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Notes From The Field - Conference Proceedings, Summer Fellows 2025, Center For Latin American, Caribbean, And Latino Studies (Clacls)

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

CLACLS presents proceedings papers from the third CLACLS Summer Fellows Showcase Conference, held on November 12, 2025.

The daylong event showcased the research endeavors of fourteen Summer Fellows, who offered succinct presentations on their projects funded by the CLACLS Summer fellowship. The included three panels: “Feminist and Queer Critical Perspectives”, “Language, Archive and Power”, “Social Movements and Political Imaginations.”

Bodies As Battlefields: Gendered Violence During The Russian Pogroms, Alisa L. Fixler

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

This paper explores how sexual violence during the Russian Civil War, particularly perpetrated by the White Army, was used as a ubiquitous tool for genocide against Jewish women. From 1918 to 1922, Jewish Women in the Russian Empire faced pervasive sexual violence during the pogroms: periods of mass violence and riots targeting Jews. This wave of violence led to displacement, immigration, and a profound impact on culture, reshaping the Jewish community forever and serving as a driving factor in the Jewish diaspora. Previous scholarship fails to critically engage with sexual violence as a unique tool in itself, as opposed to …

The Efficacy Of International Conflict Feminism In Postconflict Peacebuilding: Learning From The Lived Experiences Of Liberian Women Through A Decolonial Lens, Kristen N. Mcnutt

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Focusing on Liberia, this study investigates the efficacy of governance feminism (GF) and international conflict feminism (ICF) in postconflict liberal peacebuilding, specifically analyzing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda to reveal critical gaps between policy narratives and the lived realities of Liberian women. Grounded in decolonial feminism and the coloniality of gender and peace frameworks, the research integrates ideographic narrative analysis of UN Women and Liberian government policy reports, a day-in-the-life study with 13 Liberian women, and surveys and interviews with multilevel actors across international organizations, government, and grassroots organizations, guided by …

Women And Religion In The Mongol Empire, Karlie Barnett

The Ozark Historical Review

This article contributes toward the effort to uncover the impact of women on the making of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It also considers how women among the Mongols interacted with religion in varied and distinct ways and how these relationships influenced the development of Eurasian religions and the Mongol Empire overall. These interactions, which took place in the personal realm, the political realm, and in the realm of patronage, had profound effects on the development of Eurasian religions and the Mongol Empire.

Fashioning A Political Identity: French Women And The White Neoclassical Dress, Michele Dobbins

The Ozark Historical Review

This essay seeks to probe the question of women’s neoclassical dress – how was it represented in art, why did it maintain longevity, and what did it mean for the hundreds of women who decided to wear the ideals of Greek and Rome upon their very bodies?

Traditional Institutions As Change Agents: Understanding Cultural Norms And Practices Promoting Gender-Based Violence In Nigerian Communities, Titilayo Ogunbambi

Dissertations

Traditional institutions in Nigerian communities hold a strong cultural foundation and significantly influence cultural norms and practices. Due to the increasing need for effective community-based approaches in addressing social and health problems on a global scale, we explore the attitudes and behaviors of traditional institutions as custodians of cultural customs and norms related to gender-based violence (GBV) and examine their potential role in ensuring community safety. By addressing harmful gendered norms and practices, traditional institutions could become key agents of change, promoting meaningful social transformations. This study explores the dynamics cultural norms and practices play in community safety, emphasizing the …

Living In Paradise? Cameroonian Women In The American Diaspora, Joseph Takougang

Journal of African Policy Studies

For decades after independence, African migration was a phenomenon that could be attributed to a patriarchal culture that encouraged male domination. Later, that traditional mindset was reinforced by a colonial system that often marginalized the role of women in many African societies. Indeed, because young men were more likely to be educated than their female counterparts under the colonial system, they were advantaged after independence to attend institutions of higher learning abroad when it became necessary to train young Africans to occupy important government and other decision-making positions in the newly independent states. Recently, however, women have become important players, …

Women And Politics In Nigeria: A Typology And An Assessment, Emma Chukwuemeka

Journal of African Policy Studies

The study was carried out to investigate the extent women participate in politics in Nigeria. Abia and Imo states were closely studied. Two hypotheses were formulated. The instruments used for data collection were questionnaire, interview and focus group discussion. A total of 354 copies of questionnaire were distributed, out of this number, 349 copies were completed and returned by the respondents. Z-test statistical tool was used to analyze the data, Based on the analysis, the major findings revealed that violence against women deters women from getting actively involved in politics in Nigeria. Also culture and traditional ethos prevent the advancement …

Making An Online Kitchen, Two Southern Women, Foodways, And Social Media, Olivia B. Merrell

Honors Theses

This thesis attempts to understand the ways in which social media has shaped southern women, specifically the ways it has shaped southern women in the kitchen. While exploring this topic, I spoke with both a Black and white southern woman from the south, both of which have grown a social media following based off the southern food they share online. This thesis aims to explore how social media has played a role in reshaping the southern kitchen for women across the south.

The Marginality Of Women In Narratives: Reflections On Iranian Women's Struggles Through Saeed Roustayi's Films, Narges Azami

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Using the concept of intersectionality, this thesis explores how women are marginalized in three post-revolutionary Iranian films (made after 1979), directed by Saeed Roustayi. In these three films, Life and a Day (2016), Just 6.5 (2019), and Leila’s Brothers (2022), the intersectional lens helps investigate how different types of oppression, such as gender and class, often come together to affect women’s lives. In the analysis, four main themes emerge, including emotional labor, symbolic erasure, limited visibility, and intersectional oppression. Roustayi’s films point out how systems like patriarchy, poverty, and tradition hold women back. The study also explains how multiple social …

Painting Stories And Filming Change, Coralynn V. Davis

Faculty Contributions to Books

Mithila Art has helped illuminate various aspects of the relationship between gendered Maithil social roles and Maithil women’s narratives in connection with a feminist participatory action research project conducted primarily in 2016-2017 in and around the northern Bihari town of Madhubani. While participatory action research philosophically and methodologically attends to process as much as product, Mithila Art played a role in the process and product of making a documentary film and in our capacity to understand and communicate with varied audiences about shifting Maithil gender norms. The research and filmic project provided insight into the complex relationship among the stories …

Recovering Palestinian Lives: Qudsiyya Khurshid From Mandate Palestine To Postwar Pennsylvania, Andrea L. Stanton

Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship

This article works to recover the life story of Qudsiyya Khurshid, a once well-known Mandate Palestinian intellectual and educator, who wrote essays for publication and for broadcasting on the Palestine Broadcasting Service, while working as a principal at girls’ schools in al-Bireh and Jerusalem. One of a number of educated women active in the Mandate public sphere, she disappeared from public consciousness after the Nakba. But in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, where she had moved with her husband, a naturalized U.S. citizen, she became a prominent figure in civic work and as a community speaker on Palestinian and Middle Eastern life …

“I Saw Death With My Own Eyes”: Recent Women’S Protests And Punishments In Iran, Antonia Felix

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s brutal response to nonviolent protests exposes its tenuous hold on power over a youthful nation well familiar with 21st-century freedoms. Despite systemic discrimination and oppressive laws controlling and degrading the lives of women, ethnic and religious minorities, and the LGBTQ+ community, the Iranian government cannot halt public dissent that has continued to erupt since the 1979 Revolution. This article offers a brief overview of four major protests in the past 25 years as a context for discussing the two most recent movements focused on women’s rejection of the compulsory hijab and prisoners’ and activists’ fight …

The Role Of Human Security In Addressing The Inclusion Of Women: Nuclear Security And The Women, Peace And Security Agenda In Jordan And Egypt, Yara Shaban, Jasmine Auda

International Journal of Nuclear Security

This paper argues for a human security approach to women’s participation in nuclear security that stems from the larger Women, Peace and Security framework. This approach incorporates a gender perspective and a feminist lens that argues that women’s participation should extend beyond the diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives to include an understanding of the centrality of women’s role from a human security approach in peacebuilding participation, negotiation, and conflict prevention. The paper explores this nexus by reviewing Egypt and Jordan’s approach to Women, Peace and Security and argues for framing women’s inclusion within a human security perspective. The review revealed …

The Hidden Atrocity Of The Kafala System: Addressing The Domestic And Sexual Abuse Against Female Migrant Workers In Qatar, Sarah Lee

Global Studies Senior Capstone

The Kafala System is a labor sponsorship program in the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jordan, and Lebanon, originally created to be beneficial for migrant workers by providing a legal framework that provides advantages for both foreign workers and their local sponsors. However, this program has turned into an avenue for human trafficking, with different forms of exploitations increasing through it. This paper focuses on this system in the context of Qatar, discussing the history, nature of the Kafala System, as well as it’s impact on female migrant workers. Female migrant workers face a different set of struggles compared to their male …

Mobilizing Online, Marching Offline: Familias Unidas Por Nuestros Desaparecidos’ Strategic Use Of Social Media, Iara Gonzalez Ascencio

International Studies (MA) Theses

How do civilian women strategically steer their nonviolent social movements in reaction to the terrifying phenomena of forced disappearances under narco-violence? As a form of resistance, civilian women in Mexico have organized and joined groups to locate their missing family members and friends in response to risks posed by the pervasiveness of drug-related violence and the absence of official security services. Existing studies explore the role of women in peacebuilding initiatives to resist violence and obtain social change in Latin American countries. Still, there is limited research on the role of digital feminism in marginalized local collective groups, particularly under …

Shaming Women To Shame Men: A Case Study Of The Houthis And The Relationship Between Honor Culture In Yemen And Sexual Violence Against Women In The Yemeni Civil War, Emma Loeber, Hilary Matfess

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

The factors that influence an armed group’s use of sexual violence against women during times of conflict is a much studied area due to the prevalence of the phenomenon, and the significant implications it has for human rights. Studies on the subject have generally contended that cultural attributes and practices present during peacetime play a significant role in determining whether or not an armed group will incorporate sexual violence as a part of their strategy. A relatively under-researched cultural practice that could influence the use of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) is the presence and importance of honor culture in a …

International Women Graduate Students: Transition To Public Research Universities In The Midwest, Tran Thanh Truc Nguyen

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This phenomenological qualitative study explored the experiences of international women graduate students (IWGSs) in transitioning to public research universities in the Midwest. The study utilized Schlossberg’s transition theory (Anderson et al., 2012) to gain insights into the perceptions of six participants during their college transition process. Based on the analysis of data collected through in-depth phenomenological interviews with each participant, three themes emerged that described the challenges faced by the participants during their transition. These themes were: solitary voyage, a dilemma of self-reliance and reliance, and a vicious cycle of limited time and financial constraints. Through the three themes, the …

Immigrant Women From Iran And Afghanistan In Sweden: Experiences Of Domestic Violence During The Covid Pandemic, Fatemeh Hamedanian

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This paper explores the firsthand experiences of immigrant women victims of domestic violence amidst the COVID-19 crisis. Sixteen Iranian and Afghan women residing in Sweden were interviewed. Their responses were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. An intersectional perspective was used to understand domestic violence among the immigrant women. The study found high levels of psychological violence and controlling behavior by the women’s partners. The harm was compounded by economic instability, the temporality of residency permits, and the limited access to support services. The intersectional analysis suggests that multiple factors in the midst of the pandemic increase the vulnerability of abused …

“Without Water, Nothing”: Examining The Water Saving Practices Of Women In Amman Under Periodic Water Supply, Rory Dixon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Jordan is among the most water-scarce countries in the world. Consequently, water is only pumped to households once a week and households store water in tanks to last them until the next water day. Women conducting housework do so under conditions of environmental stress that this research calls resource-scarce domestic labor. In this study, I apply an eco-feminist lens to examine the water-saving practices women employ to manage and conserve domestic water supplies. I explore the larger causes of these behaviors including climate change, government management, and regional politics. Resource-scarce domestic labor is not a practice unique to Jordan and …

Poverty And Commercial Surrogacy In India: An Intersectional Analytical Approach, Sheela Suryanarayanan

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The destination and source countries for commercial surrogacy match world patterns of inequality. India, Nepal, Thailand, Mexico, and Cambodia banned commercial surrogacy, moving the market to other less-developed countries in South Africa and South America. India had a commercial surrogacy boom until exploitative factors led to the passage of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill in 2019, which banned the practice. This paper examines surrogacy's monetary, health, and emotional effects on 45 surrogate mothers in Gujarat State, India. The study revealed that a majority (63%) of the very poor women remained very poor post-surgery. Surrogate mothers in poor households had to do …

Solidarity In Time Of Armed Conflict. Women’S Patterns Of Solidarity In Internally Displaced Person (Idp) Camps In Darfur, Western Sudan, Mawa Mohamed

The Journal of Social Encounters

This study, a vital part of a Ph.D. thesis, delves into the prolonged armed conflict's impact in Darfur, which has resulted in severe loss of assets and lives, disrupted livelihoods, and food insecurity. Among the most vulnerable are internally displaced women, primary targets of violence due to their caregiving roles and responsibilities. Addressing the gap in existing literature, this research explores the meanings, practices, experiences, and representations of solidarity among women residing in the Abu-Shouk IDP camp. Challenging conventional perceptions, the study highlights women's competencies and strengths, empowering them to develop unique coping strategies within the conflict context. It uncovers …

Socio-Economic Determinants Of Gender-Based Violence [Gbv]: Sdg Analytics On The Global Gbv Scenario With Special Reference To Technology Facilitated Gender-Based Violence And Adolescent Birth Rates, Chandra P. Daniel

NYMC Student Theses and Dissertations

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a multifaceted problem. The most rapidly increasing modern form of violence is the intertwined epidemic of ‘Technology Facilitated GBV’ [TF GBV] and sexual violence against women and girls. It was critical to investigate the global impact of this epidemic during COVID-19 since a disproportionate impact of violence was observed among women and girls in low and middle-income countries. A retrospective cross-sectional research design was adopted using linear regression analysis (univariate and multivariate) on SDG 5.2, a set of global indicators, to elicit the socioeconomic determinants of GBV. Phase-I results exposed the top-four socio-economic determinants …

Is The Impact Of The Refugee Crisis More Detrimental To Women And Children? A Case Study Of Ukraine Women In Poland, Carmaniola Benjamin

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

The conflict between Ukraine and Russia has made the European refugee dilemma, even more challenging. Many individuals specifically women and children have been displaced as a result of the conflict between these two nations. Because of the conflict many Ukrainians seek safety and stability in nearby nations like Poland. But this surge of Ukrainian migrants, has also brought forward several difficulties.

A Guide For The Everyday Woman Surfer: How Surf Culture's Patriarchy Marginalizes Ocean Lovers, Alexis S. Di Stefano

Women's, Gender and Queer Studies

Humans are naturally drawn to the water by wind and tide. It is a place of solace that we have a desire to know deeply, yet we have kept one another from experiencing it through biases that perpetuate inequality. White-supremacist hegemony has historically kept communities of color from coastlines, women from lineups, and queer communities from participating in surf culture. As more people from all social groups return to the water through surfing in the 20th century, surf culture needs to adapt to become more inclusive. This paper outlines surf culture's historical transition into whiteness and how female beauty standards …

The Evolving Role Of Women In The Sinaloa Cartel: An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Drug Trafficking Organizations, Female Agency, And Economic Mobility, Catherine Page, Kennady Leigh Hertz

Honors Theses

Exploring the role of women in Mexican drug trafficking organizations is a topic that has gained significant traction in the past 30 years. Despite the increase of literature on the topic, few papers theorize as to why women participate. This product sought to explore the various reasons why women participate in Mexican drug trafficking organizations, either willingly, or against their wishes. We hypothesized that women join drug trafficking organizations for two primary reasons: a) they are coerced by male figures in their life, and b.) they participate willingly in an effort to gain economic mobility. To test our hypothesis, we …

Argentine Women’S Narratives Of Leadership, Ileana Andrea Mocciola

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated and examined the narratives of Argentine women leaders while obtaining and exercising leadership positions. This research was based on narrative theory and the feminist standpoint theory. Argentine female participants (N = 10) were subject to interviews that overall lasted 600 minutes and were conducted through the Zoom platform. Fifty-five pages of single-spaced transcripts were analyzed and studied. The results of this study revealed that Argentine women face major challenges when it comes to tokenism, exclusion, mentorship, and stereotypes that prevent and limit them from reaching and succeeding in leadership positions.

The Lived Experience Of Hmong Women In Leadership Roles, Nou Vang

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore and understand the lived experiences of Hmong women who have achieved leadership positions.

Methodology: This qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experience of 12 Hmong women who have ascent to leadership roles through personal, face-to-face, in- depth, open-ended questions. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for emergent themes. Related artifacts from the participants, along with the participant interviews, were collected to triangulate data. Research findings were a result of the correlating themes based on the qualitative data analysis and research question.

Findings: The findings of the study indicated that …

Phenomenological Study: The Perceived Impact Of The Intersectional Barriers Created By Gender And Race On African American Females’ Advancement To A Senior Executive Service Within The Federal Government, Nicole Oliver

Dissertations

Purpose. This phenomenological study aimed to investigate the perceived impact of intersectional barriers created by gender and ethnicity on the advancement of African American females to the Senior Executive Service (SES) corps of the United States federal civil service. Additionally, the study sought to identify strategies used by African American females to overcome these barriers because of intersectionality and advance to the SES corps of the United States federal civil service.

Methodology. This qualitative phenomenological study used a convenience sampling method to select eight African American females who have advanced to an SES position in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. …

Review Of Political Invisibility And Mobilization: Women Against State Violence In Argentina, Yugoslavia, And Liberia, Marian Azab

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.