Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Life Of A Marimba Master: Zeferino Nandayapa Ralda; Composer, Band Leader, Soloist, Lindsay Michelle Whelan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Zeferino Nandayapa Ralda was the greatest Mexican marimba artist of the twentieth century. Born in Chiapas, Mexico, Zeferino was the youngest son of Norberto Nandayapa, the most well respected Mexican marimba builder of his time. Throughout Zeferino’s lifetime, he

cultivated a career that made him well-known in Mexico and firmly established the name Nandayapa as being synonymous with the word marimba. Zeferino’s career consisted of appearances as a solo artist, as a featured soloist with symphony orchestras around Mexico, as leader of marimba bands, and, many appearances abroad. He wrote many arrangements of standard Mexican folk songs, classical literature, as …

Power And Authority Of Royal Queen Mothers: Juxtaposing The French Queen Regent And The Ottoman Validé Sultan During The Early Modern Period, Reneé N. Langlois

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Women and their relationship to sovereignty, during the early modern era has become a rapidly growing topic, given that during this period an unprecedented number of women rose to high positions of power. This paper aims to compare the lives of the queen regents in France with their counterparts, the validé sultans in the Ottoman Empire, over the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when both groups of royal women acquired substantial power. Although these women were prohibited from ruling in their own right, the paper explores the ways in which queen regents and validé sultans used both official …

Why Such Constriction Of The Moral Sphere? The Importance Of Social Coordination In Croatia’S Ethnic Conflict, Michael Arthur Moncrieff

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Scholars have described ethnic violence in great length and detail. Many of the social and

psychological causal mechanisms that facilitate the rapid mobilization of ethnic groups and the eventual violence that can ensue are less understood. Morality typically eases cooperative interactions between members of a community by establishing rules that help to restrain self- interested actions that may be harmful to others. It is well documented that during periods of increasing ethnic conflict once intimate neighbors, colleagues, and friends can be recruited to take part in violence against each other solely on account of declared ethnic differences. In such circumstances, …

Study Abroad And Track Ii Diplomacy, Makena Rafferty-Lewis

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Track II diplomacy, or person-to-person diplomacy is one of the most basic, but also most important types of international relations. Track II diplomacy requires not just effective legislature to be in place, but also requires individuals to have cross-cultural competency. One question that arises is how is this type of connectivity between cultures is formed. One of the most direct links can be found in students. As the political environment changes, young minds and rising experts will be the people who need to handle future international problems, that are possibly different from what we have seen in the past. How …

El Viaje Desde Centroamérica A Los Estados Unidos: How Us Foreign Policy Impacts Migration From Central America To The United States, Cecilia Cerja

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

In the face of ever increasing civil conflict in Central America, the United States is attempting to grapple with immigration reform as the number of refugees continues to rise. Though the dominant narrative seems to indicate that people are flocking to the United States for economic opportunity, upon further analysis it seems that there are a variety of push and pull factors for migration to the United States. In this thesis three case studies of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala are analyzed to determine the push and pull factors causing migration to the United States. After examining the push and …

Non-Traditional Transitional Justice Mechanisms And Perceptions And Symptoms Of Victimization Among Diasporic Individuals: Members Of The Coptic Christian Diaspora In The United States As A Case Study, Samy S. A. Gerges

Doctor of International Conflict Management Dissertations

Transitional justice measures are state-centered measures articulating atrocities committed by officials and occurring within the borders of a specific state. Questioning members of a Diaspora about the impact of transitional justice on their self-classification as victims and their experienced symptoms of victimization may therefore support attempts to expand the field of transitional justice. This study contributes to a body of work promoting understanding of the possibilities and constraints of transitional justice mechanisms, in the context of hate crime against Copts by Muslims in Egypt. To analyze the impact of restored relationships on self-classified victimhood and experienced symptoms of victimization, the …

An Analysis Of Trade-Offs: The Artisan Fair Trade Sector, Stephanie Leiderman

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This paper examines the history, frames, critiques and current applications of Fair Trade in the artisan sector, with an eye to raising up the specific trade-offs being made, and their implications for an evolving artisan market in the global north and south. It includes a discussion of the history of the Fair Trade idea, including that sector’s increasing focus on certification, agricultural commodities, and corporate involvement. It investigates the potential lessons the artisan sector can learn from the agricultural one, as well as the lessons learned from current actors in the artisan Fair Trade field. Using a continuum of trade-offs …

The Salvadoran Struggle: A Transnational Resistance Against Imperialism, Erik Villalobos

Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Honors Program

No abstract provided.

Guatemalan Youth And Education: Family, Environment, And Dropping Out, Katie Grasso

Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Honors Program

Guatemalan education, in rural and urban areas throughout the 21^st century, has gone through various fluctuations and has been studied by numerous scholars including Adelman Ainsworth, Bassi et. al, Behrman, Crane, Davis, Rogers, Tumen, and Yount who all study different aspects of education including parental investment, neighborhood life, family life, parental migration, poverty and class issues, and other interdisciplinary aspects of these issues. This project focuses on how sociocultural aspects, like family and environment, effect middle and secondary school dropout rates in both rural and urban Guatemala throughout the 21^st century for children ages 13 to 18. In …

Free Trade Does Not Free People, Ernesto Porcari

Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Honors Program

The following paper is in attempt reveal, analyze and explain the effects the North American Free Trade Agreement specifically along the US-Mexican border region. Starting with the agreement itself, the ratification, and the elements surrounding its implementation, this paper will then move through analyzing the quantitative and qualitative effects NAFTA has had along the border region of the United States and Mexico. Taking those effects, the comparison enshrined in the title: whether free trade frees people (free as in a better life) will be tested and analyzed for a possible grading the results of NAFTA has had. Finally, the future …

The Case For Management In The Turkish-Kurdish Conflict., Devin P. Brown

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

The Turkish-Kurdish conflict has ravaged Turkey for nearly 34 years. It is one of the world’s longest enduring rivalries, garnering significant international attention. Since 1984, experts estimate that at least 30,000 people have died in this conflict. In just the past two years, the fighting has killed 3,362 peopleand displaced another half million people. Although the parties have attempted to resolve this dispute multiple times, a comprehensive peace deal has remained elusive. So what should be done about this conflict? Is there a way to compel these parties to forge a lasting peace deal? Or, should the international community focus …

A Return To Dark Shamans: Kanaima & The Cosmology Of Threat, Tarryl Janik

Theses and Dissertations

Kanaima in Amazonia has been theorized within anthropology as “assault sorcery,” “dark shamanism,” and “anti-structure.” Among the Patamuna Indians of Guyana kanaima have been theorized as “cultural expression” of “hyper-traditionality” in response to an encroaching state, its industry and development, evangelism, and modernity (Whitehead; 2002). Kanaima is a mode of terror and violence, of healing, enhancing power, and performing masculinity—a symbol that operates in Patamuna mythology, cosmology, and place-making. Kanaima is intimately entangled with jaguar identity and the wildness of the Pakaraimas, functioning as the ultimate symbol of terror and control over the Patamuna and outsiders. The threat of kanaima …

Stories Behind The Berlin Wall: Lesson Modules, Nicholas Redmon

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

I have grappled with my primary collection just as scholars and popular authors have with bringing these stories together with political histories. My goal is to create a digital map and analysis on specific themes like education and guard duty from the lives lived behind the Wall and their discourse with the government. I would like to explore how the divide impacted lives in 1961, created a GDR Society, and produced a division still felt in Germany today. The target audience of this project is U.S. students in high school and higher education. Students will be able to access timely …

The Rise, Fall, And Revival Of The Moviegoing Experience: The Viability Of Independent Theatres In A Multiplex World, Isabel S. Cruz

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Moviegoing has been a leisure activity since the early twentieth century. From their origination, movie theatres have served as a community gathering place for people from different socioeconomic backgrounds to come together for a shared experience. Even as substitutes for movie viewing options threaten the movie theatre industry, independent cinemas are surviving and thriving. This paper includes results from interviews with independent cinema owners and managers on steps they are taking to preserve moviegoing as an immersive and personal experience. Findings are used to explore how lessons can be applied to create a credible business proposal to locate an independent …

Commodification And Resistance: Migrant Labor In Jordan, Matthew Walleser

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Neoliberal globalization, which has guided the economic system of the world for the last forty years, claims to offer opportunities for equality and wealth for all citizens. However, I argue that the structural violence inherent in the neoliberal system and its drive for maximizing profits leads to cycles of abuse and discrimination, as well as a transfer of wealth and power toward elites and away from average citizens. I discuss how Jordan, like other developing countries, has been a locus for this violence. Through the lens of migrant workers within Jordan, this research paper traces the effects of these policies …

United In The Struggle: The Role Of Land Titles For Communities Of Internally Displaced Persons In El Salvador, Corie Welch

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Multiple episodes of dispossession and displacement characterize the lives of landless rural and semi-rural families across El Salvador. The residents of 30 de Abril, a semi-rural community in El Salvador formed from displaced families, engaged in a five-year struggle to force the government to make good on its promise of land to the rural poor. Now, with legal titles in hand, residents continue to work together to seek additional services and resources for their community, proving their resilience in the face of displacement. Based upon the experience of 30 de Abril, this paper explores the trajectory of one community‟s struggle …

Exploring Existing Innovative Education Models: A Best Practice Guide For A New School Design In Lewiston, Maine, Katie Bosse

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The purpose of this research is to both identify best practices in innovative school design and then identify a guide to assist new school design teams on how to make the transition out of current practices of traditional education. First, I describe the current structure of traditional education, the challenges schools face in regard to school structure, community, and academics. Then I examine six public schools that are working to create strategies to address the challenges stated in traditional schools. Through school site visits and interviews with teacher and faculty, I explore the strategies of existing innovative school models and …

Refugee Case Files As An Indicator Of Housing Needs, Molly Weilbacher

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This study utilizes basic indicators captured from refugee case files at Ascentria, a local resettlement agency, to explore the barriers to housing stability refugees face in the 90-day resettlement process. By piecing together raw data with insight from the data collection process, this research centers refugee households, housing, and the reporting process to answer the question “in what ways can the reporting process better serve resettled refugees in their ability to maintain housing in Worcester?” Looking at how country of birth, household size, and employment eligibility affects refugee households, this research turns to the complexity of housing stability in terms …

The Etm And Alce Testing: Summer Internship In Clark Labs, Wenle Jiang

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Abstract

The ETM and ALCE testing: Summer internship in Clark labs

Wenle Jiang

This paper is a description of my internship with Clark Labs in the summer of 2017. I worked as research assistant responsible for testing the Earth Trends Modeler and the American Land Change Explorer. Earth Trends Modeler is a revolutionary earth observation tool that allows for the modeling and analysis of earth trends and ecosystem dynamics. The American Land Change Explorer (ALCE) is a free web application designed to illustrate the potential of predictive land change modeling using a subscription-based service called the American Land Change Modeler …

Creating Web Maps Of Forest Restoration Plots At Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research Center, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Daniel Lassila

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The purpose of this report is to provide a detailed account, discussion, and analysis of my internship at Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research Center in Minas Gerais, Brazil during the summer of 2017, where I worked under the direction of GIS Supervisor Mr. Cliff Jones. The central focus of my work dealt with consolidating existing GIS data on the organization’s rainforest restoration effort into a single normalized database - based on the Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact, creating a structure for future forest restoration volunteers including enabling offline field collection using Collector for ArcGIS, then creating an ArcGIS Online web map based …

Seabird Distribution And Oil & Gas Potential Along The Northern Sea Route, Russia: An Arctic Marine Conservation Case Study, Meghan Kelly

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Seabirds are indicator species for the marine environment. Their populations are simultaneously affected by access to food resources and anthropogenic pressures including direct disturbance and habitat degradation associated with industrial development (Parsons et al. 2007). Therefore, using seabird distribution as a policy-relevant indicator for the Arctic marine environment supports an ecosystem based management approach aimed at protecting sensitive habitats from increased offshore oil and gas development.

This research identifies seabird habitat in the Russian Arctic utilizing in situ seabird observations from the Northern Sea Route to create a species distribution model. The spatial location of these areas will be compared …

Centering People In The Economy: Worker Cooperatives And The Solidarity Economy In Barcelona, James Hooks

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Are worker cooperatives and the solidarity economy viable tools for revolutionary change in a neoliberal, capitalist system? I approach this question by considering the arguments of utopian socialists, scientific socialists, and anarchists from the Industrial Revolution and the influence of these on the theory of the solidarity economy today. These theoretical perspectives are compared to the reality of members of worker cooperatives in the solidarity economy in Barcelona. The experiences of worker cooperative members are elucidated through focus group discussions and participant produced drawings. A comparison of worker experiences with theory shows worker cooperatives can be spaces for practicing equitable …

Contesting The Normalization Of Violence Through Counter-Storytelling: How A Grassroots Youth Organization Subverts The Perpetuation Of Interpersonal And Structural Violence In Cape Town, South Africa, Nicole Le Roux

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The purpose of this study is to describe the knowledge shared by youth development staff in an NGO in Cape Town about the impact of violence on youth development work. Through five open ended interviews and review of organizational materials, the study uses a narrative and feminist intersectionality analytic to asks how Educo has and could use the critical race theory method of counter-storytelling to subvert the normalization and perpetuation of interpersonal and structural violence. The paper demonstrates how the knowledge and expertise of the people in the organization, as they respond violence youth face, is not valued by funders …

Degrowth Lessons From Cuba, Claire S. Bayler

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Cuba is the global leader in practicing agroecology, but agroecology is just one component of a larger climate-ready socio-economic system. Degrowth economics address the need to constrain our total global metabolism to within biophysical limits, while allowing opportunity and resources for "underdeveloped" countries to rebuild themselves under new terms. Degrowth recognizes the role of overdeveloped countries in surpassing the ecological limits of our planet at the cost of wellbeing for billions of dispossessed people within and between countries. Cuba's circumstances during and following the Special Period exemplify both sides of the degrowth scenario, as well as demonstrating policy and grassroots …

A Place To Call Home: The Fight For Affordable, Erin Lavitt

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

ABSTRACT A PLACE TO CALL HOME: THE FIGHT FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN HIGHINCOME AREAS BY ERIN LAVITT This paper provides a focus on the national affordable housing crisis, using the states of Connecticut and Massachusetts as a case study. The project looks at the difficulties of overcoming resident resistance, entrenched zoning difficulties, and how the politicization and depoliticization of the crisis has influenced the effectiveness of affordable housing programs. The structure of the paper is as follows. First, a background is provided on the history of affordable housing. This history begins with M.G.L. Chapter 40B, the 1969 Massachusetts act concerning …

Mapping Energy Access In Rural Tanzania: 2017 Summer Internship With The World Resources Institute, Naramena Mccray

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This report details my 2017 summer internship experience; both the report and the internship being requirements of the GIS for Development and Environment Graduate Degree at Clark University. My internship was hosted by the World Resources Institute, an international non-profit organization in Washington D.C. As implied by my position title, “Energy Access-GIS Intern”, I spent the duration of my internship (14 weeks) applying my geospatial expertise to address the topic of energy access which is an issue effecting rural areas of many developing countries. I was given the responsibility of creating an interactive map application of Tanzania accessible by energy …

Enhancing Quality Of Life Through Foreign Direct Investment In Northern Mozambique, Sarah-Beth Delay

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Undergraduate Honors Theses

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has the potential to increase economic activity and improve GDP growth in low-income countries, but can hinder economic development (quality of life improvements) if not sustainable and holistic in manner. Africa serves as a host to many cases of FDI focused on economic growth, but not necessarily improving the quality of life for its citizens. FDI has spread throughout the African continent, where many countries are well endowed with natural resources, like minerals and coal. These economies have experienced rapid GDP growth with few benefits reaching citizens of the host country. Mozambique is a low-income country …

“We Were The Outsiders And Treated As Such:” Community Activism And The Intersections Of Ethnicity, Gender, Class, And Race Among Latinas In Milwaukee, Patricia Torres Nájera

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the activism of Latinas in Milwaukee during the 1970s and 1980s. I interviewed women involved in community organizing in that time and place; they shared with me their experiences, and their motivations related to community organizing campaigns. This dissertation explores how members of this group understood themselves to be outsiders, and how the shared outsider status among the Milwaukee Latinas and some white community organizers created solidarity to build Milwaukee’s Latin community. Drawing on in-depth interviews and archival research, I analyze the content of these stories, recognizing common issues of how each woman negotiated family, organizing campaigns, …

Education In Post-Conflict Colombia, Juliana Cabrera Pena

Master's Theses

After 52 years of civil war, Colombia now enters a period of precarious peace. The Colombian government and the largest guerrilla group, the FARC, signed a monumental peace agreement which ushered a period of change in a country which has yet to have sustained peace. Utilizing the power of civil society and social services, the Colombian government has the authority to maintain peace. Education, with its stabilizing power, has the capability of cultivating a society of peace. Thus, this thesis explores the level of value and importance the Colombian government is placing on the expansion of quality education to …

Palestinian Labor In West Bank Settlements, Ethan Morton-Jerome

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since the late 1970s, Palestinians have worked in West Bank settlements, with approximately 30,000 to 40,000 Palestinians currently employed in construction, factories in industrial zones, and plantations. My analysis of Palestinian labor on the settlements begins with the historical, political, legal, and economic context of Palestinian labor in three jurisdictions: in Israel, on the settlements in the West Bank, and in PA-controlled Area A. Fundamental to the analysis is to go beyond the restrictions of nationalist discourse to recognize both intranational tensions and that labor exploitation occurs in all jurisdictions. My fieldwork and analysis were conducted over three years (2013-2016) …