Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Differential Decomposition Patterns Of Human Remains In Variable Environments Of The Midwest, Melissa A. Pope

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Where do people die alone when they remain undiscovered for extended periods of time? Estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) is critical to reconstructing the events surrounding a person's death and this is an area in which forensic anthropologists have played a leading role. This thesis applied an anthropological framework that takes a comprehensive approach to analyzing the demography of unaccompanied deaths, the relationships and timing of decomposition in multiple depositional contexts, and created a model for the prediction of accumulated degree days (ADD) for bodies within enclosures.

While there have been extensive experimental and case study reviews on decomposition …

A Private Commodity Or Public Good? A Comparative Case Study Of Water And Sanitation Privatization In Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1993-2006, Erin Steurer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The water privatization project in Buenos Aires, Argentina between 1993 and 2006 serves as the main case study in this investigation. The study begins by introducing background information on neo-liberalism and free market capitalism and their role in promoting private sector participation in the water supply and sanitation (WSS) services industry. A comparative case study analysis of the Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Dolphin Coast, and United Kingdom case studies has revealed that there are some key similarities between the case studies. In the conclusion, the key similarities are analyzed to make broader implications about the nature of private sector participation …

Re-Islamization In Higher Education From Above And Below: The University Of South Florida And Its Global Contexts, Terri K. Wonder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores Islamism's interplay with higher education as the movement advances an agenda for worldwide reformation. Over an eighty-year period, Islamism has appropriated higher education institutions, professional associations, on- and off-campus organizations, and publications as a primary means to achieve its utopian objective of the Nizam Islami, or "Islamic Order." Findings show how the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt developed a Weberian bureaucratic organizational and administrative structure to exert influence not only in Egypt but also the world. A Qutb-inspired "hijra" of Muslim Brothers in universities proved itself adroit at filling macro-and micro-level policy vacuums in Soviet-aligned post-colonial societies, marginalizing …

Political Pedagogy And Art Education With Youth In A Street Situation In Salvador, Brazil: An Ethnographic Evaluation Of The Street Education Program Of Projeto Axé, Lance A. Arney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Projeto Axé is a non-governmental organization that carries out political-pedagogical work and art education for children and adolescents living in a street situation in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. I conducted an exploratory ethnographic study with Projeto Axé's Street Education program in order to observe its day-to-day activities and to conduct a utilization-focused program evaluation (Patton 1997) of its pedagogical praxis. This thesis will describe how ethnographic fieldwork methods are interwoven with the political-pedagogical approaches of Projeto Axé's Street Education program and explain how street educators attempt to construct citizenship with participants in the Street Education program. Findings are based on an …

The Dark Side Of Humanity: An Empirical Investigation Into Global Slavery, Christine Balarezo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Global slavery includes human trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, commercial sexual exploitation of children, and organ trafficking. Despite its official abolishment within the international community, global slavery continues to thrive in many parts of the world. The various types of slavery do not restrain themselves in a mutual exclusive manner; rather, they transcend and merge to create inter-connectedness within the illegal world of slavery. For instance, a person that is trafficked for the purpose of labor -- domestic or forced -- can also become sexually exploited and prostituted. This thesis discusses the nature and scope of the different faces of …

Falun Gong In The United States: An Ethnographic Study, Noah Porter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, has been described in many ways. It has been called qigong, one of many schools of physical exercises that aim at improving health and developing "supernatural abilities". Scholars and mainstream media have referred it to as a "spiritual movement" or religion, although practitioners claim it is not a religion. It has been called a cult, in the pejorative sense rather than in a sociological context, by the Chinese government and by some Western critics. In the writings of Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, it is referred to in different ways, …