Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Cultures And Comfort: A Study Of Personal Adornment At Avery's Rest, Julianne Danna

Graduate Masters Theses

Avery’s Rest was a diverse, thriving plantation in Sussex County, Delaware in the late 1600s and early 1700s. John Avery, a flavorful character from England by way of Massachusetts and Maryland, settled the plantation in the late 1600s and made his final home there with his wife and children. After his death, the same site was then occupied by his daughter, Jemima, and her husband.

Excavated by the Archaeological Society of Delaware, the numerous artifacts from the archaeological site provide a glimpse into the lives of settlers on the colonial frontier as they fought to survive environmental challenges, negotiated continuous …

At Act Data Brief, Daria Domin, John Shepard

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

Section 4 of the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, as amended (AT Act) authorizes grants to support programs that increase knowledge about, access to, and acquisition of assistive technology (AT) devices and services for individuals with disabilities and older Americans. These programs include 56 statewide AT programs that provide device demonstrations, device loans, device reutilization, training, technical assistance, public awareness, and assistance with obtaining funding for AT. This report is a compilation of data from these programs for FY 2018 and contains information about the activities of the statewide AT programs.

A National Data Summary Of State Assistive Technology Programs: Fiscal Year 2018, Daria Domin, John Shepard

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

Section 4 of the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, as amended (AT Act) authorizes grants to support programs that increase knowledge about, access to, and acquisition of assistive technology (AT) devices and services for individuals with disabilities and older Americans. These programs include 56 statewide AT programs that provide device demonstrations, device loans, device reutilization, training, technical assistance, public awareness, and assistance with obtaining funding for AT. This report is a compilation of data from these programs for FY 2018 and contains information about the activities of the statewide AT programs.

Latino Political Leadership In Massachusetts – 2019, Bianca Ortiz-Wythe, Christa M. Kelleher, Fabián Torres-Ardila, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Center For Women In Politics And Public Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

There is very limited Latino presence in the State Senate, with one Latina State Senator in office; having five Latinos in the Senate would be proportionate to the statewide Latino population. Six Latinos serve in the 160-member House of Representatives; eighteen would be proportionate. There are no Latinos in the state’s congressional delegation.

City councilors and members of school committees account for 83% of all Latinos serving in key elected leadership positions. The top 20 cities and towns with the largest proportions of Latino residents in Massachusetts account for 57% of the Latino population in the state. Among these cities …

Latino Political Leadership In Massachusetts: 2019, Bianca Ortiz-Wythe, Christa M. Kelleher, Fabián Torres-Ardila

Gastón Institute Publications

There is very limited Latino presence in the State Senate, with one Latina State Senator in office; having five Latinos in the Senate would be proportionate to the statewide Latino population. Six Latinos serve in the 160-member House of Representatives; eighteen would be proportionate. There are no Latinos in the state’s congressional delegation.

City councilors and members of school committees account for 83% of all Latinos serving in key elected leadership positions. The top 20 cities and towns with the largest proportions of Latino residents in Massachusetts account for 57% of the Latino population in the state. Among these cities …

Action Today For Tomorrow: Examining How Building A Video Montage Over Time Impacts A Family, Phillip Macdonald

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

I started shooting one second of video every day almost four years ago. The short clips are amalgamated into a video montage at the end of each year. This paper is an inquiry into that practice and how it can impact a family. On a broader scale, the paper shows any individual how the consistent act of taking one second of video each day can help with the inherent malleability of memory, support effective dialogue, provide a platform for reflection on one’s life and promote mindful living. The project is a reaction to the ubiquity of smartphone technology, and an …

Wanting It All: Designing And Developing A Sustainable Life Of Meaning And Purpose Through Reflective Practice, Janell Burley Hofmann

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This synthesis presents an integration of the coursework in the Master of Arts in Critical and Creative Thinking at The University of Massachusetts Boston. Here the symptoms and realities of personal and professional burnout and exhaustion will be examined through the lens of well-being, while scaffolding the emergence of the higher ideal towards the sustainable cultivation of purpose and meaning. Tools, strategies and design structures are shared to promote and practice sustainability through Reflective Practice. This includes Reflective Questioning, Developing and Mapping of Value Components and Visual Tools to understand and apply Critical and Creative Thinking. The author’s personal narrative …

The Political Leadership Of Women Of Color In Massachusetts: Uneven Progress Amid Historic Advances, Center For Women In Politics And Public Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, William Monroe Trotter Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Institute For Asian American Studies, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Institute For New England Native American Studies, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Since the 2015 release of Profiles in Leadership: Women of Color Elected to Office in Massachusetts which documented the electoral leadership of 94 women of color who had ever served in office in Massachusetts, at least 34 women of color have been elected to office, reflecting a 36% increase in the past four years.

What Can We Do? Puzzling Over The Interpretation Of Heredity And Variation From Galton To Genetic Engineering, Peter J. Taylor

Working Papers on Science in a Changing World

First six chapters of a book motivated as follows: When I had mentioned to colleagues that I was exploring some significant issues overlooked by both sides in nature-nurture debates, the typical response was “we know, of course, that nature and nurture are intertwined”; they never asked “which nature-nurture science are you referring to?” It occurred to me that, in the long history of nature-nurture debates, opposing sides had always assumed or implied that these different scientific approaches were speaking to the same issues. If that were the case, then the challenge—something I was already puzzling over—was how best to draw …

Editor’S Note, Padraig O’Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

The articles in this issue have their origins in presentations at the “Freedom and Fragmentation” conference at the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict conference at Harris Manchester College Oxford in September 2018.

Cultural Work In Addressing Conflicts And Violence In Traumatized Communities, Eugen Koh

New England Journal of Public Policy

There is a growing appreciation that conflict and violence in many communities have their origins in a history of traumatic experiences. Why this link exists and how it comes about is still unclear. We have no unified psychology of traumatized communities, and little is known about how to address these traumatic origins collectively in these communities. This article proposes a psychodynamic model of collective trauma and a psychoanalytically informed approach to working with traumatized communities to address their issues of conflict and violence. It highlights the impact of collective trauma on the culture of a community, which is its collective …

Stories Untold: Art From Syria, Manas Ghanem

New England Journal of Public Policy

In Damascus, a group of artists created paintings of startling intensity, rich in texture and bold to the eye, suffused with light and reflecting alternate realities: the resilience of a highly cultured people with a civilization of seven thousand years and a history of survival and reinvention. While the machines of war produced death, amid the blood and terror, the devastation and savagery, these artists produced images of hope and beauty that were brought together in an exhibition held in Athens and other parts of Greece. The paintings that accompany Ghanem’s article, “Stories Untold: Art from Syria,” also the name …

Resolving Conflict Between Canada’S Indigenous Peoples And The Crown Through Modern Treaties: Yukon Case History, Kirk Cameron

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article presents an example of how modern treaties with Yukon First Nations have created a foundation for co-relational involvement in the direction and control of land and resource management throughout Canada’s subnational region of Yukon, approximately 470,000 square kilometers in size. The modern treaties with eleven of the fourteen Yukon First Nations create assessment and management structures where appointment to these bodies are nominations not only from the territorial and federal governments but from the Yukon First Nations. The rights captured in the treaties are protected under Canada’s supreme law, the Constitution Act, 1982. The treaty relationship has effectively …

Contextualizing Approaches To Indigenous Peoples’ Experiences Of Intractable Conflict, Michele A. Sam

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article contextualizes intractable conflict within the lived experiences and worldviews of an Indigenous person, imbued with academic and scholarly research. The text illustrates how intractable conflict is experienced within the “developed world,” resulting in both freedom and fragmentation. Whether intractable conflict stems from colonial and postcolonial development and influences current Indigenous Peoples’ self-development efforts in Canada, specifically, and possibly across British colonies in general seems to be a new inquiry. The author relates her intergenerational experiences of contact, unpacking research and development in its many forms alongside the characteristics of intractable conflict and related federal Indian and social policy. …

Preparing The Psychological Space For Peacemaking, Gabrielle Rifkind, Nita Yawanarajah

New England Journal of Public Policy

Peace processes fail for many reasons, but one of the critical factors is the state of mind of the participants around the peace table. Often the atmosphere is one of mistrust and suspicion: the traumatic effects of the conflict and the degree of suffering makes the parties likely to be more interested in retribution than accommodation. This state of mind keeps conflict parties rigidly and emotionally attached to their positions and often psychologically blocked from being able to engage productively in a peace process and achieve outcomes that meet their best interests.

This article proposes that to make conflict resolution …

The Crisis Of Cultures And The Vitality Of Values: A Commentary On Emmanuel Macron’S Declaration Of The Need For Religion, Scott Atran

New England Journal of Public Policy

French president Emmanuel Macron’s claim that society needs religion is explored in the light of rising populism and illiberalism, and failures allied to the forced gamble of globalization. Historical and experimental research indicates that the universal religions have no fixed meanings or essences that drive followers. Religions have adapted to many contexts and cultures because core elements are believed sacred and transcendental, that is, non-negotiable, logically inscrutable, empirically unverifiable or falsifiable and therefore always open to interpretation under changing sociopolitical influences. Recent studies in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe suggest that “devoted actors” committed to transcendental causes are …

The 4m Way Of Combating Violent Extremism: An Analysis*, Kumar Ramakrishna

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article puts forth a “4M Way” of dealing with the threat of violent Islamist extremism in Southeast Asia. It argues that our narrative must be fundamentally more attractive to the target audience than the competing vision of the violent extremists. The memes that constitute our narrative in the social media space must be “stickier” than those of the violent extremists. The personal credibility of our messenger in the eyes of the target audience should exceed that of extremist ideologues vis-á-vis that same audience. The mechanisms that we employ to impart our messages to the target audience must be more …

To Adopt Or Not To Adopt: Factors Impacting States’ Pursuit And Implementation Of Aca’S Home And Community-Based Programs, Lisa Kalimon Beauregard

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) sought to improve the United States’ long-term services and supports (LTSS) system by expanding home and community-based services (HCBS). The ACA contained several optional Medicaid HCBS opportunities for states, including the Balancing Incentive Program, the 1915(k) Community First Choice personal care benefit, and the revised 1915(i) state plan benefit. This research examined these HCBS provisions to explain what factors determine whether states participate in the ACA’s new HCBS programs and, after adoption, what factors facilitate or impede implementation of these programs. To answer these questions, this study used a mixed methods research …

Developing Age-Friendly Communities: Evidence From Multiple Case Studies, Patricia A. Oh

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Population aging brings opportunities and challenges for local community and economic development. One policy solution that has been adopted by 325+ jurisdictions in the United States is joining the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities or the WHO Global Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities. Although the age-friendly movement is gaining momentum in the US, few studies have looked at what influences municipal decision-making about joining a network or making age-friendly changes. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore what influences municipal decision-making about joining a formal age-friendly network and how communities mobilize the resources at …

From Victim To Volunteer: A Life Course Perspective And The Transition To Adulthood For Individuals Who Have Sold Sex, Julianne M. Siegfriedt

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Under the United States definition of sex trafficking, one is considered a sex trafficking victim if she or he sells sex under 18 years old. Once someone turns 18, in order to claim trafficking status force, fraud, or coercion must be proven or that person falls under the illegal status of sex worker (VTVPA 2000). If one can go from being a victim of a crime to a perpetrator of a crime by having a birthday, what does the transition to adulthood and turning 18 look like for those who sell or exchange sex or are at risk of selling …

Working Memory And Mindfulness In An Rct Of Abbt And Ar, Anna M. Hall

Graduate Masters Theses

Working memory capacity (WMC) can be degraded by anxiety, stress, and worry, but can also be protected by mindfulness interventions (Jha et al., 2010). The current study was the first to investigate the relations between WMC, anxiety, and mindfulness within two interventions for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) that promote mindfulness: Acceptance Based Behavioral Therapy (ABBT) and Applied Relaxation (AR). In this exploratory study, we analyzed a subset of participants from a RCT of ABBT and AR who had completed the Operation Span Task (OSPAN; n = 21). First, we found that pre- to post-treatment measures of WMC (e.g., OSPAN scores) …

Set In Stone: Recontextualizing The Lithic Assemblage Of A Seventeenth-Century Storage Cellar In Charlestown, Massachusetts, Anna M. Greco

Graduate Masters Theses

Feature 43 is a domestic structure that belonged to the wealthy seventeenth-century merchant community of Charlestown, Massachusetts, and was excavated in the early 1980s as part of the Maudlin Archaeological District. The extant collection has remained in storage for the last thirty years, demanding a recontextualization of the site, both in provenience and in historical context. Primary sources portray an image of a predominantly European settler household; however, a counter-narrative emerges from lithics found within the assemblage. While the ultimate goal is to analyze the patterns of lithic sourcing and production in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the findings hinge on …

The Role Of The International Non-Governmental Organizations (Ingo) In Humanitarian Intervention – A Case Study Of The Ifrc Cash Transfer Program In Malawi, Olabode George Igandan

Graduate Masters Theses

While Cash Transfer Programs (CTP) has been used to address a variety of social problems, as of yet, there is limited literature on the efficacy of cash transfers in ensuring food security. This study aims to fill this vacuum by investigating the circumstances under which cash transfers are effective in ensuring food security. Malawi, the selected country for this study, provides a useful platform of research because the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) implemented this policy there. More specifically, this study aims at investigating the extent to which the IFRC CTP was effective in ensuring …

Environments Explored: An In-Depth Analysis Of Soil Movement In Northern Iceland, Lauren Welch O'Connor

Graduate Masters Theses

The initial colonization of Iceland in the late 9th century had a profound impact on the fragile environment of the North Atlantic island. Settlement and the introduction of livestock resulted in widespread erosion and the replacement of woodlands with meadows and heaths. Changes in the environment are assumed to have played a role in determining settlement patterning and subsistence strategies. While marginal highland areas were most seriously affected, resulting in farmstead abandonment, the nature of changes in lowland areas and their impact on the productivity of individual farms is poorly understood. Local patterns of landscape change in Iceland could be …

Off The Farm: An Evaluation Of Non-Farm Earnings And Employment On Poverty Alleviation In Rural Nicaragua, Magaly Vanessa Saenz Somarriba

Graduate Masters Theses

In Nicaragua, poverty disproportionately affects the rural population. Over the last two decades, rural inhabitants have increased their participation in the Rural Non-Farm (RNF) sector. This study uses four waves of data from the Living Standard Measurement Survey (LSMS) between 2001 and 2014 to test whether the transition to the RNF sector decreases poverty rates and increases consumption. To account for the endogeneity of RNF participation and measures of well-being like consumption, I use an instrumental variables approach. I use a policy enacted in 2006 that induced plausibly exogenous variation in electrification rates over the same period to instrument for …

Comales And Colonialism: An Analysis Of Cuisine And Ceramics On A 17th-Century New Mexican Estancia, Adam C. Brinkman

Graduate Masters Theses

The archaeological site of LA 20,000 is an early colonial Spanish estancia, or ranch, in New Mexico that was occupied between A.D. 1630 to 1680. Spanish estancias became the homes and work spaces for people with a wide range of cultural backgrounds. In this thesis, the author analyses the ceramics and ground stone assemblage of LA 20,000 to understand the daily practice of cuisine on this rural frontier. Cuisine has important symbolic components related to an individual’s identity. Through the practice of cuisine, inhabitants consumed foods that fit conceptions of acceptability, enacted preparation and cooking methods that were taught intergenerationally, …

Exiting Vocational Rehabilitation With Employment, By Race, For Individuals With An Intellectual Disability, Alberto Migliore, Cady Landa

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

These data illustrate that the pervasive race-based employment gap in the United States is also present within the sub-population of people with ID served by VR.

Aging In The Town Of Weston: A Community Needs Assessment, Sue Berger, Caitlin Coyle, Jan Mutchler, Nidya Velasco

Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging Publications

This report describes research undertaken by the Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging within the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, on behalf of the Weston Council on Aging, to investigate the needs, interests, preferences, and opinions of Weston’s population of residents who are age 55 and older. The contents of this report are meant to inform the Weston Council on Aging, and organizations that work with and on behalf of older residents of Weston, for the purposes of planning and coordination of services, but also to build awareness about issues facing the Town of Weston. …

The Social Construction Of Life: Critical Thinking About Biology In Society, Peter J. Taylor

Working Papers on Science in a Changing World

This book aims to expand the boundaries of the influences that readers consider when interpreting the practices and products of the life sciences ("biology") and their impact on society. The chapter topics include: Interpreting Ideas of Nature; The structure of origin stories; Multiple layers in influencing an audience: The case of Darwin's On the Origin of Species; Metaphors of coordination and development; What causes a disease?—the consequences of hereditarianism in the case of pellagra; How changeable are IQ test scores?; Social negotiations around genetic screening; Intersecting processes involving genes and environment.

Each chapter consists of 5 parts:

1. Introduce simple …

State Roles In Promoting Community Life Engagement: Themes From The State Employment Leadership Network’S Working Group, Jennifer Sullivan Sulewski, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

As states focus on expanding integrated employment opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and phasing out sheltered work, they are finding a need to concurrently examine Community Life Engagement (CLE) supports as a wrap-around to ensure individuals’ engagement in the community is maintained and they continue to receive sufficient levels of support, despite fluctuations in job status and hours. In January through June of 2017, the State Employment Leadership Network (SELN) hosted a working group of member states to discuss ideas and share strategies for encouraging quality CLE supports while maintaining a focus on Employment First (see …