Digital Commons Network^™

Decoding Financial Inclusion In A Post-War Jurisdiction Sri Lanka: A Case Study, Shanthi Elizabeth Senthe

PhD Dissertations

This qualitative study examines the complex interplay between the financial regulatory landscape and financial inclusion in a post-war jurisdiction. The global debates surrounding the deployment of financial inclusion initiatives virtually center on many legal and non-legal discourses, thereby making this a significant study. This study further identified specific thematic strands which highlight how financial inclusion is regulated and administered in a post-war jurisdiction by amplifying the lived experiences of individuals that are caught between the regulatory structure of financial inclusion. In particular, this doctoral research further examines how stakeholders engaged in financial inclusion have shaped the financial regulatory landscape. By …

An Empirical Analysis Of Factors Affecting Autonomous Truck Adoption, Christopher Mondy

Dissertations

Autonomous vehicles have the potential to revolutionize the transportation industry. The segment of truck transportation is no exception. Autonomous vehicles have the potential to improve trucking safety, to increase shipping velocity, and to decrease costs. Additionally, autonomous trucks could be an important tool to help alleviate the ongoing driver shortage that the trucking industry is contending with.

Autonomous truck adoption is not guaranteed. Transportation equipment decisions are market-based, and autonomous trucks must present a compelling business case to transportation professionals. As such, it is imperative to understand the decision-making factors that drive transportation solution adoption, and how autonomous trucks could …

Everyday Aesthetics, Space, And The Sensory: Fear Of Crime And Affect In Inner Sydney, Murray Lee, Jonathan Jackson, Justin R. Ellis

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"In this paper we explore pre-conscious aesthetic and sensorial aspects of affect in fear of crime. Drawing on data from focus groups undertaken in inner Sydney, Australia, we link the sensory and aesthetic preconditions of fear of crime to its affective, behavioural and cognitive elements. We argue that fear is grounded in the structural, personal and inter-subjective components of individual’s lives and their interaction with physical and social environments, which then influence how individuals cognitively understand their own risks and react behaviourally to these emotional responses. By bringing alive the importance of environmental cues and the cultural and structural positions …

Sharing Hearts: Buddhist Charity And Urbanization In Vietnam, Sara Ann Swenson

Dissertations - ALL

My dissertation analyzes how and why volunteers joined or established grassroots Buddhist charities in Ho Chi Minh City. I spoke with approximately 400 members of 25 charities, focusing on seven main groups that shared an overlapping network of volunteers. My research includes perspectives from demographic groups often excluded from positions of authority in institutionalized Buddhism and, in turn, Buddhist studies scholarship, such as low-income day laborers, elderly women, Buddhist nuns at peri-urban temples, and a lay community of queer "same-gender-loving" [đồng tính] men. Despite their marginalization from formal leadership in Vietnam's state-managed National Buddhist Sangha, volunteers claimed social and moral …

Seeding Sovereignty: Sensory Politics And Biodiversity In The Karen Diaspora, Terese Virginia Gagnon

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation traces the sensory and political dimensions of Karen refugees' co-movements with their seeds, plants, and agricultural practices in exile. It also tentatively explores understandings of sovereignty beyond the frame of the Westphalian nation-state through engagements with seed and food sovereignty in three locations that complicate understandings of territorial sovereignty. In this dissertation I explore what I call "agricultural forgetting" and how it occurs for Karen refugees in the context of the camp. Agricultural forgetting, I suggest, is the process by which linkages between people and plants are broken generationally. Such forgetting occurs in especially sudden and forceful ways …

Thriving In Student Affairs Professionals: An Exploration Of Supporting Constructs, Shawn Brodie, Phillip Campbell, Gretchen Day Fricke, Kawanna Leggett, Norris Manning

Dissertations

Student affairs professionals provide vital services to college students while also facing various challenges that impact their ability to thrive at work. This study examined overall thriving, its constructs and a set of predictors that impact thriving in student affairs professionals. Seligman’s (PERMA) theory of thriving provided the conceptual foundation for this study. Understanding the constructs that support thriving for student affairs professionals will help institutional leaders and professional organizations develop work environments and strategies that promote thriving. A global pandemic occurred during the time of this research, allowing exploration of how COVID-19 impacted thriving. This study also included variables …

The Significance Of Significance: Decolonizing Cultural Resource Management Practices In The Upper Midwest, Justin Allen Woods

Theses and Dissertations

Indigenous communities across the United States were coerced and tricked into signing treaties that ceded significant portions of their ancestral lands. This land holds cultural value to the tribal members, however academics and archaeologists who do not often shared these values analyze these landscapes to determine their cultural and historical significance, a decision-making process mandated by federal and often state law that has important economic, political, and social consequences. This paper analyzes examples from one context, cultural resource management (CRM) projects in the Northern Great Lakes Region of Wisconsin, Michigan, North and South Dakota and Minnesota, as a case study …

Ikebana: An Ancient Tradition Of Contemporary Healing And Artful Practice, Jennifer K. Fortuna Phd, Otr/L

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Dr. Ricardo Carrásco, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, is an occupational therapy professor and ikebana artist. He provided the cover art for the Summer 2021 edition of The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy (OJOT). Ikebana is the ancient Japanese art of arranging flowers. “Kanta of the Wind, Sun and Moon” is an ikebana design made from blue and white Phalaenopsis orchids, chrysanthemum, bear grass, and heirloom driftwood. This gendaika, or freestyle design, is a haiku tribute to the wind, sun, and moon. Dr. Carrásco has been practicing occupational therapy and ikebana for more than 5 decades. As an occupational scientist and …

Political Disaffection And The Struggle Against Impunity, Joannie Jean Phd

Societies Without Borders

The end of the dictatorship in Chile happened in a climate of almost euphoria for the associations of victims and their families. The return of democracy to Chilean society was met with a hope that they would go back to the agenda for social justice laid out by Salvador Allende. 27 years after, the mobilisations of memory still struggle to be heard and have their claims met. Indeed, the groups are still ever present in the fabric of the society, searching for complete truth and effective justice. This paper seeks to shed light on the historical struggle for justice, truth …

Chronology Of The History Of Eastern Washington University, Charles V. Mutschler, Jay W. Rea, Steven Bingo

University History Resources

This chronology of the history of Eastern Washington University has been compiled by many persons, under the direction of the University Archivist. Intended for use by persons at the university, the chronology was originally created for use by the EWU Centennial Committee in 1981. The university was then planning activities to commemorate the centennial of the opening of the institutions’ predecessor, the Benjamin P. Cheney Academy.--from the Foreword.

How Does The Law Affect Trust In Bitcoin?: An Analysis Of Legal Consciousness, Marcelo De Castro Cunha Filho, Renato Opice Blum

California Western International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Conducting Field Work With Microfinance Programs’ Participants In A Non-Western Setting: A Reflexive Account, Mohammad Shahjahan Chowdhury

The Qualitative Report

While volumes of procedural guidelines are available on how to conduct fieldwork, in practice a researcher encounters various challenges and dilemmas in the field. This paper presents a holistic view of the puzzles this researcher encountered in gaining access, negotiating positionality, application of the pre-determined methodology, and ensuring ethics during his fieldwork with microfinance program participants in a non-Western setting. This paper contributes to the fieldwork literature by enhancing a researcher’s understanding of the unanticipated challenges.

A Crack In The Looking-Glass Self: Hearing And Socialization, Grace Keyes

The Qualitative Report

A significant problem of classic theories of socialization, such as Cooley’s looking-glass self, is that such theories fail to consider biological factors such as hearing in the process of socialization. To address this problem, I raised a two-pronged question: how does deafness affect social interactions upon which much of socialization is dependent and can the experiences of one person’s lifelong socialization help uncover limitations of a classic theory of socialization? The key study participant in this instrumental case study is an individual with moderately severe hearing loss and whose lifelong experiences were collected primarily through ethnographic field techniques. Findings from …

“The Lunchroom Is Dirty And The Food Is Nasty”: Ethical Dilemmas In Conducting Qualitative Food Studies Research In Detroit And New York City Public Schools, Sophia Rodriguez, John Lupinacci, Kristen Goessling

The Qualitative Report

In this article, reflecting critically on past school food studies and considering the landscape of qualitative methods, notably youth participatory action research methodologies, the authors share methodological suggestions for centering social justice and sustainability with the lived experience of youth by drawing on their critical qualitative research in Detroit and New York City public schools. We advance an analytic framework that aims to center youth voices and solutions to social problems such as food justice and equity. To this end we call for attention to human rights, youth participatory research, and relational ethics as part of our intention to center …

Conquer And Prevail Issue 72 July 15 2021, Wofford College. Office Of Marketing And Communications

Conquer and Prevail Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Cultivating Knowledge, Bill Dabney

University of Mississippi News

No abstract provided.

(Im)Mutable Race?, Deepa Das Acevedo

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

Literacy, Rhetoric, Tradition, And Truth In The Age Of Bede, Gerard A. Lavin Iii

English Language and Literature ETDs

Despite his own high level of literacy and education, the Venerable Bede (672/3–735) inhabited a world in which nearly all personal, social, educational, and political discourse was conducted orally. A thorough understanding of his works will require an understanding of this discourse, but attempts to apply broad theories of “orality” derived from other cultures to early medieval England have repeatedly foundered. This dissertation establishes a set of guiding principles to produce a more nuanced and localized model of discourse in Bede’s England and observes a variety of ways oral and literate forms of rhetoric were employed by political actors in …

Determining Dietary Niche In Primates Using Portable X-Ray Fluorescence, Theresa C. Schwartz

Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado

Diet is a critical component of the ecology of an animal. Many dietary reconstructions involve destruction of the sample. Portable X-Ray fluorescence (pXRF), however, is a non-destructive method of gathering elemental data. This is important for research in biological anthropology and diet reconstructions because it leaves a sample intact of which there might only be few specimens. There has been a gap in dietary reconstructions using non-destructive methods like pXRF which is portable, cheaper, and as accurate as destructive methods and should therefore be implemented into research of this nature. This research attempts to validate this method by determining dietary …

Assessing Latinx Colorism And Skin Tone Dating Preferences In Adults, Yessica M. Berumen Martinez

Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado

Colorism is favoring by individuals of lighter skin over darker skin. This differs from racism because racism is discrimination directed towards racial or ethnic minorities, while colorism typically refers to within-group prejudice. The purpose of this study is to find out whether and how Latinx individuals’ self-perceived skin color, family, and friends influence their dating skin color preference. 145 respondents ages 18 and over completed the In-group Colorism Scale by Harvey, Banks, and Tennial (2017) and answered additional questions on skin tone perceptions on dating, and parent and friend influences. There was no significant connection between self-perceived skin color and …

Book Review Essay: Nepali Migrant Women: Resistance And Survival In America, Isabella Chawrun

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

“Not Women’S Work”: Gendered Labor, Political Subjectivity And Motherhood, Mary E. Wilhoit

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article challenges broadly applied beliefs about the gendered nature of informality and the marginalization of single mothers to argue that many such women in Ayacucho, Peru routinely sought out formal-sector jobs and used these to exert authority over certain local processes of development. I argue that this situation, influenced in part by the male-dominated nature of the lucrative but completely informal coca economy, may also reflect Andean ideologies of maternal authority and the freedom afforded to single, rather than married, women. This article draws on over sixteen months of fieldwork in rural Ayacucho, during which time I observed women’s …

Memory, Imagination, Identity: Pilgrimage And Portraiture In Medieval And Early Modern Europe, Helena Guzik

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Despite the wealth of material and textual evidence attesting to the practice of Christian pilgrimage throughout history, comprehending an individual’s understanding of pilgrimage in relation to his or her own identity has always proved challenging. Pilgrimage studies scholars have tended to look to travel accounts, chronicles, and collected pilgrim souvenirs to discern how pilgrims were affected by and responded to their experiences. One form of source material that has gone largely underexamined in this regard is the genre of portraiture. This article explores how and why the concept of pilgrimage could be incorporated into the self-fashioned images of patrons in …

(Re)Creating A Pilgrimage: A Century Of Pilgrimage Reports From Jesuit Novices In Canada (1864-1968), Rev. André Brouillette

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

In 1864, a new type of pilgrimage was implemented in Canada: the Jesuit novitiate pilgrimage. Since the creation of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1540, a month-long pilgrimage is one experience required of new members. This formative moment has been enshrined in the Constitutions of the order. The experience is also reminiscent of the journey of the founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), who went to Jerusalem as a young man desirous to imitate Christ, and later applied the moniker ‘the pilgrim’ to himself in an account of his life confided in Luis Gonçalves da Câmara (1555). Pilgrimage was …

Pilgrimage To And With The Black Nazarene: The Aesthetics Of Devotion In Quiapo, The Philippines, Celia Bonilla

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Objects of faith in various parts of the world draw visitors of all denominations, for different reasons. This paper studies the polysemic behaviour of people going to Quiapo Church in Manila, the Philippines. In particular, it focuses on the mammoth processions participated in by tens of thousands in a show of devotional fervour. In the conclusion, I tease out and summarise this aesthetic experience of devotion capturing the embodied values as annotated by the pilgrims. The three embodied values are a sense of personal miracle, a need to reciprocate, and a sense of community with and through this wooden image …

Mount Hermon (Jabal El Sheikh) In Lebanon, A Sacred Biblical Mountain: Pilgrimages, Traditions And Rituals, Nour Farra Haddad

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Mount Hermon, also known as Jabal El Haramoun or Jabal El Sheikh, is the highest peak in the Anti-Lebanon eastern mountain chain, located between Lebanon, Syria, and the Israeli- Palestinian territories. Since antiquity, this mountain has been considered holy, a fact to which many archaeological remains bear testament. At present, one can count hundreds of religious sites from different religious communities including Christians – Maronite, Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical – as well as Sunnis and Druze. In the Bible we can find more than 70 references to Mount Hermon. It is said locally that Jesus Christ was transfigured at its …

Pilgrimage To A Greek Island Shrine, Evy Johanne Håland

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

In modern Greece, the festival dedicated to the ‘Dormition’ of the Panagia (‘the All-Holy One’), who is the Virgin Mary, is celebrated on 15 August. On Tinos, in the island group of the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea, this fertility- and healing-festival dedicated to the Dormition of the Panagia is particularly important due to several reasons. The Church of the Panagia, Euangelistria (‘the Annunciation’), owes its fame to a miraculous holy icon (image) of the Annunciation, which was unearthed in a field in 1823. Since then, the miracles worked by this icon have made Tinos a centre of Pan-Orthodox worship, …

Unique Genomic Architecture In The Descendants Of The Beringian Migrant Population: Founder Effects, Natural Selection, And Adaptation, Sara D. Niedbalski

Anthropology ETDs

The last great migration of our species saw humans traverse the Bering landmass from Siberia into the American continents in what has proven to be one of the most profound evolutionary events in modern human history. During the Last Glacial Maximum, a small band of Siberians entered the Beringian corridor, where they persisted, isolated from gene flow, for several thousand years before expansion into the Americas. The particular ecological features of the Beringian environment, coupled with an extended period of isolation at small population size, would have provided evolutionary opportunity for novel genetic variation to arise as both rare standing …

The Transformation Of Identity In Early Medieval England: Continuity, Disruption, And Creolization, Michael Sean Limmer

History ETDs

The period following Rome’s administrative withdrawal from Britain (c. 410 CE) has sparked intense debate for centuries, spawning a variety of theories concerning ethnic identity and the nature of cultural exchange on the island. Presently, the very nature of the term “Anglo-Saxon” itself is at the center of these discussions. This thesis examines historical, archaeological, and genetic evidence to cast a light on who constituted the people of Britain during this migration period through to the time of Alfred, and to what extent creolization might have played out. Ultimately, the evidence from this period suggests that ethnic identities cannot reasonably …

Conducting A Systematic Social Observation Of Body-Camera Footage: Methodological And Practical Insights, Vijay Chillar, Eric Piza, Victoria Sytsma

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Increased use of video recording technologies such as drones, smartphones, CCTV, and body-worn cameras (BWCs), provides researchers with modes for observing human behavior in their natural settings. Although not originally intended for empirical inquiry, these data sources facilitate a video data analysis (VDA) framework used in the social sciences. BWCs represent an emerging technology within this framework, and BWC footage provides valuable insight into situational dynamics at play during various social phenomena. When combined with systematic social observation (SSO), researchers are well-equipped to unpack social phenomena in a manner that overcomes many challenges of traditional qualitative methodologies. This article incorporates …