Race and Ethnicity Commons^™

Why Is That Even A Question?, Naima Scott

SURGE

“Are you the only white Africana Studies Major?” I overheard another student ask a friend.

I reacted. “Why is that even a question?”

Healthcare Access And Health Outcomes In Southern Nevada, Jennifer Pharr, Courtney Coughenour, Shawn Gerstenberger

Nevada Journal of Public Health

In a publication from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, it was recognized that a person’s zip code was a more important predictor of health than their genetic code. Where we live influences not only our access to health care, but other health indicators as well. Clark County has a low primary care physician to population ratio compared to other counties in Nevada and in the US. Clark County also has highest rates of uninsured in the Mountain West and among the highest in the nation.

Southern Nevada fared worse than other Mountain West Metropolitan areas in health indicators and preventative …

Environmental Correlates Of Physical Activity Among African-American Adults, Tim Bungum, Jennifer Pharr, Paulo S. Pinheiro, Maria Azzarelli

Nevada Journal of Public Health

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to identify perceived environmental correlates of meeting physical activity guidelines among African-American adults living in Southern Nevada. Trained interviewers phoned potential participants who lived in the 12 zip codes of Clark County, Nevada with the highest proportions of African-American residents. Respondents (n=237) answered 52 health-related and demographic questions. Slightly less than 50% of participants met physical activity guidelines. A factor analysis procedure produced two environmental variables, neighborhood safety and environmental supports for physical activity. Age, gender and educational attainment (p<.05) predicted the meeting of those guidelines (R2=.214), while neighborhood support for physical activity, neighborhood safety, and BMI failed to do so. This finding suggests that environmental factors are not strong predictors of physical activity among African- American adults, although environmental supports for physical activity approached significance. Future studies should consider assessing additional aspects of the built environment as an influence on physical activity.

Pathways To Political Leadership For Women Of Color Leaders, Center For Women In Politics And Public Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Women's Pipeline For Change

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

This research partnership was formed to better understand what motivates and sustains−as well as prevents−Asian American women, Latinas, and African American women from achieving greater rates of political leadership in Massachusetts. Five women of color leaders became research fellows and explored pressing issues such as family and cultural expectations, financial resources and fundraising, and the potential for compromised values. After two years of training, data collection, and analysis, online resources were developed and are now hosted on UMass Boston’s website.

The Unequal Burden Of Debt And Its Impact On Health, Elizabeth Sweet, Zachary Dubois

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Average household debt in America has tripled in the past 30 years. Much of this burden is unequally borne by racial/ethnic minorities and those with lower incomes, who face discrimination in obtaining loans and must devote more household resources to paying off debts. Being indebted is a strong predictor of suicide, depression, and other adverse mental health outcomes. However, its impact on physical health is underexplored.

Religion And Ethnicity In The United States, Mark A. Granquist

Faculty Publications

Religion and ethnicity are deeply intertwined in American life. This does not mean that Americans cannot be one in the gospel, but we will need new models and new ideas of how to express our unity with one another that take into account the ethnic diversity of twenty-first-century America.

Torch (April 2014), Brandon Baldwin, Civil Rights Team Project

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

No abstract provided.

“Performing Archive”: Identity, Participation, And Responsibility In The Ethnic Archive, David J. Kim, Jacqueline Wernimont

Scripps Faculty Publications and Research

This essay is an effort to reflect on the theoretical underpinnings and implications of both our three-month process and its product. In particular, we would like to consider how our digital book both publishes an archive and allows authors and readers to “perform archive” or enact “liveness” with the materials therein. We also want to use this as an occasion to raise questions regarding the liberal discourse of digital access that seems at times to overshadow opportunities for critical intervention at this moment of digital-archive fever. In particular, we want to bring the insights of critical race and ethnic studies …

La Reinserción Familiar Como Cumplimiento De Los Derechos Humanos Del Niño: Un Estudio En El Hogar De Niños Antonio Valdivieso En Cuenca, Ecuador, Rachel Keyser

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este informe explora la idea de la reinserción familiar desde un marco internacional y nacional de los derechos humanos del niño. Ecuador tiene un sistema formal para la protección del niño, el Sistema Nacional Descentralizado de Protección Integral de la Niñez y Adolescencia, que se ha fortalecido en la última década, por la elaboración de los marcos internacionales y nacionales de los derechos humanos. Esta refuerza el papel fundamental de los derechos humanos del niño y las familias, así como la obligación de los gobiernos para apoyar el cumplimiento de estos derechos. En la reinserción familiar interviene el gobierno para …

Peacemaking Embodied: Dance As A Connecting Thread Weaving Senegalese Ethnicities, Rachel Ulrich

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Senegal remains one of the more peaceful, stable countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with little to no ethnic conflict or racial tension. Numerous social factors are credited with promoting this peace, ranging from political decisions to friendly jokes between different ethnic groups. Some artists claim that dance promotes positive relations between ethnicities; however, little to no academic literature reflects this social dynamic. Thus I have used formal interviews, informal interviews, observation, and participant observation to explore if Senegalese dance serves to promote peace between ethnic groups and, if so, why it has the power to serve this purpose. Through connecting the …

To Assimilate Or Integrate? The Narratives Of Eight Black Students At Historically White Universities In The Western Cape: Can Education Be Seen As Oppression Or Privilege?, Mari Faines

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This independent study project analyses the implications of democracy on the higher education system following the end of Apartheid, through a small scale research project which included, classroom, social, and campus observations, as well as in-depth interviews with black African students at Historically White Universities on the Western Cape including the University of Stellenbosch and University of Cape Town. Though these sites cannot be representative of the higher education system as a whole, they do provide a particular insight, especially in regards to the complexities of integration in both academic and social settings at previously white only universities. This study …

Black, White And Rainbow All Over: The Segregation Present Among Cape Town’S Pride Festival, Lucy Stockdale

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My ISP works to illuminate the racial segregation that is still present within Cape Town’s LGBT community, particularly during the celebration of gay and lesbian rights, known as the Pride festival that takes place annually in the end of February. I do this through discussing the privilege that comes with access to both information about Pride and the location of the events that take place. By looking at Pride as a parade for the white gay man to celebrate the rights he was granted twenty years ago, I work to openly discuss how a history of exclusion has lived on …

Modern Portraits Of Childbirth In Exile In Mcleod Ganj, Dharamsala: A Melding Of Tradition And Innovation, Luna Adler

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The exiled Tibetans of McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, India1 are caught between two worlds; forced to live outside of their native land, some cling to Tibetan tradition while others embrace their new environment and its protocol. Because their 1959 exile was relatively recent, the Tibetans I spoke with during my four weeks of research for this paper were nearly split: many of my interviewees were born in their homeland while a number of others were born into exile. This juxtaposition made for a wide range of perspectives and answers to my queries, as well as heightened insight into the ways that …

Mexican Politicization: Cultivating Optimism, Fostering Community, Abraham Calderón

McNair Scholars Research Journal

This study addresses how Mexican immigrants become politicized in the absence of appropriate opportunities. Drawing from 20 qualitative interviews of Mexican immigrants residing in Idaho, a key contradiction is found between active words and effective inaction. That is, respondents want to participate but do not. To address this contradiction this study identifies key processes that enable and curtail Mexican immigrant community engagement as part of their daily struggle for full incorporation into US society. I argue politicization is the result of the capacity to harness optimism and collective orientation while being able to defy the challenges of isolationism and individualism. …

Seven Women Speak: Perceptions Of Economic Empowerment Opportunities Among Diverse Women In Four Different Cape Town Communities Today, Shanna Cole

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The research study described in this paper examines different women’s perceptions of their economic opportunities and sense of empowerment in Cape Town today. Although post-apartheid South Africa boasts many more opportunities for women than under apartheid, there is still a large disparity in the treatment of women in the workforce compared to men – from the number of women employed to wage inequality to the levels and types of jobs to which women are constrained. This gender discrimination has reverberating effects on the poverty and development of South Africa the nation, as many argue that women’s economic empowerment is directly …

Cape Town On The Eve Of The 2014 Elections: 12 Narratives On Political Efficacy And The Post-Apartheid Presidency From Langa And Stellenbosch, Richard Ahne

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper aims to examine the thoughts and opinions that citizens of Cape Town have regarding the political efficacy of the post-apartheid South African government and the postapartheid South African presidency on the eve of the 2014 elections. As South Africa reaches its twentieth anniversary of the first democratic elections in 1994, the time is ripe and appropriate to examine the actions of the democratic government in improving or exacerbating the lives of Cape Town citizens, analyze the role of the post-apartheid presidency in this process and to measure people's faith in government and perception of presidential leadership. Through conversational …

Emergency State Cultural Imagination And Expression Among Afro-Descendant Youth In Pearl Lagoon, Jennifer Lunceford

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Various societal factors demonstrate that Pearl Lagoon is in state of emergency. The youth today live in a Pearl Lagoon that is gradually losing cultural ground. However, the young people are not silent witnesses to this decline. The youth desire to learn more about their cultural traditions. Many of them romanticize their community’s past and emphasize the importance of their traditions, even though others are breaking away from their customs. The younger generation also critiques their community. This is hopeful because Pearl Lagoon needs cultural rescue. Technology is increasing the youth’s exposure to the outside world, which is not necessarily …

“Nous Souffrons” Examining The Problems Facing Urban Refugees In Yaoundé, Cameroon, Morgan Walbert

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper is the product of a study that examines the experiences of urban refugees in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Refugees around the world, often victims of unthinkable human rights abuses, are forced to rely fully on the hospitality and protection of the international community. This unique relationship between a refugee and his/her host state can present serious challenges to both parties. This research examined the resources available to refugees in Yaoundé, evaluated their effectiveness, and explored possibilities for improving the experience of these urban refugees. I utilized eighteen structured interviews with refugees and four follow-­‐up in depth interviews with three refugees …

Racial Bias In Driver Yielding Behavior At Crosswalks, Tara Goddard, Kimberly Barsamian Kahn, Arlie Adkins

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Racial minorities are disproportionately represented in pedestrian traffic fatalities, indicating a significant public health and safety issue. Psychological and social identity-related factors have previously been shown to influence drivers’ behaviors toward pedestrians. If drivers’ behavior reflects racial bias and results in differential behavior toward Black and White pedestrians, this may lead to disparate pedestrian crossing experiences based on race and potentially contribute to disproportionate safety outcomes. We tested this hypothesis in a controlled field experiment at an unsignalized midblock marked crosswalk in downtown Portland, Oregon. Six trained male research team confederates (3 White, 3 Black) simulated an individual pedestrian crossing, …

Musical Influence On Apartheid And The Civil Rights Movement, Katherine D. Power

Student Publications

Black South Africans and African Americans not only share similar identities, but also share similar historical struggles. Apartheid and the Civil Rights Movement were two movements on two separate continents in which black South Africans and African Americans resisted against deep injustice and defied oppression. This paper sets out to demonstrate the key role that music played, through factors of globalization, in influencing mass resistance and raising global awareness. As an elemental form of creative expression, music enables many of the vital tools needed to overcome hatred and violence. Jazz and Freedom songs were two of the most influential genres, …