Middle East in terms of democratization? Why did the Kurds’ role as democratic agents become particularly visible in the 1990s? How does the Kurdish movement’s turn to democratic discourse affect the political systems of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria? What are the implications of the Kurds’ adoption of “democratic discourse” for the transnational aspect of the Kurdish movement?

Since the early 1990s, Kurdish national movements in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria have undergone important political and ideological transformations. As a result of the Kurds’ growing role …

Does U.S. Counter-Drug Policy Affect Nationalism In The Anglophone Caribbean? A Comparative Study On The Impact Of Counter-Drug Policy On Nationalism In Jamaica And Trinidad And Tobago, Krystel Ramdathsingh

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examined the effect of United States counter-drug policy on nationalism in small states, focusing on Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. The states were selected for their roles and geostrategic importance in the illegal drug trade; Jamaica being the largest drug producing country in the Anglophone Caribbean and having strong links to the trade of Colombian cocaine, and Trinidad being a mere seven miles from the South American coast.

Since U.S. counterdrug policies have frequently been viewed in the region as imperialistic, this dovetails into ideas on the perceptions of smallness and powerlessness of Caribbean nations. Hence, U.S. drug …

China's Military Modernization, Japan's Normalization And Its Effects On The South China Sea Territorial Disputes, Zenel Garcia

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

China’s military modernization has allowed it to take a more assertive position on the territorial disputes it currently has with Japan and its Southeast Asian neighbors. The South China Sea (SCS) dispute is a clear example. Meanwhile, Japan is normalizing its military status to play a more proactive security role in the region. Japan’s normalization process has been greatly influenced by China’s growing military capabilities as it fears that China could pose a threat to its sea lanes of communications. Although Japan does not have territorial claims in the SCS, it regards the SCS as a strategically vital area. It …

The Impacts Of Fisheries Management On The Performance And Resiliency Of The Commercial Fishing Industry And Fishing Communities In The Florida Keys (Monroe County, Florida) From 1950-2010, Manoj Shivlani

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Commercial fisheries in the Florida Keys have experienced a significant decline in participation and harvest over the past two decades, with over half of the fishers exiting the fishery since 1990 and a 50-70% decline in annual landings compared to previous decades. The conventional narrative of fisheries management identifies overfishing and overcapacity as the malaise endemic to open-access fisheries systems, for which the remedy offered is technocratic management. Technocratic management, which seeks to restore ecological integrity and economic efficiency, has been increasingly employed in the Florida Keys, in the form of limited access and property rights measures. I contend that …

The Continuing Significance Of Exile In American Politics, Nicol Rae

Center for Humanities in an Urban Environment Archives

No abstract provided.

A Land That Has Yet To Heal: The Burmese Civil War (1948 – Present), Alexander G. Hernandez

Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy - Student Research

Since its independence from Great Britain in 1948, the state of Burma has been at war with itself. Ethnic and religious tension fuel the conflict and has led to territorial disputes while no resolution to this strife is expected under a fragile and corrupt central government. Additionally, proxy wars have delayed any peaceful negotiations. The combinations of failing social welfare programs and prolonged peace talks have led many Burmese people join the military as soldiers in either the Burmese military or any one of the numerous ethnic paramilitary groups in the country. Human rights violations are common in Burma, including …

Bleaching To Reach: Skin Bleaching As A Performance Of Embodied Resistance In Jamaican Dancehall Culture, Treviene A. Harris

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how skin bleaching can be understood within the cultural context of Jamaican dancehall. I argue that as a cultural practice, skin bleaching can be viewed as a critique of the concomitant structural inequalities precipitated by colorism, which is a by-product of racism. In proposing skin bleaching as a queer performance of color, I attempt to illustrate the manner in which the lightening of the skin exposes the instability of racism and colorism as socially constructed, discursive regimes. If race and skin color are biological and embodied facts dictated by social reality, then bodies, which are racially marked …

Neuroscience And Hindu Aesthetics: A Critical Analysis Of V.S. Ramachandran’S “Science Of Art”, Logan R. Beitmen

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Neuroaesthetics is the study of the brain’s response to artistic stimuli. The neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran contends that art is primarily “caricature” or “exaggeration.” Exaggerated forms hyperactivate neurons in viewers’ brains, which in turn produce specific, “universal” responses. Ramachandran identifies a precursor for his theory in the concept of rasa (literally “juice”) from classical Hindu aesthetics, which he associates with “exaggeration.” The canonical Sanskrit texts of Bharata Muni’s Natya Shastra and Abhinavagupta’s Abhinavabharati, however, do not support Ramachandran’s conclusions. They present audiences as dynamic co-creators, not passive recipients. I believe we could more accurately model the neurology of Hindu aesthetic experiences …