Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Perceptions Of Microfinance In Cameroon: A Case Study Of Unics, Yaoundé, Ian Long

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The subject of this project is the common perceptions that exist towards microfinance in Cameroon within the community of those who work with or are influenced in some way by microfinance institutions. Furthermore, the project focuses on the ways in which these perceptions affect the institutions, the actions of the institutions amidst and in response to these perceptions, and to what extent these actions have a positive effect on the community and the firms themselves. I also examine to a certain degree the relationship between the two main goals of category two and category three microfinance firms: specifically, the fulfillment …

Co-Development In Mali: A Case Study Of A Development Phenomenon Exploited By Immigration Policy, Diane Galatowitsch

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This case study establishes a historical basis for migration from Kayes, contextualizes co-development in immigration and development literature, and provides insight into how organizations implementing migrant financed projects in Mali define and perceive the concept of co-development. In my research, I pulled together scholarly articles, organizational documents, reports, and conducted semi-structured personal interviews that were scattered across the fields of history, migration, and development and pulled together an analysis of co-development in Mali. Challenging the concept of co-development as an effective immigration policy and a development strategy, this paper reflects the concept’s true benefits to Malian society. Finally, the conclusion …

Street Culture Of Mombasa: Are The Survivors Really Surviving?, Danny Low

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Street children of Mombasa, Kenya were ethnographically studied in order to determine the effects of Swahili culture and structural violence on the children’s culture and place within greater society. It was discovered that Mombasa magnetizes street children as a result of the generosity of Swahili culture. Drug use was inextricably linked to street culture, yet children nonetheless held strong dreams of education. Since street children were also discovered to be significantly stratified, future policy and programming must account for these divisions to appropriately address the education and health problems facing Mombasa street children.

Children On The Margins: A Case Study Of I Care's Hope Centre For Street Children In Durban, South Africa, Morgan Sullivan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Seeing street children was a new concept to me, but all too familiar to Durban, South Africa. It is something that had struck me and bothered me from my arrival here in South Africa and an issue that will trouble me for a lifetime. Working with I Care at the Hope Centre allowed me to get an inside look at the lives of some of these street children while building positive relationships with both the staff and the children alike. I began to see the children as children and saw past their rugged, stone-faced exteriors deep down to their desperate, …

Creating A Category V: Conservation Perceptions And Cultural Changes In The Anjozorobe-Angavo Forest Corridor, Kate Wright

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Local communities have long played an integral role in the realization of conservation goals and the success of protected areas in Madagascar. Since the appearance of human civilizations approximately 2,000 years ago (Brown 1995), the physical landscape of the island has undergone processes of adaptation to the practices of Malagasy people, while Malagasy cultures have in turn molded to fit their surroundings. The coevolution of nature and culture has produced a delicate environmental situation where human practices exploit but also conserve important natural resources, a situation that has been historically misinterpreted as intentional environmental destruction on the part of local …

Train Hard, Win Easy: Running On The Periphery In Rural Kenya: The Last Shall Be First, Jordan Apfeld

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Past years have proven Kenyans dominant in the sport of athletics. Today, runners from the Rift Valley win more major middle- and long-distance running events than those from any other nation in the world. Although athletics is not the most lucrative of sports, modern marketing has resulted in creating a sport with various financial incentives. These include prize money, sponsorships, and the opportunity for a new life. However, runners from rural agricultural backgrounds find it very difficult to translate their athletic talent into dollars at the finish line. This study examines the economic prospects for young male runners from Kapsabet …

Democracy And The Tribal System In Jordan: Tribalism As A Vehicle For Social Change, Jennifer Rowland

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper discusses the current state of the electoral system in Jordan, its relation to and impact on the tribal aspect of society, and vice-versa. The prominence of tribalism in the electoral process has brought tribalism to the forefront of discussions on both the political system and social development in Jordan. There have been many accusations from intellectuals of a “return to tribalism” in the past couple of decades as politics in Jordan have become increasingly “tribalized.” Through a discussion of the different political and social mechanisms in Jordan, I conclude that the tribal sentiment in Jordan is not to …

La Ciada De La Industria Salmonera Y Las Consequences, Kyla Jacobs

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For almost fifteen years, the Chilean salmon industry grew at an unprecedented rate, cultivating the otherwise desolate tenth region of Los Lagos as territory of great economic prosperity. Home to several of the worlds largest salmon companies such as Marine Harvest and AquaChile, Puerto Montt and its surrounding towns were once the epicenter of salmon cultivation, making Chile the second largest producer of salmon in the world after Norway. Though with the official emergence of the ISA virus in 2007, numerous salmon companies were forced to shut down, propagating thousands of layoffs and consequently leading to a large blow in …

An Assessment Of How Land Use And Productivity Has Changed In Villages Surrounding Mazumbai In The West Usambara Mountains, Tanzania: Specifically The Original Tea Plot Allocations Received By Members Of The Sagara Group In 1991, Abby Jensen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Tea is a valuable cash crop that is being influenced not only by individual farmers, but also local organizations, NGOs and even government information and regulations to encourage tea production in Tanzania. Small-scale tea farmers, like the Sagara Group, are a small, but important part of the tea industry. The Sagara Group, former workers united under the Mazumbai Tea Estate, was formed in 1964. The Group consists of 103 members that received a share of tea in 1991 when co-management of the estate was not efficient anymore. The group members (36 original members and 63 members that represent deceased original …

Renewable Energy As A Means To Community Development: A Case Study Of Solar Power With Avani In Kumaon, Uttarakhand, Sarah Connette

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For the woman who must spend four hours walking to the forest, cutting wood, carrying it back on her head and lighting a fire in her home, energy poverty is a harsh reality of everyday life. As of 2000, more than 500 million Indians did not have access to electricity, which accounts for 35% of the world’s population living without this facilityi. Energy poverty is defined as the inability to afford access to a sustainable energy supplyii. The concept of energy poverty as a focus of sustainable development is given more importance by the correlation between electricity consumption and GDP …

“We Didn’T Choose To Live In A Transition Society:” The Youth Of Milošević’S Serbia Ten Years Later, Jessica Tsunami Acosta

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The 1990’s were an extremely dark time in modern Serbian history, mired by wars, sanctions, dictatorship, and struggle. Those who came of age in that time find their entire lives to be defined by their country’s transition process. Because of this experience, these individuals are in a unique position to make connections between past conflicts and present challenges in Serbia. In particular, through understanding their narratives of this recent past and their perceptions of Serbia’s current progress in its transition phase, one can glean a better picture of this generation and what it holds for Serbia’s future. In allowing these …

Grey To Green: The Wolf As Culture And Profit In Mongolia And The Importance Of Its Survival, Samuel Legrys

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

“The king of this place could be Bear; it can capture and eat anything, even roe deer and moose. But I think sometimes Bear is eaten by Wolf, working as a pack. It means that Wolf is the king of the king” – Joogdernamjil, Dadal Hunter The grey wolf is a key figure in Mongolian culture, representing not only the male ancestor behind the bloodline of Chinggis Khaan, but also the messenger of heaven, sent to punish those who disrespect the spirit masters of the land. Countryside herders and UB businessmen alike honor the wolf as a spiritually powerful animal, …

Marriage In Conflict: Formerly Abducted Women’S Struggles With Marriage Upon Return, Julie Bailey

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

With the end of the twenty-year war in Northern Uganda, the area has begun the long process of rehabilitating, rebuilding, and reintegrating. For women who have now returned from abduction and forced marriage, reintegration has proven difficult, specifically in regards to these women’s desires to marry upon return. The experiences of these formerly abducted women in the bush as well as the conflict-induced changes to traditional marriage often limits their ability to remarry and thus prevents them from fully regaining their place in Acholi society. Ultimately, this study sought to examine these difficulties by looking at the societal norms for …

Political Capital And The Project Planning Process: An Action Research Exercise Of The Shirazi Community Health Clinic Project, Lindsay Beebe

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper assess the political capital of the rural Kenyan coast village of Shirazi in the context of the project planning process, using the subjective well-being paradigm of development to guide the research parameters. Household surveys were conducted to provide a baseline of information about village demographics, political efficacy, and measure subjective well-being. The surveys found that Shirazi village, although disadvantaged by limited access to economic markets and financial capital, has a wealth of political capital. The results of the survey, supported by an observation of and participation in the village’s political processes, indicate that Shirazi village will be a …

Relájate Y Disfruta: Lecciones De Una Vida Musical Y Temporal En El Zaidín = Relax And Enjoy: Lessons About A Temporal Musical Life In Zaidin, Granada, Laura Westman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the following paper, I describe the volunteer project that I conducted during my fall 2009 semester in Granada, Spain. I spent a few hours each week accompanying voice lessons in a music school located in the neighborhood in which I lived while I was learning Spanish. This paper chronicles the importance of language and communication to my work, including problems that I had with the language barrier in communicating with people in the school before I was comfortable with the language. Though I originally planned to analyze relationships between teachers and students as a major theme in my project, …

Vietnamese Resistence Mentality, Michael Williams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

By the time tanks of the North Vietnamese Army crashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon to reunify the country in 1975, the United States had spent almost two hundred billion dollars and lost over 58,000 soldiers in Vietnam. From the late 1940’s until the fall of Saigon, the United States had been fervently trying to prevent a communist takeover in Vietnam, spending billions to help France retain her Indochinese colonies, and subsequently billions in aid to the successive governments of the southern Republic of Vietnam. Yet despite the massive spending and military superiority, the United States, …

Moving On From The War: The Factors That Influence Contemporary Perceptions Of Former Enemies, Erin Martin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Over 30 years have passed since the end of the Vietnam War, yet the memory still lingers for some. Mention of the war in correlation to contemporary politics today in the United States seems to demonstrate that Americans have not effectively put the past behind them. Similarly, the prevalence of Vietnam War-related media, such as films, music, and literature, implies that the war is still remembered strongly in American society. Why, then, do the Vietnamese appear to have put the war behind them? Most Vietnamese seem to avoid discussing the war or its consequences, and appear to revel in these …

“Edutainment”: The Role Of Mass Media In The Development Of An Effective Hiv/Aids Youth Awareness Campaign In Viet Nam, Carmin Smoot

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Since the first reported case of HIV in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in the year 1990, more than 300,000 people have contracted the disease. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam has made considerable progress since that time in disseminating information on HIV/AIDS to the public, utilizing various forms of media. Yet in the rudimentary stages of this national effort, a “social evils” campaign was launched by the government; an emphasis was placed on informing the public as to why individuals contract HIV/AIDS, and which negative individual behaviors, or “social evils,” influence the proliferation of the disease. As more of the …

The Legend Of The Almas: A Comparative And Critical Analysis, Nathan Wenzel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The legend of the almas, the wildman of Mongolia, has a long history. The stories are primarily found in the western aimags of Mongolia. This paper investigates the presence of the almas as legend outside of its traditional western home. The almas has been thoroughly documented as a western phenomenon, but this paper seeks to discover how much of a presence it has in the wider culture, especially in central and eastern Mongolia where few, if any almas legends ever take place. This paper also explores what the almas means to different people. The stories about the almas can be …

Weaving And Scheming: Adventures On Planet Mosuo, Melissa Judson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This past month, not only did I learn to weave fabric, but also I learned to weave lies about why I couldn’t eat any more chicken feet, weave tales about American culture and weave clouds of smoke to mask my inability to drink copious amounts of alcohol, though nearly all of my handiwork was shoddily crafted. I studied weaving in a small Mosuo village about an hour outside of Yongning, on the borders of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. Although the Chinese government classifies the Mosuo as a part of the Naxi minority people, they have many of their own distinctly …

Know Your Enemy: Tibetan Perceptions Of And Approaches To Chinese Studies In Exile, Katherine Mechling

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Achieving peaceful dialogue between Chinese and Tibetans is the crux of the Tibetan community in exile’s strategy to regain its homeland. Yet despite the recognized importance of cross-cultural communication the Tibetans, ideologically unwilling to separate “China the Oppressor” from “China the Neighbor” or even, potentially, “China the Co-Collaborator,” have largely avoided studying their adversary. Although increased literacy in Chinese language, knowledge of Chinese history and understanding of Chinese culture would enable the Tibetans to engage with China more effectively and productively, few initiatives exist in exile that facilitate the spread of such information. Receiving only a basic overview of Chinese …

Dwog Paco: Tackling The Challenges Of Reintegrating Ex-Lra In Kitgum District, Takako Mino

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Broad intentions

The people of northern Uganda face the complex challenge of reintegrating former members of the LRA rebel group back into their communities. One month of field research in Kitgum district was carried out to study the reintegration process of LRA returnees and the roles of various stakeholders such as government, NGOs, traditional leaders, community members, and the returnees themselves in facilitating the process. This paper also analyzes the impact of the Government of Uganda’s Amnesty Act on the return of formerly abducted people.

Methodology

The research entailed the collection of both quantitative and qualitative information from various stakeholders …

Global Discourse, Local Context: Counter-Terrorism And Human Rights In Morocco, Christine Sargent

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Human rights and terrorism are two of the most frequently invoked, powerfully deployed, and hotly contested paradigms of our time. They are, first and foremost, words. They are words that attempt to describe concepts, values and actions. Human rights are understood as the fundamental “civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights that all human being should enjoy” beyond the non-negotiable, fundamental right to life (United Nations). The concept of terrorism seeks to categorize and comprehend what has been perceived as a uniquely transnational, increasing phenomenon of violent, ideologically driven attacks targeting civilians. Accordingly, counter-terrorism is normatively understood to consist of …

Herbs, Qur’An, And Mashetani: Practice, Use, Perception, And Integration Of Traditional Medicine In Bodo, Elan Ebeling

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examines the practice, use and perception of traditional medicine in the rural village of Bodo, on the south coast of Kenya. This paper surveys the different types, treatments, and education of traditional medical practitioners, as well as assesses the accessibility of both traditional and conventional medicine facilities. Secondly, it addresses the perceptions of different community members of illness and healthcare, and, in the light of recent attempts to integrate traditional medicine into the national healthcare system, examines how these perceptions work in conjunction with accessibility to influence the use of healthcare.

The Ethical Limitations Of South Africa’S Education Market, Ethan Chang

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In response to the centrally controlled Bantu Education system, the resistance movement advocated a decentralized system of educational governance that included local voices in the running of schools. In 1996, the government satisfied the movement’s demands by including local school governing bodies (SGBs) as apart of the South African Schools Act (SASA). Attached to the powers of SGBs however was a right not advocated by the movement: the ability to set school fees. SGBs’ authority over school fee policy has transformed their role in school governance from democratic platforms for local voices into efficient cost and budgeting centers. As a …

Dublin’S Forgotten: The Transition From ‘Separated Children’ To ‘Aged-Out Minors’ Through Policy, Media, And Organizational Support., Meghan Jaird

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Introduction (excerpt) Over the last fifteen years, Ireland has undergone massive change: political, economic, social, and technological. During the Celtic Tiger that began in the mid 1990s, Ireland has been transformed from one of the poorest countries in Western Europe to one of the wealthiest. Resulting from this economic success and, concurrently with the expansion of the European Union, there has been a significant increase in Ireland’s migrant population. Due to the recent attraction of Ireland’s prosperity and progression, many from outside of Ireland have immigrated with hopes to reap economic and social benefits. Others are forced to migrate due …

Seeing Is Believing: How The U.S. Government And American News Networks Spun The Iraq War, Sarah Schenter

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The American public was doubly deceived into compliance with the Iraq War – first by the government, then by the news media, which disseminated and amplified the Bush administration’s misleading rhetoric and accepted as fact the “evidence” of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq that was used as the main justification for going to war. This paper first provides a background history of the role of American news media in armed conflict up until the Iraq War, starting with the Revolutionary War. The media was a powerful political actor ever since the beginning of United States history. With the evolution …

The Perseverance Of Aboriginal Australian Time Philosophy And Its Impact On Integration Into The Mainstream Labor Force, Kelly Adams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study demonstrates that Aboriginal Australian time philosophy has survived the impact of European colonization through applying anthropological inquiry into time perception to functional attitudes towards work ethic. By doing so I highlight time perception as one of the “root causes” of Aboriginal socio-economic disadvantage in the barrier it poses to Aboriginal labor force participation. The Native Title Act put pressure on the mining industry to set high targets for Indigenous employment and in the process has given Aboriginal communities the opportunity to become “active initiators” of their relationship to time by forcing industrial compromise through resistance to adopt the …

Tuberculosis Por Los Ojos De La Vida Aymara: La Correlación Entre Estilo De Vida Y Tuberculosis En Los Aymara Del Norte De Chile, Sam Percy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Background: Explanations for disparities in health between groups of people are complex, and based in differences in genetics, environment, access to medical care, socioeconomic, educational, and cultural factors. In short a person’s lifestyle is inextricably related to a person’s health and their propensity to contract disease. Members of the indigenous group Aymara who live in Arica, Chile have 6 times the rate of morbidity from Tuberculosis (TB) as non-Aymara and 9 times the rate of mortality from the disease. This study examined if there was a link between the rate of TB amongst the Aymaran people and the way Aymarans …

“Voter Sans Voter?”: A Study Of Voter Participation In Bamako, Samantha Mclean

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Democracy, as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary is: “a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.” Democracy, as defined by Abraham Lincoln is: “of the people, for the people and by the people.” Democracy, as defined by one Malian citizen is: “une systeme qui permit un citoyen de dire ceux qu’il pense.” For some, the word evokes images of liberty and freedom, for others, images of deep rooted corruption and failure to serve a people. However, no matter how …