Sociology Commons^™

The Interplay Of Peace, Justice, And Logic: Bali-Bawock As A Case Study For Inter-Ethnic Land Disputes, Masumi Hayashi-Smith

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

his paper seeks to explore the conflict existing between two ethnic groups, the Bali-Nyonga and the Bawock, as a case study for inter-ethnic land dispute. Through the process of this study the researcher tried to look past arguments of logic in order to uncover the struggle for autonomy, the struggle for respect, and how damaging the muddy relationship between tradition and modernity can be. She found that ultimately models of mediation and dialogue were the most constructive in helping the conflict’s actors heal among themselves, and to develop the tools for interacting with a globalized society.

Code-Switching Among Tunisian Women And Its Impact On Identity, Krista Moore

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

When France made Tunisia a protectorate in 1881, they introduced language policies that established French as the language of the public sphere and restricted Arabic to religion and the home. Until Tunisian independence in 1956, French was officially the language of social and economic mobility and even after the establishment of the republic French persisted unofficially as the language of the public sphere. It maintained this role despite the establishment of Arabic as the official language and the ultimately failed policies of Arabization. This study will focus on code-switching in Tunisia, or the habitual switching between French and Arabic that …

Combating Educational Inequalities: Afro-Brazilian Youth & The Bahia Street Project, Kimberly Menendez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In her article entitled “Inequity and Human Rights of African Descendants in Brazil,” Lucila Beato insists that Afro-Brazilian rights are violated everyday. Those who experience this violation the most are Afro-Brazilian, or Black, women who are considered to be at the bottom of the social hierarchy. These women are a double minority who are condemned for being both Black and women. Many women, as do men, drop out of school early in life in order to help their families, who live below the poverty line and struggle to make ends meat. Many girls turn to prostitution, pornography, and even sexual …

The Path Of The Arrow: The Evolution Of Mongolian National Archery, Eric X. Brownstein

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Mongolian bow, once the cornerstone of the largest empire in the world, has gone through changes in almost every period of history. At present much of its past glory has been lost to people even in Mongolia and while it technically remains as one of Mongolia’s three national sports it is of much less prominence than the other two, wrestling and horseback racing. Archery has become detached from its strong history and the sport finds itself in danger of extinction. The reasons for this are complex but can often be attributed to various archery associations which are run in …

The Exchange At Halesi: A Sacred Place And A Societal Context, Ethan Gohen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Halesi is a small, but growing village located in the Khotang District of Eastern Nepal. In many ways it is rather normal. As is typical in this area of Nepal, its inhabitants are mainly Rai Hindus, although there is a substantial community of other Hindu castes as well. Less typically, there is a small, but very important Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Halesi. The reason for this monastery is even less typical still. In the rocky terrain around Halesi there are many caves. But in the central rocky, tree covered hillock of Halesi bazaar there is one cave of particular importance. …

Diary Of The Hijab, Monica Ek

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

To understand the position the veil has within modern society and examine the perspective of women. It is also to understand and know the reasons for wearing and not wearing the hijab and the opinions of women about it. To study the respect issues associated with hijab, by actively wearing and not wearing; expectations and treatment on the streets. Interviews, observations and participant observations were methods to study.

The Stories Of Juruti Velho, David Mittelman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper presents a collection of stories from the communities of the Juruti Velho region of the municipality of Juruti, Pará, Brazil. The inhabitants of this region represent just one group affected by the current mining undertaking by the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa). Following some important background information on ribeirinhos populations, Amazonian development, and Alcoa’s history of displacing communities, the study presents the past, present and potential future of these communities in their own words. Stories were collected in loosely structured interviews and transcribed, in order to capture what is important to the community members’ sense of identity and …

Visiones De Pertenencia: Comunidad Tras Las Palabras De Personas Mapuche, Marissa Brodney

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Central to the Mapuche reclamations of ancestral territory happening now in Patagonia are notions of “community”. Recognition, on the one hand, of an indigenous right to re-appropriate state land implies historical consciousness of indigenous pueblo preexistence, and the imposition of national communities in which indigenous groups do not find representation. Secondly: in recent decades, the “community” has become a strategic point of reference in the legal and political arenas in which reclamations are registered. A result of the struggles of indigenous activists of the past few decades, official recognition as an indigenous community implies recognition of unique rights. Thirdly: resulting …

Second Generation, Not Second Class: How Role Models Can Help Second-Generation Muslim Youth Form Positive Hybrid Identities, Lindsay Bayham

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

The First Modern Diaspora Community In The Netherlands: Lessons From The Moluccan Experience, Jamie Van Wagtendonk

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

Alcoa In Juruti, Brazil: A Case Of Environmental Injustice And Colonialism?, Caitlin Schroering

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper examines the visions of development of Alcoa, an American bauxite mining company, and the traditional ribeirinho communities in the area of Juruti Velho, Brazil. These two objectives are pursued in order to determine if Alcoa’s actions in the area constitute environmental injustice and colonialism. An explication of environmental injustice and colonialism is undertaken, and is followed later by a discussion of social invisibility and how circumstances are created that allow for the exploitation of traditional communities. The work and demands of ACORJUVE, a community association that is in opposition to Alcoa, are also discussed. A review of the …

Imported Religious Sartorial Markers And The Beard: Perceptions And Politics In Morocco, Rachel Charlesworth

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This independent study project aims to explore the perceptions and politics associated with Moroccans who choose to wear religious dress, hijab or a beard. The topic of this research was based on the question, are physical markers that one chooses to wear related to a specific identity? And, more specifically, are any of these things related to a political Islamist identity in Morocco? The methods used in this research consist of interviews and surveys.

During the first half of this research project, in-depth interviews were conducted with established academics and officials living in Rabat and Casablanca in Morocco. The objective …

Surfistas For Change: Building New Identity And Community In Poor Brazilian Communities Through Sport And Education, Stephanie Miller

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of my research was to test the hypothesis that sports can be a preventative method for youth risk behaviors such as gang membership. My hypothesis was that sports could provide some of the same benefits as gang membership and other risk behaviors, but in a more healthy and productive way. To test this thesis, I spent three weeks researching the work of ARCA, the Associaçao Recreativa e Esportiva para Crianças e Adolescentes in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. While I studied all the projects of ARCA, I focused my research on their Escola do Surf, in the poor beach community …

La Religión Y Los Discursos Del Progreso En El Valle Del Colca, Eric Hirsch

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

A TRAVÉS DE las provincias, los campos, y las regiones rurales del Perú andino, se observa pueblos campesinos sin número, en que cada una está sujeta a una red compleja de discursos. Vemos, como resultado de estos discursos, un proceso dinámico de la construcción de identidades individuas y comunitarias. En este proyecto, enfocando en las varias formas de la religión andina con y como expresión de múltiples tipos de historia, orgullo, sistemas sociales, fabricas de valor y de moralidad, y como una parte integral de la construcción de identidad cultural y política en niveles locales y estatales, examinaremos la confluencia …

Supervivencia Cotidiana: Un Análisis De Las Estrategias De Vida De Las Mujeres Del Comedor Infantil Virgen Del Valle, Salta, Argentina, Kate Ono Rahel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the Comedor Infantil Virgen del Valle of Salta, Argentina, a group of mothers have united their time and consolidated their scarce material resources to form a communal dining hall in which they serve lunch to the children of the community, many of whom receive their only meal of the day there. The comedor is located in the marginal settlement of Juan Manuel de Rosas and in addition to the scarcity of healthy, affordable food, the inhabitants of this neighborhood daily encounter monetary difficulties, the threat of eviction from their homes and the various hazards posed by the easy access …

Baguncaco Cleans Up The Bagunca Of "Racial Democracy", Afro-Brazilian Consciousness And Racial Identity In Alagados, Salvador, Bahia, Monica Mugure

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The 2001 Brazil census reports that of Brazil’s 150 million people, 53 percent of them are Afro- Brazilians and 47 percent are white. Of these, Afro-Brazilians hold a 28.5 percent illiteracy rate compared to the 11 percent held by whites. Income distribution indicates that the poorest 20 percent of the population owns only 2.6 percent of national wealth, while the wealthiest 10 percent command 48.1 percent. These facts are prime examples of the skewed distribution of wealth across Brazil and offer insight to the reality experienced by Afro-Brazilians who are most affected by this disparity. Together with the assumption commonly …

Acceso Limitado A Educacion Y Los Efectos En La Experiencia Familiar Por Los Jovenes Aymaras Traslado, Adaptación Social Y La Identidad En Arica, Kate Mooney

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This work, completed during the month of May 2008, characterizes the experience of rural Aymara families and the experiences of their children, who migrate from their pueblos in the Andean high plains to the city of Arica in the first region of Chile for educational reasons. The study consists primarily of qualitative analysis of interviews with youth who currently reside in Arica while studying, their caretakers in the city, their mothers in the pueblos and directors of educational organizations in both Putre and Arica. Principally, the study seeks to understand the perceptions of the city held by rural youth, their …

Fortaleza’S Feminisms: Searching For Feminist Theory In The Centro De Referência Da Mulher And The Delegacia De Defesa Da Mulher, Paige Sweet

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study attempts to focus on the issue of how violence against women is combated in Brazil through interviewing the women who work at the Delegacia de Defesa da Mulher and the Centro de Referência da Mulher. I attempt to compare and contrast the policies and procedures of these two institutions, as well as the opinions of the women who work there, to understand how they reflect and/or resist feminist theory values. As the basis of this analysis, I am using feminist domestic violence theory, which states that the cause of domestic violence is rooted in sexism and patriarchal power …

Growing Up Gay In A “Tolerant” Society, John Frank

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study attempts to understand the lives of young homosexuals living in the Netherlands. Eight homosexual adolescents were interviewed and their responses were analyzed to find out more about growing up in a society known for its tolerant and progressive legislation. The research found that although it is better than most countries, there are still some problems for gays in the Netherlands. It is not uncommon for gay Dutch adolescents to face discrimination and harassment. These young people were quite nervous about coming out and their experiences doing so were not always positive. Parents in the Netherlands were not always …

L’Augmentation Des Associations Dans « L’État Providence », Sara Haj-Hassan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project sought to study the increase in associations in relation to the disengagement of the state from the social sector. The researcher used both interviews and observational methods to analyze the reasons for this increase, and the importance the associations hold in the functioning of the state. Through direct participation and personal conversations with both association employees and service-users, the researcher was able to comprehend the multiple dimensions of the topic. The researcher then goes on to relate the existence of the associations to the fundamental French values.

Global Advertising And Its Implications On The Concept Of Spatial Identity: A Case Study Of Urban Billboard Advertising In Tunis, Kristen Hackett

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Tunisia is a country that has a very distinct and unique culture and collective identity that was shaped by their equally specific and unique history. With these facts in mind this, I was very shocked to see that the advertisements utilized in the city of Tunis to appeal to the Tunisian public, are very similar, if not that same to those of the United States and all around the world. At first, I was under the impression that manufacturers and advertising agencies played into spatial identities, such as those sovereign to demarcated nations or cultures, and that their advertisements would …

Responsibility, Reconciliation, And Remembrance: Serbian Youth Perspectives In Dealing With The Past, Erica Getto

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Dealing with the past is a process in which a society determines truthful facts of previous events, and with the support of civil society and its leaders, undergoes a transformation from a culture of conflict to one of peace, through reconciliation and depolarization . Youth between the ages of 18-30 are the future of Serbia. They grew up in the midst of war, under a regime that greatly affected the economical, social, and political stability of the newly independent country. Because of these factors, their perspectives and opinions become critical in determining how this country is approaching topics of the …

The Collective Right Of Indigenous Peoples To Self-Determination In Accordance With The United Nations Declaration On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples, Lena-Katharina Skandera

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the General Assembly on 13 September 2007, after more than twenty years of negotiations between states, indigenous representatives, lawyers, and academics. Although the resulting document is controversial and complex in its treatment of several important issues, its ambiguous characterization of the collective legal right of indigenous peoples to self-determination has been chosen as the focus of this work because it is the primary right from which all other rights, and problems, are derived. The work commences with a critique of the position held by certain states that the categorization …

Child Labour And Microfinance In Morocco: Using Microfinance To Reduce Child Labour And The Case Of The Al Amana Microfinance Institution, Kristyn Schomp

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Approximately 218 million children are child laborers worldwide. These children work as agricultural workers, prostitutes, handicraft producers, and in virtually in every other form of employment imaginable. But although the problem of child labour has been one of recent international focus, there are still 126 million children involved in some form of hazardous work each year.

The existence of such statistics can be attributed in part to the complex and multi-faceted nature of child labour. Similarly, the reasons for child labour can range from economic and political instability, migration, lack of work, and/or poor school systems. Therefore, the reduction of …

A Critical Assessment Of The Impact Of World Heritage Site Designation In Sub-Saharan Africa, Lauren Blacik

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Archaeological associations and development agencies alike are celebrating the recent effort by the World Heritage Committee to inscribe as many African sites as fast as it can onto its List recognizing the heritage with the highest universal value to our collective human history. While it seems an obvious move of equality, in reality, this flurry of inscription is doing untold damage to African sites. Issues of local involvement in site management have not been resolved or streamlined, so site designation exposes communities to degradation of their traditions and values. Likewise, traditional management practices have not been institutionalized, often stripping sites …

Returning Home: The Makings Of A Repatriate Consciousness, Hope Steinman-Iacullo

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The intention of my Independent Study Project was to learn more about what motivates some Afro Americans to repatriate here and/or return habitually and explore whether there were a diverse number of reasons and motivating factors. This aim and question was also put in a historical context. For instance, my research has shown that the Back to African movements of the past mostly aimed to be communal relocations, compared with the current condition of mostly individualistic moves. I also found that although not all of the participants in my project identified as followers of Garvey or Pan Africanism, they often …

Gaaro: Nepali Women Tell Their Stories, Sarah Cramer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

“In the 1970s, women were discovered to have been “bypassed” by the development interventions. This “discovery” resulted in the growth during the late 1970s and 1980s of a whole new field, women in development (WID), which has been analyzed by several feminist researchers as a regime of representation” (Escobar, 13). This “regime of representation” was a way in which development discourse linguistically, and consequently practically, imposed a homogenized identity on these “bypassed” women, in order to bring them into development programs. This homogenizing discourse was constructed by Western development efforts and takes place by constructing all third world women as …

“Happy Dancing Natives” Minority Film, Han Nationalism, And Collective Memory, Benjamin D. Shaffer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Cinematic representations of China’s ethnic minorities have been prominent in Chinese visual culture and collective memory since the 1950s. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese Communist Party led campaigns to classify China’s diverse range of ethnic groups. These social experiments inspired a number of documentary and narrative films about the ostensibly “exotic” and “colorful” non-Han peoples of China. The audience for these depictions of minorities in visual culture varied considerably. Some early documentaries fueled the rise of Han nationalism and political agendas within the Communist Party. Several narrative films had large audiences in mainstream Chinese …

“How To Change The World”: Writing An Online Sustainability Leadership Manual For Young Australians, Nina Sherburne

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Under the direction of the Centre for Sustainability Leadership (CSL) in downtown Melbourne, VIC, three articles were written for the CSL online manual entitled “How to Change the World”. These articles contain straightforward, easy-to-read answers to questions young people have regarding sustainability and leadership in their community. The three questions include: “Should I register my not-for-profit? If so, how do I?”, “How do I fundraise for my organization? And do I need to register as a Fundraiser?”, and “How to I sell the idea of sustainability (or change in general) to my boss?”.

This online manual will remove the barriers …

Unholy Union: The Convergence Of Agendas Between The Gay Community And The Political Right-Wing In The Netherlands, Michael Wayne Perry

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The introduction of immigrants from traditionally Islamic countries has created a new dynamic within the Dutch social system. Seemingly clashing with the established facade of Dutch “tolerance”, this group of Muslim immigrants has logically found a natural enemy within right-wing political parties. However, on a more interesting level, we see that the political agenda of the gay movement has seemingly converged with the agenda of those right-wing groups. In a sense, this convergence of agendas seems odd considering the general association of the gay movement with leftist, more progressive political movements. This study intends to examine this convergence of agendas; …