International and Area Studies Commons^™

What To Expect When You’Re Expecting: The Impacts China’S Maternal And Child Health Care Law Has Had On Tibetan Birthing Practices In The Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Hannah Mishriky

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

While childbirth is universal, it is undeniable that class, culture, ethnicity, and the scientific and political state of medicine all influence how women experienced it. The Tibetan ethnic minority of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is a culture that exemplifies the uniqueness of each birth. Due to both their distinctive childbirth beliefs and practices, as well as the swift changes China has undergone, Tibetan birthing experiences are asking to be explored.

This study will focus on two major factors influencing Tibetan women's birthing experiences. To begin, research will be done to understand the Buddhist influences surrounding pregnancy and childbirth, …

A Disappearing Island: An Impact Assessment Of Coastal Erosion On The Mnemba Island House Reef, Zanzibar, Kat Grellman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Sedimentation is one of the greatest threats reefs face today due to climate changeinduced sea level rise. Mnemba Island has experienced rampant coastal erosion as a combined result of global processes and local anthropogenic impacts, which has in turn caused severe reef degradation. The house reef was surveyed over a 3-week period to determine the amount of sediment deposited on the reef and the impact of this sedimentation on coral reef health. Sediment traps were deployed to measure the sediment flux rate. The line-intercept transect method was used to measure the benthos cover of the reef and point-transect method was …

The Cape Town Free Walking Tours: Whose History Is It Anyway? The Shaping Of Place And Space In A Tourist City, Allegra Von Hirschberg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research focuses on the Cape Town Free Walking Tours and investigates the importance of the role that tour guides play in mediating space and heritage. Drawing upon literature surrounding tourism, the tourist city, as well as memory and heritage, this study uses a mixed methods approach, both surveying tour participants as well as interviewing tour guides and managers of the Cape Town Free Walking Tours. In addition, this research also draws from my own experience participating in walking tours and making notes through participant observation. This research shows that tourism spaces are created, curated and maintained through a performance …

Selection Perception: Views On The Theory Of Evolution Among Residents Of Moshi, Tanzania, Robin Waterman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The theory of evolution is a major tenet of biological science and has many practical applications, particularly in agriculture, medicine, and conservation. Nevertheless, there is significant opposition to the theory and its incorporation into school curricula, largely on religious grounds. This disconnect between public opinion and scientific opinion has been studied at length in the US and to some extent in other industrialized nations, but little is known about the issue in other communities around the world. This paper will use the town of Moshi, Tanzania as a case study in community views and knowledge about the theory of evolution. …

Pearl Lagoon's White Lobster: The Societal, Economic, Political And Autonomous Effects, Rafely Palacios

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua is home to the greatest number of impoverished individuals in the country. However, the people of Pearl Lagoon - a municipality in the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region - have found a way to escape their poor economic situations.

Due to the municipality’s close proximity to drug routes utilized by Colombian cartels and to the country itself, community members have turned to the drug trade in hopes of pursuing financial secureness. With the introduction of the “white lobster” or cocaine packets, the community as a whole has transformed its social, economic, and political spheres. In …

Migration: 2017 The New York Times Asia-Pacific Writing Competition, New York Times

Student Publications

This is a yearly writing competition organised by International New York Times (INYT). This year's topic is "Migration" and SMU's law student Averill Chow Mingni was the winner in the University category. See her essay:

• New homes, better lives by Averill Chow Mingni on page 16-17

Factors Affecting Tvet Responsiveness To Youth Employability: Reflection On Practices Of Competency-Based Provisions In Arsi Zone Of Oromia Regional State, Endalew Fufa

International Conference on African Development Archives

With an increasing demand for qualified skilled workers in the area of technical services, Ethiopia now holds several colleges which provide education to technical and vocational education attendants joining after the completion of general secondary education. Yet, conditions related with entry capacity in the fields they are required to attend, depth of training, viability of placement and means of creating job opportunity after graduating from colleges could be traced as major bottleneck conditions encountering such a provision. So, it became very essential to investigate which factors affect the responsiveness of TVET to youth job creation in Oromia Regional State, with …

Shiwilu, Pilar Valenzuela

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Articles and Research

"Shiwilu, also known as Jebero (ISO jeb), is a critically endangered Kawapanan language spoken in the District of Jeberos, in northeastern Peru. Kawapanan languages exhibit a “mixed” areal profile, in that they combine structural properties typical of Western Amazonian languages with features specifically associated to the Central Andean families Quechuan and Aymaran (Valenzuela 2015). On June 23, 2016, Shiwilu became the first Peruvian language to be declared National Cultural Heritage (Resolución Viceministerial N° 073-2016-VMPCIC-MC). The present text was delivered orally in 2013 by one of the youngest native speakers, Mr. Fidel Lomas Chota, who was 59 years old at the …

Métodos Y Tratamientos Para El Control De La Epidemia De Vih En Arica En Jóvenes / Methods And Treatments For The Control Of The Hiv Epidemic In Arica In Young People, Elizabeth Whidden

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Research question: What methods of prevention and treatment of HIV are available to adolescents and young adults in Arica, and what problems exist in their access to these resources?

Background: Even though Chile is currently working very hard to combat a national problem with HIV, rates of HIV infection in Chile are the highest in Latin America. This increase in infection is most prevalent in young adults between the ages of 15 and 24. Arica, a city of 200,000 people in northern Chile, has the highest rates of HIV infection in the country, but it is unclear why this is …

Causes And Consequences Of Child Marriage Among Syrian Refugee Populations In Jordan: An Investigation Of Perceptions., Alex Buckman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examined the perceived causes of child marriage among Syrian refugee populations in Jordan and investigated its perceived consequences. Further, perceptions of mothers with school-aged children were compared to the opinions of children themselves. Through interviews with both target populations, along with an analysis of the responses of humanitarian activists and organizations to Jordan’s marriage law, the reality of child marriage within the country was ascertained. In conducting interviews, the data showed that many believed child marriage to be a normal occurrence in Syria, at least since the beginning of the war, with only two interviewees believing child marriage …

Thangka Painting: An Exploration Of Tibetan Buddhism Through Art, Hannah Slocumb

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Thangka painting is an ancient Tibetan Buddhist art form which depicts Buddhist deities. The deities must be made in very specific proportions, as it is believed that the deities can inhabit the paintings and thus the painting must be of the utmost beauty. Thangkas have a variety of uses, but they are mostly used as a means of gaining merit, in death rituals, during meditation, and in Buddhist ceremonies. In order to learn more about Tibetan Buddhism, I spent two and a half weeks studying thangka painting. I learned the entire process of creating a thangka, from the creation of …

Rosario Marierdo, Rosario Marierdo

Coming to the Plains Oral Histories/ Llenando las Llanuras Historias Orales

Rosario Maierdo proviene de El Salvador, fue criada principalmente por su abuela porque su mamá inmigró a los Estados Unidos de América. Marierdo se convirtió en madre soltera y decidió seguir a su madre. Entonces, Marierdo y su hija iniciaron su viaje a EE.UU., en este viaje tuvieron que subirse a un tren, cruzar el río y el desierto. Finalmente, Marierdo y su hija llegaron a Huston, Texas, donde unos familiares las fueron a recoger. Marierdo se estableció su hogar en Schuyler, Nebraska, donde trabajó cuidando a los hijos de los otros trabajadores y luego, tomó un trabajo en un …

Global Studies Initiative Final Report: History 102, John Poling

Global Studies Initiatives in Social Sciences 2017-2018

In this project report for the Global Studies Initiative at Parkland College, the instructor of History 102: History of Western Civilization II, reflects on how global issues focusing on the European Union, Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia were integrated into to the course curriculum, how they were received by students and the likelihood of continued inclusion.

Global Studies Initiative Final Report: History 105, Marsh Jones

Global Studies Initiatives in Social Sciences 2017-2018

In this project report for the Global Studies Initiative at Parkland College, the instructor of History 105 History of the U.S. 1877 to the Present, reflects on how global issues focusing on the European Union, Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia were integrated into to the course curriculum, how they were received by students and the likelihood of continued inclusion.

Global Studies Initiative Final Report: Sociology 101, Evelyn Reynolds

Global Studies Initiatives in Social Sciences 2017-2018

In this project report for the Global Studies Initiative at Parkland College, the instructor of Sociology 101: Introduction to Sociology reflects on how global issues focusing on the European Union, Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia were integrated into to the course curriculum, how they were received by students and the likelihood of continued inclusion.

Global Studies Initiative Final Report: Geography 140, Brooke Ferguson

Global Studies Initiatives in Social Sciences 2017-2018

In this project report for the Global Studies Initiative at Parkland College, the instructor of Geography 140: World Geography reflects on how global issues focusing on the European Union, Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia were integrated into to the course curriculum, how they were received by students, and the likelihood of continued inclusion.

Global Studies Initiative Final Report: Anthropology 103, Lauren Anaya

Global Studies Initiatives in Social Sciences 2017-2018

In this project report for the Global Studies Initiative at Parkland College, the instructor of Anthropology 103: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology reflects on how global issues focusing on the European Union, Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia were integrated into to the course curriculum, how they were received by students and the likelihood of continued inclusion.

Global Studies Initiative Final Report: Anthropology 101, Isabel Scarborough Ph.D.

Global Studies Initiatives in Social Sciences 2017-2018

In this project report for the Global Studies Initiative at Parkland College, the instructor of Anthropology 101: Introduction to Anthropology reflects on how global issues focusing on the European Union, Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia were integrated into to the course curriculum, how they were received by students and the likelihood of continued inclusion.

Punks In The Church: The Relationship Between The Punk Subculture And Church In East Germany, Ruth A. Aardsma Benton

Masters Theses

A punk subculture emerged in East Germany during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was an expression of their disillusionment with life, their frustrations with the government, and their pessimistic view of a future that seemed pre-planned. The subculture refused to conform, disengaged from the established system, and expressed their views through song lyrics and other acts of defiance. In the eyes of the state, punks were a threat. The subculture turned to the East German Protestant churches for shelter. The churches occupied a unique place within East German society because the government had granted the churches limited free …

Letter From Germany And Russia, Vlad Alalykin-Izvekov

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Odessa 1919, Ron French

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Quiet Transformation From The Bottom: Emerging Transnational Coalition Of Non-State Actors In East Asia Community Building, Seung-Youn Oh

Political Science Faculty Research and Scholarship

If analyses of community-building efforts in Northeast Asia are fixated on the level of the nation-state and the central government, then one fails to capture the complex, transnational integration dynamics that are now vigorously at work in the region, contends Seung-Youn Oh in this chapter. Non-state Actors—less constrained than national authorities by political tensions and historical legacies—are not only generating a new capacity for regional community-building, they are also strengthening existing forms of regional cooperation.

Oh’s chapter explores how non-state actors in Northeast Asia in both individual countries and at the regional level serve as transnational constituencies and create regional …

Helen Oyeyemi And Border Identities: Contesting Western Representations Of Immigrants Through Transnational Literature, Susanna L. Mills

Student Publications

Oyeyemi is a Nigerian-British writer whose writing, like other immigrant authors', participates in a dialogue about and contestation of essentialized immigrant and ethnic identities that are a result of global and local processes. Her writing produces counter-narratives in which immigrant identities are multiple, conflicting, intersectional, and most of all self-represented. This paper explores readings of Oyeyemi accompanied by the following: an examination of globalization and flows of migration; the connections of national epistemologies through media to processes like migration: how literary canon has excluded transnational fiction from the mainstream, thereby decreasing the ability of multi-ethnic and im/migrant writers to represent …

Friend Or Foe: Perceptions Of China In Africa, Shahn M. Savino

Student Publications

China's rush to Africa for resources and a sphere of influence has inspired much debate in the academic world. Many western scholars generalize China's Africa strategy or African perceptions of that strategy. These are both grave mistakes. While China's objectives in Africa are the same all over, the way it achieves that strategy varies from nation to nation. In addition, African perceptions of China vary from nation to nation. Using Algeria and Niger as main case studies, this paper will show that the wealth of a nation changes the way that the Chinese government and Chinese nationals interact with that …

Serbian Orthodoxy Between Two Worlds, Marko P. Djurić

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Orthodoxy has, by the Providence of God, been placed between Western Christianity, and Sunni Islam. Church nationalism (phyletism) has always been present in political and linguistic nationalism in the former Yugoslavia. The relationship between Serbian Orthodoxy, with Islam and Western Christianity is not satisfactory. In order to become satisfactory, it would be important for the Orthodox Church to create a new theology which would, primarily, be a theological (Orthodox) response to the signs of the times. However, this has not become the reality as of yet.

Book Review: God, Hierarchy, And Power: Orthodox Theologies Of Authority From Byzantium., James R. Payton

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Ashley M. Purpura, God, Hierarchy, and Power: Orthodox Theologies of Authority from Byzantium. New York: Fordham University Press, 2018. 226 pages. $65.00 (hardcover). ISBN: 978-0-8232-7837-4.

This book is a reworking of the author’s 2014 doctoral dissertation on the history of Christianity at Fordham University. It deals with intriguing questions about hierarchy as a theological ideal in Orthodoxy and the ways that ideal was understood and interpreted by leading figures during the Byzantine era, as they dealt with problems and failures in the way hierarchy actually functioned. The author draws attention to problems she perceives in the way hierarchy has been …

When Necessary Is Not Enough: A Study In The Effectiveness Of U.S. Military Force To Combat Terrorism In The Middle East, Lora Christine Vonderhaar

Honors Theses

This thesis will examine the relationship between the number and size of U.S. military bases in the Middle East and instances of terrorism in the same region. It seeks to analyze the complex set of impacts that U.S. military presence has on the area and determine if U.S. presence is overall more helpful or harmful to the situation on the ground. While size and number of U.S. bases is not a perfect measure of U.S. presence, it is a fair representation and a useful empirical starting point. This thesis will focus specifically on terrorism as a non-state actor and not …

Moral Failure In Libya, Steven Feldstein

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

This essay examines the roots to the Libyan migration crisis and European culpability for documented human rights abuses. It argues that failed efforts to rebuild Libya following the 2011 humanitarian intervention combined with recent European policies to outsource responsibility for the migration crisis to Libya have created a perfect storm of exploitation, predation, and abuse.

Spatial Effects Of Foreign Direct Investment (Fdi) On Poverty Reduction In Colombia: A Mixed Methods Approach, Mayra Alejandra Yat Aguilar

Masters Theses

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been identified as an important factor in stimulating economic growth and decreasing poverty. In particular, the relationship between FDI and economic growth has been extensively debated in the academic literature but with mixed results. Meanwhile, considerably less work has been done towards investigating the effects of FDI on poverty reduction. Evidence from the limited research linking on FDI and poverty levels is also mixed. Through a more comprehensive survey-based multi-scale method of assessing poverty, this empirical study investigates the contribution of FDI with respect to concurrent quantitative and qualitative assessment of changes in living standards …

Cross-Dressing In Taiwanese Dramas: A Reinforcement Of Heteronormativity, Jelana E. Szymanski

Student Publications

An examination of temporary cross-dressing in Taiwanese romantic comedy dramas that seeks to analyze how gender, sexuality and romance are portrayed. The following discourses will be used to demonstrate how these dramas often support heteronormative ideals: the absurdity of gender, the utilitarian cross-dresser, the idea of the true (bio)gender, the eroticization of the female body, the bivalent kiss, the Sexuality Crisis Bro trope, 'gender does not matter' as romance, and relationship dynamics.