Place and Environment Commons^™

Lessons From Cideci Las Casas : The Potential For Non-Directive Learning Spaces In The United States, Gideon Mausner

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of my project was to observe the informal, non-directive and communal learning space of CIdeCI Las Casas in San Cristobal, Chiapas and consider its potential applications in the United States of America. The following paper presents the results of this project in five sections. In the first section I examine the meaning of modern education and its primary vessel, the school. In the second section I give a detailed background of CIdeCI: its history and purpose and its place within the cultural and political realities of Chiapas. In the third section I share my experiences and observations from …

“Ahora Es Cuando”: La Lucha Por El Derecho A La Ciudad En La Villa 31 = “Now Is The Time”: The Fight For The Right To The City In Villa 31, Margaret Scott

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the Villa 31, an extensive informal settlement in the heart of Buenos Aires, thousands of precariously constructed brick homes reach four, five or even six stories and stretch shakily toward the sky. Beneath poorly constructed foundations, the land on which the villa’s thousands of homes rest is valued at up to $6000.00 (U.S. dollars) per square meter. Villa 31 finds itself in the “heart” of Buenos Aires, built up against extensive railways (bus and train), a central automobile artery, and the city’s well developed port, all of which give the villa the potential to be some of the city’s …

An Assessment Of Housing Decisions Among Shabia Residents, Allison Bream

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mention the term “shabia,” or “social housing,” to any Omani, and a handful of associations come to mind: poverty, violence, lack of education. Social housing is a concept burdened with assumptions, assumptions that often reflect poorly upon its residents. Using the Asset-Based Community Development framework, this paper seeks to dispel notions regarding the Shabia by endeavoring to understand how its residents perceive their community and how this affects their housing decisions. What about the Shabia encourages residents to come, and remain, there? Why would they consider leaving? How have they addressed the challenges associated with living in social housing? This …

O Movimento Dos Atingidos Pela Barragem De Tucuruí: Uma História Oral, Susan Beaty

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project presents a critical oral history of the movement of communities affected by the Tucuruí Dam in Tucuruí, Para. Like the many other hydroelectrics constructed during the 1970s and 80s, the Tucuruí Dam was built to deliver power and profits to influential economic entities, namely nearby bauxite and aluminum mines, while local communities incurred the costs. Due to inadequate pre-project studies and irresponsible resettlement and indemnification programs, the construction of the dam and its reservoir brought devastating social and environmental impacts to the surrounding region. In the wake of this devastation, a social movement emerged to defend the rights …

The Interplay Of Peace, Justice, And Logic: Bali-Bawock As A Case Study For Inter-Ethnic Land Disputes, Masumi Hayashi-Smith

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

his paper seeks to explore the conflict existing between two ethnic groups, the Bali-Nyonga and the Bawock, as a case study for inter-ethnic land dispute. Through the process of this study the researcher tried to look past arguments of logic in order to uncover the struggle for autonomy, the struggle for respect, and how damaging the muddy relationship between tradition and modernity can be. She found that ultimately models of mediation and dialogue were the most constructive in helping the conflict’s actors heal among themselves, and to develop the tools for interacting with a globalized society.

The Stories Of Juruti Velho, David Mittelman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper presents a collection of stories from the communities of the Juruti Velho region of the municipality of Juruti, Pará, Brazil. The inhabitants of this region represent just one group affected by the current mining undertaking by the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa). Following some important background information on ribeirinhos populations, Amazonian development, and Alcoa’s history of displacing communities, the study presents the past, present and potential future of these communities in their own words. Stories were collected in loosely structured interviews and transcribed, in order to capture what is important to the community members’ sense of identity and …

Alcoa In Juruti, Brazil: A Case Of Environmental Injustice And Colonialism?, Caitlin Schroering

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper examines the visions of development of Alcoa, an American bauxite mining company, and the traditional ribeirinho communities in the area of Juruti Velho, Brazil. These two objectives are pursued in order to determine if Alcoa’s actions in the area constitute environmental injustice and colonialism. An explication of environmental injustice and colonialism is undertaken, and is followed later by a discussion of social invisibility and how circumstances are created that allow for the exploitation of traditional communities. The work and demands of ACORJUVE, a community association that is in opposition to Alcoa, are also discussed. A review of the …

Visiones De Pertenencia: Comunidad Tras Las Palabras De Personas Mapuche, Marissa Brodney

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Central to the Mapuche reclamations of ancestral territory happening now in Patagonia are notions of “community”. Recognition, on the one hand, of an indigenous right to re-appropriate state land implies historical consciousness of indigenous pueblo preexistence, and the imposition of national communities in which indigenous groups do not find representation. Secondly: in recent decades, the “community” has become a strategic point of reference in the legal and political arenas in which reclamations are registered. A result of the struggles of indigenous activists of the past few decades, official recognition as an indigenous community implies recognition of unique rights. Thirdly: resulting …

A Critical Assessment Of The Impact Of World Heritage Site Designation In Sub-Saharan Africa, Lauren Blacik

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Archaeological associations and development agencies alike are celebrating the recent effort by the World Heritage Committee to inscribe as many African sites as fast as it can onto its List recognizing the heritage with the highest universal value to our collective human history. While it seems an obvious move of equality, in reality, this flurry of inscription is doing untold damage to African sites. Issues of local involvement in site management have not been resolved or streamlined, so site designation exposes communities to degradation of their traditions and values. Likewise, traditional management practices have not been institutionalized, often stripping sites …

La Recuperación De Ex-Centros Clandestinos De Detención Como Espacios De La Memoria: Un Estudio Acerca Del Caso Del Ex-Centro “Olimpo” En Buenos Aires, Katherine Jensen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The last military dictatorship in Argentine history, from 1976 to 1983, implemented an institutionalized system of state terrorism that by the dictatorship’s end had permanently disappeared 30,000 of its citizens, as well as individuals from the rest of Latin America. The core of this system was the use of centros clandestinos de detención, tortura y extermino (clandestine centers of detention, torture and extermination) in which sequestered persons were tortured and then either disappeared or liberated. In the last few years, a movement has emerged to convert this former centers into espacios de la memoria (sites of memory). One such ex-center, …

Returning Home: The Makings Of A Repatriate Consciousness, Hope Steinman-Iacullo

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The intention of my Independent Study Project was to learn more about what motivates some Afro Americans to repatriate here and/or return habitually and explore whether there were a diverse number of reasons and motivating factors. This aim and question was also put in a historical context. For instance, my research has shown that the Back to African movements of the past mostly aimed to be communal relocations, compared with the current condition of mostly individualistic moves. I also found that although not all of the participants in my project identified as followers of Garvey or Pan Africanism, they often …

Memory, Place And Nation-Building: Remembering In The ‘New’ South Africa, Kate Ronan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this project was to look at memory and memorialization in Cape Town in order to better understand the role of sites of memory and memory initiatives in the making of the ‘new’ South Africa. This study focuses on connections between memory and place and memory and identity. It also looks at the Cape Town landscape, the ways in which it has changed over time and contestations over sites on this landscape. This project was conducted as a social analysis project over the period of one month. Visits to monuments and museums, interviews with people involved in memory …

The Effects Of Space On Sex Worker Experience: A Study Of Amsterdam’S Red Light District, Hannah Koski

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This report is the outcome of a month-long exploratory study on the ways in which a space influences the experiences of the sex workers operating within it, using the Red Light District in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, as the site of focus. Data was obtained by way of qualitative methods including focused interviews and unstructured observation and analyzed with a pro-prostitute perspective and within various spatial theoretical frameworks. It is concluded that while the clustering and visibility of sex workers in the Red Light District results in a certain standardization of practice and experience, the independent nature of window sex work …

La Identidad Colectiva Del Pueblo Mapuche: El Pasado, Presente Y Futuro De Su Lucha Territorial, Katherine A. Lawyer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As many native populations face cultural extinction, the question of indigenous land rights is a discussion of growing urgency and polarity. The Mapuche Pueblo, a population native to Chile and the south of Argentina, is an example of such a population battling to regain control of their original territories so as to insure the survival of their culture. The research of this study consisted of a two-week cultural investigation of the Mapuche communities in the south of Argentina so as to understand this collective cultural identity. The paper itself examines the life cycle of the social movement to recuperate these …

Making Space For Critical Discourse: The Daily Resistance Of Acampamento Luiz Carlos, Nicholas Detlef Salmons

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study explores the implementation of MST’s pedagogy of conscientização (conscientization) within Acampamento (camp) Luiz Carlos in order to better understand the role that dialogue plays in raising the collective consciousness of peasants newly engaged in the occupation of the land. The approach I took to understanding this process was heavily influenced by Paulo Freire’s works on literacy and revolution, as well as James Scott’s theories of the quotidian resistance of peasants and other subordinate groups. Due to his theories and the subsequent realities encountered in the field, the focus of the study was expanded to include a better understanding …

Nixi: A Case Study Of The Influences Of China’S Economic Development On The Fringe Of Tibet, Zachary Johnson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

On the eastern mountainside of Nixi cling several tall, red earthen houses, the winding road to Deqin cuts between; they face a swell in the middle of the valley where several more houses stand, and one in mid-construction. The two clusters of beautiful Tibetan houses are connected by a fairly recently added crushed stone road, walled in by rough stonework patched with cement. The village is surrounded by evergreens and blossoming mountain laurels. To the north the green mountains are staggered until they slowly fade into pale blue creases humbled by a high snowcapped range at the Tibetan border. To …

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. …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Land Conflict Resolution Within An Autonomous Space, John Cheney

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

Teaching And Leadership, Monica Seng

MA TESOL Collection

No abstract provided.