Digital Commons Network^™

Joyful Human Rights Activism, William Simmons

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In popular, legal, and academic discourse, a subtle but significant shift has occurred: The term “human rights” is now almost always discussed in relation to its opposite, “human rights abuses.” Syllabi, textbooks, and academic articles focus largely on abuses, victimization, and trauma with nary a mention of joy or other positive emotions.

This will be obvious to most human rights scholars and practitioners once it is pointed out, but the depth of the elision is staggering. Human rights could also be discussed in the context of the most joyful of human experiences and even those victimized almost always experience …

Political Asylum And Enlightened False Consciousness: The Challenges Of Human Rights Advocacy In Israel, Ilil Benjamin

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Since 2007, nearly 60,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Israel, primarily from Sudan and Eritrea, and been granted temporary stay visas by the Israeli Ministry of Interior while their asylum cases were being adjudicated.

Mindful of the ministry’s hostility to asylum seekers and its 99.9% rejection rate of applicants to date, many asylum seekers have come to doubt that their personal histories of poverty or violence would persuade Israeli asylum officers to permit them to stay. Based on ethnographic research in an asylum advocacy NGO in Tel Aviv, I examine the exclusions of Israel’s asylum system as seen by aid …

Building A Bridge Across The Sea, Abby Wheatley

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

On October 3, 2013, the island of Lampedusa, Italy, was transformed into an international stage for the crisis of migration when a boat carrying hundreds of migrants traveling from Libya sank off its coast. Reports indicate that 368 people drowned, while 89 people were rescued, most of them by locals. Though the mass drowning of Africans seeking refuge in Europe was not a new phenomenon, the event brought international attention to Lampedusa and underscored the fragile line between local and global processes and the intertwined yet opposing forces of mobility and enclosure.

Using Lampedusa as a case study, this paper …

From Stateless To Citizen: Trust, Disclosure, And Collaboration With Guatemalan Refugees As Human Rights Practice, Oscar F. Gil-Garcia

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

U.S. immigration enforcement practices have spread to Mexico, resulting in apprehension rates of Central American migrants that rival those of the U.S. In 2015, deportations of migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador in Mexico exceeded 165,000, more than twice the number of U.S. deportations to this region.

Enforcement-only priorities surrounding immigration policy in Mexico have reinforced discriminatory treatment, poverty, inequality, and exploitation toward the indigenous and migrant populations. These circumstances have particularly impacted indigenous Guatemalan Mayans who sought refuge in Mexico during the 1980s and continue to face obstacles for their legalization by the Mexican state, in violation of …

Scherr, Wayne M. (Fa 1106), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1106. Paper titled “The Story of Sally’s Rock” in which Wayne Scherr recounts the legend of Sallie Beck, a young girl who, in the early 1900s, would stand on the edge of an overhang near the Barren River and wave to boats as they passed by. Paper is based on information collected by Scherr from Charley Young, a former riverboat captain, and Dr. L. Y. Lancaster, owner of the property on which “Sally’s Rock” is located.

Jaggers, Katie Thompson (Fa 1107), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1107. Paper titled “Methods of Corn Production in an Edmonson Co[unty] Community” in which Katie Jaggers Charts the history of corn harvesting by traditional means, such as using mules, shovels, wagons, and A-harrows, up through the current practice of employing highly-tech machinery. Paper is based on information collected by Jaggers from two brothers, Edgar and Harry Thompson, who resided in Lindseyville, Kentucky. Collection also includes color photos and descriptions of traditional farming machinery.

"Beautifully Awful": A Feminist Ethnography Of Women Veterans' Experiences With Transition From Military Service, Kiersten H. Downs

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As issues of gender inequality in the military are addressed, women will continue to fill jobs traditionally occupied by men, and ultimately take on a greater percentage of leadership responsibility. For these reasons, women will remain the fastest growing population within our active duty forces. An increased need for research, advocacy, and resources for programs and services designed specifically for women veterans is necessary in order to prepare for an upsurge in the numbers of women who will be seeking services in the years to come. This research utilized a feminist ethnographic approach for data collection and analysis. Data was …

Examining Limestone Use At Byrd Hammock South (8wa30), Wakulla County, Fl, Lucie R. Berryhill

LSU Master's Theses

In this thesis, I examine the limestone deposits identified at Byrd Hammock South during the Summer 2015 excavations conducted by Louisiana State University (LSU) and Florida State University (FSU). The site under investigation is the Byrd Hammock site (8WA30) in Wakulla County, Florida. Byrd Hammock is a multi-component site located only four miles north of the Gulf Coast and is close to other Swift Creek sites including Block-Sterns (8LE484) and Harrison Ring (8BY1359) (Russo, Hadden, and Dengel 2009). Like several other sites or site complexes on the Florida panhandle, Byrd Hammock has two large burial mounds that were placed on …

I’M Going To Tell You A Little About Myself: Illness Centrality, Self-Image And Identity In Cystic Fibrosis, Susan Horky Lcsw, Laura Sherman Licsw, Julie K. Polvinen Ba, Medhavi Saxena Md, Michael Rich Md

Patient Experience Journal

This study assessed the illness centrality of adolescents with CF and the specific ways that CF may affect adolescents’ identities, through the qualitative analysis of video narratives. Adolescents with CF were loaned video cameras and asked to “show us your life outside the hospital” and to “teach your healthcare team about your CF.” Four major themes were identified related to illness centrality: CF is Central, CF is Compartmentalized, CF is Integrated into Self Image, CF is Denied. Integration and compartmentalization often co-existed. Four themes emerged related to the role of CF in self-image and identity: (1) Valence (positive or negative); …

Parallels Between The U.S. And Russia: The Trump Administration, Andrew S. Langmeier

International ResearchScape Journal

Russia has come up repeatedly in discussions of Donald Trump and the current U.S. administration. In time for the 100^th anniversary of the 1917 Russian revolution, this paper aims to describe the importance and interconnectedness of image, information, hegemony, and power by exploring connections between the U.S. and Russia. An interdisciplinary approach drawing from fields such as cultural studies, linguistics, and anthropology will be applied to selected events and actions of the Trump administration. This study provides a method of framing US political events against Russian history and contemporary reality.

P-04 Animation Of The Cultural Landscape Of Hisban And Vicinity In The Longue Duree, Oystein Labianca

Celebration of Research and Creative Scholarship

In today’s markets, archaeological publishing must include on-line presentation of findings using various technologies for rendering results, such as 3-D visualization and animation media. The goal of the present project is to build capacity here at the Institute of Archaeology in deployment of animation technologies for rendering of archaeological findings and narratives. To this end I have assembled a team of two graduate students with significant computer skills (Jared Wilson and Stanley Lebrun) and one undergraduate student (Paul Roschman) who will collaborate with me to animate, using Esri CityEngine software, the story of long-term change in the cultural landscape of …

Collins, Gary & Tammy Pickering (Fa 346), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 346. Paper titled "Hog Killing in Western Kentucky" in which Gary Collins and Tammie Pickering discuss the cultural significance of farm-raising hogs and the foodways traditions that result from the slaughtering process. Using slides and interviews, Collins and Pickering document a hog killing that took place in January 1986 on a farm in Trigg County, Kentucky.

Evaluating Causes Of Error In Landmark-Based Data Collection Using Scanners, Brian M. Shearer, Siobhan B. Cooke, Lauren B. Halenar, Samantha L. Reber, Jeannette E. Plummer, Eric Delson, Melissa Tallman

Publications and Research

In this study, we assess the precision, accuracy, and repeatability of craniodental landmarks (Types I, II, and III, plus curves of semilandmarks) on a single macaque cranium digitally reconstructed with three different surface scanners and a microCT scanner. Nine researchers with varying degrees of osteological and geometric morphometric knowledge landmarked ten iterations of each scan (40 total) to test the effects of scan quality, researcher experience, and landmark type on levels of intra- and interobserver error. Two researchers additionally landmarked ten specimens from seven different macaque species using the same landmark protocol to test the effects of the previously listed …

Pickering, Tammie & Gary Collins (Fa 348), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 348. Student paper titled “Trees in Folk Crafts” in which Tammie Pickering and Gary Collins explore the connection between trees and traditional folkways. Paper details the medicinal properties of sassafras tea, which is made from tree roots, the production of maple syrup, and the expressive crafts of wood-carving and carpentry. Data collected from three working-class residents of Caldwell County. Paper also includes field journals, recorded interviews, and transcripts.

Hensley, Jennifer Lynn (Fa 351), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 351. Paper titled "The Music Barn" in which Lynn Hensley discusses the founding of The Music Barn, a local music venue in Warren County, Kentucky. Hensley's main informant is Joe Marshall, a country music artist, community organizer, and owner of The Music Barn.

Fox, Randy (Fa 350), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

FFinding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 350. Paper titled "Fiddle About: Ed Carnes-Contest Fiddler" in which Randy Fox charts the history of fiddle playing and the rise of "contest fiddling" during the traditional music revival in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Fox's main informant is Ed Carnes, an old-time fiddler who won the Kentucky State Fiddle Championship in 1981. Carnes details his beginnings as a fiddler, the recording of his fiddle-tunes album, and his travels across the country to different fiddling contests.

Water, Sanitation, And Citizenship: Perceptions Of Water Scarcity, Reuse, And Sustainability In Valparaiso De Goias, Brazil, Paola Andrea Gonzalez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Access to reliable water and sanitation are two important goals to improve livelihoods around the world. Providing access to improved and safe water resources that are equitable and appropriate to local needs is important to improve sustainability long-term. In addition, framing access to water and sanitation as basic human rights is often used as a rationale in developing new water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions in developing countries around the world. But not all countries consider access to safe water and sanitation as a human right. In the thesis, the politics of improving and investment in water access and sanitation provision …

Human-Environment Interactions: Sea-Level Rise And Marine Resource Use At Eleanor Betty, An Underwater Maya Salt Work, Belize, Valerie Renae Feathers

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Dissertation excavations were performed in the spring of 2013 at the underwater site of Eleanor Betty in Paynes Creek National Park, Belize. The marine environment preserved wooden architecture associated with the salt works. Excavation goals included: 1) excavating and defining the boundaries of the submerged shell midden; 2) collecting sediment samples for paleoenvironmental analyses; and 3) recovering cultural remains to determine the site’s purpose (residence versus production workshop).

Four transects were added to the existing transect from excavations performed during the 2011 field season. The shell midden measured 5 meters in length (north-to-south throughout all transects) by 0.5-to-1 meters in …

A Real Rock Star, Mike James

Indian Head Rock Project

An article published in Ashland Daily Independent discussing the documentary film on the Indian Head Rock by Steve Middleton from November 2, 2017.

The Disney Nonhuman Princesses, Corey Lee Wrenn

Cultural Representation of Animals Collection

Many of the gender norms popular in human-centric Disney films are also perpetuated in those starring nonhuman princesses. These nonhuman princess films perpetuate Disney’s painfully heteronormative and white bias, although perhaps less obviously. They remain side characters to inspire male counterparts, to be rescued, and to be won—and again, marriage is presented as the epitome of a happy ending. Although these characters are deer, foxes, cats, lions, and frogs, they are also overwhelmingly coded as white. Whiteness structures characters’ speech, behaviors, and values. In fact, most of the voice actors are also white. For instance, The Lion King’s Nala is …

Surveys Of The Street And Private Dog Population: Kalhaar Bungalows, Gujarat India, Tamara Kartal, Amit Chaudhari

Demography and Statistics for Companion Animal Populations Collection

This baseline survey was conducted on the 27th and 28th of November, 2017 to generate a dog population size estimate and collect baseline data on the composition of the dog population. We estimate that there are 48 street dogs in the Kalhaar Bungalows area (all the sectors of Kalhaar Bungalows). This translates to about 6 dogs per 100 residents in the Kalhaar Bungalows area. Sterilization rates were high with 90% of the dogs being sterilized and 84% of the female population. The street dog survey was conducted by walking along all the streets of the Kalhaar Bungalows. We teamed-up with …

Surveys Of The Street And Private Dog Population In Vadodara, India, Tamara Kartal, Amit Chaudhari

Demography and Statistics for Companion Animal Populations Collection

This report presents the detailed results from two additional surveys which HSI conducted in July and August 2017. Street dog surveys were conducted across all twelve wards in Vadodara using the methodology already implemented in 2014 to reassess the composition and sterilization rate in the street dog population. Extensive household surveys across six of the twelve wards (ward 1, 2, 5, 7, 8 and 9) were conducted to estimate the total private dog population and to explore dog demographics. Data included how private dogs contribute to the street dog population and a study of the human-dog relationship as a driver …

Bodies Of Water: Politics, Ethics, And Relationships Along New Mexico's Acequias, Elise Trott

Anthropology ETDs

Growing public attention to global economic and environmental instability and collapse have brought new urgency to a classic activity of anthropology: looking for alternative economic and environmental models in other ways of life. This dissertation is a case study of the complex and sometimes contradictory ways in which New Mexico’s acequias (communally-managed irrigation ditches) are produced, experienced, and contested as an alternative form of living, creating community, and relating ethically to the environment. Drawing on over six years of participant observation and in-depth interviews with Nuevomexicano (Spanish- and Mexican-descendant), indigenous, and non-indigenous acequia users and organizers in North-Central New Mexico …

Gis Analysis Of Dvāravatī Dharmacakras And The Rise Of Buddhism In Thailand, Areerut Patnukao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores how GIS as well as spatial and statistical analyses could be used to advance the understanding of Dvāravatī settlement and Dharmacakras locations. The research employs archaeological and geographical parameters to measure and quantify the patterns of Dvāravatī settlements, Dharmacakra locations, their interrelationship, and their relationship with environmental setting. The different types of spatial analyses, parameter settings within each analysis, and approaches are used to examine and explore the differences and commonalities of these variables at three different geographic levels: national, regional, and river basin levels.

Four distinct approaches are incorporated in this study. Chi-Square analysis shows significant …

Grassroots Branding: An Exploration Of Grassroots Businesses Within The Florida Skateboard Community, Lawrence M. Shaw

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Why do original/grassroots branding efforts occurring on a local level continue to proliferate despite the existing market saturation created by larger corporate entities? Using existing theoretical frameworks associated with “do it yourself” (DIY) culture, this thesis explores cultures and themes associated with skateboarding, including the production and consumption of brands of skateboarding products; the use of space and spatiality by skateboarders; and, finally, changes in skateboarding. I conducted ethnographic interviews within a network of skateboard entrepreneurs in the Florida skateboard community, seeking to understand why they start brands, their perceptions of their entrepreneurial efforts, and how these businesses operate. Drawing …

Forming Community Partnerships, Lori Foley

CHAR

In the event of a disaster, regardless of the type or scope, the first response is always local. For the institutions and organizations charged with safeguarding the nation’s cultural and historic resources – museums, historical societies, libraries, and municipal offices, to name just a few – building relationships with local first responders and emergency managers before disaster strikes is key to ensuring the safety of staff and collections. State emergency management agencies are also collaborating with their state cultural agencies to protect these valuable and vulnerable resources. The resulting emergency networks better position the local community and the state to …

Lessons Learned From Culture In Crisis; Or Protecting The Past To Save The Future, Laurie Rush

CHAR

At the midpoint of the second decade of the 21^st century, the world is experiencing deliberate destruction of cultural property at a scale not seen since the Second World War. Future protection and preservation of cultural heritage depends on learning from tragedy and applying these lessons as pro-actively as possible. First, we are discovering that no matter the threat, there are people who risk their lives to save artifacts and features of their culture, and the motives for this courage are retrospectively clear. For a community to survive a conflict or disaster as a corporate entity, elements of shared …

Keynote Address - When Violent Nonstate Actors Target Cultural Heritage Sites, Victor Asal

CHAR

Why would organizations attack or kill people at cultural heritage sites or destroy such sites? Using data from the Big Allied and Dangerous insurgent dataset that has data on 140 insurgent organizations from 1998-2012, and data from the Global Terrorism Database, this presentation examines the factors that make insurgent groups more likely to attack such sites or kill people at such sites. We look at the impact of organizational ideology, organizational structure and power as well as country level factors.

Mitigation, Response And Recovery, Richard Lord

CHAR

Abstract: Hurricane Harvey ravaged Texas and Louisiana nearly five years after Superstorm Sandy devastated the East Coast and caused 53 deaths, destroyed or severely damaged 100,000 Long Island homes, and left an estimated $42 billion in damages across New York State.

This session will provide an overview of the disaster relief and assistance programs available under the Stafford Act, when they are triggered, and how private non-profit and cultural institutions can plan for natural hazards and take full advantage of available aid. There will also be discussion of the NYS Hazard Mitigation Plan, the Community Risk and Resiliency Act, and …

Informing Responders Using Gis And Gps, Deidre Mccarthy

CHAR

Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in August 2005 and created the single largest disaster for cultural resources that the United States has witnessed since the inception of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) in 1966. Notably, the NHPA created the National Register of Historic Places, our nation’s catalog of important cultural resources. The NHPA also stipulates that any federal undertaking which may adversely affect National Register eligible resources be mitigated. For the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Katrina created the largest compliance project ever under Section 106 of the NHPA.

Although causing a great deal of damage, Katrina also …