Place and Environment Commons^™

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, …

Driving Away: A Macro And Micro View Of The Prague Car Transit System, Danny Meyers

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of the this study is to understand the rise in auto traffic in the city center of Prague since the Velvet Revolution and to use this understanding to make my own recommendations for policies I believe the city should enact to limit traffic in the macro and micro scale. The theoretical framework was created through observations of three specific streets and through interviews with urban planning experts. Although there are many different strategies for calming down traffic in Prague, the most important are to execute long term planning and to focus on limiting the numbers of cars in …

Place Reimagined, Michelle Unger

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This book shows the creative process and final product of my Independent Study Project, conducted in Prague as part of a semester study abroad program. The project started with interviewing four Czech graphic designers who described places in Prague that are especially meaningful to them. After collecting and transcribing their stories related to their places of inspiration, I visited the locations myself and photographed the locations with sensitivity to the details the artists had emphasized as unique to their experience of the place. While at each site, I also photographed elements of the locations that I personally found interesting and …

A Resistance, Remembered? Remembrance, Commemoration And The Parallel System In Prishtina, Kosovo, Conner Gordon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Though the 1999 war that liberated Kosovo from Serbian control is over fifteen years in the past, memories of the 1990s still remain in a state of chaos. This paper approaches the development of these collective memories through interviews with Prishtina residents about the memories and legacy of Ibrahim Rugova’s parallel structures in the 1990s. Though they draw from similar narratives as memories of the Kosovo Liberation Army’s armed resistance, memories of the nonviolent resistance play a vastly different and largely underrepresented role in current Kosovar Albanian public discourse. Through competing deployments of resistance memories, disproportionate memorialization of Kosovo’s violent …

Fighting The Obesity Epidemic: Challenges And Ethics, Grace Brown

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In recent decades, a double burden of disease has emerged that requires public health workers to fight both hunger and obesity. The obesity epidemic is unlike other epidemics in that it is largely man-made and dependent on social factors and industry influences, making it difficult to fight. The high global prevalence of obesity is partially a result of globalization, which has encouraged development and the liberalizing of economies all around the world, which in turn has increased the marketing and consumption of obesogenic products. Policy solutions have been proposed and implemented in some countries, but an international solution has yet …

Extractivist Agribusiness Model: Analysis Of Social Resistances Emerging In Response To The Extractivist Agribusiness Model: A Case Study Of The Industrial Belt Of Gran Rosario, Alexa González

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In regards to human rights and environmental rights, there is a paradox that exists between the rhetoric and actions of the government regarding agribusiness. While the Argentine government increasingly connects their rhetoric to the promotion of these rights, they have allowed transnational corporations to modify the agricultural model in a way that exploits the land for the production of commodities. People living in fields where biotechnology is operated and urban-industrial zones where the commodities are exported report health problems and deaths in light of the corporations’ presence. Confronted with the degradation of their fundamental rights, those whose lives are being …

The Role Of Grupo Nzinga De Capoeira Angola In The Empowerment And Development Of Children From The Community Of Alto Da Sereia, Mariana Cardona

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite Brazil being one of the largest economies in the world, exclusion and child poverty remain as some of the most pressing social issues throughout the country. Child poverty is extremely problematic in Salvador da Bahia, where children from underprivileged communities are vulnerable to violence, exclusion, drug trafficking and prostitution. Grupo Nzinga de Capoeira Angola is an organization founded by Mestra Janja Araujo in 1995, whose main mission is to defend the rights of children and adolescents, fight against racial and gender discrimination, preserve and promote Afro-Brazilian culture, and empower girls, children and women. This paper seeks to understand how …

La Radio Comunitaria: Hacia Un Futuro Más Democrático Para Bolivia, Katharine Norris

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Radio has been a companion of and crucial partner in democratic social change in Bolivia since its arrival to the country. Many of its inherent characteristics make it an ideal medium for communication of messages made for and by marginalized groups that are otherwise excluded from the production of and access to information. Historically, radio has been implemented in processes of progressive resistance to authority, in response to the oppression of the groups that community radio seeks to represent. This investigation attempts to understand the role of community radio in Bolivian society, with a view towards the democratic participation and …

Interference Archive: A Free Space For Social Movement Culture, Alycia Sellie, Jesse Goldstein, Molly Fair, Jennifer Hoyer

Publications and Research

This paper discusses activist archives within the context of community archives and the practices of archiving activism. Interference Archive (IA), a volunteer-run independent archive in Brooklyn, New York, is presented as one example of an activist archive. We explain the manner in which IA functions as a transmovement and prefigurative “free space” under Francis Poletta’s typology of movement spaces. Through this explanation, we illustrate how the structures of free spaces can help us understand the way activist archives forge connections between communities and the ways that they create new networks of solidarity through the archival process.

The Digital Distribution Of Public Health News Surrounding The Human Papillomavirus Vaccination: A Longitudinal Infodemiology Study, L. Meghan Mahoney, Tang Tang, Kai Ji, Jessica Ulrich-Schad

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Background: New media changes the dissemination of public health information and misinformation. During a guest appearance on the Today Show, US Representative Michele Bachmann claimed that human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines could cause “mental retardation”. Objective: The purpose of this study is to explore how new media influences the type of public health information users access, as well as the impact to these platforms after a major controversy. Specifically, this study aims to examine the similarities and differences in the dissemination of news articles related to the HPV vaccination between Google News and Twitter, as well as how the content of …

Bridging The Literature On Education Migration, Ann H. Kim, Gunjan Sondhi

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Discussion Paper Series/ Un Réseau stratégique de connaissances Changements de population et parcours de vie Document de travail

This research synthesis examines key themes and findings on international students and education migrants in Canada. Our review focuses on research related to the first wave of international student mobility (ISM), and we define the literature broadly to include studies on international students, foreign students, visa students, study abroad students, sojourning students, unaccompanied minors for educational purposes, and education migrants at all educational levels and legal statuses. ISM to Canada can be divided into roughly two periods, pre‐1990 and post‐1990. Studies are drawn from across the social sciences with a focus on literature from the perspectives of sociology, geography, economics, …