Digital Commons Network^™

Theravada Buddhism And Dai Identity In Jinghong, Xishuangbanna, James Granderson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This ethnographic field project focused upon the relationship between the urban Jinghong and surrounding rural Dai population of lay people, as well as a few individuals from other ethnic groups, and Theravada Buddhism. Specifically, I observed how Buddhism manifests itself in daily urban life, the relationship between Theravada monastics in city and rural temples and common people in daily life, as well as important events wherelay people and monastics interacted with one another. This research was intended to fulfill a need to observe how Theravada Buddhism influences Dai lives on the mundane level.This involved a several week study period in …

The Restoration Process: Lessons From A Community-Based Conservation Initiative In Tunkhel, Mongolia, John Wendt

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As policy makers transition away from central planning, Mongolia’s natural resource professionals are challenged with cultivating community support for stewardship in a time of escalating ecological disturbance. Nutag Action Research Partners has partnered with community members and government officials in Tunkhel, a small village in north-central Mongolia, to develop local resource management capacity and jointly draft a Conservation Plan for a commonly grazed riparian pasture. This study is a preliminary assessment of the ecological and social factors influencing project implementation. Information was collected using a variety of qualitative methods including meeting observation, surveys, interviews, photographs, and a review of previous …

The Lucrative Business Of Children: A Study Of Child Trafficking In Nepalese Orphanages, Mira Saxe-Smith

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this research paper is to shed light on and explore the detrimental effects orphanage volunteer tourism has on communities in Nepal, especially the orphans themselves and their families who become subject to different degrees of manipulation, deceit and abuse due to the industry. This study will also delve into the Nepal Civil War’s effect on orphan trafficking in Nepal, the effects of institutionalization, media and campaigns launched against voluntourism, and other related topics. The paper particularly focuses on orphanage voluntourism in the tourist heavy and capital of Nepal, Kathmandu.

The information in this report was attained through …

Gender And Sexuality In Nepal: The Experiences Of Sexual And Gender Minorities In A Rapidly Changing Social Climate, Sophia Greene

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Gender and sexuality in current day Nepal is at the crux of a societal revolution, as the deeply ingrained patriarchal society framed against the emergence of new ideas results in a shifting social climate in which old and new clash. As modernization and economic development permeate Nepal, they bring with them individualistic ideals which gradually infiltrate society, altering long held social attitudes toward marriage, gender, and sexuality. However, despite societal change and even changing legislation for the rights of women and members of the LGBTI community, both of these minorities still face overwhelming discrimination and prejudice in Nepali society. Sexual …

Existential Avalanche The Lived Experience Of Climate Change In Dolpo And Mustang, Nepal, Keegan Mcchesney

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Himalayan communities stand precariously in an era of phenomenological uncertainty. Climate change is merely a lens through which we may observe and begin to understand such localized modern complexities. The people of the Tarap Valley in Dolpo, Nepal have experienced an increase in avalanches, snow leopard attacks and unpredictable precipitation patterns in recent years. In upper Mustang, Nepal, people have endured the harshest winter in generations and suffered from reduced water access. Environmental, climatic and weather related changes in both Himalayan districts have severely impacted traditional livelihoods and led some to adopt modern means of adaptation. Despite the scientific evidence …

The Social Institution And Inscription Of Child Marriage In The Terai Region Of Nepal, Alexandra Baer Chan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Marriage is typically considered to be one of the foundations of the family unit, and family is thought to be one of the pillars of society. Because marriage is such a primary social concept, its forms and functions may be taken for granted, despite the fact that it is culturally dependent. For example, the idea that one must be in love in order to get married may be more cultural ideal than universal idea—and is thus not true of many cultures. Arranged marriages are still performed in many parts of the world, and can be means of building kinship circles …

Confronting Cultural Challenges For Migrant Healthcare In Switzerland, Rebecca Weiss

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Switzerland is home to many migrants, and migration exacerbates health risks. In addition to physical health problems, migrants are more likely than Swiss nationals to face mental health challenges and cultural barriers, which complicate their experiences seeking healthcare. Similarly, clinicians encounter numerous challenges related to the special circumstances of migrant patients. As a response to the specific health needs of migrants, hospital networks and migrant support organizations promote the migrant health situation. However, these services are not ubiquitous in Switzerland, partly due to the partial freedoms of each canton to create its own health policy. This paper explores the barriers …

Babies First: Ensuring Proper Infant Nutrition During Emergencies, Abigail M. Alonso

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Background: Breastfeeding is the best source of nutrition for an infant, living in all regions and cultures. Recommendations apply across the board, from developed nations to refugee camps, from women with HIV to those with time constraints regarding feeding. There also exists a complex relationship between corporations that provide BMS and the NGOs working to promote breastfeeding in emergency situations amongst vulnerable populations.

Objective: The objective of this paper is to expose breastfeeding promotion, using the Dadaab camps in Northeastern Kenya as a case study of IYCF programs and support of breastfeeding among low-literacy populations with an emphasis on women …

Deterritorialización Y Resistencia En El Sur De Buenos Aires: El Qué, El Por Qué Y El Cómo De Preservación De La Identidad En El Barrio De Barracas En Una Era Del Cambio Y Inversión Por Parte Del Gobierno. / Deterritorialization And Resistance In The Southern Barrios Of Buenos Aires: The What, Why And How Of Identity Preservation In The Neighborhood Of Barracas In An Era Of Change And Outside Investment., Paige Moody

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The following study explores the processes of change in Barracas, a neighborhood in the southern zone of Buenos Aires. Barracas is the oldest neighborhood of the city, steeped in a rich history and comprised of a population that holds a strong collective identity. In the past couple of decades there have been extensive urban renewal projects applied to the area, bringing with them a struggle for the residents to maintain their identity and control over the future of the neighborhood. The questions this investigation seeks to answer are: What are these changes that have recently come to Barracas? Why were …

El Rol Del Parto Mapuche En El Mundo De La Medicina Moderna / The Role Of Mapuche Birth In A World Of Modern Medicine, Nita Chai

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Research Question: Is there existing demand for Mapuche birth practices and what are the barriers to incorporating them in the Chilean healthcare system? Objective: Analyze the current role of Mapuche birth practicesby determining what is the demand from the Mapuche for their use, describing the quality of communication between Mapuche women andmodern professionals, and identifying the perspectives of modern professionals on Mapuche birth practices. Background: Childbirth is an integral process for the human race. For many indigenous communities, the arrival of a new life holds cultural significance that is recognized through ceremonies during or after childbirth. Chile has implemented health …

Genocide In Northeast Brazil: Dismantling Colonial Legacies Of Contemporary State Violence In Salvador, Kelsi Sleet

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The systematic use of violence by the police a lead me to the city of Salvador, Bahia, a city where 80% of the population is Afro-Brazilian. Using a framework of structural violence I develop a critical understanding of how contemporary manifestations of colonialism impact black people in Salvador, Bahia. Through this research I problematize the idea of the “racial democracy” to understand how black people are experiencing the direct use of violence by the Brazilian state in the form of anti-black genocide. I ask how Black Brazilian activists in Salvador resist and challenge state violence, specifically in the context of …

Collecting To The Core: Classic Ethnographies, Anne Doherty, Janet L. Steins

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

Collection Management Matters: The Database Dance: Waltzing With A Big Budget Cut, Glenda Alvin

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

Constructed Constraint And The Constitutional Text, Curtis A. Bradley, Neil S. Siegel

Duke Law Journal

In recent years, constitutional theorists have attended to the unwritten aspects of American constitutionalism and, relatedly, to the ways in which the constitutional text can be “constructed” upon by various materials. This Article takes a different approach. Instead of considering how various materials can supplement or implement the constitutional text, it focuses on how the text itself is often partially constructed in American constitutional practice. Although interpreters typically regard clear text as controlling, this Article contends that whether the text is perceived to be clear is often affected by various “modalities” of constitutional interpretation that are normally thought to come …

Small Data Surveillance V. Big Data Cybersurveillance, Margaret Hu

Faculty Publications

This Article highlights some of the critical distinctions between small data surveillance and big data cybersurveillance as methods of intelligence gathering. Specifically, in the intelligence context, it appears that "collect-it-all" tools in a big data world can now potentially facilitate the construction, by the intelligence community, of other individuals' digital avatars. The digital avatar can be understood as a virtual representation of our digital selves and may serve as a potential proxy for an actual person. This construction may be enabled through processes such as the data fusion of biometric and biographic data, or the digital data fusion of the …

Seeing Two Worlds: The Eschatological Anthropology Of The Joint Declaration On The Doctrine Of Justification, Jakob Karl Rinderknecht

Dissertations (1934 -)

The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, signed in 1999 by the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church, represents the high-water mark of the twentieth-century ecumenical movement. It declared that the sixteenth-century condemnations related to the central question of the Reformation do not apply to the theology of the partner church today. This declaration rests on a differentiated consensus on justification that emerged over forty years of bilateral dialogue. Within this consensus, Lutheran and Roman Catholic theologies of justification, while different and possibly even incompatible, need not be understood as contradictory. This claim has proven to be …

“If That Diamond Ring Don’T Shine”: Models Of Consumerism, The Cultural Dialectic, And The Imperialist Economy Of George Eliot’S England In Daniel Deronda, Renee F. Berkheimer

Masters Essays

No abstract provided.

Library Perspectives, Issue 52, Spring 2015, Friends Of The Oberlin College Libraries

Library Perspectives Newsletter

This issue includes items about Director of Libraries Ray English, Stanley King's gift of jazz materials to the Conservatory Library, a rare Thomas Edison suitcase phonograph, and much more.

Identities And Interactions In A Transcultural Online Collaboration Project, Zsuzsanna Bacsa Palmer

English Theses & Dissertations

The traditional theoretical frameworks and assumptions about intercultural technical communication are no longer adequate to describe and teach intercultural communication now frequently happening through digital networks. My dissertation proposes to use the theory of cosmopolitanism as it has been recently applied in several social science fields as a framework for pedagogical project design in order to teach intercultural communication skills applicable in the global age.

The dissertation describes a transcultural online pedagogical project between Hungarian and U.S. students that I designed according to the principles of cosmopolitan theory. In this project, students were introduced to the basic tenets of cosmopolitanism …

Diffusion Of Inclusion: Measuring Willingness, Janet A. Levey

Dissertations (1934 -)

The purpose of the study was to: (1) examine psychometric properties of the Willingness to Adopt Inclusive Teaching Strategies (ITSinNE) instrument and (2) measure factors influencing a nurse educator's willingness to adopt inclusive teaching strategies based in universal design for instruction (UDI). Universal design for instruction (UDI) is one approach to facilitate multiple ways of learning and evaluation in various learning environments for all learners; however, it is not well known or researched in nursing education. Diffusion of innovation theory (Rogers, 2003) and universal design for instruction (McGuire & Scott, 2006) provided the theoretical framework for the study. A cross-sectional …

The Unsettled Church: The Search For Identity And Relevance In The Ecclesiologies Of Nicholas Healy, Ephraim Radner, And Darrell Guder, Emanuel D. Naydenov

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation examines the efforts of three contemporary theologians whose work is a part of the search for a new methodology for doing ecclesiology located on the continuum between the Church's identity and relevance. They are the Catholic theologian Nicholas Healy, Anglican theologian Ephraim Radner, and Presbyterian theologian Darrell Guder. They come to the subject matter from different ecclesiological backgrounds, and, as such, their work can be taken as representative in as much as it stands for their unique efforts to theologize within their own traditions and contexts. By critiquing and analyzing their proposals I will bring them into dialog …

Interference Archive: A Free Space For Social Movement Culture, Alycia Sellie, Jesse Goldstein, Molly Fair, Jennifer Hoyer

Publications and Research

This paper discusses activist archives within the context of community archives and the practices of archiving activism. Interference Archive (IA), a volunteer-run independent archive in Brooklyn, New York, is presented as one example of an activist archive. We explain the manner in which IA functions as a transmovement and prefigurative “free space” under Francis Poletta’s typology of movement spaces. Through this explanation, we illustrate how the structures of free spaces can help us understand the way activist archives forge connections between communities and the ways that they create new networks of solidarity through the archival process.

Domestic Violence And American Asylum Law, Lauren N. Kostes

Connecticut Journal of International Law

The United States grants asylum to applicants who can demonstrate they meet the definition of a "refugee, " based primarily on the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees. The definition has not been substantively updated since 1951 and does not easily apply to domestic violence victims who are seeking asylum. Generally, such victims need to show that the persecution they fear is on account of their membership in a particular social group, a showing that is made more difficult by a series of Board of Immigration Appeals' decisions that set forth complex requirements for social group claims. Even with …

Word (2015), Department Of English, University Of New Orleans

Word: News and Notes from the UNO Department of English

In this issue: Niyi Osundare honored with Nigerian National Order of Merit Award, Constance Fenimore Woolson, Undergraduate Internship at Gambit, profile of alum Sheba Turk

Full Issue 7(1) Spring 2015

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Depaul College Of Law

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Language As The Foundation Of Identity Among Sherpa Youth In Nepal, Joshua H. Ginder

Student Publications

This paper explores how young Sherpas in Nepal use their language as a tool for identifying themselves as uniquely Sherpa in a mutlicultural Nepal. By analyzing the way Sherpas use their language in social settings and at a radio station, the author suggests the Sherpa language is perhaps the only truly unique quality that delineates Sherpas from other Nepalis.

Liberation Through Domination: Bdsm Culture And Submissive-Role Women, Lisa R. Rivoli

Student Publications

The alternative sexual practices of bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism (BDSM) are practiced by people all over the world. In this paper, I will examine the experiences of five submissive-role women in the Netherlands and five in south-central Pennsylvania, focusing specifically on how their involvement with the BDSM community and BDSM culture influences their self-perspective.I will begin my analysis by exploring anthropological perspectives of BDSM and their usefulness in studying sexual counterculture, followed by a consideration of feminist critiques of BDSM and societal barriers faced by women in the community. I will then address the …

Investigating Sexual Violence As A Weapon Of War In The Democratic Republic Of Congo (Drc) Through Critical Discourse Analysis, Amanda R. Kaste

Student Publications

This paper addresses the large-scale sexual violence that has taken place (and still continues) within the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) using critical discourse analysis. Disturbing statistics have resulted in the identification of the DRC as the "rape capital of the world," and a variety of national, regional, and international actors have employed sexual violence as a weapon of war. Victims frequently receive little assistance, perpetrators act without fear of serious repercussions, and the government of the DRC fails to successfully implement relative legislation. Through an investigation of the discourse surrounding victims, perpetrators, and political institutions respectively, I will develop …

Consensual Violence: A Cultural Contradiction, Lisa R. Rivoli

Student Publications

In American culture, violence is typically understood as inherently negative; no one would want to be personally subjected to violence because violence by its very nature is undesirable. Thus, the idea of seeking out violence seems paradoxical. In cases where a person actively pursues violent treatment, the question arises: can violence be consensual? This question is included in discourse on sadomasochism (SM), or an attraction to giving or receiving pain in a sensual or sexual context, which many argue is a form of violence. Through a critical discourse analysis of legal statutes regarding interpersonal violence and interviews with women involved …