Place and Environment Commons^™

Casa De Los Ningunos: Un Estudio De Caso Sobre La Re-Imaginando De “Sumak Qamaña” En Un Contexto Urbano Y Contemporáneo, Vanessa Voller

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Una simple búsqueda en Google de "crisis globales del siglo XXI" dará una larga lista de crisis políticas, sociales, económicas y ambientales que enfrenta el siglo XXI. Teniendo en cuenta estas crisis, se ha hecho evidente que la gente del siglo XXI tendrá que encontrar formas alternativas de vivir, que pondrá a prueba el paradigma occidental dominante de la sociedad; un paradigma plagado por el consumismo, el individualismo, la destrucción del medio ambiente, la mentalidad extractivista y las fuerzas homogeneizadoras de la globalización (Choquehuanca 2010; Huanacuni Mamani-2010). En todo el mundo muchos diversos proyectos e iniciativas están surgiendo para desafiar …

Strategic Study Abroad: A Program Proposal For Continued Faith Development Of Chi Alpha Students Studying Abroad, Erin Leonard

Capstone Collection

With around 28,000 individual participants, Chi Alpha is a diverse network of Christian students on U.S. college campuses. By regularly meeting in groups and collectively reaching out to the community, students develop their faith and build lasting relationships.

Faith development is an integral part of Chi Alpha students’ lives. Yet, because community is an important aspect in faith development, studying abroad can cause challenges. Students expressed missing accessible Christian peer support and mentorship while abroad. They further expressed disconnection from their faith and felt their spirituality had declined while studying abroad.

As study abroad participation has been increasing over the …

Ensuring Social Success: Assessing The Factors That Affect The Social Experiences Of International Students At A Large, Urban Community College In Texas, Sharon A. Miller

Capstone Collection

According to the 2014 Open Doors report published by the Institute of International Education, 87,963 international students enrolled in community colleges and/or associate’s degree granting institutions during the 2013-2014 academic year. Community colleges offer many benefits to international students, such as lower tuition, less restrictive English proficiency requirements, smaller class size, and transferability of credits to four-year institutions.

Past studies have found connections between social relationships and the ability to manage acculturative stress and student satisfaction. Nevertheless, international students attending a community college face different social challenges than those who choose to attend a residential four-year university. Lack of student …

The Global Village: Improving Intercultural Experiences At Keene State College Through Living/Learning Communities, Laura Zuelch

Capstone Collection

Comprehensive internationalization is a paradigm in higher education that recognizes the many aspects of higher education affected by an internationalizing world (Hudzik, 2011). At Keene State College, internationalization is limited to the outbound study abroad students and the few inbound exchange students each semester. There are also few opportunities for Keene State students to gain an intercultural experience without leaving campus, which can be difficult for some students to manage. There is an opportunity to build on the existing Living/Learning Community framework to create a new Living/Learning Community that can address the trend for increased internationalization on campus as well …

Engagement And Global Learning Through Philanthropy: A Youth Philanthropy Council For International Baccalaureate Students, Erin Gorman

Capstone Collection

Unprecedented global migration and a flattened global economy have influenced the skills, knowledge, and competencies all high school youth need to be engaged participants and effective workers in the 21^st century global economy (Mansilla & Jackson, 2011). Research indicates that many youth, especially those at risk for dropping out of school or from minority and low-income backgrounds, do not have adequate opportunities to develop the global competence and 21^st century skills needed for engagement and success in the workforce of the 21^st century (Afterschool Alliance, 2010). This paper presents a replicable global learning afterschool program model that …

Magnetic Island Marine Park Zones: Effects Of Fishing Restrictions On Predatory Reef Fish Populations, Casey Wilson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Over the past several decades industrialized fishing practices have decimated fish stocks worldwide. Top-down trophic cascades have occurred within many marine ecosystems as top predators are removed. Numerous regions world wide are being designated as marine park “no-take” zones in order to aid in the recovery of these species and with the hope that surplus population will spillover into unprotected zones..

This study aimed to determine if there were significant differences in abundances of three major families of predatory reef fish (Serranidae, Lutjanidae, and Lethrinidae) between fringing reefs located in four bays of various zones around Magnetic Island, QLD. Data …

Western Farmers’ Markets In Kathmandu: Vendor Perspectives, Caroline Saunders

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study seeks to understand Western farmers’ markets (FMs) in Kathmandu by understanding vendors’ motivations for attending FMs; and further, their perspectives on the purpose and potential for expansion of FMs in Kathmandu’s food economy. In the US and Europe, FMs are often seen in the literature as a component of a social movement (SM) called the ‘alternative food movement’ (AFM) concerned with environmental sustainability and social justice within the processes of food production and consumption (Isenhour 2012). FMs, a type of direct market that offer face-to-face interaction between producers and consumers, are a site for the transmission of values …

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 …

Marginalidad Y Oportunidad: El Caso Del Vergel Alto Y Las Políticas Habitacionales En Chile, Ellie Driscoll

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This investigation explores the relative success of Chilean housing policy in addressing and resolving the country’s urban slums. The investigation is grounded in the theory of marginality in Latin America, a theory that argues that the development and industrialization of Latin America in relation to the global north concentrated power in a small but dominant upper class and created social, political and most importantly economic systems that perpetuate the internal and external domination of the region. These relationships result in the permanent conditions of urban underdevelopment and social, political, and economic marginalization present in Chilean slums.

Over the last seventy …

“Seguimos Siendo Indígenas” Una Investigación Sobre El Discurso De Los Derechos Y Necesidades De La Comunidad Shipiba De Cantagallo Como Pueblo Indígena En El Contexto Urbano De Lima., Janet Sanchez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

A través de un método etnográfico basado en entrevistas formales e informales y observaciones tomados durante dos semanas en la Comunidad ShipiboKonibo de Cantagallo, este informe examina cómo esta comunidad expresa sus derechos y necesidades como pueblo indígena en el contexto urbano de Lima. Este estudio fue ejecutado durante un tiempo de conflicto entre la comunidad y la Municipalidad de Lima, que bajo el cargo de Luis Castañeda, canceló la reubicación de la Comunidad ShipoKonibo que está siendo desplazado por la construcción del Vía Parque Rímac. Los resultados demuestran que los Shipibos de Cantagallo luchan por ser tratados como iguales …

The Digital Gap: An Investigation Into The Access And Use Of Internet In Matagalpa, Nicaragua, Kayla Steinberg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Although still less than 20 percent of the Nicaraguan population has access to the internet, in the years preceding 2012, internet in Nicaragua grew by 113 percent. This rapid development of internet in the country generates several questions, including: “Who has access to the internet in Nicaragua?,” Where are they using the internet?,” and “How are they using it?” This paper answers these three questions and investigates how the answers differ between different demographic groups, especially between young and older people and women and men, through the results of a survey distributed primarily in a public park with free wifi …

Waste Management And Environmental Initiatives In Accra, Ghana, Aoife Genevieve Duna

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Title: Waste Management and Environmental Initiatives in Accra, Ghana

Author: Aoife Genevieve Duna ([email protected]; Middlebury College, Anthropology and Dance major)

Objective: The objective of this project was fourfold: • To study the current waste management practices by government and private waste companies • To observe the perspectives of residents on waste disposal • To explore environmental initiatives by citizens, NGOs, and student groups • To investigate the potential projects that could reduce waste

Methodology: For my project, I conducted interviews, made observations, participated in daily personal waste management, visited a landfill, and visited a composting project.

Findings: Waste collection is …

Why?-Abetes: Understanding Diabetes Management In Rural Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, Kyra Wicklund

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project will investigate how diabetics, family members, and community members involved with diabetes relate to the disease and its continued management in a rural area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Although diabetes is an issue worldwide, it has been largely over-looked in sub-Saharan Africa. This study utilized interviews with diabetics, family members of diabetics, and clinic staff as well as personal observations to reveal the strategies, challenges, and stories of diabetes in this area. Conversations with local health experts verified that diabetes is a major issue in the area of this study. Topics of interest were support structures present; education; …

Tracking The Elephant (Lexodonta Africana) Corridor And The Human-Wildlife Conflict In Selela Village, Nicole Chlebek, Laura Stalter

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The beastly journey of long-distance migration for the African Elephant (Lexodonta Africana) is important for upholding their connections between diminishing protected areas, especially in northeastern Tanzania. However, human development is encroaching into these corridors, creating a human-elephant conflict, which can ruin livelihoods of villagers, depending on the extent of conflict. This study focused on exploring the hypothesized human-elephant conflict on the Selela corridor, specifically in Selela village, as well as GPS (Global Positioning System) mapping evidence of elephant travel along the projected Selela elephant corridor connecting Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), to Selela Forest Reserve (SFR), and finally to Manyara Ranch. …

The Pelagic Artisanal Fishing Of Mangapwani, Northern Unguja, Shavonne Stanek

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

A total of 99 interviews were conducted. Over a period of 28 days from April 5- May 2, 2015, a total of 75 interviews were conducted with 72 fishermen, 2 drying processors and 1 Bwana Diko. During a 5 day preliminary period from March 12-16, 2015, a total of 24 interviews were conducted with 7 fishermen and 14 drying processors. The interviews focused on their work in the local fishing industry, the amount of fish caught and dried, and their opinions on the sustainability of their industry. The interviews were conducted using a translator who relayed the responses in English …

Fauna Census Of Intertidal Cliffs, Mangapwani, Zanzibar, Emily Jankowski

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Due to their extreme variations in condition over the course of a day, intertidal zones are challenging environments. Organisms that live there must be prepared to cope with both exposure and submersion, not to mention the temperature variations that accompany these conditions. The differing tolerances and adaptations of various organisms to these conditions generally cause patterns of vertical zonation to occur in the intertidal zone, especially when the shore is steep and rocky. Understanding the ecology of shore environments is important to future conservation and management efforts. This study was conducted on a beach in Mangapwani, Zanzibar at at 6˚ …

The Industrial Impact On Wetlands In Jinja And The Nexus Of Industry, Wetlands, And Community (A Rights-Based Sustainable Development Approach), Ranger Ruffins

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Uganda is a beautiful country filled with an extensive amount of natural resources, one of the most profound being wetlands. It is said that these wetlands are a crucial source of food and water for almost 3 million people (NEMA, 2012 and Oguttu et.al, 2008). They also provide many more invaluable socioeconomic benefits for the country. As Uganda experiences increasing development as well as a rapidly increasing population, the wetlands become increasingly necessary, at the same time they become increasingly threatened. It is written in the 1995 Ugandan constitution that Ugandan policy is aimed at ensuring sustainable development for the …

Non-Compliance In Marine Reserves: Measuring The Drivers Of Behavior Among Recreational Fishermen Within The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Nick Manning

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) provides outstanding ecological, cultural, social, and economic services to the number of communities that use it. Most of the park is regulated via a zoning system designed to protect its biodiversity and ensure the sustainable use of its resources (GBRMPA, 2004). Like any social institution, zoning regulations rely heavily on compliance in order to be effective. Recreational fishing on the GBRMP accounts for most of the noncompliance behavior associated with zoning (Arias and Sutton, 2013). Thus, understanding fishers compliance behavior is central to understanding how to best manage these areas. Using results from …

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 …

Urban Gardening Practices In Bangalore: Towards A More Localized Food System?, Delfina Grinspan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Localized Food Systems (LFS) have garnered much attention in recent years among civil society, research, and policy circles, among others. Increased attention and efforts to build more localized food systems are principally motivated by the awareness of the pressures exerted by increasing urbanization on food security and access, and concern for the ecological and social costs of the dominant globalized food system. In their varying purpose to address these two issues, LFS tend to be characterized by certain patterns of (localized) land, water, and other resource use; by direct marketing and distribution arrangements; and by the presence of extensive linkages …

Placeness: Mongolia A Call For The Creation Of A Human Impact Assessment, C. Winston Kies

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Sense of place, place-­‐based identities, and “placeness” are fundamental ways through which human beings understand their physical place in the world. The means by which most Mongolians—and indeed most human beings—strive for placeness is fairly simple. First, one decides what location will become their place. Their place may be predetermined (i.e. a birthplace) or chosen (based on the wildlife, the scenery, the neighborhood, etc.). Once one has a place, sense of place necessarily follows. One’s place becomes the standard by which locations are understood, and by which one understands oneself. The latter process constitutes the formation of place-­‐based identities, which …

The Himalayan Gold Rush The Untold Consequences Of Yartsa Gunbu In The Tarap Valley, Noah Stone

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite the fact that it has been used in tradition medicine for centuries, the caterpillar fungus known as yartsa gunbu (Othiocordyceps sinensis), has only become a popular medical supplement in the last fifteen years. Demand in China has driven what has been dubbed ‘the Himalayan gold rush’, a scramble for the fungus that has utterly transformed the agro-pastoral economies of the remote Himalayan regions where cordyceps is found. In many cases, the locals have prospered economically from the commodification of yartsa gunbu. In one such region of Nepal, the Tarap valley of the Dolpa district, while the villagers have benefitted …

The Lucrative Business Of Children: A Study Of Child Trafficking In Nepalese Orphanages, Mira Saxe-Smith

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this research paper is to shed light on and explore the detrimental effects orphanage volunteer tourism has on communities in Nepal, especially the orphans themselves and their families who become subject to different degrees of manipulation, deceit and abuse due to the industry. This study will also delve into the Nepal Civil War’s effect on orphan trafficking in Nepal, the effects of institutionalization, media and campaigns launched against voluntourism, and other related topics. The paper particularly focuses on orphanage voluntourism in the tourist heavy and capital of Nepal, Kathmandu.

The information in this report was attained through …

The Power Of Peace: A Reflection On The Shifting Methods, Strategies, And Philosophies Of Peaceful Protest Within Dharamsala’S Community Of Activists Post-2008, Christian Bormann Paris

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the words of Chinese military philosopher, Sun Tzu, “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”1 Since the renewal of the Tibetan socio-political movement within Tibet during 2008 and its eventual subdual by Chinese security forces, the community of activists operating outside of Tibet are now faced with the challenge of invigorating a refugee population stricken with complacency to join their brothers and sister up north. However, the community must accomplish this utilizing the tools of peace rather than the weapons of war and oppression. This document will serve as a reflection on the current …

Identity, Movement And Belonging In A Land Of Tradition: A Critical Examination Of The Nepali Workforce In Leh, Ladakh, Teresa Langseth-Depaolis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In recent years, Nepal has emerged at the forefront of the international labor market with a growing and continuous out-flow of migrant laborers. Such migratory patterns have landed people from Nepal in jobs all over the world; from power plants in Dubai to coffee shops in Toronto. This study situates the phenomenon of Nepali migrant labor in the rapidly urbanizing capital of Leh, Ladakh, and examines the experiences of identity and complexities of belonging within the transnational system of migration.

I was prompted to conduct research in Leh after having heard from a local man that there was a small …

Existential Avalanche The Lived Experience Of Climate Change In Dolpo And Mustang, Nepal, Keegan Mcchesney

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Himalayan communities stand precariously in an era of phenomenological uncertainty. Climate change is merely a lens through which we may observe and begin to understand such localized modern complexities. The people of the Tarap Valley in Dolpo, Nepal have experienced an increase in avalanches, snow leopard attacks and unpredictable precipitation patterns in recent years. In upper Mustang, Nepal, people have endured the harshest winter in generations and suffered from reduced water access. Environmental, climatic and weather related changes in both Himalayan districts have severely impacted traditional livelihoods and led some to adopt modern means of adaptation. Despite the scientific evidence …

Mind Within The Body The Presence And Importance Of Mental Health Within Traditional Tibetan Medicine, Reta Flynt

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this Independent Study Project was to identify aspects of mental health within the traditional Tibetan medical system that are both taught in the classroom and carried out in clinical practice, with a primary focus on the importance of maintaining mental health. Throughout the research process, aspects of illness etiology, diagnosis, treatment processes, and influence from Tibetan Buddhism were found to be deeply connected in maintaining mental health within patients of Traditional Tibetan medicine. As well, much emphasis was found on the mind's influence on the physical wellbeing of an individual, suggesting that mental and physical health are …

The Curious Case Of Solu Khumbu: A Study Of The Effects Of Tourism In The Town Of Junbesi, Hannah Cho

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Before 1953, the year that Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summited Everest, almost all Sherpas were subsistence farmers, traders, and herders. But ever since the 1980’s, Sherpas have taken over the trekking industry in this region. The increase of tourism and the monopolization of this industry have altered the livelihoods of Sherpas in Solu Khumbu. However, most tourism related research on Solu Khumbu has been done primarily on upper Khumbu, which has been affected by tourism drastically differently than Solu. I will be doing a case study of how the changes in tourism have affected Junbesi, a popular agriculture based …

Meditating On Mountain Bikes, Sam Bowen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For a long time, Nepal has been an exotic destination for adventurers and spiritual wanderers. Geographically, there are no comparisons. “The country is vertical,” said Jagan Biswarka as he pointed across Phewa Lake to the snow-capped mountains. “You can see the 8000 meter from 800 meter. This will be one of the best playgrounds in the world. Nowhere in Nepal. Nowhere in the world.” Mads Mathiasen, a Danish expatriate agrees. “I think very few people realizes how big a contrast there is in Nepal from seventy-one meters above sea level – the lowest place in Nepal – to eight-thousand eight-hundred …

The Role Of Productive Uses Of Electricity In Rural Development: A Case Study Of XẻO Trâm And HòA ĐứC Hamlets Of HòA An Village, Vietnam, Gabrielle Short

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Vietnam’s economy has grown extensively over the past twenty years; however, 68% of the population still lives in rural areas. The government of Vietnam has taken huge steps in the growth of rural infrastructure, specifically electricity. According to the World Bank 95% of the rural population had access to electricity as of 2010. This paper discusses how this electricity is being used in rural areas and whether the uses are aiding in the national growth of Vietnam. Productive uses, those which result in production of income, or value, are compared with solely economic uses. A case study comprised of surveys, …