Matching Items (23)
Description
As the daughter of Mexican parents, I was raised with family-centered values which conflict with the values of independence, freedom and individuality stressed in the United States. Being a minority has become part of my identity, thus influencing how I make decisions about finances and traveling. Minorities are faced with many more concern, like familial concerns and financial obligations which hinder their desire to attempt to travel (Salisbury, Paulsen, & Ernest, 2011). My main concerns were convincing my parents that traveling to Nicaragua and studying abroad in Greece and Italy would be beneficial to my college experience, along with financially being able to go through with each experience. The main purpose of my thesis is to share what it is like to be a minority faced with cultural and financial obstacles that make it difficult to travel and how the experience is shaped due to these obstacles.
ContributorsValtierra, Nancy Jazmin (Author) / Larson, Elizabeth (Thesis director) / Facinelli, Diane (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Graduate College (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
As the world becomes more globalized, the role of geographic knowledge in everyday affairs grows. Notwithstanding this idea, previous research surveys indicate that young adults are geographically illiterate but little research has been done in the past decade to investigate if this still holds true. In order to examine the current geographic literacy of young adults, American and Canadian college students were surveyed regarding geographic knowledge of their neighboring country. To do this, I made a trip to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia to survey Canadian students in person. I also did in person surveys at Arizona State University to collect American students' knowledge. Both surveys were done with pen and paper and questions were either identical or similar in what geographic knowledge the question was testing the survey taker on (i.e what is the capital of Canada for American students and what is the Capital of the United States for Canadian students). Results indicated that despite being from different countries, both participant pools showed similar knowledge about their neighboring country with almost identical scores; American college students answered an average of 50% of the questions correct and Canadian students slightly above that at 51% of questions correct. Although the scores were similar, underneath the overall survey results was a lot of variety in the students' responses, particularly regarding the subject and questions each student pool excelled in. In conclusion, however, it seems that both Canadian students and American students struggled more with political geography than they did with cultural geography but are overall illiterate in geographical knowledge with only being able to answer half of the questions correct.
ContributorsOlson, Taylor (Author) / Shaeffer, John (Thesis director) / Larson, Elizabeth (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
International refugees have continuously shaped the identity of modern London, England, creating a diverse cityscape. However, the referendum in June 2016 indicated a perceived desire of the majority of United Kingdom (UK) citizens to leave the European Union (EU) and the domination of far-right, anti-immigrant rhetoric in British politics. These elements have given rise to the question of how refugees will find belonging in a geographical space that continues to create borders at both a national and borough level. As the Brexit vote still stands, barriers to applying for refugee status and successful resettlement could increase - complicating the lives of refugees wanting to resettle in the UK. Urban spaces such as London, Manchester, and Birmingham have transformed into places where the lives of the British cross daily with the lives of those forcibly removed from their home state. With minimal current research on the relationship between international refugees in London and the current social and political identity of the city, post-Brexit vote, I believe there is a gap in understanding to be filled. This gap includes defining the relationship between place, people, and politics in the context of the city of London as well as the boroughs that comprise the city. In addition, this research explores the future of London as a place at a borough-level and aims to understand how the idea of borders and nationalism have been uncovered and subsequently amplified through the referendum. The following paper includes data collected from British refugee agencies and inhabitants of five London boroughs that will add to existing research in the form of academic and professional journals and published reports produced by refugee agencies and the British government in hopes to identify the current nature of the relationship between international refugees and Londoners and how this relationship might shift in the future.
ContributorsRichardson, Bari Dudley (Author) / Larson, Elizabeth (Thesis director) / Sivak, Henry (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
"Phoenix as Refuge: A Photographic Exploration of Refugees Within the City" was a creative thesis project that aimed to bridge the gap between divided communities by creating awareness of refugees within the city of Phoenix. Through an IRB approved research study, multiple refugee families were interviewed and photographed. The project documented refugees and their stories and then made those interviews accessible to the greater Phoenix community. The purpose was to make the Phoenix community more aware of refugees in the hopes that this awareness would increase community activism and advocacy for this resilient yet vulnerable minority group. This paper explains the refugee resettlement process and addresses the social and economic implications of refugee resettlement and advocacy within an urban area. Many inhabitants of Phoenix are unaware the refugees that live in their city because of the geographic divide between social classes and ethnic groups. In highly urbanized communities, the geographic layout of the city leads to a more individualistic and segregated society. This notion leads to a discussion of Robert Putnam's theory of social capital, which argued that by improving and fostering social connections, one could increase social well-being and even make the economy more efficient. This paper then applies Putnam's ideas to the interaction between refugees and non-refugees, using space as a determining factor in measuring the social capital of the Phoenix community. As evident in the study of Phoenix's geographic divide between social and economic classes, Phoenix, like many urban cities, is not designed in a way that fosters social capital. Therefore, advocacy must go beyond people and into advocacy for a different kind of city and place that sets up refugees, and non-refugees alike, to succeed. In this way, rethinking the city through urban planning becomes integral to making new social networks possible, building social capital, and increasing social welfare in urban spaces.
ContributorsRutledge, Chloe Grace (Author) / Sivak, Henry (Thesis director) / Larson, Elizabeth (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
The purpose of this thesis was to answer the research question of how do states and international agencies, respectively, differ in application of efforts towards implementation of refugee rights, status, and protection and/or resettlement and why these differences occur. The respective refugee crises that arose following the Bosnian war in the 1990s and the Syrian civil war happening in the present day were used as case studies to further examine and answer this question. These case studies were chosen due to their relatively large refugee populations and differing causes for said refugee populations. To properly measure efficacy of refugee policies on a state and international level, the dispute of state sovereignty versus the right to international intervention was focused on and assessed exhaustively throughout this paper. It was determined that sovereignty could only be deemed legitimate and free of international intervention if certain basic functions (keeping the peace, upholding human rights, etc.) were being upheld within a territory's borders. In the cases of both Bosnia and Syria, the lack of protection and rights provided for refugees warranted international intervention, yet that intervention was not always carried out in the most efficient manner. This paper sought to elaborate on why international intervention occurred when it did and whether it was more powerful than state sovereignty. In the end, international agencies would be most effective in implementing refugee policies if individual states complied with those set policies. Until then, the battle between international policies and the proper implementation of those policies by individual states will remain an intricate one.
ContributorsAouad, Dina Ghassan (Author) / Sivak, Henry (Thesis director) / Larson, Elizabeth (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The civil war in Syria has caused over one million Syrians to flee to bordering countries seeking protection. One of the major causes of this exodus is the reality and fear of sexual violence. Sexual violence against Syrian women is life altering because of the high value the culture places on virtue and modesty; a woman who is known to have been raped faces shame, possible disenfranchisement by her family, and is at high risk for suicide and in some extreme, but few cases, being murdered by a family member in an honor killing. However, once these refugees arrive they are still threatened not only with sexual violence, but also with sexual exploitation. Sexual violence is devastating to women and families. The international community must work to combat it by helping host countries to prevent the violence, assist victims, prosecute perpetrators, and create safe environments for female refugees. Human rights advocates should look within the philosophy of Islam to encourage gender equality ethics already present therein.
ContributorsJohnson, Michelle Anne (Author) / Larson, Elizabeth (Thesis director) / Wheeler, Jacqueline (Committee member) / Rothenberg, Daniel (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Spongiform Encephalopathies are a rare family of degenerative brain diseases characterized by the accumulation of plaques and formation of tiny holes in the brain tissue making it look "spongy". Spongiform Encephalopathies have a relatively short history but their origins date back to a time long before they were recognized as a disease. It was not until the 1700s that the first record of their existence was made. In 1732 a shepherd in England noticed that some sheep in his flock had become itchy and were "scraping" themselves on nearby trees and fence posts; he reported it to the agricultural authorities of the time. As the symptoms seen in his sheep progressed they also developed problems walking and began to have seizures. Eventually their neurological symptoms progressed to an unmanageable level and they died. In 1794, over 50 years later, the Board of Agriculture in the UK termed this illness in sheep "the Rubbers". In the following years while coming in and out of mention in many flocks of sheep "the Rubbers" remained a disease of minimal consequence showing negligible ability to spread among sheep and having no precedence for jumping the species barrier and affecting humans. The first mention of "the Rubbers" as Scrapie was in 1853, and it is still the designation of the disease in sheep today.
ContributorsPruniski, Brianna (Author) / Green, Monica (Thesis director) / Hurlbut, James (Committee member) / Hunter, Joel (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
My thesis is on the subject of mentoring. I researched the benefits and the styles of programs available and then used my research to create a survey to give to IDSA national members to see what they believe would make a good mentoring program. From there I tried to improve the current ASU IDSA mentoring program.
ContributorsBargellini, Sylvia Joy (Author) / Hunter, Joel (Thesis director) / Velazquez, Joseph (Committee member) / Burleson, Winslow (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
This study examines sustainable development concerns as an essential part of the Costa Rican national identity. Interviews with ecotourism industry workers and an analysis of pertinent news articles shine light on the Costa Rican citizen's perspective of sustainable development, showing that in spite of current initiatives industry workers still have unmet environmental and economic concerns, and that the general public is both passionately interested and personally invested in the topic.
ContributorsHoward, Kalyn Marie (Author) / Puleo, Thomas (Thesis director) / Larson, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Hunter, Joel (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
The city of Groningen in the Netherlands is often referred to as the "world cycling city" because over fifty percent of trips are made on bicycles (Van Hoven & Elzinga, 2009). On the contrary, just four percent of trips in Tempe, Arizona are on bicycles (McKenzie, 2014). Through a series of interviews and surveys, this study investigates what causes such high bicycling rates in Groningen and applies these findings to Tempe. The results suggest that Groningen experiences high bicycling rates because the city uses "carrot" and "stick" policies to encourage bicycling and discourage driving. It is therefore recommended that Tempe adopt both types of policies to raise bicycling levels.
ContributorsRayes, Kevin (Author) / Pfeiffer, Deirdre (Thesis advisor) / Larson, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Golub, Aaron (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015