Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons^™

Framing Identity: Repudiating The Ideal In Chicana Literature, Michael A. Flores

All NMU Master's Theses

In the 1960s Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez penned his now canonical, epic poem “I Am Joaquin.” The poem chronicles the historic oppression of a transnational, Mexican people as well as revolutionary acts of their forefathers in resisting tyranny. Coinciding with a series of renewed, sociopolitical campaigns, collectively known as the Chicano Movement, Gonzales’ poem uses vivid imagery to present an idealized representation of Chicanos and encouraged his reader to engage in revolutionary action. Though the poem encourages strong leadership, upward mobility, and political engagement the representations of women in his text are misogynistic and limiting.

His presentation of the “black-shawled …

A Melting Pot Of Voices: Public Discourse And The Latino Immigrant Experience In The United States, Elizabeth Katherine Vammen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the discourses surrounding the immigrant experience in the United States to reconcile first-hand accounts of Latino immigrant experiences with the discourse prevailing in broader domains such as immigration law, public forums, non-fiction essays, and the news media. In order to break down barriers that prevent productive discussions, this analysis identifies stifling language guised under what Antonio Gramsci defines common sense rather than good sense. At the same time this study aims to deconstruct stifling language, it uses first-hand accounts from Latino immigrants to provide insight as to where the American public is not listening. By analyzing common …

Transnational Historical Fiction In A Postsecular Age: A Study Of The Spiritual Theses In The Works Of Luis Alberto Urrea And Bahiyyih Nakhjavani, Mary Anna Sobhani

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study, employing a postsecular theoretical prism, analyzes the spiritual theses given expression through the historical fiction of Mexican-American, or Chicano, author Luis Alberto Urrea and exiled Persian Bahá'í author Bahiyyih Nakhjavani. This study examines three novels: Nakhjavani's The Woman Who Read Too Much, Urrea's The Hummingbird's Daughter, and its sequel Queen of America. These novels express world-views in which the spiritual has particular importance, not as a supersession of quotidian reality but in an integral partnership with it, the baseline upon which postsecular thought is built. This study concludes that such an expression of world-views signals towards …

New Beginnings: A Discussion Guide Adaptation For Living With Diabetes Among An Urban American Indian Community, Eudora Lynette Claw

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Diabetes is a chronic disease where the body has the inability to control the sugar levels in the blood to convert into to usable energy needed to fuel the body's cells. Some common diabetic complications include heart disease, stroke, amputations, and possibly blindness. It can be successfully managed with routine care of monitoring of sugar levels, eating a healthy diet, and daily exercise. The occurrence of type 2 diabetes is rising rapidly worldwide, but is a burden for AI/ANs (American Indian/Alaska Natives) at a substantially disproportionate rate. The purpose of this pilot study was to participate in a one-day curriculum …

Leadership In African American Politics: The Role Of President Obama On The Issue Of Same-Sex Marriage, Kevin Christopher Faulk

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2008, African Americans overwhelmingly supported Senator Obama in his bid for the Presidency. Their supported averaged at 95% of African American voters. At the same time that Senator Obama was on the ballet, Prop 8 - legislation designed to amend California's Constitution to define marriage as between a man and woman - was passed with a large majority of African American support. Why did strong Democrats vote in favor of a law that most Democrats rejected? Previous research has concluded it was the role of the Black Church in African American politics that moves the community to a more …

Burma’S Mass Lay Meditation Movement : Buddhism And The Cultural Construction Of Power, Ingrit Jordt

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Burma’s Mass Lay Meditation Movement: Buddhism and the Cultural Construction of Power describes a transformation in Buddhist practice in contemporary Burma. This revitalization movement has had real consequences for how the oppressive military junta, in power since the early 1960s, governs the country.
Drawing on more than ten years of extensive fieldwork in Burma, Ingrid Jordt explains how vipassanā meditation has brought about a change of worldview for millions of individuals, enabling them to think and act independently of the totalitarian regime. She addresses human rights as well as the relationship between politics and religion in a country in which …

Under The Heel Of The Dragon : Islam, Racism, Crime, And The Uighur In China, Blaine Kaltman

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

The Turkic Muslims known as the Uighur have long faced social and economic disadvantages in China because of their minority status. Under the Heel of the Dragon: Islam, Racism, Crime, and the Uighur in China offers a unique insight into current conflicts resulting from the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the Chinese government’s oppression of religious minorities, issues that have heightened the degree of polarization between the Uighur and the dominant Chinese ethnic group, the Han.

Author Blaine Kaltman’s study is based on in-depth interviews that he conducted in Chinese without the aid of an interpreter or the knowledge of …

Atherosclerosis: A Longue Durée Approach, L. Samuel Wann, Randall C. Thompson, Adel H. Allam, Caleb E. Finch, Albert Zink, Hillard Kaplan, Bruno Frohlich, Guido P. Lombardi, M. Linda Sutherland, James D. Sutherland, Lucia Watson, Samantha L. Cox, Michael I. Miyamoto, Alexandre F. R. Stewart, Jagat Narula, Gregory S. Thomas

ESI Publications

Fernand Braudel popularized the longue durée approach to scholarly investigation in the mid-20th century. The longue durée approach can be loosely translated to mean “look for the big picture, synthesize data collected using all available methodology over the long periods of time to identify fundamental principles, rather than becoming preoccupied with isolated observations.” Braudel, a historian and economist, emphasized observation of enduring historical structures and analysis of long-term, panoramic economic trends rather than concentrating on detailed descriptions of particular events or individuals. He also urged the use of insight gained from many scholarly disciplines to identify the essential underpinnings of …

Why Did Ancient People Have Atherosclerosis?: From Autopsies To Computed Tomography To Potential Causes, Gregory S. Thomas, L. Samuel Wann, Adel H. Allam, Randall C. Thompson, David E. Michalik, M. Linda Sutherland, James D. Sutherland, Guido P. Lombardi, Lucia Watson, Samantha L. Cox, Clide M. Valladolid, Gomaa Abd El-Maksoud, Muhammad Al-Tohamy Soliman, Ibrahem Badr, Abd El-Halim Nur El-Din, Emily M. Clarke, Ian G. Thomas, Michael I. Miyamoto, Hillard Kaplan, Bruno Frohlich, Jagat Narula, Alexandre F. R. Stewart, Albert Zink, Caleb E. Finch

ESI Publications

Computed tomographic findings of atherosclerosis in the ancient cultures of Egypt, Peru, the American Southwest and the Aleutian Islands challenge our understanding of the fundamental causes of atherosclerosis. Could these findings be true? Is so, what traditional risk factors might be present in these cultures that could explain this apparent paradox? The recent computed tomographic findings are consistent with multiple autopsy studies dating as far back as 1852 that demonstrate calcific atherosclerosis in ancient Egyptians and Peruvians. A nontraditional cause of atherosclerosis that could explain this burden of atherosclerosis is the microbial and parasitic inflammatory burden likely to be present …

Genomic Correlates Of Atherosclerosis In Ancient Humans, Albert Zink, L. Samuel Wann, Randall C. Thompson, Andreas Keller, Frank Maixner, Adel H. Allam, Caleb E. Finch, Bruno Frohlich, Hillard Kaplan, Guido P. Lombardi, M. Linda Sutherland, James D. Sutherland, Lucia Watson, Samantha L. Cox, Michael I. Miyamoto, Jagat Narula, Alexandre F. R. Stewart, Gregory S. Thomas, Johannes Krause

ESI Publications

Paleogenetics offers a unique opportunity to study human evolution, population dynamics, and disease evolution in situ. Although histologic and computed x-ray tomographic investigations of ancient mummies have clearly shown that atherosclerosis has been present in humans for more than 5,000 years, limited data are available on the presence of genetic predisposition for cardiovascular disease in ancient human populations. In a previous whole-genome study of the Tyrolean Iceman, a 5,300-year-old glacier mummy from the Alps, an increased risk for coronary heart disease was detected. The Iceman’s genome revealed several single nucleotide polymorphisms that are linked with cardiovascular disease in genome-wide association …

Funerary Artifacts, Social Status, And Atherosclerosis In Ancient Peruvian Mummy Bundles, M. Linda Sutherland, Samantha L. Cox, Guido P. Lombardi, Lucia Watson, Clide M. Valladolid, Caleb E. Finch, Albert Zink, Bruno Frohlich, Hillard Kaplan, David E. Michalik, Michael I. Miyamoto, Adel H. Allam, Randall C. Thompson, L. Samuel Wann, Jagat Narula, Gregory S. Thomas, James D. Sutherland

ESI Publications

Background: Evidence of atherosclerotic plaques in ancient populations has led to the reconsideration of risk factors for heart disease and of the common belief that it is a disease of modern times.

Methods: Fifty-one wrapped mummy bundles excavated from the sites of Huallamarca, Pedreros, and Rinconada La Molina from the Puruchuco Museum collection in Lima, Peru, were scanned using computed tomography to investigate the presence of atherosclerosis. Funerary artifacts contained within the undisturbed mummy bundles were analyzed as an attempt to infer the social status of the individuals to correlate social status with evidence of heart disease in …

Wild Life, Jordan Abel

The Goose

Poetry by Jordan Abel. This poem is composed from 91 public domain Western novels that are freely available on Project Gutenberg. In total, the source text is over 10,000 pages long and is authored by 20 different writers. When all of the novels were searched simultaneously, there were 41 instances of the phrase "wild life." The resulting poem provides a contextual space where the language of a single word or phrase can be read.

Introduction: Appreciating Difference, Barbara Lewis

Trotter Review

Are we a narrative nation, imagined and connected mentally, tied by a common history of disruption if not by contiguous geography? Lorick-Wilmot suggests that the stories we tell offer the basis of mutual understanding across distance and cultures and generations. In a reconfigured mental Diasporic cartography, where is our citadel, our castle (not to be confused with what Europeans named as slave castles of Africa)? The remains and monuments built in this hemisphere by iron will and the drive to change yesterday, uprooting it from the ground of inequality, still stand on the highest hill in northern Haiti, reminding us …

Between Two Worlds: Stories Of The Second-Generation Black Caribbean Immigrant, Yndia S. Lorick-Wilmot

Trotter Review

People have an endless fascination with character information since it helps us to predict the behavior of those we interact with (King, Rumbaugh, and Savage-Rumbaugh 1999). Stories or narratives serve as an extension of this fascination. They help us make better decisions even without supplying immediate information. When we each talk about the past, our stories not only disclose currently relevant social particulars, but also provide tools for reasoning about action—our own and others’. In many instances, the stories we tell offer explanations of an outcome that resulted when we acted upon something—or serve as indirect memories of a place …

Recent African Immigrants’ Fatherhood Experiences In America: The Changing Role Of Fathers, Zacharia N. Nchinda

Trotter Review

This article examines the lived experiences of recent African immigrant fathers in the United States. It focuses specifically on recent African immigrant fathers with African women as wives and children below the age of 18. Its aim is a better understanding of these fathers’ involvement in the life of their children and the changes immigration has forced upon the fathers. Information for the study emanates from interviews carried out with African immigrant fathers in the Milwaukee area, supplemented by my knowledge of African immigrant communities. The categorization of the data uses a construct established by the mid-1990s DADS Project initiative …

Black Is Decidedly Not Just Black: A Case Study On Hiv Among African-Born Populations Living In Massachusetts, Chioma Nnaji, Nzinga Metzger

Trotter Review

Black or African American is a racial category that includes the descendants of enslaved Africans as well as members of foreign-born black communities who migrated to the United States from places abroad, such as Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Grouping native-born and foreign-born blacks into a single homogeneous racial category may make it easier to track disease and health outcomes; however, it masks the different cultural experiences, histories, languages, social and moral values, and expectations that influence health beliefs, attitudes, practices, and behaviors. It also ignores such factors as migration, which forces foreign-born populations to examine both their traditional …

The Somali Diaspora In Greater Boston, Paul R. Camacho, Abdi Dirshe, Mohamoud Hiray, Mohamed J. Farah

Trotter Review

Our nation was founded on and thrives on immigration. One of the newest immigrant groups in the Boston area are Somalis. They are among the largest of the new populations of African immigrants. While precise numbers are very difficult to determine, there are approximately 8,000 in the Greater Boston area and another 2,000 estimated across the rest of Massachusetts. Very few studies have examined Somalis in the United States, and no studies exist on the community in Boston or Massachusetts.

It is an interesting sociological question to ask how similar the Somali experience has been in the United States (and …

Indians Once Roamed This Land…, Mwalim (Morgan James Peters)

Trotter Review

The sun sat high in the cloudless, early summer sky. Jerry held his breath as Ryan punched the gas, jumping onto Route 3 a few feet ahead of an incoming tractor-trailer. Ryan laughed as the angry truck driver blasted his air horn at them as the ’79 Aspen rocketed up the highway. The ramp onto Route 3 didn’t leave much room for traffic to merge; leaving the brave to shoot out onto the highway and the timid to sit and wait for an opening, often to the angry blaring of horns behind them, pushing them to jump onto the highway. …

Panoply: Haitian And Haitian-American Youth Crafting Identities In U.S. Schools, Fabienne Doucet

Trotter Review

In the United States, where race is a powerful factor for social stratification (Appiah & Gutmann, 1998; Glick-Schiller & Fouron, 1990a; Omni & Winant, 1986), foreign-born Blacks find themselves battling the demoralizing impacts of discrimination, racism, and xenophobia on a daily basis. In the school context, racist assumptions have been shown to predispose teachers to have lower expectations of immigrant students and other students of color, to view them more often as behavioral problems, and to assume that their parents do not value education (Doucet, 2008, 2011b; Suárez-Orozco, Suárez-Orozco, & Todorova, 2008). At the same time, the powerful influence of …

It’S In The Backbone: Dance From Africa Through The Diaspora, An Interview With Deama Battle, Deama Battle, Kenneth J. Cooper

Trotter Review

Classically trained in dance, DeAma Battle became interested in Africa-rooted dance in the 1960s. She started performing the traditional dances from Africa that spread, via the Atlantic slave trade, to the United States, the Caribbean, and South America. She not only has performed those steps and movements, Battle has studied them, with master dancers from West Africa, Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica, and Cuba. One of her teachers and mentors was Chuck Davis, a leading African American teacher of traditional African dance. Her research has probed deeper, into the field abroad, on dance-study tours to Haiti, Jamaica, Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, and other …