Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Purple Shadows In Catalonia: Josep Pla, Great Questions Of Literature, And The Bid For Catalan Independence, Caya Greenspan-Layman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

Draagmoederschap: Surrogacy In The Netherlands, Olivia Murray

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this paper, I investigated surrogacy in the Netherlands by interviewing four surrogates and one intended parent about their experiences. I found that the participants shared several common experiences and opinions, especially related to why they chose to be surrogates, how surrogates and intended parents negotiate their relationship during and after pregnancy, the tensions of passing on parenthood and merging families, the (non-binding) contracts that surrogates and parents create, Dutch law, and commercial surrogacy. I argue that much of the discourse around surrogacy relitigates many of the arguments made in favor and against sex work, in that it sets surrogacy …

Public Perception Of Forest And Fire Management Policy In Portugal, Jensen Rocha

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The impacts of forest fires are growing as climate change creates more frequent ideal temperature conditions for extreme wildfires. With the devastating fires it experienced in 2017, Portugal stands as an example of the impacts of dangerous wildfires and is working on developing a plan to protect its country from this rising threat. Important in the plan development is the opinion of the many stakeholders involved and the public whom the fires impact. Using an interview and survey approach, this study gathers public and stakeholder opinion on the forest and fire management policy in Portugal to understand what issues in …

The Multi-Step Approach To Covid Prevention In The Casamance Region, Saraí Hernandez Salguero

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Located in the Oussouye Department approximately 43 kilometers away from the city of Ziguinchor in the Basse Casamance region of southern Senegal is the Oussouye commune where I had the pleasure of staying for three weeks. I had learned that the inhabitants of this village were not significantly impacted by the Covid-19 virus since it became global knowledge at the start of 2020. As of March 2020, the village had only reported 69 active cases and the department saw only 8 deaths in total. I sought to figure out what could be the cause of this and through a series …

Soil Not Oil: An Assessment Of The Role Of Earth Jurisprudence In Restoring Biodiversity Conservation In The Indigenous Bagungu Community, In Uganda, Joslyn Primicias

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

An Earth-centered way of living is essential in Western Uganda, along with many more repressed regions affected by giant corporate evils. The purpose of this study was to assess the contribution of Earth Jurisprudence in the restoration of conservation in the Indigenous Bagungu community. More specifically, this study examines the customary laws and rituals used by the Bagungu, the strategies used to decolonize their culture, and their perspectives on foreign influence and globalization. Key-informant interviews were conducted with seven custodians and questionnaire-led interviews were administered to thirty-one clan members from the districts of Buliisa and Hoima. The study sample size …

A Hidden Emergency: Transgenerational Inheritance In The Next Generation Of Rwandans, Neila Gross

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Cases of physiological and psychological health disorders in the generation succeeding generation of the 1994 genocide are rising at an alarming pace. The presented work herein details a qualitative and quantitative approach to understanding the transmission of trauma from the surviving population of the 1994 Genocide Against Tutsi in their offspring using the APA PTSD System Scale-Interview (PSS-I). Several variables including age, gender and background were employed in this study. The results indicate that offspring born of targeted survivors of the 1994 Genocide Against Tutsi show increased trends of experiencing PTSD symptoms with children born in 1994 exhibiting the greatest …

The Gap Between Policy And The People: A Case Study Of The Buikwe Fishing Communities, Capri Gutiérrez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

To examine the implementation of Local Government development planning in periphery and hard to reach communities in Uganda, the fishing villages of the Buikwe District were used as a case study. The objective of the study was to explore how Local Government development planning is implemented in the fishing villages to identify gaps. Implementation was broken down into three areas: consultations, needs and services, and service delivery.

The study mimicked the bottom-up approach to decentralized development planning in Uganda, beginning with seven focus group discussions in five fishing villages of Buikwe. Eleven key informant interviews were then conducted with Local …

Cbos As A Tool For Sustainable Community Development: The Case In Kapchorwa, Annie Manges

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this research was to assess the ability of Community Based Organizations, or CBOs, in the Kapchorwa District of Uganda to create long-term and sustainable community development that meets the needs of their community. To provide the necessary context for the study, I conducted a literature review of poverty in Uganda, theory in sustainable and community development, the connection of CBOs to sustainable community development, challenges and strengths for CBOs, and the general context of the structure of and the regulations for a CBO in Uganda.

The participants in the research were members of CBOs in the Kapchorwa …

Perceiving The Intangible: Introspective & Meditational Practices In Moroccan Sufism, Anna Gray Morales

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Sufism has earned an exponentially prominent role within Morocco’s political and social arenas through recent decades. The Moroccan monarchy’s endorsement of the religious variant and its prevalence in pop-cultural events, national journalism, and literature are a few indicators of its growing influence. However, the tradition is, by no means, a modern construction and has existed since the beginning of the larger Islamic tradition. What qualities, then, has granted Sufism its relevance as a cornerstone of Moroccan society today? Its chief focus on introspective and meditational practices, rather than physical religious discipline, may foster a more inclusive and liberal form of …

Through The Eyes Of Lawyers And Advocates: Navigating The Court System For Women Impacted By Domestic Violence In Morocco, Emily Atieh

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

How do Moroccan women impacted by domestic violence navigate criminal legal systems in Morocco? Is the progressive family law present in Morocco due to recent reforms fully implemented in court systems? How can systems be improved to better support women impacted by violence? This study originally sought to answer these questions by surveying lawyers at NGOs in the Rabat area who act as advocates for women impacted by domestic violence. As a result of their expansive knowledge of criminal legal systems and experiences aiding hundreds of women, lawyers are in a unique position to critique the criminal legal system and …

The Odyssean Dilemma: Homelessness As Home And The Search For Ithaka, Francesca Casarella

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research project aims to explore the concept of “home” as expressed in the analogical Homeric figure of Odysseus in his journey to Ithaca. The research involves an inquiry into the meaning and reality of the concept of home in the context of both the Moroccan culture and the lives of displaced persons who find themselves located in Morocco. Engaging existing definitions of migration and a concept of homelessness expressed by Nietzsche, the theoretical research involved in this project provides a conceptual framework from which I examine the set of interviews obtained. The interviews conducted with both Moroccan nationals presently …

The Hands That Weave Stories, Elanna Hawkins

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

There is a narrative encoded in carpets of Morocco, and I set out with the initial intention to learn how to “read” them—thinking that a Western sense of language is present from the symbols and patterns in the rug. As I progressed in my research and met the skilled women artisans, I realized that I needed to rethink how a story that doesn’t necessarily require a written format can be told to relate to these cultural totems of Morocco. Through in-person experience and online research, I discovered many designs and backgrounds unique to specific regions and areas. Rugs can tell …

The Modern-Day Sand War: A New Dimension Of The Morocco-Algeria Conflict Explored Through Youth, Alec Stimac

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Since the 1963 Sand War, there has been a constant progression of tension between the countries of Morocco and Algeria. From physical space–the Western Sahara and border denotation–to diplomatic relations, Morocco and Algeria may never be the same after their colonization in the early 19th century. Due to the rise in extremist rhetoric, political accusations, economic instability, and social violence, the Moroccan-Algerian relationship can only get worse from here. Do these signs point to a modern-day Sand War approaching? This paper seeks to examine the existence of a modern-day Sand War and its consequences, specifically through the lens of youth …

Disability And Healthcare Access In Morocco: Social And Cultural Influences, Christa Shipman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

I stepped into the SIT Multiculturalism and Human Rights program as a pre-physical therapy student with experience working and volunteering in the disability rights arena. Striking personal encounters with Moroccans combined with these past experiences drew me to investigate how social and cultural factors influence access to healthcare for people with disabilities. I hypothesized that access to medical care is limited by social or cultural mindsets, perceptions, or beliefs for those in my target population. This subject is relevant to Morocco as a developing country and as a society with, in some cases, fixed social dynamics, while in other areas …

Los Efectos Psicosociales Que Produce El Embarazo En Las Vidas De Madres Adolescentes En Quito, Ecuador, Kaylee Howell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Research Question: What are the psychological and social effects of teen pregnancy facing teen mothers in 2021 and how do they impact their lives? Objective: The general objective is to describe the psychosocial implications produced by teen pregnancy. Background: Teen pregnancy rates of Latin America and the Caribbean are second in the world, second only to the region of Subsaharan-Africa. Within Latin America, Ecuador has the highest rates of adolescent pregnancy, surpassed only by Venezuela. Recently, the taboo surrounding reproductive health has been challenged, with the matter of abortion being brought to the supreme court. In conjunction with the matter …

Comparación Entre Las Percepciones Médicas Y Psicológicas De La Diabetes Tipo 2 Y La Tuberculosis En El Ecuador, Héctor Ortiz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Research Question: What are the differences and similarities between the perceptions of the medical and psychological management of both type 2 diabetes and tuberculosis? Objectives: The principal objective of this study is to understand the perceptions behind DM2 and TB as well as how these perceptions affect the care of these diseases. Secondary objectives are to define the epidemiological transition, describe the medical and psychological management and care of DM2 and TB, analyze how the people perceive the management and psychological care of DM2 and TB, and analyze the comparison of the perceptions of both diseases. Background: The epidemiological transition …

Letters To A Glacier; An Experiment And Critique Of M. Jackson’S Glacier-Ruins Narrative, Lily Fife Schaeufele

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

“Words are events, they do things, change things. They transform both speaker and hearer; they feed energy back and forth and amplify it. They feed understanding or emotion back and forth and amplify it.” —Ursula K. Le Guin

Letters to a Glacier; The Buoy Project Isafjordur is an ongoing invitation to the people of Isafjordur to write a letter to a specific glacier in Iceland onto a collection of discarded buoys gathered from the Isafjorudur and Bolungarvik junk yards. Over a period of two days on November 9th and 10th, I actively invited customers in the local cafe Heimabyggð to …

Science Is For Everybody: A Resource For Understanding Glaciers, Climate, And Modeling, Emma Watson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Climate change threatens the existence of glaciers worldwide. In order to properly interact with these changing systems, we must first understand them. Glacial models provide an excellent way to do this; however, the language and mathematical concepts used in their creation is generally inaccessible to a common audience. This project presents an online resource for a general audience to interact with climate science, glaciology, and glacial modeling. Long term goals for the project include the incorporation of a glacial model of Drangajökull, Vestfirðir, NW Iceland. As such, focus for the project includes a literature review of glaciers, Drangajökull in particular, …

Lessons Learned From The Hiv/Aids Pandemic And Access To Medicines For Covid-19 Treatment, Thalia Le

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

There is an imminent need to address the healthcare disparities in accessing all COVID-19 medicinal products in developing countries. While logistical issues like inadequate production facilities such as the lack of vaccines administration capacity, storage issues, gap between supply and demand as well as vaccine hesitancy can certainly play a part in impeding COVID19 medicines distribution, patent monopolies and intellectual property protection laws further exacerbated the problem, especially when vaccines were at its early stages of authorization. Historical and contemporary case studies of efforts to challenge patents on HIV AVRs treatment provide a useful lens through which we may glean …

Covid-19 Vaccine Diplomacy In West Africa: Empathetic Soft-Power Or Neocolonial Intentions?, Mary Sperrazza

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

With the impending roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines, many questions have been raised concerning the roll-out of the vaccines beyond the Global North. While some countries across the Global South have been able to purchase limited numbers of vaccines; many countries in the Global South remain highly or entirely dependent on various programs for the distribution of vaccines, such as the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) program. Another means of distribution is of individual countries of the Global North that have either higher purchasing power or are producers of one or more vaccines that have begun donating an allocated amount of …

Burning In Purgatory: The Suffocation Of Bisexuality And How The Match Was Lit, Tricia Menzel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The present study examines the way in which bisexuality is experienced and conceptualized in the city of Amsterdam, and how this influences bisexuality’s existence as a sexual identity. Data was collected through conducting one-on-one open-ended interviews with six queer women living in Amsterdam, five of whom are attracted to all genders. Interviews included themes of binegativity, conforming to lesbianism for safety in queer spaces, the additional mental load bisexual women carry, the perception that bisexual women are delusional to their real selves. These themes are then analyzed in order to give reason to the dissolving of the bisexual identity. This …

Political Processes Of Displacement In Infrastructure Development: The Case Of Aldeia Da Luz And The Alqueva Dam, Cordelia Walz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In 2002, the residents of Aldeia da Luz left their village for the final time, displaced to make room for the Alqueva Dam, a massive regional hydropower and irrigation project almost half a century in the making. The Alqueva Multipurpose Project was marketed by the Portuguese government as a way to develop the impoverished region of the Alentejo and bring innovation to the agricultural sector. The village of Luz was the only physical obstacle to this goal and, therefore, its residents were dispossessed, sacrificed for the development of the greater Alentejo region. However, unlike many other large-scale infrastructure projects that …

An Analysis Of The Role Of Gender In Political News Media Coverage, Clare Atkinson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Although there has been a decrease in specific exclusionary rules in governments around the world, most nations are very far from a governing body which represents the diversity that exists within their borders. There are many issues which may dissuade previously marginalized populations from political participation. One of these problems when it comes to female participation, is differential political news coverage. This study looked at how media sources set the political agenda and frame news stories in terms of the gender of a politician, and how this can create an additional challenge for women in government. The investigation found that …

Evaluating The Pragmatic And Moralistic Approach To Drug Policy And Addiction In Opioid Epidemic Outcomes, Brielle Seidel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Drug use, policy and outcomes differ in all countries; however, trends exist in response to these circumstances and can typically be evaluated through a pragmatic and moralistic lens. The public health, and evidence-based pragmatic approach differs from the law enforcement-centered moralistic approach, specifically in outcomes of people suffering from substance use disorder. Particularly for opioid use disorder, countries that have taken the pragmatic approach in response to opioid epidemics have had dramatic results. Two of the countries discussed include Switzerland and Portugal, with additional information on the Netherlands. In contrast, current opioid epidemics exist in certain countries who maintain a …

La Autenticidad Y El Yo: Un Análisis Sobre La Experiencia Urbana De Las Mujeres Indígenas En Ecuador, Madison L. Mcclellan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As research on the urban indigenous experience continues to expand, considerations of how indigenous populations understand, express and introspect upon their being indigenous in the city still proves an underexplored topic. The generalizing notion that indigenous persons are staticーin temporal, migratory and identity termsーcategorically conflicts with the growing trends of rural to urban migration patterns. Even more, deep-rooted indigenous-rural associations engender identity disorientations among indigenous women living in the city. The city becomes a space of self-confrontation and re-construction as indigenous women encounter questions of authenticity and shame.

Based in literature on identity, performance, authenticity and shame, this research considers …

Cape Town Cartographies: Which Spaces Can The Youth Access? Mapping The Mobilities Of 11 University Of Cape Town (Uct) Students, Sokona Mangane

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

South Africa went through a gruesome system of segregation known as apartheid, from 1948 until 1994 which enforced spatial and racial divisions through limiting access to spaces, places and (im)mobilities. Despite the formal ending of apartheid in 1994, and some changes it brought to the divided and wounded country, the neo-apartheid spatial structure of the regime lives on in some form or other, particularly in Cape Town. This research paper sought to explore the racial segregation in the mother city further, by examining the daily movements of students from the University of Cape Town (UCT), who are part of the …

An Assessment Of The Traditional Botanical Usage Of The Indigeneous People Of The Bugungu Sub-Region Of Western Uganda, Elena Kilber

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The questions that this study aimed to answer were: how are indigenous plants used for medicine, and spiritual practices by the indigenous Bagungu communities? What effect has colonization and globalization had on the knowledge of plants held by indigenous Bagungu communities? And how is the knowledge the Bagungu people hold of traditional plant use preserved through the generations? The methods used to answer these questions were key informant interviews with five herbalists and seven clan custodians from the Bagungu community, and questionnaires administered to 31 Bagungu community members between the ages of 27 and 83. Data were analyzed using qualitative …

Man V.S. Wild: An Analysis Of Language Used Regarding Human-Wildlife Conflict In The Kibale National Park Community, Western Region, Uganda, Sophie Perfetto

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

If humans are to live sustainably and in harmony with wildlife in the vicinity of Protected Areas, policy makers, and government authorities need to make informed decisions with consideration to the needs of local communities. For this to happen, policy makers must understand the perceptions of local communities and take local perspectives into account. As language is at the root of perception, language was studied in the context of its role in shaping local perceptions of human-wildlife conflict and consequential conflict mitigation strategies. Six communities around the Northern region of Kibale National Park, Uganda, were studied, with sites located in …

Harvesting The Truth About Salt Mining: An Assessment Of The Factors And Demographics That Influence Women To Become Salt Miners, Katwe Uganda, Amelia Simmonds

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Traditional and rudimentary methods of salt mining have been used to harvest salt from Lake Katwe in Uganda for over 400 years. Even though these methods are effective in extracting salt, they are proven to be hazardous to the miners. Though not often acknowledged, the role of women in salt mining operations is significant as they make up half of the workforce in East Africa. Regardless of the health risks associated with the mining sector, the number of women involved in small-scale salt mining increases by the year. The main objective of this study was to gain a better understanding …

Constructed Memories: A Study Of How The Arts And The National Museum Operate Within Power Structures And State Interests In Postcolonial Morocco, Evan Antonakes

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Moroccan national museum as an institution has a long and complicated history. A product of colonialism, the state has historically used the museum, and the art housed within it, to construct narratives of progress and images of modernization. Doing so is largely at the expense of contemporary artists who have long been neglected by the state and failed by the museum. This paper will communicate how museums, art, and the state intersect in postcolonial Morocco. The paper will examine the inner workings of the Mohammed VI National Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art in Rabat, attempting to contextualize the …