Sociology of Culture Commons^™

La Cosmovisión Andina En La Comunidad De Amaru: Una Investigación Sobre La Condición De La Filosofía Andina A Partir De La Presencia De Sectas Religiosas Y El Turismo., Renzo F. Moyano Condía

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

El siglo XXI puede ser definido por dos grandes procesos; la globalización acelerada y la pérdida de la diversidad biológica y cultural. Usando métodos antropológicos para describir transformaciones dentro la cosmovisión (filosofía o religión) de una comunidad, me enfoco en los grandes cambios dentro de la manera de vivir en la comunidad indígena de Amaru en el distrito de P’isaq, que de una manera u otra ha forzado transformaciones en los valores centrales de su cosmovisión. El propósito es de dos partes. Uno es describir los valores de la cosmovisión andina y los de la cosmovisión judeo-cristiana para poder claramente …

Les Oubliés De L’Histoire: Perceptions Of Harkis And Community Awareness, Lauren Gilbert

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

“Harki” is derived from the Arabic word “Harka,” meaning movement. This term is used to denote not only the original approximately 200,000 Algerian Arab and Berber Muslims, who militarily supported the French Army during the Algerian war for independence between 1954 and 1962, but also their families and descendants.[1] Especially during the war with Algeria and immediately following, they were often referred to as francais-musulmans, francais-musulmans repatries, or repatries d’origine nord africaine, thus avoiding the topic of conflict with the colony. This support took a range of forms, not always military; for example, the “Groupes d’auto defense (GAD) was …

Beauty In The Indigenous Pageant The Cultural And Social Relevance Of Miss Samoa, Mariko Hamashima

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper investigates the Miss Samoa pageant’s historical origins, cultural relevance and preservation, the ways in which it empowers women, the public’s perspective, and future development. Secondary sources on the pageant were limited to eight pieces, so interviews with judges, contestants, winners, and participants were sources of information. Sixty surveys were also conducted to gain the public’s perspective of the pageant. The study found Miss Samoa is more popular for its entertainment value than cultural relevance. The Miss Samoa pageant has been utilized as an agent of empowerment for individual women but is not necessarily influential on a larger social …

Un Compromiso Al Parto Culturalmente Sensible: Una Evaluación De La Interculturalidad En Salud Reproductiva En El Norte De Chile, Kalin J. Gregory-Davis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este investigación observa, explora, y describe la interculturalidad en la salud reproductiva en la región de Arica y Parinacota en el norte de Chile durante el mes de mayo, 2012. A causa de la diversidad étnica de la región y las diferencias en las tradiciones y creencias acerca del parto aymara, natural y medicalizado, existe una necesidad de atención alternativa en el sistema de salud. El estudio describe la atención alternativa ofrecida a las mujeres aymara durante el embarazo y el parto. Empleando las perspectivas y las percepciones culturales de parteras aymaras, profesionales médicos occidentales y mujeres involucradas, el estudio …

The Life Of A Child: Learning, Imitating, And Interacting Among Children In The Northern And Ashanti Regions, Annie Alexander

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

During the time of independent study, I split my time between the Northern and Ashanti Regions. I lived in a village by the name of Gumo outside of Tamale and in the Ashanti Region; I stayed in Benim located near Ashanti Mampong. While my home was in each respective village, I traveled to surrounding areas to expand the scope of my research and provide conclusive evidence. I spent my time among the children observing, learning, and recording their interactions. Living in the village gave me the chance to experience the daily lives and actions of the children. Using participant and …

Whose Gay Town Is Cape Town? An Examination Of Cape Town’S Gay Village And The Production Of A Queer White Patriarchy., Mollie Beebe

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My ISP works to illuminate the diversity of LGBTQI experiences and lives in Cape Town. I do this through discussing the privilege necessary to "come out" in Cape Town and, subsequently, have access to The Pink Village, Cape Town's gay district. By Bringing in theory on "coming out" as a white experience and the queer movement as re-centering white normativity, I work to openly discuss how a history of exclusion has lived on in Cape Town's gay district and pushed the more marginalized gay communities out of the city center. Through academic research, participant observation in both the gay village …

“It’S Bigger Than Hip Hop” : A Case Study Of Africulturban Association As A Site Of Social (Ex)Change, Renee Slajda

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Africulturban is a non-profit organization that seeks to promote Senegalese urban culture, a highly popular, socially conscious, and youth-led movement that began in Dakar’s impoverished suburbs. Situated in one of these underdeveloped areas, the association works to improve its community and develop urban culture into an industry that can support its artists. As a case study, this research firstly examines how Africulturban, as a young, grassroots organization, is run. It further aims to understand how urban culture may be used as a tool of social development by looking at the culture’s specific characteristics that make it suitable to this task. …

Land Rights, Cultural Hybridization, And Self-Determination Of First Peoples A Case Study Among The Ngöbe Of Western Panama, Clancy Jandreau

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Hydroelectric and mining projects driven by Panama’s prosperous growth, have come into collision with the country’s largest indigenous population, the Ngöbe. Recently, the Ngöbe took to the streets in a large-scale indigenous rights mobilization that brought their struggle the international scene. Threats to the Ngöbe land and livelihood are nothing new to this group, but the scale and nature of these projects are testing the Ngöbe in an unprecedented fashion. They have had to organize and mobilize to defend their self-determination, using methods well outside their traditional way of life. This article examines the impact of this type of cultural …

Las Prescripciones De Alimentación En La Cultura Mapuche, Suzanne Block

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Research Question: How do the traditional norms and customs within the Mapuche culture impact their diet? Objective: To determine to if a relationship exists between the philosophy of the Mapuche and their diet. Background: Within their understanding of the world there exists guidelines that are followed in order to preserve the equilibrium of all forms of life that exist in within the universe, Waj Mapu. Within Waj Mapu there are distinct dimensions that contain energy, newen, which all interact to create a circular movement between them. Thus, due to the interaction of the dimensions, when there …

New Representations Of The “Golden Lineage”: The Mongolian Folk Rock Of Altan Urag, Jonathan Heins

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project will examine the ways in which the self-proclaimed Mongolian “folk rock” band, Altan Urag, combines elements of both traditional Mongolian and Western music and culture in order to recast and recreate Mongolian tradition. These new representations of Mongolian tradition occur within the context of a young and rapidly developing democratic nation which looks both deeply into its own past to construct a strong national sense of identity and looks increasingly outward to the international community with aspirations of establishing itself as a recognized and respected member of that community. Altan Urag’s new representations of Mongolian national heritage are …

Fair And Lovely: Standards Of Beauty, Globalization, And The Modern Indian Woman, Rebecca Gelles

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

With the expansion of globalization in the modern era, ideas from individual cultures are more easily able to spread to other parts of the world. One set of cultural standards that may be spreading to India is that of beauty, where a media with an increasingly Western style shares television space with advertisements from corporations that are often foreign in origin. This study seeks to examine exactly what influence this globalized media has on its viewers, and, in particular, on their perspectives on beauty. In addition, since the ability to conform to cultural standards affects how people view themselves, this …

The Continuously Changing Self: The Story Of Surinamese Creole Migration To The Netherlands, Jenise Ogle

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper is the result of a month long study on how the process of migration affects the sense of Self of middle-classed Creole Surinamese migrant women who first migrated to the Netherlands in the 1960’s or 1970’s. All data was obtained from semi-structured oral history interviews analyzed with a historical and theoretical framework focusing on the influence of colonialism upon the three steps of the migration process: before migration, migration, and after migration. It is concluded that colonialism and its legacies have conferred, reconfigured and dismantled migrant women’s sense of Self throughout the entire migration process. Recommendations for future …

A Foreigner’S Gaze On The Micro-Culture Of The Car-Rapide—Senegalese Values Vs. Monetary Lust, Merrill Pierce

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The vibrant, chaotic, and interactive Car Rapide, a poignant micro-culture in Dakar, is a visually communicative entity and social space in Senegal’s transportation system. From an outsider’s gaze, this project addresses the history, artistic and religious significance, inner-workings of the system of employees, and present day implications of the car-rapide. The car-rapide emerges as the embodiment of both valuable and challenging aspects of Senegalese culture.

Sherpa Inc. The Cultural Commoditization Of The Sherpa Identity, Melissa Mittelman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examines the ways the Sherpa identity has been commoditized for a Western audience, the Sherpa responses to such a process and the repercussions it creates when understanding Sherpa cultural “authenticity.” Located in Kathmandu and the Solukhumbu district of Nepal, the findings were acquired through interviews with various members of the Sherpa community, discourse analysis and observation. This research concludes that the Sherpa community views their cultural commoditization as both a source of discredit and honor, creating difficulty in rationalizing how it both de-authenticates and re-asserts their Sherpa culture.

Dipo And Other Rites Of Passage In Odumase Krobo, Cam Ostrow

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

I was based in Odumase Krobo for about three weeks. There, I completed over twenty interviews with people ranging from young boys and girls, elders, parents, Queen Mothers, priests and priestesses, devout Christians, and many others I met around town. I also lived with a family who had one boy and one girl and was able to observe how their upbringing differed according to their genders.

I was able to discover the dipo process mostly in its entirety, save for the parts which are considered sacred and which I was therefore unable to hear about. I also discovered that dipo …

A Berber In Agadir: Exploring The Urban/Rural Shift In Amazigh Identity, Thiago Lima

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Arab Spring has seen North African and Middle Eastern youth organizing against the status quo and challenging what they perceive as political, economic, and social injustices. In Morocco, while the Arab Spring may not have been as substantial as in neighboring countries, demonstrations are still occurring nearly everyday in major cities like Rabat as individuals protest issues including government transparency, high unemployment, and, for specific interest of this paper, the marginalization of the Amazigh people. The Amazigh, also popularly referred to as Berbers in most Western academia and literature, are regarded as the original inhabitants of Morocco and the …

Tafasiry: Theater As A Tool For The Conservation Of Malagasy Oral Tales, Cassandra Stroud

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

At the outset of my project, I intended to collect information from both storytellers and story listeners on the subject of angano or tafasiry, Malagasy verbal tales, so as to examine the state of this ancient aspect of daily life in the modern Malagasy world. An elder, such as a grandparent or parent, usually tells the tafasiry in Malagasy to the children of the family, historically in front of the fire while waiting for dinner. Before formal schools were instituted, tafasiry were used as a form of education to teach children morals, information they might need for future experiences, and …

Experiencing Samoa Through Stories: Myths And Legends Of A People And Place, Samantha Lichtenberg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research will explore oral tradition, indigenous beliefs prior to Christianity, and the significance of place through the study of Samoan myths and legends. The researcher will investigate the tradition of storytelling by hearing the stories from Samoan elders themselves. These stories will be supplemented with details from secondary written resources in order to compile comprehensive versions of the myths and legends. The research will consider the affect that Christianity has on the meaning of the stories and examine whether traces of indigenous belief/religion are preserved today through storytelling and the remembrance of myths. The researcher will spend a significant …

“Se Ha Levantado La Bandera Mapuche”: La Identidad Del Estudiante Mapuche Y Cómo Se Relaciona Con El Perfil De Egreso Del Establecimiento Intercultural, Gale Stafford

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

El Liceo Intercultural Técnico Profesional Guacolda tiene como fondo histórico la necesidad de la educación y apoyo para personas mapuches. El Liceo se plantea como metas el desarrollo de una especialidad y también el fortalecimiento de identidad mapuche de sus estudiantes. Sin embargo, proporciona una educación intercultural para apoyar a los mapuches. Este aprendizaje se identifica más por el afecto docente al alumno y también la contextualización del aprendizaje occidental anterior y presente con lo mapuche. Se estudian el perfil de egreso del estudiante mapuche versus los estudiantes actualmente a través de su aprendizaje de lo intercultural y lo mapuche, …

Cosmopolitan Romance In Nepal: An Investigation Of Young Newari Women’S Emerging Views Of Marriage And Dating, Rachel Williams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For decades Newari women have been limited to marriages arranged by their families and lamis, or matchmakers. There has been a recent shift in marital views among the youth has led to more courting among young Newars as well as a significant increase in the number of love marriages. Through in depth interviews with fourteen young Newari women, this ethnography attempts to illuminate current attitudes towards marriage and courtship exemplified by young Newari women in Kathmandu. I also argue that being a cosmopolitan Newari woman requires a negotiation of traditional gender roles and requires a balance between tradition and …

Reconstructing Pitaguary Identity: Indian Exchange And Outside Resources, Tess Mcmahon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research explores the recent methods by which the Pitaguary Indians in Ceará, Brazil have been reconstructing and revalorizing their indigenous culture using outside resources. Like many Indian populations within the Latin America, the Pitaguary have lost their culture due to conquest, exploitation, and assimilation policies. Only in 1997 did the Pitaguary file for governmental recognition and territorial demarcation[1] as an indigenous group. Since the mid-1990s, the tribe has been engaged in ‘rescuing’ and rediscovering their traditions and their culture. Three years ago, in 2007, an organization called Movimento Saude Mental Comunidade do Bom Jardim[2] came to the …

Post-Independent Kosovo: From Prescriptive To Descriptive Identities, Marisola Xhelili

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The aim of this study was to uncover the existence, or possibility of, a Kosovar identity in today’s Kosovo. I intend to discuss the role personal experience plays in confirming or challenging one’s identity, and in this light show how the memories and personal experiences of Kosovo Serbs and Albanians endorse their ethnically-based interactions.

The methods of my research were mostly of an experiential nature, and consisted of staying in Kosovo for a two-week period. My research shows that there is no clear idea of what a Kosovar identity means for the people of Kosovo at this time. Their narratives …

La ‘Paradoxe Marocaine’ Moroccan-Dutch Citizens In Transnational Social Space, Deva-Dee Siliee

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Human mobility has existed in countless forms for many centuries. Yet in our modern world of sovereign territorially defined nation-states, both policy makers and national publics increasingly see human mobility across national boundaries as alarming. The rising movement of people, culture and capital across borders is suggested to pose a direct challenge to the nation-state as the organizing unit around which many areas of human activity revolve. In the age of globalization, academics and politicans are investigating how to understand the question of individuals and entire communities, intent on maintaining strong economic, cultural and social ties across state borders. This …

Body Politics Within The Body Politic: Ghanaian Disabled Communities And Their Relationships To Power, Conner Chivone Spinks

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

I chose as my research topic disabled communities within Ghana and their relationships with different sources of power in Ghanaian society. To begin my analysis, I deconstructed the „disabled body‟ and established disability as an axis of identity that has bearing on social positioning. I explored the power dynamics that dictate the lives of minorities, particularly the lives of those with non-normative bodies. Using my interviews of disabled Ghanaians and my observations of disabled Ghanaians in public spaces, I analyzed how systems are felt in everyday life.

The Tibetan Jewish Youth Exchange: The Importance Of Youth In Exile And Diaspora Communities, Jade Sank

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

How is the identity of a people living in diaspora maintained? The people of Tibet have been living in exile since the Chinese occupation began in 1959. As a result the Tibetan people have been working to find ways to maintain their identity, religion and culture. In Many ways the current Tibetan plight can be compared to the experiences of the Jewish people in exile and diaspora.

Culture, a religion, a people and an identity in exile and diaspora is both maintained and changed. The youth are the future and bonds that hold everything together, they are the carriers of …

Coloured Identity In The Rainbow Nation: Historical Narratives Of The Durban Coloured Community, Olivia Greene

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

South Africa is working to come to terms with the residual effects of institutionalized racist policies that governed all aspects of its citizens’ lives during Apartheid. One struggle individuals and communities must wage is to define how they see their own racial identity in a post-Apartheid South Africa. There are many questions to ask. Is race no longer pertinent, or does it have a past that must be earnestly engaged and challenged, or does it constitute eternally fixed boundaries embodying cultural norms and biological traits? I, as I show in this paper, see the concept of race itself as a …

“We Didn’T Choose To Live In A Transition Society:” The Youth Of Milošević’S Serbia Ten Years Later, Jessica Tsunami Acosta

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The 1990’s were an extremely dark time in modern Serbian history, mired by wars, sanctions, dictatorship, and struggle. Those who came of age in that time find their entire lives to be defined by their country’s transition process. Because of this experience, these individuals are in a unique position to make connections between past conflicts and present challenges in Serbia. In particular, through understanding their narratives of this recent past and their perceptions of Serbia’s current progress in its transition phase, one can glean a better picture of this generation and what it holds for Serbia’s future. In allowing these …

Consumption As Lifestyle: The Use Of Western Lifestyle As A Status Symbol In Multinational Corporations' Advertising In India, Alissa Goddard

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper examines the use of Western lifestyle as depicted in advertising by multinational companies through the use of English in advertising; sexually evocative imagery; and background images in advertisements that reflect Western lifestyles. These messages perpetuated by multinational companies of the elite status of Western lifestyle are further enhanced due to the pervasive influences of the mediums in which these lifestyles are communicated to Indian consumers (e.g. primarily television and magazines). However, this paper also examines how the products that the Indian consumer purchases to emulate this Western lifestyle are actually not the same products sold in the Western …

Integrating Identities: Negotiating The Religious Lives Of Homosexual Christians In The Netherlands, Scott Mitchell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper explores how homosexual Christians experience their religious life, as well as the various methods used to negotiate any difficulties or conflicts between these two identities. Data for this study consists of in-depth interviews with homosexual Dutch adults who participate in worship services at a Catholic congregation in North Holland which ministers specifically to the homosexual community. Findings reveal that respondents describe their religious life as taking place on three different levels: the denominational, the individual, and the community level. These descriptions were characterized by an overall rejection of official denominational doctrine concerning homosexuality, an isolation of religious practice …

Street Culture Of Mombasa: Are The Survivors Really Surviving?, Danny Low

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Street children of Mombasa, Kenya were ethnographically studied in order to determine the effects of Swahili culture and structural violence on the children’s culture and place within greater society. It was discovered that Mombasa magnetizes street children as a result of the generosity of Swahili culture. Drug use was inextricably linked to street culture, yet children nonetheless held strong dreams of education. Since street children were also discovered to be significantly stratified, future policy and programming must account for these divisions to appropriately address the education and health problems facing Mombasa street children.