Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Introduction To The Culture Of The African Diaspora Aaf 202, Karen Morse

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Sino-Us Trade War, Erin Torgersen

Senior Honors Projects

China and the United States are unquestionably the two wealthiest economies in the world. These two countries alone account for almost half of the world’s wealth. As these nations battle to become the world's most powerful economy, it is no surprise high tensions have developed to complicate their relationship. China’s economy has been rapidly growing, especially in the last two decades as China is making its way towards the top of the list of strongest economies through its abundance of exports and manufacturing. Alternatively, as the U.S.’s economy has slowly decreased in the last few years, the gap between the …

Seeking Asylum In A Modern Society: Global Responses To Latin American Migration, Rebecca Dickinson

Senior Honors Projects

The United States is no stranger to asylum seekers and refugees. The most famous seaport in the country houses a 305-foot-tall statue of a woman bearing a torch with words from the poem The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus etched at her feet: “‘Give me your tired, your poor, /Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’”^[1] The Statue of Liberty is a symbolic representation of open arms to immigrants from all walks of life. But if everyone is welcome, why do so few actually gain entrance?

US interventionism policies in the 20th century have defined the lives of millions …

Rhetoric And International Human Rights: The Case Of The Senegalese Talibés, Christopher Parisella

Senior Honors Projects

CHRISTOPHER PARISELLA

(Political Science, Writing & Rhetoric, French)

Rhetoric and International Human Rights: The Case of the Senegalese Talibés

Sponsor: Lynne Derbyshire (Communication Studies, Honors Program)

While in Senegal, I witnessed the hurdles faced by proponents of international human rights standards. Thousands of Muslim boys, called talibés, undertake their Koranic education in Senegal. Many are forced to beg in the streets by their educators, and abuse in the schools is common. Still, this education is considered a valuable part of the boys’ spiritual development. Despite the multitude of countries that have openly supported and ratified international human rights compacts, many …

Criminal Justice Systems: Impacts That Transcend Borders & Prison Bars, Erika Yeager

Senior Honors Projects

Historically, the concepts of criminal justice and punishment have been core facets of many societies and cultures. The evolution of crime and punishment is unique in different places across the world and across cultures. The incarceration of individuals across the globe has turned into an epidemic; according to the Institute for Criminal Policy Research, there are almost 10.4 million individuals imprisoned around the world (“Global Prison Trends” 7). By researching this political and sociological phenomenon, more insight is gained into the tangible impacts systemic models of criminal justice have on societies and countries as a whole. These individualized systems and …

Introduction To Latin American, Caribbean And Latinx Studies Lax 200g, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

International Studies And Diplomacy Program, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Violence Against Central American Unaccompanied Minors: From Home To United States Border, Katherine A. Owens

Senior Honors Projects

In the past four years, there has been a significant increase in apprehensions of unaccompanied minors from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras at the Southwest Border of the United States: an estimated 207,000 since 2013. This paper researches the sexual and physical abuse the minors (aged 5 to 17) are subjected to while in their home country, on their journey north and upon arrival at the United States border. Data was collected through a literature review of federal investigations of human trafficking in Central America, Mexico, and Texas, along with federal publications on border apprehensions and unaccompanied minors. United Nations …

The Effect Of Past Institutional Structures On Current Economic Development Levels: The Former French African Colonies, Ana May Jerolamon

Senior Honors Projects

By the early 1960’s, most of the French colonies in Africa had gained independence. Since then, these former colonies have reached economic development levels that vary widely by country. This project will argue that while most of these countries were official colonies for less than one hundred years, the institutions that were created during the colonial period still have an effect on the current economic development of such countries. Since political institutions become intertwined with the culture and structure of a country,

they are extremely hard to modify; therefore, we can expect to find the presence of institutions that are …

Improving Rhode Island’S Health Care System: Lessons From The Cuban Model, Sarah R. Moffitt

Senior Honors Projects

Improving Rhode Island’s health care system: lessons from the Cuban model

Cuba is world renowned for its health care system. In regards to international health crises, Cuba is a leader in sending workers abroad and training doctors from all over the world. Within its own borders, the Cuban model provides free access to all citizens in which every individual has a primary care provider. Cuba boasts high vaccination rates, a long life expectancy, low infant mortality rate, and a population that is one of the healthiest in the western hemisphere.

The purpose of this research project is to evaluate the …

Diplomatic Normalization Between The Us And Cuba In Light Of Recent Changes In Us Foreign Policy More Generally, Ethan Zawatsky, Ashley Gemma

Senior Honors Projects

We analyze normalization of diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba. We first examine the causes of previous normalizations with Vietnam and China. From these cases, we identify factors that are key to the normalization process. These include political turnover, economic interests, other special interest groups, public sentiment, and what we refer to as the Lawnmower Effect. This effect is observed when one or both nations attempt to reopen diplomatic ties only to continually fail to establish relations due to the endurance of underlying political issues. We use the Multiple Streams Framework (a policy formulation theory) in order to evaluate …

China's 80后 And 90后: The Next Generation Of Leaders In The World's Next Superpower, A Students-Teaching-Students Course, Patrick Slavin

Senior Honors Projects

In light of China’s recent reemergence as a global superpower, it is becoming increasingly important for westerners to understand its history and culture. For current college students, the culture of China’s youth is particularly pertinent.

In this project, a course, HPR 107: Chinese Youth Culture, was designed and taught through the Students-Teaching-Students program, which provides senior Honor’s Program students the opportunity to design and teach their own Honor’s Program course. The HPR 107 course focuses on China’s 80后 and 90后 generations, those born in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively.

This multi-faceted project includes: subject matter research, course development, pedagogy development, …

Transitional Justice And The Truth Commission In Nepal, Andrea Russell

Senior Honors Projects

The purpose of this project is to explore the role of transitional justice mechanisms in directing the peace process, constitution making, and power sharing in Nepal. For more than ten years Nepal experienced violent conflict between the national army and an insurgent political movement led by the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist. The conflict claimed more than 13,000 lives and was characterized by widespread cases of disappearance. The families of those who were abducted or killed without a trace remain without answers, and the call for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to document past injustices is strong.

In March 2012, I …

An Exploration Into Project Management: A Grassroots Experience In A Developing Nation, Brittany L. O'Brien

Senior Honors Projects

As a senior at the University of Rhode Island, it has been my experience that the knowledge that has been most successfully retained within my mind has been that which I gained through active learning. As an international development minor I have taken many courses on how developmental aid is provided around the world, and throughout these courses I have learned that the drive for creating those endeavors came from an understanding of need. In order to best complete my education on international development I created a sustainable developmental aid project which provided education for specific needs in Malawi, Africa. …

Cultural Competency: A Student's Examination Of Haiti, Heidi Dotson

Senior Honors Projects

Cultural Competency: A Student’s Examination of Haiti

Heidi Dotson

Faculty Sponsor: Gail Faris, Women’s Center

On January 12, 2010 the world watched as a 7.0 milliwatt earthquake brought Haiti to her knees. It did not take long before the international community had arrived to help Haiti rise from the rubble. On October 21, 2010 the Center for Disease Control confirmed a cholera epidemic in Haiti. One year after the earthquake, only five percent of the rubble had been cleared, and more than one million Haitians were living as refugees in “temporary” tents. Watching all of this from my “temporary” beach …

Democratic Nationalistic Privilege And The Exclusion Of Europe's "Gypsy", Eli E. Roth

Senior Honors Projects

Europe is the world’s best example of a group of countries offering similar levels of political freedom, tolerance, and economic prosperity and security. Following the fall of Communism, Europe began to outpace the rest of the planet on aggregated indicators of development, and, according to Freedomhouse.org, only two of the world’s forty seven “not free” countries, Belarus and Russia, can be found on this continent. The Roma, frequently mislabeled as “Gypsies,” are among the few troubled populations residing in Europe. In the comprehensive 2006 Final Report on the Human Rights Situation of the Roma in Europe, one Romani man describes …

Does Self Management In Fisheries Enhance Profitability? Examination Of Korea’S Coastal Fisheries, Hirotsugu Uchida, Emi Uchida, Jung-Sam Lee, Jeong-Gon Ryu, Dae-Young Kim

Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Faculty Publications

Self management of natural resources has started to gain increasing attention as an alternative tool to command-and-control and market-based tools, but the fundamental question remains: is self management economically beneficial such that it should be promoted in the first place? This article uses a unique set of survey data from South Korea and applies an empirical strategy to provide some of the first quantitative evidence that self management is benefiting the fishermen. We find that positive benefits of fishery self management—an increase in fishery revenue and reduction in cost—are perceived by member fishermen, which is a good start considering the …

Traditional Natural Resource Use And Development In Northeast Thailand, Christie Moulton

Senior Honors Projects

This paper explores the effects of development projects on traditional natural resource use in three communities in Northeast Thailand, a region known as Isan. I interviewed villagers in each community and asked them to describe their environmental perceptions, management practices and livelihood strategies. Participants described several subsistence livelihoods that have traditionally been present in Isan. These include rice farming, fishing, community forestry, and wetland use. Residents from the three communities all described various cultural activities, knowledge systems, and religious ceremonies that are closely tied to their local resources. Raising silk worms, making clay pots, and performing rituals for a spirit …

Cowboys And Shoguns: The American Western, Japanese Jidaigeki, And Cross-Cultural Exchange, Kyle Keough

Senior Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Modern Leonidas: Spartan Military Culture In A Modern American Context, Samantha Henneberry

Senior Honors Projects

His tomb is pointed to with pride, and so are his children, and his children’s children, and afterward all the race that is his. His shining glory is never forgotten, his name is remembered, and he becomes an immortal, though he lies under the ground... (excerpt from Tyrtaeus 12) The Spartan national war-poet Tyrtaeus wrote the above hymn in the seventh century BC as a dedication to the brave hoplites who gave their lives for Sparta. Its words are startlingly relevant to a modern American society currently at war; a society full of families who take great pride in their …

China And Latin America: A Match Made In Trade Heaven Or Dependency Reloaded?, Meghan Skira

Senior Honors Projects

China’s economy is expanding rapidly, and the emerging powerhouse is searching for energy resources, raw materials, and markets to maintain its economic growth. China has shown an insatiable appetite for Latin American natural resources, commodities, and agricultural products, from oil to lumber to copper to soybeans. Trade values between the two regions increased greatly from $1.3 billion in 1980 to about $13 billion in 2000 to over $50 billion in 2005. Latin America has the raw materials that China needs to fuel its economic expansion and offers a large market for cheap Chinese manufactured goods. Many analysts claim that Sino-Latin …

Darfur: Genocide In The 21st Century, Victoria Goff

Senior Honors Projects

The conflict in Darfur has been described as the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis” by the United Nations, and the United States has condemned the war as genocide. But four years later, the death toll of 200,000 continues to rise. At least another 2.5 million have been displaced, and neighboring countries have declared a state of emergency. Unless something is done to stop the violence, the chaos will continue to spread. Frustrated with lack of representation in the government, rebel groups from Darfur – the western region of Africa’s largest country, Sudan – revolted against its national government in 2003. The …

The Convenient Alliance: President Reagan And Pope John Paul Ii, Cold Warriors, Tighe P. Flatley

Senior Honors Projects

Historians and non-scholars alike have long regarded the work of President Reagan and Pope John Paul II to be a tremendous force in helping to end the Cold War. In 1992, Time Magazine cited the relationship as a “Holy Alliance”, a political partnering of two men who, after surviving separate assassination attempts merely six weeks apart, saw their role in global politics as a divine signal to promote the free world and take down communism internationally. By the time the President and the Pope first met at the Vatican in 1982, the two were privately discussing Cold War politics. They …

La Mondialisation Qui Menace L’Identité Française Et Ses Relations Avec Le Commerce, Kelly Mcbrien

Senior Honors Projects

Globalization is an integral part of our society today: economically, socially and politically. Some may see Globalization as the world coming together through the ease and speed of capital, goods, services, ideas, information, and technology across our “shrinking” borders. Others may hold a more negative view of Globalization, and may see it as simply growing conflicts between nations and cultures. One of the central problems of globalization is the fear of homogenization or Americanization. Many cultures see globalization as cultural uniformity. As Benedict Anderson has said, “one man’s imagined community is another mans political prison.” This quote can help to …

Hao Bu Hao: A Survival Guide For Zhejiang University, Jenna N. D’Amico

Senior Honors Projects

In an ever-expanding global society, we must learn to embrace other cultures much different from our own. The University of Rhode Island’s International Engineering Program has opened several opportunities for students to work and live in an environment much different from that in Kingston, the most recent one being at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. The first group was sent to Hangzhou during the summer of 2006 for seven weeks to learn Mandarin and learn about the Far East. The fourteen of us lived in a dorm, studied Mandarin Chinese, visited cultural and historical sites, and took in all …

Teaching English In The Dominican Republic, Cassandra Craig

Senior Honors Projects

As thousands of immigrants and refugees are entering the U.S., and our school systems, each year, English as a second language (ESL) classes are becoming more and more necessary. As a future ESL teacher, it is crucial that I am aware of the wide variety of school environments from which they are coming. My curiosity brought me to Altamira, Dominican Republic, where I was able to experience first hand the school environment of my potential future students. Altamira is a small town located a half hour outside of Santiago, Dominican Republic. There, I was fortunate to stay with an extremely …

A Medical Mission: Healing Wounds, Improving Health, And Discovering Hope In Honduras, Michaela Maynard

Senior Honors Projects

According to the United Nations, less than one-sixth of the world’s population is made up of the industrialized world. In contrast, the developing world, consisting of approximately 125 low and middle-income countries, is home to about 5.1 billion people. It is in these developing counties that there is an insatiable need for improved public health. In January of 2007, I spent a week working in a medical clinic in Guaimaca, Honduras. I witnessed first hand the suffering, poverty, and injustice of one small town. Yet, what struck me the most was that despite the hardships and the lack of basic …

International Development Education, Adam Crawley

Senior Honors Projects

Global warming, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation are perhaps three of the most daunting security challenges being faced by the United States today. How to meet these threats is the subject of endless political debate in our society, yet too often the root causes of these threats are overlooked. While the Western world is certainly responsible for the majority of emissions that contribute to global warming, it will not be long until developing nations, led by industrial powers such as China, begin to take on a more significant role in contributing to this problem. Similarly, it is these same developing nations …

In A Short Time There Were None Almost Left: The Success And Failure Of The Tudor Conquest In Ireland, Sean Mcintyre

Senior Honors Projects

There are few periods in the history of any nation as tumultuous as the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries in Ireland. The following paper examines the social and religious upheavals of this period and identifies an emergent national identity among ‘Gaelic Irish’ and ‘Anglo-Irish’ Catholics. Although English forces defeated the Irish ‘rebels’ in the two major military conflicts of the period, the Desmond Rebellion (1579-84) and the Nine Years’ War (1595-1603), the means employed by England to achieve victory, cultural continuity among the Irish (and Gaelicised English), as well as the conflict over religion throughout Europe ensured that Ireland would remain …

Genocide: A Humanities Prospective, Linda Nico

Senior Honors Projects

In 1943, Raphael Lemkin coined the term “genocide” to describe the horrific events of the holocaust. Soon after, world leaders gathered and famously proclaimed “Never again.” Since the 1940’s the leaders of these same nations have seen similar atrocities committed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Timor, and even today in Sudan, but taken little responsibility in aiding the victims of these unspeakable acts. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948 has done little to encourage the neither prevention nor punishment of the crimes of genocide. Who will study and analyze the subject of genocide, the …