Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Creating Dreams, Fighting For Rights: A Study With Centro De Cultura Negra Do Maranhão, Brazil, Laura Jenks

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The history of race in Brazil is a long and complicated one which has resulted in a contemporary racial climate fraught with hidden racism and the systematic oppression of the entire black population. Because of this complex history, black movements in Brazil have struggled to gain political power and unified support from the black population. Today, the black movement is made up of many independent organizations, working in their own way to fight racism and inequality within Brazil. This research project looks at the work of one such organization of the Brazilian black movement, the Centro de Cultura Negra in …

“Con Paciencia” : El Proceso Y Los Desafíos De La Textilería Mapuche, Julie Dorian

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Every culture boasts craftsmanship that reflects the philosophies, passions, interests, needs, and stories of its people. Such craftsmanship not only represents a culture, but also embodies many facets of the collective identity of that culture. In the case of the Mapuche, traditional craftsmanship holds an important place in their history as a people and the preservation of their culture in the modern world. However, the primary reason that artisans today continue to make their goods is the income it brings to their families. The problem that arises is that an artisan’s handmade goods cannot compete with the cheap, mass-produced products …

Valorar Lo Nuestro Para Fortalecer El Futuro: Etnoturismo Mapuche En La Ix Región, Ashleigh Martin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The mapuche people have lived a history of struggle. Today it seems they are faced with the impossible choice of being poor and without the resources to maintain their culture, or succumbing to the pressures of a world imbued with globalization and equally changing what is fundamentally theirs. As a unique solution to this problem, many mapuche individuals and communities have opted to develop “turismo mapuche”, or ethnic tourism programs—part of a recent trend toward a more responsible form of tourism. These programs strive to provide tourists with the opportunity to experience cultures different from their own. The primary aim …

Black Identity Formation As Racial Politics In São Luis, Maranhão, Brazil, Ariel Sloan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

What is Black identity in São Luis, Maranhão and how does the Centro de Cultura Negra do Maranhão use Bloco e Banda Afro Akomabu and Grupo de Dança Afro Abanjá to construct black identity with Afro- descendants in São Luis, Maranhão, Brazil? Through active participation in Bloco Afro Akomabu and Grupo de Dança Afro Abanjá rehearsals and performances, interviews with Bloco Afro Akomabu and Grupo de Dança Afro Abanjá leaders and participants, and interviews with CCN leadership, the process of black identity formation encouraged by CCN through its two cultural projects emerged as a definite progression. This progression includes the …

A Place In The World: Mh2o’S Construction Of A Peripheral Identity, Ryan Schutt

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Hip Hop and, more specifically, Rap music, has been a culture rooted in the notion of the social periphery, the section of society excluded from mainstream, capitalist, bourgeois society. It has historically been a way for this voiceless, disenfranchised, and alienated population to criticize, question, and protest its societal position. The Movimento do Hip-Hop Organizado uses this medium as a way of politicizing and mobilizing the excluded members of Brazilian society. Using Hip-Hop, the organization constructs a socially informed, politically aware, and critically conscious community that is united through their common identification with Hip-Hop culture and MH2O. The case is …

Spectator To Actor To Multiplier: Edisca’S Humanizing Methodology, Hannah Mcdowell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Augusto Boal, a Brazilian theater theorist and practitioner, transferred the means of production of theater to the oppressed. The oppressed, formally passive spectators filled by the elites’ images of the world, became liberated participants in the creation of dramatic action. Through “people’s theater,” Boal encouraged participants to critically analyze their relationships with the world and in the world through onstage action. EDISCA (Escola de Dança e Integração Social para Criança e Adolescente [School of Dance and Social Integration for Children and Adolescents]), located in Fortaleza, Brazil, introduces artistic languages to children and adolescents from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The youth then …

Diarios Bajo Democracia: La Prensa Escrita En Chile, Hoy En Día, Jake Pearson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This investigation is focused on the written, printed press in Chile. The basic thesis question is this: how can it be that under democracy, there is such an anti-democratic printed press? Since Pinochet’s defeat by the ‘No’ vote in 1988 and the restoration of democracy, leftist, independent, critical publications have not been able to survive. The Chilean governments under La Concertación have been blatantly preferential, giving around 70% of $500 million dollars in state sponsored ads—each year—to two main printing companies and the papers they own: Edwards group and Copesa. The lack of a diverse printed press has obviously harmful …

Living In The Margins: The Male Homosexual Experience In Salvador, Silvano Gonzalez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Gay men across the world suffer through a reality of discrimination, violence, and hate. Academic literature supports this to be the case in Brazil, considered among many to be the world champion in the number of gay, lesbian and transsexual murders each year. Looking at the specific community of Salvador, Bahia, I have found this same homosexual reality to be the case. Though not experienced as directly as in other locations throughout Brazil, due in large part to the cities vast population and political activism, the effects of homophobia and prejudice are clearly demonstrated in this community.

My goal in …

Struggle, Revolution, And The Mst: Reflections On The Meaning Of Resistance, Andrew Cole

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The following is an ethnographic account of the motivations, attitudes, and ideology of several residents of Lenin Paz II, a Brazilian land-reform settlement in the northeastern state of Ceará. The particular focus of the study is on the reasons these individuals decided to get involved with the social movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra) that brought them to the settlement after a 2-3 year process of land occupation. Theoretically, the paper focuses on the development of a collective sense of social or class consciousness amongst the landless who were interviewed, drawing heavily on James Scott’s theory of resistance outlined …

El Movimiento De Mujeres Y Anamuri: Un Estudio De Caso, Stephanie Roberts

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the past century, societies around the world found themselves confronting the cultural and political double standards that existed (and still do) with respect to women’s rights and participation. While many countries have tried to include women equally and without bias, the truth is that women’s participation continues to be below mark. In Latin America, as well as many other regions of the world, women fulfill an interesting double role—on one side, the very center of society itself, on the other, an underrepresented and often ignored majority. This essay investigates the role that women’s organizations play in Chile, focusing on …

Tornar-Se Negro & Thinking Beautiful, Ayana Hosten

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In 1990, the census reported that Brazilian’s population was 55.3 percent branco, 39.3 percent parda, 4.9 percent negro, and 0.5 percent Indio. In response to complaints that these racial identities were not sufficient, the IBEG conducted a survey where they asked people “Qual é sua cor?” This survey resulted in a list of 134 different racial identities that reflect the complexities of race in Brazil due to a history of miscegenation. At the two extremes of this racial spectrum is branco and negro. These two extremes have cultural and historical significance that I examine through scholarly research. In the field, …