Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Teaching The War: What The Vietnamese Government Wants Students To Learn About The American-Vietnam War, Alex Joseph

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

By studying how the American-Vietnam War is taught in high schools and universities across Vietnam, the official government policies regarding the memory of the War can be uncovered. The Vietnamese Government completely controls the education system; therefore, the government is able to control the information that is taught to future generations regarding the War. What does Vietnam’s Government want its people to remember? And what facts does it want its citizens to forget? Looking at the government-approved “message” that is present in every Vietnamese textbook and history lesson, one is able to find the answers to these questions.

Ações Para Uma Melhor Vida: A Situação De Prostituição No Novo Eldorado De Juruti, Megan Whelan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In a short preliminary study carried out by the students of SIT Amazon 2008 in Juruti, the site of a Bauxite mineral extraction project of North-American company, ALCOA, the issue of the rapidly expanding prostitution industry became a prominent point of discussion with the members of the town. Taking into consideration the importance given to the issue by the community, this study was developed to examine further the issue of sexual exploitation in the town of Juruti, with the main objective of discovering the best actions to be taken to improve the well-being of the exploited women and children, according …

Faith And Freedom: A Profile Of The Religious Environment In Mongolia’S Emerging Democracy, Jeffrey Sinick

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mongolia is a rapidly globalizing nation that became both democratic and capitalistic after their 1990 revolution. In its history Mongolia has always had a strong religious influence coming mainly from Buddhism, which prevailed throughout Mongolia before the 70-year long socialist period that preceded the democratic revolution. The socialist period destroyed much of the traditional religion in Mongolia and left a spiritual and political vacuum in Mongolia after 1990. Economic hardships and religious tolerance brought forth numerous Christian religious groups and social organization that have profoundly affected the new religious environment in Mongolia, while Buddhism struggled to rebuild and retain a …

Traditions In Transition: A Musical Perspective In A Changing, Developing Samoa, Colin Kiley

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper was compiled during November 2008. It was a research project that sought out the perspectives of various diverse musicians in Samoa at that time. These musicians included music school instructors, Peace Corps volunteers, Samoan orchestra composers and conductors, traditional Samoan composers, traveled Samoan musicians as well as contemporary Samoan artists. The paper examines how the purposes of music in Samoan society have shifted, altered or changed from traditional times to current-day Samoa in the face of development, a growing economy and increased contact with outside influences. Although the music of Samoa, its purposes, values, uses and aesthetics have …

Samoa: A Truly Religious Place? Views Toward Religion In Samoa, Angelica Saada

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The goal of this study was to explore the ‘religiosity’ of Samoa. Specifically, this study attempted to understand how ‘religious’ the average Samoan is, as well as examine the implications of being ‘religious’ in Samoa. It also sought to investigate the plurality of religions in Samoa, the existence of individuals moving between churches, and attitudes towards religious plurality. In addition, this study explored differences between the religiosities of younger and older generations and attitudes toward Samoan youth. Based on the results from interviews and surveys, it was concluded that Samoans view themselves and their country as ‘very religious.’ Being ‘religious’ …

Transnational Anti-Imperialism: A Case Study Of Witness For Peace And Their Relationship With El Regadío, Estelí, Sam Menefee-Libey

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Nicaragua: Revolution, Transformation, and Civil Society

“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 …

Improving Beekeeping On Unguja Island, Larken Root

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study was to investigate the current practices and methods for improvement of beekeeping on Unguja Island in Zanzibar. Beekeeping has been occurring for many years in Unguja but has retained traditional techniques with little improvement. Improvement can occur in the form of introduction of modern equipment, formation of beekeeping organizations, advancing and diversifying products, and gaining governmental support. Beekeeping is worthy of expansion because of its potential to increase rural income in a sustainable way as well as support conservation of forest areas. The study found that there has so far been little improvement of income …

Human Mobility Through Closed Borders: The Impact Of Morocco’S European And Algerian Relations On Sub-Saharan Immigration, Caitryn Mccallum

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In order to understand the domestic matters of any country, it becomes necessary to not only engage in the workings of its internal structures, but to also examine how its relations with foreign powers are shaping its function as a state. As is the case with Morocco, the sub-Saharan immigration that has become of prime concern to many during recent years, due to a growing and universal fear of the ‘other’ as a threat to nationhood, has not only had an impact on Morocco as a country to this day, but also continues to shape Morocco for the future. This …

Development In Morocco: Re-Examining The Effect Of Remittance Flows, Tom Lochery

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Migration statistics reveal Morocco as one of the world’s leading emigration countries. Migration is bound to Morocco’s social, political, and economic spheres. However, empirical data related to migration and its subsequent effects on development within Morocco is poorly lacking. Specifically, there is a significant lack of information concerning remittances and their effect on development in Morocco. The impact of migration on Moroccan society and economic development is addressed here through discussion of previously attained empirical data and new research gathered in accordance with this paper. This paper is by no means comprehensive but instead offers an analysis of recent research …

The Flavor Of Money: The Vanilla Industry And The Economy Of Antalaha, Elizabeth Packer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The objectives of my research were to understand how the vanilla exporting business has changed in Antalaha in recent years, to assess the impact of cash crops on people’s livelihoods, to examine the benefits and drawbacks associated with vanilla cultivation, and to explore the economic impact of the vanilla industry on the town of Antalaha and its inhabitants. Through my research, I wanted to understand how the fruit of an orchid becomes the flavoring of ice cream, to look at the many processes and people involved in the vanilla supply chain. I was also interested in getting to know how …

“Chaque Femme A Son Histoire:” Exploring The Lives And Voices Of Sub-Saharan Migrant Women Living In Morocco, Silvana Rueda

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The topic of migration can be easily viewed as a purely academic and abstract concept, discussed only in terms of theories and ideas, of policies and statistics. While it is imperative to understand the different theories behind this phenomenon in order to obtain an engendered perspective of the issue, it is all too easy to loose the human value behind migration while studying it. Decontextualized numbers lack any emotion; academic theories are devoid of a human face behind them. More than ever, it is becoming increasingly pertinent to study migration in a humanistic light and to comprehend the stories of …

The Union Des Populations Du Cameroun And Third World Internationalism: Solidarity, Cooperation, And Abandonment, 1955-1970, Jamie Stevenson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Beginning in the early 20th century, and culminating at the Bandung conference in 1955, the Third World began to consolidate itself as an international bloc around a philosophy of self rule and international solidarity. Cameroon’s Union des Populations the Cameroun (UPC) embraced this project from its inception, and maintained a strong internationalist agenda throughout its existence as it struggled for Cameroon’s independence, first from French trusteeship, and then from what was, in its view, an illegitimate neo-colonial government. International solidarity was not merely a rhetorical tool for the UPC, but was rather an essential part of their strategy to achieve …

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.

La Mondialisation Et Les Croyants: Des Effets De La Mondialisation Sur Les Communautés Chrétiennes = Globalization And Believers: Globalization’S Effects On Christian Communities, Carrie Lee Tallichet

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research aimed to explore the different manifestations of globalization’s impact on Catholic and Protestant student movements in Toulouse, France. To accomplish this investigation, the researcher sought the opinions of students who participate regularly in religious groups regarding the cultural diversity of their group and their concept of a global Christian community. Based on information gathered in interviews, the researcher concluded, though not definitively, that Catholic and Protestant student groups both experience the effects of globalization, but each in a manner in relation with their faith’s organizational structure: Catholic students felt close ties with other Catholic groups worldwide despite the …

Sacred Work: Transforming Spirit And Community In Lucena, Paraíba, Jenny Schneider

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

There has not been a great amount of research that has been conducted on Santo Daime. As such, my research will make a significant contribution to the body of knowledge available to those who are curious about the church, its practices, and their social implications. There is much stigma, prejudice, and even persecution of Santo Daime. Hopefully a more intimate look at the social ramifications of work with Santo Daime will ease these preconceptions.

Santo Daime is the only completely Brazilian religion: a unique syncretism of indigenous Amazonian traditions, Portuguese Catholicism, African spiritualism, and Kardecist Spiritism, whose convergence reflects Brazil’s …

‘Everything Is For Him’: Mothers Of Autistics As Agents Of Social Change At Casa Da Esperança, Alexandra Levin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research project explores mothers of children with autism as social actors. I conducted the research at Casa da Esperança, which is school and therapy intstituion, and social organization, for autistics in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. A group of mothers founded Casa da Esperança based on a policy of inclusiveness towards autistics and their families. Casa da Esperança’s structure reflects its collective and communal philosophy, as demonstrated by the family program. Many mothers of autistics participate in this program on a daily basis when they stay at Casa da Esperança while their children are in class. Casa da Esperança is a …

Code-Switching Among Tunisian Women And Its Impact On Identity, Krista Moore

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

When France made Tunisia a protectorate in 1881, they introduced language policies that established French as the language of the public sphere and restricted Arabic to religion and the home. Until Tunisian independence in 1956, French was officially the language of social and economic mobility and even after the establishment of the republic French persisted unofficially as the language of the public sphere. It maintained this role despite the establishment of Arabic as the official language and the ultimately failed policies of Arabization. This study will focus on code-switching in Tunisia, or the habitual switching between French and Arabic that …

Combating Educational Inequalities: Afro-Brazilian Youth & The Bahia Street Project, Kimberly Menendez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In her article entitled “Inequity and Human Rights of African Descendants in Brazil,” Lucila Beato insists that Afro-Brazilian rights are violated everyday. Those who experience this violation the most are Afro-Brazilian, or Black, women who are considered to be at the bottom of the social hierarchy. These women are a double minority who are condemned for being both Black and women. Many women, as do men, drop out of school early in life in order to help their families, who live below the poverty line and struggle to make ends meat. Many girls turn to prostitution, pornography, and even sexual …

Mivumba In Kampala: Tracking The History, Trade, And Perceptions Of A Global Commodity In Local Culture, Claire Walsh

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

One surprisingly unstudied and little documented aspect of the present-day African market system– almost impossible to ignore when one is walking the streets of Kampala and bombarded by its presence– is second-hand clothing. This study investigates the history, systems, and perceptions of the second-hand clothing market in Kampala, Uganda. Combining an ethnographic analysis with historical research, this paper details how a western commodity is changed, both in meaning and form, and interacted with on a local level– adding to anthropological literature that analyzes how local cultures interact, and not passively react, to globalization.

The emergence of the large second-hand clothing …

Bringing Peace Home: Experiences Of Graduates Of The Peace Camps Run By The Center For Peacebuilding In Sanski Most, Bosnia And Herzegovina., Becca Asaki

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper focus on the experiences of participants in a program called Peace Camp conducted by the Center for Peacebuilding in Sanki Most, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It, then, analyzes the camps within the context of the field of conflict resolution. The Peace Camps are week-long workshops which analyze the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina through the personal experiences of the participants. The camps invite Serbs, Bosniaks, Croat, Roma, and others to collectively share their experiences and be trained in conflict resolution. This paper’s analysis looks at who attends the Peace Camps and why and their experiences meeting ‘the other’ and …

Second Generation, Not Second Class: How Role Models Can Help Second-Generation Muslim Youth Form Positive Hybrid Identities, Lindsay Bayham

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

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 …

Surviving The War, Surviving The Peace: Supporting Women Survivors Of War-Rape And Domestic Violence In Medica Zenica, Zoë Brennan-Krohn

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My research sought to examine the transition from war to post-war services provided in a women’s non-governmental organization, Medica Zenica, located in central Bosnia-Hercegovina. Opened in 1993, in the midst of the war in Bosnia, Medica Zenica began providing support for war-rape survivors. Today, Medica Zenica is still running, but the majority of clients are now survivors of domestic violence.

By interviewing women currently and previously employed in Medica Zenica, I pieced together a picture of how Medica has evolved in the last fifteen years, as well as how these evolutions are seen as a reflection of changing society in …

The Moving Landscape: Perspectives On Place, Emily Goughary

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The discourses of place, identity, and modernity have been thoroughly nuanced in development literature, though perhaps not through the lens that I am proposing to view them. My aim in conducting research on identity of place and by what processes they might be constructed is to examine the cultural knowledge and perception by which places are rendered meaningful. An important aspect of this type of research includes observing what processes of place and of the world outside a place influence the construction of the perceptions of modernity or progress. The nature of this research demands that it be done on …

On Est Ensemble: A Participatory Study Of The Jembe Tradition As Preserved By The Griots Of West Africa, Joel Rowe

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this study, I examine how a culture’s values are reflected in a specific pedagogical process through participant observation; in essence, I endeavor to examine first-hand the anthropology of pedagogy. The jembe, in truth, is comparable to a window into both the teaching model of a Senegalese master drummer and the cultural values reflected in his pedagogical method. In learning to play the parts of seven jembe rhythms with fluidity and recording their cultural significances, I discover the elements of criticism and sacrifice deeply inlaid in the tradition of this instrument. Relative to the communal setting of the griot family …

Paradigms And Perceptions: A Chronology And Analysis Of The Events Of The Chan-75 Hydroelectric Project And The Roles And Relationships Of Participants, Bocas Del Toro, Panama, Jessica Barber

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The pending construction of the Changuinola 75 Hydroelectric Project (Chan-75) has sparked significant controversy as the affected communities, national non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) and international NGO’s have protested against the conduct of the project’s promoters, the AES Corporation and supporters, the Panamanian government. Located in the Bosque Protector Palo Seco, a buffer zone to La Amistad International Park, the Chan-75 hydroelectric dam project will have significant consequences for the biodiversity, flora and fauna of the area. The dam will also displace four indigenous Ngöbe communities, a traditionally marginalized and underrepresented group, as well as flooding the farmland of many others. Hydroelectric …

Desarrollo De La Comunidad Y Humano Como Resultado Del Turismo, Annie Moulton

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This independent study project is a case study of San Pedro de Atacama, a small town that is developing economically from a large influx of the tourism business. The project is focused on community and human development as a result of the presence of tourism, but it is also a study of how important complete development of a town is. In a world of towns just like San Pedro trying to develop and modernize, their success and their future depends greatly on their ability to not only develop their economic sector, but to advance the unity and collective support of …

Fighting The Man: A Case Study Of The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, Allison Grill

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study looks to develop an understanding of how marginalized communities throughout South Africa are bettering their own lives. A number of them have mobilized, some in larger numbers than others, to form a wide range of social movement organizations in the country. This paper uses one such movement, the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, as a case study to examine how social movements have developed in post-apartheid South Africa. This paper will look at strategies utilized, obstacles faced and some of the people behind the Anti-Eviction Campaign to better understand its role in the mobilization and empowerment of local communities. …

A Culture Seen Through Cuisine: Traditional Zanzibari Recipes, Lizzie Resta

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Zanzibari cuisine was studied through the collecting of traditional and typical recipes. Along with the ingredients and cooking methods, further information about Zanzibari culinary traditions was gathered, such as historical origins of certain dishes, their special religious and ceremonial uses, as well as any superstitions or beliefs surrounding particular foods. All of this information was then compiled into a cookbook.