Digital Commons Network^™

Faces Of Immigration: The American Dream Is Not Dead, Megan E. Bright

Honors College Theses

Since the beginning of the history of the United States, we have been a nation not of one people but of many. Immigrants from across the globe have come to the U.S. bringing their cultures and histories with them; making this country the proverbial “melting pot” that it is today. This thesis looks at the United States’ immigration policy through featuring three people from Middle Eastern countries who are linked to the immigration process. These stories give insight into the immigration process of the US and the adjustment of Arab immigrants to life in America in a post 9/11 world.

Linguistic Construction Of Migrant Identity In U.S. Crime Reports, Theresa Catalano

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This article explores the representation of Latino migrants in U.S. crime reports. Through multidisciplinary linguistic analysis incorporating critical discourse analysis and cognitive linguistics, the author demonstrates how migrant identity is constructed linguistically in media discourse using various linguistic strategies to reveal an underlying xeno-racist discourse that serves the dominant group’s purpose of staying in power. The contribution of this paper lies in its systematic illustration of the covert nature in which this discourse is (re)produced in crime reports and the connections it can have to immigration policies and public attitudes. In addition, the aim of the paper is to serve …

The Giant In A Thousand Years: Tracing Narratives Of Gigantism In The Hebrew Bible And Beyond, Brian R. Doak

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

"This essay is an attempt to organize the Bible’s giants by category and to continue to elevate these figures as a rightful object of scholarly attention."

Immigration's Impact On Emerging Mental Health Issues Among Kenyans In The Northeast United States, Jane Itumbi Kabuiku

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Immigrants lose their unique psychosocial context when their experiences are subsumed under pan ethnic labels such as Hispanics, Latina/o, Asians or Africans. The stress from navigating different cultural contexts becomes problematic when immigrants operate within mainstream cultural norms that are in conflict with their traditional values. The number of Kenyan immigrants to the United States has steadily increased since the 1980s. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to study the lived experience of Kenyan immigrants by focusing on their integration experience and how the integration processes may have affected their mental health. Very few studies center on the …

Ethiopian And Eritrean Businesses Growth Barriers In The Washington, Dc Area, Sereke-Berhan Meres

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Prior studies have revealed that recent Asian and Hispanic immigrant entrepreneurs have made significant contributions to social change in the United States. Although African immigrant entrepreneurs have made such contributions, few studies exist about them, and there is limited knowledge about this business community. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify the barriers of growth in Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrant-owned firms in the Washington, DC area who were in business for a minimum of 3 years and represented various trade lines and geographical locations. The enhanced integrated model of ethnic business development, which proposes growth strategies by …

Challenges And Implications Of Implementing Strategic Intelligence Systems In Mexico, Hector De Jesus Rivera Ochoa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Business intelligence (BI) allows companies to make faster and better-informed decisions. Unfortunately, implementing BI systems in companies in developing countries is minimal. Limited and costly access to the technology, coupled with the cultural background affecting how people perceive BI, has restricted such implementations. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and describe the lived experiences of chief executive officers (CEOs) in northern Mexico to obtain insight into the challenges of implementing BI systems. Research questions focused on the reasons behind the lack of BI systems implementation and the challenges faced by these officers when implementing a new system. …

X-Men, Dragon Age, And Religion: Representations Of Religion And The Religious In Comic Books, Video Games, And Their Related Media, Lyndsey E. Shelton

Honors College Theses

It is a widely accepted notion that a child can only be called stupid for so long before they believe it, can only be treated in a particular way for so long before that is the only way that they know. Why is that notion never applied to how we treat, address, and present religion and the religious to children and young adults? In recent years, questions have been continuously brought up about how we portray violence, sexuality, gender, race, and many other issues in popular media directed towards young people, particularly video games. These issues rarely include religion, despite …

Societal Leadership In Southeast Asia: National Landscapes, Challenges And Opportunities To Enhance Societal Impact, Institute For Societal Leadership

Institute of Societal Leadership Research Collection

This study draws its contents from the findings and insights that colleagues from the Institute for Societal Leadership have put together in the form of eleven Southeast Asian Country Insights Labs reports. The Country Insights Labs were undertaken to uncover the critical social issues facing leaders from business, government and civil society in each Southeast Asian country. During the visits to each country, ISL staff also investigated the challenges faced by civil society organisations (CSOs) such as philanthropic organisations, corporate foundations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), activist groups, social enterprises and impact investment funders. This paper aggregates the background research and key …

Vicarious Shame, Narrative, Social Reconnection And Public Recognition In Bamporiki’S Sin To Them, Shame On Me, Rangira Béa Gallimore

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Sin to Them, Shame on Me is a testimony by the Rwandan writer, filmmaker and peace advocate, Bamporiki, who suffers from vicarious shame because of the crime of genocide that Hutu perpetrators committed against Tutsis in the name of the group. His testimony redeems his sense of self by acknowledging the wrongdoing of his group, yet it also represents a step that separates him from that group. His powerful testimonial narratives allow him to associate with genocide survivors and the world, and to develop a new identity as a Rwandan. The polymorphic narrative structure of his written testimony in which …

From Text To Context: Literacy Practices Of Native Speakers Of Arabic In Arabic And English, Ghada Gherwash

Open Access Dissertations

Previous studies that looked at the written product of native speakers of Arabic in their second language (L2), English, have identified traces of Arabic rhetoric (L1), mainly Classical Arabic, in their writing (e.g., Atari, 1983; Kaplan, 1966; Ostler, 1987). These studies focused primarily on the L2-written texts, where the written product is used to make inferences about the rhetorical structures of the writers’ L1. The results from these studies portrayed the native-Arab writer’s text as highly influenced by Classical Arabic. This was evidenced by “foreign” rhetorical structures that Arab writers employ when producing texts in their L2 that are considered …

Muslim Brothers Or Overstaying Guests? The Reception Of Syrian Refugees In Southeastern Turkey, Irem Karaçizmeli

Master's Theses

This thesis contextualizes the Syrian refugee issue in Turkey with an analysis of history and political discourse, and data drawn from a fieldwork conducted in Şanlıurfa, Turkey in 2015. The Islamist ruling party has staged a warm welcome for Syrian refugees. Their refugee regime, however, has remained weak in regards to law and policy. Retaining the geographical limitation stipulated in the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Turks have attempted to locate the larger issue of hosting refugees into cultural notions of ‘guesthood’ rather than a developed refugee rights framework. The fieldwork discovers the lack of …

Consumer Assessment Of New Creative Products Across China And The United States, Eva Teruzzi

Creative Studies Graduate Student Master's Theses

This cross-cultural research investigates how consumers assess creativity in new products and if their assessment impacts desire to own. Implicit and explicit scale-based measures were tested in China and the U.S. in online consumer samples and were positively correlated. Novelty, affect and importance dimensions of creative products were tested through Horn and Salvendy’s (2006, 2009) Product Creativity Measurement (PCM) scale. Findings point to a different role of novelty in determining desirability of creative new products across-cultures.In fact, novelty and affect are key to explain desire to own in China, while affect and importance are the drivers in the U.S. Affect, …

Capstone Projects Mining System For Insights And Recommendations, Melvrivk Aik Chun Goh, Swapna Gottipati, Venky Shankararaman

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we present a classification based system to discover knowledge and trends in higher education students’ projects. Essentially, the educational capstone projects provide an opportunity for students to apply what they have learned and prepare themselves for industry needs. Therefore mining such projects gives insights of students’ experiences as well as industry project requirements and trends. In particular, we mine capstone projects executed by Information Systems students to discover patterns and insights related to people, organization, domain, industry needs and time. We build a capstone projects mining system (CPMS) based on classification models that leverage text mining, natural …

A More Perfect European Union?: The Transnational Networks Of The European Union’S Embassy Open House In Washington, D.C., Timothy Barney

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Annually, the Delegation of the European Union (EU) in Washington, D.C., holds an embassy open house day for its 27 member nations to celebrate European culture and educate tourists on the functions of EU politics and international relations. Amidst an ongoing debt crisis and a continuing exploration of its identity as a supranational entity, “Embassy Day” affords an opportunity to see the EU as a spatial network uneasily caught in the tensions between the often nostalgic nationalism of its constituent countries and the future-oriented technocratic transnationalism of its composite alliance. By analyzing the cultural artifacts of Embassy Day from its …

Interview With Amer Salihovic (Fa 1137), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcript of oral history interview with Amer Salihovic conducted by Virginia Siegel on 3 November 2015 at the Pioneer Log Cabin as part of Western Kentucky University's 2017 International Year of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Click on "Additional Files" to access the audio file of the recorded interview. File may take several minutes to download.

Societal Influence, Leadership And Impact: Defining Traits Of Twenty Pioneer Southeast Asian Leaders, Institute For Societal Leadership, Lai Cheng Lim

Institute of Societal Leadership Research Collection

This study focuses on twenty Southeast Asian leaders who have been key players during critical transitions in the social, economic and political development of their country. In asking each of the societal leaders questions concerning their motivation, the cause they were championing and the factors that have led to their success as leaders, the study attempts to draw out common traits they possess and investigates whether the traits that make people effective societal leaders differ across socio-cultural and historical contexts. A grounded theory approach is used in the analysis of the attributes and traits that emerge from the transcripts of …

Wittgenstein: The Fate Of Wonder Wittgenstein’S Critique Of Metaphysics And Modernity, David A. White

International Dialogue

That Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) was one of the most influential twentieth-century philosophers is hardly a controversial claim. However, Wittgenstein’s own works, principally the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922) and Philosophical Investigations (1953; second edition 1997), have engendered a considerable range of widely diverse—and divisive—commentary. In The Fate of Wonder Wittgenstein’s Critique of Metaphysics and Modernity, Kevin M. Cahill has produced a useful and at times provocative addition to this literature.

Jewsandwords, Leonard J. Greenspoon

International Dialogue

Can you tell much about a book from its cover? The design of the cover to this volume would lead any attentive reader to an affirmative response. Look at the title, JewsandWords. These letters, without any space separating them into words, recall ancient manuscripts, where the niceties of word division were often sacrificed to allow more writing per (expensive) page. Admittedly, ancient Hebrew manuscripts also dismissed with written vowels, but there’s only so much we modern readers can do without. And then there’s “Jews,” not “Judaism.” For the authors, Jews, flesh-and-blood people, preceded Judaism as a concept and remain the …

Contemporary Daoist Tangki Practice, Margaret Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Since 1979, China has seen a renaissance of indigenous belief systems, including Daoist tangki spirit-medium practice. Tangki traditions have Neolithic roots. The founding myth is of a man who magically battled flood demons to save China. In imperial times, ordinary people, disenfranchised by the state religion and pawns of dynastic wars, created a soteriology of self-empowerment. Ordinary people would transform through spirit pos-session into warrior gods who would save the community. Millennia-old tangki traditions have diffused into the modern Chinese quotidian. With a remote Central Committee of the Communist Party recalling distant emperors, village temples, many led by tangkis, have …

Lecture Transcript: Female Genital Mutilation (Fgm), Lorraine Koonce

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

On 4 February 2015, Ms. Koonce was invited to the American Graduate School in Paris (AGS) to give a lecture as part of the AGS’s continued work on violence against women, with a discussion on female genital mutilation (FGM). The following is the transcript of her speech.

Wmu International News Fall 2015, Haenicke Institute

WMU International News

• Internationalizing the arts
• Friends from Kurdistan find musical home at Western
• 5 Music lessons from South Vietnam
• Note taken on this WMU trombonist on an international stage
• Flutist composer coins new genre, Universal Americanism
• Music WMU professor takes worldly approach in researching the healing power of music
• Dominican Republic art calloborative brings interactive exhibit to WMU
• Cross-cultural graphic designer and artist conjoins east and west technology and creativity
• Coupling art and architecture opens doors to China for WMU professor
• Book Arts in Venice study abroad program
• Engineering alumnus masters theater in India
• Dancer becomes vehicle for social change in Panama

Cape Verde And Its Diaspora: Economic Transnationalism And Homeland Development, João Resende-Santos

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

This study examines the historical role of the diaspora in Cape Verde’s socioeconomic development. It analyzes the prospects and limitations of its diaspora as a transnational economic development resource. While it is policy oriented, the study offers a conceptual framework to analyze its diaspora engagement policies and efforts since 1975. Cape Verde has emerged as a success story. The diaspora’s contribution was one of the four essential factors behind this relative success: migration and remittances, overseas development assistance, large scale public investments, and reasonably sound policies and stewardship of public finances. Today Cape Verde confronts an adverse set of conditions …

“This Country Does Not Have My Back!”: Youth Experiences With A Parent Threatened By Deportation, Leila Rosa

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

Using exploratory case study methodology and a critical theoretical perspective, this study examined the impact of parental deportation on three Cape Verdean youths, in one of the largest Cape Verdean immigrant communities in Southeast New England. A particularly focus is given to their schooling experiences following parental deportation as well as their understanding of the event of parental deportation. Participants expressed feeling isolated and disconnected in school and from extended family following their parents’ involvement with Immigration services. They questioned or denied their American identity despite being citizens by birth. They described fears and feelings of uncertainty about their future. …

Immigrants From Cabo Verde In Italy: History And Paths Of Socio-Educative Integration, Clara Silva

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

Cape Verdean migration to Italy started in the early sixties of the nineteenth century as an exclusively female one, mostly caused by the demand for domestic workers by bourgeois families. In the late eighties, the Cape Verdean community migrated to Italy was still composed of more than 90% of women. In 1990, the introduction of a legislation setting forth the right to family reunification allowed many women to reunite with their husbands and children remained in their homeland. In Italy, the gradual social inclusion process and the creation of a network of Cape Verdean migrants’ association, allowed to overcome all …

Theravada Buddhism, Identity, And Cultural Continuity In Jinghong, Xishuangbanna, James H. Granderson

Student Publications

This ethnographic field study focuses upon the relationship between the urban Jinghong and surrounding rural Dai population of lay people, as well as a few individuals from other ethnic groups, and Theravada Buddhism. Specifically, I observed how Theravada Buddhism and Dai ethnic culture are continued through the monastic system and the lay community that supports that system. I also observed how individuals balance living modern and urban lifestyles while also incorporating Theravada Buddhism into their daily lives. Both of these involved observing the relationship between Theravada monastics in city and rural temples and common people in daily life, as well …

Education: A More Powerful Weapon Than War?, Maja K. Thomas

Student Publications

In this paper, I analyze the impact of education on civil war onset, utilizing variables measuring length of compulsory education and number of internal armed conflicts in a given country per year. Using data from the Quality of Government Institute’s Quality of Government Standard Time Series data set, I test this hypothesis and find that an increase in compulsory education length decreases the expected number of internal armed conflicts. The results suggest further importance of education as a great equalizer among individuals as well as nations.

Being Chinese Again: Learning Mandarin In Post-Suharto Indonesia, Charlotte Setijadi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

For thirty-two years under former President Suharto’s New Order regime (from 1966-1998), the teaching of Chinese languages in schools was banned in Indonesia. During this period of total assimilation, public displays of Chinese characters were prohibited along with other forms of Chinese cultural expressions, allegedly for the sake of national unity. From 1966-69, hundreds of Chinese medium schools and Chinese language press were closed in Chinese settlements throughout the archipelago and the formal teaching of Chinese languages in Indonesia effectively ceased. As a result, the majority of contemporary Chinese Indonesians no longer have the ability to speak, let alone write …

'Home Was Congo': Refugees And Durable Displacement In The Borderlands Of 1,000 Hills, Erika Frydenlund

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

As forced migrants linger at the borders of the world’s conflicts, refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Rwanda remain in camps where they have waited for ‘durable solutions’ to their geographic and political existence for nearly two decades. Protracted displacement such as this results from processes at the local, state, regional, and international levels, with consequences reverberating each of these levels, including insecurity, expenditure of already limited resources, and strained interstate political relationships. As refugees’ stays extend to increasingly long periods of time, situations once assumed to be temporary take on a semblance of permanence. Forced displacement increasingly …

The Making And Re-Making Of Dolpo Identity: A Case Study Of Do-Tarap, Lin Zhu

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The unbelievably harsh environment in Dolpo forces people to be self-sufficient based on agriculture and husbandry, two sectors that complement each other very well. The condition also requires plentiful communal works for survival. Dolpo’s geographical isolation on the one hand, limits Dolpo-pas from encountering others, and on the other hand, prevents the presence of the central government. Before the 1960’s, Dolpo still remained as a politically autonomous region under the Kingdom of Nepal. However, based on interviews conduced with both local villagers and outsiders such as governmental officials and Nepalese, the paper argues that, starting from the 1960’s, Dolpo-pas began …

The Singapore Legal System, Eugene K. B. Tan, Gary Kok Yew Chan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Singapore legal system is a rich tapestry of laws, institutions, values, history and culture. Like the Singapore-made quilt, each strand of the legal system is woven together to form a jurisprudential kaleidoscope bounded by a unique national identity.

The legal system will inevitably undergo tension as socio-economic and politico-legal changes unfold with increased globalisation and regionalisation. Thus, Singapore has to respond swiftly and deftly in creating new laws and institutions or adapting existing ones.

In this regard, Singapore is and has been ready and willing to learn from the legal developments taking place in foreign jurisdictions with similar aspirations. …