Regional Sociology Commons^™

The Globalization Of Cosmetic Surgery: Examining Bric And Beyond, Lauren E. Riggs

Master's Theses

What is driving the globalization of cosmetic surgery? Using BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries as a model, this master's thesis systematically identifies and analyzes (1) the origins of cosmetic surgery in historical, regional, and country-specific terms, and (2) examples of how cosmetic surgery has become normalized. As a result, clear patterns emerge in regards to: embedded power structures related to racism and war; the results of Western interests rapidly opening countries’ markets to high media and corporate influence—especially in the wake of political oppression and austerity; the exacerbation of pre-existing class, color, race, and gender prejudice by hyper-consumerism; the …

Midwest Or Lesbian? Gender, Rurality, And Sexuality, Emily Kazyak

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Research suggests a gendered dimension to the geography of sexual minorities, as gay couples are more likely to live in cities than are lesbian couples. Using data from 60 interviews with rural gays and lesbians, this article employs an intersectional analysis of the mutually constitutive relationships among place, gender, and sexuality in order to assess how acceptance of gays and lesbians in small towns is gendered. Findings indicate that femininity aligns with gay sexuality but not rurality. In contrast, masculinity underpins both the categories “rural” and “lesbian.” Furthermore, both lesbian women and gay men gain acceptance in rural areas by …

The National Elder Economic Security Standard Index, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gerontology Institute Publications

The Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index) is a new tool for use by policy makers, older adults, family caregivers, service providers, aging advocates, and the public at large. Developed by the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston and Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW), the Elder Index is a measure of income that older adults require to maintain their independence in the community and meet their daily costs of living, including affordable and appropriate housing and health care. The development and use of the Elder Index promotes a measure of income that respects the autonomy goals of …

Desert America: Boom And Bust In The New Old West, Rubén Martínez

Faculty Pub Night

No abstract provided.

From The Editor, Jeffrey Smith

The Confluence (2009-2020)

No abstract provided.

“Living On The Color Line: 2800 Cass In A Period And Place Of Transition”, Lucas Delort

The Confluence (2009-2020)

This co-winner of the Tatom Award explores the reasons why Delmar Avenue rather than Cass Avenue became the “Mason-Dixon Line” of St. Louis in the twentieth century.

“The American Bottom: The Bar, Between The Levees And The River”, Quinta Scott

The Confluence (2009-2020)

This third installment of Quinta Scott’s work examining the Mississippi River environment looks at those narrow, man-made spaces between levees and the river, and the life within.

Fall/Winter 2012, Full Issue

The Confluence (2009-2020)

No abstract provided.

“To Love And To Cherish: Marital Violence And Divorce In Nineteenth-Century America”, Julian Barr

The Confluence (2009-2020)

In this co-winner of the Tatom Award, Julian Barr uses an 1865 divorce case to explore the ways women gained protection against domestic violence through the court system.

“Modern Day Canary In The Coal Mine”, John A. Crawford

The Confluence (2009-2020)

Salamanders serve an array of functions in the Missouri environment, as this primer on amphibians by John Crawford suggests.

Standing In The Footprints Of The Contemporary Urban Child: Constructing A Sense Of Place Along The Everyday Urban Routes Children Walk Through Public Space., Jackie Bourke

Doctoral

This study investigates children’s perspectives on how they experience their everyday walks through a city neighbourhood in Dublin, Ireland. Of particular interest in this research are the children’s views on the urban public realm which they traverse daily on their walks to school and various other destinations. Having once been considered the domain of children (Karsten 2005) public space is now socially constructed as adult space (Aitken 2001) and there is a concern that children are disappearing from the city (Ward 1990; Valentine 2004). The focus of this research is the children who still access the public realm regularly, and …

Transcending Boundaries: Moroccan Political Thought As A Transnational Platform, And Communities In The Realm Of Activism, Leah Siegel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My research concerns how individual protestors of the February 20th Movement relate to the rest of the Arab Spring and their own society. I conducted several interviews during November 2012 with participants of the movement currently living in Rabat, each one lasting between 30 minutes to two hours. I initially intended this study to focus on the movement’s relations to the rest of the Arab Spring, but found in my interviews that this question is much more tangential than the question of how participants of the movement relate to their own society. What I discovered was that while the events …

Evaluating The Role Of Latinidad And The Latino Threat In The State Of Missouri, Joel Jennings, J.S. Onésimo Sandoval

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Growing Latino populations in midwestern cities of the United States are leading to the creation of contested ethnic spaces and urban landscapes. In this article we examine the historical, demographic, and social contexts associated with a growing sense of Latinidad and the countervailing Latino threat narrative in Kansas City and St. Louis, the two largest metropolitan areas in Missouri. Latinidad, or a notion of belonging based on ethnic identity in Missouri, is being challenged by nativist discourses that frame the growing Latino population as a threat. We highlight the different historical trajectories and geographical characteristics that have created distinct demographic …

The Cross-Border Migrant Experience In Lang Son Province, Northern Viet Nam, Donald Hickerson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The crossing of national borders between nations of the developing world provides opportunities for the poor who seek sources of livelihood, while putting migrants, especially women migrants, at risk of exploitation and abuse. It is against the backdrop of these contradictory effects of migration for poor women that this thesis examines the experiences of a group of daily cross-border migrant women in northern Viet Nam. The study focuses on the role of networks in their lives. Based on 22 in-depth interviews with Vietnamese women migrants who work at the Viet Nam-China border region, I develop an analytical framework that seeks …

Poverty, Work And Social Networks: The Role Of Social Capital For Aboriginal People In Urban Australian Locales, Julie Lahn

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

In this article, I present the key findings from a project entitled “The Social Context of Indigenous Poverty”. The research involved a series of interviews with Aboriginal people in urban SE Australia on issues of poverty, social capital and social exclusion. In the article I draw together Aboriginal perspectives on the meaning of poverty to reflect on the relevance of social capital concepts for understanding Aboriginal economic disadvantage and hence, the merits of policy framed in these terms.

Race, Memory, And Historical Responsibility: What Do Southerners Do With A Difficult Past?, Larry J. Griffin, Peggy G. Hargis

Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum

Newly emerging, transitional societies –– that is, societies that traded dictatorial or authoritarian rule for some form of open or liberal polity –– face at least three interdependent problems of what is called in legal scholarship and social science “transitional justice”: the first is how (if at all) to hold the old regime’s autocratic, often violence-laden leadership responsible for its wrongdoings while in power; the second is what (if anything) to do with thousands upon thousands of ordinary folk whose participation in, or compliance with, the old regime helped legitimate and thus perpetuate the wrongdoing; and the third task how …

Catastrophes And The Role Of Social Networks In Recovery: A Case Study Of St. Bernard Parish, La, Residents After Hurricane Katrina, Carrie E. Lasley

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the experiences of St. Bernard Parish, La., residents as they coped with the impact of the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. An estimated 50,000 St. Bernard Parish residents relocated to a new home one year after Katina in 2006, and many of those residents moved again. This study examines the effects of the decisions of St. Bernard residents to relocate or to return on their social connections. The utility, adaptability and durability of social networks of these residents will be explored to enrich our knowledge about the social effects …

Perceived Stigma And Stigma Management Of Midwest Seculars, Christopher R. H. Garneau

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Prior work demonstrates that atheists and other secular individuals experience especially low trust among the American public. This line of research suggests that those with no religious belief encounter societal stigma related to their non-belief. Yet it is unknown how non-believers perceive and manage stigma. I explore perceived stigma and stigma management strategies employed by atheists, agnostics, and other secular individuals in the Midwest using a mixed methods approach. Results from survey data from more than 2,200 secular individuals as well as 24 in-depth interviews with seculars living in the Midwest show that prejudice and discrimination are common experiences for …

An Innovative Approach For Community Engagement: Using An Audience Response System, Jenna L. Davis, Kara E. Mcginnis, Margaret L. Walsh, Coni Williams, Kevin B. Sneed, Julie A. Baldwin, B. Lee Green

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Community-based participatory research methods allow for community engagement in the effort to reduce cancer health disparities. Community engagement involves health professionals becoming a part of the community in order to build trust, learn from the community and empower them to reduce disparities through their own initiatives and ideas. Audience Response Systems (ARS) are an innovative and engaging way to involve the community and obtain data for research purposes using keypads to report results via power point. The use of ARS within communities is very limited and serves to widen the disparity gap by not delivering new advances in medical knowledge …

Community Mapping: Transforming Thinking And Actions Toward Sustainability, Melanie J. Kornis

Professional Projects

This phenomenological study explored the level of concern regarding issues of sustainability, for individuals residing within one mid-sized Midwestern urban community. Ultimately, this research sought to determine those factors that increase the sense of urgency for some individuals to do more to reduce our global footprint and to create a sustainable future for our children and grandchildren. The participants were chosen via purposeful sampling and the interview process was used for data collection. Several themes uncovered in the study findings were similar to those in the literature review, which include: caring for the environment, making connections within the community, recycling, …

Complementary And Adversarial Stances In State-Civil Society Relationships And Their Implications For Democratization And Development: The Case Of Ethiopia, Teshome Tadesse

International Conference on African Development Archives

State-society relations in Ethiopia have throughout history been one of cooperation rather than competition and destruction at least when it comes to the defense of the motherland. This short paper, attempts to examine the place of civil society vis-a-vis the all-powerful position of the state in Ethiopia and its behaviors in times of national danger or war where both complement each other and defeat the enemy. The states , during these times of national threats, go to a point where it literally begs national communities through traditional associations or civil societal groups and successfully repulses the aggressor. But once the …

“American Bottom: The Floodplain Between The Bluffs And The Levee”, Quinta Scott

The Confluence (2009-2020)

The bottomland bluffs between the bluffs and levees along the Mississippi have been farmland for centuries. In this second of three photo essays, Quinta Scott documents the manmade environments on the floodplains.

“Luther Ely Smith: Father Of The Gateway Arch”, Mark Tranel

The Confluence (2009-2020)

Eero Saarinen’s Arch may be among the most recognized works of public art, but the vision that led to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial was that of Luther Ely Smith. Mark Tranel looks at Smith’s tireless work to have the warehouse district razed and a national memorial built on the St. Louis riverfront.

“The Gilded Age Hair Trade In St. Louis”, David Straight

The Confluence (2009-2020)

Much can be learned about industries from the envelopes and letterheads of companies. Take the sale of human hair in the Gilded Age, for example.

From The Editor, Jeffrey Smith

The Confluence (2009-2020)

No abstract provided.

Ecotourism In Costa Rica: Empowering Local Communities, Rachel Lequire

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This paper explores a community-based ecotourism initiative called La Tortuga Feliz, in Pacuare Beach, Costa Rica. This organization founded and run by Western expatriates using a conservation approach provides benefits to the local community while meaningfully involving them in the process.

My research included an extensive literature review, informal and formal interviews as well as participant observation for one month on-site. The objective was to understand what it means to empower and involve local communities in a meaningful way in community-based ecotourism projects.

I will argue that La Tortuga Feliz, although facilitating some benefits to the community, also disempowers the …

“Anatomy, Grave-Robbing, And Spiritualism In Antebellum St. Louis”, Luke Ritter

The Confluence (2009-2020)

Dr. Joseph Nash Smith’s Missouri Medical College was a leading school for physicians and part of the professionalization of medicine before the Civil War. He also required human dissection that, along with being a St. Louis character, made him one of the period’s most controversial figures as well.

“Missouri Through Soviet Eyes”, Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov

The Confluence (2009-2020)

In 1935, Russian satirists Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov bought a Ford and drove across the United States and back; their observations shaped the ideas of Russians about the United States for some three decades. One of the places they visited was Hannibal, Missouri. Here is their account, including their own photos.

Spring/Summer 2012, Full Issue

The Confluence (2009-2020)

No abstract provided.

The Californians Against Sexual Exploitation (Case) Act: A Case Study In Policy Advocacy, Bailey Mannisto-Ichés

Capstone Collection

In any given year in the United States of America at least 100,000 domestic youth are sexually exploited through the commercial sex industry. Current national and state laws do not adequately protect these children from being groomed, pimped, and exploited over and over again in their young lives. A majority of these children are trafficked from, into or within the nation’s most populated state of California. In 2003 the FBI identified three of the country’s 13 high-­‐intensity child sex trafficking cities as being in California. The cycle of violence these children endure is not being brought to justice through the …