There Must Be Something In The Water: A Comparative Study Of Ground Water Contamination In The U.S.A. And Canada, Kathleen Spooner

Honors Theses

The regions of Nova Scotia and New Hampshire are naturally susceptible to arsenic water contamination due to their geological makeup. These locations are relatively rural, with many of their citizens reporting low incomes and lacking education, the majority of which are unaware of the risk of arsenic poisoning. There is also a high dependency on private wells which are not regulated in terms of water quality under federal law in both countries. Arsenic water pollution is undetectable as it is both odorless and tasteless and potentially very dangerous, and therefore water testing must be performed on wells, which is currently …

The Perceptions Of Foster Care Alumni's Experiences With Four-Year Post-Secondary Institutions: A Case For Capital And Field Advantage, June M. Durio

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The focus of this study was to explore, through the lens of Pierre Bourdieu’s constructs of habitus, field, and capital, the post-secondary experiences of foster youth who transitioned out of the Louisiana foster care system. Specifically, this comparable multiple case study sought out to understand how cultural, social, and financial capital influenced the post-secondary educational outcomes of foster care alumni as compared to first-generation and continuing-generation students. Seven common themes emerged from the study: predisposing factors towards post-secondary education; values, knowledge, and skills associated with post-secondary education attainment; informal and formal social networks facilitating post-secondary support; financial resources addressing …

Black Asl (American Sign Language), Katrina Thulin

Sociology Student Work Collection

Presentation about Black ASL (American Sign Language) including it's origin, evolution, current study, and differences between mainstream ASL and Black ASL.

Cancer Health Disparities Among African Americans: A Socioecological Approach, Seth M. Spitzley

The Hilltop Review

Research shows that health outcomes are influenced by race or ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education and literacy levels, and the physical environment (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2014). The health statuses of minority groups, such as African Americans, are adversely impacted by inequality (Randall, 2009). In Kalamazoo, Michigan, the leading cause of death for all residents in Kalamazoo County was cancer, where black individuals have the highest death rate among any other racial or ethnic group. That African Americans comprise less than 11% of the population in Kalamazoo County thus suggests that African Americans are disproportionately impacted by cancer …

Transformation As Desistance Inside: Temporality And Identity Reconstruction Among Men With Life Sentences, Richard Stover

Honors Theses

This thesis is an investigation of destistance strategies among men sentenced to life in prison in a medium security prison in Pennsylvania. Desistance here is defined as the process leading to the cessation of formally deviant behavior. Drawing from life narrative interviews conducted among 22 men, I argue that desistance is intrinsically tied to how inmates conceptualize themselves within the institutional context of the prison and can be expanded to include people who are still incarcerated. I build off of Peggy Giordano and colleagues symbolic interactionist perspective on desistance and expand it to chart how men with life sentences order …