Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

La Capital Marica De Chile: Un Mapa Queer/Kuir/Marica De Valparaíso Y Una Investigación Sobre La Construcción Publica De Una Comunidad Visible En Valparaíso, Steven Powell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In Valparaíso, Chile, there is a teeming queer presence in the streets and public spaces. Expressions of queerness can be seen in Plaza Anabel Pinto in the way in which people dress or style their hair, can be heard from the small plaza in front of the Severin Library with the voguing/kiki music blasting at nights, and is grafittied on the walls all around the city. This presence and visibility is met with violence and accompanied by precarious life situations. It was my goal through this investigation to explore this relationship between violence and visibility as it is contradicted and …

“Yo También Puedo” - Una Investigación De Pensamientos Y Opiniones Sobre Redes De Apoyo Y Historia De Violencia Intrafamiliar Contra Mujeres Mapuches Rurales, Shira A. Lyss-Loren

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper is an exploration of the rural Mapuche women’s opinions and history of intrafamilial violence. Through small group personal interviews this study seeks to consider the multiple lived experiences and opinions of rural Mapuche women as it relates to intrafamilial violence against women and the social and government support systems available to both prevent it and support victims. Intention of this investigation was not to seek out personal stories of violence, instead focusing on community-wide held perceptions, opinions, and beliefs about where violence in their community comes from, how its perpetrated, and how it is responded to or prevented. …

Step By Step: Understanding Perceptions Of Time And Space In Nepal, Lillian Norton-Brainerd

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Time and space are part of everyone’s daily life; however, these concepts are rarely explicitly discussed. Hegemonic interpretations of time and space are part of capitalist, colonialist structures, thus understanding alternative perceptions is important to resisting these structures. To understand perceptions of time in Nepal, I spent a month in Gre, a small village near Langtang National Park. I interviewed villagers and spent time observing how people spend their time, talk about time, and give directions to physical places. While there is not one perception of time and space, I learned how time and space influence each other. Geography and …

Tejer Una Red De Apoyo: Tejemujeres: Una Cooperativa De Artesanas En Gualaceo, Ecuador, Emma Floyd

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Esta monografía trata sobre la historia de superación de la Cooperativa Tejemujeres en Gualaceo. La Organización Tejemujeres ha dado apoyo social y financiero a las mujeres que habitan en la zona rural de esta región de Ecuador a través del arte de tejer. Hablaré sobre cómo la costumbre de tejer en los Andes del Ecuador permite la preservación de la tradición, la ganancia de ingresos para las mujeres y la creación de un sistema de apoyo entre ellas. Comenzando con una introducción a la historia del arte de tejer y la propia historia de Tejemujeres, explicaré las complejidades de esta …

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 …

Discontinuity Between Religion, Law, And Society Through Animal Treatment In Morocco, Michael Altman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Animal treatment is a topic which is covered by many facets of what helps create the guiding principles for humans, yet all in different ways; there is some overlap, and there is some distinction. From my three months of study in Rabat, Morocco, seeing how each person approaches the homeless animal differently, I write on how three important overarching areas: religious, legal, and societal, discuss how animals should be treated.

In this paper, I will be analyzing religious texts, legal writings both in place and in draft, and will rely on external works written animal markets and on the school …

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 …

Iskay Simipi Yachay: El Papel De La Educación Intercultural Bilingüe En La Preservación Y Valoración De La Lengua Quechua En Perú, Tori Wiese

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Perú es un país multicultural y multilingüe, con una historia rica, especialmente con respecto a sus poblaciones indígenas. Específicamente, Perú tiene una población grande de quechua hablantes que viven principalmente en la región andina en el país. Más de tres millones de personas hablan quechua en Perú—el 13 por ciento de la población del país. Con un número tan significativo, el peligro que rodea al quechua puede no ser aparente, pero sin embargo existe. Durante su historia, Perú como un país sofocó la lengua quechua a favor de la lengua castellano. Esta represión de la lengua quechua también incluye la …

Unity In Diversity: Textile Expressions Of The Human Condition In Times Of Economic And Cultural Anxiety, Eli J. Baez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Questions about the roots of human nature have been plaguing human societies across the globe since the beginning of time. Whole societies are built around the perceived answers, and the art which these societies produce reflect upon it and even contribute to constructing ‘proper’ human behavior. One such artistic material that lays literally quite close to the human body is the textile. Textiles can possess the specific power to shape the way in which an individual human body is presented to others, as well as to position a collective of humans in relation to others. In other words, textiles can …

Socio-Political Criticism In Contemporary Indonesian Art, Isabel Betsill

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The objective of this paper is to understand the connections between contemporary art and politics in Indonesia both in terms of how politics has shaped art practices, and in terms of how art influences politics. Questions I was interested in exploring include how contemporary art practices have changed considering the political changes over the past 30 years; if and how contemporary art is being used to facilitate political dialogues in the country; if and how contemporary art is being used to criticize and invoke change regarding social issues; and what the role of art spaces, collectives and foundations is in …

La Construcción De Espacios Para La Memoria: El Rol De Los Actores En Tres Ex Centros Clandestinos De La Ciudad De Buenos Aires, Quentin Bernhard

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En esta investigación, cuento la historia como espacios de memoria de tres ex centros clandestinos en la ciudad de Buenos Aires y noto aspectos importantes de ellos que me conocí a través de entrevistas con trabajadores en los sitios en visitas ambas formales y informales. Analizo el rol de los actores sociales como el gobierno, el barrio y los visitantes en el funcionamiento de cada sitio, y a partir de eso exploro la identidad única de cada uno y cómo construyen la memoria por medio del espacio de memoria.

Este trabajo se base en parte en la cantidad de obras …

Forjando Un Feminismo (No) Transgeneracional: Una Examinación De La Memoria Y La Construcción De Identidades En El Movimiento Estudiantil Feminista Del 2018-19, Isabel Guarnieri

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The student feminist movement of 2018-19 was dubbed Chile’s “third wave” of feminism. Media outlets framed it not only as a push to address violence against women and establish a non-sexist education system, but as a revolt against the neoliberal system that generates gender-based inequality – a legacy of the military dictatorship. This paper sought to investigate the processes by which the activists of the 2018-19 student feminist movement constructed a transgenerational movement through the mobilization of memory, as well as to interrogate the intergenerational perspectives surrounding the effectiveness of this mobilization, recognizing feminism’s continuities and the importance of remembering …

Newsworthy Migrants: Sentiment And Text Analysis Of Dutch Newspapers, Nicholas J. Schmitz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Understanding how a migrant population is viewed and displayed by the host country has been a struggle for a long period of time for anyone studying migration. Traditional methods of collecting information were tedious, time intensive and expensive. However, Big data has been providing unique solutions to gaps in information in many different fields across the world. Media plays an important part in developing and assessing the public opinion on a topic. With the availability of a large number of online articles from historical time periods, it is possible to use quantitative analysis, such as text analytics, to can see …

A Study Of Stambeli In Digital Media, Nneka Mogbo

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research paper explores stambeli, a traditional spiritual music in Tunisia, by understanding its musical and spiritual components then identifying ways it is presented in digital media. Stambeli is shaped by pre-Islamic West African animist beliefs, spiritual healing and trances. The genre arrived in Tunisia when sub-Saharan Africans arrived in the north through slavery, migration or trade from present-day countries like Mauritania, Mali and Chad. Today, it is a geographic and cultural intersection of sub-Saharan, North and West African influences.

Multicultural Narratives: Language As A Site Of Struggle For Amazigh Rights Activism In Morocco, Joyce Lee

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Moroccan constitutional monarchy’s officialization of the Amazigh language in 2011 was its response to a building coalition for Amazigh rights, which simultaneously narrowed and broadened the scope of the Amazigh Rights movement. This study’s purpose was to analyze Tamazight as it has currently manifested in the urban space of Rabat as a site of struggle for Amazigh people. The questions the study attempts to answer are: a) Has the Moroccan government found success in its chosen goal of standardization of the Tamazight language in schools? b) Do Amazigh activists share this same goal? c) Whose needs do the goals …

La Estructura Neo-Colonial Del Turismo Espiritual En El Perú: Las Percepciones Locales De Quien Controla La Mercantilización Del Ayahuasca En Cusco, Andrea Aspajo

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Esta investigación aborda el tema del turismo místico/espiritual en la ciudad de Cusco enfocándose en los negocios de ayahuasca. Intenta comprender las percepciones locales de quien controla a los negocios de ayahuasca en Cusco. El trabajo analiza cómo el turismo, como las formas emergentes de emprendimiento de la industria del ayahuasca, participan en la continuación de la colonización económica de Latino América. Como principal metodología de estudio se utilizaron las técnicas cualitativas de la entrevista y la observación con preguntas abiertas a representantes de negocios de ayahuasca tanto como agentes gubernamentales. Los resultados se analizaron usando un marco teórico del …

Z4, A Slow Puncture: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of Language, Embodiment, And Meaning-Making, Charlotte Rose Samuels

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In my ISP, I explored language as it relates to the ways in which people living in Cato Manor make sense of HIV/AIDS in their community. With 7.1-7.2 million people living with HIV (PLWHIV) in South Africa, individuals across the country are either infected or affected by illness. KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), the province with the highest rate of HIV, is also the province that was surveyed with the disproportionately highest internal stigma rates for PLWHIV. High prevalence of HIV, particularly in KZN, calls for a constant contextualization of life in the presence of illness.

Throughout the world, metaphor and symbolism is …

Radical Moves: Negotiating Community And Transformation With (Some Of) Sit/South Africa’S Students Of Color, Kavita Sundaram

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Finding its foundations in inquiries of community, knowledge(s), relational truths, and radical transformation, this project wonders specifically how students of color from the School of International Training (SIT)/South Africa: Multiculturalism and Human Rights Spring 2019 semester abroad in Cape Town experience, negotiate with, and envision the potential futures of community/ies in and around the program. My research operates within a socioprogrammatic context which is highly racialized, seeking to listen to, document, and place in conversation the perspectives of our students of color. My meditations ground themselves in the individual and collective narrative(s) of our students of color, explored primarily in …

Self-Perceptions Of The French Community In Morocco, Madeleine L. Breunig

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

North-South migration is growing trend; however, this type of migration is overlooked in the literature because it is not viewed as urgent or negative. Migrants from the global North are associated with wealth, and are referred to by the term expatriate, which distinguishes them from migrants, placing them in a more positive light. In Morocco, there is a growing community of Europeans. Among them, the French community stands out as one of the largest migrant groups in Morocco. Their presence is an interesting one, as they have a shared history with Morocco and a common language in Morocco, in theory …

La Preservación Y Evolución De La Música Tradicional Andina Y Una Modernización De La Identidad Indígena, Evan Tannenbaum

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La música es una componente clave de la cultura, y en los andes la música siempre ha constituido un gran identificador y definidor del espíritu indígena y autóctona. Pero la música no es estática: es un ser vivo que cambia en conjunto con la sociedad que se representa. Por lo tanto, por estudiar la música, podemos aprender sobre la cultura y como ha cambiado—como ha transformado, modernizando con una globalización de la identidad. Entonces, en esta investigación, exploro la música indígena en los andes, hablando con músicos y musicólogos, además de leyendo y estudiando sobre la música para aprender cómo …

Couvrant Les Yeux, Les Oreilles Et La Bouche: How The Musée Royale De Batoufam Preserves Tradition And Culture For Multiple Audiences And Perspectives, Julia Hirsch

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Museums are important to study as a way of representing, preserving, and teaching culture. In this study, I wanted to explore how James Clifford’s exhibitionary complex, about the interactions of the viewer, the museum, and the represented culture, applies in the unique case of Musée Royale de Batoufam, a living site museum full of art and rich with tradition. In studying this, I examined the way different audiences use the museum and how the museum can preserve the idea of the coexistence of modernity and tradition, which is integral to Batoufam life, for all audiences. In conducting 20 interviews with …

La Comida, La Identidad Y La Migración: Un Caso De Estudio De Inmigrantes Femeninas Y Su Relación Con La Comida, Susanna Morales

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Esta corta investigación se enfoca en cómo la comida, la migración y la identidad se entrecruzan dentro de la vidas de las mujeres involucradas en el Sindicato de las Trabajadoras del Hogar de la ciudad de Cochabamba. La mayoría de ellas han migrado del campo a Cochabamba en búsqueda de un trabajo. El enfoque está en cómo ellas recuerdan sus pueblos y cómo su identidad se expresa a través de la comida. Mi pregunta de investigación es la siguiente: ¿Cómo se entrecruza la comida, la migración e identidad en la vida de una inmigrante femenina? Respondo a estas preguntas usando …

The Guthi System Of Nepal, Tucker Scott

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this research is to understand the role of the guthi system in Nepali society, the relationship of the guthi land tenure system with Newari guthi, and the effect of modern society and technology on the ability of the guthi system to maintain and preserve tangible and intangible cultural heritage in Nepal. This research took place in three different sections of Kathmandu. The methodology behind this research was a combination of historical analysis of the traditional role of the guthi system in Nepal along with three case studies of guthi organizations with different assigned functions. These case studies …

Exploring The Space Between Healers: A Narrative Approach To Understanding The Relationship Between Traditional Healers And Biomedical Practitioners In Kwazulu-Natal, Marisa Delsignore

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite playing essential and parallel roles in the lives of patients, there exists a frictional, imbalanced relationship between traditional healers and Western doctors in South Africa. While national policy encourages a seamless system rooted in both Western science and indigenous knowledge, biomedical institutions are hesitant to accept traditional medical practices, which are based on less tangible and more spiritually-oriented elements. This research project turns to these two ideologically different entities to assess their perspectives on the roles of themselves and the other within the context of the South African health system.

Responses from semi-structured interviews with seven health practitioners from …

Sustainable Tourism Practices In Vietnam: The Influence Of Institutions And Case Study Of Sapa’S Growing Tourism Industry, Alexandria Cahill

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As tourism becomes increasingly important to Vietnam’s economy, and subsequently the development of the country, it will become ever more critical to examine the impact of tourism, including both the positive and negative consequences. The intention of this paper is to continue the analysis of the tourism industry in Vietnam; in particular, this paper considers sustainable tourism, which can be defined as minimizing impact on local culture and environment while simultaneously resulting in economic gains and employment, all while operating in a way that can be continued in the future. As Vietnam is rich in diverse cultures and natural landscapes, …

Women’S Movement: Traveling Nepal, Shaelyn Mchugh

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Nepal is a country formed by the highest peaks in the world, numerous unique cultures and ethnicities, religious pilgrimage sites for both Buddhist and Hindus, and more festivals than days in the year. For Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2017, Nepal was deemed the world’s “Best Value Destination”. Tourism plays a vital role in Nepal’s economy, but its inds is heavily aimed towards the international market. Nepalis in the hospitality industry, scholars, and economists have argued that domestic tourism could be a key component for overall socioeconomic and cultural changes in their society1.

There has been a surge of domestic …

Rebuilding Tunisia, One Artist At A Time, Caitlin Kelley

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper argues that Tunisia’s engaged artists are playing a key role in the development of Tunisian civil society and democracy. The bulk of the research is in the form of interviews with five Tunisian artists. Each artist is actively engaged in the project of building a stronger, more democratic society. Through their art, they exercise and protect the political rights won in the 2011 revolution. These artists resist censorship, powerfully and loudly exercise their right to free speech, and help Tunisian society envision a better future for itself. The five artists interviewed for this research represent the type of …

Think Outside: Exploring The Influence Of Nature On The Individual And Of The Individual On Society, Brielle Wells

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This video project has an overarching goal to question the influence the natural environment has on the development of individual people and society as a whole. It begins by looking into the important role played by creativity in societal and economic development. From here a brief background is given on the requirements of maintaining and producing a creative environment. The piece alludes to the possibility that a relationship with nature has a deeper meaning than just being conducive to creativity. It also shows the effects pollution has had on the work of local artists and briefly the challenges faced by …

Who And What Is Amazigh? Self-Assertion, Erasure, And Standardization, Alexis Colon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research focuses on the identity of the indigenous peoples of Morocco, or the Amazigh. While this culture has endured different iterations of colonization, self-assertion and activism in favor of preserving culture and improving conditions for Amazigh can often be viewed as controversial to the elites of Morocco. This controversy, however, does not stop Moroccans from proclaiming their Amazigh background or portraying their culture. This paper aims to describe qualitative data taken from numerous interviews on the subject of self-identification of Amazigh and different hopes and expectations for the continuation of the language and culture of Amazigh among common peoples.

La Tierra Aquí Es Amable: Soil Macrofauna Density And Producer Perceptions Of Agricultural Soil Fertility In Cerro Punta, Chiriquí, Clara Fernandez Odell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Ethnopedology, as a subfield of ethnoecology, is the study of localized symbols and values, knowledge, and practices relating to soils. One key framework for ethnopedological studies is the Kosmos-Corpus-Praxis model, which synthesizes local and traditional ecological into three overlapping, interrelated spheres. Cerro Punta, Chiriquí is the primary vegetable-growing region in Panama, an industry highly dependent on the region’s fertile volcanic soils. Semi-structured interviews (n=8) and soil macrofauna density surveys as an indicator of soil fertility (n=9) were used to gather information regarding producers’ beliefs, knowledge, and decisions about soil fertility.

Among producers in Cerro Punta, religious beliefs and land symbolism …