Digital Commons Network^™

Religion And Economics: The Economic Views Of Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia Ii Of Georgia, Giuli Giguashvili

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The paper examines the impact of religion on a country’s economic development, analyzing how religious values and institutions influence economic behavior. The research employs a qualitative, comparative, and historical approach based on the systematic analysis of primary and secondary sources. Religion can promote economic growth by strengthening work ethics, education, and social order. Still, it may also hinder development through inefficient resource allocation and regulatory influence. In the context of the 1700th anniversary of Christianity in Georgia, the study highlights the relationship between Orthodox teaching and economic thought. Drawing on the epistles and sermons of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, …

Practical Aspects Of Religious Social Work In Modern Ukraine, Inna Vladislavivna Kovalchuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This work analyzes the current state and specifics of the activity of religious organizations in the social sphere of Ukraine. Special attention is paid to the transformation of religious social work in the conditions of a full-scale war, where religious communities have become key agents of humanitarian, psychological and spiritual assistance. The article examines the mechanisms of interaction between the church, the state and non-governmental organizations in solving social problems. The findings are based on the practical experiences of those working with internally displaced persons (IDPs), veterans, large families, and individuals facing difficult life circumstances. Unique methods of denominational assistance …

Solidarity In Action: Social Service Of Caritas Organizations In Ukraine In Wartime, Andrii Marchenko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article is devoted to the analysis of the activities of Caritas charitable organizations in Ukraine, which are affiliated with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (Caritas Ukraine) and the Roman Catholic Church (Caritas-Spes Ukraine), in the realities of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Particular attention is focused on considering how the fundamental ideas of Christian love, mercy, common good, and solidarity are embodied in the various practices of humanitarian, spiritual, and other support that these institutions provide to different categories of the population of Ukraine, especially those who have suffered from the destructive consequences of the war. Types of such support include, …

Imperial Pedagogy And Religious Constraint: The Politics Of Islamic Education In The Kazakh Steppe Under Tsarist Rule, Kunduzay Yerimbetova, Bekmurat Naimanbayev

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the evolution of the Russian Empire’s educational policies toward Islamic schools in the Kazakh Steppe from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1917 Revolution. While the early imperial administration initially tolerated Islamic institutions for pragmatic governance, the latter half of the nineteenth century witnessed a decisive paradigm shift toward systematic surveillance and restriction. Drawing on archival records and colonial administrative decrees, the study analyzes the implementation of the "Ilminsky system" and the compulsory introduction of the Cyrillic alphabet as tools for cultural assimilation and Russification. The research highlights the dual nature of colonial education: while the Tsarist authorities …

American Arms: A Soldier's Perspective, Steve Prochniak

Undercurrents: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Composition

Steve is a political science major from Andover, Massachusetts. Steve’s experience in the military had given him an understanding of the practical aspects of the weapons he was trained to use, but his essay came out of a desire to understand the societal impacts of these weapons. Writing this essay both helped Steve develop a better understanding of this complicated issue, and helped him find his passion in exploring “issues and topics that face my community.” In addition to exploring these complex issues, Steve enjoys science fiction, exploration, and just hanging around in the city of Boston.

What Are The Benefits Of Reading For Pleasure?, Abigail Pineau

Undercurrents: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Composition

Abigail is a nursing major living in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Abigail enjoys reading for pleasure, but before researching this essay she “never knew just how impactful it was.” She said that after researching this subject it became “important for me that students and parents know just how impactful pleasure reading is.” In addition to reading, Abigail’s other passion is nursing, as she loves both helping people in need and learning how we function as humans.

Volume 9 (2026) Climate And Responsibility

International Journal on Responsibility

This issue focuses on the various ways responsibility affects environmental justice. Specifically, this volume urges us to think about how societal and individual (in)action influences ecological crises and what informs this behavior, with a specific focus on religious and Indigenous beliefs and values.

We Grow Accustomed To The Light, Minh Q. Nguyen

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Drawing inspiration from Emily Dickinson’s exploration of the unknown in "We Grow Accustomed to the Dark," this poem, "We Grow Accustomed to the Light," re-examines the final transition of life through a clinical and humanist lens. While Dickinson focused on the bravery required to navigate the "Dark," this piece explores the courage needed to face the "Light," representing the clarity of terminal illness, the shedding of medical "fetters," and the shared experience of the "final goodbye." It challenges the traditional medical impulse to "push forward" at all costs, instead advocating for a "Wise" acceptance of the natural end of the …

Fashion, Lifestyle, And Symbolic Capital: Identity And Resistance In Eka Kurniawan’S Beauty Is A Wound, Dewi Meyrasyawati, Cysakaren Diva Pratiwi, Nisar Ul-Haq

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

This study examines how fashion culture and lifestyle, understood as modes of self presentation, social performance, and everyday practice, operate as tools of identity construction and resistance in Eka Kurniawan’s Beauty Is a Wound. The objective is to reveal how beauty, personal choices, and public perception function as symbolic capital in negotiating gendered power relations, class hierarchies, and political constraints. Using close textual analysis, the research explores how female characters, particularly Dewi Ayu, mobilize appearance, behavior, and life decisions to challenge dominant ideologies and redefine their roles in society. The findings show that fashion culture in the novel extends beyond …

Concepts For Supporting Indigenous And Tribal Information And Research Needs, Sharon Hausam

Faculty Publications

This is a working paper produced as part of National Science Foundation project #2115169, “Transforming Rural-Urban Systems: Trajectories for Sustainability in the Intermountain West,” known as the “Intermountain West Transformation Network” (TN), led by the University of New Mexico with institutional partners at three additional universities in New Mexico, two in Arizona, and one each in Utah, Colorado, and Washington. The TN’s Indigenous and Tribal engagement was supported through a contract with Dr. Sharon Hausam, additional work by Aaron M. Canter, coordination with Dr. Lani Tsinnajinnie, and an Advisory Committee on Indigenous Information Needs primarily comprised of Indigenous representatives in …

The Negotiated Identities Of Refugee-Background Women During Resettlement, Iuliia Fakhrutdinova

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Refugee-background women experience unique challenges while resettling in the U.S. as they navigate complicated transnational gender roles, education gaps, migration trauma, learning a new language, and literacy in the adaptation process during resettlement, which can derail the productive paths they are on. Therefore, ignoring refugee-background women’s unique experiences and failing to understand their identities prevents our society from doing social justice and creating a space for a smooth adaptation to the new context. Language plays a paramount role in identity formation, as it moves away from the belief that identity is an essential concept. For refugee-background women during resettlement, their …

The Furry Community As A Case Study In Identity-Related Conflict, Patrick Hampton

Graduate Masters Theses

The “furry” community has gained notoriety both on the internet and in physical spaces for the dramatic portrayal of animal-based personas referred to as “fursonas.” This group has become the subject of ridicule and moral concern due to the occasionally controversial nature of the content produced by some members of the community. However, there are many different interpretations both within and outside of the community around what the community entails. In this thesis, I examine how the furry community and the identity of its members is shaped by external pressure or social stigmatization? I answer this through the following three …

'In America On Twofold Mission': Elite Filipina Women On The U.S. Stage, 1898-1929, Catherine D. Mayfield

Graduate Masters Theses

After more than 300 years of Spanish colonization of the Philippines, the United States’ acquisition of las Islas Filipinas at the end of the Spanish-American War introduced the Philippine Islands to yet another colonizer. Amidst a backdrop of insurgent resistance and the building of a U.S.-based education and government system under the guise of “benevolent assimilation,” elite Filipina women navigated a mélange of cultural values and the possibility of new public roles. Filipino “elites,” those with political or economic power at the upper echelons of Philippine society, played key collaborative roles for the U.S. colonial regime. Yet the actions and …

Comfort In Cases Of Sickness: Health And Colonialism At The Eastern Pequot Reservation, 1800-1850, Katherine N. Brauckmann

Graduate Masters Theses

Health and sickness were major concerns for the Eastern Pequot community in the first half of the 19th century. At this time, the Eastern Pequot’s collective finances were controlled by a court-appointed overseer who rented reservation land to non-Pequot individuals and used the generated funds to purchase goods and services for those on the reservation. In an 1841 petition to remove an overseer for failing in his duties, issues of health were brought up twice among their grievances: that they received little support “in Sickness or in health” and that “our Land if family rented […] would add much to …

Beyond A Little Italy: Italian Community Formation In Washington, D.C., Kathleen P C Millander

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis examines the development of the Italian immigrant community in Washington, DC, from the early nineteenth century through the beginning of the Second World War. Unlike the dense ethnic enclaves that characterized Italian settlement in many American industrial and port cities, Washington never developed a recognizable Little Italy. Nevertheless, Italians in the nation's capital constructed a cohesive community through social, religious, familial, and economic networks that connected a geographically dispersed population.

Drawing on extensive original archival research, including oral histories, personal memoirs, parish records, newspapers, and manuscript collections, this thesis reconstructs the experiences of Washington's Italian immigrants and their …

Propagating Labor: How The Craft Brewery Movement Attracted And Grew A Workforce To Fuel Its Rise, Timothy J. Vlieger

Graduate Masters Theses

The craft beer movement grew from just a few tiny microbreweries and disparate homebrewing clubs to a nationwide phenomenon accounting for over ten thousand businesses and hundreds of thousands of employees. The arrival of this movement in the 1980s coincided with drastic changes in the economy, which was moving away from the manufacturing base that enabled postwar prosperity and developing a “New Economy” of high-tech and service sector employment. Within this economic transition, the social contract between capital and labor was being rewritten and what constituted a good job was being redefined. Employment in the emerging craft brewing industry represented …

Introduction To Film, Teresa A. Fisher

Open Educational Resources

An introduction to the filmmaking process including film history, narrative, mise-en-scene, editing, cinematography, sound, and acting. Includes a chapter on documentary film, experimental film, and animation.

I Must Be Well, To Do Well: Examining The Relationship Between Toxic Stem Environments, Trauma, Stem Support, And Academic Outcomes Among Diverse Graduate Women In Stem, Aisha Farra

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Women, particularly Women of Colour (WOC), remain underrepresented in STEM. In the last two decades, research has sought to better understand women’s experiences in STEM, highlighting challenges such as isolation, sexism, and racism, which negatively impact mental health and STEM persistence. While these mental health challenges have been documented, further work is needed to examine how these experiences are related to trauma symptoms and physical health outcomes, as well as the mechanisms through which they shape academic outcomes. This quantitative study investigated the relationships among toxic STEM experiences (i.e., gendered racism, sexism, and isolation), trauma symptoms and physical health concerns, …

Shaping Disease: Colonial Stigma And The Politics Of Health In Banyuwangi, The Early Twentieth Century, Rifa'i Shodiq Fathoni, Skriptyan Noor Hidayatullah Syuhri, Vini’Matu Hikmah, Ardhita Zahra Namira

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

This article examines the colonial stigma attached to Banyuwangi as an “unhealthy region” in the early 20th century, a label used to justify massive exploitation of its natural resources. Using a historical method, this research analyzes how this stigma not only served as a tool for colonial legitimation but also causatively created conditions that triggered ecological disasters and a public health crisis in a previously isolated area. Through an analysis of primary sources such as colonial reports, health journals, and newspapers, this article traces how large-scale plantation exploitation, enabled by the stigma, led to deforestation, uncontrolled labor migration, and poor …

Transmutation Of Psychological Phenomena (Academic Burnout And Fomo) Into Cyanotype Art Creation, Zulfan Ali Mujtaba, Adi Kuntoro

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

The pressure of hustle culture and the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) in the digital era have triggered an escalation of academic burnout among students, demanding alternative psychological recovery interventions beyond verbal clinical approaches. This research aims to explore the creation of alternative Cyanotype photography as a medium for catharsis and resistance against toxic productivity. Utilizing a Practice-Based Research methodology with an autoethnographic approach, data were extracted from the researcher's subjective experiences and transmuted into a visual artifact titled "Metamorfosis yang Lelah". The cultural studies approach and wabi-sabi aesthetics are specifically applied to analyze visual elements in the Prussian Blue …

“When I’M Not Heard, I Feel Like I Don’T Matter”: Advancing Equity In Disability Policy Through Critical Participatory Action Research With People With Intellectual Disability, Cris Marchionne

Student Theses

People with intellectual disability deserve a system that offers flexible, timely, and person-centered support — one that is innovative, sustainable, and holistic in enabling them to live fulfilling lives. This qualitative study, grounded in Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR), examines how people with intellectual disability experience participation in decision-making within New York State's disability service system. By centering lived experience, the study identifies factors that facilitate or hinder participation in decision-making and examines structural, social, and policy-related barriers that limit agency. Through six focus groups and a Photovoice project with self-advocates receiving OPWDD services, participants described systemic barriers that limited …

Healthy Calling: From Toxic Burnout To Sustainable Work, Kathy Hoppe

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

To Doubt Or Not To Doubt? Religious Development For Spirit-Empowered Christians, Andrea C. Walker, Ricky T. Munoz, Andrew S.I.D. Lang

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Ghanian Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches In Fighting Sexual Violence Against Women, Christian Tsekpoe

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

The Intersection Of Mental Health And Demonic Activity, Robert A. Willis

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

Integrating Spiritual Disciplines As A Therapeutic Modality In Mental Health Counseling For Identity Restoration & Trauma Healing, Rebecca Webster, Charlotte H. Sanders

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

Five Years Of Salubritas: Looking Back With Gratitude And Forward With Expectation, Haley R. French

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, Editors Salubritas

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

Full Issue Salubritas 5 (2026), Editors Salubritas

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

Parameters Autumn 2026, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.