Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons^™

Latinos In The South: Community, Family, And Identity, José Tránsito Ayala Rodriguez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As Latinos have migrated at high rates to the U.S. South in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the region has become known as a “new immigrant destination” and the “Nuevo South” yet political science research documenting the dynamics of Latino identity in the Nuevo South has been scarce. In this thesis I seek to understand the roles of Latino panethnic, U.S. (American) and Southern identity on factors informing the development of Latino community building. I use the 2016 Blair Center Poll to test social identity and family intimacy theories through a quantitative analysis of the effects of attachment …

Three Essays On Responsibility And The Transition To Adulthood In Comparative Perspective, Andrew Lee Breidenbach

Sociology ETDs

This hybrid dissertation examines three related topics on the concept of responsibility regarding adulthood and transitioning into this status: a) youth conceptions of responsibility for delayed home-leaving, b) the relationship between family responsibility and transition timing, and c) global conceptions of parental responsibilities to children. First, I find that youth typically see external, structural causes preventing earlier home-leaving over internal, more culturally-motivated causes leading individuals to prefer staying at home longer. Second, I find that total housework and specifically the “female-typical” interior work of cooking, cleaning and caring speeds up parenthood while delaying the achievement transitions of finishing school and …

Becoming A Part Of Your Community: The Personal Account Of A Student’S Journey Discovering The Impact Of Service Learning On Both Community And Personal Development At The University Level, Jacqueline M. Petras

VA Engage Journal

There is plenty of research surrounding the benefits that service learning brings to the community and students alike. But, it is far less common to break down individual experiences and greater effects service learning can have beyond the studies and statistics. Although this piece cannot speak for every service learning experience, it explores the changing mindset of my personal interaction with service learning. This autobiographical account identifies moments of personal and intellectual growth through a long form reflection of my three years as a service learning student at Virginia Commonwealth University. I wrestle with my thoughts and emotions of what …

Equity In Accessibility, A Case Study Of City Of Sacramento, Meredith C. Milam

City and Regional Planning

This paper is a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) spatial analysis of the transportation accessibility and equity in Sacramento, California. A literature review examines discriminatory regulatory policies in the 1900s that wrote racial segregation into law. The effects of these policies have lasting effects on spatial dispersal of people and create barriers to accessibility and therefore result in inequitable transportation systems. The accessibility and equity analysis in Sacramento explores demographic data, job concentration and available modes of transportation, and commuter data. The results of the analysis suggest that there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach when it comes to measuring accessibility and equity. …

An Inferentially Robust Look At Two Competing Explanations For The Surge In Unauthorized Migration From Central America, Nick Santos

Dissertations

The last 8 years have seen a dramatic increase in the flow of Central American apprehensions by the U.S. Border Patrol. Explanations for this surge in apprehensions have been split between two leading hypotheses. Most academic scholars, immigrant advocates, progressive media outlets, and human rights organizations identify poverty and violence (the Poverty and Violence Hypothesis) in Central America as the primary triggers responsible. In contrast, while most government officials, conservative think tanks, and the agencies that work in the immigration and border enforcement realm admit poverty and violence may underlie some decisions to migrate, they instead blame lax U.S. immigration …

“They’Re Bringing Drugs... They’Re Bringing Crime... They’Re Rapists”: Exploring Latino Immigration, Crime, And Voting Patterns In The 2016 Presidential Election, Brogan Estelle Arguelles

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The political race for the 2016 United States President brimmed with conflict over an array of issues, notably Latino immigration from Mexico and Latin America to the U.S. The rhetoric of then Presidential Candidate Donald Trump centered around the idea that Mexico was not sending its finest immigrants; that, in place, they were sending rapists and criminals. This rhetoric was heard loud and clear and has since affected various U.S. policies and programs that actively exclude Latino immigrants. Using census data from 2015, rates of immigration and rates of violent crime were compared against 2016 election results, all at the …

The Violence Of Asylum: The Case Of Undocumented Chinese Migration To The Us, Amy Hsin, Sofya Aptekar

Publications and Research

A sizable portion of the undocumented population in the US is Chinese, yet they are an understudied group. We integrate a multidisciplinary body of work on undocumented Chinese migration with the sociology of migration and analyze interviews with undocumented migrants, community organizers, social workers, and others working in the Chinese community in New York City, as well as participant observation of community events. We show that restrictive immigration policies exclude most Chinese migrants from legal entry into the US, force many to endure dangerous migration routes, incur extraordinary debt and bind Chinese migrants’ experience of illegality with asylum seeking. The …

Mapping Renewal: How An Unexpected Interdisciplinary Collaboration Transformed A Digital Humanities Project, Elise Tanner, Geoffrey Joseph

Digital Initiatives Symposium

Funded by a National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Foundations Grant, the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture’s “Mapping Renewal” pilot project focused on creating access to and providing spatial context to archival materials related to racial segregation and urban renewal in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1954-1989. An unplanned interdisciplinary collaboration with the UA Little Rock Arkansas Economic Development Institute (AEDI) has proven to be an invaluable partnership. One team member from each department will demonstrate the Mapping Renewal website and discuss how the collaborative process has changed and shaped …

Voting Changes Between The 2016 And 2020 Presidential Elections In Counties Across The United States With Large Latino-Origin Populations, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction:

This report examines trends in votes cast between the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections in 1) the 101 counties in the United States in which Latinos comprised 50% or more of total populations; and 2) in the 35 counties in the U.S. which had the largest Latino populations.These latter counties were home to 50% of all Latinos living in the United States according to 2019 census data.

Methods:

Exit polling data from 2016 and 2020, American Community Survey (2019)

Discussion:

Of the 101 counties in which Latino populations were more than half of all residents, the Republican candidate won …

What Moves You?: Georges Didi-Huberman’S Arts Of Passage And Pittsburgh Stories Of Migration, Alexandra Irimia

Languages and Cultures Publications

Contemporary art historian, critic, and theorist Georges Didi-Huberman thinks of images not as static objects, but as movements, passages, and gestures of memory and/or desire. For the French “historian of passing images,” as he has been called, “all images are migrants. Images are migrations. They are never simply local” (D2017). His book, Passer, quoi qu'il en coûte ("To Pass at Any Price"), co-written with the Greek poet and director Niki Giannari, takes on precisely the visual dynamics of passages, passengers, and passageways in the context of contemporary migration flows. In April 2018, only several months after the launching of the …

After The Protests: A Campus Racial Climate Case Study Of The Perception And Curricular Responses For Institutional Reforms, Following The Black Students’ Demands For Interventions At The University Of Missouri-Columbia, Bruce E. Mitchell Ii

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This qualitative method single case study explores the phenomenon of a racially tense campus climate at the University of Missouri Columbia, a Predominantly White Midwestern Institution. At the forefront of the media regarding student and athlete protests, leading to the resignation of senior level administrators, African American students put forth eight demands to their administrators. Included, was the creation and implementation of a required racial awareness and inclusion curriculum. The study explores the perceptions of the institutional response to an exceptional campus racial climate issue and the process of formulating and participating in a diversity training course and a semester …

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 …

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 …

Ishi And The California Indian Genocide As Developmental Mass Violence, Robert K. Hitchcock, Charles A. Flowerday

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

Ishi represents a form of sentimental folk reductionism. But he can be a teaching tool for the California Indian Genocide, John Sutter also. His mill was where gold was discovered – setting off a frenzied settlement in which Indians were legally enslaved and slaughtered, finally ending a decade after the Emancipation Proclamation. They had already experienced wholesale devastation under Spanish and Mexican colonization. The mission system itself was inhumane and genocidal. It codified enslavement and trafficking of Indians as economically useful and morally purposeful. Mexican administration paid lip service to Indian emancipation but exploited them ruthlessly as peons. The California …

Re-Assessing The Genocide Of Kurdish Alevis In Dersim, 1937-38, Dilşa Deniz

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This article discusses a century-long denial of historic genocide targeting Kurdish Alevis in Turkey. Firstly, I argue that the state-sponsored killings and forced displacements that occurred in Dersim in 1937-38 constitute genocide. Secondly, I use census numbers and other available documentation to suggest a possible figure for the causalities, while pointing out the methods by which the state has tried to cover up these numbers, indicating state planning and preparation. Finally, I show that as a part of the continued denial of such genocide, Turkish leftist organizations have been manipulated by the state, and thus have ended up supporting much …

Health Implications Of Incarceration And Reentry On Returning Citizens: A Qualitative Examination Of Black Men’S Experiences In A Northeastern City, Jason Williams, Sean K. Wilson, Carrie Bergeson

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

While a great deal of research captures the lived experiences of Black men as they navigate through the criminal legal system and onto reentry, very little research is grounded in how those processes are directly connected to their health. Although some research argues that mass incarceration is a determinant of poor health, there is a lack of qualitative analyses from the perspective of Black men. Black men face distinct pathways that lead them into the criminal legal system, and these same pathways await them upon reentry. This study aims to examine the health implications associated with incarceration and reentry of …

International Migration, Development, And Policy: Reconsidering Migration Transition Theory—A Way Forward, Karin A. C. Johnson

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

Migration transition theories have been contested as they informed immigration policy in the Global North, which—based on assumptions that immigrants from developing countries may be a threat to social stability and economic opportunity—aimed to diminish emigration from the South. Development policies were proposed that could produce a “migration transition” in the South, where it was assumed that improved economic development would act as a substitute for migration and lead to minimal emigration, thus reducing overall immigration to the Global North. However, policies did not result in a migration transition. Acknowledging problematic rhetoric and contradictory policy and outcomes, this paper addresses …

Shifting Landscapes: The Effects Of Male Out-Migration On Food Security And Food Sovereignty In Rural Nepal, Emma Brown

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Rural Nepal is experiencing rapid demographic changes, significantly impacting the socioeconomic and agricultural landscape of these areas. Growing percentages of the male population are migrating out of the country in search of better livelihood opportunities. This is largely a result of poor development processes and governmental policies that have failed to create adequate domestic livelihood opportunities and incentives to work in agriculture, as well as changing ideas on what it means to be successful, spurred by globalization. Further, dominant neoliberal ideology and the commercialization of agriculture is decreasing the profitability of agriculture, making migration a lucrative option. Due to out-migration, …

Stand Up And Be Counted, Kimberly Smith

Black Issues Conference

“Stand Up and Be Counted”- The presentation spotlights the US Census over 200 years, the American minority by the numbers, and wielding the 2020 census as a tool for the next decade of minority political and social empowerment.

Presenter: Kimberly Smith, MBA

Company: US Census Bureau

This workshop is designed to improve the awareness of civic responsibilities and participation in the decennial 2020 census. The information discussed will educate the audience on the history and process of the census, as well as, the impact of census data on minority communities.

Format:

The presentation will begin with census introductory information and …

Book Review: The New Immigrant Whiteness: Race, Neoliberalism, And Post-Soviet Migration To The United States, By Claudia Sadowski-Smith, Tim Engles

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Race As A Carceral Terrain: Black Lives Matter Meets Reentry, Jason Williams

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

In the United States, racialized people are disproportionately selected for punishment. Examining punishment discourses intersectionally unearths profound, unequal distinctions when controlling for the variety of victims’ identities within the punishment regime. For example, trans women of color are likely to face the harshest of realities when confronted with the prospect of punishment. However, missing from much of the academic carceral literature is a critical perspective situated in racialized epistemic frameworks. If racialized individuals are more likely to be affected by punishment systems, then, certainly, they are the foremost experts on what those realities are like. The Black Lives Matter hashtag …

Spa 2201hs Spanish For Heritage Speakers (Syllabus_Fall 2019), David Sánchez-Jiménez

Open Educational Resources

SPA 2201HS Spanish for Heritage Speakers is an intermediate course intended for students who were immersed in or exposed to the language while growing up, but who have received little or no formal instruction in Spanish. Strengthens students’ competence in the oral and written standard varieties of Spanish by building on their previous knowledge to expand their vocabulary, strengthen their command of grammar, and achieve more confidence and fluency in speaking and writing while learning about the diversity of the Hispanic cultures. The skills acquired in this course will help reinforce students’ bilingual abilities and cultural competence.

An Analysis Of Environmentally Conscious Decision Making And The Influence Of Income And Policy In Washington State, Grace Mckenney

Global Honors Theses

Everyday environmentally conscious decisions such as recycling, composting, buying sustainable food, or driving an electric car, are becoming more prevalent in major cities of the United States and the world. As environmental degradation increases and people are negatively impacted, policy makers have begun to create public policies to address these growing environmental concerns. However, not all peoples are impacted the same, and not all policies are equitable. Therefore, the purpose of this project was to determine first, if income played a role in the making of environmentally conscious consumer decisions, and second, if policy makers thought the same. Through quantitative …

The Justice System Is Criminal, Raven Delfina Otero-Symphony

2020 Award Winners

No abstract provided.

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.

Local Governance Of Immigrant Incorporation: How City-Based Organizational Fields Shape The Cases Of Undocumented Youth In New York City And Paris, Stephen P. Ruszczyk

Department of Sociology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

City-based organizations and governments play an important role in incorporating undocumented immigrant youth. This article investigates how localities sociopolitically incorporate these immigrants by examining the governance constellations and institutional logics of the organizational field that manages undocumented youth. Comparing sets of municipal and civil society organizations in different national settings, I use the two cases of New York City and Paris to ask how the ‘city-based organizational field of immigrant incorporation’ shapes citizenship experiences of undocumented youth. Data come from multi-level longitudinal ethnography over 8 years with two dozen undocumented youth and with organizations in each city as well as …

The 2018 Mid-Term Election: Estimated Voter Participation Rates By Race And Age In Arizona, Florida, Georgia And Texas, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: The razor thin margins separating the Democratic and Republican candidates for senator and governor in Florida; in the Georgia governor’s race; in the senatorial election in Arizona; and the strong showing by Beto O’Rourke in the senatorial race in Texas, mask the extraordinary problems faced by the Democratic Party as it turns to the presidential election scheduled for November 2020.

Methods: This study highlights these problems by examining the turnout rates by race/ethnicity and age in Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Texas using 2017 IPUMS data with The New York Times and CNN Exit polls for each state.

Results: In …

Research Note: Have Puerto Ricans Experienced Increased Voter Registration Rates In Florida Since The November 2016 Presidential Election?, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

This research note analyzes the demographic change of Puerto Ricans and Hispanics in Florida combined with voter registration rates using the Florida Department of State Voter Registration Reports from July 2018. Despite both populations growing in selected counties, which in turn has increased the voter registration rates for Hispanics in the State, there is no conclusive evidence that voter registration rates among Puerto RIcans experienced a significant rise between 2016 and 2018.

Race And A Southern Governorship. Can Stacy Abrams Make History In Georgia? An Examination Of Georgia Voter Registration Lists, Voting Participation Rates, Race, And Age, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: The nomination by Democratic voters of Stacy Abrams, an African-American woman, to run for governor of Georgia puts the state in the front lines of a possible new approach to elections by progressive Democrats across the nation. She will face the current Secretary of State, Brian Kemp who was nominated by Republican voters after using the same anti-immigrant dog whistle strategy adopted by his mentor in the White House who supported his candidacy.

Methods: All tables on registered voters in Georgia were derived from the Georgia Secretary of State, Voter Registration Statistics, Active Voters by Race and Gender as …

Can Beto O'Rourke Defeat Ted Cruz In The November 2018 Texas Senatorial Race? Race, Age, Voter Registration And Participation Rates In The Lone Star State, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report studies the voter registration rates in face of the upcoming Texas Senatorial elections in November 2018.

Methods: Using the latest voter registration data by race and party in Texas and the Population Estimates of the Census Bureau, this report analyzes demographic change in the state and its relationship with the presidential elections of 2016.

Results: The Texas senatorial race between Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke will be decided by voter participation rates of both Republican and Democratic constituencies. Unfortunately, for O’Rourke young people between 18 and 24 years of age, African-Americans, and especially Latinos, have the lowest …