Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Health Behavior And Outlooks In An Altered Microbial Diversity: Changes In Parental Attitudes On ‘Building Immunity’ Throughout The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jennifer Vidal

Pitzer Senior Theses

The Covid-19 Pandemic in a short amount of time put into action disease control measures. Current literature has sought to address the long-term effects of sanitization efforts and social isolation on the diversity of the microbiome and the future of infectious diseases. Microbes – microorganisms such as bacteria, protozoa, algae, fungi, and viruses – inhabit the natural environment and human microbiome with our immune system, playing an essential role in immune regulation. The interplay between humans and microbes forms early immune development that has impacted parents’ attitudes toward microbes shown through their participation in Covid-19 preventative health practices. Using the …

“If It Ain’T One Thing, It’S Another”: Black Lgbtq Students And Their Experiences With School Discipline And Punishment, Quentin Jenkins

Pitzer Senior Theses

School officials have disproportionately applied disciplinary policies and exclusionary practices to Black and LGBTQ youth, causing those students to be negatively sanctioned. Characterized by instruments of surveillance, metal detectors, and the presence of law enforcement, schools in the United States have significantly exacerbated the negative experiences these children have within educational spaces. Schools foster “prison-like” environments and subject Black LGBTQ youth to hyper-surveillance, thus increasing their likelihood of coming in contact with the juvenile justice system. Grounded in BlackCrit and Quare theory, this paper analyzes how the coupled intersecting identities of Blackness and Queerness lead Black LGBTQ youth to have …

Diversity, Equity, & Exclusion: Examining Jewish Identity & Antisemitism As Missing Pieces Of Dei And Ethnic Studies Education, Katie Meitchik

Pitzer Senior Theses

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a theory and practice that focuses on systemic structures, inequities, and social change by examining concepts such as race, gender, class, sexuality, ethnicity, ability, and religion. Incorporating DEI initiatives into learning spaces can lead to a deeper sense of self, stronger coalition building, increased civic engagement, and a sense of healing, resistance, and belonging. Although a nationwide criteria for using DEI practices in education has not yet been implemented as a key component to public school teaching, there are programs emerging with the intent to utilize the theory. This has led to a movement …

Not Coming Home: The Flaws In Skilled Nursing Facilities And Their Contribution To Cyclical Hospitalizations Of Post-Acute Patients, Kate Eisenbraun

Pitzer Senior Theses

This literature review will discuss the experience of patients within the US healthcare system, focusing on skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and their contribution to cyclical hospitalizations. SNFs differ from nursing homes and other long-term care facilities by providing short-term, post-operational rehabilitation at a cost lower than what is offered at hospitals. Despite their critical role, SNFs often face fundamental issues, such as understaffing, underfunding, and staff burn-out, which result in lower quality patient care. This thesis argues that the issues faced by SNFs are a result of inconsistencies with state and federal staffing regulations, as well as inadequate insurance reimbursements. …

Model Minority Perceptions: The Lived Experiences Of Asian American Women In Collegiate Sports, Anna Ponzio

Pitzer Senior Theses

This study examines the impact and the implications of the model minority myth in the lives of Asian American women athletes. It draws on thirteen semi-structured, in-depth interviews with women currently competing in college sports who grapple with their intersectional identities as Asian American athletes and as women. I analyze the effects of the model minority expectations through individual internalization of the myth and its associated ideologies. This study looks at the ways that they are physically perceived as female athletes and the racialized nature of sports through the objectification of their appearances. Additionally, it explores the parental influence on …

Agroecology Curriculum Proposal, Emily Kuhn

Pitzer Senior Theses

The purpose of this research is to establish the viability of an Agroecology major at Pitzer College. I begin by problematizing Industrial Agriculture and making a case for Pitzer College to become a higher education leader in the global paradigm shift towards socially and ecologically just food systems. The proposed curriculum compiles pre-existing classes, objectives expanded from the EA field group, and an internship component embedded at five local land-based learning partner sites. I conducted a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of the Environmental Analysis field group as a potential host for the agroecology track, including study abroad …

Divide And Slaughter: Bridging The Gap Between Animal Rights And Racial Justice Through An Analysis Of The Link Between Slaughterhouses And Domestic Violence, Kailey Mcneal

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis concerns the injustices present in industrial animal agriculture in the United States, domestic violence, and their disproportionate impact on marginalized communities. Despite the work of social movements centered around domestic violence and the slaughterhouse, the state of both continues to worsen, particularly for communities of color. My research seeks to uncover what factors preclude the efficacy of these movements. A qualitative analysis of the labor advocacy and animal rights movements in the slaughterhouse and the domestic violence advocacy movement suggests that the current disparate framings of these injustices and a lack of attention to race contribute to the …

The Demographic Indicators Of Political Distrust And Action In Hong Kong, Andrew Koo

Pitzer Senior Theses

In recent years, Hong Kong has seen massive encroachment from Mainland China, resulting in Hong Kong’s own legislature introducing policy aimed at supporting Mainland Chinese authority in Hong Kong. As a result, Hong Kong has seen two large scale acts of political dissent, The Umbrella Movement/Occupy Central Movement in 2014, and the protests in response to an Extradition Bill in 2019. These events highlight that Hong Kong’s political landscape is shifting, and shifting fast. This study employs data provided by the World Values Survey to measure how measures of trust in state institutions and willingness to take political action have …

Neither “Post-War” Nor Post-Pregnancy Paranoia: How America’S War On Drugs Continues To Perpetuate Disparate Incarceration Outcomes For Pregnant, Substance-Involved Offenders, Becca S. Zimmerman

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the unique interactions between pregnancy, substance involvement, and race as they relate to the War on Drugs and the hyper-incarceration of women. Using ordinary least square regression analyses and data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates, I examine if (and how) pregnancy status, drug use, race, and their interactions influence two length of incarceration outcomes: sentence length and amount of time spent in jail between arrest and imprisonment. The results collectively indicate that pregnancy decreases length of incarceration outcomes for those offenders who are not substance-involved but not evenhandedly -- benefitting white …

Reclaiming Indigeneity And Sovereignty: Anticolonial Resistance Among Indigenous Peoples In Northeastern Turtle Island, Leah W. Kelly

Pitzer Senior Theses

Indigenous peoples living on Turtle Island, or what is now known as North America, are under constant threat of both erasure and domination. This study explores the intersecting concepts of Indigenous identity and sovereignty through the perspectives of Indigenous interviewees in the Northeast region of the continent as they navigate settler-colonial society and practice anticolonial resistance. It reveals the ways in which colonizing forces reappropriate and redefine the meanings of indigeneity and sovereignty in order to control Indigenous peoples and inhibit their ability to live self-sustainably. Incorporating qualitative sociological research methods, decolonizing methodologies, a settler-colonial framework, previous scholarly literature, and …

Urban Renewal Or Urban Legend? Re-Historicizing Human-River Relationships Disrupted By Displacement Before And Now In Los Angeles, Jamie Sophia Helberg

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis speaks to how historical and on-going colonization of the river has consistently traumatized the relationship disadvantaged communities have had with the Los Angeles River. By historicizing those relationships, I argue that current use of human-centered market-based strategies to revitalize the river only furthers serial displacement of disadvantaged communities and will not adequately achieve sustainability. Using Frogtown as a case study, I also explore methods of resiliency to “green gentrification," an agent of neocolonialism along the river. In studying the placemaking practices implemented in Frogtown, I problematize notions of gentrification as “natural” and "necessary" for river revitalization. Elements of …

The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary: An Exploration Of Changing The Discourse On Conservation, Arielle Ben-Hur

Pitzer Senior Theses

In 2015, the Northern Chumash Tribal Council submitted a National Marine Sanctuary Nomination to establish the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary– a means by which to ensure the protection of one of the most culturally and biologically diverse coastlines in the world. On October 5, 2015, John Armor of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) responded to the nomination, adding it to the inventory of areas NOAA may consider in the future for national marine sanctuary designation.

In my thesis, I explore how the nomination of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary acts as a platform from which Traditional …

The Weaponization Of Poverty: An Investigation Into United States Military Recruitment Practices In High Schools Of Low-Income Communities In The Inland Empire, Michael Springer-Gould

Pitzer Senior Theses

Military recruitment in the United States is a highly contentious subject that has yielded a multitude of prior research across a variety of academic concentrations. To further the conversation, I narrow my focus to Southern California’s Inland Empire (IE) to explore practices of military recruitment in high schools that serve students in low-income communities. I begin with a general overview of life and labor in the Inland Empire before moving into prior research on military recruitment. My empirical research consists of five in-depth interviews documenting the lived experiences of individuals hailing from and attending high school in low-income communities of …

Present And Passionate: A Critical Analysis Of Asian American Involvement In The United States Environmental Justice Movement, Emily M. Ng

Pitzer Senior Theses

Communities of color are disproportionately exposed to toxins and pollution. The environmental justice movement addresses the greater health and environmental risks experienced by minority groups. Although Asian Americans are the fastest growing population in the United States, there is little known about their involvement in the movement. In this thesis, I further observe Asian American involvement in the United States environmental justice movement. By analyzing community case studies, I identify Asian American-specific mobilization challenges and strategies. Interviews with prominent Asian American environmental justice activists reveal activism and collective identity are connected, but vary greatly according to individualized Asian American experiences. …

Campaigning On An Environmental Justice Platform: Irmalinda Osuna For Upland City Council, District 3, Jenny Bekenstein

Pitzer Senior Theses

After successfully organizing around preserving Cabrillo Park in Upland and feeling a lack of local political representation, Irmalinda Osuna ran for Upland City Council in the 2018 midterm elections. As one of the many female candidates in the 2018 elections, Irmalinda led a grassroots, community-led political campaign in which she advocated for environmental justice and the preservation of parks, a more inclusive community, increased civic participation, a more efficient use of technology in politics, and support for small businesses.

Hidden Cracks In The Leaking Stem Pipeline: Retention Within First-Generation Latinx Students In Baccalaureate Stem Programs At Predominately White Institutions, Kevin Kandamby

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis documents the lived experiences of first-generation Latinx students navigating

through predominately white institutions while attaining or attempting to attain a STEM degree. To examine this, twelve students from five different institutions were interviewed in semi- structured focus groups to better understand the educational trajectories of students in STEM. Inadequate high school preparation, educational disparities, mental health, and lack of institutional support were some of the reoccurring concerns students had across all focus groups. Students also highlighted that cultural competency across faculty in STEM, support from identity groups, and returning back to their Latinx community to serve as professionals …

Confronting The Ngo: Struggling For Agency And Approximating Freedom Through The Works Of Michel Foucault And Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Samantha Coss

Pitzer Senior Theses

This project aims to consider the proliferation of the NGO in the 21st century and the implications that this model has for justice, freedom and social change. The nonprofit, or nongovernmental organization, will be examined using theorists and thinkers Michel Foucault and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, in hopes of understanding the ways in which the NGO limits freedom and perpetuates violence. There will be an exploration of struggling for agency beyond the nonprofit, including an introduction to examples of other change-making models from the United States and Latin America. The goal of this project is to critically examine the current frameworks …

The Impact Of Socioeconomic Status On College Students’ Experiences, Shaafi A. Farooqi

Pitzer Senior Theses

This qualitative research project examines the role of socioeconomic status in shaping the experiences of students attending Pearson College, an elite liberal arts college in Southern California. One hour-long, semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) students in order to better understand APIDA student experiences and their views on the college’s efforts to support class-based diversity and inclusion. Findings include insights into challenges faced by college students, how they understand privilege and identity, and where college students find support. These results have implications for Pearson College, and similar liberal arts colleges, to implement changes to …

1.5/2nd Generation Vietnamese-Americans And Their Health Beliefs And Attitudes, Theresa Dang

Pitzer Senior Theses

Vietnamese immigration is distinct from other Asian/Pacific Islander groups in its context – the bulk of Vietnamese immigration was not of educational, economic, or career opportunity, but a diaspora. After the Fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War, Vietnamese immigrants faced extreme adversities and trauma as they fled to neighboring countries. Understanding the context and history of Vietnamese immigration plays a huge role in the acculturation process, management of health, and ability to navigate institutions among these families. As these immigrant families learn to survive in a new country, they also must face and heal from the emotional, psychological, and …

Indigenous-Led Resistance To Environmental Destruction: Methods Of Anishinaabe Land Defense Against Enbridge's Line 3, Charlotte Degener Hughes

Pitzer Senior Theses

Enbridge has proposed the Line 3 “Replacement” Project, a new pipeline project taking a new route strait through Anishinaabe treaty territory in what is known as northern Minnesota. In the middle of the regulation process, the future remains unclear of how the State of Minnesota will move forward with the permitting process, but Anishinaabe communities, a range of non-profit organizations, and local landowners remain firmly against the line. Rooted in varied frameworks of Native sovereignty, the land, and Indigenous feminism, Anishinaabe communities lead the resistance against a product of ongoing settler colonialism, racial capitalism, and environmental racism. This thesis contextualizes …

The Educational Opportunity Structure And Stratification Of College Counseling At Southern California Public High Schools, Adriana Ceron

Pitzer Senior Theses

This study documents how organizational strategies underlying college counseling departments modify counselors’ ability to perform their academic and college advising duties. To examine this, fifteen semi-structured, in-depth interviews with public high school counselors in Southern California were conducted. A district’s commitment to college access and opportunity, as well as parents’ expectations for maintaining a college-going culture, shaped the nature of college counseling and organizational habitus in a school. Counselors reported that access to different forms of institutional support and resources diminish or exacerbate the structural constraints known to surface in public schools. This influenced when and how counselors advised students, …

The District's Stepchild: The Total Erasure Of Low-Income Latinx Students' Needs At Continuation High Schools, Gabriela R. Ornelas

Pitzer Senior Theses

My study explores the underlying factors that allow systemic structural issues to exist within continuation high schools which result in the low educational performance of low-income Latinx continuation students. My study focuses on educators’ experiences, as I conducted 20 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Southern California continuation high school teachers. I focused on the following areas of study: the teacher’s career, the teacher’s interactions with students, and the teacher’s opinions regarding their accessibility to funding and resources. My findings indicate that teachers, the outer community, and school-board administrators utilize cultural deficit thinking and stigmatization as tools of total erasure to exchange …

The Experiences Of Teachers At Southern California Continuation High Schools: Exposing The Barriers Within Alternative Education, Gabriela R. Ornelas

Pitzer Senior Theses

My project explores the role of teachers at Southern California continuation high schools as it relates to serving low-income students of color in the face of the institutional barriers within alternative education. My study focuses on the teachers’ career, interactions with students, and opinions on accessibility to resources and funding. I have examined their experiences through twenty in-depth, semi-structured interviews with teachers from three districts. My findings indicate that district members’ misconceptions of Latinx students as inherently deviant and academically unengaged drive institutional issues creating financial burden for which teachers are forced to compensate. My study highlights that continuation high …

Drowning In Rising Seas: Navigating Multiple Knowledge Systems And Responding To Climate Change In The Maldives, Rachel Hannah Spiegel

Pitzer Senior Theses

The threat of global climate change increasingly influences the actions of human society. As world leaders have negotiated adaptation strategies over the past couple of decades, a certain discourse has emerged that privileges Western conceptions of environmental degradation. I argue that this framing of climate change inhibits the successful implementation of adaptation strategies. This thesis focuses on a case study of the Maldives, an island nation deemed one of the most vulnerable locations to the impacts of rising sea levels. I apply a postcolonial theoretical framework to examine how differing knowledge systems can both complement and contradict one another. By …

Stand Clear Of The Closing Doors, Please: Transit Equity, Social Exclusion, And The New York City Subway, Taylor Novick-Finder

Pitzer Senior Theses

The history of transportation planning in New York City has created disparities between those who have sufficient access to the public transportation network, and those who face structural barriers to traveling from their home to education, employment, and healthcare opportunities. This thesis analyzes the legacy of discriminatory policy surrounding the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and city and state governments that have failed to support vital infrastructure improvement projects and service changes to provide multi-modal welfare to New York’s working poor. By exploring issues of transit equity as they pertain to the New York City subway system, this thesis raises the …

Locating Gendered Resistance: Interethnic Conflict, Environmental Disaster, And Feminist Leadership In Sri Lanka, Allison A. Donine

Pitzer Senior Theses

In geographically vulnerable and politically unstable regions such as Sri Lanka, I argue that linking natural hazards and climate-induced disasters to existing social issues is more pressing than ever. In the case of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, it was impossible to dissociate the two. Looking though the lens of distress, in conflict and environmental disaster, this thesis explores how women have transformed moments of victimization into opportunities for resistance and agency. This thesis examines the following questions: Within the geo-political context of Sri Lanka, how does social stress (human-made or environmental) produce conflict and resistance to patriarchal traditions along …

Faith In A Changing Planet: The Role Of Religious Leaders In The Fight For A Livable Climate, Morissa Zuckerman

Pitzer Senior Theses

Progressive religious leaders are playing an increasingly important role in the effort to combat climate change. Through a combination of unstructured in-depth interviews and primary source analysis, this thesis highlights nine U.S. religious leaders from various denominations of Christianity, Judaism and Islam who are actively involved in working on climate issues. Drawing on literature in social movement theory, I explore how clergy are uniquely influential in climate issues because of the organizational advantage and moral authority they hold through their positions as religious leaders, granting them the ability to highlight social justice implications of climate change with distinctive legitimacy. Clergy …

“Becoming Ioway: Using Auto-Ethnography To Understand The Fourteen Ioways’ Journey Of Colonization, Spirituality And Traditions Through Tribal Dance Exhibitions, Sarita R. Mc Gowan

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes the colonization and traditional spiritual practices of the Ioway people to show that their traditions have survived the effects of colonization also known as white settlers. I focus on issues of cultural traditional exhibition dance and that complicates the question of the nation-state’s exclusively trying to dissemble the Native Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska of colonization and the effects on the Ioway people past and present. I use personal experience of being a tribal member to discuss how the tribes’ oral history allows for the preservation of Ioway cultural identity and religious traditions.

“A Give And A Take”: Lived Experiences In A Real Sharing Economy, Lauren F. Phipps

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis contrasts a “real” sharing economy with the commonly held understanding of this new mode of exchange. By examining the lived experiences within a successful example of sharing, we can see its true value and acknowledge where other businesses fall short. Based on in-depth interviews with users of freecycle.org, this thesis illustrates the importance of motivation within a real sharing economy, highlighting the existence of generalized reciprocity, the value of community, and altruism between members of this gifting platform.

The State Of Sachets: Ghana’S Private Sector Solution To A Public Infrastructure Problem, Robert J. Little

Pitzer Senior Theses

Known colloquially as “purewater”, sachet water has outcompeted all alternatives to Ghana’s unreliable government water infrastructure and serves as the cheap, portable, omnipresent solution for narrowing the safe water access gap. Each single-use sachet holds 500 ml of filtered potable water and is heat-sealed in a high-density polyethylene bag. Insufficient and often skeptical scholarship exists surrounding the state of sachet water in Ghana, and almost no research incorporates qualitative data into analysis and future recommendations. In the face of incomplete and decontextualized research on sachet water, this study aims to use qualitative data concerning Ghanaian viewpoints to showcase the …