Sociology Commons^™

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Gagner La Vie: Examining Return Preparedness And Resource Mobilization Among Moroccan Immigrants To France Who Return To Live Permanently In Agadir, Morocco, Karolina Michelle Dos Santos

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

If Moroccan immigrants are so in tune to their home culture and home happenings, under what conditions do they stay in France facing the problems of unemployment and homelessness? This study focuses on the return migration of Moroccans from the Sousse region; specifically Agadir and the surrounding Tiznit areas, who left Morocco during the decade of 1960 and who have permanently returned to live in Morocco. The study was conducted by using the snowball sampling technique to conduct semi-structured interviews of Moroccan return migrants in AitMelloul, a neighborhood of Agadir. My findings suggest that the return migrants from the Sousse …

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, …

Preserving Tradition: Analyzing The Commoditization Of Cultural Identity Through Beauty Pageants Among Ethnic Minority Groups In Kathmandu, Martha Oster-Beal

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research primarily focuses on the “cultural talent contests” enrolling contestants who are members of the numerous minority ethnic groups residing in Kathmandu. In a growing metropolis, these beauty queens are often seen as symbolic representations of collective cultural identities, and the pageants as fields of active ‘cultural production’. This author surveys the growing literature on beauty pageants and several opinions of organizers, community members and the contestants themselves to better understand how culture is produced within the contexts of pageants. The study examines how beauty pageants operate as locations of commodification and consumption in a world increasingly influenced by …

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 …

“Papa, Should I Tell You What I Think Of This Exhibition, I Would Cry.” An Analysis Of Visitor Impression Books At The Bosnian Historical Museum In Sarajevo, Amanda Lawnicki

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Visitor impression book are often overlooked objects in museums. However, a study of these books can provide insight into a whole range of topics regarding museum and/or memory studies, especially in consideration of the larger socio-political climate. By nature, the books are both intensely personal and inherently collective – as they constitute an assembly of personal emotions and evaluations of the exhibit. This allows us to examine the books on a microscopic, individual level and in a global context.

My research involved an examination of the visitor impression books at the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and focused on …

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 …

“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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

The Transformation Of Urban Vegetable Retail In China: Wet Markets, Supermarkets, And Informal Markets In Shanghai, Qian Forrest Zhang, Zi Pan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The state-monopolised system of vegetable retail in socialist urban China has transformed into a market-based system run by profit-driven actors. Publicly owned wet markets not only declined in number after the state relegated its construction to market forces, but were also thoroughly privatised, becoming venues of capital accumulation for the market operators now controlling these properties. Self-employed migrant families replaced salaried state employees in the labour force. Governments’ increased control over urban public space reduced the room for informal markets, exacerbating the scarcity of vegetable retail space. Fragmentation in the production and wholesale systems restricted modern supermarkets’ ability to establish …

Health Inequalities Among Older Adults In Vietnam: Evidence From The 2011 Vietnam National Aging Survey, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Thanh Long Giang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Vietnam’s economic development, change in health infrastructure, demographic and epidemiological transitions, and projected rapid population aging point to the need for understanding issues related to the wellbeing of older adults. Few recent studies that examine old-age health among specific Vietnamese populations notwithstanding, a national profile of older adults’ health, particularly health inequalities among the aged, is still lacking for Vietnam. To address this gap, we analyze nationally representative data from Vietnam’s first national survey of older adults to examine socioeconomic gradients in health at older ages in urban and rural Vietnam. Our specific research questions include: how are various measures …

Marriageable Age In Islam: A Study On Marriageable Age Laws And Reforms In Islamic Law, Jeremiah J. Bowden

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

One area of Islamic law that has been subject to much criticism as of late is the practice of child-marriage. Some, preferring to view Islam suspiciously, tend to create a caricature of Muslims as morally depraved individuals who force young daughters into marriages to old men for financial gain. Several polemicists commenting on this practice have hurled virulent epithets toward the Prophet Muhammad, whom they believe to be the originator of this abhorrent practice. After exploring instances where child-marriage still occurs, I will examine how this practice is currently being reformed in a way consistent with Islamic law. Ultimately, I …

Assimilation, Acculturation, And The Law: Solving A “Problem” Like Shar’Ia, Kristina E. Benson

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

An unexpected development in the English legal system involves Muslim women’s use of legally binding Shar’ia councils to protect their autonomy, marital security, and property rights. Although scholars and political commentators alike have voiced concerns that Muslim women will be treated unfairly in these councils, there is some indication that women have become adept at navigating this plural legal landscape and that they have often managed to secure better outcomes from Shar’ia family law than from English courts. Over 80 Shar’ia tribunals have been established to issue legally binding decisions on divorce, child custody, inheritance, and other areas of family …

Track I Diplomacy And Civil Society In Cyprus: Reconciliation And Peacebuilding During Negotiations, Elicia Keren Reed

Dissertations and Theses

This paper examines the relationship between Track I Diplomacy and Civil Society in Cyprus. Cyprus has been a divided island for over 45 years despite numerous attempts at reconciliation on the societal level and ongoing negotiations on the diplomatic level. It was the aim of this study to examine the ways in which both civil societies and their leaders do or have worked together, if at all, to negotiate a political solution or reconciliation between the two communities. Interviews were conducted on both sides of the cultural divide and within both political and civil society sectors. Those interviews were coded, …

China’S Agrarian Reform And The Privatization Of Land: A Contrarian View, Qian Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Many media and scholars outside China are advocating for the privatization of land ownership in China, claiming it to be a necessary step before China can transform its agriculture into large-scale, market-oriented and technology-intensive modern agriculture. Chinese scholars advocating land privatization, on the other hand, typically argue that land privatization would offer farmers more protection of their rights. In this paper, we present a contrarian view to these calls for land privatization published in both mainstream media and academic journals. We argue that, under China’s current system of collective land ownership and individualized land use rights, the aforementioned goals can …

Influences Of Environmental Factors On The Physical Functioning Of Older Adults In Urban China, Fei Sun, Chuntian Lu, Jordan I. Kosberg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study examined the influence of municipal-level environmental factors (i.e., economy, pollution, health care) on the physical functioning of the elder population in urban China using a two level hierarchical linear model (HLM) method. Data came from the 2005 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, including 3,830 older adults (Ma, - 86.4) randomly selected from 152 cities across China. Municipal-level data retrieved from the Chinese Statistical Yearbook 2005 include indictors of economic development, pollution, and health service availability. Higher gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and more doctors were associated with fewer functioning limitations. The effect of selfrated …

Perceived Discrimination And Subjective Well-Being Among Rural-To-Urban Migrants In China, Juan Chen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Using data from a 2009 national household survey (N = 2,866), this study investigates the differential experience of perceived institutional and interpersonal discrimination among rural-to-urban migrants in China, and the consequences of these two types of discrimination on measures of subjective well-being. The results indicate that rural-to-urban migrants perceive institutional discrimination more frequently than interpersonal discrimination. However, perceived interpersonal discrimination has a more detrimental effect than perceived institutional discrimination for rural-to-urban migrants, and this effect takes the form of self-rated physical health and depressive distress. The research calls for a more equitable social environment and equal distribution of resources and …

Singapore Food Seriously On My Mind, Margaret Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Who Is Dayani Cristal?, Jeanette Reedy Solano

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Who is Dayani Cristal? (2013) directed by Marc Silver.

After The Sugarcane: A Case Study Of Community Development In Rural Dominican Republic, Heidi Larr

Capstone Collection

This is a qualitative case study of the relationship between MOSCTHA and the Savings and Loans Group demonstrating how both influence community development in Batey Antoncí, Dominican Republic. The purpose of this study is to discover and discuss the approaches used by both the organization and the group during the development process, and how the social identity and leadership styles of the women affected the community development initiative. Background and history of the community, MOSCTHA and community group is discussed. The methodology used throughout this process include: focus groups, diagnostics, verbal and written interviews, training and observations. The findings demonstrate …

Altruisme, Solidaritas Dan Kebijakan Sosial, Robertus Robet

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

This essay tries to re-conceptualized altruism as sociological idea. It argues that altruism is possible. As a moral action altruism could also be operationalized to provide a ground of social policy and a tool to shape certain form of society

Mlipir: The Genesis Within Relations Of Production Between Industrial Sector And Rural Society, Rahardika Arista Utama

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

This paper examines how the interactions between industrial development actors in rural setting reflect the internal dynamics of Third World countries that maintain dependence on developed countries. The diverse discussion on the impact of industrialization which mostly emphasized on particular issues is difficult to depict the comprehensive situation on the impacted society. Further analysis which recognized the existence of the mutual relations among state, market, and society is necessary to best describe the invisible but essential impact of industrialization. Thus, this paper argues that inequality is the essential impact of industrialization which has been emerged in various form of social …

Potret Intelektual Muslim: Sebuah Tinjauan Sosiologi Pengetahuan Terhadap Pemikiran Ahmad Syafii Maarif, Arie Putra

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

There are numerous Islamic actors whom undertook significant role in establishing Indonesian society understanding toward Islam. One of them is Ahmad Syafii Maarif, one of the Islamic figures who evokes Indonesian muslim optimism toward democracy. Through sociology of knowledge framework, this research will take a look on the formation process of Ahmad Syafii Maarif’s Islamic thought. Sociology of knowledge is considered to be the appropriate framework due to the interconnectivity it provided between historical, philosophical, and sociological framework in investigating knowledge formation. However, though being utilized in this research for its extensiveness, the framework tends to stress the connection between …

Mencari Makna Pembangunan Sosial: Studi Kasus Sektor Informal Di Kota Solo, Paulus Wirutomo

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

The present development concept has been widely criticized for being too sectoral and growth oriented. A new concept like Human Development introduced by the United Nation is a good alternative, but it is still sectoral in nature. This article tries to offer a more sociological concept of development, since it is based on the contention that to develop human being we have to develop its society. It means to develop “the basic elements of socio-cultural life” namely: the structural, cultural and processual elements. By analyzing the data on the informal sector in Solo collected with SSM methodology, I have come …