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College Senate Minutes May 10, 2012, Bronx Community College Senate

BCC Governance Archives

Minutes for the meeting of the College Senate on May 10, 2012.

Pre-Whaling Genetic Diversity And Population Ecology In Eastern Pacific Gray Whales: Insights From Ancient Dna And Stable Isotopes, S Elizabeth Alter, Seth D. Newsome, Stephen R. Palumbi

Publications and Research

Commercial whaling decimated many whale populations, including the eastern Pacific gray whale, but little is known about how population dynamics or ecology differed prior to these removals. Of particular interest is the possibility of a large population decline prior to whaling, as such a decline could explain the ,5-fold difference between genetic estimates of prior abundance and estimates based on historical records. We analyzed genetic (mitochondrial control region) and isotopic information from modern and prehistoric gray whales using serial coalescent simulations and Bayesian skyline analyses to test for a pre-whaling decline and to examine prehistoric genetic diversity, population dynamics and …

The Communicator, April 20, 2012, Bronx Community College

The Communicator

The Communicator newspaper published on April 20, 2012.

Transforming Student Engagement Through Documentary And Critical Media Literacy, Jessie Daniels

Publications and Research

Young people entering college today have grown up in a multimedia environment, yet the classroom they most often encounter reflects nineteenth-century pedagogy. This paper explores the paradigm shift that is making documentaries more widely accessible for use in the classroom; describes a pedagogical strategy for connecting a critical media literacy ‘reading’ of documentaries with more traditional reading of written texts; investigates the effectiveness of this method to engage students through critical media literacy in ways that encourage transformation. Effectiveness was measured in a voluntary, self-reported questionnaire, emailed to students after the semester they took Introductory Sociology. Students in the sample …

Delegated Performance: Outsourcing Authenticity, Claire Bishop

Publications and Research

An essay is presented on delegated performance in which nonprofessionals are hired to perform at a particular time on behalf of the artist on his or her instructions. The author stated that this social turn started since 1990s in contemporary art against the tradition of 1960s and 1970s where artists like Chris Burden, Vito Acconci and Gina Pane performed themselves. The author referred to the trend of live installation started in Europe in 1990s in which guards for exhibition were hired. The Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan assembled a soccer club of foreigners to play local matches in 1991.

The Communicator, March 20, 2012, Bronx Community College

The Communicator

The Communicator newspaper published on March 20, 2012.

Fellow Travellers: A Concordance Of Colonization Patterns Between Mice And Men In The North Atlantic Region, E P. Jones, K Skirnisson, T H. Mcgovern, Mtp Gilbert, E Willerslev, J B. Searle

Publications and Research

Background House mice (Mus musculus) are commensals of humans and therefore their phylogeography can reflect human colonization and settlement patterns. Previous studies have linked the distribution of house mouse mitochondrial (mt) DNA clades to areas formerly occupied by the Norwegian Vikings in Norway and the British Isles. Norwegian Viking activity also extended further westwards in the North Atlantic with the settlement of Iceland, short-lived colonies in Greenland and a fleeting colony in Newfoundland in 1000 AD. Here we investigate whether house mouse mtDNA sequences reflect human history in these other regions as well. Results House mice samples from Iceland, whether …

The Logic Of Fashion Cycles, Alberto Acerbi, Stefano Ghirlanda, Magnus Enquist

Publications and Research

Many cultural traits exhibit volatile dynamics, commonly dubbed fashions or fads. Here we show that realistic fashion-like dynamics emerge spontaneously if individuals can copy others' preferences for cultural traits as well as traits themselves. We demonstrate this dynamics in simple mathematical models of the diffusion, and subsequent abandonment, of a single cultural trait which individuals may or may not prefer. We then simulate the coevolution between many cultural traits and the associated preferences, reproducing power-law frequency distributions of cultural traits (most traits are adopted by few individuals for a short time, and very few by many for a long time), …

Catalog Addendum Spring 2012, Kingsborough Community College

Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Genetic Signatures Of A Demographic Collapse In A Large-Bodied Forest Dwelling Primate (Mandrillus Leucophaeus), Nelson Ting, Christos Astaras, Gail Hearn, Shaya Honarvar, Joel Corush, Andrew S. Burrell, Naomi Phillips, Bethan J. Morgan, Elizabeth L. Gadsby, Ryan L. Raaum, Christian Roos

Publications and Research

It is difficult to predict how current climate change will affect wildlife species adapted to a tropical rainforest environment. Understanding how population dynamics fluctuated in such species throughout periods of past climatic change can provide insight into this issue. The drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus) is a large-bodied rainforest adapted mammal found in West Central Africa. In the middle of this endangered monkey’s geographic range is Lake Barombi Mbo, which has a well-documented palynological record of environmental change that dates to the Late Pleistocene. We used a Bayesian coalescent-based framework to analyze 2,076 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA across wild drill populations …

Phenomenological Theories Of Crime, Peter K. Manning, Michael W. Raphael

Graduate Student Publications and Research

The distinctive aspect of phenomenological theories of crime is that they are based upon a stated epistemology: how things are known and a specific ontology—the nature of social reality. This specificity aligns itself with neo-Kantian concern with forms of knowing, interpretation, and meaning, as well as with 20th-century concern with perception, cognition, and the framing of events. While there are influences of phenomenological thinking on varieties of theorizing, such as symbolic interactionism, critical theory, queer theory, and gender-based theories of crime, these ideas are refractions and are inconsistent in their reference to and understanding of the foundational phenomenological works. A …

Feeling Canadian: Television, Nationalism, And Affect, Gordon Alley-Young

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

A Genealogical Review Of The Worldview Concept And Framework In Africana Studies-Related Theory And Research, Karanja Keita Carroll

Publications and Research

Daudi Ajani Ya Azibo's "Articulating the Distinction between Black Studies and the Study of Blacks: The Fundamental Role of Culture and the African-Centered Worldview" originally published in the Afrocentric Scholar and republished in both editions of Nathaniel Norment Jr.'s African American Studies Reader, provides much needed clarity on the philosophical foundations of Black Studies. However, Azibo's work is connected to an earlier project, Syed M. Khatib's (aka Cedric X. Clark) "Black Studies or the Study of Black People: Reflections on the Distinctive Characteristics of Black Psychology." Both Azibo and Khatib ask an important question related to the philosophical foundations of …

Good Men Grow Corn: Embodied Ecological Heritage In A Belizean Mopan Community, Kristina Baines

Publications and Research

Recent developments in land rights and land use in the Toledo district, Belize has generated anthropological and activist interest surrounding traditional ecological knowledge and practice, and the role of heritage in communities. This study explores the connection between ecological knowledge and practices, and the concurrent construction of heritage, and community health and wellness, broadly defined. Developing and using the concept of “embodied ecological heritage,” this dissertation takes a phenomenological approach to understanding the convergence of ecological heritage and health in multiple realms of everyday life, arguing that lived experience of participating in “traditional”practices is fundamentally connected to wellness in the …

Undergraduate Bulletin 2012-2013, John Jay College Of Criminal Justice

College Bulletins

Covers the academic year 2012-2013

Graduate Bulletin 2012-2013, Cuny John Jay College

College Bulletins

Covers academic year 2012-2013

Beefmoves: Dissemination, Diversity, And Dynamics Of English Borrowings In A German Hip Hop Forum, Matt Garley, Julia Hockenmaier

Publications and Research

We investigate how novel English-derived words (anglicisms) are used in a German-language Internet hip hop forum, and what factors contribute to their uptake.

Justice In Context: Assessing Contextualism As An Approach To Justice, Michael Buckley

Publications and Research

Moral and political philosophers are increasingly using empirical data to inform their normative theories. This has sparked renewed interest into questions concerning the relationship between facts and principles. A recent attempt to frame these questions within a broader approach to normative theory comes from David Miller, who has on several occasions defended ‘contextualism’ as the best approach to justice. Miller argues that the context of distribution itself brings one or another political principle into play. This paper examines this claim. It considers several plausible strategies for carrying out Miller’s general project and argues that each strategy fails. Nevertheless, the author …

The Prison Fix: Race, Work, And Economic Development In Elmira, New York, Andrea R. Morrell

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Based on more than a year of ethnographic and archival research in Elmira, New York and, to a lesser extent, New York City, this dissertation analyzes the social, economic, and political processes through which Elmira, New York was transformed by the construction of the Southport Correctional Facility in 1988 as a project of economic development during a period of massive expansion of the New York State prison system. It focuses on the unfolding of the project of mass incarceration and its impact on the lives of Elmira's citizens and workers, as well as the men incarcerated in Elmira's prisons and …

Recollecting Turbulence: Catastrophe And Sacrifice In The "History Of My Life" By Henry Darger, Carl Watson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study of "The History of My Life" the 5,086 page autobiographical text by the outsider artist/author Henry Darger, uses non-linear modes of analysis, such as chaos and complexity theory, to explore the meaning of Darger's epic narrative. Beginning with the idea that turbulence, seemingly chaotic, actually comes about as a compensatory restructuring of inadequate or unstable system dynamics, this study goes on to show that, as both influence and effect, turbulence is found at every level of Darger's life and art, both in theme and structure. "My Life" is a prime example: an extended narrative describing a cataclysmic tornado, …

How Milk Does The World Good: Vernacular Sustainability And Alternative Food Systems In Post-Socialist Europe, Diana Mincyte

Publications and Research

Scholarly debates on sustainable consumption have generally overlooked alternative agro-food networks in the economies outside of Western Europe and North America. Building on practice-based theories, this article focuses on informal raw milk markets in post-socialist Lithuania to examine how such alternative systems emerge and operate in the changing political, social, and economic contexts. It makes two contributions to the scholarship on sustainable consumption. In considering semi-subsistence practices and poverty-driven consumption, this article argues for a richer, more critical, and inclusive theory of sustainability that takes into consideration vernacular forms of exchange and approaches poor consumers as subjects of global history. …

(Re)Forming Italians: Children's Literature In Italy, 1929-1939, Marisa Giorgi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation argues for the centrality of children's literature under Fascism as a tool to bring about the ultimate goal of forming the "new" Italian. This project examines the relationship between children's literature, the creation of culture and the transmission of ideology in Fascist Italy. I chose the period 1929-1939 because this decade encompasses the years the regime actively sought consolidation of power and consensus, as well as the years of the fascistization of Italian schools. These novels are conduits of fascist ideology veiled as adventure stories, historical novels, bildungsroman or romantic fiction for children and young adults and deserve …

Rehg Studies Monkeys To Better Understand Humans, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Linguist Lafond Organizes Space Meeting, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Aspects Of Adaptation In The Egyptian Singing Film, Margaret Jean Farrell

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores aspects of adaptation in the Egyptian singing film in the period from 1932 to 1962. The primary types of adaptation examined are those that are evident in the stories the films told, the ways in which the songs functioned within the stories, and the music for which these films formed the setting. Research was conducted through the viewing of over sixty Egyptian films as well as time spent in Cairo to study Arabic language and music, and to collect primary sources in the form of films, press books, books, and periodicals.

The goal of this study is …

Sensation Seeking, Early Pregnancy And Criminal Justice System Involvement Among Latino Youth, Jillian Jankie

Dissertations and Theses

The present study examined the relationship between the level of sensation seeking, early pregnancy, and criminal justice system involvement among Latino youth. It is a secondary analysis of data that comes from the Boricua Youth Study, an ongoing longitudinal study of Puerto Rican children and preadolescents living in the South Bronx and Puerto Rico. In the current analysis, data were analyzed on 69 participants who had completed measures of sensation seeking, pregnancy and arrests to predict whether sensation seeking would predict arrests and pregnancy at the second time period. Sensation seeking was evaluated at baseline. Early pregnancy and criminal justice …

The Effects Of High Skilled Non-Immigrants (H-1b Visa Holders) On The Wages Of Natives, Onur Arslan

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Minority Rights In Europe; The Roma Population As A Case Study, Michael Brooks

Dissertations and Theses

"This thesis undertakes an in-depth analysis of the minority rights of Roma populations living within the European Union. The Roma people face economic, social and political discrimination that permeates both government institutions and society in general and has prevented this minority group from integrating into the workings of society. This issue is important because the Roma lack a positive identity both of themselves and from other groups, which deprives the state of an important source of productivity. This is due in part from their own actions based on chosen isolation to some degree, and also because some Roma have become …

Policing Gender, Sexuality And ‘Muslimness’, Anissa Helie

Publications and Research

In her Introduction to the book Sexuality in Muslim Contexts: Restrictions and Resistance (ZED Book, UK), Anissa Helie discusses the notion of "Muslimness" and how such a homogenizing notion, if unchallenged, may serve to justify the policing of sexuality in various Muslim countries and communities.

The book itself looks at emerging trends that affect women’s sexuality, with a particular focus on Asia and the Middle East, and documents both the curtailing of sexual rights occurring in diverse Muslim societies and the strategies designed to counter these developments.

Yet this focus in no way suggests that the policing of gender and …

Citizen Bunker: Archie Bunker As Working-Class Icon., Kathleen Collins

Publications and Research

Archie Bunker, the central character and patriarch of Norman Lear’s “All in the Family,” (1971-1979) has been referred to as an “everyman” and an “angry-man prototype” with “hard had prejudice.” The name Archie Bunker itself has become synonymous with a blue-collar, racially chauvinistic mentality. The title of the show’s pilot and theme song, “Those Were the Days,” emphasized Archie’s dream of a simpler (though idealized) time, a world that he could understand and upon which he could exert some control. In 1970s America, Archie seemed to feel that the world was against him – economically, socially, politically and culturally – …