Digital Commons Network^™

Serbian Orthodoxy Between Two Worlds, Marko P. Djurić

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Orthodoxy has, by the Providence of God, been placed between Western Christianity, and Sunni Islam. Church nationalism (phyletism) has always been present in political and linguistic nationalism in the former Yugoslavia. The relationship between Serbian Orthodoxy, with Islam and Western Christianity is not satisfactory. In order to become satisfactory, it would be important for the Orthodox Church to create a new theology which would, primarily, be a theological (Orthodox) response to the signs of the times. However, this has not become the reality as of yet.

Plant Poetics And Politics Of The West Usambaras: Power And Memory Of Narrative Botanical Science In Kizanda, Sagara, And The Mazumbai Forest Reserve, Cameron Daddis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This is a story about people and plants. About the power of relationships between floral organisms and human lives. Using narrative botanical science as a methodological framework, this study highlights the power of local people’s ecological knowledge from the villages of Kizanda and Sagara in the West Usambara Mountains. Building from semi-structured interviews and personal conservations with thirty residents of these villages—voices of local healers, farmers, and forest guides—this work unfolds through a series of vignettes. Its aim is to identify both the precise yet diverse ways in which these people have developed botanical knowledge of their local environment. From …

The Personal As The Political: The Everyday Resistance Of Lgbtq+ Woc In The Netherlands, Sofia Del Valle

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Netherlands is often a country characterized by tolerance and inclusion, especially in regards to sexual diversity. Having legalized same sex marriage in 2001, one of the first in the world to do so, the Netherlands has secured its spot on the map as one of the top “gay friendly” countries. However, upon further examination, we find that tolerance within the Netherlands is not all that it seems. Many scholars and activists argue that Dutch tolerance, rather than a strive for LGBTQ+ equality, is a guise to perpetuate racism and xenophobic political agendas. Such a debate necessitates an understanding of …

Land Rights Of African Indigenous Groups: International Instruments And Main Issues, Anastasia Strouboulis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For indigenous peoples, land is more than an economic commodity, it has guided their way of life for generations. This notion is particularly prevalent in Africa, where many diverse indigenous communities exist, from desert regions to vast forests. However, without the recognition of international laws and standards that seek to preserve and uphold their land rights, the indigenous peoples of Africa continue to face socio-environmental and political issues. This research paper seeks to understand what actors, documents, and mechanisms exist to protect and promote the land rights of indigenous peoples in Africa and assess their effectiveness. This research question was …

“We Are The Gap: Understanding The Inclusion Of Immigrants In Moroccan Left-Wing Politics”, Sam Brown

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project seeks to understand to what extent immigrants are included in left-wing politics in Morocco. In 2011, King Mohammed VI named Morocco an executive constitutional monarchy. One can argue that this means Morocco is moving in the direction of democracy, but is democracy what left-wing political parties are truly advocating for? And if they are, does the left include marginalized people it advocates for? Particularly, how are immigrants fighting for their own rights in Morocco, and to what extent are Moroccan left-wing political parties centering and uplifting the voices of immigrants, if at all?

Church And State In Rwanda: Catholic Missiology And The 1994 Genocide Against The Tutsi, Marcus Timothy Haworth

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

During the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, over one million Tutsis were killed by the government of Rwanda and Hutu extremists. In this study, I address two questions: (1) did the Church, as an institution, offer a convincing counter-narrative to the dominant ideology of racialized ethnic identities of twentieth century European colonialism in the present-day nation-state of Rwanda? If it did not, why not? And, (2) what role, if any, did the Church, as an institution, play, in promoting a “social imagination” that valued religious identity, or truths, over the dominant European colonial ideology, and later the nationalistic narrative of …

A Glimpse Into Amazighophone Technology Usage An Example Of The Results Of Short-Term Ethnography, Garrison Smith

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper explores the situation of the Amazigh language and its revitalization in Morocco, specifically aiming to shed light on the intersections of language use, technology, and youth, in order to obtain insight into processes that Amazighophone youth both undergo and enact in their lives. Through literature review and an interview, this research provides a glimpse into the use and reality of Amazigh and variants in technological media and an example of the shortcomings of a short-termed fieldwork research project. In all, despite only having one interview with one young woman who attends university and speaks Amazigh, the results provide …

Binding Ideologies: An Investigation Of Language Attitudes And Ideologies In The Moroccan Publishing And Book Sector, Ashley Coyne

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The interaction between author and reader is not as simple nor as direct as may at times be assumed. There are “gatekeepers” and middle men who mediate the transmission of ideas from writer to reader; these institutions and their ideologies determine the final product that will (or will not) be presented to readers. In Morocco, this author-reader interaction is further complicated by the language ideologies which pervade the realm of Moroccan literature. As Moroccan publishers and booksellers are the “gatekeepers” who arguably engage the most in language politics, this study examines their role in facilitating or inhibiting the Moroccan author-reader …

The Women Of Dho Tarap: Gender Roles, Challenges, And Change In Dolpo, Nepal, Luke Testa

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

By collecting and examining first first-hand accounts of women and men from Dho Tarap, this report illustrates the many challenges that women report facing throughout their lives in Dolpo, offers a conceptual framework for understanding the significance of gender, and highlights women’s thoughts on change. The difficulties that women face appear to be due to cultural concepts that suggest that women are less capable than men, social norms that provide various learning and growth opportunities to men but not to women, and customs that result in women experiencing discriminate treatment in the home and community. Through an analysis of the …

Trivialized Content, Elevated From: Aesthetics Of Secrecy In Turkish Politics In The 2000s, Doruk Tatar

Secrecy and Society

This essay will first provide a brief history of the Islamist party's coming to power by means of its effective use of a populist imagery. The paper will then focus on the emergence of a new regime of secrecy in Turkish politics by looking at two high-profile legal cases, Ergenekon and the “Cosmic Room,” in which one can observe the blueprints of a struggle between different factions for taking over the state. During the investigations, secret documents about the wrongdoings of the secular establishment were leaked to and widely covered by the media. Sober debates on the contents of such …

Deinstitutionalization Of Bulgarian Orphanages: Examining Caregiver Discourses On The Changing Reforms, Sophia Page

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The housing of orphaned children in institutions has been common practice in Bulgaria. The post-communist era ushered in reforms to the orphan care system, under the guidance of the state and the international community. This has shifted care for orphaned children from institutions to alternative care in family-type settings, under a process referred to as deinstitutionalization. These reforms are believed to benefit a child’s development and well-being. New questions arise surrounding the role of the caregiver in implementing these reforms in their care practice, chiefly how caregivers strive to integrate the children into society while facing the persisting limitations of …

Religion, Media, And Marginality In Modern Africa, Felicitas Becker, Joel Cabrita, Marie Rodet

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

In recent years, anthropologists, historians, and others have been drawn to study the profuse and creative usages of digital media by religious movements. At the same time, scholars of Christian Africa have long been concerned with the history of textual culture, the politics of Bible translation, and the status of the vernacular in Christianity. Students of Islam in Africa have similarly examined politics of knowledge, the transmission of learning in written form, and the influence of new media. Until now, however, these arenas—Christianity and Islam, digital media and “old” media—have been studied separately.

Religion, Media, and Marginality in Modern Africa …

The Production Of Space: Indigenous Resistance Movements In The Peruvian Amazon, Christian Calienes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The resistance movement that resulted in the Baguazo in the northern Peruvian Amazon in 2009 was the culmination of a series of social, economic, political and spatial processes that reflected the Peruvian nation’s engagement with global capitalism and democratic consolidation after decades of crippling instability and chaos. The recently discovered oil and natural gas reserves that occupy the subsoil of much the Peruvian Amazon provide the latest natural resource upon which the national project can continue to be implemented. In a context of neo-imperialism and neo-extractivism where through accumulation by dispossession, new markets are introduced into global capitalist structures after …

Low Perceived Control Over Health Is Associated With Lower Treatment Uptake In A High Mortality Population Of Bolivian Forager-Farmers, Sarah Alami, Jonathan Stieglitz, Hillard Kaplan, Michael Gurven

ESI Publications

Indigenous people worldwide suffer from higher rates of morbidity and mortality than neighboring populations. In addition to having limited access to public health infrastructure, indigenous people may also have priorities and health perceptions that deter them from seeking adequate modern healthcare. Here we propose that living in a harsh and unpredictable environment reduces motivation to pursue deliberate, costly action to improve health outcomes. We assess whether variation in Health Locus of Control (HLC), a psychological construct designed to capture self-efficacy with respect to health, explains variation in treatment uptake behavior among Tsimane Amerindians (N=690; age range: 40–89 years; 55.8% female; …

Russia And Its Neighbors: A Geopolitical Analysis Of The Ukrainian Conflict, Michele Pigliucci

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Within the context of a new Cold War between the Western powers and Russia, one of the most dangerous hot spots is Ukraine. Since 2014, in fact, the Ukrainian army has been engaged in a civil war against Russian-backed troops of self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk Republics. This crisis appears as a new geopolitical tool both for Russia and for the United States: for the former, in order to contain NATO expansion, for the latter, in order to counteract Russian influence and to open the way for U.S. liquefied natural gas exports in Europe, reducing European energy dependence on Russia (Chornii, …

Russia’S Fight For The "Globe", Yuliya Brel

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

The foreign policy of Russia in the near abroad is the continuation of its domestic policy, which includes the consolidation of the population around a leader by means of creating an image of an enemy, especially at times when the economic situation in the country is deteriorating. When interpreting the inner processes in the country, political scientists usually apply the decomposition of the totalitarian Soviet regime as a framework. This paper suggests a broader framework through an analysis of historical structures anchored in Russian civilization. The key to understanding Russia's foreign policy, I argue, is rooted in the imperial syndrome …

No. 27: Food Security In Africa's Secondary Cities: No. 1 Mzuzu, Malawi, Liam Riley, Emmanuel Chilanga, Lovemore Zuze, Amanda Joynt

African Food Security Urban Network

This report marks the first stage of AFSUN’s goal of expanding knowledge about urban food systems and experiences of household food insecurity in secondary African cities. It contributes to an understanding of poverty and sustainability in Mzuzu, Malawi, through the lens of household food security. The focus on food as an urban issue not only speaks to the development challenges presented by urbanization, but it also brings a fresh perspective to debates about food security in Malawi. The urban setting highlights the changing food system in Malawi where people in rural and urban areas are increasingly reliant on cash income …

Understanding The Potential For A Hallyu “Backlash” In Southeast Asia: A Case Study Of Consumers In Thailand, Malaysia And Philippines, Mary Jane Ainslie, Sarah Jane Lipura, Joanne Lim

Korean Studies Department Faculty Publications

Korean cultural products (known as Hallyu) are now the dominant incarnation of East Asian culture throughout Southeast Asia and have introduced consumers to Korean industry, cosmetics, and culture. Recent work has concentrated heavily upon this region and the new dynamics Southeast Asian countries can offer to the study of inter-Asian cultural links, particularly during the political amalgamation of the ASEAN economic community. Yet in the more developed Southeast Asian nations of Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines, there is some evidence of a rejection of and animosity towards Hallyu products from consumers who are beginning to question and disapprove of the …

Destined To Authoritarian Rule?: A Comparative Analysis Of The Processes Of State Creation And Regime Formation Of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, And Iran, Caroline Glass

Government and International Relations Honors Papers

Democracy is complex regime type, one that has been analyzed extensively. Yet the intricate nature of a democratic regime, and the challenges associated with keeping it running effectively, make it a continued object of scholarly research. Some countries with regimes that can be considered democratic maintain their democracies more effectively than others. This study attempts to analyze factors that have obstructed democratization in three non-Western countries: Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.

My first goal is to outline processes of state creation and regime building in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. A democratic regime cannot evolve without a state structure in …

Study Abroad In The Neoliberal Academy: Shifting Geographies, Terri Carney

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

No abstract provided.

What Is Face Anyway?, Jiying Song

Faculty Publications - George Fox Digital

Face-saving is not a unique Chinese cultural phenomenon. The purpose of this article is to discuss what face really is from a cross-cultural perspective. The author uses Berger and Luckmann’s theory of socialization as the background and introduces what face means and what contributes to face in China. Then the author discusses the concept of face in several Western terms: impression management; politeness; collectivism; and identity. Finally, the author draws a face model at an institutional level and concludes that it is necessary to integrate cultural perspectives on face, social behavior, and identity formation.

What The Walls Say: Finding Meaning And Value In Tel Aviv’S Street Art, Rachel R. Bird

Honors Theses

This thesis explores street art in Tel Aviv, Israel through anthropological concepts of value. By defining street art as an interstitial practice—one that exists between permeable, socially defined boundaries and is characterized differently by different power structures—I attempt to define some of the different regimes of value that apply to street art. Using the emerging market of “street art tours” as a fieldwork site, I look at how street art is presented and re-presented to both tourists and locals. By situating my research in a historical and geographic context, I hope to understand the ways different value schema, from economic …

An Exploratory Study Of Mexican American Perceptions Of The American Automobile Association, Manon Prevost-Mullane

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study was to better understand the needs of the Mexican American community in relation to the services offered and what their perception was of the American Automobile Association (AAA). At the time of the study, the AAA membership rate for the Hispanic/Latino community was 5% (American Automobile Association, 2014) while this same population in the United States was approximately 17.8% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2016). White/Caucasian members in the AAA accounted for 87% of total memberships yet was estimated at 77% of the U.S. population. With a steady population growth of the Latino community, the AAA seeks …

Are Indigenous Peoples Better Off Under Evo Morales? Towards Understanding The Effects Of Decolonization Policy On Social Inclusion In Bolivia, Cailin Campbell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This undergraduate thesis examines how to measure the influence of the Evo Morales administration’s decolonization policies on the social inclusion of indigenous peoples in Bolivia. Given the ongoing colonial legacy of exclusion of indigenous peoples in Bolivia, the Morales administration has created a national agenda to decolonize the state and improve conditions for the marginalized, oppressed, and excluded indigenous peoples. In examining the nacionalización de los hidrocarburos, the ley de la reconducción comunitaria y reforma agraria, the plan nacional de desarrollo, the ley de la educación, the ley de deslinde, the ley de marco de …

Marianismo Beliefs, Ethnic Identity Commitment, And Acculturative Stress Among Recent Latina Young Adult Immigrants, Lauren E. Dasen

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Because young adult, Latina/o immigrants encompass a rapidly growing minority group in the U.S., there is need for empirical literature focusing on their mental health and the ways in which it relates with identity and culture. The primary aim of the present study was to examine the relations among dimensions of marianismo beliefs and indices of acculturative stress as moderated by ethnic identity commitment among recent Latina young adult immigrants.

Ways Of Thanking In American-English, Chinese-Mandarin, South Korean, And Thai : An Intercultural And Cross-Linguistic Approach, Pilaiporn Phetcherdchin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Language can define people by the way they use it. This thesis investigates how four different languages – American-English, Chinese-Mandarin, South Korean, and Thai – use thanking expressions to one another. The content of this thesis is mainly collected from survey data and movie scripts. This study identifies how American-English, Chinese-Mandarin, South Korean, and Thai use formal and informal thanking expressions in various situations, e.g. people in different social status, and polite endings in thanking expressions. The author also focuses on cultural similarities and differences among the four languages in order to express thank to one another, e.g. Western and …

The Relevance Of Caste In Contemporary India: Reexamining The Affirmative Action Debate, Shambhavi Sahai, Shambhavi Sahai

CMC Senior Theses

With the changing significance of caste and caste identity, this thesis explores the role of affirmative action or "reservations" in Indian higher education. Specifically, it aims to reopen the debate on the dominance of a "creamy layer" among the OBCs in an increasingly nationalist India. Viewing caste through the lens of ethnic identity, this thesis draws comparisons between the identity of OBCs and Scheduled Castes and Tribes, OBCs of the "Hindi Belt" and OBCs of the South, followed by an analysis of the politicization of caste identity today. The thesis concludes with an evaluation of affirmative action today and possible …

The Language Of Sport: Understanding Chile And Chilenidad Through Marathon Races And Fútbol Games, Lilah Drafts-Johnson

Honors Papers

This project offers a new perspective for understanding the country and culture of Chile by examining the messages embedded in sport competitions. I will first detail the success of distance runner Manuel Plaza in his second-place finish at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games, and analyze how Plaza’s success at an international competition was adopted and interpreted to represent the entrance of Chile into modern and Western society. I will then discuss the struggle between different sections of Chilean society to create and monopolize the master narrative of the events that took place following the military coup of 1973. This section …

The Theological And Geographical Origins Of Protestantism In Albania, David Hosaflook

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The Albanian Protestant Movement has both a theological and a geographical origin. Theologically, the movement could only begin after parts of the Bible were translated into Albanian, because the Protestant doctrine of “Sola Scriptura” demands that believers understand the Holy Scriptures. Therefore, in Protestant missions to the Ottoman Empire, Bible translators usually preceded evangelists and the founding of churches. In 1827, the publication of the first Albanian New Testament was a significant achievement, but it was practically useless to most Albanians, who were illiterate (especially in their mother tongue). Hence, the Protestant missionary endeavor included linguistic and educational efforts to …

Review Of Gilgamesh’S Snake And Other Poems, Shahrzad Khosrowpour

Library Articles and Research

A review of Gilgamesh’s Snake and Other Poems by Ghareeb Iskander.