Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating The Role Of Latinidad And The Latino Threat In The State Of Missouri, Joel Jennings, J.S. Onésimo Sandoval

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Growing Latino populations in midwestern cities of the United States are leading to the creation of contested ethnic spaces and urban landscapes. In this article we examine the historical, demographic, and social contexts associated with a growing sense of Latinidad and the countervailing Latino threat narrative in Kansas City and St. Louis, the two largest metropolitan areas in Missouri. Latinidad, or a notion of belonging based on ethnic identity in Missouri, is being challenged by nativist discourses that frame the growing Latino population as a threat. We highlight the different historical trajectories and geographical characteristics that have created distinct demographic …

Mapping Civil Society: An Experiment In Ngo Coordination, Peter Carroll, Aradhana Dhakal, Madeleine Gleave

Library Research Grants

Our research considers the efficiency of the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the area of international development. Specifically it asks the question of whether reducing the costs of gathering information on other NGO projects increases NGOs’ propensity to coordinate among each other. We predict that decreasing information costs associated with communication gives greater incentive to pursue coordination. To test this hypothesis, we conduct a randomized field experiment in which we invite randomly assigned NGOs to use an online mapping tool providing information about NGO activities across Uganda and India. Our sample comes from NGOs that complete a survey on …

Mountain Monitor-2nd Quarter 2012, Mark Muro, Kenan Fikri

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

Data for the second quarter of 2012 reveal that the large metropolitan areas of the Mountain region were undergoing some of both the strongest and weakest economic recoveries in the nation—even as the pace of recovery across the region as a whole slackened. The result is a new geography. Crash-blasted Boise and Phoenix, along with Utah’s metropolitan areas, are now recovering relatively strongly while Colorado’s metropolitan areas and Albuquerque, Las Vegas, and Tucson struggle.

El Proyecto Costa Escondida: Arqueología Y Compromiso Comunitario A Lo Largo De La Costa Norte De Quintana Roo, México / The Costa Escondida Project: Archaeology And Community Engagement Along Quintana Roo's North Coast, Mexico, Jeffrey B. Glover, Dominique Rissolo, Jennifer P. Mathews, C. A. Furman

Sociology & Anthropology Faculty Research

El Proyecto Costa Escondida iniciado en 2006 se diseñó para investigar las culturas marítimas previas y posteriores al contacto español, así como para estudiar el paisaje del norte de Quintana Roo, Península de Yucatán, México. Este proyecto no promueve una agenda de desarrollo “tradicional”, sino que se inserta en la crítica del desarrollo para ampliar los límites del compromiso comunitario a través del aprendizaje social. Al encontrarse lejos de los principales sitios turísticos de la costa del Caribe, el área cuenta con una industria de turismo en expansión asociada a la Isla Holbox. En este artículo se discuten las experiencias …

Phillip Vannini, Ferry Tales: Mobility, Place And Time On Canada’S West Coast, Maximiliano E. Korstanje

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Review of Ferry Tales: Mobility, Place and Time on Canada’s West Coast, by Phillip Vannini

History As Community-Based Research And The Pedagogy Of Discovery: Teaching Racial Inequality, Documenting Local History, And Building Links Between Students And Communities In Mississippi And Tennessee, Spencer D. Wood, Ricardo Samuel

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

In this article we describe the process of implementing a community-based research project that linked student learning with documenting elements of local histories surrounding the civil rights movement in Mississippi and Tennessee. We show that developing a dialogue among community members, ourselves, and our students worked to democratize the research project, produce strong support among the community members, and contribute to an improved understanding of racial inequality for our students. We rely on our accounts of the process, student journals, and oral histories compiled during the research. Our findings show that there are considerable opportunities for community-based research around documenting …

Study Abroad In A Developing And A Developed Country: A Comparison Of American Undergraduate Students’ Experiences In Ghana And England, Maria Costa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examined the differences among the experiences of 7 American undergraduate students; 4 who studied for a semester in Ghana, a developing country, and 3 who studied for a semester in England, a developed country. Using phenomenology as its guiding framework, transcribed interviews were analyzed and the focal phenomenon of the experience was sought. In addition, examination of the literature suggested that study abroad in less developed countries had the potential to impact the experience of students at a deeper level because of the potential for what Jean Piaget termed constructive disequilibrium (Blake & Pope, 2008, p. 61). …

National Board Certification: The Impact On Teaching Practices Of Three Elementary Teachers, Amy W. Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the past century the educational reform movements focused on the need for highly qualified teachers based on research surrounding the effects on student achievement related to the quality of the teacher (Busatto, 2004). The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) was created in 1987 in response to the increasing focus placed on having quality teachers (Berg, 2003; Humphrey, Koppich, & Hough, 2005; NBPTS, 2011). The NBPTS is an organization governed by teachers that emphasizes sound instructional practices and improving teaching. The standards for National Board Certification are based on solid research that recognizes education practices that result in …

Catastrophes And The Role Of Social Networks In Recovery: A Case Study Of St. Bernard Parish, La, Residents After Hurricane Katrina, Carrie E. Lasley

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the experiences of St. Bernard Parish, La., residents as they coped with the impact of the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. An estimated 50,000 St. Bernard Parish residents relocated to a new home one year after Katina in 2006, and many of those residents moved again. This study examines the effects of the decisions of St. Bernard residents to relocate or to return on their social connections. The utility, adaptability and durability of social networks of these residents will be explored to enrich our knowledge about the social effects …

The Self-Conscious Gentrifier: The Paradox Of Authenticity And Impact Among "First-Wave Neo-Bohemians" In 2 Changing Neighborhoods, Naomi Bartz, Gordon Douglas

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

Gentrification has been a major factor reshaping North American cities for at least four decades, as well as a vital concern of sociological research. In recent years, there appears to be an increasing awareness of the process among contemporary gentrifiers themselves. This self-conscoiusness is significant on two levels: (1) it is unanticipated by or at least unaccounted for in much of the canonical literature on gentrification, having only recently gained acknowledgement (most notably work by Brown-Saracino that explores aspects of a particular type of self-aware gentrifiier); (2) it is complicating the way many gentrifiers or would-be gentrifiers frame and actively …

Food Availability In Eatonville, Florida, Jerian Benwell-Lybarger

HIM 1990-2015

Food availability is a serious problem for some low-income neighborhoods. This study examines food access in Eatonville, Florida, a small town in Orlando, Florida. Eatonville was one of the first African American towns incorporated into the United States after emancipation. It is a low-income community with 25% of the overall population and 30% of children living below the poverty line. This study will examine the state of food availability through food store and resident surveys in hopes of diagnosing need in order to alleviate it. There are serious implications for residents of cities with inadequate access to nutritious, affordable food. …

Bosnian Refugees In Bowling Green, Kentucky: Refugee Resettlement And Community Based Research, Elcin Celik

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

To understand the reasons for the increase in recent years of the Bosnian population in Bowling Green, Kentucky and their adaptation problems as refugees in their host country, this study focused upon the Bosnian community in Bowling Green and addressed what the role of their challenges is in the shaping of refugees’ new life in their host country. Extensive literature review helped to emerge that for an understanding of the situation of the refugees, their interaction in the host country is more meaningful topic for research.

This study employed qualitative research methods, drawing from existing empirical studies addressing resettlement in …

Socio-Demographic And Economic Determinants Of Food Deserts, Zhongyi Wang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this paper we utilized a panel data set from 2004 to 2010 to identify and determine the demographic and economic drivers of food deserts in both urban and rural areas in Arkansas. We defined food deserts as areas where access to healthy foods such as fresh vegetables and fruits are limited. More specifically, separate distance measures from the census block centroid to the nearest supermarket or grocery store were used to determine if the area is an urban food desert (1 mile) or rural food desert (10 miles). These distance measures were then aggregated at the census block group …

Comparison Of Pass Assessment Scores In Single-Gender And Heterogeneous Middle Schools In South Carolina, Patricia Canada

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In response to the mandates of No Child Left Behind, (NCLB), educators across the country struggle to close the gaps between males and females. Some of the physiological differences existing between the male and female brain suggest support for single-gender instruction, which is on the rise within this country as well as other parts of the world. Using the theoretical framework based on brain research, the purpose of this quantitative study was to compare the effect of single-gender instruction on assessment results in Palmetto Assessments of State Standards (PASS) math and reading scores of public middle single-gender schools to mixed-gender …

The Problem Of Data, Lori Jahnke, Andrew Asher, Spencer D.C. Keralis

Other Faculty Research and Publications

Jahnke and Asher explore workflows and methodologies at a variety of academic data curation sites, and Keralis delves into the academic milieu of library and information schools that offer instruction in data curation. Their conclusions point to the urgent need for a reliable and increasingly sophisticated professional cohort to support data-intensive research in our colleges, universities, and research centers.

Popular Perceptions Of The Relationship Between Religious And Ethnic Identities: A Comparative Study Of Ethnodoxy In Contemporary Russia And Beyond, David M. Barry

Dissertations

The relationship between religion and ethnicity is well documented. However, previous studies have usually approached the relationship by focusing on the converging of two 'objective' social categories, religion and ethnicity. In doing so, the subjectivity, or the actor's own understanding of the interplay between religion and ethnicity is typically neglected. This study fills this gap by exploring popular perceptions of group identities and the affiliation with imagined ethno-religious communities. To accomplish this, the concept of ethnodoxy, first developed by Vyacheslav Karpov and Elena Lisovskaya, is applied that captures the belief that affiliation to an ethnic group's dominant religion is essential …

Simulating Real Lives: Promoting Global Empathy And Interest In Learning Through Simulation Games, Christine Bachen, Pedro F. Hernández-Ramos, Chad Raphael

Communication

In response to an increasingly interdependent world, educators are demonstrating a growing interest in educating for global citizenship. Many definitions of the “good global citizen” value empathy as an especially important disposition for understanding others across national borders and cultural divides. Yet it may be difficult for people to achieve empathy with others who are perceived as psychologically and geographically distant. Can computerized simulation games help foster global empathy and interest in global civic learning? This quasiexperimental classroom study of 301 Northern California high school students in three schools examined the effects of playing REAL LIVES, a simulation game that …

Cracks In The Melting Pot: Immigration, School Choice, And Segregation, Elizabeth U U. Cascio, Ethan G. Lewis

Dartmouth Scholarship

We examine whether low-skilled immigration to the United States has contributed to immigrants' residential isolation by reducing native demand for public schools. We address endogeneity in school demographics using established Mexican settlement patterns in California and use a comparison group to account for immigration's broader effects. We estimate that between 1970 and 2000, the average California school district lost more than 14 non-Hispanic households with children to other districts in its metropolitan area for every 10 additional households enrolling low-English Hispanics in its public schools. By disproportionately isolating children, the native reaction to immigration may have longer-run consequences than previously …

Refugees Of The Arab Spring: The Syrian Refugees In Lebanon April 2011-April 2012, Sam Van Vliet, Guita Hourani

Faculty Journal Articles

This review of one year influx of Syrian refugees into Lebanon is meant to reveal the political, communitarian and humanitarian factors that shape the State of Lebanon's policy towards it. The Lebanese government has lately adopted a ‘disassociation’ policy regarding the Syrian conflict with the objective of preventing the spill-over of the conflict and the destabilization of the country. Regional and international powers well understand the reasons for this policy, given Lebanon's geopolitical situation, its history and its 'special ties' with Syria. However, while Lebanon might be able to disassociate itself from the political entanglement of the Syrian crisis, it …

The Role Of Educational Attainment In Migration Probability And Destination Selection For The Metropolitan Rust Belt, 1980-2000, Paul D. Jacobs

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The metropolitan Rust Belt has long been recognized as the industrial center of the United States. By the year 2000 many Rust Belt residents were leaving these industrial metropolitan areas for other parts of the country. My research looks to examine how deindustrialization triggers out migration in selected industrial metropolitan areas as well as how migrants are selected by educational attainment. Following this analysis, I examine proximate measures of social capital compared to educational attainment to determine which factors are most important for interregional migration decisions.

Using census data for 1980, 1990, and 2000, I find that higher levels of …

Konseptualisasi Ruang Sosial Pendidikan, Ahmad Tarmiji Alkhudri

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

No abstract provided.

Pengantar Redaksi, Fransisca Sse Seda

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

No abstract provided.

Finding A Way Out Of The Ethnographic Paradigm Jungle, Subhadip Roy, Pratyush Banerjee

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, an attempt has been made to develop a hybrid ethnographic paradigm, taking the best points from the different approaches of ethnographic research. The pioneering proponents of ethnography differed in their conceptualization of the method, resulting in the development of three distinct schools of thought-holistic, semiotic and behavioristic. These three ethnographic paradigms have their respective benefits and shortcomings. Following any one of these approaches may lead to only partial comprehension of the phenomenon by the ethnographer. This study wished to address this issue by developing a best practice approach, which will have the virtues of all the three …

“I Am Not The Same After My Erasmus”: A Qualitative Research, Selami Aydin

The Qualitative Report

No data has been found about the influences of the ERASMUS program on Turkish pre-service teachers of English who participated in the ERASMUS Mobility Program. Thus, in this study the researcher aims to evaluate the ERASMUS Mobility Program regarding its contributions to the progress of Turkish pre-service teachers of English and the problems they encountered during the process. The sample group of the study consisted of 23 pre-service teachers and a background questionnaire, interviews, group discussions and essay papers were used for data collection. The results indicated that the ERASMUS process has some significant benefits to language skills and professional …

Building Trust And Collaboration With Rural Minorities: Experiences With Minority Farmers In The Mississippi Delta, Ari Mwachofi

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The paper focuses on the question “What research approach is effective in building trust with minority farmers?” The question is answered through a documentation of researchers’ experiences building trust and collaboration with minority farmers in the lower Mississippi Delta. The researchers applied two research paradigms -logical positivism and paradigm of praxis. The logical positivism research approach was met with mistrust and open animosity and had to be abandoned for one based on the paradigm of praxis. Through this approach, and cognizant of the historical-social-political context, the researchers included insiders from the focus population as collaborators and researchers and succeeded in …

Community Mapping: Transforming Thinking And Actions Toward Sustainability, Melanie J. Kornis

Professional Projects

This phenomenological study explored the level of concern regarding issues of sustainability, for individuals residing within one mid-sized Midwestern urban community. Ultimately, this research sought to determine those factors that increase the sense of urgency for some individuals to do more to reduce our global footprint and to create a sustainable future for our children and grandchildren. The participants were chosen via purposeful sampling and the interview process was used for data collection. Several themes uncovered in the study findings were similar to those in the literature review, which include: caring for the environment, making connections within the community, recycling, …

Food Fight: A Case Study Of The Community Food Security Coalition’S Campaign For A Fair Farm Bill, Marni Salmon

Capstone Collection

The farm bill is an all-encompassing piece of legislation that is reauthorized approximately every five years and establishes federal policy for everything from farm subsidies and crop insurance to energy, conservation, food stamps and school lunches. The current law expires at the end of September 2012. Reauthorization of the farm bill represents the single largest opportunity to reform the policies that shape food systems in the United States. The Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) is campaigning to improve access to healthy food by increasing links with family farmers and to strengthen local and regional food systems. This case study traces …

Asian American We: Civic Engagement Among Low-Income Young Adults, Michael Liu, Star Wang, Janice Wong, Loan Dao

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

This report describes a study of the civic participation of low-income Asian American adults between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five in the Boston area. It is based upon a mail survey with 100 respondents, focus groups, and organization interviews.

The study found that over 60% of the study population engaged in some form of civic participation, most commonly through fundraising or volunteer activities. Other activities included arts and culture with a social message, issues work, and electoral involvement. The area of greatest involvement was education. From the survey, civic engagement is correlated with female gender, higher education, and a …

Toward A Culture Of Healing: Why Alternative Therapies And A Feminist Framework Are Needed In The Care Of Pregnant Women And Treatment Of Postpartum Mood Disorders, Angela Leonardo

Anthós

Pregnancy, birth, and early motherhood are areas of human development that have systematically migrated away from their roots as a series of natural life events to a highly, and perhaps unnecessarily, medicalized arena. This shift has been detrimental for women, especially for poor, socially isolated, single, and/or ethnic minority women. In this paper, I outline my concerns with the increased medicalization of birth and postpartum care, as well as with the status of mothers in the United States, and critically examine the patriarchal context in which this shift has occurred. My focus is on maternal health and mortality, including depression …

When Black Meets White In The Heart Of Worship: A Case-Study Of Musical Changes In A Multiracial Church, Serge Volpe

Masters Theses

The Worldwide Church of God began as a denomination relying on certain Jewish practices and other Euro-centric distinctions to define its' identity. In the New York City area, African-American churchgoers exceeded that of whites; yet church liturgy retained its European-American flavor. When the denomination underwent transformation in the 1990s, many congregants were unable to accept changes, including new musical styles, and reacted in a manner inconsistent with what church leaders had hoped for. This thesis examines what some African-Americans experienced during this period when liturgy changed to include music representative of their culture. Interviews were conducted with African-American churchgoers from …