International and Area Studies Commons^™

Fearless: Christine Serwan And Sam Holmes, Christine M. Serwan, Samuel R. Holmes

SURGE

This week, we’re recognising the fearless work that Christine Serwan ’13 and Sam Holmes ’13 will be doing over the next two years during with the Peace Corps. [excerpt]

Nursing Homes: Insure To Ensure Quality Care, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Women are more likely to need nursing care, but few – men or women – can afford it in old age

In Our Village, Carolyn T. Mako

Bali Soundscapes Essays

While in the village of Banjar Wani I had the opportunity to meet Kedek and his father Pak Sura. They took me into their home and showed me what an average Balinese house for someone in the Sudra caste looks like. The Sudra is considered to be the lowest classification in the Hindu Caste system. People classified as a Sudra are typically farmers and Pak Sura owns a rice patty. I asked Kedek to show me into his house and below is a drawing of an overview of the house. Kedek walked me into the house through the gate that …

Balinese Family: "Keluarga", Rachel M. Grande

Bali Soundscapes Essays

In Balinese, this word means “family.” In Banjar Wani this word means “everyone,” because everyone feels like family. [excerpt]

The Role Of Psycho-Sociocultural Factors In Suicide Risk Among Mong/Hmong Youth, Tangjudy Vang

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined psychological, social, and cultural factors that can affect suicide risk among Mong/Hmong youth between the ages of 18 and 25. Emerging evidence suggests that Mong/Hmong youth are at an increased risk for suicide (Huang, Lee, & Arganza, 2004; Jesilow & Xiong, 2007). Additionally, initial findings and theories have suggested potential associations between Mong/Hmong youth suicide risk and intergenerational family conflict, ethnic identity, acculturation, depression, and spirituality. The seriousness of suicide risk among Mong/Hmong youth in this country has been overlooked for decades; therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine these associations with the hope that …

Entre Expatriation Et Apatridie : Les Romans De Gaston-Paul Effa Et Henri Lopes, Yves Abel Feze

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

The stories of exile and return from exile of novelists Gaston-Paul Effa and Henri Lopes give themselves to read on how to register a double “desappartenance” and focuses in the heart of their narratives the figure of a now be stateless, alien to itself and to the Other. We propose, therefore, to study the reconstruction of identity as it is the result of emigration and return on the homeland. This leads thus to the conclusion that the stateless defies the nation in order to situate itself and his stories in a transnational space.

Exploring The History And Challenges Of Monitoring And Evaluation In International Nongovernmental Organizations: Complemented By Intern Experience At Save The Children Usa, Scott Toscano

Capstone Collection

This paper examines the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system of a large international non-profit organization, Save the Children. An internship was used to support the central M&E unit and work on projects related to its needs. Projects included cataloging evaluation reports from the past two years and evaluation plans for the upcoming year, interviewing key informants about technical resource utilization and validating evidence about known gaps in Save the Children’s M&E system. A review of evaluation literature showing the evolution of the development evaluation practice is followed by a description of the mechanisms in Save the Children’s M&E system and …

What The Unglamorous Side Of Study Abroad Taught Me, Kathryn E. Bucolo

SURGE

I’ve been gallivanting around this beautiful planet posing as a study abroad student taking classes and writing papers for the past academic year, one semester in England and one in Argentina (where I still am) and, just like all the brochures, promotions, and panels of study abroad survivors say, it has been absolutely chock-full of amazing experiences, people, places, foods—I think “transformative” is the proper term.

But transformative can mean many things. It doesn’t just mean that you “find yourself” or “change your life”—it means you see the less glamorous stuff about yourself, too. [excerpt]

International Non-Governmental Organizations In Vietnam: A Case Study With Project Gaia, Alyssa L. Bosold

Celebration

In 1986, the Vietnamese government undertook a series of reforms known as doi moi. These reforms were mainly economic adjustments that encouraged globalization through capitalism, international trade, and foreign investment. They restructured Vietnam’s economy from a centrally-planned system to a market economy with a socialist orientation. This presentation focuses on the political and cultural aspects of globalization after doi moi, and analyzes the development of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) in Vietnam. Specifically, it seeks to address the following research question: How has the INGO sector changed with increasing globalization in Vietnam after the 1986 doi moi reforms, and what are …

Massacre In Central Burma: Muslim Students Terrorized And Killed In Meiktila, Richard Sollom, Holly G. Atkinson

Publications and Research

This report details the results of a Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) investigation into the March 20 and 21, 2013, attacks on Muslim students, teachers, and residents in the Mingalar Zayyone quarter of Meiktila, a small town in central Burma.

A two-person team, the authors of the report, from PHR conducted 33 interviews about the attacks, which resulted in the deaths of at least 20 children and four teachers. The report details the attacks by the Buddhist mobs, provides evidence that local police officers were complicit in the crimes, and lists policy recommendations for the Burmese government and the international …

My Life Examined & Tweaked, Shana-Kay Smith

Honors Projects in English and Cultural Studies

My project is an exploration into my love of poetry. It consists of a collection of twenty-seven poems that I have written and revised over the course of a year. Over that time period, I have worked on approximately forty-five poems, but I chose only twenty seven for my final portfolio. To demonstrate what my writing process is like, I have kept a book (separate and apart from the final portfolio) of all my thoughts, inspirations, drafts and revisions for the poems I write, so that the growth of each can be seen.

The majority of my poems are in …

“La Generación Ni Ni” And The Exodus Of Spanish Youth, Stephanie Lester

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

No abstract provided.

Does Child Sponsorship Have A Positive Impact On The Quality Of Life And Social Behavior Of Sponsored Children? Evidence From Indonesia, Mario Carrillo

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

Relaxing internal constraints of individuals at early stages of life is an approach that complements traditional policy interventions aimed to alleviate poverty. The Compassion International child sponsorship program focuses their work on the emotional, social, and spiritual development of sponsored children. This study uses age-eligibility as an instrument for sponsorship to investigate the impacts of child sponsorship on self-esteem, aspirational reference points, aspirational capital, reciprocity and patience. It also implements an innovative way of constructing summary indices using a method proposed by Anderson, M (2008). Results reveal child sponsorship does not have an effect on the sponsored children. In fact, …

Social Equality And Environmental Education In Brazil, Sherrod Williams

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Beacon Voyages for Service (BVS) is a program within the Office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement that coordinates Alternative Break programs. BVS Brazil traveled to Porto Alegre. This group of students partnered with “The Brazilian Association of Cultural Exchange (ABIC)” and the Center for Environmental Education to learn about the social problems that affect the citizens of Brazil and tackle issues of waste management. The students work alongside community members in a recycling unit and spend many hours working with local youth.

Chieftaincy-Based Community Dispute Resolution: The Case Of Sierra Leone, Whitney Mcintyre Miller

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Sierra Leone suffered a destructive 11-year civil war that largely left its communities torn apart and in need of vast redevelopment. One of the ways that communities are rebuilding and making efforts to move forward is through the chieftaincy-based community dispute resolution process. Based on historical norms, this process involves the community leader, or chief, helping to resolve disputes within the community. This article reviews this chieftaincy-based community dispute resolution process, discusses the types of disputes settled, and provides broader lessons learned for communities who may be interested in truly community-based dispute resolution.

Relaciones De Coalición Y Gestión: ¿Que Pasó A La Concertación?, Samuel Wonderling

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Chile ha experimentado una vuelta exitosa a la democracia desde la dictadura de Pinochet terminada en 1989, en gran parte debido a la estabilidad de su coalición en el poder, La Concertación. La Concertación ganó las cuatro primeras elecciones presidenciales en Chile, incluso el primer presidenta femenina en Chile, el miembro del Partido Socialista Michelle Bachelet. Bachelet tenía un mayoría del Congreso sin precedentes y muchos creyeron que representara una nueva era de esperanza y reforma social en Chile. Sin embargo, ciertos miembros políticos de la Concertación se dividieron en los años primeros de su presidencia y la coalición perdió …

When I'M 64: The Aging Of Southeast Asia, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Family structures in Southeast Asia are changing, presaging a need for sound policies to cover its rapidly aging citizenry.

What Really Matters: A Triangular Study Of Gender Roles And Standards Of Beauty In Cameroon Through The Lens Of Television Advertisements, Deborwah Faulk

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mass media increasingly has become a powerful force around the world. It is impactful and useful in its various forms such as film, books, newspapers, magazines, television and visual and audio music. However even in its informative, educational, communicative, and entertaining character, the media also has the propensity to mirror larger societal practices, perceptions, thoughts, and opinions pertaining to social dynamics encountered within society. Thus social constructs of gender, race, class and other identity characteristics are exemplified and amplified through media forms. Such realities found in the media have the propensity to be socially dangerous in that it can shape …

Cameras And Incense: Negotiating Religious Dance On Tourist Bali, Emma Brandt

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The small island of Bali has become famous throughout the world as a center of arts and culture. Tourists visit the island in droves each year to collect traditional paintings, carvings, and fabrics, and to watch performances of dances, gamelan, and puppet shows, all of these based in a Shivaite Hindu tradition that has absorbed elements of Buddhism and Islam, as well as bits and pieces from the religions of China and other erstwhile visitors to the island. Bali, a strongly Hindu island in one of the world’s largest Muslim countries, has achieved a worldwide fame perhaps greater than the …

Dharma And The Free Market: Reconciling Buddhist Compassion With A Market Economy In Post-Socialist Mongolia, Yazmeen Mendez Nuñez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this inductive ethnographic study, I explore the unique social and theological pressures placed on Mongolian Buddhists after the wake of free market transition in Mongolia. It utilizes the Buddhist virtue of compassion as a lens by which the study might examine how Mongolians balance their spirituality and commitment to Buddhist ethics with new roles as rational agents in an emergent free market. In this study I draw on narratives from thirteen subjects as well as extensive participant observation to examine the ways that Mongolian market reform has guided social paradigms of ethic that present ethical contradictions with Buddhist dharma, …

Llaguepulli Y La Resistencia Mapuche Dentro Del Espacio Del Indio Permitido, Marlen Rosas

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My research aims to analyze the current relationship of the Mapuche movement to the political space allowed to them by the neoliberal Chilean state. This space, which authors Charles R. Hale and Rosamel Milláman call the space of the “indio permitido,” or permitted Indian, is a product of the rhetoric of multiculturalism created by various neoliberal Latin American states with the goal of pacifying their respective indigenous populations by integrating them to the dominant economic, political, and social systems. In Chile, the National Corporation of Indigenous Development, or CONADI, is the primary organism of the state through which the …

The Impact Of Syrian Refugees On Food Security In The Northern Badia, Jesse Schaffer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The crisis in Syria has caused a massive influx of refugees into Jordan to the detriment of the Jordanian host communities. This research paper seeks to examine the direct impact of the Syrian Refugees on Jordanians’ food security. The researcher hypothesized that the large influx of refugees reduced the overall food security of Jordanian families in terms of food accessibility and availability. The methodology consisted of two major parts. First, field interviews were conducted with Jordanians in the Northern Badia and representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGO) in Amman. Second, forty-two families were surveyed in the Northern Badia about their food …

“Resistencia Es Permanencia”: Concepciones De Resistencia, Territorio Y Recuperaciones De Tierra En Dos Comunidades Mapuche, August Williams-Eynon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In recent decades the world has seen a backlash of resistance, especially among First Nations and indigenous populations, to what some characterize as new forms of colonization: the development of globalization, and the spread of neoliberal economic institutions and their guiding principles (Vanden 2007). This work locates the social movements of the Mapuche (an indigenous nation conquered by the Chilean army in 1883), and especially their pursuance of land recovery and territorial sovereignty, among the many such mobilizations occurring in Latin America, including the Zapatista movement in Mexico, the organizing of indigenous groups in Bolivia and the CONAIE (Confederación de …

Economic Autonomy Of The Miskitu Women Of The North Atlantic Autonomous Region, Nicaragua: Do Current Development Polices Apply To Matrifocal Societies?, Ariana M. Toth

Masters Theses

This thesis provides an ethnographic investigation into the economic autonomy of Miskitu women in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region of Nicaragua. The purpose of this study is to determine whether dominant development models created by patriarchal Western powers are suited to alleviating gendered poverty disparity among the matrifocal Miskitu Indians. Surveys of Miskitu women obtained during field research, with support from relevant literature, comprise the main source of information considered. It is concluded that while dominant development models are not best suited to alleviating gendered poverty in this region, it is the overarching indigenous nature of Miskitu culture and not …

Book Reviews, Laina Farhat-Holzman, Bertil Haggman, Pedro Geiger, Michael Andregg

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Adapting & Appropriating Art From Afar: Negotiating A Global Identity Through Popular Culture, A Study Of Salsa In The Senegalese Context, Elizabeth Bockenfeld

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The following study is essentially an attempt to explore cross-cultural exchange and the resulting (re)creation of different forms of cultural expression. In its broadest sense it aims to explore the quotidian, cultural sides of globalization. It takes for its focus the re-appropriation of salsa music in Dakar, Senegal. Through interviews and participant observation in a number of salsa venues, I explore the various meanings Senegalese salseros put into salsa music and dance. Senegalese salsa is rooted in a very concrete historical background, while also holding meaning for the present. In short, the appropriation of salsa into the Senegalese context serves …

Co-Management And The Fight For Rural Water Justice: Learning From Costa Rican Asadas, Kristin B. Dobbin

Pitzer Senior Theses

Rural communities have, for much of history, been left with inadequate or no water service. This is because the traditional state/private dichotomy of water provision is inadequate for addressing the unique needs of small, isolated communities. Drawing from the Common-Pool Resource literature, co-management arose in recent decades as a solution to address this pandemic of rural water exclusion. In Costa Rica, co-management takes the form of community water associations known as ASADAS. This thesis explores the successes and challenges of ASADAS through the use of three case study communities. Using interviews, surveys, water sampling and national legislation in addition to …

Social Media And The Transformation Of The Humanitarian Narrative: A Comparative Analysis Of Humanitarian Discourse In Libya 2011 And Bosnia 1994, Ellen Noble

Political Science Honors Projects

Within humanitarian discourse, there is a prevailing narrative: the powerful liberal heroes are saving the helpless, weak victims. However, the beginning of the 21^st century marks the expansion of the digital revolution throughout lesser-developed states. Growing access to the Internet has enabled aid recipients to communicate with the outside world, giving them an unprecedented opportunity to reshape discourses surrounding humanitarianism. Through a comparative discourse analysis of Libyan Tweets, 1994 newspaper reports on Bosnia, and 2011 newspaper reports on Libya, this paper analyzes whether aid recipient discourse can resist the dominant humanitarian narrative and if that resistance can influence dominant …

Military Service, Exposure To Trauma, And Health In Older Adulthood: An Analysis Of Northern Vietnamese Older Adults, Kim Korinek, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The long-term, indirect effects of war on older adult health are poorly understood, especially in less developed societies where armed conflict concentrates. In this paper we analyse the determinants of self-reported health, chronic conditions, somatoform symptoms and depressive symptoms in a sample of northern Vietnamese ages 55 and older, who encountered mass mobilization for war and widespread exposure to war traumas in early adulthood. Results of multivariate models indicate that service in combat roles predicts poor self-reported health, health complaints and chronic illness in late adulthood. No such relationship is observed for depressive symptoms, a pattern consistent with previous research …

Viendo De Camino A Casa: La Construcción De La Identidad Transnacional En La Comunidad Libanesa De Buenos Aires = Looking Homeward: The Construction Of Transnational Identity In The Lebanese Community Of Buenos Aires, Lindsay Miller

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

At the end of the 19^th century through World War I, around three million immigrants entered Argentina. The vast majority left behind homes in Italy and Spain; however, a significant minority population arrived from Greater Syria, specifically from present-day Syria and Lebanon. Today, the descendents of these Syrian-Lebanese migrants make up the third largest community in Argentina. Despite the significant presence of the community, the Syrian-Lebanese community has been largely absent from scholarly work on Argentine ethnic groups.

The objective of this study is to explore the relationship that the descendents of Lebanese immigrants, living in Buenos Aires, have …