Digital Commons Network^™

June 2025, Robert Kelly

Robert Kelly Manuscripts

No abstract provided.

Examining Shifts In Group-Based Motivations For Civil Conflicts In Libya, Michael D. Buhrmester, William B. Swann Jr., Brian Mcquinn, Alexis Everington, Layal Hafid, Harvey Whitehouse

New England Journal of Public Policy

This study examines shifting group alignments in Libya from 2011 to 2019, exploring their impact on continued conflict. Following up on our original research into group bonding among insurgents during the 2011 revolution, we conducted two surveys in Benghazi: first in 2015, during the aftermath of Operation Dignity, and again in 2019, as General Khalifa Haftar’s forces waged war against Tripoli. Our results show that the previously very strong group bonds with 2011 revolutionary fighters had dissipated by 2015, replaced by allegiance to Haftar’s militias. By 2019, this alignment extended to Haftar himself, reinforcing an “us versus them” mentality that …

How Gaza Sees The 2023-2025 War And The Future Of The Israel-Palestine Conflict, Scott Atran, Laura Rodriguez-Gómez, Kamil Yilmaz, Ángel Gómez

New England Journal of Public Policy

In political science and international relations, as in foreign policy and military circles, a debate is ongoing between “realists” and “moralists” regarding the importance of material factors (territory, economy, security, etc.) versus value-laden factors (justice, ideals, identity, etc.) in motivating, sustaining, and ending wars. An early 2025 representative survey of Gaza’s population considers both sets of factors in how Gazans perceive the present and future states of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Comparisons with our previous studies in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe aim to extend this survey’s relevance beyond the current Israel-Palestine theater. The survey suggests that after waging …

Subnational Diplomacy As 'Positive Fragmentation': Our Best Hope For A Peaceful Collapse Of The Nation-State?, Alison R. Holmes

New England Journal of Public Policy

The current phase of globalization is one of fundamental erosion in the efficacy of the territorial nation-state and slow implosion of traditional sovereignty-based models of the state system. Combined with the breakdown of the rationalist-universalist ‘consensus,’ sub-state entities up and down the “vertical axis” of diplomacy are increasingly asserting mutually exclusive concepts of power and self-determination that could lead to a potential fragmentation of the basic structures of governance. Linear theories of state development and traditional definitions of sovereignty, with its consequent forms of recognition, urgently need to be revised or the likelihood of a continued disruption of international collaboration, …

Political And Psychological Effects Of Political Public Art In Conflict Zones, Leora Sotto, Caryl Sibbett

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article will explore the topic of conflict-related visual-political media displayed in public in Israel and Northern Ireland, such as posters, banners, and murals. We will discuss examples of such political public art, looking at graphic characteristics as well as several multi-faceted topics that tend to appear: first, the topic of victim / victimizer, art expressing feelings of aggression, blaming, injustice, or pain; second, cross-cultural similarities and differences in the art expression; third, art promoting peace. We will reflect on these from a psychotherapy perspective, noting themes of trauma and dis/empowerment. We will discuss visual art and war, their interaction, …

The Day You Begin: A Case Study Of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy In Early Childhood Classrooms, Kim Shelton

Dissertations

Culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) has garnered growing attention in early childhood education due to its potential to cultivate inclusive and equitable learning environments for increasingly diverse student populations. This qualitative case study examines how early childhood educators perceive and implement CRP in classrooms with high concentrations of immigrant and culturally diverse students. Additionally, it explores the perceived impact of these practices on instructional effectiveness, classroom climate, and teacher-student interactions.

Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis. Thematic analysis yielded four central findings: (1) teachers’ understandings of CRP varied considerably, with some demonstrating strong intentionality and others …

Situating The Statistical Legacies Of Galton And Fisher: Multi-Layered Discussions In The Mathematics Classroom, Deborah Kent, Jemma Lorenat

The Mathematics Enthusiast

When ethics requirements are confined to courses taught by non-STEM faculty, students may erroneously conclude that such considerations are at most marginal to their professional training. Primary source readings and discussion frameworks can tangibly link data analysis to questions of values within data science, computing ethics, or statistics courses. The particular cases of Sir Francis Galton and Sir Ronald Fisher—both statisticians and eugenicists—provide a rich collection of easily accessible digitized primary source material as well as a vast number of related popular and technical publications. Galton and Fisher figured centrally in the development of statistics as it is currently practiced …

Down Syndrome In Africa: Challenges, Opportunities, And Future Directions, Eimear Mcglinchey, Salina Tewolde, Amanda He, Juan Fortea, Lingani Mbakile-Mahlanza, Ayda Tefera, Emmanuel Epenge, Jason Hassenstab, Rachel Maina, Zul Merali

Brain and Mind Institute

INTRODUCTION: As life expectancy improves for people with Down syndrome (DS) in Africa, the risk of developing DS-associated Alzheimer’s disease (DSAD) will rise. There is a pressing need to plan for this emerging challenge, particularly in the context of existing health and social disparities.

METHODS: This work emerged from a pan-African collaboration, including discussions at the Brain Ageing and Dementia in Low- and Middle-Income Countries conference held in Nairobi in 2024, where stakeholders identified regional priorities for DS and dementia care.

RESULTS: Limited epidemiological, cognitive, biomarker data, delayed diagnoses, and gaps in specialized services may impact access …

Ecological Grief Among Farmers And Pastoralists In Ethiopia And Kenya, Syed Shabab Wahid, Christine Musyimi, Benjamin Oestericher, Linda Khakali, Lauren Carruth, Emily Mendenhall, Edna Bosire

Brain and Mind Institute

Climate change is a major cause of mental distress worldwide. In many ways, climate change has become a chronic disaster, while in other ways each acute event can accumulate and present challenges within and between communities. A growing body of evidence indicates that a changing climate can precipitate a cluster of negative affective states scholars call “ecological grief.” Ecological grief reflects psychological responses to climate changes and destruction of nature, species, culturally significant or sacred spaces. Until now, ecological grief has been conceptualized as a psychological response connected primarily to the destruction of the natural environment, and has not fully …

Service-Learning For Teachers/Exegetes: A Postcolonial Avenue For Biblical Sustainability Education, Maricel S. Ibita

Theology Department Faculty Publications

While textual excavation mainstreams biblical scholarship, studies on biblical pedagogies for social justice have also proliferated. In Activism, Bible, and Research-based Teaching (2024), the contributors expound on their biblical research and activism in areas of disability studies, gender-sexuality, community grounding and university pedagogies, Judaeophobia, climate change, etc. Although the book mentioned sustainable development, there is no discussion yet of “education for sustainable development”. In this study, I will briefly present the debate on education for sustainability (EfS), especially in relation to faith-based organizations, including educational institutions. Next, I will delve into the participative, community-based methodology of service-learning and its limits, …

Indigenous Science And The Legacy Of Fire: Resilience, Fuels, Mosaics, And Eco-Cultural Landscapes In Oregon’S Coastal And Cascade Range, Julia Alcalá

University Honors Theses

Most of Oregon's western Cascade and Coastal range is a landscape that has historically been considered devoid of mid to low-intensity fires by Western science. However, for time immemorial, Indigenous peoples have been stewarding the forests through the use of "good fire," creating diverse and heterogenous landscapes with mixed fire regimes, ranging from less than a decade to several centuries since the last fire, resulting in a mosaic of patchy forest, oak savannas, prairies, and wetlands. Yet centuries of Indigenous displacement, cultural assimilation, and suppression of cultural burning contributed to this prevailing belief. Despite that, in recent decades, Western scientists …

Alloparenting And Male Infant Care Behaviors In Varecia Rubra (Red-Ruffed Lemur), Noelle Wilcox

University Honors Theses

Nonhuman primates are known for their complex social structures that sometimes includes cooperative breeding strategies. In recent years there has been an increase in investigating alloparenting (infant care provided by an adult or subadult that is not a genetic parent) and male infant care, and how such behaviors contribute to the overall assistance to the extreme energetic investment and costs of the mother for the rearing of offspring. There is also debate to how male care has evolved in the primate clade, be it through the theory of kin selection or theory of mutualism. However, there is not enough research …

Bridgeless To Better Burnside: Reclaiming Burnside, Reconnecting The West Side, Michael Azierski, Brian Bill, Eric Gasper, Alex Gill, Jackson Morrison, Michel Rojas

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

This report, produced for Better Block PDX, is a resource for shaping the future of lower West Burnside Street during and after the 2028–2033 Burnside Bridge closure. It captures current conditions, community input, principles of transportation planning and placemaking, and recommended interventions to build a shared vision for transforming the corridor from a barrier into a pedestrian-friendly, vibrant street. Framed around a two-phase timeline, temporary interventions during the bridge closure and permanent improvements after the new bridge opens, it offers a snapshot of community visions and a blueprint for turning those visions into action. Recommended interventions for the new bridge …

A Postcolonial Re-Telling Of The Life And Times Of Dr. Bethenia Owens-Adair, Lucille Marie Walker

University Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to explore the story of Dr. Bethenia Owens-Adair, one of the first female doctors in the Pacific Northwest, who wrote the bill that would one day enact Oregon's long standing eugenic sterilization laws. Utilizing postcolonial framework primarily provided by psychiatrist and political writer Frantz Fanon, and supplemental literature from historian Ann Stoler, this paper will look into Dr. Adair's life story and her eugenic efforts in an attempt to understand the colonial roots of turn-of-the-century beliefs about bodies, behavior, and will ultimately aim to question how these beliefs may still reverberate through society today.

Exploring Systems Of Discrimination And Violence Against Wayuu Indigenous Women/E’Rrajawaa Sucuaypaa Jutumaa Tu’U Muju’Ulaca Err’Uin Wayumuin Sumuin Tu’U Wayuu Jiertkaa Sumuin Tu Muilian Jain, Dayanna Palmar Uriana

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

From the moment an Indigenous girl is born, her identity is shaped by two intersecting categories: gender and ethnic belonging. These identity categories influence various aspects of her environment, upbringing, education, work and life.

As a member of the Wayuu people, I understand the challenges of being an Indigenous woman. The Wayuu Indigenous people are the largest Indigenous group in both Colombia and Venezuela. They inhabit the desert and coastal territory of La Guajira, a region shared between the two countries. However, for the Wayuu, it is a single, unique territory, encompassing the physical, biocultural and spiritual dynamics rooted in …

Ai Reviewer And My Comments Of The Essay, “The Misuse And Abuse Of The Concept Of Civilization”, Yeomin Yoon

KAUPA Letters

No abstract provided.

Gianjara's Ribs: The Ecosystem, Body, Animalia, And Politic, Linus Gomez Ellis

University Honors Theses

This work is a series of four six foot tall full-body portraits of people, which are displayed alongside an actual, physical item or garment present in the associated painting. The purpose of this is to blur the line between the fiction of the individuals depicted and the viewer. By creating "portals" through which to view them as equals in stature, Linus Gomez Ellis is taking something that can be seen in the ecosystem of this fiction and making it into an objective reality. The most enduring, well preserved, and eternal pieces of history and anthropology are tall tales. This ecosystem, …

Indigenous Language Revitalization: The Klamath And Cherokee Tribes, Josephine Stapleton

University Honors Theses

In recent decades, there have been initiatives to revitalize Indigenous languages all across the globe. This paper explores the efforts of two Native American tribes to revitalize their Indigenous languages in the face of historical and ongoing colonial pressures. Models for language revitalization necessarily differ based on an Indigenous group’s specific historical, cultural, and even geographical contexts, which makes the development of standardized models for Indigenous Language Revitalization challenging. This literature review will examine how the Cherokee Nation and the Klamath Tribes are implementing language revitalization on a tribal level in ways that address each tribe’s unique historical successes and …

Creating Possibilities: The Ethelind Pope Brown Collection: An Overview Of Who May Have Illustrated America's Oldest Naturalist Paintings, Maksym Dedenko

University Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the Ethelind Pope Brown Collection at the University of South Carolina, a rare assembly of hand-illustrated naturalist artworks depicting an assortment of flora and fauna from the eighteenth century. Despite its artistic and educational value, the creator of the collection remains unidentified. Through close textual and visual analysis, archival research, and comparative stylistic study, this project explores several potential authorship theories while providing background to the necessity of evolving science that facilitated its creation.

The Chumash War Of 1824: Revolution And Counterrevolution In The California Missions Santa Inés, Santa Barbara, And La Purísima, Joseph V. Payne

Master's Theses

In 1824, the Indigenous Chumash of Missions Santa Inés, Santa Barbara, and La Purísima de Concepción went to war against the settler-colonial system that bonded them to the mission lands and forced labor regime demanded by the Spanish Franciscan missionaries and compelled by Mexican military force in Alta California. The conflict lasted months and included violent battles and skirmishes at all three missions, the militant occupation and reclamation of La Purísima, a mass exodus to the interior of the territory, and the subsequent counterrevolutionary collaboration of the Spanish missionaries and Mexican military to return many (but not all) of the …

Cultural Ecologies And Local Policies: A Comparative Analysis, Alexis M. Gonzalez

University Honors Theses

In recent years, the role of arts and culture in economic development, community outreach, and local government has become focused on as a field of study. However, this is a new field of academic study, and there have not been many systematic comparative analyses of the role of arts and culture at the local level. Indeed, there is limited information at the state and federal level as well. Historically undervalued and underrepresented, yet with a streak of elitism involved, arts and culture is now being looked at as a major economic driver and social connector by policymakers at all levels …

Full Issue

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Asino Ti Agtawid?: Ti Panagabel Iti Kina-Ilokano Iti Self-Portrait Mask (2021) Ni Luce F. Melegrito, Mark Louie Tabunan

Katipunan

Hinaharap dito ni Tabunan ang Self-portrait Mask 1 (2021), isang ilustrasyong digital ni Luce Melegrito, upang pag-aralan ang kasalimuotan ng usapin ng identidad na hinubog ng kasaysayan at karanasan ng migrasyon at diaspora. Isinusulong niya ang performatibong kalikasan ng identidad sa paggamit ng wika at paghabi ng mga imaheng hinango sa personal na buhay, binuo ng magkakahidwang puwersa ng turismo, at kinilala bilang integral na bahagi ng kultural na pamana. Sa halip na ituring na instrumento ng pagkukubli, nagiging obheto ng paglikha ang maskara sa loob ng pagsusuri ni Tabunan. Ginagawan niya ng paralelismo ang kasaysayan ng pagkakatatag ng Calle …

Infrastructure From Below: Mediasi Dan Politik Pembangunan Infrastruktur Air Di Kota Balikpapan, Muhammad Althaf Nandiati Yusfid

Antropologi Indonesia

The city of Balikpapan is experiencing a water crisis. The discrepancy between the city's water supply and Balikpapan's demography put pressure towards the city's capability of supporting its own citizens. This issue is exacerbated by the development of Indonesia's New Capital (IKN) which is located just outside Balikpapan. Therefore, the development of water infrastructure is imperative for the city. Yet, there's no recent visible development of water infrastructure in the city. However, I argue that water infrastructure development actually exists, though in a subtle form. The informal water suppliers that are prevalent in the city is tied with how the …

Corny Landscapes: Strategi Adaptasi Petani Gorontalo Dalam Menghadapi Kebijakan Agropolitan Jagung, Vaisnava Vidia Mahatma

Antropologi Indonesia

The corn agropolitan policy implemented in Gorontalo in the early 2000s brought significant changes to the lives of local farmers. This paper explores the impact of the policy on the social and economic aspects of farmers' lives. The most notable change is the shift from subsistence practices to market-oriented production, creating what Eric Wolf describes as the peasant dilemma. Furthermore, the policy has triggered the emergence of middlemen and private actors who exploit the agricultural sector, trapping farmers in persistent poverty and precarious working conditions. This study employs qualitative methods with an ethnographic approach, including direct observation and interviews conducted …

Subjektivitas Anak Muda Adat Dan Partisipasi Ritual Dange Di Kayaan Mendalam, Maria Rosaria Amadea Wedyarsa, Windy Aulia Zahra

Antropologi Indonesia

A Great amount of anthropology literature regarding rituals might focus on the differentiation between the sacred and the formal in reviewing religious practice. However, this article tries to explore the perspective of the indigenous youth in seeing the non-formal aspect of ritual such as party aspects, joyfulness, and dimensions of affective-aesthetic satisfaction. With the methods of ethnographic fieldwork, through observation and interviews, we argue that indigenous youth in Kayaan Mendalaam, Kapuas Hulu Regency, West Kalimantan, build their attachment towards adat ritual through various social practices rather than through formalistic commitment to ritual. This form of practice was the expression and …

Trademarking Terroir: Geographical Indications As A Form Of Cultural Property In The U.S.-Eu Trade War, Sara Evans

Chicago Journal of International Law

Geographical indications (GIs) designating wines, spirits, and agricultural products have been the subject of a trade war between the U.S. and EU for several decades. The American legal regime often denies European producers exclusive rights to use GIs in the American market because U.S. authorities consider many European terms generic. As a result, EU regulators are reluctant to protect American designations of origin in the European market. Little progress has been made toward reaching a consensus about which terms should be protected and how they should be protected in transatlantic trade.

Economics has been the dominant lens through which the …

Moving The Needle: The Policy Of Change On Syringe Access, New York City And State, 1988–2023, Joyce Rivera

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

By the mid-1980s, the HIV/AIDS epidemic breached a longstanding consensus between the political class and its bureaucratic alliances that had relied for decades on attitudes and orientations that championed punitive prohibition toward drugs as a bedrock principle of policy making. This ‘focusing event’ created an opening for HIV/AIDS activists to build a movement that offered an alternative, a more effective and just approach to how government policies and practices can manage illegal drugs and the persons who use drugs.

The dissertation uses several theoretical and methodological tools to address the central research objective that highlights the critical role played by …

Cuny In The News: A History Of Reporting On The Humanities At The City University Of New York, Jacqueline R. Cahill

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project compiles newspaper articles concerning humanities at the City University of New York, placing them on a timeline to establish patterns and changes within media reporting and public perception. The archival research of this project explores four distinct eras, grouped around major events in the history of the university: 1961-1971, for the founding of the university and open admissions struggle; 1980-1990, for the response to the ‘70s fiscal crisis and introduction of the Board of Trustees; 2000-2010 for the post-open admissions era and the centralization of CUNY; and 2020-present, for COVID and a new fight for racial equity. Examining …

Vital Signs: Tibetan In The Linguistic Landscape Of Jackson Heights, Olivia Mignone

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation critically examines neoliberal discourses of diversity surrounding the neighborhood of Jackson Heights in Queens, New York through a study of Tibetan in the linguistic landscape (LL). Neoliberal discourses of diversity view linguistic and cultural pluralism through a consumerist lens, centering the market value of minoritized languages and cultures and how they can be leveraged for economic benefit. Focusing on an exploration of Tibetan (in)visibility and hybridity in public spaces, this study contributes a view of diversity that is grounded in lived experiences and reflected in the linguistic and cultural exchanges of the Tibetan refugee population with other groups …