Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Time To Play: The Relationship Between Time Spent Playing And Educational Outcomes In Peru, Jasmine Davidson

Economics Honors Projects

Every day, children around the world are playing. There has been plenty of research on the importance of different kinds of play, but very little on the importance of the quantity of play. Understanding the relationship between educational outcomes and the amount of time spent playing would allow parents to better structure their children’s time and would settle the debate between psychologists and economists on whether play has inherent value for a child’s future outcomes. I focus on Peru because conducting this research in a developing country context broadens the current research mostly focused on high-income countries. Using child-level, longitudinal …

Agro Sí, Mina No: Explaining The Onset Of Protest Surrounding Mining Projects In Peru, Jhader Aguad

Political Science Honors Projects

Peru has witnessed an increase in protest activity over the past decade, seemingly related to natural resource extraction. Yet protests were more prevalent in some provinces than others. What explains this variation? I hypothesize that a mining company's announcement of the creation or advancement of a project has a greater effect on the likelihood and frequency of protest if local people rely more on agriculture. Analyzing an original dataset on Peruvian protests between 2011 and 2015, I find the reverse: Protests are less prevalent when mining projects occur in agricultural provinces, suggesting challenges to collective action in rural areas in …

Desconocido: Conversion To Islam In México, Ashley E. Dunn

International Studies Honors Projects

Unless proven otherwise, subaltern subjects are assumed to lack agency. Through an exploration of conversion to Islam in México in the southern state of Chiapas, in the north along las fronteras, and in Mexico City, this project intervenes in discourses that deny the subaltern agency. Through the analytical frameworks of coloniality, this project redefines the choices that converts make and their expressions of faith as acts of creation, as inherently authentic, and as articulations of their desires. Converts to Islam in México serve as a case study of modes of resistance against the epistemological powers of coloniality.

Does Brazil Have The Right To Truth?, Glafira A. Marcon

The Macalester Review

Brazil established its first truth commission in November 2011, which seeks to uncover the human rights abuses committed during the military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985. Although no international treaty or convention explicitly recognizes the right to truth, regional precedent suggests that it is a human rights norm. The Truth Commission faces the following barriers: the Amnesty Law protects perpetrators of human rights violations on either side of the conflict, tensions exist between the Brazilian Supreme Court and the regional human rights court, and politically strong military officials still present in the Brazilian government actively block the Truth Commission’s access …

On A Condition Or A Mission?: Examining The Political Histories Of Anti-Poverty Policies In Brazil, Venezuela And Colombia, Diego A. Melo

Latin American Studies Honors Projects

Political culture, fiscal constraints and institutional incentives have shaped the making and implementation of Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT) in Latin America. However, why have CCTs consolidated in Brazil, been secondary in Colombia and remained absent in Venezuela? Brazilian authoritarian legacy and neoliberal rationality combined with strong federalism during economic downturn and provided room for experimentation in social policy, eventually leading to the incorporation and future universalization of CCTs (Bolsa Família). In contrast, less rationalized bureaucracies in Colombia and Venezuela have operated under strong presidentialism, allowing economic recessions and executive electoral incentives to shape weak CCT implementation (Familias …

El Rol Esencial De La Educación Y La Salud En La Estrategia Microfinanciera: Un Comentario Sobre El Neoliberalismo Contemporáneo, Julia Smith

Latin American Studies Honors Projects

Abstract

This thesis answers the question: “What is the relationship between microfinance and neoliberalism?” by arguing that microfinance is an effective strategy for poverty eradication and community development only when it is coupled with public education and health for all members of society. Therefore, countries need to change their policies in these areas to ensure that microfinance institutions are successful in ending poverty. This thesis engages with scholars such as David Harvey and Mohammed Yunus who provide the theoretical framework for neoliberalism and microfinance and more importantly with Milford Bateman and Yogendra Bahadur Shakya who argue that microfinance can never …

The Violences Of Capitalism: Privatization And Land Tenure In Uganda, Minnesota, And Mexico, Nicole S. Kligerman

Latin American Studies Honors Projects

This project analyzes the relationship between land privatization and violence in societies that previously employed non-capitalist land tenure systems. Exploring the cases of the Dakota in Minnesota, the Acholi in Northern Uganda, and indigenous communities in southern Mexico, I examine how the state forcibly incorporated collective land systems into capitalism through a combination of physical, structural, and intra-community violences. This results in the disintegration of previous means of agricultural production and the accompanying community-based cultural systems. Communities resist this process, however, as they battle for natural resource sovereignty and sustainable peace in their homelands.

Are Credit Unions In Ecuador Achieving Economies Of Scale?, Nick A. Marchio

Economics Honors Projects

This study tests the assertion that membership growth in credit unions is constrained by their unique structural features, such as their non-profit mission and member-based ownership. Although these features enhance inclusiveness, existing theory suggest that they work against efficiency when membership grows too diffuse. To address this issue, this study uses a model that takes into account existing theory on constrained-optimization in credit unions and theory on the adverse effects of diffuse ownership. Using data on 36 public credit unions in Ecuador, the empirical analysis finds evidence that credit unions can achieve economies of scale despite their problematic structural features. …

A Tale Of Two Freedmen: Comparing Black Self-Determination In Atlanta And Salvador, Caitlin Wells

Latin American Studies Honors Projects

After emancipation, African-Americans in Atlanta, Georgia, sought self-determination through formal political means, whereas Afro-Brazilians in Salvador da Bahia pursued self-determination through cultural expression. To determine why, I have synthesized secondary sources into an original comparative narrative based in the different experiences of slavery, the different emancipation processes, and the different post-emancipation socio-political situations of each region. These contrasting histories led Afro-Brazilians in Bahia to organize much in the ways they had under slavery, whereas African Americans in Georgia were drawn into formal politics through opportunities presented under Radical Reconstruction. Unfortunately, white supremacy was quickly restored in Georgia under Redemption, leaving …

Beyond Corporatism And Liberalism: State And Civil Society In Cooperation In Nicaragua, Hannah Pallmeyer

Hispanic Studies Honors Projects

The Nicaraguan state has historically attempted to control Nicaraguan civil society using corporatist and liberal-democratic frameworks. This has created a difficult organizing environment for civil society organizations to struggle for social change. In this thesis, I argue that civil society organizations, operating in 2008 in a corporatist or liberal framework, were less effective in achieving national social change than organizations that worked cooperatively with the state, yet maintained some autonomy. This hypothesis is developed using the case study of three water rights organizations, and is further tested using the case of corporatist-structured Citizen Power Councils, created in 2007.