Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

No More Prolonging Students’ Sense Of Belonging: A Content Analysis On The Issues And Resolutions Regarding Discriminatory School Discipline Outcomes For Students Of Color, Taren Renee Turner

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Racial discrimination in school discipline for students of color is steeped within the history of educational institutions throughout the United States. Despite the federal law Title VI, which prohibits discrimination in schools based on race, color, or national origin, discriminatory school discipline outcomes persist and perpetuate educational inequities and continued marginalization of students of color. The issue of disparate school discipline is attributed to implicit and explicit adult biases, cultural dissonance between teachers and students, and systemic issues in school discipline policies, such as subjective and vague definitions for minor discipline infractions and wide-sweeping zero-tolerance policies. As a result of …

Variation In Growth Over Time Of Minority Religious Groups In The Philippines, Janet Vallejo

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Philippines has historically been predominantly Catholic due to Spanish colonial rule, but since the early 1900s, there has been an increase in the number of small Christian churches, denominations, and sects. Traditional theories like modernization, religious economy, or ideology fail to explain the varying growth patterns of these minority Christian religions because they do not account for sub-national variation nor fluctuations in adherents over time. The objective of this thesis is to investigate the emergence of minority Christian religions in the Philippines and develop a framework to study their growth trends over time. For the dependent variable, a typology …

Structural Violence And Cooperation For Survival: Exploring Livelihood Strategies In Rural Mexico, Luis Chavez

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This research investigates the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement on trade between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. As a result of increased competition in the agricultural sector, households in El Fresno, Michoacán, and El Paso de Piedra, Jalisco in Mexico had to compete with conventional agriculture from the United States. This ethnography studies how community members cooperate and work together to overcome difficulties caused by open markets. The research involved conducting twelve interviews in El Fresno and El Paso de Piedra using the framework of sustainable livelihood approach to understand how households use their resources to …

Corporate Lobbying: A Corporate Perspective To Lobbying And The Ecosystem Behind It, Noah R. Gulla

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Women’S Sexuality And The State: A Beginning Look At Virginity’S Relationship To The Law, Ariana Strieb

Senior Projects Spring 2023

This is a beginning look at the relationship the state has with women's sexuality in the United States, specifically looking at how virginity animate the way rape trials are prosecuted.

The End Of Everything: The Physical And Figurative Impacts Of Landscape On American Ideology, Wyatt Alger

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

Reckoning With Our Binary Sex/Gender System: A Transgender Liberation From Patriarchy, Roger Bek Florey

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Sound Of A Sense Of Belonging: El Sistema, Ideology, And Having Fun, Michael Knox

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

An Assertion Of The Rights Of The Malësore As Indigenous Peoples In Present-Day Montenegro, Sarina Jaqueline Culaj

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Pachakutik: Tracing The Development Of The Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement As A National Actor, Antonio Pallares

Senior Projects Spring 2023

This text attempts to understand the formation of the indigenous movement in Ecuador. It asks the questions; Who makes part of it? How is it expressed? Why did it become this way? The indigenous movement in Ecuador has been described by many academics as Latin America’s strongest. Although that depends on what metric one is using, the paper explores how the movement has had interactions with a wide variety of society, and what tools has come about it that the indigenous movement has used later on. The CONAIE, the unquestionably biggest organization among indigenous organizations, has overthrown several presidents and …

A Critique On Title Ix, Marika A. Brungs

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Multidisciplinary Studies of Bard College.

More Than Mattresses: Community-Based Adaptive Management For Floating Treatment Wetlands In The North And South Twin Lakes, Masha Alex Kazantsev

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies

Financial Alcoholism: An Institutionalist Analysis Of The Repeal Of The Glass-Steagall Act And 2008 Financial Crisis, Eli C. Shapiro

Senior Projects Spring 2023

The thesis argues that the the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 was not a leading cause of the 2008 Financial Crisis but did contribute to its scope. It finds that the American economy was already on track before the repeal for a late-2000s financial crisis due to sectoral imbalances as well as the rise of money manager capitalism during the decades before the repeal. However, the repeal contributed to the "legitimization" of financial holding companies and originate-to-distribute model, spreading toxic assets around the financial sector and exposing depositors to this risk during a time of rapidly increasing banking …

The Effects Of Lgbtqia+ Representation (Or The Lack Thereof) In Sexuality Education In The United States, Marissa Faye Munsell

Senior Projects Spring 2023

The purpose of this exploratory study is to add to the understanding of how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) representation (or the lack thereof) in sexuality education programs impacts youth and adolescents’ who identify as LGBTQIA+. Sexuality education is perceived as one way to prevent unhealthy sexual behaviors and a way to give youth knowledge about their bodies. However, contemporary sexuality education in most schools in the United States is not tailored to fit the needs of LGBTQIA+ youth. According to research, in most schools this population is often left out of the curriculum entirely, where …

It's Hard To Believe There Are People There, Lily Rose Peña

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

Mind Over Body: A Comparison Of Psychobiological Versus Physiological Focused Distance Runners, Adam Laurence Beach

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Previous research has shown that psychology can have significant effects on endurance performance. According to exercise physiologist Samuele Marcora all performance gains in endurance racing are due to a reduction of perceived effort at a given pace (Sherman, 2021). The proposed study will compare athletes focusing on reducing perceived effort at a given pace over a four month training period with athletes focused on improving physical fitness over the same period. The fitness group will complete workouts designed to maximize physiological indicators while the perceived effort groups will complete workouts designed to reduce perceived effort while running at a given …

Provisional Food Security: The Role Of Emergency Food Systems In An Evolving Landscape, Luca Walker Tagliati

Senior Projects Spring 2023

A lasting consequence of Reagan administration rollbacks in government food assistance programs is the safety net of private food provision organizations. Over the decades that these private assistance agencies grew in scope, food justice movements began sprouting up around the country that sought to address rising food insecurity and other inequities of dominant food systems. Today, private food provision organizations and food justice movements make up a large portion of emergency food systems response, forcing food insecure individuals to rely on overburdened pantries and volunteers who depend on coherent community strategy to succeed. Oftentimes, vulnerable populations are excluded from these …

Thrift : A Respelling Of Home, Penelope B. Bernal

Senior Projects Spring 2023

The first commercial thrift stores were established in the late 19th and early 20th century. Labeled as ‘charity stores’, the first thrift stores were tied to philanthropic missions, creating a bond between charity and capitalism. However, thrift stores have expanded beyond philanthropy and have evolved into community spaces. Inspired by Audre Lorde’s A Respelling of my Name, the goal of this project is to provide the reader with an intimate view of thrifting through the conversation of three main topics : As Is, One-of-a-Kind, and Community.

International Students' Experiences In A Liberal Arts College Environment: A Study Of Migration Motives, Academic And Social Integration, And Career Aspirations, Elizabeth Coromoto Liotta

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Global student flows are increasing at an unprecedented rate (Bound et al. 2021). Given the rapid diversification of the US higher education system, this study examines international students' motivations for selecting an American liberal arts college, their integration experiences in this context, and their future goals upon graduation. It highlights the uniqueness of liberal education as a pull factor, as well as the specific challenges international students face while adapting to a new social and academic structure. Conducting eighteen in-depth interviews with international juniors and seniors enrolled in a liberal arts college on the US East Coast, I discuss the …

Plurality, Precarity, Nos/Otras: Searching For A New Guarantee Of Dignity In The Contemporary World, Antonia Salathe

Senior Projects Spring 2023

One cannot comprehend the topography of our contemporary globe without seeing the chain-link lines that fractalize sand, sea, and soil. Contemporary global politics is marked by a refugee crisis of colossal proportion. At its core, the contemporary refugee crisis is perpetuated by the fact that there is no framework to apprehend the personhood of the refugee, let alone an organized and attentive global process for directing the flow of vulnerable persons toward safety.

I argue that in order to ease the burdens placed on vulnerable people we must return to philosophy and look at the refugee crisis for what it …

Rethinking Humanitarian Aid For Palestinian Refugee Camps In Lebanon: A Critique Of The Accessibility And Quality Of Career-Building Services For Displaced Palestinian Women, Emily I. Costello

Senior Projects Spring 2023

This project focuses on the humanitarian aid present in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. More specifically, it seeks to understand the organizations and kinds of programs for career-building services that are available to displaced Palestinian women in these camps. The project first seeks to collect information about the quality, quantity, variability, and sustainability of the programs that are present in the camps. Once this information is collected, this project seeks to understand how both humanitarian organizations and women define the need for career-building services, as well as the ways in which the current programs either sufficiently meet this need or …

"We Have Nothing To Lose But Our Chains": Paving The Way To A New Horizon For Marginalized Youth, Soledad Aguilar-Colón

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature and Social Studies of Bard College.

Rendering The Cyberfag: An Examination On The Spatial Sociology Of Grindr, Matthew Paul Gershovich

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Rendering the Cyberfag: An Examination on the Spatial Sociology of Grindr attempts to dissect, theorize, and expose the current dismality of gay existence and space in direct correlation with the inception of the digital realm. The investigation begins by establishing a lexicon of socio-spatial attributes that aim to establish the reader within a basis of the spatial vulnerabilities attached with queer identities. A contextualizing chronology of aspects of queer history is presented; beginning with the act of cruising, and its subsequent demise during the AIDS epidemic. In parallel, the thesis follows the creation of the internet, which birthed gay anonymous …

Coup De Grâce, Violet Rea Mass

Senior Projects Spring 2023

This project, composed of an introduction and a fiction piece, explores the complex power dynamics at play on the university stage put into perspective of the Human Rights study. The fiction follows young Olive as arrives for her first term at a university in a secluded valley where she must come to terms with a darkness greater than she had ever imagined.

Victim Or Collaborator: The Influence Of Interwar German Soft Power On France, Sophia M. Tighe

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Power Of Knowledge: The Relationship Between The Racial Wealth Disparity And Generational Transmission, Cedaniel R. Sumpter

Senior Projects Spring 2023

My hypothesis is that generational knowledge plays a pivotal role in the accumulation of wealth. African Americans have a historical lack of engagement in financial markets, which can be attributed to a combination of historical discriminatory practices and institutional racism, and familial instability. These factors each contribute to the wealth gap between white and black Americans. The discussion lacks the multidimensional landscape that is required to understand it. Even within an economic context, the wealth gap cannot be explained nor understood without the context of American social structure, political influence, healthcare availability and more. I will begin to expand the …

The Effectiveness Of Virtual Training: Comparing Virtual And In-Person Sport-Specific Cognitive Training, Jared Ian Toby

Senior Projects Spring 2023

The goal of the project is to outline the benefits of different types of cognitive training with physical or in-person training compared to a virtual training implementation specifically in the context of baseball pitch recognition. By doing this we are able to identify which aspects of pitch recognition are better trained by different types of training and allow athletes to train differently and more effectively. The participants were 21 undergraduate students at Bard College who have not played at a competitive level of baseball. Participants were assigned to two conditions either in-person cognitive training or similar but virtual training. Participants …

Black Women In Pwi: Cultural Taxation, Microaggressions, & Stress, Roxanna Delgado

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Science, Mathematics and Computing of Bard College.

Something Is Lurking: The Impact Of Liminality On The Emotional Valence Of Buildings, Alice Eliot Orlando Knowlton

Senior Projects Spring 2023

This proposed study examines the effect of architectural liminality on the emotional experience of occupying buildings. Liminality is a quality of strangeness in built spaces which arises from deviations in normal, expected, or logical design. These deviations may create a sense of unease or being creeped out. The proposed study tests the self-reported emotional reaction of participants to one of two buildings, one having liminal traits and the other being without them. It is hypothesized that a greater degree of discomfort or nervousness will be reported in the liminal space than in the nonliminal.

A Patriarchal Pandemic: Analyzing The Global Impacts Of Covid-19 On Women And The Gendered Dynamics Of Policies, Paige Gregg

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Utilizing empirical and contemporary research, this Senior Project aims to explore the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted women through social, economic, and policy avenues. This project starts by identifying the unequal effects on health, gender based violence, economic security and unpaid care the pandemic had on women. It then transitions to establish historical and systematic occurrences of gender bias in macroeconomic policies. It lays out the specifics of policy implementation during the COVID crisis, and outlines the numerical and regional variations in gender-sensitive policies. It surmises that, overall the gendered policy response was subpar, given the disproportionate …