Civic and Community Engagement Commons^™

A Way Of Reflecting On Identity: The Five Stories Of The Conflicting Relationships In Nepal, Tomoki Yamanaka

Capstone Collection

Conflict studies show that the components of identity are interrelated to sources and dynamics of conflict in intricate ways. This study self-reflectively explores a way of reflecting on identity from the links between conflict and identity through a qualitative study of the five stories of the conflicting relationships in Nepal. By analyzing the stories collected through in-depth interviews with Nepali peace workers, an element of power in group differences was noted. This illustrated the challenge of having the voices of those being marginalized heard amongst conflicting issues around them. Those that were interviewed also struggled with the challenge of having …

Community Management And Governance Of Comatsa-Sud New Protected Area (Ambalamanasy Ii Commune), Allison Tennant

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Community-based natural resource management is an increasingly more popular choice for governments to delegate power back to local communities to conserve the resources they rely on. In Madagascar, where much of the rural population provides for their livelihoods by using natural resources, this governance structure, in cooperation with delegated manager for assistance, presents an opportunity for economic development in cooperation with conservation efforts. This paper aims to better understand the role of community, NGO, and governmental actors in creating and executing community management structures. Through Participatory Rural Analysis and structured and semi-structured interviews, it explores what management transfers look like …

Pasantía A La Oficina Comunal De Migrantes De La Municipalidad De Valparaíso / Internship To The Communal Office Of Migrants Of The Municipality Of Valparaíso, Morgan Craig

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This report evaluates my own experience over five weeks as an intern at the Communal Office of Migrants in Valparaíso, Chile. This office, along with the Communal Office of Women and the Communal Office of Sexual Diversity, was founded in June 2016 by Mayor Jorge Sharp as a part of the initiative to better represent the citizens of the Valparaíso región. Within the last ten years Chile has had a massive boom of immigration that has come as a shock to many Chileans. Due to a lack of cultural understanding about immigration and an immigration law that dates back to …

Motivations And Obstacles On The Long Walk To Integration: Determinants Of Six Cape Town Chinese Immigrants’ Political Participation, Yawen Tsao

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Political participation is a fundamental component of democracy. But the level of immigrants’ political participation is generally lower than for people who are perceived as natives. This paper identifies the determinants of six Chinese immigrants’ political participation in Cape Town, part of a group that has a long history of political integration but is still often seen as passive and apolitical. It argues and tests the effect of five main determinants related to the length of residence, interaction with the local Chinese association, socioeconomic background, language ability and prior political experience, and social perceptions. Data comes from interviews conducted with …

Convivendo Na Lagoa Do Mineiro: An Education In Living And Loving With, Daniela Aldrich

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

One of Brazil’s most pressing issues is unequitable land distribution and agrarian land reform. Movimento Sem Terra (MST) is at the forefront of this struggle and has redistributed land to approximately 1,250 families so far. As well as access and right to land ownership, MST addresses issues from youth development, to education, to ecology and more with the mission to create a more just and inclusive Brazil by training its future leaders. This vision includes moving away from the capitalist system that currently enables hierarchies of power to control Brazil at the expense of many of its citizens and natural …

Land Insecurity In Gulu, Uganda: A Clash Between Culture And Capitalism, Zachary Slotkin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper presents the causes and consequences of land insecurity in Gulu, Uganda. In order to address this important and often sensitive issue, the paper analyzes the role of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency and the government’s policy of forced encampment during the insurgency in contributing to land insecurity, causing widespread displacement among former internally displaced persons (IDPs). It further explores the importance of land ownership in providing economic productivity to rural landowners, as well as the nature of customary land tenure in Acholi culture and the government’s efforts to privatize communal land, to give a background on the …

When Knowledge Flows: A Case Study Of Village Health Workers’ Motivations In Jamkhed, Selaem Hadera

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Across the field of global health, there have been many attempts to cater to the health needs of the most marginalized populations. Community health workers (CHWs) are individuals that live in the communities they serve and are typically low-­‐income women with little to no formal education. After a period of training by their program, they enter their communities equipped as a bridge between the community and the health system. Although CHWs do play a substantial role in health delivery and education, the structure of CHW programs varies widely, but a common characteristic of these programs is that the CHWs are …

Luchadoras: Resistencias Contra La Violencia De Género Por Las Mujeres En La Región De San Ramón, Olivia "Livey" Beha

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This qualitative study describes the dynamic resiliency-building process against gender-based violence in two rural coffee-producing communities in the region of San Ramon, Nicaragua. It examines the methods and efficacy of economic empowerment and educational interventions facilitated by the Union of Agricultural Cooperatives Augusto Cesar Sandino (UCA San Ramón) in addressing gender inequality, preventing gender-based violence, and increasing access to resources for women in the cooperatives of El Privilegio and Danilo Gonzales. This complex ecology, comprised of the interactions between women, their communities, available resources, and institutions, is assessed through the lens of women’s individual perspectives as they engage in three …

¿Dónde Está Santiago Maldonado? El Uso Del Retrato Y El Activismo Artístico Para Exigir La ' Aparición Con Vida ' De Los Desapariciones Forzadas En Argentina / ¿Dónde Está Santiago Maldonado? The Use Of Portraiture And Artistic Activism To Demand For The ‘ Aparición Con Vida ’ Of The Forcibly Disappeared In Argentina, Emily Gresham Beamer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The dissemination of portraiture of the forcibly disappeared in Argentina represents a key strategy of visual protest within Argentina’s human rights movement, and an effective tool for ‘collective memory construction’ of the forcibly disappeared. Its history of use spans from the last dictatorship, to protests of forced disappearances in modern Argentina’s democracy. Following the disappearance of a young artisan, Santiago Maldonado, from a ‘route cut’ he participated in on August 1st, 2017, alongside the Mapuche community of Pu Lof, in protest of the Italian multinational clothing manufacturer Benetton’s control of their ancestral lands, a massive dissemination of his portrait was …

Cultivating Peace Through Teaching History In Rwandan Secondary Schools: Opportunities And Challenges, Brittany Fried

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Education has the ability to cultivate a Culture of Peace or Violence. In Rwanda, pre-1994 formal education became a tool for inciting violence by presenting a discriminatory and identity-based view of history. In the 23 years since the genocide, the Rwandan government has propagated education that promotes national unity and decreases division amongst students. The 2015 national competence-based curriculum (CBC), which incorporates the holistic idea of Education for a Culture of Peace (ECOP), is one pertinent example. This study addresses: (1) the historical narrative portrayed in the secondary-level national curriculum and how it is taught, and (2) the opportunities and …

Geopolitical Relations: Uganda’S Role In The Development Of The River Nile, Jordan Williams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examined the geopolitical relations of the Nile Basin by looking at Uganda as a case study, and analyzed Uganda’s use and development of the River Nile. It reviews the history of transboundary politics and treaties along with Uganda’s development projects in the region. The paper then discusses modern relations and agreements, with a focus on the most recent agreement between the Riparian States, the Cooperative Framework Agreement, and how Uganda fits into them with regards to their interest in hydropower development within their borders on the Nile. It then explores possible future developments on the river and the …

A Glimpse Into Life On Avenida Caetano: An Auto-Ethnographical Study With Emphasis On Community Health And Social Determinants Of Health Within An Urban Context In Brotas, Salvador, Brazil, Harleen Bal

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Community health is a concept that encompasses many facets of life beyond simply the physical health of a community. Community health refers to the collective health, mental, physical, and emotional, of a specific community, encompassing all ages and genders within that group. In Brazil, the universal healthcare model focuses much on primary care and community health workers (Kahn, 2008; Gragnolati). In a particular community in Brotas, while the community has some resources, it is still lacking in jobs, education, financial resources, and perhaps also faces issues of violence and racial inequities. This study strives to utilize participant-observation methodology, interviews, and …

Definiendo La Concepción De La Salud Mental Y Espiritual: La Influencia De La Biomedicina Y La Religión Occidental En La Comunidad Mapuche De La Araucanía, Maya Salvio

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Research Question: In what ways has occidental religions and the biomedical health system influenced the conception of mental health in the Mapuche community in the Araucania?

Objectives: The general objective of this study is to identify the ways in which mental and spiritual health are conceptualized by the Mapuche community and identify the influences of occidental religion and biomedicine in Carahue and Saavedra. The specific objectives are to identify the conceptions of mental and spiritual health among the three predominant ideologies, characterize their perceptions of anxiety and depression (two occidental mental illnesses), identify the relationships between the three ideologies, and …

La Valorización De La Educación Superior Para Estudiantes Indígenas En Madre De Dios: Interrogando Discursos Y Acciones Del Estado, La Fenamad, Y Los Estudiantes Indígenas / The Valorisation Of Higher Education For Indigenous Students In Madre De Dios: Interrogating Speeches And Actions Of The State, Fenamad, And Indigenous Students, Sierra Houck

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Esta investigación explora cómo los estudiantes indígenas en Puerto Maldonado (que provienen de comunidades en Madre de Dios) valoran y pretenden usar la educación superior. Este informe compara estas perspectivas y deseos con las perspectivas y acciones de personas en los institutos superiores, miembros del gobierno, y miembros de la organización indígena FENAMAD. Además, esta investigación analiza tanto los desafíos que los estudiantes indígenas enfrentan al estudiar en Puerto Maldonado como los sistemas de apoyo que existen y se están desarrollando para los estudiantes indígenas.

La educación formal fue introducida en las comunidades indígenas de la región de Madre de …

The Role Of Ngos As Intermediaries: Negotiating The Space Between Donors And Community Members, Mara Horn

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

South Africa is considered one of the most unequal countries in the world, even after the fall of the apartheid government in 1994. In order to address the disparities present within the country and the inability of the government to meet the needs of the disadvantaged, NGOs emerged as a possible solution and development alternative. This study aims to understand how NGOs currently operating in Durban, South Africa negotiate their role as intermediaries between donors and community members. Focusing on the perspectives of experts who work for justice-oriented NGOs, each participant’s understanding of their organization’s intermediary position is explored: what …