Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Winning Public Hearts And Minds: Security And Development Aid In The 21st Century, Mohammad Ashraf

Dissertations

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States, foreign aid has focused on winning public hearts and minds in the aid recipient states as a hedge against insecurity and means to achieve progress in the “war on terror.” Western donors, especially the United States, argue foreign aid is an effective tool to expand government capacity and control over territory, win public hearts and minds, and ultimately mitigate the need and significant military costs of deployment to counter insecurity, extremism, and terrorism in weak, fragile and failing states.

This dissertation uses case studies to explore the …

Bottlenecks Or Growth Zones? A Study Of The Chirundu And Beitbridge Border Economies, Anna Ngarachu, Christopher Wood, Heinrich Krogman, Elisha Tshuma, Dale Mudenda

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

Land borders in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region are critical zones for unlocking regional value chains, trade and economic development. The Beitbridge and Chirundu border posts represent important links in the North–South Corridor. They are vital in both regional development and bilateral initiatives. It is at these borders that many issues related to regional integration intersect. Understanding the major complications that prevent competitive trade and undermine trade facilitation initiatives is, therefore, essential. This policy brief examines the causes of standing time – a major contributor to transport costs in sub-Saharan Africa – and discusses the softer issues such …

Vol. 4, Issue 2 Cover

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

No abstract provided.

Vol. 4, Issue 2 Table Of Contents

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

No abstract provided.

Amjambo Africa! (December 2019), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue...

New American Leaders .............p. 2

Ladder to the Moon Conference p. 3

Appeal from 350 Maine .............p. 3

Asylum Seekers & Work Permits p. 4

Palaver Strings ............................ p. 9

Ikirenga Cy'Intore .................... p. 11

New Deal for New Americans Act .............p. 13

Coffee by Design Supports Arts ..........................p. 18

DACEP & ILAP in Lewiston...... p. 18

Mid Coast New Mainers Group ............................................... p. 19

Housing Scams ......................... p. 19

Removing Embedded Corruption: Development Mechanisms And Case Studies In East Africa For Ending Graft, Keith Newcomer

Dissertations

Removing embedded corruption depends on 12 state characteristics and mechanisms that reduce patronage network influence and protection. This reduction cannot happen swiftly and requires staged and strategic planning to prevent state collapse, and generally prioritizes petty corruption shifts before grand corruption. Two foundational characteristics are necessary for nations to enact serious reforms: the existence of a core anti-corruption ideology group that controls the government, and political will to enforce said ideology at the state level. Without these two, anti-corruption efforts are half-hearted and ineffective and leads to state perpetuation of graft. This core group and leadership is responsible to enact …

Cinematographic Landscapes Of Blackness In Mexico: (Re)Framing Afro-Mexican Lives & Futures, Talia Weltman-Cisneros

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

The legacy of historical invisibility and socio-cultural marginalization and rejection have marred contemporary Afro-Mexican lives, silencing their stories, customs, traditions, and cosmologies, while also denying them a sense of belonging and place within the visions of the present and futures of Mexican landscapes. Mexican films have often echoed this estranged relationship between blackness and Mexicanidad, portraying black characters as stereotyped figures who have most often been marked as exotic, primitive, and alien or anachronic in Mexico. However, these subaltern imaginaries of blackness and of Afro-Mexicanidad are challenged in the recent films La negrada (2018) and Artemio (2017). This article …

Black Agency And Aesthetic Innovation In Sergio Giral's El Otro Francisco, Philip Kaisary

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

In 2013, Henry Louis Gates lamented the tradition of whitewashing and the passing over of slave stories which has become commonplace throughout cinematic history: “there have been all too few films that have captured, or even attempted to convey, the truth of the experience of slavery, from the slave’s point of view” and even fewer “worthy of recognition.” While it is true that there have been some high-profile films produced in the last decade – 12 Years a Slave, Django Unchained, and Birth of a Nation, among others – that have endeavored to represent slavery from the …

Afro-Latin American Documentary Resistance From The Pacific Coast: How Voces De Resistencia (2017) Changes The Landscapes Of Aesthetics, Academia/Community Collaboration, And Black Feminist Activism During The Colombian "Peace Process", Sarah Ohmer

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

Voces de Resistencia, Capítulo 1, is a short documentary film with an original soundtrack composed and performed by Black Colombian female folk a cappella chorus, or alabadoras. The multimedia product makes use of Black feminist pedagogy and resistance: it portrays a silenced and oppressed group in Bojayá, Colombia. The focus on alabadoras singers and composers promotes self-definition and exposes the power of self-determination in songwriting, an a cappella chorus performance, and documentary filmmaking.

Vol. 4, Issue 2 Copyright Statement

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

No abstract provided.

Youth In Africa: Between Marginalisation And Demographic Dividend, Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

Since the 1980s, most African countries have experienced demographic shifts that have resulted in young populations, creating the possibility of youth marginalisation, but also a potential demographic dividend. The lack of social and economic opportunities generates unease about youths’ future and anger and loathing towards society and government, heightening the risk of uprisings as witnessed during the Arab Spring. Governments have become aware of the inefficacy of existing policies designed to advance the welfare of the ever-increasing youth population, and look to change this by formulating inclusive policies, often with support from the international community, to harness youth potential. The …

Reflections On Emerging Practices And Developments In The Field Of Law Reporting: Lessons From Kenya, Teddy J.O. Musiga

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

Many users and/or consumers of law reports grapple with two major questions. The first question revolves around the issue why some judicial decisions are referred to as reported decisions, while others are referred to as unreported decisions. This question therefore deals with the dichotomy between reported judicial decisions and unreported judicial decisions. The second question flows from the first and relates to which categories of decisions appear in law reports (and therefore are classified as ‘reported’) and which ones do not (and therefore are classified as ‘unreported’). Put the other way around, that second question becomes: what are the criteria …

Cultural Heritage And Local Ecological Knowledge Under Threat: Two Caribbean Examples From Barbuda And Puerto Rico, Rebecca Boger, Sophia Perdikaris, Isabel Rivero-Collazo

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

While the impacts to the infrastructures in Barbuda and Puerto Rico by Hurricanes Irma and Maria have received attention in the news media, less has been reported about the impacts of these catastrophic events on the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of these Caribbean islands. This report provides an assessment of the impacts on the cultural heritage by these storms; tangible heritage includes historic buildings, museums, monuments, documents and other artifacts and intangible heritage includes traditional artistry, festivities, and more frequent activities such as religious services and laundering. While the physical destruction was massive, the social contexts in which these …

Thirty Years Later: The Pentecostal Church In Romania And Religious Freedom In The Post-Communist Era, Dragoș Ștefănică

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The aim of the present paper is to provide a brief presentation of the evolution of religious freedom in Romania since the 1989 Revolution from the perspective of a Pentecostal believer. To better understand what this event meant for this denomination, first the situation of the Pentecostal movement in the interwar and communist times will be presented, and then survey the changes brought by the fall of the communist regime and how religious freedom evolved in the past three decades.

Refugee Resettlement In The U.S.: The Hidden Realities Of The U.S. Refugee Integration Process, Bienvenue Konsimbo

Master of Science in Conflict Management Final Projects

From the 1946 to the 1980 Act, more than two million refugees have resettled in the U.S. (Eby, Iverson, Smyers, & Kekic, 2011p.). This has made the U.S. the largest of the 10 resettlement countries (Xu, 2007, p. 38). The U.S. department of state (DOS)’ hope is to give “the refugee a leg up on their journey to self-sufficiency” (Darrow, 2015, p. 92). For these millions of refugees, their expectations are to find “employment, education, to provide a better environment for their children, and to integrate into the community” (Xu, 2007p.38).

However, this pre-package deal is not without repercussions or …

African Immigrants In Argentina Post-Slavery: An Old-New Odyssey, Alain Lawo-Sukam

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

In this interdisciplinary article, I address the less known migration of Africans in South America, especially in Argentina. This is significant because studies on African migrations have focused mainly on European and North American routes (north-south), living aside south-south paths. The complex experience of the first African immigrants in Argentina relates to a certain extent and also contrasts with the recent migrations of the twenty-first century. Because of (post)colonial history, collective/personal experience and stories, African immigrants are finding new homes in Argentina. However, recent changes in immigration policies relaxed under previous governments could jeopardize this el dorado. This article …

Language Documentation In The Aftermath Of The 2015 Nepal Earthquakes: A Guide To Two Archives And A Web Exhibit, Kristine A. Hildebrandt, Tanner Burge-Beckley, Jacob Sebok

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

We describe two institutionally related archives and an online exhibit representing a set of Tibeto-Burman languages of Nepal. These archives and exhibit were built to house materials resulting from documentation of twelve Tibeto-Burman languages in the aftermath of the 2015 Nepal earthquakes. This account includes a detailed discussion of the different materials recorded, and how they were prepared for the collections. This account also provides a comparison of the two different types of archives, the different but complementary functions they serve, and a discussion of the role that online exhibits can play in the context of language documentation archives.

Foreword To This Special Issue, Beth Admiraal

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"The door that opens up to religious freedom does not always lead to expected places. Our contributors, reflecting on the past thirty years for religion in Romania, note both the joys and tribulations of freedom."

Denkyem (Crocodile): Identity Development And Negotiation Among Ghanaian-American Millennials., Jakia Marie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ghanaian immigrants and second-generation Ghanaian-American Millennials are largely ignored in scholarship. Using qualitative methods, this study explored the experiences of Ghanaian-American Millennials who are first, 1.5, and second-generations with the purpose of understanding how they create, negotiate, and re-create identities. Twenty-one individuals were interviewed using a phenomenological approach. The main findings suggest that even though the sample populations were of different immigrant generations, they have some similar experiences, which demonstrates the value in exploring age instead of solely immigrant generation. The findings also suggest that there are a number of complex layers that are involved in identity development and negotiation …

Analysis Of Nation-Building During Insurgency In U.S. Defense Policy Strategy, Joseph Valles

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

U.S. defense policy has often relied on a strategy of nation-building to reform the local government and address the root causes of the instability in a given nation or region. This strategy has, in recent years, been criticized for being ineffective and a wasteful drain on American resources. This paper will determine if such criticism is valid by analyzing the performance of four security environments where such a strategy was used: Vietnam, El Salvador, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The paper will determine if such a strategy was effective in these conflicts by analyzing the progress of reforms and, when possible, the …

Transnational Migration And Ethnic And Religious Renewal Amongst The Ethnic German Minority In Romania, Ovidiu Oltean

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"The normalization of inter-ethnic relations after the fall of communism and the establishment of a rather inclusive minority regime has opened up new possibilities for the ethnic and religious minorities in Romania. Social, cultural and religious life has seen a pluralization and revival that was not possible during communism. Ethnic minorities developed new forms of cultural and ethnic expression and gained new leveraging instruments in relation to the ethnic Romanian majority. As Romanian society has grown more pluralistic, not only has political and cultural life developed and become more diverse but also religious forms of expression and religious organizations have …

Thirty Years Later: Being Orthodox In Romania, Then And Now, Claudia Chiorean

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"Romanians know themselves to be traditionally Orthodox, so they declare themselves in censuses as belonging to the majority religion. But in fact, in practice, only about 30 percent are Orthodox practitioners....

If I, as a Romanian, belong to the two-thirds who have only declared themselves Orthodox without living the faith in its true dogmatic dimensions, this means I have replaced God in my life with the Internet, with the psychologist, with my job, with trips, with activities which distract my attention from myself and from my own identity."

Codings Of Blackness In Mexican Cinema: An Analysis Of La Negrada, Ebony Marie Bailey

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

In a country whose national identity revolves around the idea of mestizaje, Blackness has been omitted from official discourses surrounding mexicanidad. As a result, Afro populations in Mexico have been subjected to codings that render them invisible, otherized and inferior. This paper analyzes the codings of Blackness in Mexico as reflected in the space of art and cinema, specifically the film La Negrada, the first feature fiction film to introduce an all Afro-Mexican cast. On one hand, there is an attempt to reclaim and make visible Mexico's African roots. On the other, the film also walks the …

So What If She Can't Dance And Sing: A Testimony From The Afrohabanera, Dawn Duke

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

From the early 1990s, a new film gained momentum in which there were no actors, i.e. contracted, paid, and famous, rather ordinary people, residing at the fringes of society, who momentarily were on camera, guided by a director determined to film realistic images. Cidade de Deus (Brazil), Pixote: a lei do mais fraco (Brazil), La vendedora de rosas (Colombia), Rodrigo D (Colombia), and Ratas y ratones (Ecuador) are examples. There is little footage about Cubans during the Special Period (1989-1995). Further, until then no production had directly and realistically focused on Afro-Cuban women. Rolando Díaz's 1998 production, Si me comprendieras …

Marca Peru: Representations And Exclusions Of The Afro-Descendant Population From The Official Narrative Of The Peruvian Government, Ana Lucía Mosquera Rosado

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

The article will examine the representations of Afro-Peruvians in the video "Peru Nebraska," a documentary produced as part of the launching of the advertising campaign of Marca Peru, a national branding project elaborated by the Peruvian government in 2010. By examining the participation of the Afro-descendant population in this audiovisual piece, the document will relate these representations to the discourses of diversity, race, and citizenship in Peru. The article will also explore the nature of the discourses of ethnic and racial diversity in Peru in the new construction of the national and will evaluate the construction of the social …

Sister Ursula De Jesús' Equal Economy Of Salvation, Valérie Benoist

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

The article examines the diary of Peruvian sister Ursula de Jesús, the first known spiritual journal produced by a black woman in colonial Spanish America. The account, written in first person and consisting of fifty-seven folios, mainly describes sister Ursula's visions and her life inside the Lima convent where she came to be highly revered as a mystic during the seventeenth century. The recognition that this black woman gained was particularly high considering that she lived at a time when most people in the Ibero-transatlantic world associated Afro descendants with the Devil. This fact along with the richness of sister …

The Concentration Of Household Income In The United States By Race/Ethnicity, 1967 - 2018, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report studies income distribution in the United States between 1967 and 2018 by race and ethnicity.

Methods: The data were derived from the US Census Bureau's Historical Income Tables: Income Inequality

Results: The upper 5% of households controlled 17% of total household income in 1967 and 23% in 2018. The upper 20% of households accounted for 44% of all income in 1967 and 52% in 2018. Economic growth, which has been impressive in the period under consideration, did not result in rising household incomes across the social hierarchy. Between 1967 and 2018 the upper 5% of income-earning households …

Reflections On Jehovah’S Witnesses In Romania: A Thirty-Year Retrospective, Ionut Moraru

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article provides testimony from and data about Jehovah’s Witnesses in Romania, who have suffered persecution both before and after the fall of Communism. In recent years the government has taken steps to officially recognize and protect Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Transparency Of Insurance Contract Law In Singapore, Christopher C. H. Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

Singapore Case Note: Enforceability Of Settlement Agreements, Nadja Alexander, Shou Yu Chong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Since the signing of the Singapore Convention on Mediation in August this year, there has been an increased interest on the enforceability of settlement agreements, particularly those arising from mediation. The case of Law Chau Loon v Alphire Group Pte Ltd [2019] SGHC 275 from the Singapore High Court provides us with some general legal principles to consider when a settlement agreement is drafted. Although mediation did not take place between the parties in dispute, the principles stated by the High Court here remain relevant to the drafting of binding mediated settlement agreements (MSAs). This case is essential reading for …