Digital Commons Network^™

Earth Stories: A Narrative Understanding Of Farmlife In Pokhara, Nepal, Grace Holmes

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Humans love to tell stories. The purpose of this Creative ISP is to collect stories, of the plants and of the earth, render them through quotations and summary, and then discuss and reflect on how these stories could describe the relationship between people and the land. I hope a narrative understanding of our dependence on agriculture can bridge the gap in modern society that separates us so fundamentally from the earth that we live on.

How Ultra Firms In Former Soviet And Yugoslav States Became Political Actors, Alex Pelletier

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

When you go to a football match one of the first things that you will undoubtedly notice are the ultras. Their loud coordinated chants and movement fill the stadium with energy that would not be there otherwise, and their tifo and flairs add an artist’s touch to the stands. There are ultras for just about every club, and every city in the world, with each group having their own unique identity. The local standing of football clubs, paired with the devoted and organized structure of ultras has seen them become political and military actors across the world. Ultras based in …

Microplastics, The Environment, And Reproductive Health: How Is The Accumulation Of Microplastics In Our Environment And Bodies Impacting Reproductive Health?, Katherine Hayward

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As global trends in both production and consumption of plastics continue to evolve, the bioaccumulation and biomagnification of microplastic particles in our everyday lives follow suit. This increasingly relevant problem has only recently been explored in the context of global health, and more specifically, reproductive health. Along with this steady increase in plastics and our exposure to them, researchers have separately observed adverse patterns in reproductive health. The chemicals involved throughout the microplastic life cycle may be playing a key role in these simultaneous patterns. With the aid of previous studies and publications on microplastics, exposure pathways, endocrine disruptors, and …

Beacons Of Peace And Tolerance: The Politics Of Memory In Judeo-Moroccan Cultural And Historical Institutions, Audrey Ming An Hirsch

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Bayt Dakira, a historical, religious, cultural, and academic institution located in the heart of Essaouira’s old medina, seeks to conserve Jewish-Moroccan memory and promote values of peace and tolerance as exemplified by the city’s history of Jewish-Muslim coexistence. As an institution dedicated to conserving the culture of a people that have all but virtually emigrated from Morocco, Bayt Dakira’s purpose is initially unclear. This study uncovers the ways in which Bayt Dakira is an example of a seemingly apolitical institution being wielded to advance national and international political agendas. As an officially apolitical place of cultural and academic exchange, Bayt …

From City State To Medina: The Timeless Wisdom Of Aristotle’S Polis, Spencer Koehl

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Many philosophers and thinkers have considered the idea of community and what makes it strong, beneficial, and enduring. The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle is no exception. Aristotle wrote thoroughly on the nature of the ideal community, which he observed in Greek city-states. Called a “polis”, this ideal community, according to Aristotle, is one that provides for its residents to live a good life above all else. In doing so, it usually is small enough that all its residents share a similar lived experience while being big enough to be self-sufficient. While Aristotle wrote on this subject over 2000 years ago, …

Sacred Scavengers: Vulture Conservation In Nepal, Hans Nedde

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the 1990s, a veterinary drug used to treat pain and disease in cattle nearly brought the nine vulture species of Nepal to extinction. In a span of 15 years, over 97% of vultures in Nepal perished. For the past 20 years, governments, organizations, and communities have been working together to save these vital scavengers from vanishing. From the lowlands to the Himalayas, vultures have been interacting with the environment and humans for millennia. This study explores the role that vultures play both ecologically and culturally in Nepal. It investigates vultures as a crucial ecological influence and how human action …

If These Walls Could Talk: Restoring 15th Century Paintings In Upper Mustang, Ellie Penner

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Thupchen monastery, or gompa, in Lomanthang is a site that hosts monumental 15th century Buddhist artworks, which reflect an abundant history from the key trade region of Upper Mustang, Nepal. This site, after neglect and use as a storage space until the 1990s, has seen radical change in the past two decades through an ongoing painting restoration project. Since these restorations began, there have been discrepancies between how scholars and restoration artists believe the work should be done, and how the local community of Lomanthang wants their monastery to be restored. This study aims to examine why the temple …

From Green To Gold: Community Along Lines Of Trade Between Dolpo And Mustang, Jack Cantor

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mustang and Dolpo are at a tipping point of connectivity and community change as road development brings the districts closer to Nepal’s economic centers. In this independent study, I document contemporary trade relationships between Mustang’s Sangda and Dolpo’s Chharka, currently separated by three days of unmotorable trail. Through in person interview, archival research, and photography, I document methods of economy and community in three villages- Mustang’s Phelag and Sangda, and Dolpo’s Chharka. I focus upon future community prospects of Sangda and Chharka as road development between the two progresses.

As the two villages exchange goods, develop familiarity, and host traders …

Healing In The Himalayas: Mustangi Medical Practitioners’ Perspectives On Integrative Approaches To Chronic Illness, Lucia Morey

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this Independent Study Project is to capture a snapshot of the opinions and experiences of 13 health practitioners from 7 villages and towns in Mustang. Specifically, I asked independent healers (IH), amchis and health post workers about their practices and perspectives on chronic illness, integrative medicine and the intersection of the two. I found that there is a flow of information in one general direction, with practitioners along a continuum of most to least globally recognized. Understandably, the least well known (independent healers) are aware of Traditional Tibetan Medicine (TTM) and conventional Western medicine (CWM). Subcategories of …

The Cherry Blossom And Its Influence On Japanese Culture, Gilberto Mejía Salazar

Japanese Society and Culture

The following research is of a documentary approach, and its objective is to analyze the cherry blossom from a social and cultural perspective, to know the importance and influence that this flower has on society and the environment. Thus, the Shinjuku Gyoen Park and Chidorigafuchi Park were taken as a reference, in this sense, it is understood that within the city of Tokyo there are parks and areas whose purpose is to provide various activities to citizens to contemplate nature, and therefore giving a great show to witness the cherry blossom in its maximum splendour. The influence of the cherry …

Why Society Mistrusts The Science Of Covid-19, Calvin King

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

In December of 2019 the first known case of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was identified in Wuhan, China. One month later the virus had made its way to the United States and changed our daily lives forever. Mask mandates, social distancing, stay-at-home orders, and vaccinations have all been measures to help contain the spread of this deadly disease, but many people choose not to engage in these protocols not believing their effectiveness and mistrusting the science that went into making them. In this study a survey was administered to 98 participants online who were asked seven demographic questions and then …

#Mmiw: Framing The Online Presence Of The Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women Social Movement, Natalie Michelle Snow

Theses and Dissertations

Indigenous women experience violence at a disproportionate rate compared to non- Indigenous women. The disproportionate violence has created a crisis commonly referred to as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement. Over the last 15 years, activists, organizations, and families have responded to the lack of political motivation to address the violence by raising awareness on social media. While people communicate via multiple social networks, Twitter is the leading forum for information about the movement and accompanying events such as vigils, walks, and memorials. For this reason, this dissertation explored the Twitter presence of the MMIW social movement. Analysis …

Rethinking Public Health Risk Mitigation Strategies: Recognizing The Biosocial Nature Of Covid-19, Grace Savard

CSB and SJU Distinguished Thesis

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has rippled throughout every aspect of society and influenced how we live, breathe, and interact with one another. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the interdisciplinary biosocial impacts of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the resulting disease, COVID-19. In order to understand the complexities of caregiving during COVID-19, we conducted 75 semi-structured interviews with 55 healthcare providers across 18 states over a span of two years. This research assesses how COVID-19 risk mitigation strategies were designed with the primary intention to stop the spread of the virus rather than account for the longer-term social and biological …

Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals And Breast Cancer: Disparities In Exposure And Importance Of Research Inclusivity, Ashlie Santaliz Casiano, Annah Lee, Dede Teteh, Zeynep Madak Erdogan, Lindsey Trevino

Health Sciences and Kinesiology Faculty Articles

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are known contributors to breast cancer development. EDC exposures commonly occur through food packaging, cookware, fabrics, and personal care products as well as through the environment. Increasing evidence highlights disparities in EDC exposure across racial/ethnic groups, yet breast cancer research continues to lack the inclusion necessary to positively impact treatment response and overall survival in these socially disadvantaged populations. Additionally, the inequity in environmental exposures has yet to be remedied. Exposure to EDCs due to structural racism poses an unequivocal risk to marginalized communities. In this review, we summarize recent epidemiological and molecular studies on two lesser-studied …

Vedantic Basis And Praxis Of The Integral Advaita Of Sri Aurobindo, Debashish Banerji

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The integral nondualism of Sri Aurobindo can be traced to the great pronouncements (mahāvākya) of the Upanishads and later commentaries. This study examines teachings on the Supermind (vijñāna) and the other four kinds of consciousness that define human reality: Matter (annaṃ), Life (prāṇaḥ), Mind (manaḥ), and Bliss (ānanda). Through Yoga and Tantra, one learns and embodies the pathway to the divine.

Digital And Spatial Humanities Mapping: Eurasia-Pacific Early Trade And Belief Linkages, Igor Sitnikov, David Blundell

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The Eurasia-Pacific is a dynamic region of rapid economic growth, cultural awareness, natural resource exploration, and military buildup. The concept of the region is relatively new, featuring contested vast areas of geo-resource space of numerous cultures and languages. The current findings in anthropology and archaeology and even its more specific subfields such as folklore are important contribution to the understanding of periodic environmental changes and technical innovations were the main forces of transformations in social structures that have determined the mechanisms and levels of cross-cultural trade activity across the region. We have traced early trade and belief linkages across Eurasia-Pacific …

Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion: Perspectives From Contemporary India And 6th Century Jain Yoga, Christopher Key Chapple

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

Times New Roman

Ganges In Indian Sculpture And Literature: Mythology And Personification, Nalini Rao

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The river Ganges is a symbol of wealth, purity and eternity, and its sacred waters have inspired sages, philosophers, and artists in India who have immortalized its divine imagery. However, it has rarely been understood from a historical point of view, as to how it became so sacred and to view it from a multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary perspective with an accumulation of layers of historical thought and practices, provides a rationale for the living practices around the river. The paper explores the evolution of the concept of sacredness and eternity of River Ganges through art- historical and archaeological evidence. It …

Exploring The Absence Of A Black Lives Matter Movement In Egypt, Farah Dewedar

The Undergraduate Research Journal

Movements combating racial segregation have existed for centuries, persisting even through tough circumstances such as a global pandemic. The process of examining calls for racial equality throughout history, such as the remarkable 1960s American Civil Rights and the 21st century BLM movements, can unravel the fundamental elements behind the success of a movement. The presence of audible black voices, massive media coverage and social awareness have proven to be essential in the upheaval of a movement. The fact that Egypt lacks black celebrities, uncensored media and any affiliation to dark-skinned individuals and/or Africans, helps to perpetuate the injustice suffered by …

Stitched Together: What We Learn From Secret Stories In Public Media, Sara D. Rocks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Where do you go to divulge your deepest secrets? Some may turn to journals and diaries; some turn to family and friends; some turn to religious confessionals; some turn to Twitter; and still, some take their secrets to the grave. There is at least one other way people share their secrets that has thus far received limited scholarly attention: the crowdsourced confessional. In the new media landscape, intimate stories and personal disclosures with strangers can be (and are) produced as content for a vast pool of additional strangers to consume as media. Yet, little is known about the personal narratives …

“Goodbye, My Friencels”: An Analysis Of Incel Suicide Posts, Sarah E. Daly, Albina Laskovsov

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

While an increasing number of researchers, non-profit organizations, and law enforcement agencies have expressed growing concern about the relationship between involuntary celibates (i.e., incels) and violence, no research to date has examined the potential for suicide and self-harm among men who call themselves incels. This study examines suicide posts shared to incel sub-Reddits that were collected by u/IncelGraveyard (N=80). The posts reveal that the notes discuss six subordinate themes, including the method of their planned attempt, the ways they used the internet, the online incel community, failed alternatives and coping, the effects of their suicide on others, and the afterlife. …

Everyday Peace: Historicising Local Agency In Managing Ethno-Religious Conflicts In Nigeria’S Middle Belt, Gloria Na’Antoe Longba’Am-Alli

The Journal of Social Encounters

Over the years, critical studies scholars have criticised liberal peacebuilding strategies for their elitist top-down policies, which hardly pay attention to the local concepts and acts of peace. Critical peace and conflict studies scholars’ advocacy for ‘everyday peace’ comes from negotiated governance, where loosely coordinated processes surpass liberal peace's top-down policies. Therefore, everyday peace recognises people's commentaries and practices shaping their resistance, resilience, and negotiation with conflicting groups. In particular, women and people far from city centres are often marginalised or are not included in peacebuilding efforts. In recognising these people’s limited involvement, this article draws on oral interviews, archival …

War Over Measure: Latin American Cultural Policy And The Pedagogy Of Neoliberal States, D. Bret Leraul

Faculty Journal Articles

This article recovers the link between cultural and educational policy in Latin America to understand the neoliberal state’s discursive institution of culture as capital. It does so by studying the form and function of Mexican and Chilean cultural bureaucracies. The calculability and accountability of culture in Chilean cultural policy and the incalculability of Mexico’s culture of favor cultural policy are but two sides of one coin issued by the same neoliberal state form. Both depend on the discursive institution (from above) of culture as cultural capital and labor as human capital reflected (from below) in the formation of Latin American …

The Rattler (Volume 110, Issue 6), St. Mary's University

The Rattler (Previous issues)

Founded in 1919, The Rattler is the student voice of St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. The newspaper documents campus life, academic and social issues, student opinion, and local and national events as they relate to the University community. Content typically includes news articles, editorial commentary, arts and culture coverage, sports reporting, and advertisements.

Midwest Consumers’ Beliefs And Attitudes Regarding Agricultural Biotechnology: An Executive Summary, Ronald G. Stover, Donna A. Hess, Gary Goreham, George A. Youngs, Stephen G. Sapp

Great Plains Sociologist

As part of a project investigating the social, economic, and ethical issues related to the application of biotechnology to food production and to the adoption or rejection of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), we conducted a survey using a questionnaire mailed to a randomly selected sample of consumers in five Midwestern states—Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. This report highlights the responses of the 458 respondents to that completed and returned questionnaire.

Agricultural Producers’ Use Of Genetically Modified Organisms, Michael E. Lawson, Donna A. Hess, Satoko Hirai

Great Plains Sociologist

A random sample of agricultural producers from North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin is used to examine producers’ decisions to use or not use genetically modified organisms. Using the rational choice theoretical framework to guide analyses, the associations between proportion of genetically modified corn acres grown by agricultural producers and perceived cost, perceived risk, and perceived benefit. Results indicated that 1) perceived cost was significantly, negatively associated with proportion of GM corn acres planted; 2) perceived risk was significantly, negatively associated with proportion of GM corn acres planted; and 3) perceived benefit was significantly, positively associated with proportion …

Dramaturgical History: The Roman Triumph, Gabe Kilzer

Great Plains Sociologist

This paper examines an ancient Roman ceremony, the Triumph, and explains the effect this ritual had on Roman civilization during the Empire and the effects it still has on our historical interpretation of that society. Using Erving Goffman’s theory of dramaturgy, I compare the leaders of Rome to actors on a stage playing to an audience. In this paper, I argue that the Triumph, which was a ceremony dedicated to the creation of a “God amongst men” in a conquering general, fueled a reciprocal relationship between the actions of society and the way in which we remember the Empire. Achieving …

Tsunami 2004, India And International Impacts, International Disaster Management, Tania Arseculeratne, Austin Ritch, Russell Wicklund

Great Plains Sociologist

This article studies the international impacts of the 2004 tsunami event in India. Among the four main phases of emergency management, what are the local and international impacts of the 2004 tsunami event focusing on India? The study is divided into two main categories: Natural Aspect; and Cultural and Administrative Aspect. Within the Natural Aspect are the natural cascading events leading up to and following the event and the requirements/intensity levels for qualifying to compare with the actual data of the event. Within the Cultural and Administrative Aspect are the man-made international impacts such as economic, cultural, and political. India …

Volunteerism Among Older Adults In Singapore, Micah Tan, John Frederic Pedro Ortega, Nur Syafiqah Abdullah, Mindy Eiko Tadai, Rachel Wen Yi Ngu

ROSA Research Briefs

Volunteerism is recognised as a beneficial activity for individuals for many reasons. Beyond the potential of volunteerism to create new and meaningful communities (Hodge et al., 2013), it offers numerous benefits including improvement to one’s mental health (Willigen, 2000), self-esteem (Russell et al., 2018), and social connectedness (Hodge et al., 2013). Volunteering has also been found to provide a sense of purpose in one’s life (Schwingel et al., 2009). For these reasons and more, voluntary work among older adults may be a meaningful and effective pathway towards successful ageing, particularly for those in retirement. In Singapore, the National Volunteer and …

The Resilience Of Diversified Clusters: Reconfiguring Commodity Networks In Rural China During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Zhanping Hu, Qian Forrest Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We conceptualize typical rural communities in China as diversified economic clusters. In normal times, economic actors in these communities rarely cooperate with each other, but are integrated into separate commodity chains. These “diversified clusters”, however, show resilience and flexibility when an external shock—the COVID-19 pandemic—disrupts the spatial connections throughout the existing commodity chains. In this study, we use primary field data collected from one typical rural community in Northern China to show how economic diversity, aided by social networks and space-shrinking technologies, allowed for the vertical commodity chains to be reconfigured temporarily into localized horizontal commodity networks to cope with …