Civic and Community Engagement Commons^™

Protest Music In Response To The United States’ Oppressive Political Culture: An Analysis Of Beyoncé'S "Freedom" And Janelle Monáe's "Americans", Jessica Torrey

HMC Senior Theses

This paper aims to study a popular musical artist’s responsibility towards the empowerment of marginalized communities in the United States through an analysis of the songs “Freedom” by Beyoncé and “Americans” by Janelle Monáe. These songs will be analyzed in conjunction with the political climate during the time of their fabrication and release as well as the political climates discussed in the songs themselves. This paper presents a thorough analysis of the lyrical and musical components of both songs as well as an analysis of a specific performance of both songs. These analyses will be presented in conversation with many …

America’S Presidential Crisis Of Legitimacy: How The Electoral College Became Obsolete And How We Can Fix It, Julia Rose Foodman

Scripps Senior Theses

The goal of this thesis is to critique the current American Presidential electoral system, the Electoral College, and to show what an alternative could potentially mean for the American people. This paper seeks to answer the following questions: What are the main arguments for the Electoral College, why are they troubling, and how can we mend American Presidential elections for the greater purposes of political equality, democracy, and freedom? To do so, core arguments made by conservative pundits in favor of the Electoral College are outlined in order to bring attention to their logical, political, and moral inconsistencies. The inequalities …

Building The Fat Girl Table: Excavating Cultural Memory Of Queer Fat Activism In The ‘90s, Rose Gelfand

Scripps Senior Theses

When we recount the histories of social movements, there is a tendency to imagine either a steady, linear march towards progress or a slow descent from radical ideas into complacency. The feminist movement gets painted in waves, progressing from white to intersectional, while in the LGBTQ+ rights movement the contrast of the Stonewall Riots & ACT UP with late 2010s focus on gay marriage and the corporatization of Pride is understood as a watering down and betrayal of the movement’s origins. Cultural memory is a constant process of construction and revision, and of course the truth of movements’ trajectories are …

Neither “Post-War” Nor Post-Pregnancy Paranoia: How America’S War On Drugs Continues To Perpetuate Disparate Incarceration Outcomes For Pregnant, Substance-Involved Offenders, Becca S. Zimmerman

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the unique interactions between pregnancy, substance involvement, and race as they relate to the War on Drugs and the hyper-incarceration of women. Using ordinary least square regression analyses and data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates, I examine if (and how) pregnancy status, drug use, race, and their interactions influence two length of incarceration outcomes: sentence length and amount of time spent in jail between arrest and imprisonment. The results collectively indicate that pregnancy decreases length of incarceration outcomes for those offenders who are not substance-involved but not evenhandedly -- benefitting white …

What Is The Effect Of Social Capital On Community Resiliency Against Social Decay?, James Dail

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis builds off of the work of Robert Putnam and Charles Murray by using a fixed effects regression model and a first difference regression model to see if there is a relationship between the number of community institutions within a county and that county’s resiliency against social decay. Historically, it has been difficult to determine if there is a causal relationship in either direction between these variables because they are endogenous. That is, the underlying factors that determine whether a county will have low levels of social capital also determine whether the same county will have high levels of …

Present And Passionate: A Critical Analysis Of Asian American Involvement In The United States Environmental Justice Movement, Emily M. Ng

Pitzer Senior Theses

Communities of color are disproportionately exposed to toxins and pollution. The environmental justice movement addresses the greater health and environmental risks experienced by minority groups. Although Asian Americans are the fastest growing population in the United States, there is little known about their involvement in the movement. In this thesis, I further observe Asian American involvement in the United States environmental justice movement. By analyzing community case studies, I identify Asian American-specific mobilization challenges and strategies. Interviews with prominent Asian American environmental justice activists reveal activism and collective identity are connected, but vary greatly according to individualized Asian American experiences. …

The Weaponization Of Poverty: An Investigation Into United States Military Recruitment Practices In High Schools Of Low-Income Communities In The Inland Empire, Michael Springer-Gould

Pitzer Senior Theses

Military recruitment in the United States is a highly contentious subject that has yielded a multitude of prior research across a variety of academic concentrations. To further the conversation, I narrow my focus to Southern California’s Inland Empire (IE) to explore practices of military recruitment in high schools that serve students in low-income communities. I begin with a general overview of life and labor in the Inland Empire before moving into prior research on military recruitment. My empirical research consists of five in-depth interviews documenting the lived experiences of individuals hailing from and attending high school in low-income communities of …

Developing A Model For Effective Community Development Agreements In The Extractive Industries, John Nikolaou

CMC Senior Theses

Natural resource development has tremendous potential to create inclusive economic growth in countries well-endowed with oil, mineral, and agricultural resources. At the same time, natural resource development can cause negative environmental externalities, and, in several cases, extractives companies can engage in labor abuse.

The intersection of the government’s and the corporation’s interest can lie in Corporate Social Responsibility Projects.This thesis will analyze an alternative model of CSR: community development agreements (CDAs). CDAs are voluntary, or sometimes government mandated, agreements between the project developer and the project affected community that define company commitments to issues such as environmental impact mitigation, benefit …

Individual Bodies, Informed Consent, And Self-Determination: A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Vaccine Refusal Movement, Gretta Richardson

Scripps Senior Theses

This project sought to explore the narratives and rhetorical themes that permeate the anti-vaccination movement. Mass media has portrayed vaccine refusal groups as stupid, as conspiracy theorists, and as radically selfish. However, the data I analyzed from vaccine refusal nonprofits and advocacy groups supports that although these themes may appear to be radical, in reality, each is congruent with already present societal frameworks, particularly neoliberal social discourse and a preoccupation with the individualistic and self-determined health care rather than utilitarian or collective action.

Confronting The Ngo: Struggling For Agency And Approximating Freedom Through The Works Of Michel Foucault And Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Samantha Coss

Pitzer Senior Theses

This project aims to consider the proliferation of the NGO in the 21st century and the implications that this model has for justice, freedom and social change. The nonprofit, or nongovernmental organization, will be examined using theorists and thinkers Michel Foucault and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, in hopes of understanding the ways in which the NGO limits freedom and perpetuates violence. There will be an exploration of struggling for agency beyond the nonprofit, including an introduction to examples of other change-making models from the United States and Latin America. The goal of this project is to critically examine the current frameworks …

Campaigning On An Environmental Justice Platform: Irmalinda Osuna For Upland City Council, District 3, Jenny Bekenstein

Pitzer Senior Theses

After successfully organizing around preserving Cabrillo Park in Upland and feeling a lack of local political representation, Irmalinda Osuna ran for Upland City Council in the 2018 midterm elections. As one of the many female candidates in the 2018 elections, Irmalinda led a grassroots, community-led political campaign in which she advocated for environmental justice and the preservation of parks, a more inclusive community, increased civic participation, a more efficient use of technology in politics, and support for small businesses.

Schools Uniting Neighborhoods: Sustainability And Racial Equity In A Community Schools Initiative, Rachel Geller

Scripps Senior Theses

Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN), a collaborative initiative in Multnomah County, Oregon, combines the increasingly popular community school model with an innovative organizational structure to further two key goals: sustainability as an initiative and furthering racial equity. This thesis situates SUN within the context of American public education reform and existing literature on the positive outcomes, organizational structures, and leadership components of community schools. Building on past reviews of SUN and its outcomes, I use results from qualitative interviews with key stakeholders to provide insight into how its organizational structure contributes to the goals of sustainability and racial equity. I discuss …

Restoration Of Mauri (Life-Force) To Okahu Bay: Investigation Of The Cultural, Social, And Environmental Restoration, Emily Freilich

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis investigated the restoration of mauri (life-force) to Ōkahu Bay, Auckland New Zealand. Ōkahu Bay is part of the land and waters of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, a Māori hapū (sub-tribe). Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei has been driving the restoration, restoring Ōkahu Bay based on their worldview, visions, and concerns. This vision and control of the restoration process allows them to bring in the hapū in sustainable engagement and have the long-term vision and commitment necessary for self-determination. However, while there has been progress with projects and improved decision-making authority, hapū members are still not seeing their whānau (family) swimming in …

California As A “Blue-Print’ For Progressive Immigration Reform?: Uncovering Racial Liberalism To Expose Reconfigured Anti-Migrant Hegemony, Edith Jaicel Ortega

Scripps Senior Theses

Using the frames of analysis and language of political whiteness and anti-migrant hegemony, this paper examines the narrative of liberal immigration reformers transforming California’s political landscape within the period of 1994 to 2017. Taken as case studies the following articles of legislation are analyzed: Proposition 187 in 1994, the California Dream Act in 2010, the Trust Act in 2014, up to the present Senate Bill 54 in 2017. The paper finds that while California has experienced a recognizable shift in racial liberalism in rhetoric and legislation, its overall policy continues to work within the framework of anti-migrant hegemony that functions …

Indigenous-Led Resistance To Environmental Destruction: Methods Of Anishinaabe Land Defense Against Enbridge's Line 3, Charlotte Degener Hughes

Pitzer Senior Theses

Enbridge has proposed the Line 3 “Replacement” Project, a new pipeline project taking a new route strait through Anishinaabe treaty territory in what is known as northern Minnesota. In the middle of the regulation process, the future remains unclear of how the State of Minnesota will move forward with the permitting process, but Anishinaabe communities, a range of non-profit organizations, and local landowners remain firmly against the line. Rooted in varied frameworks of Native sovereignty, the land, and Indigenous feminism, Anishinaabe communities lead the resistance against a product of ongoing settler colonialism, racial capitalism, and environmental racism. This thesis contextualizes …

Stand Clear Of The Closing Doors, Please: Transit Equity, Social Exclusion, And The New York City Subway, Taylor Novick-Finder

Pitzer Senior Theses

The history of transportation planning in New York City has created disparities between those who have sufficient access to the public transportation network, and those who face structural barriers to traveling from their home to education, employment, and healthcare opportunities. This thesis analyzes the legacy of discriminatory policy surrounding the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and city and state governments that have failed to support vital infrastructure improvement projects and service changes to provide multi-modal welfare to New York’s working poor. By exploring issues of transit equity as they pertain to the New York City subway system, this thesis raises the …

Faith In A Changing Planet: The Role Of Religious Leaders In The Fight For A Livable Climate, Morissa Zuckerman

Pitzer Senior Theses

Progressive religious leaders are playing an increasingly important role in the effort to combat climate change. Through a combination of unstructured in-depth interviews and primary source analysis, this thesis highlights nine U.S. religious leaders from various denominations of Christianity, Judaism and Islam who are actively involved in working on climate issues. Drawing on literature in social movement theory, I explore how clergy are uniquely influential in climate issues because of the organizational advantage and moral authority they hold through their positions as religious leaders, granting them the ability to highlight social justice implications of climate change with distinctive legitimacy. Clergy …

Fossil Fuel Divestment: The Power And Promise Of A Student Movement For Climate Justice, Jessica Grady-Benson

Pitzer Senior Theses

In the face of dire threats posed by anthropogenic climate change, a growing international Movement for Fossil Fuel Divestment has emerged to challenge the political and economic power of the fossil fuel industry. Building off a history of college and university divestment campaigns, students are spearheading the movement to rid their institutions’ endowments of investments in the top 200 companies with the largest reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas. Highlighting perspectives from within the movement and drawing from literature in social movement theory and Climate Justice, I explore three crucial components of the student Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement: Climate …

Fruitful Communities: Evaluating The History And Impacts Of Treepeople’S Fruit Tree Program, Kayla B. Imhoff

Pitzer Senior Theses

TreePeople is a Los Angeles based non-profit organization that uses environmental education, initiatives, and programs to engage with the greater community to work towards the goal of a sustainable future for Los Angeles. The Fruit Tree Program is one of TreePeople’s longest running programs of 29 years, which distributes free bare-root fruit trees to economically disadvantaged communities as a source of fresh fruit and the other environmental benefits that trees offer. This paper is a comprehensive report detailing the history of the program and the impacts it has had on communities across Los Angeles County. Looking at three communities in …

Designing Affordable Housing For Adaptability: Principles, Practices, & Application, Micaela R. Danko

Pitzer Senior Theses

While environmental and economic sustainability have been driving factors in the movement towards a more resilient built environment, social sustainability is a factor that has received significantly less attention over the years. Federal support for low-income housing has fallen drastically, and the deficit of available, adequate, affordable homes continues to grow. In this thesis, I explore one way that architects can design affordable housing that is intrinsically sustainable. In the past, subsidized low-income housing has been built as if to provide a short-term solution—as if poverty and lack of affordable housing is a short-term problem. However, I argue that adaptable …

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 …

Seattle's Orchards: A Historic Legacy Meets Modern Sustainability, Audrey L. Lieberworth

Scripps Senior Theses

European immigrants introduced orchards to the U.S. in the early 1600s. As they began to establish settlements and migrate west, they brought orchard cultivation with them, creating an extensive network of orchards spread across the U.S. However, over time many of these orchards were lost due to urban development, which is what makes Seattle’s historic orchards significant. Early Seattle settlers planted orchards in the 1800s and early 1900s, and their remnants still exist today, despite urban development. Over the years, many of the orchards have been incorporated onto City Department-owned land, but they have not been maintained to the extent …

Exploring German And American Modes Of Pedagogical And Institutional Sustainability: Forging A Way Into The Future, Lindon N. Pronto

Pitzer Senior Theses

Rooted deep in Germany's past is its modern socio-political grounding for environmental respect and sustainability. This translates into individual and collective action and extends equally to the economic and policy realm as it does to educational institutions. This thesis evaluates research conducted in Germany with a view to what best approaches are transferable to the United States liberal arts setting. Furthermore, exemplary American models of institutional sustainability and environmental education are explored and combined with those from abroad to produce a blueprint and action plan fitting for the American college and university.

Intentioned Network Convergence: How Social Media Is Redefining, Reorganizing, And Revitalizing Social Movements In The United States, Jesse Janice Klekamp

Scripps Senior Theses

This analysis seeks to understand the power of social media to create sustainable social movements. The 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle were one of the first internet-supported acts of protest and illustrate the power of the Internet and social media to bring together diverse coalitions of actors and maintain decentralized power structures. Next, the analysis studies the non-profit advocacy organization Invisible Children and the recent media explosion of their Kony 2012 campaign to make sense of how uses of the Internet have expanded since 1999. The Kony 2012 case illustrates the power of committed networks in disseminating information …

Mapping Community Mindscapes: Visualizing Social Autobiography As Political Transformation And Mobilization, Emily C. Bluck

Scripps Senior Theses

Historically, autobiography has been used to perpetuate neo-liberal ideologies. Yet, when autobiography becomes social and is used to engage political communities of color, political transformation is possible. This project, through the collaborative visualization of Asian American social biography using pedagogical and relational methods as a means for engagement, seeks to destabilize dominant notions of time and space, and provide a mechanism for the retention of and documentation of institutional, and social histories using the Asian American Student Union at Scripps College as the site for political praxis.

Mexican-Americans In Los Angeles: Strengthening Their Ethnic Identity Through Chivas Usa, Stephanie Goldberger

CMC Senior Theses

A large Mexican-American population already exists in Los Angeles and, with each generation, it continues to rise. This Mexican-American community has maintained its connection to its heritage by playing and watching soccer, Mexico’s top watched sport. In this thesis, I analyze how Major League Soccer's Chivas USA serves as an outlet through which many Mexicans in Los Angeles have developed their ethnic identities. Since the early twentieth century, Mexicans in Los Angeles have created separate residential communities and sports organizations to strengthen their connections with one another.

To appeal to Mexican-Americans, Chivas USA has branded itself closely to its sister …

Cultivating Youth Earth Connections Summer Internship Program (Yec): A Hands-On Environmental Justice Focused Farming Program At The High School Level, Samuel Lewis

Pomona Senior Theses

YEC’s main goal was to open dialogue with high school students from under resourced communities about environmental injustices and to create and explore positive alternatives. The summer program, which was funded by the 2010 Davis Projects for Peace and the Pomona College Summer Undergraduate Research Project Award, included a group of 11 high school students from Pomona, Montclair, La Puente, and Chino Hills, CA. The students were paid to participate in the program for 6 weeks in the summer of 2010, five days a week, for 30 hours each week. The program was designed to consistently connect movements for food …

A Valuation Of U.S. Not-For-Profit Summer Camps With A Comparison Of Two Members Of The Association Of Hole In The Wall Camps, Kristine N. Staley

CMC Senior Theses

Despite their prevalence throughout the United States, summer camps are rarely considered as businesses or high-functioning not-for-profit entities. This paper explores the camping industry with a focus on not-for-profit camps. It adapts typical not-for-profit efficiency metrics to camps in order to demonstrate that powerful missions are not always enough to keep not-for-profits in operation. The paper examines two members of the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps which serve children with serious and life-threatening illnesses. Ultimately, this paper is a tool for donors to observe how organizational performance is a crucial factor when donating to organizations with similar mission.