Showing 841 - 850 of 2039 Items
The Impact of Armed Conflict on Maternal Health in Colombia
Date: 2020-01-01
Creator: Madeleine Squibb
Access: Open access
- This study combines data from the 2010 Demographic and Health Survey and the Conflict Analysis Resource Center (CERAC) to examine the impact of conflict on maternal health service utilization and outcomes in Colombia. The primary results indicate a significant, negative relationship between conflict level and antenatal and postnatal care utilization. Conflict is insignificant in determining the use of professional assistance at delivery. Although rural women are, overall, less likely to access maternal health services, further analysis along rural-urban lines reveals that the negative effect of violence on prenatal and postnatal care is stronger among urban women. Secondary estimation of the occurrence of complications during or after delivery employs a Two-Stage Residuals Inclusion model to address potential endogeneity in service use. Estimated results show that conflict levels are insignificant, but that Indigenous women and women in lower wealth quintiles are significantly more likely to experience complications, even after controlling for service use. The conclusions of this paper suggest that Colombia’s universal healthcare system has been successful in reducing economic barriers to prenatal care and professional delivery, but that significant wealth-related inequalities remain in maternal health outcomes. Additionally, Indigenous and women with lower levels of education are less likely to access services and more likely to experience complications. The primary contribution of this paper is the inclusion of a conflict measure. The significant, negative impact on prenatal and postnatal care utilization, especially for urban women, warrants further study to better inform policy to increase service use and reduce maternal mortality and morbidity.
“Bosques Si, Tala No”: The Uprising of Cherán K’eri
Date: 2020-01-01
Creator: Ray Tarango
Access: Open access
- In the spring of 2011, the indigenous community of Cherán K’eri in western Mexico rose up to protect their forests. Organized crime, and its allies, had taken over this town during the previous decade and had logged significant portions of its communal forests in the surrounding hills. This thesis examines the following questions: How do townspeople recall their experience under a narco state? What pushed this indigenous community to organize to protect the forest despite the threat of violence? What was it about this landscape in particular that brought people together? Previous research into this uprising has overlooked the gender dynamics of the community, and has failed to consider the townspeople’s connection to nature. Using interviews gathered over eighteen months in three separate visits, this thesis argues that despite patriarchal expectations that men “protect” the community and its resources it was women who led and organized the uprising. Chapter One analyzes how organized crime took control of the community, suggesting that memories and trauma of the “war on drugs” deeply affected the townspeople. Chapter Two centers on the uprising itself, exploring not only the gendered dynamics of that spring, but connecting the material and affective importance of the forest to the women who led the uprising. This thesis analyzes how organized crime took control of the community and argues that townspeople’s multilayered connection to nature played a central role in the town’s movement.
Perdido en la transculturación: Compromisos de identidad en la América Latina judía
Date: 2020-01-01
Creator: Jacob Bernard Baskes
Access: Open access
- Esta investigación explora los procesos de negociación y compromiso presentes en la experiencia judía de América Latina. Durante siglos, esta identidad ha existido junta con otras, sean nacionales, religiosas, o raciales, lo cual resulta en una nueva identidad compleja y singular. A través de novelas de Eduardo Halfon (Guatemala), Achy Obejas y Leonardo Padura (Cuba) e Isaac Goldemberg (Perú) en adición a una investigación antropológica en Lima, el texto explora una colección de temas que incluye el movimiento, la memoria, el exilio, la diáspora, el trauma, y el mestizaje. Cada tema aquí analizado tiene un rol profundo en la formación de la identidad judía de América Latina, tanto en su forma histórica como en su forma actual.
Political Polupragmones: Busybody Athenians, Meddlesome Citizenship, and Epistemic Democracy in Classical Athens
Date: 2016-01-01
Creator: Harry D Rube
Access: Open access
- The figure of the πολυπράγμων, the overactive, over-engaged, or meddlesome democratic citizen, is a literary trope that emerges in Classical Athenian literature in the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. This project seeks to use the πολυπράγμων as an entry point into understanding Athenian attitudes toward citizenship and socially acceptable political behaviors in Athens’ democratic era. I explore the history and usage of the term πολυπράγμων, and the associated characteristic of πολυπραγμοσύνη (meddlesomeness), and its synonyms and antecedents. I demonstrate that to be labeled πολυπράγμων is a term of social restraint—one is named a πολυπράγμων if they do not “mind their own business.” In 5th century Athens such an admonition is primarily political. It refers to and demonstrates the existence of a contested definition of what is and what is not acceptable political behavior on behalf of the non-elite citizens of Athens. Through a reading of Plato’s dialogues and an analysis of other Athenian literary productions describing street-level social and political interactions in the fourth century, I endeavor to demonstrate in the second half of this thesis that the behaviors of social inquisitiveness, over-activity, and the negative characteristics attributed to the πολυπράγμων by contemporary writers such as Plato, could actually have served to increase the common knowledge and cohesiveness of the Athenian city-state. To do this, I consider the πολυπράγμων through the lens of modern scholarship and social science that considers Athens as an “epistemic democracy” concerned with aggregating and employing politically useful information.
"I Remember!": Irish Postcolonial Memory in the Early Short Stories of Seán O'Faoláin
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Rebecca Norden-Bright
Access: Open access
- Seán O’Faoláin (1900-1991) was an Irish writer, cultural critic, and editor of the literary magazine The Bell. He wrote prolifically throughout the twentieth century, and while his short stories are often anthologized, much of his work is now out of print. This project will examine O’Faoláin’s first two short story collections, Midsummer Night Madness (1932) and A Purse of Coppers (1937), within the context of the post-independence period in Ireland. The 1930s is a period often glossed over in both political and literary histories of Ireland, overshadowed by the Literary Revival and primarily characterized by deepening conservatism and political strife. However, the 1930s was also an era in which essential debates about Irish identity and the future of the Irish nation played out, in public discourse and in literature. Memory, in particular, served as an important site for these debates, as the newly independent Irish nation sought to define itself in relation to its turbulent past. O’Faoláin’s stories from this period reflect post-independence disillusionment and draw a desolate picture of a nation at a crossroads. At the same time, however, the stories draw upon revolutionary memories to construct a vision of a new Ireland, one no longer shaped by the legacies of colonialism. Situating O’Faoláin’s work within the context of postcolonial theory, my project argues for the postcolonial short story’s unique ability to represent identities in transition and shape the future of the Irish nation.
Is Faith the Ultimate Divider?: The Intersections Between Religion and Political Behavior in the United States
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Ryan Supple
Access: Open access
- This thesis examines the complex relationship between religiosity and voting behavior in the United States. In a country where religion has diminished in importance over time, it seems rather fascinating that it still plays such a large role in the inner-workings of American politics. Chapter One analyzes the varying ways in which scholars have approached emergent political trends between religious groups, particularly with regards to political parties, voting behavior, and government representation. Chapter Two extends this analysis to the American National Election Studies (ANES), a national survey distributed to random samples of Americans during election seasons. The information from the ANES facilitated a more in-depth analysis of how individuals with varying levels of affiliations have interacted with politics, such as ideologies, affiliations, and feelings towards religiously salient political issues. Lastly, Chapter 3 focuses on college-aged students, using both the UCLA's CIRP Freshman Survey and the Bowdoin College Polar Poll, to evaluate how America's educated youth are interacting with politics. These data allowed for a more proper investigation into how a historically unreligious portion of the population interact with religion today, and how this may affect America's religious climate in the future, as students eventually grow into educated professionals and further immerse themselves into politics. Ultimately, this paper suggests that a growing political polarity has coincided with polarization in religion, with two coalitions-- a religious and non religious one moving in opposite directions, thus amounting to further divisions and misunderstandings between the American public.
Giving on the Margin: The Power of Donor Recognition
Date: 2016-05-01
Creator: Jordan W Richmond
Access: Open access
- This study develops a controlled laboratory experiment to examine the effects of personal recognition on charitable giving. I find evidence that both the possibility of acquiring prestige and the desire to avoid shame motivate individuals to give in recognition situations. Furthermore, I show that the possibility of being recognized is more important than the distinguishing value of that recognition, suggesting that an offer of recognition has greater power to increase charitable contributions when a larger proportion of donors will be recognized.
Vienna Secession
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Bobby Murray
Access: Open access
- ‘Vienna Secession’ is a poetry manuscript broken into four distinct sections: “The Vienna Secession,” “Waltzes,” “Short Talks,” and “Other.” Most of the manuscript is in dialogue with Secessionist artists, or the ethos of the Vienna Secession. However, others, like the haikus, are exercises of form and responses to other contemporary poets, such as Robert Hass or Richard Wright. The manuscript explores different genres, including ekphrasis, prose, and experimental poems, like the ‘Waltzes,’ which employ 3/4 meter to emulate the Viennese waltz. The heart of the project is its sonic awareness—pulling from W.H. Auden, August Kleinzahler, and other musically-oriented poets. Outside the ‘Short Talks’ section, the poems’ sonic and phonetic qualities are integral to their style and meaning. At times this may be subtle, or even indiscernible, but overall, careful attention is paid to the sound and rhythm of the poems. The manuscript should be considered in both musical and literary terms. Rainer Maria Rilke’s ‘Duino Elegies’ and advice in ‘Letters to a Young Poet’ are instrumental in creating these poems. As a ‘first statement,’ many poems battle with the insecurities of a young poet and exemplify the grapple of an aspiring creative. The poems consider antiquated things through contemporary frameworks; relationships, communication, masculinity, and suffering, to name a few. A general incentive of the work is to provide fresh perspectives on historical art and to import its most apposite sentiments into our current moment.
Reframing Mourning: Liberatory Grief in Post-Tragedy Chinese American Women’s Fiction
Date: 2024-01-01
Creator: Sophia Li
Access: Open access
- My project approaches discussions of Asian American melancholia and mourning with a specific focus on contemporary Chinese American women’s fiction. Scholars such as David Eng, Shinhee Han, and Anne Anlin Cheng have long spotlighted the prevalence of depression among Asian American populations, particularly those with immigrant backgrounds, and they variously adopt psychoanalytic approaches to understand Asian American mental health and intersectional identities. Looking beyond psychoanalytic models, my project focuses on the works of Yiyun Li, Jenny Zhang, and K-Ming Chang to explore diverse forms of post-tragedy positionality. I read the authors paratextually, not only to locate them within legacies of diasporic fiction and intersectional auto-writing but also to highlight their critically self-reflexive authorship. I study novels and characters depicting complex processes of mourning, ultimately proposing a reading that views them not only as resisting complete recovery but as forging pathways toward liberatory grief.
"This people which I made": The Character of King Arthur as a Mechanism of Unification in Medieval Arthuriana and the Idylls of the King
Date: 2016-05-01
Creator: Hallie Schaeffer
Access: Open access