Sociology Commons^™

The True Cost Of A Cup Of Coffee: Wealth Concentration And Worker Exploitation In The Nicaraguan Coffee Industry, Rose Levy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Nicaragua es un país de mucha riqueza en la forma de recursos naturales- especialmente en la forma del café, el producto más comerciado después del petróleo en el mercado mundial. Mientras los intermediarios que venden su café internacionalmente y los productores más grandes continúan beneficiándose, los cortadores de café continúan viviendo en la ausencia de las ganancias creadas por su mano de obra. Por qué tanta riqueza queda en círculos tan concentrados? Hay una manera de distribuir las ganancias en una manera que beneficie a una mayoría de la población nicaragüense? En este ensayo, yo ofrezco un análisis de la …

More Than Just Biology: Creating An Informational Website For Teens On Sexuality And Lifelong Sexual Health, Sarah Cyr-Mutty

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

“More Than Just Biology – Creating an informational website for teens on sexuality and lifelong sexual health” is the product of four weeks’ research in Amsterdam, NL on sexuality education and the use of the Internet as an educational tool for youth. The research defied a “Dutch approach” to sexuality education and used it to create a website for American teenagers to get confidential and accurate information regarding their sexual lives and health. Information was gathered primarily through personal interviews, as well as a review of existing literature on the subject. Through this research, it was found that the Dutch …

Early Care And Education For At-Risk Children In Rural And Urban Slums In Kenya, Giselle Emilia Navarro Casillas

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

With the rise of changing family structures as well as an increase in the demands of an early preparation for children to enter primary school, Early Care and Education (ECE) has become extremely important in Kenya. In particular an increase of ECE centers for at risk children is important because research has shown that at risk children benefit more from a high quality early care and education program (Calman, L.J., & Tarr-Whelan, L., 2005). Observations were conducted in fifteen ECE centers located in urban slums and rural villages throughout Kenya where poverty is high and sanitation conditions are poor. This …

Protecting Indigenous Identity And Culture In The Modern Nation-State: A Case Study Of The Sami In Norway, Claire Lockerby

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The plight of indigenous peoples around the world is a serious one, and without significant international action, many valuable cultural and linguistic traditions are in grave danger of disappearing altogether. Many of these indigenous groups have experienced detrimental consequences from the history of slavery, colonialism and imperialism, and the emergence of nation-states that stripped them of their autonomy and greatly threatened their way of life. Today, there are some positive examples of international and national efforts to protect indigenous peoples, but unfortunately, most indigenous populations remain dispossessed and underrepresented. Although the international community has established principles of unalienable human rights, …

As Rivers Run Dry: A Study Of Global Freshwater Scarcity And Its Implications For Socio-Economic Development, Sophia Wenzlau

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Water scarcity is a serious problem—without adequate supplies of clean freshwater, there cannot be life. The direct and indirect costs of water scarcity are huge, including poor public health, gender inequality, and acute restrictions for economic development. Currently, around 20 percent of the global population lacks access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation facilities (UNEP Brief, 1). About 1.8 million people—most of them children less than five years old—die every year due to water-borne diseases from fecal pollution—the equivalent of about 15 killer tsunamis each year or 12 Boeing 747 crashes …

El Futuro De La Inmigración En España - (“Future Of Immigration In Spain”), Joshua Bruno

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The following argument is about the highly disputed theme of Immigration. Like all countries around the world, Spain manages a population of foreigners that have turned up in search of a new opportunity. If these migrants are able to enter the European Union, they still face many obstacles, including racism and extreme poverty. Yet, their contributions to a struggling European economy are undeniable. The following paper attempts to highlight these important contributions and demonstrate how in a liberal democratic society, such as Spain’s, a more accepting immigration policy where more sanitary conditions provided to immigrants could work. Furthermore, these arguments …

Amor Revolucionario: La Educación En Las Escuelas De Reingreso En Buenos Aires, Argentina., Cara Tratner

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

¿Cómo cambia la educación cuando la cultura institucional está basada en el amor? Pregúntalo a un alumno de una escuela de reingreso en Buenos Aires y vas a encontrar que el resulto es mas que un cambio teórico: es una revolución. Este documental muestra la realidad sombría de los procesos de exclusión social que impiden garantizar el derecho a la educación para todos los jóvenes, y la introducción de una nueva estrategia de política educativa en las ocho escuelas de reingreso que se crearon en 2004 para reincorporar a los jóvenes afuera del sistema escolar. Para responder al fracaso de …

“Mieux Vaut Prévenir Que Guérir”: The Effect Of Natural Disasters On Water- And Sanitation-Related Infectious Diseases And The Increasing Need For Disaster Preparedness, Naomi Malam

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The world is suffering from an extreme global water crisis. 1.1 billion people in the world lack access to adequate clean water, and 2.6 billion people lack access to water and sanitation. Approximately 10 million deaths per year can be attributed to this water crisis; water-borne infectious diseases play a significant role in this death toll. Diarrhoeal disease accounts for 2.6 million deaths per year and is one of the leading causes of death in many developing countries.

We are entering a period of undeniable climate change which is bringing about more natural disasters and extreme weather events than ever …

Transformación De La Mente: Desarrollando Una Conciencia De Empoderamiento Ideológico En Mujeres = Transformation Of The Mind: Developing A Consciousness Of Ideological Empowerment In Women, Amber Lakin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

El objeto de esta investigación es estudiar cómo se hace el cambio mental en el empoderamiento. Esta pregunta se contesta primero por un estudio de la vida de Rosa Amelia, una mujer empoderada quien vive en la comunidad de Jocote en el país de Nicaragua. Esto sirve para averiguar cómo ocurre el proceso de empoderamiento ideológico. Después se examina por un análisis de su vida con la información suplementaria del proceso de otras tres mujeres de Jocote, Blanca Nubia, Cándida y Juana.

Esta investigación identifica cinco causas principales del empoderamiento ideológico: conocimiento, solidaridad, empoderamiento económico, la oportunidad de salir de …

Ending Generational Poverty: A Contemporary Application Of The Work Of Paulo Freire In Nicaragua, Los Angeles And Uganda, Nicole Broom

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Para disminuir el nivel de pobreza generacional en poblaciones marginalizadas, hay que explorar formas educativas alternativas porque los esfuerzos existentes no han mostrado una habilidad para reducir ese fenómeno. A pesar de las diferencias en geografía y el estatus socioeconómico de los países de origen de esas organizaciones, las siguientes instituciones comparten ciertos fundamentos filosóficos, muchos de los cuales corresponden a las teorías de Paulo Freire en Pedagogy of the Oppressed, que sirven como prácticas efectivas para servir a poblaciones marginalizadas: Pearl Lagoon’s Academy of Excellence en Laguna de Perlas, Nicaragua; Camino Nuevo Charter Academy en Los Ángeles, California; …

Bridging The Gap: Identifying Social Factors That Affect The Knowledge Of Sexually Transmitted Infections And Use Of Prevention Methods In Young Women, Ariel Spigel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study investigates the social factors that affect the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) in young women, focusing on their knowledge of the subject and use of prevention methods in order to discover why STIs, though preventable, are still prevalent in the lives of young adults, and more often, young women. Sixty-one anonymous, closed questionnaires were distributed to female students of at least eighteen years at the Colegio Estadual Francisco da Conceição Menezes in Santo Antônio de Jesus, Bahia, Brazil, and six structured interviews were conducted with students from the same pool. Results showed varying levels of knowledge, educational …

Cosmopolitan Romance In Nepal: An Investigation Of Young Newari Women’S Emerging Views Of Marriage And Dating, Rachel Williams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For decades Newari women have been limited to marriages arranged by their families and lamis, or matchmakers. There has been a recent shift in marital views among the youth has led to more courting among young Newars as well as a significant increase in the number of love marriages. Through in depth interviews with fourteen young Newari women, this ethnography attempts to illuminate current attitudes towards marriage and courtship exemplified by young Newari women in Kathmandu. I also argue that being a cosmopolitan Newari woman requires a negotiation of traditional gender roles and requires a balance between tradition and …

Identity And Fashion: A Look At Jordanian Christian Women And How Their Identity Is Portrayed Through Their Clothing, Brittany Witcher

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My research seeks to analyze the relationship between identity and fashion among Jordanian Christian women between the ages of 18-24. The goal of my project was to discover how Jordanian Christian women identify themselves, whether their clothes reflect their identity, and lastly find out what ways their clothes reflect their identity. In order to investigate my study, I observed various places throughout the city of Amman, the media and various churches; surveyed 20 women regardless of religion; held a focus group; and lastly, interviewed 5 Jordanian Christian women between 18-24, and 1 Jordanian Christian man of similar age. Through my …

Reminding, Retelling, And Re-Remembering: The Evolution Of Staro Sajmište, Its Future, And The Marginalization Of The Holocaust In Serbian Public Memory, Benjamin Somogyi

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research paper examines the evolution of Staro Sajmište, its future and the resultant marginalization of the Holocaust in Serbian public memory. Sajmište was the largest Nazi concentration camp in territory of the Republic of Serbia. After a brief overview the history of the Holocaust and the history of the site, this paper focuses on the political manipulation of Sajmište’s memory since the Second World War. The paper divides the evolution of Staro Sajmište in Serbian public memory into four phases: rewritten memory, reduced memory, fabricated memory, and erased memory. Through the analysis of Sajmište’s legacy in Serbian public memory, …

Renewable Energy In Rural Amazônia: A Case Study Of Its Advantages And Limitations In Santo Antônio, Amy Plovnick

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Isolated renewable energy projects are a promising alternative to diesel power for providing electricity in rural communities not connected to the conventional electricity transmission grid. However, there have been a limited number of such projects in rural Amazônia, and they often face obstacles that limit their sustainability. The objective of this study is to evaluate the environmental, social and economic impact of isolated renewable energy projects through a case study of a small-scale biomass and solar energy electrification project in the community of Santo Antônio, Pará. It will also evaluate the limitations to implementing and sustaining isolated renewable energy projects …

Reconstructing Pitaguary Identity: Indian Exchange And Outside Resources, Tess Mcmahon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research explores the recent methods by which the Pitaguary Indians in Ceará, Brazil have been reconstructing and revalorizing their indigenous culture using outside resources. Like many Indian populations within the Latin America, the Pitaguary have lost their culture due to conquest, exploitation, and assimilation policies. Only in 1997 did the Pitaguary file for governmental recognition and territorial demarcation[1] as an indigenous group. Since the mid-1990s, the tribe has been engaged in ‘rescuing’ and rediscovering their traditions and their culture. Three years ago, in 2007, an organization called Movimento Saude Mental Comunidade do Bom Jardim[2] came to the …

Marriage And Other Social Unions: A Study Of Marriage Alternatives And Cultural Trends In The Netherlands, Claire Harris

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This Independent Study Project investigates marriage and varying marriage alternatives available in the Netherlands and how societal norms and cultural taboos have affected these arrangements over the past fifty years. The high levels of acceptance in the Netherlands are used as a framework to explain the toleration of differing lifestyle and relationship choices, such as registered partnership, informal cohabitation, and same-sex marriage rights. Information was collected by conducting seven interviews with Dutch adults from different backgrounds with diverse views of and experiences with marriage and marriage alternatives. Secondary data on marriage rates in the Netherlands since 1960 were also used …

A Review Of Psychosocial Support And The Challenges Faced In Disclosing Hiv Positive Status To Children In Kibera, Katherine Lesyna

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The AIDS pandemic has become an increasingly global problem as well as an everyday reality for most people living in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2009, an estimation of the number of adults and children living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa totaled around 22.4 million.1 The people that have been affected most by the pandemic are women and children.
In Kenya, about 1.5 million people are infected with HIV, about 180,000 of them being children.2 While a lot has been done to reduce HIV infections and treat those who are infected, children have been left behind until recently. There is still much …

The Afro-Brazilian University Experience: How Racial Quota Policy Beneficiaries At The Federal University Of Bahia Perceive Racial Quota Debates, Ufba Quota Policy, And Life As Quota Students, Vivian O. Ekey

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For my project I will explore the experiences of Afro-Brazilian students enrolled in the Universidade Federal da Bahia through the University’s Resolution 01/04.[1] Through interviews with six students admitted through the quotas system at UFBA along with interviews with civic society leaders, and university advisors, I aim to identify the varying attitudes that these students may have in response to criticisms of racial quotas, the implementation of the quota system on their campus, and their own experiences as quota students. The implementation of affirmative action in Brazilian Universities has sparked serious debate and questioning of racial politics and what …

Una Investigación De La Cultura Y La Identidad Mapuche En La Escuela Municipal G-539 Chapod, Jessica A. Howard

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Durante una estadía de tres semanas en la localidad rural de Chapod se realizaron observaciones y entrevistas con alumnos, padres y profesores de la Escuela Municipal G-539 Chapod, además de entrevistas con estudiantes en práctica de la Universidad Católica de Temuco, realicé una investigación sobre la cultura e identidad Mapuche en este establecimiento educacional. Encontré que aunque los estudiantes dicen ser Mapuches, ellos no tienen una cultura ni identidad Mapuche y, por tanto, la cultura e identidad Mapuche no permanecen  en la escuela de Chapod. Este establecimiento educacional está incorporando algunos elementos de la cultura Mapuche, pero a mi manera …

Bringing War Criminals To Justice And Justice To Victims: Mass Rape In Bosnia-Herzegovina And The Efficiency Of The Icty, Meredith Loken

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper investigates if the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia has been efficient in achieving its main objective of “bringing war criminals to justice [and] bringing justice to victims.” This study explores the historical context by which the ICTY was created, and therefore examines the disintegration of Yugoslavia, focusing specifically on the Bosnian War. During this conflict, rape was employed as a method of warfare; this paper presents a brief theoretical examination of rape as a war weapon and analyzes rape and sexual violence as explicit methods of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It explores the evolution of gender …

The Tibetan Jewish Youth Exchange: The Importance Of Youth In Exile And Diaspora Communities, Jade Sank

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

How is the identity of a people living in diaspora maintained? The people of Tibet have been living in exile since the Chinese occupation began in 1959. As a result the Tibetan people have been working to find ways to maintain their identity, religion and culture. In Many ways the current Tibetan plight can be compared to the experiences of the Jewish people in exile and diaspora.

Culture, a religion, a people and an identity in exile and diaspora is both maintained and changed. The youth are the future and bonds that hold everything together, they are the carriers of …

Life On The Periphery: The Effects Of Urbanization On Health In A Bidonville In Bamako, Mali, Adrienne Epstein Dit Raki Bah

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the past decade, the world has crossed a threshold that a century ago would have seemed unimaginable: the majority of the global population now lives in cities.A startling pattern of rapid urbanization began in the final decades of the 20th century and continues today at a striking pace. The percentage of the global population residing in urban areas increased from 32 percent in 1955 to 47 percent in 2002, and is expected to reach 65 percent in 2015. This trend is particularly notable in the developing world, where an arrival of rural migrants in search of labor has caused …

Articulando La Lucha: Los Procesos E Historias De Politización De La Juventud Alteña = Articulating The Fight: Processes And Stories Of The Politicization Of The Youth Of El Alto, Luke Walsh-Mellett

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este proyecto intenta entender el proceso de politización de la juventud alteña, con un enfoque especial en los hechos de octubre de 2003. He trabajado y entrevistado a varios jóvenes de la Universidad Publica de El Alto (UPEA), principalmente de la carrera de sociología. En estas entrevistas me he enfocado en las condiciones de vida en El Alto, sus memorias de su participación en octubre de 2003 y sus pensamientos del proceso político actual. A través de su participación en varias luchas sociales, pero especialmente en el levantamiento social de octubre de 2003, estos jóvenes han formado una identidad política …

La ‘Paradoxe Marocaine’ Moroccan-Dutch Citizens In Transnational Social Space, Deva-Dee Siliee

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Human mobility has existed in countless forms for many centuries. Yet in our modern world of sovereign territorially defined nation-states, both policy makers and national publics increasingly see human mobility across national boundaries as alarming. The rising movement of people, culture and capital across borders is suggested to pose a direct challenge to the nation-state as the organizing unit around which many areas of human activity revolve. In the age of globalization, academics and politicans are investigating how to understand the question of individuals and entire communities, intent on maintaining strong economic, cultural and social ties across state borders. This …

Invernaderos: La Búsqueda Por El Trabajo Estable Y Seguro Y Un Medioambiente En Peligro, Elli Matkin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research is intended to discuss the rapid development of the “invernaderos” (greenhouses) on the coast of Spain and to expose both the social and environmental repercussions of such a massive agricultural project. The data was gathered through the use of both secondary sources and primary research. The author conducted a number of interviews both on the coast, in Motril and Carchuna, and inland in Granada city -- discussing the subject with owners of “invernaderos”, pesticide sellers, and cooperative workers.

The main conclusion of this research is that while the work of “invernaderos” is a security for many agricultural families …

La Integración De Los Inmigrantes: Una Sociedad Que Acoge, Weddy Worjroh

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The first truth that I stumbled across upon arriving in Granada is that immigration has and continues to have a great impact on the society as a whole. I have always been intrigued by immigration because both of my parents were immigrants. Coming from a country that was built by the hands of immigrants, I get irritated when people say offensive things about the immigrants of today. Ever since I was a child my parents have told me many stories about the struggles and adversities they overcame in order to obtain a better life. For this reason, when I look …

Developing The Sacred: Local & Global Bikas In The Nepali Bhotkhola, Clayton Andrew Roger Hawkins Lewis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of bikas on community and culture. Research was conducted from 9-30 November 2010 in the Bhotia village Chyamtang in the Sankhuwasabha district of Northeastern Nepal. The forms of development observed at the site are separated into local bikas and global bikas, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Research focused on a two-year old development project initiated by The Mountain Institute (TMI) using medicinal plant cultivation and community participation. Methods for studying Bhotia culture and development took the form of interviews with local healers, religious figures, farmers, and TMI …

Sticks And Stones: The Strategic Use Of Development By The Maoists In The Mobilization Of Nepal‘S Rural Population, Iyla Shornstein

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Nepal is a country with a brutal history of endemic domestic conflict and economic inequality. With the majority of the population living below the poverty line, development discourse has been crucial to political discussions for the past 20 years. The advent of the People‘s War marked a highly significant turn in the history of Nepali politics as the formation of the United Communist Party of Nepal (CPN-M) and the subsequent insurgency that followed brought issues of socio-economic equality and empowerment of marginalized peoples to the forefront of the national agenda. The CPN-M rapidly gained support predominantly in the rural countryside …

Conflicting Or Complimentary? The Varying Approaches To Humanitarian Action, Andre Patzke

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the international humanitarian aid community (IHAC), a group of national, political, public, and private actors, there are many dichotomies. These differences range from the organizations’ structures to their humanitarian philosophies. One philosophical schism amongst the IHAC actors is the seemingly contradictory approaches of the UN’s cluster system and that of the Dunantist organizations. In general, this schism can be characterized as a contrast in humanitarian ideologies; the integrated approach, which includes political development, on the one hand, and strict humanitarian aid that stays removed from issues of development on the other.

It was not the focus of my research …