Family, Life Course, and Society Commons^™

Exploring Cape Malay Identity Through The Lens Of Food, Allyson Ang

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study explores the construction of Cape Malay identity through the lens of food. Made up of descendants of slaves from India, Madagascar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mozambique, and other places, “Cape Malay” is a very contentious identity. Although people who fall under the label of Cape Malay today are hundreds of years removed from their slave ancestors, there are still distinct remnants of these origins in Cape Malay culture. One of the ways in which this is most evident is Cape Malay cuisine. Cape Malay dishes such as bobotie, samosas, bredie, and beryani have become staples in South African …

Seeds Of Peace: Visible Cooperation Between Jews And Muslims In Morocco, Namratha Somayajula

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

A carrefour in various contexts, Morocco stands in a unique position between the Arab world and Israel for several reasons. The country is unique due to the historical presence of Judaism in the region that, over the years, became a Muslim-majority Islamic kingdom. The members of Morocco’s Muslim and Jewish communities coexisted for centuries, albeit with minor hurdles, as did the Muslims and Jews of Palestine. However, political events around the world in the twentieth century led to the rapid departure of Jews from their Moroccan homeland. Today, with so few remaining in Morocco, “Jew” often becomes synonymous with “Israel,” …

Human Rights At The Border: European-Union—Moroccan Relations In The Wake Of The 2013 Migratory Policy, Anashua Dutta

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Morocco’s border with the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla has brought the country into direct relations with the European Union (EU) on the issues of border control and migration. In response to the growing human rights violations towards migrants and refugees enumerated in the Conseil Nationale des Droits de l’Homme’s (CNDH) 2013 report, King Muhammad VI passed a migratory policy that emphasized preservation of human rights within Morocco’s borders. This study examines the effects of Morocco’s relationship with the EU on the implementation of the human-rights aspects of Morocco’s 2013 migratory policy. Using the semi-structured interview approach, I will …

Jordanian Special Needs Children’S Access To Services: Parental Perspective, Selena Rincon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study was to investigate the point of view of parents of special needs children in regards to their access to financial, medical, and educational services in Jordan. The researcher was interested in the question: Do parents of special needs children believe that the government offers adequate educational, financial, and medical services for their special needs children? This study is significant because special needs children are an important part of Jordanian society and must receive proper services in order to develop their abilities as much as possible and become active members of society. Also, it is important …

The Right Of Return: International Representation Of Palestinian Refugee Rights, Ariella Hohl

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study focuses on Palestinian identity in refugee camps and their international representation of rights by the PLO. The goal of this research is to understand how the meaning of the Right of Return has developed through generations of Palestinian refugees residing in camps, in contrast with the international community discourse presented by the PLO on this topic.

After almost two decades since the PLO’s leadership renewal, a gap is visible between Palestinian political representation and the sentiments of Palestinians on the ground. There are growing perceptions dissatisfaction with the current leadership, especially from the perspective of refugees. More often …

The Making And Re-Making Of Dolpo Identity: A Case Study Of Do-Tarap, Lin Zhu

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The unbelievably harsh environment in Dolpo forces people to be self-sufficient based on agriculture and husbandry, two sectors that complement each other very well. The condition also requires plentiful communal works for survival. Dolpo’s geographical isolation on the one hand, limits Dolpo-pas from encountering others, and on the other hand, prevents the presence of the central government. Before the 1960’s, Dolpo still remained as a politically autonomous region under the Kingdom of Nepal. However, based on interviews conduced with both local villagers and outsiders such as governmental officials and Nepalese, the paper argues that, starting from the 1960’s, Dolpo-pas began …

The Struggle Overseas: Risk Factors For Suicide Among Female Migrant Workers In Nepal, Dhara Puvar

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study aims to understand the various risk factors for suicide among female migrant workers in Nepal. Suicide is the leading cause of death among women in the country, and the prevalence of suicide among migrant women in particular warrants further investigation, especially considering the increasing number of women traveling abroad for foreign employment. What experiences do these women have that would lead to suicidal behavior? What personal and institutional challenges contribute to increased risk of suicide? How does the community respond to their needs? This research was conducted in the Kathmandu Valley, with the majority of data acquired through …

La Casa Patria Grande “Presidente Néstor Carlos Kirchner”: El Sueño De La Unidad Latinoamericana / The Casa Patria Grande “Presidente Néstor Carlos Kirchner”: The Dream Of Latin American Unity, Ana Dougherty

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Resumen Como sede del proyecto de la “Patria Grande”, la Casa Patria Grande “Presidente Néstor Carlos Kirchner” en Buenos Aires teóricamente tiene un rol muy importante en la formación y consolidación de una identidad latinoamericana y del proyecto político que busca la cooperación y integración de los países latinoamericanos. Dentro del contexto de fragmentación de proyectos políticos en América Latina en cuanto a la integración regional y la inserción en el mundo, la construcción de una identidad latinoamericana se vuelve algo muy difícil de lograr, y aún no deseable para ciertos países y ciertos partidos políticos. Dada esta situación, la …

Abortion In Brazil - Todo Mundo Faz: An Analysis Of Social Movements And Social Support For The Liberalization Of Brazil’S Abortion Law In Salvador, Brazil, Maria Camila Caicedo

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study analyzed the current actions of feminist movements, black women’s movements, and other advocacy groups that have a stake in the current debate for the legalization of abortion in Brazil. The purpose of the study was to assess the current political avenues for approaching the legislative body available to marginalized groups who are disproportionately affected by the criminalization of abortion. It was built upon a comprehensive review of existing literature, which found very little information on the actions of feminist movements and black women’s movements in Northeast Brazil. The study was conducted over the course of four weeks in …

La Búsqueda De Una Agenda En Común: Una Mirada Feminista A Las Organizaciones Lgbti En Nicaragua, Rachel Crane

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the global context, we are amidst a rapidly changing rights landscape for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) as more and more governments begin to recognize same-gender partnerships. This gain in LGBT rights worldwide is in no small part to the political organizing and lobbying done by LGBT-rights organizations. Nicaragua’s history with gaining LGBT rights is relatively new, as the government did not repeal the anti-sodomy law here until 2008, thus stagnating the fight for acceptance in the country. As it stands, Nicaragua has a few legal protections for LGBT people, but they continue to …

Afrochilenos En Rumbo Al Reconocimiento Como Pueblo Tribal Una Investigación Sobre Los Factores Históricos Y Culturales De Los Afrodecendientes En Arica, Sandy Milien

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Afrochileans have been in the dark for several centuries due to the efforts of the Chilean government to completely ignore the existence of people of color in the country. Since the beginning of the 21st century cultural and political organizations of afrochileans have been created to fight against the invisibility of the black community in Chile, aiming to be recognized as a tribal group by the state. In this study, I researched the historical and cultural factors that influence the recognition of the afrochileans as a tribal group according to El Convenio 169 of the International Labor Organization. To accomplish …

El Grano Milagroso Y Su Lado Oscuro: Un Estudio Sobre La Demanda De La Quinua Y Sus Efectos En Los Sistemas De Producción De La Comunidad De Cabana, Jacob Frankel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Esto es un estudio sobre los sistemas agrícolas de producción en la comunidad campesina de Cabana en el departamento de Puno. Los agricultores en el Altiplano de Puno tradicionalmente producen la quinua y otros cultivos andinos de una manera extensiva. Pero, en el mundo se está realizando un “boom de quinua” ahora. Lo que significa alta demanda, mayor precio que beneficia a los campesinos andinos. La comercialización de la quinua en Cabana ha cambiado su producción a ser más intensivo, y los usos ancestrales de la tierra están disminuyendo. Encontré una tendencia de menos descanso del suelo, más mecanización y …

Family Resilience And Sojourning Japanese Families In The U.S., Mitsuyo Izumi

Dissertations

This study examined processes of family resilience sojourning Japanese parents reported using while raising children (between the ages of 4 and 8) in the U.S., the relationship between family resilience and child behavior and impact of stressful life events, and predictors of the impact of stressful life events and child behavior. Seventy mothers and 37 fathers from six Japanese educational institutions completed self-report questionnaires. Measures included Japanese translations of the Family Resilience Assessment (Duncan Lane, 2011), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997), the Impact of Stressful Life Events Scale (Hasui et al., 2009), the Kansas Marital Satisfaction (Schumm et al., …

Too Materialistic To Get Married And Have Children?, Norman P. Li, Amy J. Y. Lim, Ming-Hong Tsai, Jiaqing O

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We developed new materials to induce a luxury mindset and activate materialistic values, and examined materialism’s relationship to attitudes toward marriage and having children in Singapore. Path analyses indicated that materialistic values led to more negative attitudes toward marriage, which led to more negative attitudes toward children, which in turn led to a decreased number of children desired. Results across two studies highlight, at the individual level, the tradeoff between materialistic values and attitudes toward marriage and procreation and suggest that a consideration of psychological variables such as materialistic values may allow for a better understanding of larger-scale socioeconomic issues …

Discussion Of Iran Awakening By Shirin Ebadi, Musselman Library

Iran: Beyond the Headlines

In preparation for our book discussion on Iran Awakening by Shirin Ebadi for our Iran: Beyond the Headlines series, we created some of our own discussion questions about the book. Please feel free to use for your own book discussion!

To Veil Or Not To Veil: A Loaded Question, Lisa R. Rivoli

What All Americans Should Know About Women in the Muslim World

What all Americans should know about women in the Muslim world is that Muslim women are increasingly prohibited through legal measures to choose for themselves whether or not to veil, which reduces their agency and perpetuates the harmful idea that all Muslim women need saving.This paper takes a look at political and legislative interventions on veiling in several countries.

Ouch, That Hurts: Childbirth-Related Pain Management And The Inappropriate Replacement Of Traditional Obstetrical Knowledge In Kumaon, Uttarakhand, India, Sabrina Zionts

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Throughout India, obstetrical knowledge and practice has been developed and passed down by generations of women. In many Indian societies, traditional birth attendants, or dais, remain the gatekeepers of childbirth-related knowledge. Yet with the push towards institutional delivery, traditional knowledge and practices are being increasingly replaced with modern and Western ones. While the trend of hospital deliveries has yielded positive health outcomes, its socio-cultural consequences remain unclear. Situated in Uttarakhand’s Kumaon Himalayas, this study employs a bio-social framework and begins to reveal these consequences. Using labor pain management as an entry point, this study argues that the push towards institutional …

Ulaanbaatar’S Ger District Issues: Changes And Attitudes, David Engel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Several of Ulaanbaatar’s current issues are directly related to Ulaanbaatar’s sprawling Ger District. The Ger District is home to approximately 736,000 residents, 61% of Ulaanbaatar’s population (Galimbyek, 2015). The significant growth in Ulaanbaatar is shown by its 52.8% of residents who were born outside of the city, the majority of migrants moving into the Ger District due to a lack of housing. (Chilkhaasuren & Baasankhuu, 2012). The development of Ulaanbaatar has not kept up with the rapid growth leading to inadequate infrastructure in much of the Ger District. In turn, inadequate infrastructure has lead to high pollution levels, negatively affecting …

Why Is The Color Of One’S Skin So Significant In Southern Mexico?, Savalda Jacqueline Platt

Capstone Collection

The following research examines and addresses an ideology about race and the color of skin. The goal is to bring forth knowledge about a Mexican community that experiences discrimination and racism due to their skin color. It will view how and why skin color became a tool against a community that has existed in Mexico for centuries. The villages reside off the coastal areas of Mexico evolved from the ramifications of slave trading and owning. Mixed marriages between villages altered the color fabric of Mexico’s society in many ways; fair skin was not the dominant player any longer. This began …

Talking Mirrors: Experiences Of Older Transgender Adults And Culturally Competent Mental Healthcare Profes-Sionals With Talk Therapy In The Netherlands, Kate Cieplicki

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Historically, both the general population and mental healthcare providers specifically have misunderstood the transgender identity as pathological and unnatural. Despite persistent ignorance in the mental healthcare field about the background and needs of transgender adults, a psychoanalytic evaluation is required by the gender clinic for a transgender individual to begin the gender transition process in the Netherlands. This requirement creates a degree of tension and mistrust between the transgender individual and the mental healthcare field. Such discomfort is unfortunate because statistically transgender adults face more mental health problems than their cisgender peers, likely because of the stress that comes from …

Kittens And Nutella: Why Women Join Isis, Samantha K. Smith

What All Americans Should Know About Women in the Muslim World

On February 18, 2015 CNN published a reported stating that Western women were leaving their homes to join ISIS because of a social media campaign featuring pictures of kittens and Nutella. This reported propagated the notion that women who join jihadist organizations are brainwashed or feeble minded. The reality is not so simple. This paper explores the motives women may have for joining ISIS through comparison to the motivations that drove women to partake in other violent jihadist organizations' activities.

Child Marriage: Addressing The Challenges And Obstacles In The Post-2015 Agenda, Valeria Pelayo

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study explores the progress of child marriage eradication over the last forty years in order to identify the weak points of implementation as well as how these are being incorporated in the post-2015 agenda. An assessment of current rates by geographic region and several other demographic factors is included along with future projections for these affected areas. The shortcomings identified include a lack of program evaluation, negligence towards married children, a shortage of data on sub-national legislation efficacy, and minimal attention paid to child marriage in the context of slavery and human trafficking. The scope of the problem is …

The Impact Of Vaccine Hesitancy On The Polio Vaccine In South Asia, Leah Everist

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

A disease that paralyzes hundreds of children each year, polio is incurable but also entirely preventable through vaccination. Though part of the reason some children are not reached for immunization is that they are in areas too volatile for healthcare workers to access, vaccine hesitancy is increasingly being recognized as an important player. The objective of this study is to ascertain the degree to which vaccine hesitancy affects polio vaccine campaigns in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the countries in South Asia where polio continues to be endemic, to assess the drivers behind hesitancy in this region, and to present recommendations for …

Engaging Non-State Armed Groups (Nsags) In The ‘Fight’ Against Sexual And Gender-Based Violence In Eastern Congo (Drc), Mackenzie Kennedy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

While the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has managed to achieve a greater level of stability more than a decade after finding itself at the center of “Africa’s World War,” the Eastern region of the country continues to face insecurity developments as poorly controlled domestic and foreign armed groups have undermined attempts to secure peace in the region since the end of the Rwandan genocide. Sexual violence has been used as a tool to humiliate, dominate, terrorize, displace, and control civilian populations. Despite much needed international attention towards assisting SGBV survivors, there remains a lack of effective preventative efforts …

“Doce Pasos” En La Dirección Correcta: La Adaptación Cultural De Prácticas Terapéuticas En Un Centro De Rehabilitación Para Hombres Ecuatorianos, Jason Tinero

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este proyecto se trata de cómo un centro de rehabilitación ha adaptado sus prácticas terapéuticas para hombres de la cultura ecuatoriana. El programa de tratamiento está basado en el programa norteamericano de los Doce Pasos, asociado con Alcohólicos o Narcóticos Anónimos. Según el marco de la psicología cultural, las prácticas terapéuticas no pueden generalizarse interculturalmente; entonces, hay que corresponder las terapias para la sociedad misma. La cultura ecuatoriana está marcada por tres rasgos sobresalientes: la religión católica y la espiritualidad, el machismo y la intimidad de la familia nuclear. A través de observaciones de terapias, entrevistas con terapistas y usuarios …

Transracial Adoption In Cape Town, South Africa: The Perspectives Of Black Young Adults, Emma Bilodeau

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This independent research project focuses on transracial adoption in Cape Town, South Africa. Specifically, this project tries to fill in the gaps of past research by providing how black young adults perceive white adoptive parents adopting black children in Cape Town. Past research has not focused solely on the perspectives of blacks. Therefore, this research will be increasing the literature around transracial adoption in Cape Town and in South Africa.

Since this form of adoption was only made legal in 1991, it is an extremely relevant issue in this country particularly since the minority race (whites) is adopting the majority …

Sexual And Reproductive Health Education For Boys In Kapchorwa, Uganda, Meredith Colleary

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examines the systems by which adolescent boys receive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education in Kapchorwa, Uganda. Teenage pregnancy and early marriage are epidemics that hinder Uganda’s development. As girls have consistently been the targets of interventions, this study considers how boys are included in these strategies. The objectives of the study are three-­‐fold: to research the ways that boys receive SRH education, to identify the successes and shortcomings of these education systems, and to seek ways for these systems to be improved.

The study was carried out over a six-­‐week period in the spring of 2015. The …

The Effect Of Refugees On Jordanian Identity, Max Yenkin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Jordan has become known as the home for refugees from the crises that have occurred along its borders. Several waves of large groups of refugees have come to Jordan: 1948, 1967, 1991, 2003, and 2011-present, with copious amounts of refugees coming from different surrounding countries to Jordan. The Hashemite Kingdom is ruled through keeping relations between the Bedouin tribes that have lived in the area from the founding of the country. This has led to the denial of equality for former refugees who obtained citizenship as well as the other refugee populations in areas such as work and education. As …

From Laws To Last Names: Examining Popular Opinions Of Adoption In Morocco, Margaret Liston

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As international adoption is becoming a much more common reality for many orphans and abandoned children worldwide, it is an important time to consider the implications of attitudes regarding adoption in Morocco—an Islamic state which defines adoption in a very specific but different way from the Western world. Despite the abundance of literature analyzing the historical and legal aspects of adoption in Morocco, there is a notable absence of research that examines the opinions of Moroccans removed from the adoption process on the institution itself. This study seeks to highlight potential trends in attitudes regarding adoption by examining the views …

Herbs, Home Medicine, And Self-Reliance: A Study On The Current Status Of Traditional Home Medicine In Idukki District, Kerala, Richard Gaunt

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Home medical knowledge, or knowledge of how one’s surroundings can be used to maintain and restore health, can be an important tool for health self-sufficiency in rural places as well as for the ecological conservation of important plants and natural materials. The Indian state of Kerala has a rich heritage of traditional medicine, found in the historically inter-related forms of codified Ayurveda and folk knowledge. In Idukki district, a region of Kerala nestled in the hills of the Western Ghats, rural households engage in small-scale home-gardening and agroforestry, which in addition to providing nutritionally diverse food is a source of …