Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Forgotten Few: Foreign Professional Workers & U.S. Foreign Policy, Adrian Pandev

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

U.S. foreign policy took a dramatic shift since the Trump Administration took office in 2017. The country has pulled out of the Paris Agreement, has imposed more sanctions on Russia, and has vowed to renegotiate international trade deals to “Make America Great Again.” U.S. foreign policy has an enormous impact on the lives of foreign professionals, from the ability to obtain work visas to being able to simply travel to the U.S. to pursue employment opportunities.

Corruption, Political Instability And Transnational Crime In The Country Of Guinea-Bissau, Brian K. Harte

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

Internationally, Guinea-Bissau is regarded as a ‘cocaine gateway’ and transition point for narcotics trafficking from South America to West Africa, and into Europe (United Nations, 2011). Furthermore, “many esteemed experts have asserted that West Africa, and Guinea-Bissau in particular, is crumbling under the pressures posed by this drug trade which threatens to turn the region into an epicenter of lawlessness and instability” (Bybee, 2011, p. 3). We will provide an overview of transnational crime, corruption and political instability that contribute to social unrest within the country of Guinea-Bissau.

Colombian Conflict: A Sociological View Of A Gendered Society, Jorge Restrepo

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

Jorge Restrepo, having lived and experienced Colombian conflict, explores how the construction of the war narrative was driven by berracos (an expression used in Colombia to identify uber-males masculinized by war). In Colombia, women, afro-Colombians, native-Colombians, LGBT, anyone over sixty (as they are not perceived useful to society), children (childsoldiers), who have no representation before the government, the voiceless minorities, were cruelly marginalized. The Colombian conflict imposed a power dynamic between men, women, and other minorities, established by the government and the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People’s Army) as part of their internal war.

Sisters Of The Caliphate: Media And The Women Of Isis, Kathleen German, Rosemary Pennington

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

Women have long been viewed as the “weaker sex”–more peace-loving and passive than men. However, clashes in Sri Lanka and Northern Ireland have shown that women are both willing and able to participate in violent conflict (Alison, 2004; Cheldelin & Eliatamby, 2011). We will specifically examine the recruitment to and roles of women in the Islamic State through an examination of the scholarship on female fighters, in order to contextualize the women of ISIS. We conclude with a suggestion that scholars and others interested in the experience of women in conflict move away from overly simplistic framings which suggest women …

Forgetting Fallujah: Covert Silence, Digital Public Memory And The Civilian Consequences Of Operation Phantom Fury In Iraq, Jason L. Jarvis

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

“Forgetting Fallujah” challenges the institutional memory of Fallujah advanced in “US Marines.” For most people, the understanding of war is based entirely on media images (Schwalbe, 2006; Sontag, 2003). This essay, like the work of Jackie Orr (2016) is a salvo in an ideological struggle to re-signify the meaning of Fallujah. The invasion of Fallujah was more severe for civilians than the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, yet Fallujah caused almost no public outcry because it lacked visual evidence and went uncovered by mainstream American media (Entman, 2006). Covert silence in “US Marines” demonstrates that digital memory is easily …

Disinformation As Warfare In The Digital Age: Dimensions, Dilemmas, And Solutions, Minna Aslama Horowitz

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

Disinformation as warfare in the digital age may not be so different than any other type of warfare; wars are fought for power, and some benefit economically while the vulnerable suffer the most. The vast majority of conflicts today are not fought by nation states and their armies; increasingly, they are fought not with conventional weapons but with words. A specific sort of weaponry—“fake news” and viral disinformation—has been at the center of policy discussions, public debates, and academic analyses in recent years. Everyone who is active on digital platforms can be responsible in the simplest of ways: not lashing …

Introduction: Wars, Conflicts, And The Marginalization Of Dissent, Tuija Parikka, Basilio G. Monteiro, Sejal Singh

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

Conflicts, wars, and crisis, unfortunately, abound, transform, and become metastasized in unexpected ways. The vast majority of armed conflicts today are not fought by nation states and their armies but rather informal entities, such as gangs and warlords using small arms, improvised weapons, and media technologies. Few, usually poor resource regions, get global attention, thus deprived of political will and economic resources needed to resolve the conflicts. As women and other minorities are becoming primary targets and suffering unprecedented casualties, they are profoundly affected by practices and cultures of warring, yet often remain voiceless in the global arena.This special issue …

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Journal of Vincentian Social Action

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Journal of Vincentian Social Action

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Journal of Vincentian Social Action

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Los Proyectos Educativos Alternativos Para Terminar Con La Desigualdad, Samuel Christensen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Esta investigación se centra en la presencia de pedagogía crítica y educación integral y popular en el sistema educativo en Chile y Argentina y los intentos de establecimientos escolares de usarlas para liberar a sus estudiantes de ciclos de segregación, discriminación y desigualdad. Hay una brecha larga en el sistema educativo actual donde un grupo de estudiantes en alta condición de vulnerabilidad social han sido etiquetado fracasos sin esperanza. Cuatro instituciones escolares fueron estudiadas a través de entrevistas, conversaciones y observaciones participantes. Mientras estos proyectos muestran un gran esfuerzo para crear espacios para cada tipo de estudiante, todavía falta mucho …

Exigimos Inclusión, No Tolerancia: La Interseccionalidad En Los Movimientos Estudiantiles En Argentina, Angélica Ramos

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Los movimientos estudiantiles en Argentina surgieron en respuesta a las desigualdades y represión dentro del sistema educativo. Los estudiantes intentan luchar para una educación de calidad, igual y gratuita para todos. Lamentablemente, como consecuencia de la historia de genocidio y esclavitud en Argentina, ideas racistas y coloniales existen hoy día en las mentalidades de muchos argentinos. Esta investigación analiza las maneras en que permanece estas mentalidades dentro de los movimientos estudiantiles y como evita la interseccionalidad e inclusión de poblaciones marginalizadas. Porque si continúa la falta de interseccionalidad de parte de estudiantes privilegiados hacia estudiantes y poblaciones femme, trans, indígena …

Let’S Talk: An Examination Of Parental Involvement As A Predictor Of Stem Achievement In Math For High School Girls, Nicol R. Howard, Keith E. Howard, Randy T. Busse, Christine Hunt

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This research was conducted to examine the influence of parental involvement, in the form of parent conversations, on mathematics achievement for high school girls. Data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) public-use file provided a sample of 13,694 students, including 6,592 girls for our analyses. A scale for measuring parent conversations was developed and regression analyses were conducted to examine whether this scale variable predicted mathematics achievement. Results indicated that conversational parental involvement was a significant predictor of mathematics achievement for Black and White girls, but not Hispanic and Asian. Implications for research and policy initiatives are …

Utilization Of Statistics For Provision Of Business Information: Implementation Of Α-Sutte Indicator On Provision Of Stock Movement Prediction Information, Nuning Kurniasih, Ansari Saleh Ahmar, Nanik Kurniawati

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The Current information services are dealing with big data that is freely accessible. Companies providing information services and products need to develop creativity and innovation to maintain their existence. In this paper, we offer that information specialist can add value to information. The added value is given through an analysis of information that is relevant to user needs. The Research and Development Method can be used to develop a framework for service information products and services, and bridge the gap between the theories studied in higher education and the needs of the industry. α-Sutte Indicator can be used to predict …

Teaching Students To Critically Evaluate Textbooks, Christopher Mchale, Ian Mcdermott, Steven Ovadia

Publications and Research

This chapter is a case study describing how library faculty combined service learning and information literacy to help students evaluate textbooks, comparing commercial ones to Open Education Resources. The underlying idea was to give students not only a scholarly grounding that would help them as they move through their academic careers but also a practical vocational orientation to help them succeed in the workforce and, hopefully, become future contributors to the free culture movement.

Developing Civically Engaged Citizens In An Introductory Criminal Justice Course, Tamara J. Lynn

eJournal of Public Affairs

Criminal justice programs are often considered a training ground for students’ future careers; however, that training often lacks a focus on civic engagement. This article highlights an experiential learning project in an introductory criminal justice course that was designed to develop the skills of civically engaged professionals. The project, combining research with service-learning, was implemented in an undergraduate criminology course to demonstrate the ways in which research and theory are necessary for implementing social and political change. Student participants achieved the desired learning outcomes and gained a deeper understanding of their role as change agents. The success of this project …

A Guide To How Your Child Learns: Understanding The Brain From Infancy To Young Adulthood, By D. P. Sortino, Jessica Platt

LWLC Faculty Research

In the first of three books in his Brain Smart series, David P. Sortino emphasizes the importance of honoring “miraculous differences in abilities and learning styles” (p. xvii). He illustrates his point with an example of a fifth grade science teacher who brought a live bat to school in order to teach a lesson on species. Introducing a live mammal instead of instructing students to group animals based on their similarities on paper, the teacher stimulated students’ limbic system (hippocampus), which resulted in a higher level of cognition for students in her class. This example captures the essence of A …

The Effects Of Grading Practices On Motivations For Learning At The Middle School Level, Justin D. Stebbins Ms

Muskie School Dissertations

The objective of this quantitative survey study was to measure the effect grading traditionally (using averaging) versus non-traditionally (best, most recent evidence) on four types of student motivation. These types of motivation were mastery orientation (learning for learning sake), performance orientation (going for the grade or external recognition), performance avoidance (not wanting to appear incompetent), and mastery avoidance (not wanting to lose what you have). This set of orientations is derived from the goal orientation theory.

In this study, 1,652 students and 93 educators between four schools took an anonymous 20-minute online survey. Due to lack of teacher participation, two …

God And Governance: Reflections On Living In The Belly Of The Beast, Peter Mclaren

Education Faculty Articles and Research

In this critical rage article, Peter McLaren unleashes his revolutionary critique aimed at capitalist injustice behind postdigital socio-technological developments, historical forms of injustice such as racism and colonialism, and recent political events and developments including but not limited to US interventions in Latin America and the presidency of Donald Trump. Rising from two important prongs of McLaren’s work—revolutionary critical pedagogy and liberation theology—the article connects myth, religion, science, politics, technology, and humanity. The article reveals McLaren’s most intimate thoughts and experiences and aligns them with sophisticated theory and philosophy. It dances between the individual and the collective, the realistic and …

Beware The Cat In The Hat: How Children's Literature Is The Modern Form Of Segregation, Lucy Kebler

Celebration of Learning

Every person grows up exposed to children’s literature. Unfortunately, much of the children’s literature that is published is racially discriminatory, historically inaccurate, blatantly offensive, or pure propaganda. The research for this presentation began in Augustana College’s library and has transitioned to a much broader space: The Saint Louis Country Library. Through this research, it has become obvious that diverse literature is hard to find and is often marketed as only readable for those in the minority race depicted. Many libraries mark literature that contains African Americans, as to help “guide” readers in their selections. Books labeled in this way make …

Empowered Learning Systems In Student Success, Craig C. Laupheimer

Education | Master's Theses

Abstract/Description

Although various support systems are attempted by public schools to cause changes in student motivation and academic performance, students continue to consistently under perform and doubt their academic potential. A literature review revealed a growing body of research outlining a direct relationship between internal beliefs and performance outcomes. Yet little has been done to understand student thought patterns from their perspective, or to what extent they are able to recognize and address the internal systems of language, belief, and emotion that interact with learning. By analyzing a wide range of student perspectives, this study examines what tools and strategies …

Kids These Days: Increasing Youth Engagement In Community Heritage And Social Justice Through The Implementation Of A Youth Participatory Empowerment Model, Melanie Canaday-Talley, Lindsay Clemens, Amanda J. Dworak Rowland, Mary Gillis, Curlinda Mitchell Blacksheep, Jancarlos Jose Romero

Dissertations

The purpose of this co-authored, qualitative, action research study was to examine how to empower youth to become active participants in their communities. Citizen engagement in community and public life is vital to a healthy democracy and young people have a unique place in community citizenry, but are often dismissed or excluded from decision-making. The research team developed a model, the Youth Participatory Empowerment Model (YPEM), to guide youth through a process of identifying and engaging a community heritage or social justice need in their community. The team assembled a guidebook of activities to engage groups in difficult self, group, …

Dilemma And Knowledge - Book Review Of Re-Imagining Utopias: Theory And Method For Educational Research In Post-Socialist Contexts, Jessica Zychowicz

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

No abstract provided.

No Place To Be! Common Goods And Homelessness, Patrick Riordan

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

The phenomena of homelessness will be shown to challenge the naïve assumption that our political existence is grounded in a sense of goods we hold in common. And at the same time, a clearer understanding of what is involved in having goods in common will highlight a further dimension of the scandal of homelessness in our societies who are systematically excluded from the enjoyment of negative liberty, an important good in common institutionally secured in liberal democratic states. They are denied their negative liberty, because they are denied the physical space in which they might perform activities essential for personal …

Welcoming The Stranger, St. Vincent De Paul And The Homeless, Robert P. Maloney

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

The theme is examined in three steps: Vincent and the homeless, The Vincentian Family Global Initiative against Homelessness, Blending systemic change and a “culture of encounter” in serving the homeless. Will our worldwide Vincentian Family, working together, have a significant impact on the lives of the homeless, bringing them a sense of security, peace, and a viable future, in the 150 countries where we live and serve? That is the goal of the megaproject we are launching to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the birth of St. Vincent’s charism.

Land-Lodging-Labor: The Aesthetic, Ethic, And Political Causes Of Homelessness In Latin America, Emilce Cuda

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

It is impossible to talk about the homeless, understood as a lack of decent housing, without at the same time talking about the lack of work and the concentration of land ownership in one sector of society. “Homeless” in Latin America, and for the Argentine Pope, is the lack of land-lodging-labor. The problem of the three “T’s” in the Spanish Tierra, Techo, Trabajo is the question I will develop from aesthetic-ethical-theological foundations, according to the theological method of the Latin American teaching: See-Judge Act.

Regaining Dignity And Social Inclusion: Street Homelessness In Manila And Strategies From Below, Cynthia Calubaquib, Nicole Tilman

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

Describing the situation of the street homeless in Metro Manila, the underlying causes of their condition and the – unfortunately still inadequate- responses of the government. Second, we review our, and hopefully also the Philippine Church’s, motivation and inspiration to engage in this kind of service. In this paper we have first reflected upon the situation of the street families, as well as our motivations to work toward ending street homelessness. Based on these we have suggested two strategies.

Homelessness And Hospitality On The Ground, A Methodological Proposal For Catholic Social Teaching, Daniel Pilario

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

What resources, perspectives and experiences can we draw from formal Catholic Social Teaching and broader Catholic social thought to help us understand and interpret street homelessness in a global context? This article is intended to be an invitation to share narratives of hospitality on the ground vis-à-vis the problem of homelessness in the global world. Unlike top-down approaches, there are no clear principles to be applied; only concrete stories with all their frictions, ambiguities and difficulties hoping that God’s inspiration can reveal itself on the rough grounds where people walk in fidelity to the Gospel.

"Go Out To The Highways And Hedges" (Cf. Lk 14:23): Peripheral Ecclesiology, The Art Of Accompaniment, And Street Homelessness, Michael M. Canaris

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

The ecclesiological priority of cultivating the art of “walking with” the vulnerable and marginalized as informed by these ecclesiological conversations, especially regarding those “with neither den nor nest” (Mt 8:20), the homeless who can sometimes seem alone in the streets, but are always journeying with the human family (and thus the Church, of which many of our unhoused brothers and sisters are a part) through history. As Vincent puts it, the communal dimension of living the Gospel together “is the wine that cheers and strengthens travelers along this narrow path of Jesus Christ.”

Catholic Social Teaching And Homelessness: The World Tribe Of The Dispossessed, Ethna Regan

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

Homelessness is a complex, global and growing phenomenon, and street homelessness is its most visible aspect. These children, men and women who live on the streets are, in the words of the Jamaican poet Lorna Goodison, “the world tribe of the dispossessed/outside the halls of plenty/ looking in”. This article explores both the specific treatment of homelessness in Catholic social teaching and the ethical principles in Catholic social teaching that can be brought to bear on analysis, advocacy, and action in the area of homelessness.