Digital Commons Network^™

Bura Ura, Kendu Waiyo (Rain Falls, Water Rises): The Tyranny Of Water Insecurity And An Agenda For Abolition In Kodi (Sumba Island, Indonesia), Cynthia Twyford Fowler

Faculty Scholarship

This article explores the dynamic links between transformations in freshwater ecosystems and social changes in the Kodi region of Sumba (Indonesia). Insights into the politics surrounding changing hydrosocial systems are generated by using a feminist anthropology approach together with critical development studies and intersectionality theory. In aligning with fellow feminists whose advocacy sometimes takes the form of scholarship, I lay out a five-prong strategy for collecting empirical evidence from persons who are vulnerable when hydrological systems change and offer eight principles for future development interventions. The argument related to the five-prong toolkit is that by conducting intensive, extensive, opportunistic, and …

The Role Of Primary Care In Improving Population Health, Kurt C. Stange

Faculty Scholarship

In widely quoted ecological analyses, primary care is associated with population health. Not only with population health, but with health equity, health care quality, and lower health care expenditure - a pretty good definition of value. Yet, there is a paradox about primary care. Despite these desirable population‐level attributes, at the disease level at which we typically measure, incentivize, and organize the work of health care, when assessed with one‐disease‐at‐a‐time quality measures, primary care does not perform as well as care focused on a single disease. What is going on here? In caring for patients’ individual diseases, primary care appears …

Real-Time Mapping With Global Positioning Systems Devices In A Mixed Methods Toolkit For Studying Social And Environmental Change, Cynthia Twyford Fowler

Faculty Scholarship

To explore the process through which people develop knowledge about socioecological change, this article describes a mixed-methods toolkit containing a technique for making maps in real time while moving through landscapes. The quantitative component of the toolkit is grounded in ethnobiologists’ embeddedness in place-based communities and harnesses the power of global positioning systems (GPS). As GPS-wielding ethnobiologists engage in participatory mapping by moving through landscapes with their research collaborators, we can use handheld devices and simultaneously communicate with satellites in outer space to produce maps in real time. Within the existing, large inventory of ethnobiological methods, using handheld GPS devices …

Exploring Niche Alteration In Nonprofit Organizations, Duncan J. Mayer, Robert L. Fischer

Faculty Scholarship

The organizational niche is a concept integral to organizational ecology, reflecting an organization’s mission, expertise, capacity, and resource requirements. The choice of niche is crucial to the viability of the organization; however, the reasons organizations alter their niche are poorly understood. We hypothesize that nonprofit organizations alter their niche to reduce environmental pressure and gain access to resources. The results indicate that niche alteration predicts increases in total revenue with average increases in revenue from program services and contributions (depending on the measure). Additionally, nonprofits that are younger, larger, and have more concentrated revenue, are more likely to alter their …

Less Is More?: Accountability For White-Collar Offenses Through An Abolitionist Framework, Pedro Gerson

Faculty Scholarship

White-collar crime is underenforced: not enough cases are brought, not many convictions are secured, and when they are, those who were convicted usually benefit from leniency not seen in other kinds of criminal wrongdoing. Calls for accountability center on strengthening the traditional tools of criminal law enforcement to reach actors that have so far eluded criminal liability. These responses, however, risk further entrenching the systems that have led the United States to mass incarceration and its many real and tangible harms. In this Article, I question whether an abolitionist framework is possible for white-collar crime. First, I argue that given …

Generative Ai And Algorithmic Art: Disrupting The Framing Of Meaning And Rethinking The Subject- Object Dilemma, James Hutson, Morgan Harper-Nichols

Faculty Scholarship

In the revision of treatments of contemporary art in the 21st century, art historians are recognizing 2022 as the dawn of the age of creative artificial intelligence (AI). The emergence of generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion in late 2022 immediately disrupted the established practices of the art world, leading to debates about the validity of "AI Art" and the emergence of a new market for NFTs. However, fears regarding the "death of the artist" are unwarranted when considering the historical adoption of new technologies by artists, such as photography. The role of the artist will undoubtedly transform, …

The Accountable Bureaucrat, Anya Bernstein, Cristina Rodriguez

Faculty Scholarship

Common wisdom has it that bureaucrats are unaccountable to the people they regulate and must therefore be closely supervised by elected officials or (perhaps ironically) the federal courts. For many detractors of the administrative state, as well as many proponents, agency accountability hangs on the concentrated power of the President in particular. This Article presents a different vision. Drawing on in-depth interviews with officials from numerous agencies, we show that everyday administrative practices and relationships themselves support accountability of a kind that neither elections nor judicial review alone can achieve.

Our interviews reveal that agency officials work within structures that …

The Relationship Between Religion, Substance Misuse, And Mental Health Among Black Youth, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

Studies suggest that religion is a protective factor for substance misuse and mental health concerns among Black/African American youth despite reported declines in their religious involvement. However, few studies have investigated the associations among religion, substance misuse, and mental health among Black youth. Informed by Critical Race Theory, we evaluated the correlations between gender, depression, substance misuse, and unprotected sex on mental health. Using multiple linear regression, we assessed self-reported measures of drug use and sex, condom use, belief in God, and religiosity on mental health among a sample of Black youth (N = 638) living in a large midwestern …

Go‐Along Interview Assessment Of Community Health Priorities For Neighborhood Renewal, Kristen A. Berg, Adam T. Perzynski

Faculty Scholarship

Healthcare systems are increasingly investing in approaches to address social determinants of health and health disparities. Such initiatives dovetail with certain approaches to neighborhood development, such as the EcoDistrict standard for community development, that prioritize both ecologically and socially sustainable neighborhoods. However, healthcare system and community development initiatives can be untethered from the preferences and lived realities of residents in the very neighborhoods upon which they focus. Utilizing the go-along approach to collecting qualitative data in situ, we interviewed 19 adults to delineate residents' community health perspectives and priorities. Findings reveal health priorities distinct from clinical outcomes, with residents emphasizing …

Statistical Analysis And Degradation Pathway Modeling Of Photovoltaic Minimodules With Varied Packaging Strategies, Sameera Nalin Venkat, Xuanji Yu, Jiqi Liu, Jakob Wegmueller, Jayvic Cristian Jimenez, Erika I. Barcelos, Hein Htet Aung, Roger H. French, Laura S. Bruckman

Faculty Scholarship

Degradation pathway models constructed using network structural equation modeling (netSEM) are used to study degradation modes and pathways active in photovoltaic (PV) system variants in exposure conditions of high humidity and temperature. This data-driven modeling technique enables the exploration of simultaneous pairwise and multiple regression relationships between variables in which several degradation modes are active in specific variants and exposure conditions. Durable and degrading variants are identified from the netSEM degradation mechanisms and pathways, along with potential ways to mitigate these pathways. A combination of domain knowledge and netSEM modeling shows that corrosion is the primary cause of the power …

Racial Equality, Religious Liberty, And The Complications Of Pluralism, Rachel F. Moran

Faculty Scholarship

Constitutional law scholar Laurence Tribe once described due process and equal protection as “a legal double helix.” By this, he meant that protections for substantive liberties coupled with principles of equal treatment created “a single, unfolding tale of equal liberty and increasingly universal dignity.” In his view, equality and liberty were mutually constitutive and “center[ed] on a quest for genuine self-government of groups small and large.” Although this optimistic account of the nation’s constitutional DNA is reassuring, Professor Sahar Aziz’s new book on “The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom” reminds us that the double helix can unravel, so …

Of Life Beyond Domination: Capability Determination, Surfacing, Norm Play, Jeremy Bendik-Keymer

Faculty Scholarship

“Surfacing” is the process of rediscovering one’s sense of self-determination from within a context of enduring domination, including systems of enduring domination, such as racism, capitalism, and patriarchy. “Enduring domination” is the afterlife of domination that carries on into the conditions and mentality of anyone affected by domination, even indirectly. This article riggs together a concept from the Capability Approach to human development, a process from intersectional, epistemic justice work, and some broad possibilities within social practice art around norm play and subversion to fill out a practice of wondering that helps its participants surface. It serves as a contribution …

Climate Chauvinism: Rethinking Loss & Damage, Nadia B. Ahmad, Victoria Beatty

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Synthesizing Energy Transitions, Nadia Ahmad, Uma Outka, Danielle Stokes, Hannah Jacobs Wiseman

Faculty Scholarship

This Article assesses the growing and cross-disciplinary literature on energy transitions to explore how it can guide law and policy reforms for the energy sector. The modern conception of energy transition centers primarily on clean energy—a shift away from fossil energy dependence. It also, however, incorporates equity as a core principle, as an increasing emphasis on energy justice and just transition seeks to create guiding norms for the energy sector’s current state of change. The concept of energy transition is critical for describing and giving meaning to a fundamental societal shift at the local, regional, national, and global scales, aligned …

The Road To Autonomy, Nicole Mcconlogue

Faculty Scholarship

Scholars, activists, and advocates have long identified the “transportation gap” as a significant factor contributing to race- and class-based economic and other disparities. Carlessness correlates closely with race and poverty; meanwhile, widespread disinvestment in public transit results in low-income Black and Brown people suffering a disproportionate lack of access to opportunity and choice in almost every conceivable area of life.

State and local governments most often propose one of three solutions to correct the transportation gap: 1) renewing their investment in public transit; 2) increasing access to shared transit; and 3) making adaptations to the built environment. This Article demonstrates …

Race, Gatekeeping, Magical Words, And The Rules Of Evidence, I. Bennett Capers

Faculty Scholarship

Although it might not be apparent from the Federal Rules of Evidence themselves, or the common law that preceded them, there is a long history in this country of tying evidence—what is deemed relevant, what is deemed trustworthy—to race. And increasingly, evidence scholars are excavating that history. Indeed, not just excavating, but showing how that history has racial effects that continue into the present.

One area that has escaped racialized scrutiny—at least of the type I am interested in—is that of expert testimony. In this brief Essay written for the Vanderbilt Law Review Symposium, Reimagining the Rules of Evidence at …

A Fiduciary Theory Of Progressive Prosecution, Bruce A. Green, Rebecca Roiphe

Faculty Scholarship

Progressive prosecutors differ from their more traditional counterparts primarily in the way in which they make decisions. They tend to bind their discretion by announcing categorical policies rather than making fact-based decisions case by case. This Article catalogs the unusual degree of pushback progressive prosecutors have encountered from the public, legislatures, courts, police, and their own subordinate prosecutors. Drawing on fiduciary theory, it explains this reaction as a response to progressive prosecutors’ abdication of their fiduciary role. As a public fiduciary, prosecutors are entrusted with protecting the public’s abstract interest in justice, and an integral part of this role is …

The Environmental Democracy That Was, Then Wasn't, But Could Be Again, Daniel E. Walters

Faculty Scholarship

Over the 50 years since former EPA Administrator William D. Ruckelshaus wrote The Citizen and the Environmental Regulatory Process, much has changed. On the one hand, participation in environmental regulatory decisionmaking has flourished, but on the other, Ruckelshaus's prediction of growing consensus around the environmental movement has proven illusory. In this short essay reflecting on participation in environmental regulatory decisionmaking, I highlight what Ruckelshaus was right about and, just as importantly, where his vision of environmental participatory governance might need some updating. Looking back at the dawn of environmental democracy in the regulatory process and comparing it to the …

Cardozo And Uncertainty In The Common Law, Shyamkrishna Balganesh

Faculty Scholarship

Benjamin Cardozo’s The Nature of the Judicial Process is best understood as one of the most successful contributions to this category of work defending the common law on the basis of its process. In the book, Cardozo offers a spirited and principled defense of the judicial process, all in an effort to highlight the manner in which judges manage the seemingly pervasive uncertainty of the common law method in the discharge of their duties. All the same, it is obvious that he considered the project to be necessarily incomplete. Just a few years after the publication of the Judicial Process …

Yes, Tax The Rich — And Also The Merely Affluent, Alex Raskolnikov

Faculty Scholarship

Most Americans believe that economic inequality is too high, and many think that higher taxes are the answer. There is some disagreement about who should pay higher taxes, but there is broad agreement about who should not. At least since the heyday of the Occupy Wall Street movement, 'We Are the 99 Percent'' has been the dividing line.

“Those in the 1 percent are walking off with the riches, but in doing so they have provided nothing but anxiety and insecurity to the 99 percent,” explained Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz in his 2012 book The Price of Inequality. The …

Toxic Masculinity And Gender-Based Gun Violence In America: A Way Forward, Hayley N. Lawrence

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Social Cognitive Processes Explain Bias In Juror Decisions, Jaime J. Castrellon, Shabnam Hakimi, Jacob M. Parelman, Lun Yin, Jonathan R. Law, Jesse A.G. Skene, David A. Ball, Artemis Malekpour, Donald H. Beskind, Neil Vidmar, John M. Pearson, J. H. Pate Skene, R. Mckell Carter

Faculty Scholarship

Jury decisions are among the most consequential social decisions in which bias plays a notable role. While courts take measures to reduce the influence of non-evidentiary factors, jurors may still incorporate biases into their decisions. One common bias, crime-type bias, is the extent to which the perceived strength of a prosecutor’s case depends on the severity of the crime. Moral judgment, affect and social cognition have been proposed as core processes underlying this and other biases. Behavioral evidence alone has been insufficient to distinguish these explanations. To identify the mechanism underlying crime-type bias, we collected functional magnetic resonance imaging patterns …

Racial Time, Yuvraj Joshi

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Disrupting Carceral Logic In Family Policing, Cynthia Godsoe

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Taming Online Public Health Misinformation, Tomer Kenneth

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Pauli Murray: Human Rights Visionary And Trailblazer, Darin E. W. Johnson, Catherine Powell

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Conflict, Consistency And The Role Of Conventional Morality In Judicial Decision-Making, Aditi Bagchi

Faculty Scholarship

Cardozo defends a pragmatic approach to judicial decision-making. Judges should apply and develop legal rules with an eye toward their social function. “Public policy” at this stage of decision-making theoretically could be rooted in a social scientific exercise or some other direct attempt to come up with the optimal rule.

Cardozo instead directs judges to conventional morality. Conventional morality is an unlikely solution given the specter of inconsistency that it raises. But in the disagreement and conflict about conventional morality that seem to render it unstable lie the resources for self-correction over time. Judicial decision-making is inevitably inconsistent to some …

Reflections: My Mother Who Fathered Me, Eleanor Brown

Faculty Scholarship

Despite the prevalence of West Indian Americans and their networks throughout the United States, little attention is given to the significant accomplishments stemming from the collective work of West Indian Americans. Even less attention is given to the fact that many of these networks are predominantly comprised of women, many of whom are single mothers. This article focuses on the trend amongst West Indian American women to pursue motherhood regardless of marriage or intimate partnership despite the risks attendant to motherhood. The author argues that para-professional West Indian American women may be more willing than their counterparts in other communities …

The Uncertain Judge, Courtney M. Cox

Faculty Scholarship

The intellectually honest judge faces a very serious problem about which little has been said. It is this: What should a judge do when she knows all the relevant facts, laws, and theories of adjudication, but still remains uncertain about what she ought to do? Such occasions will arise, for whatever her preferred theory about how she ought to decide a given case—what I will call her preferred “jurisprudence”— she may harbor lingering doubts that a competing jurisprudence is correct instead. And sometimes, these competing jurisprudences provide conflicting guidance. When that happens, what should she do?

Drawing on emerging debates …

`Representing And Being Represented In Turn’ – A Symposium On Hélène Landemore’S Open Democracy, Ethan J. Leib

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.