Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Reconstructing Pitaguary Identity: Indian Exchange And Outside Resources, Tess Mcmahon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research explores the recent methods by which the Pitaguary Indians in Ceará, Brazil have been reconstructing and revalorizing their indigenous culture using outside resources. Like many Indian populations within the Latin America, the Pitaguary have lost their culture due to conquest, exploitation, and assimilation policies. Only in 1997 did the Pitaguary file for governmental recognition and territorial demarcation[1] as an indigenous group. Since the mid-1990s, the tribe has been engaged in ‘rescuing’ and rediscovering their traditions and their culture. Three years ago, in 2007, an organization called Movimento Saude Mental Comunidade do Bom Jardim[2] came to the …

The Tibetan Jewish Youth Exchange: The Importance Of Youth In Exile And Diaspora Communities, Jade Sank

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

How is the identity of a people living in diaspora maintained? The people of Tibet have been living in exile since the Chinese occupation began in 1959. As a result the Tibetan people have been working to find ways to maintain their identity, religion and culture. In Many ways the current Tibetan plight can be compared to the experiences of the Jewish people in exile and diaspora.

Culture, a religion, a people and an identity in exile and diaspora is both maintained and changed. The youth are the future and bonds that hold everything together, they are the carriers of …

La ‘Paradoxe Marocaine’ Moroccan-Dutch Citizens In Transnational Social Space, Deva-Dee Siliee

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Human mobility has existed in countless forms for many centuries. Yet in our modern world of sovereign territorially defined nation-states, both policy makers and national publics increasingly see human mobility across national boundaries as alarming. The rising movement of people, culture and capital across borders is suggested to pose a direct challenge to the nation-state as the organizing unit around which many areas of human activity revolve. In the age of globalization, academics and politicans are investigating how to understand the question of individuals and entire communities, intent on maintaining strong economic, cultural and social ties across state borders. This …

Body Politics Within The Body Politic: Ghanaian Disabled Communities And Their Relationships To Power, Conner Chivone Spinks

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

I chose as my research topic disabled communities within Ghana and their relationships with different sources of power in Ghanaian society. To begin my analysis, I deconstructed the „disabled body‟ and established disability as an axis of identity that has bearing on social positioning. I explored the power dynamics that dictate the lives of minorities, particularly the lives of those with non-normative bodies. Using my interviews of disabled Ghanaians and my observations of disabled Ghanaians in public spaces, I analyzed how systems are felt in everyday life.

Post-Independent Kosovo: From Prescriptive To Descriptive Identities, Marisola Xhelili

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The aim of this study was to uncover the existence, or possibility of, a Kosovar identity in today’s Kosovo. I intend to discuss the role personal experience plays in confirming or challenging one’s identity, and in this light show how the memories and personal experiences of Kosovo Serbs and Albanians endorse their ethnically-based interactions.

The methods of my research were mostly of an experiential nature, and consisted of staying in Kosovo for a two-week period. My research shows that there is no clear idea of what a Kosovar identity means for the people of Kosovo at this time. Their narratives …

Cosmopolitan Romance In Nepal: An Investigation Of Young Newari Women’S Emerging Views Of Marriage And Dating, Rachel Williams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For decades Newari women have been limited to marriages arranged by their families and lamis, or matchmakers. There has been a recent shift in marital views among the youth has led to more courting among young Newars as well as a significant increase in the number of love marriages. Through in depth interviews with fourteen young Newari women, this ethnography attempts to illuminate current attitudes towards marriage and courtship exemplified by young Newari women in Kathmandu. I also argue that being a cosmopolitan Newari woman requires a negotiation of traditional gender roles and requires a balance between tradition and …

Coloured Identity In The Rainbow Nation: Historical Narratives Of The Durban Coloured Community, Olivia Greene

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

South Africa is working to come to terms with the residual effects of institutionalized racist policies that governed all aspects of its citizens’ lives during Apartheid. One struggle individuals and communities must wage is to define how they see their own racial identity in a post-Apartheid South Africa. There are many questions to ask. Is race no longer pertinent, or does it have a past that must be earnestly engaged and challenged, or does it constitute eternally fixed boundaries embodying cultural norms and biological traits? I, as I show in this paper, see the concept of race itself as a …