Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Permission To Change: The Role Of Culture And Cultural Tourism In Development, Heather Houser

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Batwa are an indigenous people living throughout areas of central equatorial Africa. In Uganda, they constitute a small minority and live in parts of the West and Southwest, primarily in the districts of Bundibugyo, Kabale, Kisoro and Kanungu. This study was conducted in Kisoro District and the data deals primarily with the Batwa that live there. Many of the Batwa’s ancestral homelands were declared national parks in 1991. The Batwa were forced to leave and were given no compensation. As a result, many of them are now squatters and have been forced to beg for a living. Several organizations …

An Observational Analysis Of Psychosocial Behaviors And Caregiver Responses In The Durban Children’S Home, Sarah Young

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In South Africa, many children find themselves in at risk situations arising from issues like HIV, abuse, and poverty, which highly impact their mental well being by forcing them into unlivable situations. The Durban Children’s Home, located in Glenwood, Durban, works to tackle this problem, providing facilities, meals, and care for 75 homeless, abused, terminally ill, and/or poverty stricken children. Yet in coming from situations where children no longer have support of their primary caregiver or environment, these children require quality psychosocial attention in the Home. However when basic needs of so many children must be met in an institutional …

The Learning Organization In A Post-Development Era: A Case Study On Orgnizational Development At The Valley Trust, Justin Haruyama

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the past two decades, the rise of Post-Development theory has witnessed the questioning of the core assumptions of development. Post-Development theorists point to the failures of “development” to create significant decreases in poverty or inequality worldwide. Meanwhile, other theorists call for radical transformations of conventional practice. This paper seeks to grapple with these questions, using the example of The Valley Trust, a development NGO in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, as an entry point into the debate. Research was conducted over a four-week period through a mixture of participant observation and formal interviews with staff members of The Valley Trust. An …

You’Ll Never Silence The Voice Of The Voiceless: Critical Voices Of Activists In Post-Apartheid South Africa, Kate Gunby

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this research has been to explore how and why former liberation activists have continued to speak out against the government since the African National Congress (ANC) transitioned from a liberation movement to a ruling party. These individuals highlight the importance of having a voice, and making that voice heard by the government. They also provide a plurality of opinions that are just a sampling of the sentiments held by South Africans today. The objective of my research is to better understand what is wrong with the ANC and South Africa, possible causes, and how they can be …

Kaya Hip-Hop In Coastal Kenya: The Urban Poetry Of Ukoo Flani, Divinity Lashelle Barkley

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the global world of the 21st Century, music is one of the few things that has the ability to cross physical as well as cultural borders, which is why my Independent Study Project (ISP) focuses on the role of hip-hop music in the youth culture in Kenya’s largest coastal city, Mombasa. Throughout history, music has proven its artistic power; inspiring people to resist oppression, challenge inequality, and even claim salvation.

This enduring characteristic of music is central to my ISP which explores the emergence of hip-hop in Kenya as well as the evolution of Ukoo Flani, one of the …

No Shelter: Unesco’S Efforts To Save Lalibela’S Culture, Kellen Mcclure

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The eleven rock-hewn churches in Lalibela, Ethiopia have existed for almost a millennium. Cut directly from the volcanic rock of the area, the churches have attracted foreign attention for over fifty years to an area that still remains extremely rural. Recently, new attention is being given to the churches in an attempt to save them from deterioration that threatens both the structural integrity of the buildings and the priceless artwork inside. Leading the effort is the United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). UNESCO, with help from the European Union, has launched a new project to build metal shelters …

An Ancient Practice: Scarification And Tribal Marking In Ghana, Alyssa Irving

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My research on tribal marking and face scarring took place in various parts of the country, but much of the information comes from the residents of Gwollu. By interviewing different people belonging to different regions and ethnic groups throughout the country, I was able to discover the main uses for marking: medical use, decoration, spiritual protection, and tribe or family identification (these marks specifically for ID can be referred to as tribal marks). This paper sweeps over the origins of marking and how it became quite important during slave raiding, but has various uses and implications in modern times. This …

Immigration: An Escalator To The American Dream Nicaraguans’ Experiences With Immigration To The United States In The Midst Of The War On Terror, Allison Koenker

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

Community Forestry In Oaxaca: An Assessment Of The Level Of Autonomy In Forest Decision-Making And Its Environmental And Economic Importance, Peter Gill

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

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 …

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 …

Liberation Theology In The 21st Century: The Catholic Church, The Cpt, And Rural Movements In Southern Pará, Eleanor Sharp

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study explores the present-day manifestation of liberation theology in the south of Pará, Brazil. Liberation theology has been widely recognized as an important development in theology and Latin American history that helped spark social movements across South and Central America in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. In the Brazilian Amazon, progressive Church workers (mainly Catholic) have been historically aligned with movements to protect and regain land rights for poor rural workers. Because these movements and organizations are the primary defenders of human rights in this part of Brazil, researching the changing role of religion in their work is important …

Desarrollo Turístico Y Sustentabilidad: Caso Villa Pehuenia Y La Comunidad Mapuche Puel, Sasha Shahidi

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

With limited resources and overpopulation on a global level, sustainable development is the only way that human beings will be able to survive on this earth. The problem is that the dominant model of development stresses the importance of economic profits in the short term and far too often exploits natural resources and less powerful cultural groups. This creates dangerous long-term affects as natural resources and indigenous cultures that depend on them continue to disappear with no plan, or possibility, to replace them. Sustainability seeks the least negative impacts possible on the natural environment and indigenous cultures in order to …

Los Afro-Descendientes De Buenos Aires: Mitos Y Realidades, William Cowles

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

During the 19th century, the black population of Buenos Aires suffered a massive demographic decline that brought their population from roughly 30% of Buenos Aires in the beginning of the century to an almost invisible fraction. According to the popular Argentine historical myths, this decline was the product of several concrete factors, most importantly an outbreak of Yellow Fever and the various wars of 19th century Argentina in which the black population suffered heavy losses. However, the demographic facts and the historical evidence do not support this explanation. The historical reality of the decline of the black population in Buenos …

La Recuperación De Ex-Centros Clandestinos De Detención Como Espacios De La Memoria: Un Estudio Acerca Del Caso Del Ex-Centro “Olimpo” En Buenos Aires, Katherine Jensen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The last military dictatorship in Argentine history, from 1976 to 1983, implemented an institutionalized system of state terrorism that by the dictatorship’s end had permanently disappeared 30,000 of its citizens, as well as individuals from the rest of Latin America. The core of this system was the use of centros clandestinos de detención, tortura y extermino (clandestine centers of detention, torture and extermination) in which sequestered persons were tortured and then either disappeared or liberated. In the last few years, a movement has emerged to convert this former centers into espacios de la memoria (sites of memory). One such ex-center, …

Spartan Daily, October 1, 2007, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily (School of Journalism and Mass Communications)

Volume 129, Issue 19

Iraqi Resettlement: Why Congress Won't Act, Daniel J. Whelan

Human Rights & Human Welfare

After making an excellent case for the plight of Iraqi asylum seekers who have served as valuable allies to the United States in Iraq, Joseph Huff-Hannon’s article suggests that Congress should play a stronger role in developing a resettlement policy to allow Iraqis, who have been on “our side,” to come to the U.S. Given the current political climate on Iraq—and with Congressional Democrats desperate to score some kind of victory in its battle with the Bush White House—what exactly is holding them back?

Will Refuge Continue To Be Elusive, Katherine Gockel

Human Rights & Human Welfare

According to U.N. estimates, if current trends continue, the number of Iraqi asylum seekers by year-end could reach between 40,000 to 50,000. The influx of Iraqis into states such as Syria and Jordan also threatens to be a destabilizing force in those countries. Therefore, it is unreasonable to expect these states to individually cope with migration flows of this magnitude.

Fleeing From Violence Versus Fleeing From Poverty, Michael Goodhart

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Nour al Khal worked as a translator for New York Times reporter Steven Vincent, who was murdered by Shiite militants in Iraq. Vincent’s widow has been trying to help al Khal (who was kidnapped and shot by the same group who killed Vincent) win asylum in the United States. So far political and bureaucratic obstacles have proven insurmountable.

Iraqi Resettlement: Why Congress Will Act, David A. Weinberg

Human Rights & Human Welfare

I would like to commend Human Rights & Human Welfare for their recent roundtable on the Iraqi refugee crisis. The Roundtable rightly draws attention to the United States government’s woefully inadequate efforts thus far to address a major humanitarian crisis of its own making.

However, I do not agree with Professor Daniel Whelan’s assessment of “why Congress won’t act” on Iraqi resettlement. Dr. Whelan argues that the new Congress appears reluctant to resettle a reasonable number of Iraqi refugees in danger because Democrats fear that doing so would precipitate Iraqi state failure by means of “brain drain.” Instead, I would …

Would Iraqi Refugees Please Disappear, Richard A. Falk

Human Rights & Human Welfare

I am grateful to Joseph Huff-Hannon for drawing our attention vividly and movingly to the plight of Iraqi refugees, its magnitude and cruelty. There are more than two million Iraqi refugees, with an estimated 50,000 per month added to the total. Many are languishing in terrible conditions in such neighboring countries as Syria and Jordan. These states, neither of which are notable as places of refuge, lack the capabilities for humane treatment even if their governments were altruistically inclined. Many Iraqis cannot even find such refuge, and remain hapless nomads in search of a sanctuary country. The U.S. refusal to …

October Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“No Refuge Here: Iraqis Flee, but Where?” by Joseph Huff-Hannon. Dissent. Summer 2007.

Eric K. Leonard On Atrocity, Punishment, And International Law By Mark A. Drumbl. New York, Cambridge University Press, 2007. 316 Pp., Eric K. Leonard

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law by Mark A. Drumbl. New York, Cambridge University Press, 2007. 316 pp.

Information Outlook, October 2007, Special Libraries Association

Information Outlook, 2007

Volume 11, Issue 10

Montana's Agritourism And Recreation Business: Ten Years Later , Lee Rademaker, Norma P. Nickerson, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

There is a wide variety of recreation and tourism activities on farms and ranches, ranging from Fish, Wildlife and Parks Block Management to cabin rentals to horseback rides. To further understand farm and ranch recreation businesses, the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research conducted a survey of Montana farms and ranches currently involved in tourism or recreation or thinking about starting in that field. The purpose of this investigation was to gain a clearer picture of what is currently happening on farms and ranches in terms of recreation and tourism activities, to gauge what may be happening in the near …

State Policies On Migration And Refugees In Jordan, Francoise De Bel-Air

Faculty Journal Articles

Jordan has historically acted as a regional cross-road for migration. This role can be attributed to regional political instability forcing migrants to the country, as much as due to Jordan’s policy of openness to Arab migrants, an openness which has sustained the pan-Arabist claims of the ruling Hashemite dynasty. In recent years, however, Jordan has progressively restrained its open-door policy. The country is hosting today some 900,000 work migrants of various nationalities, some 750,000 Iraqi refugees and numerous Syrians, Lebanese, West Bank Palestinians, while an estimated 50% of the population is descendent of the naturalised Palestinian refugees of 1948 and …

Egyptian Workers In Paris: An Ethnographic Account, Reem Saad

Faculty Journal Articles

On both sides of the Mediterranean, labour migration from North Africa to Europe is seen as a problem. At the official levels, this problem is mainly treated from a security perspective with the greatest efforts directed at closing the loopholes through which migrant labour manages to reach Northern shores. Young men from many parts of the “South” go to extreme lengths and bear great risks to get to Europe. This paper addresses the case of Egyptian labour migrants in France. This research attempts to understand this issue from the point of view of the migrants themselves, and in the context …

The Decline Of Palestinian Exceptionalism: Observation Of A Trend And Its Consequences For Refugee Studies In The Middle East, Michael Kagan

Faculty Journal Articles

There has historically been a great divide at the heart of refugee policy and scholarship in the Middle East, between Palestinian refugees and all others. This intellectual and policy divide runs throughout political discourse, governmental and United Nations administration, and civil society activism. It poses a challenge to the coherency of forced migration studies in the Middle East. There is now a significant and growing inter-disciplinary literature about refugees of many nationalities in the region, but the largest and most visible refugee group in the region has been traditionally treated as “a case apart,” to borrow a phrase used recently …

From Internal To International Displacement In Sudan, Agnes De Geoffroy

Faculty Journal Articles

In the field of forced migration and refugees studies, forced internal displacement cannot be excluded as an area of interest. Internal displacement is challenging for peace construction, urban development and stability in many countries. The growing number of displaced persons is the reverse side of the international community new strategy, consisting in preventing cross-border displacement, aiming to prevent the regional spreading of instability and reducing the number of refugees. The country with the greatest number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the world is Sudan. It has more than 5 million IDPs, of which about 2 million were recently displaced …