Digital Commons Network^™

Critical Peace Pedagogies At The American Center For Civil And Human Rights And The Canadian Museum For Human Rights: A Comparative Case Study, Ion Vlad

Doctoral Dissertations

The struggle for racial equity in the United States and Canada is ongoing. Troubled historical legacies in both countries have present-day implications. African Americans and Indigenous Canadians are still two of the most marginalized populations from the standpoint of socioeconomics and political representation (Giroux, 2013; Vickers, 2012). In order to redress these problems, human rights and peace education have to pose structural questions and expose systemic unbalances. In the recent past, neoliberalism has had a major influence on the organization and content of American and Canadian formal education, obscuring some of these structural questions (Ravitch, 2013). In this context, human …

Mansplaining Vietnam: Male Veterans And America's Popular Image Of The Vietnam War, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Articles and Research

Of the more than 3 million Americans who deployed to Southeast Asia during the United States' involvement in the Vietnamese civil war, only some 7,500 were women. Thus, it seems reasonable that memoirs, novels, and film would privilege the male experience when remembering the Vietnam War. Yet in the aftermath of South Vietnam's collapse, Americans' memory of the war narrowed even further, equating the conflict as a whole to the male combat veteran's story. This synthetic literary review examines some of the more lasting works sustaining the popular narrative of Vietnam, one that was constructed, in substantial part, by veterans …

The Other Women’S Movement: Analyzing Women’S Support For Populist-Radical Right Parties And Candidates, Katelyn Schwiderski

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

This study seeks to answer the question of why women vote for populist-radical right (PRR) parties or candidates, which are often depicted as uniquely sexist “men’s parties.” Using survey data from the 2014 European Social Survey (ESS Round 7), a binary logistic regression analyzes the relationship between PRR attitudes, individual demographic characteristics, and the probability of expressing affinity with a PRR party. This study ultimately finds that women who hold a traditional gender ideology and strong populist anti-elite views are more likely than other women to support a PRR party. The findings also show that low levels of education are …

Apopo Annual Report 2018, Apopo

Global CWD Repository

APOPO is a non-profit organization with roots in Belgium. For 20 years we have trained African giant pouched rats to detect landmines and tuberculosis around the world. APOPO trains the ‘HeroRATs’ using positive reinforcement – they receive tasty treats when they identify a target scent. HeroRATs are at the core of the organization and this is reflected in the way we protect them and provide loving care and attention.

The main hub of the organization, the Training and R&D center, is located in Tanzania, where all the HeroRATs are trained before being sent to global operations. This is where all …

Why And How All States Should Join The Convention On Cluster Munitions, Icbl-Cmc

Global CWD Repository

The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) was established to put an end for all time to the suffering and casualties caused by cluster munitions. It is the most significant humanitarian disarmament treaty of the past decade, with far-reaching obligations. It is adhered to by more than half the world. Its entry into force was triggered by 30 ratifications, which were achieved in a very short period of time – just 14 months. So far the Convention has made great progress, with 97% of States Parties’ stockpiles destroyed, and a notable increase in the clearance of cluster munition-affected land and assistance …

Tweeting Strategy: Military Social Media Use As Strategic Communication, Rupinder Mangat

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Many Western militaries now actively engage with various social media platforms. The starting point for my dissertation research was this question: how does the military use social media? Considering the Canadian Armed Forces’ use of Twitter as a case study, I collected over 14,000 tweets from four Twitter accounts of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), the Canadian Army, the Royal Canadian Navy, and the Royal Canadian Air Force with some tweets as old as September 2012 and the most recent tweets from December 2015. I employed Grounded Theory Method to analyze these tweets, which revealed four themes — organization, history, …

Defence In Depth: An Anatomy Of Containment From Quarantine To Resilience, Jessica West

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation investigates the logic of resilience as a prevailing mode of national security. Struck more by its familiarity than its novelty, I turn my attention to public health as a way of better understanding what resilience does and how it works. Using interpretive methods to read resilience theoretically as a function of complex systems and concretely as a set of homeland security policy practices in the United States, I situate the emergence and implementation of resilience as a redeployment of long-standing motifs and modes of “containment,” recast as an immune system. Specifically, I claim: 1) containment is a spatial …

Gettin’ It Right: Rethinking Policy, Revitalizing Schools, And Reforming The Experience For Young Men Of Color In Chicago’S Public Schools, Brian Cabral

Honors Papers

This study begins by locating the development of Social Justice High School (SOJO) in Chicago and examining the educational experiences of young Mexican and Mexican American men. Through scholarship by education policy and reform scholars that talk about issues of neoliberal practices and school policies in the Chicago Public School (CPS) network, an analysis of the implementation efforts of policies that focus on standardized testing and discipline at SOJO are examined. This research analyzes the student experience and development of these young men using the conceptual framework of socialization and social control. The top-down implementation of standardized testing and discipline …

Selling The Modern Day Tribe: The Commodification Of Rave Culture, Duncan Martin Barnes

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis examines youth and rave culture from the late 1980s to the present. It considers the history as well as the global and local impact of rave. I provide a visual ethnographic study from 1999-2014, based on my work as a commercial photographer of the Perth, Western Australian scene. While critically reflecting on existing subcultural research this thesis adds another dimension – the effect that global corporations have had in reshaping subcultural practices, specifically the commodification of rave culture in the form of the contemporary electronic dance festival.

The research incorporates both qualitative and quantitative data to interrogate media …

Rock Features Of The Upper Klamath Basin: An Integrated Approach To Identification, Roman Jakien

All Master's Theses

Rock features are human-made rock structures, often created by native peoples in the past and currently recorded as archaeological sites. In the Upper Klamath Basin of Oregon/California, these features are often difficult to identify. As a result, some features are left unrecorded and unprotected from land management activities. To help protect these sites, a rock feature recordation system was developed, formatted to help archaeologists identify, classify, determine an origin, and assign a general age to rock features discovered in the field. This guide includes a series of dichotomous keys and recordation forms, supplemented with original illustrations and contextual data gathered …

Virunga: Guns, Gorillas, And The Construction Of Transnational Natures, Adriana Disilvestro

Honors Theses

The recent western media attention surrounding Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has brought up significant scholarly questions about the discursive portrayal of “ideal” Natures. In this thesis, I undertake a discursive analysis of western media materials about Virunga National Park in order to understand how ideas of Nature are transnationally constructed. In order to do this, undertake an analysis of the western oriented discursive material associated with three socio-political processes within the park: green militarization, gorilla trekking, and the ecotourist industry. Ultimately, I conclude that the discursive material portrays a highly spectacularized and commodified “ideal” nature, …

Environmental Remediation And Its Discontents: The Contested Cleanup Of Vieques, Puerto Rico, Katherine Mccaffrey

Department of Anthropology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Since protest forced the US Navy off Vieques Island, Puerto Rico in 2003, the US military has embarked on one of the largest environmental remediation projects it has ever undertaken. This article explores the way a narrowly conceived, technocratic cleanup process is translated onto an island with a deep history of grassroots mobilization and antagonism towards federal authority. The Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) is a crucible for considering the uneasy dynamics of cleanup. US law enshrines the RAB as the principal venue for "public participation" in the cleanup process. However, the prevailing technocratic framework, constrained by under-resourced bureaucratic agencies, clashes …

The Effect Of Participation In Party Politics On Terrorist Organizations: A Case Study Of Hamas And Hezbollah, David Newman

Honors Theses

This thesis sought to explore the effect of participation in party politics on terrorist organizations through a comparative case study of Hamas in the Palestinian Territories and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The project was inspired by the existing literature on party-terror linkages and inclusion-moderation theory. The methodology used to test this relationship required analysis of the histories of the two organizations to identify each organization's years of participation and non-participation in party politics. Then, using the data compiled by the Global Terrorism Database, I calculated the average number of terrorist incidents per year across the phases of participation in party politics …

Social Media Use And Negative Partisanship Among College Students, Savannah Maas

Honors Theses

Since the creation of the United States of America, the political climate has vastly changed and adapted, each time period with its own distinct characteristics. Today, the American electorate and Congress are more polarized than ever and negative partisan-ship has become a central characteristic in politics. Partisan identities of voters are more homogenous than ever and approval rates of people's opposing parties are at an all-time low. People's political decisions have begun to be more driven by dislike of the opposing party than support of their own. Social media has also grown over recent years and has begun to play …

Attitudes Towards Plastic Surgery In College Men And Women, Margaret Rose Hovan

Honors Theses

The aim of this study is to determine whether exposure to extreme makeover based reality television programs is related to the attitudes of college-aged individuals towards the acceptability of obtaining plastic surgery procedures and how students view plastic surgery itself. Interviews consisting of closed- and open-ended questions measured the possible influence that exposure to plastic surgery reality television programs, familial experience with plastic surgery and parental attitudes towards plastic surgery, among other factors, have on one's attitudes towards plastic surgery. The data collected were then entered into Qualtrics and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) or coded …

Counterterrorism Policy Towards Boko Haram In Nigeria During 2009-2015, Steve Olufemi Ojelade

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Nigerian government has emplaced counterterrorism policy measures to combat Boko Haram terrorism since the group became violent in 2010. However, there is a gap in the understanding of how these policies were developed and implemented. Such knowledge may offer suggestions as to how these policies can be improved. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore and describe the development and implementation of counterterrorism policy towards Boko Haram in Nigeria during 2009-2015. Scott's institutional theory and Baumgartner's punctuated equilibrium theory constituted the study's theoretical foundation. Interview data were collected from individuals selected using a purposive and criterion …

Using Communication Theories In Mine-Risk Education Campaigns: The Case Of Vietnam, Duong Trong Hue

Global CWD Repository

In this study, I will look at the problem from a health communication perspective with a focus on the linkage between the theories of attitude and behavioral change in the health communication field and the application of mine-risk education programs in Vietnam. This research will contribute to the field of risk education, specifically in communication campaigns to save lives and limbs in landmine affected communities. It also helps to shed more light on the real impact of mine-risk education campaigns to the mine-affected population.

The paper is organized as follows. First, I will provide a brief introduction of the mine-risk …

Searching Through Debris: A Mass Analysis From The Carter Robinson Mound Site In Lee County, Virginia, Robert Capps

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Mississippian period is one of the most widely studied periods in the prehistoric Southeast, but there are areas such as the Mississippian frontier that have not been explored in great detail. Carter Robinson is a Mississippian chiefdom located on the frontier in southwest Virginia during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. To better understand the people living at this site a mass analysis was conducted to examine the lithic debris left behind by the people living there. The purpose of this thesis is to identify the degree of tool production at Carter Robinson and to identify areas of tool production, …

Cheikh Anta Diop’S ‘Two Cradle Theory,’ Racism And The Cultural Realities Of African Descended People In America, Karanja Keita Carroll

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Radicalization And The Internet, Dustin Covert

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

How extremist groups use the internet has recently become a major national security issue. This paper discusses the role that the internet plays in the radicalization process. It will review recent research that analyzes how extremist groups use the internet and properties of the internet that may help to radicalize an individual. This paper will lay a foundation for future research to establish relationships between the internet and the radicalization process.

Considering Games And Gamification In Libraries & Associated Entities — The “G” Word, Jared Alexander Seay

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Of The Violation Of Human Rights In Yemen, Abigail Watson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This research paper aims to investigate the persistence of human rights violations in Yemen from 2008 to 2018. It examines whether this persistence of human rights violations is related to Yemen’s regime type, external actors such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Iran, and the United States, Yemen’s state of wealth and economic growth, and civil wars. This research paper uses data from various sources to examine different propositions related to the investigation of human rights in Yemen. The findings of this paper include that Yemen’s regime type, external actors such as the GCC, Iran, and the United States, Yemen’s …

Place Over Politics: Power, Strategy, Terrain, And Regime Type In Interstate War Outcomes, 1816-2003, Connor Joseph Sprayberry Sutton

Wayne State University Dissertations

While the study of war occurrence is among the primary considerations of the field of international relations, only recently has attention turned towards the study of war outcomes. This attention is best represented by the democratic victory proposition, which suggests that democracies win the majority of their wars by virtue of being democratic. However, elements of this study are currently incipient. In turn, this dissertation generates a novel set of variables to measure the impact of terrain on war outcomes, including measures of spatial extent, topographic heterogeneity, and land cover heterogeneity. These metrics are generated for all 94 interstate wars …

Op Ed-Epistemology — A Matter Of Trust, Scott T. Plutchak

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

If Rumors Were Horses, Katina Strauch

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

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Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

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Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

Figures Of Wwi, Grant Morgan

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This is a paper about three things: the connection between The University of Oxford and Akron; T.E. Lawrence's exploits in the WWI Hejaz; and the fall of the British Liberals after WWI.

Policy Implications Of News Media Coverage Of The Islamic State Of Iraq And Syria., Godfred A. Ababio

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) garnered global news media attention in Summer 2014 when it seized a significant section of land in Iraq and Syria. The group then mishandled and executed its captives. There is a lack of consensus among the international community, led by Russia and the United States, on how best to address the threat posed by ISIS. An understanding of the function of Russian and U.S. news media coverage of the ISIS threat is an appropriate research topic. The purpose of this qualitative content analysis study was to explore how the U.S, Russian, and …

Patterns Within Nine Preattack Phases That Emerged In Israel Suicide Bombing Cases, Aaron Richman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

From 2000 to 2013, Israel had the second highest number of deaths from suicide attacks and was on the list of countries that may experience increases in terrorism due to ongoing conflicts. Suicide bombings present highly complex situations for counterterrorism and counterinsurgency professionals. Using Freeman, Tucker, and Merton's framework of 9 preattack phases as the primary theoretical constuct, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore specific patterns that consistently emerged in the adversary planning process for 6 successful or failed suicide bombing cases in Israel. Secondary, archival data were acquired through a data use agreement with a …