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- All Subjects: Culture
- Creators: College of Integrative Sciences and Arts
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
The purpose of my thesis is to examine the interactions among the Senegalese staff, international volunteers, and Senegalese loan participants, and the ways in which their constantly evolving reactionary relationships impacted the program. The paper provides a context of Saint-Louis, Senegal as well as the Projects Abroad Organization and outlines the loan process prior to examining the daily activities of the program. I highlight important factors such as religion, education, gender roles, and saving techniques in order to show how juxtaposing values and traditions played key roles in the program’s evolution. Ultimately, I argue that the heterogeneity of values, norms, and expectations among those participating in the program created both obstacles and opportunities for program implementation and the ways in which to gauge its success.
By sharing my personal observations and experiences, I hope to provide the reader with a greater understanding of the complexities of intercultural communication in the microfinance arena. In the words of the American economist and philosopher Tyler Cowen, “Real cultural diversity results from the interchange of ideas, products, and influences, not from the insular development of a single national style.”
Inside of evangelicalism, there are many young adults frustrated with dating. Generally, they are taught to go to the Bible for answers. However, when they find no explicit roadmap to figure out how to get to marriage, they are left confounded in their romantic pursuits. How is one supposed to figure out if they are ready to marry, and how shall they know when they find someone they should consider for marriage? And who gets to speak into these habits and the beliefs that undergird their outworking? This paper explores such questions through interviews with couples, both dating and married. The interviews are compared and contrasted. The patterns that emerge from each interview are put into conversation with the other interviews. The findings expound on the overlap of the interviews and note degrees of resonance and dissonance between them. The implications of the themes are then outlined, best practices for the premarital experience are briefly noted, and areas for further study are identified.
Superman has been a cultural figure in America for 85 years- blasting out from the comic book page and into our collective consciousness. Yet, does the character still hold relevancy? Do people care about Superman, and know why he is important to our country? To understand where he stands now as a cultural figure, Superman's reciprocal history with America is defined, and with that definition comes highs and lows for the character that ultimately solidify his place as an aspirational figure of hope today.
You can find my documentary here. Throughout the process of creating my thesis I was consistently intrigued by one constant phenomenon I’ve noticed throughout my time at Cronkite – that of competitive collaboration. I’d define that term as what happens when thousands of highly motivated individuals are thrown into a space where they are competing for a limited number of jobs in a high-pressure environment, while still needing to work with each other in order to succeed. Throw college social lives and general young adult anxieties on top of that, and you have the culture present within journalism school. For my project I wanted to contextualize and present a cohesive look at both the mentalities of students and the environment of the school. Dear Cronkite: A Love Letter is truly that. A labor of love and care for a place that has impacted me so deeply, I hope that this twenty-one-minute documentary opens a window into the world students deal with on a daily basis. Everyone interviewed expressed their deepest appreciation for the Cronkite School, while also making clear that they believe there are changes which could be made to better the educational environment. Every opinion and statement in this film comes from a place of compassion and respect.