Sociology Commons^™

La Migración Por Obligación: Los Movimientos Migratorios De Los Mapuche, Rebecca Jones

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project seeks to explore connections between the neoliberal economic model with the migratory patterns of the mapuche, an indiginous people group in Chile. Since the imposition of neoliberalism the mapuche have been forced to migrate from the country to urban centers in order to survive. Chile has taken control over the majority of mapuche land, forcing an economy of subsistence agriculture on the pueblo. Thus, the youth vacate their communities, migrating to the cities to try and provide a future for their families. In so doing, the influences of the dominant culture permeate nearly every aspect of their lives. …

¡Dame Un Ritmo (Y Sueldo)!: La Sustentabilidad Económica De Los Artistas Callejeros En El Gran Santiago, Zachariah Smith Cheema

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Street artists in the greater Santiago area are the product of a high unemployment rate and a history of street music in the city. Street artists can be found in every part of Santiago, from the shopping centers to the tranquil parks. Santiago’s street artists vary in age, talent, and future plans. However, these street artists confront many similar risks, such as the threat of detention, other street vendors, or the spectators themselves. While street art as a long-term job is a possibility, there is not a lot of room to save money for the future. Street art lacks support …

The Needs Of The Marginalized; Documenting A Crisis Defined As Such By The Catadores De Lixo Of Jangurussú, Jane Hudson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Catadore de lixo is a general term used by Brazilians to refer to those people who work with garbage. It encompasses those who work (and often live) in open landfills and scavenge for salvageable goods to consume, use, or sell; those who work in the street collecting garbage; those who collect only recyclables; and those who work within associations, companies, or cooperatives that sort, sell, and/or recycle refuse. Such a cooperative and the catadores who comprise is the focus of my research.

My objective for spending three weeks in the homes and community of the catadoras de lixo was to …

Arte Y Pobreza: Integración Social A Través De Movimientos Culturales, Betsy Mccormick

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between artistic and cultural movements as a means of integration for socially excluded populations in Buenos Aires following the economic crisis of 2001. Art in a traditional sense, that is, art found in museums, is most frequently an expression of the dominant classes and is an object of contemplation rather than a form of intervention with the social reality of the masses. Two prominent and “opposing” theories are presented as a possible framework for understanding the relation between art and the societies that produce it: Liberalism and Marxism. The specific …

Buscando El Cusco: Análisis Del Turismo En La Ciudad De Los Incas, Nicole A. Grant

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Al principio, yo empecé ésta investigación con motivos de exponer la inautenticidad de las experiencias turisticas debido a la increíble dependencia de las guías de viajes tales como Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, Fodor’s, Moon’s Handbook, etc. Andando por las calles de Cusco, uno no puede evitar una vista en que casi cada turista tiene una guía de viaje entre sus manos en búsqueda de la experiencia descrita en su libro. El turismo masivo ha creado un cierto tipo de turista que vienen a Cusco con poco conocimiento de la ciudad y muy poca iniciativa de descubrir algo más allá de …

“Sacar A La Familia Adelante:” El Impacto De La Emigración En La Comunidad Salvadoreña De Nuevo Amanecer, Elisabeth Golub

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La camioneta azul saltaba por el camino pedregoso, y pensé que si no fuera por la vista dramática de los cerros del campo salvadoreña podría ser en el carro de un@ de mis amig@s en los Estados Unidos. Un disco de Bob Marley sonaba en la casetera, y estaba platicando con el muchacho que conducía sobre nuestras carreras universitarias. Le pregunté que estaba estudiando. “Sistema ingeniería,” me dijo. “¿Y que piensa hacer cuando termine?” Se reía, y me contesto, sin hesitación: “Voy a los Estados, a trabajar en la lechuga.” Hoy en día en El Salvador, su respuesta no es …

Las Abejas Y Los Zapatistas: Una Comparación Y Contraste De Dos Movimientos Indígenas En Chiapas, México, Anna H. Lifson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Me llamo Anna Lifson. Soy estudiante de mi tercer año en Macalester College en St. Paul, Minnesota, Estados Unidos, con una concentración en las ciencias políticas y los estudios hispánicos. Desde que puedo recordar, siempre he tenido un interés en la “justicia.” A mi padrastro le gusta recordarme que mis palabras favoritas de mi niñez eran, “¡no es justo!” He crecido con la búsqueda de la justicia y el deseo de mejorar el mundo como principios fundamentales de mi identidad. Cuando estaba buscando programas para estudiar en el extranjero, me fijé en el enfoque del programa de SIT en México, …

Non-Formal Education And Autonomous Spaces: Cideci’S Independent Alternative And The Regeneration Of Indigenous Cultural Spaces In Chiapas, Rachel Beatty

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this study I explore CIdeCI’s role in regenerating autonomous cultural and physical spaces for Indigenous learning, and thus living, outside of the government system through its alternative educational methods and non-formal, independent status. I argue that non-formal education plays an essential role in regenerating cultural and physical spaces necessary for ensuring that Indigenous forms of social organization retain and/or obtain their autonomy from state and national governments. I will begin by presenting a brief overview of my research methodology, followed by theoretical background regarding education and cultural spaces, specifically pertaining to the Indigenous population of Chiapas. I will then …

A Child’S Dance Of The Sankofa: Redefining, Reconstructing, And Reclaiming Identity, Shawnrey Notto

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The following research focuses on a major health crisis that exists within the black Brazilian population, that of identity and self esteem. The study will deals with the possibility of reconstructing black identity, through dance. Children are being socialized into a society whose system practically equivocates anything of Afro-descent, anything black, with negativity. This is a serious problem that is cultivated in a culture of violence, which is profoundly detrimental to the social and psychological development of a people. As such this is an offense to human kind. By using participant-observation and interviews the research traces how some empowerment, consciousness, …

A Falta De Voz Quilombola No Canto Brasileiro: As Conseqüências Da Desvalorização Da Terra Quilombola Pelo Estado Brasileiro, Maíra Dos Santos

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No Brasil, existe uma longa história de um racismo institucional. Ou seja, desde a escravidão, a população afro-brasileira tem sido abandonada pelo Estado brasileiro. Esta pesquisa explora a relação entre o Estado e uma comunidade remanescente de Quilombo situada na Chapada Diamantina no Estado da Bahia. A relação entre os dois é estudada em termos dos direitos à terra Quilombola. Para os Quilombos, o direito à sua própria terra é o mais importante para a preservação das comunidades e também é o direito mais negado pelo Estado brasileiro. A negação desse direito tem muitas conseqüências para os quilombolas porque eles …

¿Qué Mas?: Una Mirada A Las Posibilidades De Un “Instrumento Político.”, Rebecca Bor

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Llegué a Bolivia y estaba sorprendida de la polarización entre los partidos políticos y los movimientos sociales. Me pareció que habían dos caminos políticos distintos en Bolivia, y ni el camino política institucional ni el camino política no-institucional funcionan bien para el progreso de Bolivia. Dentro de este paradigma, una tercera opción ha sido formada como posibilidad de una alternativa. Esta opción es el instrumento político del Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS). El Movimiento Al Socialismo no es un partido político ni un movimiento social. Por eso, es necesario entender las teorías de los movimientos sociales y cómo ellos han cambiado …

Identities In Dialogue: Deconstructing The Dynamics Of Bošnjak-Muslim Identities In Novi Pazar, Christine M. Debacker

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My research was aimed at understanding how individual identify with larger, collective identities (national, ethnic, religious, etc.). In studying the history and current social situation of the former Yugoslavia countries, I learned that often individuals identify themselves within the terms of nation, ethnicity and religion. And I learned that often in this region those terms were used exchangeably. To better understand how differences among individuals and groups were conceived, I turned to the abounding academic theories written on the topics of nation, nationhood and nationalism.

In looking though the mass of theories, I realized that each academic creates theories of …

Post-Velvet Jazz Baby, Jack Elkin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Throughout the past fifty years, two principle agents have inhibited experimentation in Prague's jazz scene, totalitarian states and the conditions that followed after the fervor of the Velvet Revolution died out. What has resulted is an environment that has embraced variation but not typically new or contemporary ideas, which is only just beginning to change.

Village Elections: Emergence Of A Democratic Political Culture Or Reinforcement Of A Repressive Regime?, Laura Conniff

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

China’s ethnic and geographic diversity makes the task of examining the implementation of national policy nearly impossible. As more than 70% of the population lives outside urban areas, narrowing the field to rural governance does not whittle down the subject matter to any great degree. However, the vastness of the topic is precisely why it is so vital to developing a coherent understanding of the country – knowing how a majority of the Chinese population interacts with local government sheds a great deal of light on the status of political reform in China today.

Many of the problems plaguing Chinese …

Bih In Black And White: Photo-Diary Of My Adventure Learning How Ngo’S Anti-Trafficking Prevention Programs Work In Small Communities In Bosnia And Herzegovina, Rebecca Johnson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

From the very beginning of my immersion in the Balkans, the issue of Trafficking of Human Beings has found a nook in my mind of righteousness, and ever since, the interest of learning how this crime is being prevented has festered. In the one-month period of time I had for my research, I spent 5 days in Modriča, 8 days in Ključ, 5 days in Mostar, 7 days in Sarajevo, and 2 days in Dubrovnik. The goal of my travels was to see first hand the actual and physical actions that NGO’s in small towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter …

Multi-Culturalism In Ireland: Examining The Context Of And Debates Surrounding The Citizenship Referendum, Melanie Todman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this paper, I hope to explore Irish reactions to multi-culturalism through the highly controversial citizenship referendum. This referendum, through which the twenty-seventh amendment to the Irish Constitution will be made, is fundamentally changing Ireland’s citizenship policy from one of jus soli and jus sanguinis to one of just jus sanguinis. This change has been made amid current inflows of immigrants, many of whom are racially distinct and come from a variety of cultural backgrounds. The framing question for this paper is: Like other European countries, Ireland is making the transition from a racially homogenous society to a more heterogenous …

Managing The Commons Through Obligation: Communality In The Sierra Juárez Of Oaxaca, Katie Moyer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As one of the most ethnically, culturally, and biologically diverse states in the Mexican Republic, Oaxaca proved to be a good location to learn about alternative forms of social organization. With 570 municipalities, Oaxaca has 23% of the municipalities in the entirety of Mexico. The vast majority of Oaxaca’s municipalities—480—are politically and socially organized through communality, a traditional form of self-government widely known as usos y costumbres (uses and customs). Within the four weeks allotted for this research project the majority of my time was spent in the Northern Sierra Juárez in the state of Oaxaca.

I first visited the …

Canto Al Huaso, Canto Al Pueblo: La Música Y El Discurso Político De La Identidad Chilena Durante Los Años Sesenta Y La Unidad Popular, Greg Walz-Chojnacki

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La fuerte polarización de la política chilena durante los años sesenta y la Unidad Popular tiene un reflejo en las representaciones de la identidad nacional a través de la música. Usando la letra de canciones y entrevistas con músicologos y músicos, este ensayo examina el discurso politico presente en la música de este período. Primero, se describe la representación de una identidad nacional tradicional a través de la música de Los Huasos Quincheros. Luego, se analiza la formación de una identidad alternative en dos etapas: el desarrollo de una vision del país que reacciona a la imagen patronal y exclusive …

Mcdonald’S And Samoan Youth: A Case Study Of Globalization, Anna Schechter

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The topics of change, development and globalization are extremely pertinent to modern-day Samoa. The past ten years have lead to a vast increase in the inter-connectedness of Samoa to the world economically, socially, and culturally. This paper uses McDonald’s as a representation of the globalization occurring in Samoa in order to better understand the real impacts of these abstract terms. Samoan youth act as a medium in which to explore this topic. They are often the most attune to the impacts of globalization and perhaps even act as a catalyst for change. Thus this paper explores, specifically, the relationship between …

Sexuality In Chile, Elana Jacobs

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper explores contemporary sexuality in Chile, through an analysis of the institutionalized rules and regulations, comprised of the many laws and regulations determined by Chile’s governing bodies and embodied by the words and actions of State Officials, and the police force: los Carabineros; to the societal norms and collective values, which include the position of the Catholic Church, the media, and the sociological investigations which analyze Chile’s collective understandings and dominant discourses, determining what is acceptable within the realm of sex and sexuality, and what is not. Additionally, this paper seeks to understand the efforts of the many organizations …

Land Conflict Resolution Within An Autonomous Space, John Cheney

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

La Lucha Del Mocase Para Desarrollo Y Autonomía, Katie Metcalf

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study is an analysis of the current situation of the small producers of the Movimiento Campesino del Santiago del Estero (MOCASE) to determine the extent they are obtaining a sustainable and autonomous existence by means of rural development projects, with a specific focus on MOCASE from the region of Bandera Bajada, department Figueroa, and their interaction with the Programa Social Agropecuario (PSA). The history of repression and social exclusion of the small producers, both on a provincial and national scale, through the implementation of neoliberal macroeconomic policies, massive land sales to large enterprises, and corrupt government policies have severely …