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Giving A Voice To The Powerless: Participatory Monitoring & Evaluation As A Tool For Inclusive Development Through Microfinance, Evan T. Burke

Capstone Collection

The greatest experts on the situation of the marginalized peoples of the world are the marginalized communities themselves. This paper explores how participatory monitoring & evaluation can be a powerful tool for giving voices to marginalized communities, ensuring that the voices of beneficiaries and local stakeholders are heard and inform sustainable project design. It analyzes a participatory monitoring and evaluation methodology implemented for women’s credit cooperatives in Gujarat, India by the Human Development & Research Centre, and examines lessons to be learned to design evaluations facilitating inclusive development.

Strategies for the monitoring and evaluation of microfinance have evolved along with …

Collective Amnesia, Boca Floja

South

A wide gap exists between the phenomenon of cultural appropriation and historical claim. How do you justify when you are 12 and at that age you have been programmed by an information structure and culture that has defined every identifying feature?

The migration phenomenon, the informal market, and the constant flow between the idealization of the First World in the northern corner and the underworld in the backyard, made it possible for me one day, while walking with my grandmother in a street market in Mexico, to stumble across a cassette tape with Ice Cube’s face on it that said …

Do Stress Levels Differ Between First Semester Nursing Student Early In The Semester Vs. The End Of The Semester?, Alissy Heisey

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study intends to determine how stress levels change over time in nursing students in the Baccalaureate program at East Tennessee State University. The instrument utilized for this survey was the Perceived Stress Scale by Mind Garden, Inc. This survey was passed at the beginning of the semester and at the end of the semester. There was no-significant difference found between the two time spots, leading us to conclude that the level of stress perceived by nursing students is a steady factor during their school semester.

Gender And Climate Change In The Indian Himalayas: Global Threats, Local Vulnerabilities, And Livelihood Diversification At The Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, Monica V. Ogra, Ruchi Badola

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Global climate change has numerous implications for members of mountain communities who feel the impacts in both physical and social dimensions. In the western Himalayas of India, a majority of residents maintain a livelihood strategy that includes a combination of subsistence or small-scale agriculture, livestock rearing, seasonal or long-term migration, and localized natural resource extraction. While warming temperatures, irregular patterns of precipitation and snowmelt, and changing biological systems present challenges to the viability of these traditional livelihood portfolios in general, we find that climate change is also undermining local communities’ livelihood assets in gender-specific ways. In this paper, we present …

A Comparative Analysis Of Return Migration Policy: Germany, Russia, Kazakhstan, Elizabeth Boyd

HIM 1990-2015

The intent of this thesis is to analyze and compare the return migration policies in Germany, Russia, and Kazakhstan. It is a relatively new category of migration policy, having only been identified in the 1970s. There is no uniform policy for return migration and consequently, each country has its own unique policy. Ethnicity plays a major role in all three countries' policies. However, some policies of return migration are more successful than others.

Design Research: Typography Within The Israeli Linguistic Landscape, Shayna Tova Blum

Faculty and Staff Publications

A linguistic landscape signifies language used within a physical or virtual public space, in which communication is presented in typographic form, portraying a message to an audience. Within the state of Israel, the linguistic landscape presents a unique situation in which it is common to view municipal and commercial multilingual signs that are designed using Hebrew, English, and Arabic letterforms. By studying the diverse linguistic landscape within Israeli urban environments, the article offers perspectives on the use of multilingual visual language, based on discussions with five Israeli designers in the summer of 2015.

Language Policy In Turkey And Its Effect On The Kurdish Language, Sevda Arslan

Masters Theses

For many decades the Kurdish language was ignored and banned from public use and Turkish became the lingua franca for all citizens to speak. This way, the Turkish state sought to create a nation-state based on one language and attempted to eliminate the use of other languages, particularly Kurdish, through severe regulations and prohibitions.

Firstly, this thesis traces the language planning policies in the 20th century which resulted in the invisibilization and denial of Kurdish through an attempted linguicide. Through decade long oppressions which resulted in mass killings, arrests, re-location of Kurds, monopolization of education in Turkish and eventually the …

Beyond The Western Masses: Demography And Pakistani Media Credibility Perceptions., Kyujin Shim, Guy J. Golan, Anita G. Day, Sung-Un Yang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Based on a random survey sample, the current study examined audience assessments of different media platforms in Pakistan. This study found that in the complex Pakistani media landscape, ethnicity is a key indicator in predicting media credibility. Our study’s results indicate that minority ethnic groups tend to find domestic television to be less credible, and international television or traditional media to be more credible, than do members of the majority Punjabi group. Media reliance was found to be a significant indicator of media credibility assessment — particularly regarding media such as international television and the Internet — as media reliance …

Identity-Based Conflict And The Role Of Print Media In The Pahadi Community Of Contemporary Nepal, Sunil Kumar Pokhrel

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

Despite the formal abolishment of the discriminative caste system in Nepal in 1963, caste still influences social, economic, and political sectors of Hindu society. Indicators and existing research suggest that caste-based discrimination remains one of the major sources of unrest in a Hindu majority nation such as Nepal. Questions remain, however, about the media‘s role in caste-based identity conflict. This dissertation seeks to answer the question: How do various print media outlets (i.e., public vs. private) depict Pahadi identity-based conflicts in contemporary Nepal? In this study, I employed focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews with Nepalese opinion leaders. Further, I …

How Do Living Arrangements And Intergenerational Support Matter For Psychological Health Of Elderly Parents? Evidence From Myanmar, Vietnam, And Thailand, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Wiraporn Pothisiri, Giang Thanh Long

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Living arrangements and family support for older persons have become an increasingly important policy concern in developing and rapidly aging Asia. Formulating a sound elderly care policy for the region will benefit from empirically examining how living arrangements, particularly coresidence, and intergenerational exchanges of financial, instrumental, and emotional support are associated with old-age psychological health. This study analyzes data from nationally representative aging surveys in Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand for 2011-2012 to offer a comparative perspective from Southeast Asia where various kinship systems coexist. Results suggest that coresidence with a child of culturally preferred gender significantly improves the emotional health …

The Thailand Report: National Landscape, Current Challenges And Opportunities For Growth, Institute For Societal Leadership, John W. Ellington, Serene Chen

Institute of Societal Leadership Research Collection

Thai migrants first began trickling into the Chao Phraya river valley from Southern China in the eleventh century. Thai chieftains established petty kingdoms in modern-day Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, initially as tributaries to more established Burmese and Khmer rulers. However, both the diminishing influence of the Khmer Empire and the Mongols’ sacking of the Burmese capital Bagan in 1287 left a political vacuum in mainland Southeast Asia, which was soon filled by Thai kingdoms such as Sukhothai (1238–1463), Chiang Mai (1296–1775), Ayutthaya (1351–1767) and eventually Bangkok (f. 1 782). In the process, the up-and-coming Thai polities supplanted the Khmer Empire …

Josè Mujica's Speech At The Un: A Post-Colonial Look At A Neo-Colonial Issue, Alberto Ganis

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

The Spark That Lit The Flame: The Creation, Deployment, And Deconstruction Of The Story Of Mohammed Bouazizi And The Arab Spring, Elizabeth Ann Cummings

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The story of Mohammed Bouazizi is credited with being the "spark that lit the flame," first of the Tunisian Revolution, then the Arab Spring as a whole, creating a domino effect that brought down the Tunisian, Egyptian, Libyan and Yemeni leaders, and threatened to topple still more. In this thesis I explore the narrative structure of the Tunisian revolution, how the story of Mohammed Bouazizi represented that structure and how the narrative sparked the Arab Spring. I also ask how narrative is created and what role social media played in allowing this particular story to become a part of the …

Black Like Me? A Narrative Study Of Non-Anglophone Black U.S. Immigrant Selves In The Making, Yvanne Joseph

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The passage of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act abolished discriminatory national origin quotas that favored European immigrants. The U.S. has since experienced steady flows of immigrants of color. These diverse groups have brought their racial, social, cultural and historical experiences, which adds greater complexity to the existing Black/White and ingroup/outgroup models that shape group relations, and psychological theorizing about identity. This dissertation focuses specifically on the smaller, less visible, yet growing segments of these immigrant populations. It presents a study of the lives of ten individual immigrants of African descent originating from a non-Anglophone country within Africa, Latin America …

Strategic Study Abroad: A Program Proposal For Continued Faith Development Of Chi Alpha Students Studying Abroad, Erin Leonard

Capstone Collection

With around 28,000 individual participants, Chi Alpha is a diverse network of Christian students on U.S. college campuses. By regularly meeting in groups and collectively reaching out to the community, students develop their faith and build lasting relationships.

Faith development is an integral part of Chi Alpha students’ lives. Yet, because community is an important aspect in faith development, studying abroad can cause challenges. Students expressed missing accessible Christian peer support and mentorship while abroad. They further expressed disconnection from their faith and felt their spirituality had declined while studying abroad.

As study abroad participation has been increasing over the …

State Of Memory: National History And Exclusive Identity In Contemporary Denmark, John Terrell Foor

Masters Theses

Increased rates of immigration to Western European states over the past three decades have yielded a wealth of literature in the social sciences, much of which has focused on cases of individuals from so-called ―non-Western‖ countries of origin. Immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia often bring with them cultural and religious traditions that are unfamiliar to the citizens of states which receive them. Tensions between majority populations and growing minorities in Western Europe have resulted in skepticism—and, increasingly, hostility—toward immigrants, particularly those regarded as ―"Islamic."

But is this type of tension inevitable? Are difference and …

A Minority Within A Minority: A Kurdish Refugee In Portland, Oregon, Seth Thomas

Student Research Symposium

This paper is a narrative approach to the experience of Kurdish refugees in Portland, Oregon, focusing specifically on the experiences of Nihad Abdul Rahman, a 40 year old Kurdish refugee born and raised in Baghdad. Nihad arrived in Portland on January 18th, 2015, five years after beginning his refugee application process with the International Organization of Migration (personal communication, February 23, 2015). The qualitative nature of this paper is expressed through the indefinite article of the title: “A Kurdish Refugee.” Nihad receives refugee assistance from Lutheran Community Services Northwest (LCSN), a non-Profit NGO in Portland, Oregon that is one of …

The Foumban "Constitutional" Talks And Prior Intentions Of Negotiating: A Historico-Theoretical Analysis Of A False Negotiation And The Ramifications For Political Developments In Cameroon, Fonkem Achankeng

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

This paper links the nationalist conflict in postcolonial Cameroon to the prior intentions of the parties at the 1961 Foumban “Constitutional” Talks characterized by a false negotiation experience. I argue that the political developments in the Cameroon post-Foumban and the tensions that have led to outcomes such as the desire of British Southern Cameroons to “restore independence and sovereignty” resulted from the fact that the parties at the Foumban Constitutional conference had divergent prior intentions of the meeting, including false negotiating. In exploring the 1961 Foumban Talks, the framework through which the two former and separate UN Trust Territories under …

Negotiating The Federal Accommodation: Minorities And The Issue Of The National Question In Nigeria, Tunde Agara

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Ethnic minority tensions and agitations in Nigeria are important features of the on-going struggle to resolve the “national question” through convening the Sovereign National Conference, all in a bid to dialogue and negotiate a true federal system that incorporates and accommodate the minorities within the federal system. This paper suggests that the minority issue in Nigeria is deeply rooted in the complex triad of pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial historical and structural processes that have foisted and institutionalized the oppressive hegemony of the country’s three major ethnics over the minorities. To further illuminate this perspective, we have adopted Edward Azar’s Protracted …

The “Art Of Rent”: Painters, Tourists, And Change In San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala, Laura Riddering

Sustainability and Social Justice

This qualitative case study explores artisanal painters’ views on tourism and their impacts on cultural change in San Juan la Laguna, Guatemala. They struggle with new cultural and economic identities through art. Painting is a way to overcome historical discrimination based on their identity, while they explore, develop, and communicate their cultural identities to themselves and outsiders. By selling paintings of cultural scenes that are of interest to them and to tourists, they strengthen their voices in the marketplace. Harvey’s (2002) concept of “space of hope” and Appadurai’s (2004) concept of “capacity to aspire” frame an understanding of this process …

Localizing The International: Examining How Fieldworkers Combat Adolescent Pregnancy In Northern Ghana, Alexandra C. Sloss

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

International aid is often ineffective because it is delivered without an understanding of local ideologies and contexts. My Capstone examined whether or not international aid in northern Ghana could be effective when addressing adolescent pregnancy. The Ghanaian programs I address in my Capstone are six non-governmental organizations, a government sub-district clinic and government junior high schools. The majority of my data was collected through interviews with individuals at all levels of the organizations, including directors, staff members, volunteers and individuals seeking the organization’s services. Alongside interviews I also spent time in the field, participating in youth group discussions, visiting regional …

The Mankurt Remembers : The Politics Of Language In Kazakhstan., Paige Brewer

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Twenty Years' Evolution Of North Korean Migration, 1994-2014: A Human Security Perspective, Jiyoung Song

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Over the past two decades, there have been notable changes in North Korean migration: from forced migration to trafficking in women, from heroic underground railways to people smuggling by Christian missionaries. The migration has taken mixed forms of asylum seeking, human trafficking, undocumented labour migration and people smuggling. The paper follows the footsteps of North Korean migrants from China through Southeast Asia to South Korea, and from there to the United Kingdom, to see the dynamic correlation between human (in)security and irregular migration. It analyses how individual migrant's agency interacts with other key actors in the migration system and eventually …

Book Review: The Holodomor Reader: A Sourcebook On The Famine Of 1932–1933 In Ukraine, Laura C. Collins

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Linguistic Landscape Of Main Streets In Bosnia And Herzegovina, Rachel E. Lay

Undergraduate Honors Theses

After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, Bosnia and Herzegovina erupted into ethnic conflict and ultimately genocide. Nearly 100,000 people, mainly Bosniaks, died in the Bosnian War. Two decades later, the violence has ended but the conflict is still present in Bosnia; the societal segregation of the 1995 Dayton Accords, intended only as an immediate solution to the violence, still stands. Population and language distribution are evidence of this segregation. Bosnia’s two entities are home to two different ethnic majorities: Serbs in the Republika Srpska and Bosniaks in the Federation of BiH. In an environment so sensitive that the government …

The Shaikh’S Republic: The Kurdish Regional Government’S Incorporation Of Tribalism, Brian A. Kennedy

Politics Honors Papers

Iraqi Kurdistan in 2015 is polity quite unlike any other. Iraqi Kurdistan has come to be treated in policy making circles as a model for what is sometimes believed to be impossible: a highly tribal, multi-religious and multi ethnic society in the Middle East with sentiments of unity, a burgeoning economy, the makings of a democracy, increasing literacy and quality of life, and (perhaps most impressively) an effective internal security arrangement in the middle of a chaotic region. Yet recent events have cast doubts on the future of Kurdistan. The advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) …

Intercultural Ambassadors: Foreign Students’ Conflict And Expectations Revisited, Luz Elena Cortes

College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs Presentations

The recent increase of foreign students in higher education conflicts with resource budgeting and priorities. Universities are compelled to implement diverse strategies to keep them solvent. Interestingly, one of the responses to increase revenues is to recruit out-of-state students especially international students for higher tuition returns additionally, universities posit internationalization as a necessary component to becoming a “metropolitan research university of distinction” (Task Force 2006, 1). The goal is to elevate its standing in the global market of higher education. However, these efforts compromise the education of foreign students and how thesestudents are taught. By recruiting foreign students, universities transfer …

Reading The World: Historicizing Systemic Contradictions In Lntertextual Dialogues, João J. Rosa

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

No abstract provided.

Journal Of Cape Verdean Studies, Vol. 1

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

No abstract provided.

Why Is The Color Of One’S Skin So Significant In Southern Mexico?, Savalda Jacqueline Platt

Capstone Collection

The following research examines and addresses an ideology about race and the color of skin. The goal is to bring forth knowledge about a Mexican community that experiences discrimination and racism due to their skin color. It will view how and why skin color became a tool against a community that has existed in Mexico for centuries. The villages reside off the coastal areas of Mexico evolved from the ramifications of slave trading and owning. Mixed marriages between villages altered the color fabric of Mexico’s society in many ways; fair skin was not the dominant player any longer. This began …