Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

No. 22: Migrant Remittances, Food Security And Multi-Local Households: Ghanaian Labour Migration To Qatar, Bernard Owusu, Jonathan Crush

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

This paper investigates the impact of migrant remittances on food security among multi-local households within Ghana and Qatar, focusing on the experiences of Ghanaian labour migrants. Through a mixed-methods approach comprising household surveys in Ghana and in-depth interviews with migrants in Qatar conducted from March to June 2023, the paper explores how remittances influence the food security status of recipient households and the socioeconomic conditions of migrants. The findings suggest that remittances play a critical role in enhancing household food security in Ghana by enabling better access to food and improving dietary diversity. Migrants prioritize sending money for basic needs, …

Memoryscapes: A Study Of Memory And Experience In Architecture, Jacob Granger

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

Thesis statement

Architecture and urban spaces are fundamental in shaping both personal and collective memories, serving as the physical manifestations of narratives that define and inform community identity and individual experiences. This thesis asserts that urban design and architectural features extend beyond their utilitarian functions to actively craft and influence these memories. By intertwining intentional design with memory, architecture not only reflects but also molds our understanding of communal identity and historical narratives. This perspective offers a unique exploration of the interplay between tangible structures and the intangible experiences they foster, illustrating how architecture does not merely mirror reality but …

Watering A Dying Canopy: How Peter Berger Can Help Us Understand Communication In A Modern Age, Julia M. Richardson

Student Scholarship

In many instances of conflict and confusion, effective communication can be a useful tool in solving problems. When individuals experience a breakdown in communication, it can be frustrating as well as harmful for everyone involved. This autoethnography seeks to explain and remedy issues of communication breakdown through the lens of religious theory, primarily with regard to Peter Berger’s ideas of world construction and maintenance. When once taken-for-granted “worlds” that provide stability become threatened, one way communities respond is by isolating themselves from ideas which pose a threat to their way of life. In a new age of pluralism, this isolation …

Chronic Inequities: Environmental & Structural Racism During Covid-19 And Hurricane Laura Disaster Recovery, Tomeka M. Robinson, Sabrina Singh

Critical Disaster Studies

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the realities of systemic health inequities within the United States. While the virus has severely impacted the entire country, people of color bear the brunt of this pandemic, from surges of COVID-19 cases in their communities to spikes in unemployment rates. Simultaneously, citizens are dealing with the impacts of natural disasters such as hurricanes along the Gulf Coast. The common denominator concerning these two stressors is that they can be exacerbated by institutional racism. This can be seen in the case of a small city in Southwest Louisiana, namely, Lake Charles, which has become a …

Book Review: The Shaming State: How The U.S. Treats Citizens In Need, Steve Matthewman

Critical Disaster Studies

Salman’s book centers two different constituencies, in two different locations, in the 2010s, who have been impacted by two different disasters. The first group are Iraqi refugees who have been resettled in Wayne County, Michigan. Trying to start again over half a world away, they are trapped in the transit lounge of life, never able to move on, never able to properly belong. They found a state in recession, the automobile industry collapsing, the city of Detroit bankrupt. Their particular county had higher unemployment than the state’s average and a poor median income as well. Economically speaking, ‘Michigan fared worse …

Strongly Stated And Loosely Held: Examining Stewart Brand's Role In The Ecomodernist Project, Liam J. Baker

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

With the ecomodernist environmental perspective emerging in the wake of the 2015 publication of An Ecomodernist Manifesto, many researchers have sought to critique the ecomodernists and their theories of separating humanity from nature, intensifying agriculture, expanding energy production, and relying on technology to resolve the environmental challenges of the 21st century. In this paper, I add to these critiques by examining the history of Stewart Brand, one of the coauthors of An Ecomodernist Manifesto, to highlight connections between his personal environmental perspective, his material impacts, and the ecomodernist project as a whole. By analyzing the discourse produced by and about …

Public Lands And Capitalism: The Case Of The Adirondack Park, Weston (Trent) Fenner

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation examines the tensions that surround land management in the Adirondack Park of New York State (NYS), while paying special attention to how the market intrudes into these conflicts. To look at these tensions, this project explores contests over the regulation of public and private land, conflicts over how wilderness is imagined and managed, and the controversies that flow from efforts to alleviate high-use problems in the Adirondack Park. These contests are the basis of the following research questions which reveal the impact of land management conflict in the Adirondack Park, and expose how the market influences park management …

Cuban Migration To Syracuse, Ny: "Los Comunicados" And The Evolution Of Social Networks And Cuban Identities, Erika Carter Grosso

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation investigates the phenomenon of Cuban migration and highlights the critical role that social networks play in facilitating the process of emigration, settlement, and the formation of new identities for Cuban migrants in Syracuse. With a focus on the most recent waves of Cuban migrants, the study explores how social networks have become integral in shaping the migration experiences of these new Cubans, enabling them to navigate the challenges and opportunities associated with emigrating and settling in Syracuse, NY, a non-gateway city. This research employs a qualitative approach, drawing on in-depth interviews of twenty-five participants, participant observations, and analysis …

Explaining Geographic Disparities In Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: The Roles Of Physical Environment, Industry Structures, And State Policies, Yue Sun

Dissertations - ALL

Geographic disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in the United States are significant and have grown over time. The overarching objective of this dissertation is to explain geographic disparities in CVD mortality from air pollution, counties’ industry structures, and states’ environmental policies. Understanding the associations between these physical environments and CVD mortality is important because it can help to inform strategies for reducing geographic disparities in CVD mortality and promoting population health. In the first empirical chapter, I examine the associations between air pollution and county-level CVD mortality for the years 2016 to 2018 and how these associations vary across …

A Mixed Methods Study Of Chinese And Korean International Student Satisfaction And Experience In American Higher Education, Sujung Lee

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation is a mixed methods study examining Chinese and Korean international undergraduate student satisfaction and their experiences in American higher education. Through survey methodology, I conceptualize the analytical model into “individual factors,” “institutional factors,” and “ethnic-community factors” and find out how these factors contribute to student satisfaction. Furthermore, I look at how national differences manifest into unique ways international students navigate new educational, cultural, and social settings. With in-depth interviews, I focus on understanding international student agentic experiences situated in power dynamics by looking at tensions between “deficit narrative” portraying Asian students as “inassimilable others” and student agency challenging …

Researching Emotional Experiences As Discursive Elements – A Suggested Qualitative Method, Magnus Danielson

The Qualitative Report

As scholars in the fields of political science, media research, and social psychology endeavor to understand crucial aspects of emotionality in the media, there is a growing need to methodologically address the communicative and discursive aspects of affective constructions in media texts. This article argues that by breaking down mediated emotional experiences represented through language in a set of identifiable elements, such as subject, emotion type, valence, intensity, proposed action, and object, those experiences could be used as workable and potent units of analysis when studying discursive and ideological media constructs of emotionality. By connecting insights from emotion science, the …

Queering The Nation Or Nationalizing Queerness?: How Lgb-Identified Soldiers Experience Belonging And Service Post-Dadt, Aaron Blasyak

Dissertations - ALL

At the core of this dissertation project lies the question: What forms of belonging and inclusions are made possible through liberal shifts in the laws governing the institutional contexts of sexual minorities? To answer this question, I draw upon 22 in-depth interviews with gay, lesbian, and bisexual (LGB) soldiers about their experiences of serving after the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). More specifically, this dissertation focuses on three broad research questions to address these issues. First, I ask: What are the experiences of inclusion and acceptance of LGB-identified soldiers within the context of military service? How might these …

No. 20: Informal Cross-Border Traders And Food Trade During The Pandemic In Zimbabwe, Abel Chikanda

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

The collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy in the 2000s resulted in the country relying largely on food imports from other countries, especially from South Africa. Informal cross-border traders have become crucial players in the country’s food economy, playing an important role in the importation of food as well as its retail across the country. Cross-border trading also provides employment opportunities to a large number of people in the country, especially women in an environment of depressed economic opportunities. The paper first uses data from a survey conducted by the Southern African Migration Program (SAMP) in 1997, 2007 and 2014 to document …

No. 19: Covid-19, Food Insecurity And South Sudanese Urban Refugees In Nairobi And Nakuru, Kenya, Cherie Enns, Samuel Owuor, Abbey Lin, Natasha Knebelow, Jacqueline Fanta, Cobby Achieng, William Kolong, Kristin Swardh

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

The challenges and struggles of refugees are well documented, mainly within refugee camps. However, more needs to be documented and understood about the exertions and hardships of urban refugees, including the experiences of young South Sudanese urban refugees living in Kenya. Although Kenya is one of the major countries that hosts refugees from South Sudan, it has adopted disparate policies for refugees in camp settings and those outside the camps. This divergent approach placed urban South Sudanese refugee youth in highly precarious circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rampant food insecurity for refugee youth was one of the key negative consequences. …

Queerform/Ing, Matthew Solon-Lee Weimer

Art Theses and Dissertations

My artwork is situated within and around vessels and the Queer Homoerotic World and explores sexuality as a Demisexual within them. This is accomplished through the two processes of my creation, Minivague and Queerform/ing: balancing sexual tension and explicit expression, while subverting traditional norms and stereotypes with queerness to distance oneself from stereotypical Gay Art. Altering/emphasizing makes the artwork more romantic, lighter, whimsical, softer, and tender than the figure/s and the situations actually are. The process is also emphasizing what one sees or wants to be seen. The Pink Boy becomes a celebration of intimacy of any form. I discuss …

Welfare As We Know It Now: Examination Of State-Level Effects Of Welfare Expenditure And Policy Restrictiveness On Crime And Group-Specific Arrests Over Twenty-Four Years Following Reform, Elizabeth Ann Sabbath

Sociology ETDs

The current project investigates how two different ways of operationalizing welfare—as an expenditure or as a policy of restrictive regulations—could shape the distribution of crime rates within a place and over time. In addressing the significance of its measures, the project also explores how welfare interacts with the broader economic forces of a place to influence crime rates over time. Finally, the project explores how welfare measures can predict arrest rates disaggregated by different gender and race groups. Panel fixed effects measure whether within-state changes in crime and group-specific arrests are explained by expenditure and restrictiveness observed repeatedly from the …

Liquid Light: Ayahuasca Spirituality And The Santo Daime Tradition, Bonnie Glass-Coffin

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Liquid Light is an important addition to the growing number of published accounts that discuss the use of ayahuasca (known by the name, Daime), and its role within Santo Daime, a fundamentally Christian though highly syncretic new religious movement founded in 1930 in the Amazonian state of Acre by an Afro-Brazilian rubber tapper known to followers as Mestre Irineu. The text is a richly descriptive account of Barnard’s own evolution as a fardado (Santo Daime initiate) and includes first-hand accounts of his participation in many kinds and types of Santo Daime worship services in both the United States …

Inclusion Of The Virtual Other: How Closeness On Social Media Moderates The Relationship Between Perceptions Of Close Friends’ Alcohol-Related Posting And Drinking, Angela Tanygin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Heavy drinking among young adults is a serious, longstanding public health issue. College students are particularly vulnerable to a culture of intoxication that promotes excessive drinking, which has been linked to severe consequences such as sexual assaults, car accidents, and even death. An abundance of literature has found that students’ overestimations of peer drinking norms are associated with greater alcohol use and problems. Furthermore, research has established a strong linkage between students posting and viewing peers’ alcohol-related content (ARC) on social media and increased drinking. However, there is a dearth of studies examining how closeness to close friends on social …

Assessing How The Humane Health Coalition Connects Veterinary Services With Healthcare For People Experiencing Poverty And Housing Insecurity, Katie Willis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

People experiencing housing insecurity and financial hardship often prioritize their pets’ needs ahead of their own. In addition to financial concerns, some struggle to obtain medical treatment because they lack transportation or have had negative experiences with medical professionals. The Humane Health Coalition (HHC), a collaboration between Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh (HARP) and Allegheny Health Network (AHN), seeks to address these challenges. The HHC is based on the One Health Model and brings together medical and veterinary staff to provide care and resources for both pets and their owners. My research examines the implementation of this new program. I …

Homophobia: How Straight People Define It, Shirk Responsibility For It, And Abstain From Confronting It In Mississippi, Madeline Burdine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Drawing upon 12 in-depth qualitative interviews, this research examines how straight-presenting people in Mississippi define what it means to be supportive of queer people in their own words. It also shows how they distinguish what is (and is not) homophobic and what their understanding of homophobia does (or does not do) for them or the queer people in their lives. Whether they were raised within a homophobic home or a more open-minded home, interviewees use their upbringings to frame their current support for queer people. Interviewees also work to establish themselves as open-minded towards queer people by distancing themselves from …

Implementing A Career Development Program For 7th Grade Students, Courtney Danielle Martinson

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Career Development programs are crucial in schools to allow students to explore and prepare for their desired career. This is done primarily in the exploration stage of career development. This stage starts late elementary with exposure to careers then continues through middle and high school getting more in depth about what steps need to be taken to achieve their career goal. This is a key developmental stage where students begin to understand their own likes and interests which plays a part in finding a career that fits with their personality as well. While understanding oneself is important when researching jobs, …

Gut Microbiota, Blood Metabolites, And Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction In Us Hispanics/Latinos, Kai Luo, Alkis Taryn, Eun-Hye Moon, Brandilyn A Peters, Scott D Solomon, Martha L Daviglus, Mayank M Kansal, Bharat Thyagarajan, Marc D Gellman, Jianwen Cai, Robert D Burk, Rob Knight, Robert C Kaplan, Susan Cheng, Carlos J Rodriguez, Qibin Qi, Bing Yu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) is an important precursor of heart failure (HF), but little is known about its relationship with gut dysbiosis and microbial-related metabolites. By leveraging the multi-omics data from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), a study with population at high burden of LVDD, we aimed to characterize gut microbiota associated with LVDD and identify metabolite signatures of gut dysbiosis and incident LVDD.

RESULTS: We included up to 1996 Hispanic/Latino adults (mean age: 59.4 years; 67.1% female) with comprehensive echocardiography assessments, gut microbiome, and blood metabolome data. LVDD was defined through a composite criterion …

Teacher Initiated Collaboration In Community: A Case Study Considering Communities Of Practice At A Title I Middle School, Katherine Stewart

Dissertations

This qualitative case study investigates how faculty members in a Title I middle school engage in collaborative practices to enhance professional growth without formal professional learning. Framed within a descriptive lens (Merriam, 1998) and informed by Brown and Duguid's Community of Practice (CoP) framework (1991), the study addresses two research questions: (1) How do teachers collaborate to improve their practice outside formal professional learning? (2) In what ways do these methods reflect the elements of CoP: working, learning, and innovating? Through data analysis, the study reveals that teachers predominantly collaborate on student behavior and classroom management, with curriculum being a …

Feeling A Little Uneasy: A Comparative Discourse Analysis Of White And Bipoc College Students’ Reflective Writing About Systemic Racism, Brett Russell Coleman, Caitlyn Yantis

Center for Urban Research and Learning: Publications and Other Works

This critical discourse analysis compares the ways in which White and BIPOC college students discuss their experiences of an educational intervention meant to promote better understanding of systemic racism. We analyzed reflective writing produced by 11 White psychology students from a private liberal arts college in the eastern United States and 17 BIPOC students from a Human Services program at a public university in the western United States. White students engaged in whiteness discourse that distanced themselves from the realities of systemic racism and/or relieved the cognitive dissonance associated with the self- and group-image threat related to learning about systemic …

Assessing Multiracial Experiences In Counseling: The Multiracial Life Story Interview, Kylie Mirabella

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Multiracial individuals face unique challenges, including denial or invalidation of racial identity, sensitized perception of discriminatory experiences, and monoracial cultural biases. These challenges may lead to race-related adverse mental health outcomes, prompting need for culturally responsive clinical mental health counseling. This paper introduces a tool called the Multiracial Life Story Interview, adapted from Dr. Dan P. McAdams’ Life Story Interview, based on findings from current multiracial counseling literature. This interview is aimed to promote multiracial client exploration of racial identity, counselor evaluation of racist incidents and/or discriminatory experiences, and overall multicultural competency.

Full Issue

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Cordelia, Kierkegaard, And Coming Of Age In Copenhagen, Kassandra I. Schreiber

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Discovering My Danish Heritage In Schleswig-Holstein: Combining Dna With Traditional Genealogical Research, Robert Stieglitz

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Anno 7603, Johan Herman Wessel

The Bridge

No abstract provided.