Digital Commons Network^™

Pamir And Rahila, Pamir, Rahila, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Pamir is from Afghanistan. He is a Hazarah, an ethnic minority group in Afghanistan. The Taliban hates his people. Nearly every member of his family has bullet wounds and war scars. His father was shot during the Mujahedin War and still has bullets in his leg. His older brother is blind in one eye and is still in Iran. His other brother was shot in the head and killed somewhere between the age of thirteen and fifteen. They escaped to Iran from Afghanistan, but the police caught Pamir and took him to a camp. They told him he could either …

Walid & Rahima, Walid, Rahima, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Walid worked as a police officer inBaghlan County,Afghanistan, where hedid many operations with NATO and US forces. Walid was responsible for recordingoperations and distributing copies to the media. Being part of the operations was dangerous, and Walid lost many of his friendsto the Taliban.Theyevenskinned afriend for cooperating with the government. The violenceled him to say, “The terrorists have no religion.” The Taliban began entering homes and killing government officials,and paid assassinations happened in public. Walidknew he was in danger.After losing a dear friend, Walid knew then that he had lost all he was willing to lose.He fled to Pakistan where …

Tabish, Tabish, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Tabish is from Afghanistan. He fled the country because he had enemies there. He was shot multiple times during a Taliban raid, resulting in a broken leg and damaged hand. The bullets had to be pulled out with a stick. He and his family fled Afghanistan to Iran where the police threatened to arrest him for not having the legal papers to work. His family escaped to Turkey but were soon deported back to Iran. They eventually made it through after walking on foot for seven hours at the Turkish border. After spending five hours on the water on the …

Sangar & Nasira, Sangar, Nasira, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Sangar and his family are from Iran but are originally Turkish. In Iran they faced a psychological war and many problems that stemmed from discrimination. He points out how many are oppressed or discriminated against, but he and his family were singled out for their ethnicity. There was no hope for a bright future, and they decided to flee the country for the benefit of their children.

They fled to Greece through Turkey and had many issues with human traffickers, robbery, a treacherous journey across the sea, and problems in Moria refugee camp where his wife couldn’t get the care …

Madina, Madina, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Madina is from Afghanistan where she had a good life as a hairdresser. She loved her business and was very well off. She faced a great deal of opposition and persecution since she was a woman who owned a business. She faced violence and threats often. Eventually they were forced to sell their possessions and flee with the help of traffickers and had a dangerous and painful journey. Multiple times they were turned away at borders in Greece, Turkey, and Iran. Madina now lives in Oinofyta refugee camp with her husband and 6 children. Her husband has a disability due …

Bahar And Zarrin, Bahar, Zarrin, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Bahar and Zarrin are friends living in Oinofyta Refugee Camp. They are both from Afghanistan but fled very different circumstances. Bahar lived in Iran with her husband until he passed, and she was rejected by her family. As a single woman she faced a life with little rights. Despite major health complications she fled to Greece in a boat. She now lives in the camp, struggling with repeated hospitalizations.

Zarrin left a life of comfort and privilege in Afghanistan and misses home greatly. Her husband was a wealthy businessman and Zarrin taught school. Thinking back on what they lost causes …

Nevin, Nevin, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Nevin is a civil engineer from Afghanistan who worked with an American company and local government. The Taliban threatened him and demanded he work for them instead and ultimately attacked him on his journey home. After this he began a dangerous journey to Europe full of smugglers, trafficking, encounters with police, poor living conditions and a trip across the Mediterranean in an overcrowded raft.

Nevin ultimately made it to Greece, where he lived in a camp for several months. He received medical care but faced new problems of closed borders and difficulty obtaining papers. He was transferred to a camp …

Aeham, Aeham, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Aeham Ahmad is a pianist from Yarmouk, Syria who gained internet fame from videos posted of him performing on the streets. Because of this, he was targeted and forced to flee to Germany, leaving his wife and two sons behind. Since this interview, his family has joined him.

Aeham’s talent and fame opened up opportunities to perform in various cities in Germany. To share his story during these performances, he learned English. He wants to use music to make a difference in the world. During his time in Yarmouk, there was an underground area where children practiced music because it …

Hamed, Hamed, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Hamed and his family are from Afghanistan where he worked as a diplomat and interpreter for the U.S. Army after having studied international relations and diplomacy. As the situation with the Taliban worsened it became too dangerous for Hamed and his family to stay in Afghanistan. They began the difficult journey with the help of smugglers, first to Iran, then Turkey, and then to Greece in a dangerous, overfilled boat.

Hamed explains the despair and frustration faced by many refugees. They feel as though very little is actually done for refugees once they’re admitted, and explains they need more assistance. …

Zarrin, Zarrin, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

My name is Zarrin. I was an English teacher. In Afghanistan I had a big house and a garden. My husband was a rich man; he had lots of money. My children studied in a private school.All the time the Taliban was warning my husband, “Why does your wife go to school and teach children? If your wife goes to school, we’ll throw acid on her face and take your children.” They don’t like education —they don’t like women attending school.Zarrin left a life of comfort and privilege in Afghanistan and misses home greatly. Her husband was a wealthy businessman …

Understanding Women's Needs For Weather And Climate Information In Agrarian Settings: The Case Of Ngetou Maleck, Senegal, Edward Carr, Grant Fleming, Tshibangu Kalala

Sustainability and Social Justice

While climate services have the potential to reduce precipitation- and temperature-related risks to agrarian livelihoods, such outcomes are possible only when they deliver information that is salient, legitimate, and credible to end users. This is particularly true of climate services intended to address the needs of women in agrarian contexts. The design of such gender-sensitive services is hampered by oversimplified framings of women as a group in both the adaptation and climate services literatures. This paper demonstrates that even at the village level, women have different climate and weather information needs, and differing abilities to act on that information. Therefore, …

Self Sufficiency In Refugees, Sarah Zayed

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Syrian refugee crisis has taken the world by storm as it is not only a Jordanian issue or a Middle Eastern issue but rather it is a humanitarian crisis. The intent of this research is to study Syrian refugees living in Jordan whom are living outside of refugee camps and their level of self-sufficiency. A few ideas the researcher has kept in mind throughout this study are: Are refugees working in the same fields as they did in Syria? Does Jordan really invest in these workers? What is the Syrian point of view? What is the Jordanian government point …

Ilhan & Family, Ilhan, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Ilhan, his wife Nura, and their children resided near Kabul, in a region where both the Taliban and ISIS were active. As Shias, Ilhan’s family faced numerous menaces, including threatsfrom ISIS that they would be beheaded if they did not display ISIS flags. Ilhan’s sister Radwa, who is deaf and mute, was forced to marry a regional leader. In addition to being threatened on religious grounds, Ilhan’s family was also threatened by anelder of their town. Out of desperation, Ilhan’s family sold their house appliances, escaped Afghanistan, and arrived at the Oinofyta refugee campin Greece. Ilhan’s family fled with Radwa, …

Kamaria Bakes, Kamaria, Twila Bird, Lindsay Silsby, Yasmine Kataw, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Amina is from Aleppo, where she was a math teacher. She is married with four boys. Her family fled to Turkey from Syria after losing their home in the war. Amina and her youngest son then sailed on an inflatable boat to Greece. Using cars, buses, and trains, they traveled from Greece to Macedonia, then on through Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria before finally arriving in Germany. They stayed for two months in Camp Hamburg before being transferred for a short time to Lemberg. Lemberg was followed by another camp for three and a half months and then to Eisenberg …

Introduction: The Umbrella Movement And Liberation Theology, Justin Kh Tse

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

September 28, 2014, is usually considered the day that the theological landscape in Hong Kong changed. For 79 days, hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong citizens occupied key political and economic sites in the Hong Kong districts of Admiralty, Causeway Bay, and Mong Kok, resisting the government’s attempts to clear them out until court injunctions were handed down in early December. Captured on social media and live television, the images of police in Hong Kong throwing 87 volleys of tear gas and pepper-spraying students writhing in agony have been imprinted onto the popular imagination around the world. Using the image …

Assessing The Role Of The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Extraterritorial Activities In Attaining Iran’S Foreign Policy Goals, Hamza Demirel

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation aims at analyzing the role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) extraterritorial activities in attaining Iran’s foreign policy goals. Based on observations and assessments from internal and external determinants, Iran’s foreign policy goals are defined as follows: regime survival, which is an indispensable goal of Iranian foreign policy, is above everything; state security and survival; projecting power and becoming the dominant power in the region.

The regime has deliberately supported several armed non-state actors to achieve the aforementioned goals, and as seen in the case studies, the IRGC has served as a node in providing a broad …

The Franchising Effect On The Al-Qaeda Enterprise And Related Transnational Terror Groups: Patterns Of Evolution Of Al-Qaeda Affiliates In The 21st Century, Nicholas Benjamin Law

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The attacks of September 11, 2001 by Al-Qaeda-sponsored militants represented a high- water mark for the terrorist organization in its self-styled journey to become the inspirational Islamic vanguard for disenchanted Muslims across the globe. In the years that followed these attacks, the Al-Qaeda enterprise underwent a constant rate of evolution and mutation, resulting in a phenomenon of parallel and like-minded Islamist groups pledging allegiance to Usama bin Laden and his ideological vision of a global jihad. Instead of strengthening the overall organization, this expansion diluted the command and control of Al-Qaeda senior leaders in their ability to shape the overall …

Visegrad Revival: Where Less Is More, In The Prospect Of Smaller Numbers, Aaron G. Sander

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This project began a number of years ago, in 2011, as a final paper for a class on the topic of Europe and the world, for which I wrote what is effectively the chapter on European defense and the formation of the Visegrad battlegroup. The topic interested me as I was perplexed when, on the matter of inter-state cooperation set against the backdrop of the formation of the EU, it was possible that the four states of Visegrad were able to agree and formulate a plan on how to get this battlegroup off the ground, all the while not having …

Bahram & Camila, Bahram, Camila, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Bahram tells the story of the Afghanistan's 1992 government collapse and subsequent civil wars that destroyed the city of Kabul. "There was war in every alley, every house, every area and every village. 60,000 people were killed." Their family emigrated to Pakistan and after living there for some time, some relatives of a friend from their village travelled to Pakistan and required lodging so they stayed with Bahram's family. In some developing and under-developed countries, the custom of arranged marriage to child and infant daughters is practiced. These house guests demanded their one-year-old daughter be given in marriage to a …

Mina And Gulyar, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Mina:

Mina was the second polygamous wife to her husband in Afghanistan. After her husband’s death 16 years ago, her husband’s first wife and children took all the husband’s belongings as their own, including the house and land. Forced to find another place to live, Mina and her sons fled to Pakistan, where they lived until returning to Afghanistan to ask for their share of Mina’s husband’s property. In response, both Mina and her children were beaten, resulting in the death of her oldest son. Mina and her younger son, Gulyar, escaped, and as Gulyar hid, Mina buried her older …

Lima And Hanif, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

In Afghanistan, Lima worked as a teacher, and her husband worked (and continues to work) for the government as an agricultural manager. She has a fourteen-year-old son who is deaf and has related speech problems; he could not be treated for them properly in Afghanistan. Because her uncle was very wealthy, Lima received daily threats that her son would be kidnapped and held for ransom. Her uncle went to Germany with his own children and her son to protect them from the kidnapping threats.

Although Lima’s son was safer in Germany, she still faced threats because of her work as …

The Importance Of Music Festivals: An Unanticipated And Underappreciated Path To Identity Formation, Kimberly F. Rudolph

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this study is to understand and explain the growing popularity of music and art festivals around the world. Music festivals are events consisting of a variety of bands and musical artists performing shows, on numerous stages, over a period of days to a large audience in outside and inside venues. Through field research, participant-observation, personal interviews, and survey research at the 2015 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, this study suggests that they are much more than simple entertainment venues. Because humans desire to belong and music functions in the capacity as a global language, music festivals are …

Geopolitical Implications Of The Sino-Japanese East China Sea Dispute For The U.S., Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Much analysis on Asian strategic challenges facing the U.S. has justifiably emphasized the South China Sea (SCS). This has also been reflected in 2016 presidential campaign debate on the SCS as an emerging area of U.S. foreign and national security policy concern. The East China Sea (ECS) is at least as important for the strategic interests of the U.S. and its allies given the tension between China and Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, potential energy resources in this body of water, increasing defense spending by adjacent geographic powers, the area’s importance as a maritime international trade route, and the possibility …

Slides: Water Governance Innovation And Transnational Networks, Michele-Lee Moore

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Presenter: Michele-Lee Moore, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of Victoria; Water, Innovation, and Global Governance Lab

10 slides

Agenda: Coping With Water Scarcity In River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned From Shared Experiences, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Water scarcity is increasingly dominating headlines throughout the world. In the southwestern USA, the looming water shortages on the Colorado River system and the unprecedented drought in California are garnering the greatest attention. Similar stories of scarcity and crisis can be found across the globe, suggesting an opportunity for sharing lessons and innovations. For example, the Colorado River and Australia's Murray-Darling Basin likely can share many lessons, as both systems were over-allocated, feature multiple jurisdictions, face similar climatic risks and drought stresses, and struggle to balance human demands with environmental needs. In this conference we cast our net broadly, exploring …

Shrine Pilgrimage (Ziyārat) In Turco-Iranian Cultural Regions, Mehdi Ebadi

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Academic studies, dedicated to various aspects of religiously motivated travel have increased steadily, especially in recent years. Despite the huge amount of publications related to tourism and religious pilgrimage, there is still a gap between abstract theory and empirical research. Studies devoted to pilgrimage in the developing countries generally, and Islamic regions in particular are rather few in number in spite of its socio-economic importance and widespread practices. The present work tries to address this relative lack of attention and will shed more light on the tradition of shrine pilgrimage (known as ziyārat) in Turco-Iranian cultural milieu that is almost …

Revitalizing The Ethnosphere: Global Society, Ethnodiversity, And The Stakes Of Cultural Genocide, Christopher Powell Ph.D.

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This paper uses the concepts of ethnosphere and ethnodiversity to frame the stakes of cultural genocide in the context of the emerging global society. We are in an era of rapid global ethnodiversity loss. Global ethnodiversity is important because different cultures produce different solutions to the subjective and objective problems of human society, and because cultures have an intrinsic value. Rapid ethnodiversity loss is a byproduct of the expansion of the modern world-system, and Lemkin’s invention of the concept of genocide can be understood as a dialectical reaction to this tendency. The current phase of globalization creates pressures towards global …

Patterns Of Growth And The Economic Development Of China, Adam C. Watson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

By looking at the historical rise of modern China, starting with the end of the First Opium War (1842) through to the start of the war with Japan (1937), and then from the beginning of Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms (1979) to the present, this work reveals the striking similarities between the earlier and the later periods of capitalist development. If the country had not been able to draw on the deep-rooted knowledge and skills which originated in Shanghai and the port cities in the mid-nineteenth century, and instead pursued only uninformed free market principles without the training to make these …

On Multiethnic Schools In Consociational Democracies: A Comparative Analysis Of Brčko District And Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jusuf Šarančić

Lawrence University Honors Projects

The 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement both ended the Bosnian War and created the consociational democracy that exists in Bosnia and Herzegovina to this day. The ethnic autonomy created by the Dayton Agreement has resulted in a frozen conflict between ethnic groups that has manifested itself in the country’s monoethnic education system. This study explores the short-term stability under consociationalism and the long-term stability under a multiethnic education system. Additionally, this study explains the importance of the country’s only multiethnic education system in Brčko District and how it came into existence.

Singapore's Vision Of A Smart Nation, See Liang Foo, Gary Pan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

With a population of 5.4 million and land area of 718 square kilometres, 94 percent of Singapore’s population live in high-rise apartments, of which, 82 percent dwell in public housing. As an ultra-dense city-state, effective and innovative urban development is a social and economic imperative intricately intertwined with Singapore’s competitiveness and quality of life. Harnessing information and communications technology (ICT) is not only essential to achieving this, but also serves as a template for answering some of the global challenges faced by urban centres around the world–particularly in regard to economic development, social cohesion, better city administration and infrastructure management.