Place and Environment Commons^™

My Life Examined & Tweaked, Shana-Kay Smith

Honors Projects in English and Cultural Studies

My project is an exploration into my love of poetry. It consists of a collection of twenty-seven poems that I have written and revised over the course of a year. Over that time period, I have worked on approximately forty-five poems, but I chose only twenty seven for my final portfolio. To demonstrate what my writing process is like, I have kept a book (separate and apart from the final portfolio) of all my thoughts, inspirations, drafts and revisions for the poems I write, so that the growth of each can be seen.

The majority of my poems are in …

The Human Face Of Permanent Climate-Induced Displacement, Alaina Umbach

Honors Projects in History and Social Sciences

Climate change is predicted to lead to mass displacement, since the land where millions of people currently live will be, at some point, covered with water. For some populations, this will mean to be permanently displaced to a different country because the territory that their sovereign nations occupy will disappear. The most well‐known cases involve the citizens of Vanuatu, Kiribati, Tuvalu, and the Maldives. As the negative impact of climate change becomes clearer and closer in time, policy solutions to this problem are discussed. In this paper, I look at previous cases of populations’ displacement to identify policy lessons that …

Classified: The North Face Files, Riccardo M. Purita

SURGE

“You’re going to need to buy nicer clothes,” my dad told me during our first visit to Gettysburg College. I laughed, thinking it was a typical “dad” thing to say and something I would promptly ignore, but after four years I now see that maybe he wasn’t joking.

Let me be honest. I had never considered just how expensive the clothing name brands could be until this year. I do not own an iPhone, an iPad, or an iPod. In fact, you’re more likely to see me on campus with my #VaginaProblems t-shirt and a pair of jeans …

The Metropolitan Myth: Catastrophic Language, Ecologies Of Violence, And The Storm Of Progress In A South Asian City, Kartik Amarnath '13

Honor Scholar Theses

Humanity is faced with an impending urban crisis, as the urban population is expected to move far beyond the rural in coming decades. With unprecedented rates of urbanization and sprawl, we find proliferations of informal communities such as slums and shantytowns. UNHCR estimates a population of 3 billion slum dwellers – a third of humanity – by 2050 (UNHCR). Much of this sprawl will take place in the Global South in mid-sized urban spaces, rather than present-day megalopolises. It is important for academia to engage with processes of urbanization, understanding how systems of power, culture, and production shape urban landscapes …

Adding Injustice To Injury - Health Perceptions, Plurality, And Power In The Ongoing Bhopal Disaster, Ruth Markwardt

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Standards of health, human rights, and development are typically defined and dictated by policymakers instead of the populations directly affected by so-called development efforts. This paper seeks to contextualize global development efforts by highlighting specific local realities among the community of Bhopal Disaster survivors in Madhya Pradesh, India. As the site of the world’s largest industrial disaster, a disaster which is not over but ongoing, Bhopal represents an important population to highlight as the disaster continues. The Political Ecology of Health model was used to highlight political and environmental influences on community health. Within Political Ecology, this study takes a …

La Vulnerabilidad De La Tercera Edad En Desastres Naturales: Un Estudio De La Inundación En La Plata, Argentina El 2 De Abril De 2013 = The Vulnerability Of The Elderly During Natural Disasters: A Study Of The Flooding In La Plata, Argentina On April 2nd, 2013, Katelyn Dutton

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Esta investigación, realizada dos meses después de la inundación en la ciudad de La Plata el 2 de abril de 2013, explora y describe las consecuencias que sufrieron la población de la tercera edad a través del desastre. Con una revisión bibliográfica de fuentes secundarias, se desarrolla un contexto de la historia de las inundaciones en esta región de Argentina y los efectos comunes en la salud física y mental que son causados por este tipo de evento. A través de una serie de entrevistas con funcionarios y voluntarios, este estudio detalla las respuestas que fueron llevadas a cabo por …

Nunca Han Visitado, No Han Vivido Ecoturismo Comunitario: Una Alternativa Sostenible Y Constitucional De Desarrollo En La Zona De Intag, Jenny Johnston

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Durante mi estudio en Ecuador y a través de todas mis clases, conversaciones, y experiencias, han habido muchos temas nuevos e interesantes. Aunque todas me han enseñado mucho, la experiencia que me impactó más fue mi semana en Intag. Durante toda mi vida siempre tuve una fascinación con el bosque nublado con la combinación de palabras más mística y romántica. La verdad es que antes de llegar en Intag la mi primera vez, no sabía nada sobre el poder de la belleza de los bosques, la naturaleza, y también sobre la lucha en contra de la minería. A través de …

Fostering The Orphaned And Vulnerable Child: Exploring Identity Economics In Relation To Orphaned And Vulnerable Children In The Eastern Cape And Cape Town, South Africa, Khaliyah Yasmeen Washington

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

According to UNICEF, 3.7 million children are orphaned in South Africa (2010). Parliament enacted the Children’s Act on April 1, 2010 to grant and protect the rights orphaned or vulnerable children (OVC). The Children’s Act aims to promote the well being of children, prevent abuse or neglect, and increase options for the care of children found to be in need or care and protection (Jamieson, Mahery, and Scott 2011). Children not receiving care and protection from a parent or guardian are placed in one of three options of alternative care. One being child and youth care centers (CYCC); also known …

Maximizing Community Action: An Internship With Be The Change, Rachel Rosenbaum

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

From 3 April 2013 to 28 April 2013, I interned with the Brisbane branch of Be The Change, an organization that promotes ecological, social and spiritual sustainability through their empowering symposiums, in Australia. I focused on creating a tool to help symposium participants take community action after the event. My goal was to create a resource for Be The Change to use across Australia to further its impact, attend a symposium and implement sustainable actions in my everyday life.

In the 140 total hours of work I completed, I helped plan a symposium, participated in workshops and events within the …

Decolonizing Ecology Through Rerooting Epistemologies, Lauren M. Bitter

Pitzer Senior Theses

My project is centered around a community garden in Upland, California called the People and Their Plants garden. This garden represents a five hundred year living history designed to show the changes in the ecological landscape of Southern California caused by colonization. This autoethnographic thesis works towards personal, interpersonal, and community-wide decolonization through building reciprocal relationships with Indigenous Elders. I explore, critique and problematize research and ethnography by examining the politics of knowledge, language, history, and ecology. I interrogate my own learned knowledge systems as well as colonial/capitalist food systems—and recognize how those systems/relations have worked to render Indigenous ways …

Co-Management And The Fight For Rural Water Justice: Learning From Costa Rican Asadas, Kristin B. Dobbin

Pitzer Senior Theses

Rural communities have, for much of history, been left with inadequate or no water service. This is because the traditional state/private dichotomy of water provision is inadequate for addressing the unique needs of small, isolated communities. Drawing from the Common-Pool Resource literature, co-management arose in recent decades as a solution to address this pandemic of rural water exclusion. In Costa Rica, co-management takes the form of community water associations known as ASADAS. This thesis explores the successes and challenges of ASADAS through the use of three case study communities. Using interviews, surveys, water sampling and national legislation in addition to …

Fruitful Communities: Evaluating The History And Impacts Of Treepeople’S Fruit Tree Program, Kayla B. Imhoff

Pitzer Senior Theses

TreePeople is a Los Angeles based non-profit organization that uses environmental education, initiatives, and programs to engage with the greater community to work towards the goal of a sustainable future for Los Angeles. The Fruit Tree Program is one of TreePeople’s longest running programs of 29 years, which distributes free bare-root fruit trees to economically disadvantaged communities as a source of fresh fruit and the other environmental benefits that trees offer. This paper is a comprehensive report detailing the history of the program and the impacts it has had on communities across Los Angeles County. Looking at three communities in …

Cultural Exchange: Afro Ethnic Tourism In Bahia, Ayana Oforiwah Austin-Depay

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Ethnic tourism is an amalgamation of all the faucets within Bahia’s society from religion to food to dance. In particular, Afro ethnic tourism, which is the tourism that brings African American tourists to Bahia, thrives on the African American interaction with these faucets and most importantly with the Afro Brazilian people. Although it is grand cultural experience, previous research discusses how tourism, and specifically ethnic tourism, is a modern version of imperialism as tourists objectify and romanticize the host country, people, and culture. Additionally, when ethnic tourism is discussed, it is often spoken about in snapshots that capture the external …

Viendo De Camino A Casa: La Construcción De La Identidad Transnacional En La Comunidad Libanesa De Buenos Aires = Looking Homeward: The Construction Of Transnational Identity In The Lebanese Community Of Buenos Aires, Lindsay Miller

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

At the end of the 19^th century through World War I, around three million immigrants entered Argentina. The vast majority left behind homes in Italy and Spain; however, a significant minority population arrived from Greater Syria, specifically from present-day Syria and Lebanon. Today, the descendents of these Syrian-Lebanese migrants make up the third largest community in Argentina. Despite the significant presence of the community, the Syrian-Lebanese community has been largely absent from scholarly work on Argentine ethnic groups.

The objective of this study is to explore the relationship that the descendents of Lebanese immigrants, living in Buenos Aires, have …

Gagner La Vie: Examining Return Preparedness And Resource Mobilization Among Moroccan Immigrants To France Who Return To Live Permanently In Agadir, Morocco, Karolina Michelle Dos Santos

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

If Moroccan immigrants are so in tune to their home culture and home happenings, under what conditions do they stay in France facing the problems of unemployment and homelessness? This study focuses on the return migration of Moroccans from the Sousse region; specifically Agadir and the surrounding Tiznit areas, who left Morocco during the decade of 1960 and who have permanently returned to live in Morocco. The study was conducted by using the snowball sampling technique to conduct semi-structured interviews of Moroccan return migrants in AitMelloul, a neighborhood of Agadir. My findings suggest that the return migrants from the Sousse …

The Irish Dairy Industry: Globalisation, Competition, Recession, & Consumerism, Brian Clancy, Angela Wright

Dept. of Organisation & Professional Development Publications

In today’s global environment, the dairy farmer and his herd have lost major importance and influence as a consequence of a variety of factors, among them the Industrial revolution, continued and increasing consumerism, the technological explosion, and the ever-expanding concentration of people in urban areas. This research study examines the Irish dairy industry in its current format. The objective of this study is to look at what dairy farmers need to do to grow and expand their business efficiently and effectively. The major challenge for the industry is to attract a new generation of knowledgeable workers to the land. This …

Academic Progress: Factors That Affect A Student’S First Year Experience In College, Stephen Ward

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

The transition to higher education can be a journey of life changing experiences. These experiences culminate in factors that affect a student’s academic success. This can lend itself to areas of growth, change, and maturation that cultivate and stimulate the intellectual curiosity which motivate a student to succeed in college. Specifically, this study attempts to measure three factors that affect student success in college; these factors are the formal education of your parents, student work status, and access to the internet.

Organizational Leadership In Times Of Uncertainty: Is Transformational Leadership The Answer?, Sophon Shadraconis

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

In a world that is rapidly changing, organizations are finding that they must adapt quickly to meet the needs of their changing environment. Organizations can only remain relevant and achieve long-term success and sustainability by adopting a model of leadership that addresses the needs of their fluctuating environment. However, many organizations have failed to adapt to their operating environment. Some examples of recent major organizational failures and bankruptcies include: Circuit City, Hollywood Video, and Mervyn's. To remain competitive, leaders must adopt a model that allows for rapid responses to the changing business environment. Transformational leadership can serve as this needed …

It's Not About The Coffee: Queer Temporalities At A Community Coffeehouse, Jodi Davis

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

Long Beach California’s “gay ghetto” 1 is a loosely defined neighborhood with bars, coffeehouses and businesses that cater to the LGBTQ community. The corner of Broadway and Junipero roughly marks the center of the gay ghetto and is home to Hot Java “The Community Coffeehouse”. The customers there are loyal and through ethnographic inquiry this paper highlights the importance of Hot Java as a queer site of resistance and community building. Through interviews, observation, and exploration of queer theoretical models of space and time, this paper illustrates Hot Java as a queer temporal space marked by trauma, resistance, and community …

My Life As A Labelmaker, Hannah M. Frantz

SURGE

It’s easy to label to people. I find it particularly easy at Gettysburg College. When I assign a label to someone, it’s like it appears in big red letters across their forehead. Sometimes my snap judgment comes from what they’re wearing. Salmon colored pants? FRATERNITY, BRO, PREP. Sometimes it comes from what they say. “Dude that chick’s a femi-nazi.” MISOGYNIST, PRIVILEGED, JERK. My judgment comes from all sorts of different places but the important part is that my initial judgment sticks. It sits there, tattooed on people’s foreheads, staring at me, and it’s the only thing I see from that …