Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Movement For A Gasfield Free Northern Rivers And Its Applicability To Other Movements, Mariah Thomson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Gasfield Free Northern Rivers campaign evolved into a broader social movement opposing unconventional gas extraction in the Northern Rivers, New South Wales, Australia. This movement manifested the Bentley blockade in which thousands of people collaborated to resist the invasive gas industry. This movement was successful in getting all gas exploration licenses in the region bought back by the NSW government, thus achieving the goal of keeping the Northern Rivers Gasfield Free. In this study I investigate how the GFNR campaign reached the scale of the Bentley blockade, and what aspects of this campaign and the broader movement are applicable …

Islands In A Sea Of Aaruul: Globalization And Mongolian Cheesemakers, Pearse Anderson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite being a sparsely-populated country with less than 2% of its land arable, Mongolia has developed a rich and complex food culture, notably for its meat and dairy products, which could soon be at an historic high thanks to the tens of millions of animals on Mongolian pastureland. Many Mongolians and non-Mongolians view the countryside as a sea of milk that is currently being underutilized for economic exploitation. Various projects, whether funded and organized by international NGOs, the Mongolian government, or private companies, have tried to use Mongolian’s dairy resources to fill Mongolian demand, with more recent private ventures also …

Living With Bees: A Look Into The Relationships Between People And Native Bees In Western Nepal, Alexandra Cobb

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Nepal is home to four native species of bees and as many methods to produce and gather their honey. In recent decades, several domestic and international organizations and governments have researched bee populations and provided financial and technical support through subsidies, trainings, and materials in efforts to conserve biodiversity and develop beekeeping in Nepal. However, little attention has been given to human-bee connections, the factors that shape them, and how they can provide a lens for understanding human-environmental relationships. Thereby, this study aims to exploring a selection of people’s experience with beekeeping and perspective of bees in order to illuminate …

Spun Truths: Outcomes Of Mongolia’S Cashmere Program In Domestic Processing Facilities And Supply Chain, Daniel Strodel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Since Mongolia’s transition to a market economy cashmere goats' population quintupled and their share of the nation’s total live-stock doubled. Cashmere is Mongolia’s third largest export and herders’ primary source of cash income. However, Mongolian cashmere processing facilities operate well below capacity because they cannot compete with high prices paid by Chinese traders. The latest intervention in a series of industry reforms is the four year Cashmere Program, which is being implemented by the Mongolian Ministry of Agriculture and Light Industry. In order to increase the amount of cashmere processed and exported from Mongolia, the program invests in domestic processing …

Local Democracy And Education Policy In Newly Federal Nepal, Jack Shangraw

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In 2017, Nepal held its first local elections in twenty years. These were the first elections held under Nepal’s new constitution, ratified in 2015, which transitioned the country from a unitary state to a Federal Democratic Republic. This case study analyzes the effect of the transition to federalism on decision-making and community representation in local governance in Annapurna Rural Municipality in West-Central Nepal. This study focuses specifically on education policy, one of the more public and contentious policy responsibilities devolved from the federal level to the local units under the new constitution. This research is based on interviews with government …

Kanjirowa Blues: An Exploration Of Environmental And Climate Consciousness In Lower Dolpa, Nepal, Casey Greenleaf

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

It has been scientifically demonstrated that high altitude, mountainous regions such as the Himalayas are extremely susceptible to and at accelerated risk of the effects of climate change. The regions of Lower Dolpa discussed in this work, Juphal, Dunai, Chun, and Dapu, lie in a glacial watershed, and are at present risk of landslides, floods, wildfires, and rely on agricultural and transhumant livelihoods that are uniquely susceptible to the impacts of changing temperature and weather patterns. People in this region are being forced to incrementally adapt and reframe their understanding of their surroundings due to both aforementioned severe events as …

"It Is Our Own Thing": The Expression Of And Limits To Enculturation At St. Joseph's Anglophone Parish, Kayleigh Kaminski

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Down a small side street in the heart of Yaoundé, Cameroon, St. Joseph’s Anglophone Parish houses worshippers from the Northwest and Southwest regions of the country. Its members bring their cultural traditions to the church in the process of enculturation, and mass is filled with clergy-sanctioned elements of traditional culture, but beyond its walls, people still carry out the traditional practices that are deemed as “non-Christian” by the Church. This study seeks to examine the ways that traditional culture manifests itself both inside and outside St. Joseph’s Anglophone Parish, exploring the ways in which tradition is translated in the church …

Couvrant Les Yeux, Les Oreilles Et La Bouche: How The Musée Royale De Batoufam Preserves Tradition And Culture For Multiple Audiences And Perspectives, Julia Hirsch

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Museums are important to study as a way of representing, preserving, and teaching culture. In this study, I wanted to explore how James Clifford’s exhibitionary complex, about the interactions of the viewer, the museum, and the represented culture, applies in the unique case of Musée Royale de Batoufam, a living site museum full of art and rich with tradition. In studying this, I examined the way different audiences use the museum and how the museum can preserve the idea of the coexistence of modernity and tradition, which is integral to Batoufam life, for all audiences. In conducting 20 interviews with …

Perspectives On Community Policing Of Durban Juveniles Living On The Streets, Dena Cheng

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The aim of this project is to critically analyze the structure and performance of the South African Police Service (SAPS) at the nexus of juvenile criminal justice and homelessness. Facing issues of social discord, legitimacy, and patterns of corruption following the era of apartheid, SAPS plays a critical role in both preventing as well as eliminating crime. Therefore, this project focuses on a particularly marginalized community, under-aged street children, since the treatment of youth crime and/or criminality in Durban serves as a microcosm of a larger system of practices implemented by SAPS. Through in-depth interviews with local social workers, a …

Reintegration Of Women Perpetrators In Post-Genocide Rwanda, Terrie Soule

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Women tend to be victims during times of violence. Due to this the breadth of research on women who perpetrate violence is limited. Due to stereotypes women are more often than not seen as peace makers and nurturers, which ignores the fact that women have just as much capability as men to inflict violence. During the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, average citizens, including women, became perpetrators of genocide. As this genocide only occurred in 1994 research on the reintegration of perpetrators is limited. This paper asks the question how are women perpetrators of Genocide being reintegrated into society? …

Where Do We Go From Here?: Two Key Informants' Perspectives On How To Address Conscientious Objection In Top Provision In South Africa, Talia Parker

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This perspectives research endeavor examines the barriers to TOP access that arise from conscientious objection through the conflicting network of rights and legislation in South Africa. While previous research has evidenced the demonstrable barriers to accessing TOP care in South Africa, this project aims to push the existing literature and the field as a whole one step further to interrogate how to move forward within the realities of conscientious objection.

To do so, I conducted interviews with key informants in the field of reproductive healthcare provision, research, and activism in Cape Town on their perspectives about the practice of conscientious …

The 25th Anniversary Of South African Democracy: Exploring Perspectives Of 10 Stellenbosch Residents On Patriotism And National Pride, John Mitchell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the prevalence and qualities of a South African patriotism in Stellenbosch. 25 years after the transition to democracy and an election in 2019, this study aims to develop a sense of national pride using a small sample size. The major question is how is that pride expressed? Is it using rhetoric from the post-1994 ANC nation-building projects? Or have those efforts lost salience in people’s lives?

To conduct this research, I used mainly a 'vox pop' style interview, meaning participants were chosen randomly to answer a short, 5-6 question survey about national …

Radical Moves: Negotiating Community And Transformation With (Some Of) Sit/South Africa’S Students Of Color, Kavita Sundaram

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Finding its foundations in inquiries of community, knowledge(s), relational truths, and radical transformation, this project wonders specifically how students of color from the School of International Training (SIT)/South Africa: Multiculturalism and Human Rights Spring 2019 semester abroad in Cape Town experience, negotiate with, and envision the potential futures of community/ies in and around the program. My research operates within a socioprogrammatic context which is highly racialized, seeking to listen to, document, and place in conversation the perspectives of our students of color. My meditations ground themselves in the individual and collective narrative(s) of our students of color, explored primarily in …

Z4, A Slow Puncture: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of Language, Embodiment, And Meaning-Making, Charlotte Rose Samuels

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In my ISP, I explored language as it relates to the ways in which people living in Cato Manor make sense of HIV/AIDS in their community. With 7.1-7.2 million people living with HIV (PLWHIV) in South Africa, individuals across the country are either infected or affected by illness. KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), the province with the highest rate of HIV, is also the province that was surveyed with the disproportionately highest internal stigma rates for PLWHIV. High prevalence of HIV, particularly in KZN, calls for a constant contextualization of life in the presence of illness.

Throughout the world, metaphor and symbolism is …

"I Have Plenty Of Things To Say:" The Language Choice Of Senegalese Women Writers, Alexander Cullison

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this research is to better understand the forces and motivations that influence Senegalese women writers’ choice to write in the languages they choose. Senegalese women writers began publishing written works in 1976, but the majority of works published by women from Senegal have been in French. While France’s colonization of Senegal has a major role in this, other factors, like the language policy of Senegal, play an important role in decision. Other external forces, like the narratives around what languages one should write in and politics of getting published, also influence this decision. Through the content analysis …

Women In Conservation: A Study Of Effective Community-Based Conservation And The Empowerment Of Women In Tanzania, Ruby Krietzman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The subject of this study is women involved in Community-Based Conservation (CBC) from areas surrounding Lake Manyara National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and Mount Kilimanjaro National Park. CBC is a participatory process between people and organizations who have responsibilities affecting conservation. Communities surrounding protected conservation areas tend to experience high levels of poverty and marginalization due to exclusive conservation policies and the lack of co-management principles. Although tourism revenue is abundant in these locations, the benefits rarely impact local community members that disproportionately experience the effects of conservation. This is especially true for women who hold the responsibilities of collecting …

Analysis Of Swiss Attitudes On Migration And Their Impact On Policy, William Mccarthy Murray

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper shall analyze Swiss attitudes as they relate to migration in order to explain why recent controversial popular initiatives aimed against foreigners have been successful. Swiss attitudes will be analyzed as they relate to perceptions of economic and cultural threat. More specifically, Swiss attitudes will be related to specific fears of labor market competition, social spending, over-foreignization, and integration with the EU. Afterwards, these attitudes will be used to explain the success of controversial popular initiatives as a means to implement policy aimed against foreigners.

Child’S Play: A Service Learning Project Conducted At Roroš, Nové Mešto Pod Smrkem, Sanaya Attari

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For my Independent Study Project, I designed a board game for young children inspired by the service learning activities held at ROROŠ. ROROŠ is a private organization located in the town of Nové Mešto pod Smrkem, offering different activities for children which provide a meaningful use of their leisure time. For a period of three weeks, I lived in Nové Mešto with Yveta Svobodová, one of the head directors of the organization. During my stay, I partook in several activities each week and used my experiences to generate new ideas when designing the final game. The game was completed by …

Iceland's Migratory Birds In Changing Environmental Conditions: An Interactive Synthesis, Frances J. Duncan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Human-driven changes to environmental conditions alter the habitats, behaviors, and migration patterns of migratory species. Changes in temperature, vegetation, and precipitation are just some of the factors contributing to shifts in phenology, demography, and distribution of migratory birds. These changes are driven by anthropogenic climate change and amplified by human land-use change, and are especially intense at high latitudes. This project creatively communicates the effects of environmental changes on three species of migratory birds in Iceland—the northern wheatear, the Greenland white-fronted goose, and the black-tailed godwit—using principles of storytelling and game design. The resulting interactive product is a game that …

Analysis In E Minor: An Autoethnographic Poetry Collection And Study Of Transgender Identity In Liminal Amsterdam, Em Panetta

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study is an autoethnographic account of the extent to which liminal identity, specifically genderqueerness, are continuously developed in the city of Amsterdam. Transgender identity is a permanently liminal personhood, which is influenced by both potentially liminal periods of time and the liminality of spaces in which the subject lives. At the time of this study, my genderqueerness was situated in the deeply liminal city of Amsterdam for a transient, yet semi-permanent, length of time; thus, this is a study of the temporal and spatial impacts that the Dutch context has had on my personhood. Five locations in the city …

“Oh Lord, Save Us From Such Monsters:” Maternal Impression And Monstrous Births In The Eighteenth-Century Netherlands, Sara Hollar

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This historical survey focuses on the memoirs of Catharina Schrader, a Frisian midwife in the eighteenth century, as a lens into beliefs about maternal impression and monstrous births during the early modern period. The then popular theory of maternal impression, where pregnant women could impact their gestating fetus’s appearance or characteristics through their behavior, thoughts, and feelings, was used to explain many instances of monstrous births. Monstrosity, now understood as congenital defects or disabilities, was seen as a result and marker of pregnant women’s moral failings. Using examples of monstrous births from Schrader’s memoirs, I analyze the threat of maternal …

Criminalizing The Other: Exploring The Impact Of The Netherlands' Adaptation Of Prosecutorial Guidelines On Sentencing Disparities, Alia Nahra

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research explores the impact of the 2015 institution of prosecution guidelines in the Netherlands. Prior to this switch, the Openbaar Ministerie operated using a punishment point system, which provided a mathematical formula with which to decide sanctions. Though the motivation of this change was to make the overall system more efficient and enable individual prosecutors to consider each case in a customizable and more equitable form, this research demonstrates that the change has served instead as a perpetuator (and in some cases, facilitator) of the persistent ethnic and gender biases already at work in the Netherlands. The social and …

“What Are You?” An Exploration Of Race And Mixed Identity In The Netherlands, Claire Haug

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Netherlands is a country well-known for its multiculturalism and politics of tolerance. But is this the whole story? How do colonial legacies impact the current racial politics in the Netherlands, and how does this framework differ from that of the U.S.? This zine, along with reflective artist’s statement and literature review, provides background in both colonial histories and current language and context around mixed race/bicultural identities and the regulation of interracial relationships in the Netherlands. Furthermore, it explores my own relationship with my mixed identity, as a student coming from the U.S. to the Netherlands.

Subsistence In Samoa: Influences Of The Capitalist Global Economy On Conceptions Of Wealth And Well-Being, Tess Hosman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper studies Samoa’s position in the global economy as an informal agricultural economy. A country’s access to the global economy reflects a level of socio-economic development and political power. It is also reflective of the country’s history of globalization. This research uses an analysis of past and current forms of colonization that continue to influence cultural and ideological practices, specifically practices regarding food. Concepts of wealth and well-being in subsistence and capitalist economies are compared and contrasted. Research takes place on the main island of Upolu, in and around the capital, Apia. Information is accumulated from previous research and …

Endangered Danger: Christianity, Affect, And Harmless Snakes In Samoa, Ariel Abonizio G. S.

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Candoia bibroni (Pacific Boa), is a non-venomous Samoan snake that recently become an endangered species, possibly due to human killing on sight. This interdisciplinary research investigates how Pacific Boa came to be perceived as dangerous animals that need to be killed. Following snake tracks through the history of Samoa and into the present, this research suggests that the relationship between Samoans and the Pacific Boa questions the simple binaries of real/imagined, material/semiotic, subjective/objective, and material/immaterial. Particularly with the introduction of Christianity by missionaries in the early-1800s, the Pacific Boa snake came to inhabit the liminal space between these apparent …

Cancer Management In Kenya - Awareness And The Struggles Patients Face To Access Treatment, Care & Support, Ashley Nmoh

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The amount of cancer cases in Africa, and Kenya specifically, are rising at an alarming rate. This study was conducted to determine the challenges that patients with cancer in Kenya face to access treatment, care and support. Thirty-nine cancer patients were interviewed and thirty cancer patients filled out a questionnaire about their experiences of having cancer in Kenya. In addition, twenty key informants were interviewed including doctors, caregivers, cancer NGO executives, a researcher, a psychologist, a National Health Insurance Fund official and a director from the Ministry of Health. A breast cancer awareness survey was also administered to fifty-nine women …

Empowering Women Through Land: An Analysis Of The Barriers In Accessing Land Rights Within Kisumu County, Kenya, Madison Shaffer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project aims to gain a greater understanding of the current state of women’s land rights in Kisumu County, Kenya. It will discuss current barriers women face in accessing land and how land can impact a woman’s empowerment and in turn, her control over her health. Property rights can provide women with a secure place to live, a place of economic activity and reduce dependence on men. Property ownership can also serve to empower women and “give them greater bargaining power at the household, individual, and community level...increasing agency” (Dworkin,2009). Unfortunately, men have almost always been favored in land rights …

Motorbike-Related Injuries & Safety Practices Among Motorbike Riders In Kisumu, Western Kenya In 2019, Rowan Poehler

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Road traffic injuries are a growing public health problem throughout the world. Kenya has is known for having unsafe roads with an estimated 13,463 road traffic fatalities in 2016 and 24% of road traffic fatalities coming from 2-and 3-wheeled vehicles (WHO, 2018). This study sought to analyze road safety measures and road traffic injuries amongst motorbike taxi drivers in Kisumu, Kenya. A qualitative survey was administered to 152 motorbike taxi drivers in Kisumu over a two-week period in April 2019. The results were then analyzed. Results showed that 70% of drivers owned a helmet for themselves and 48.3% of drivers …

Home And Healing In The In-Between: Migrant And Refugee Mental Health In Tunisia, Donia Torabian

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research is a study of migrant conceptions of home and healing in Tunisia. It seeks to understand the ways in which migration, trauma, and healing interact as lived experiences for people who migrate for various reasons to Tunisia. Using past research from Terre d’Asile and Médecins du Monde, the research seeks to understand the main risk and protective factors of migrant mental health. The research is a qualitative study of the ways in which migrants identify with having experienced trauma and the healing practices they may have brought to or learned in Tunisia. It also hopes to build connections …

A Study Of Stambeli In Digital Media, Nneka Mogbo

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research paper explores stambeli, a traditional spiritual music in Tunisia, by understanding its musical and spiritual components then identifying ways it is presented in digital media. Stambeli is shaped by pre-Islamic West African animist beliefs, spiritual healing and trances. The genre arrived in Tunisia when sub-Saharan Africans arrived in the north through slavery, migration or trade from present-day countries like Mauritania, Mali and Chad. Today, it is a geographic and cultural intersection of sub-Saharan, North and West African influences.