De-Orientalizing the Arab World: How Arab Science Fiction and NEOM Break the Binary Between East and West

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Description

Orientalism as a cultural ideology serves the neo-liberal foreign policy goals of the West and has defined pop cultural perceptions of the Arab world from the Western perspective for centuries. Arab science fiction, often drowned out by dominant Western po

Orientalism as a cultural ideology serves the neo-liberal foreign policy goals of the West and has defined pop cultural perceptions of the Arab world from the Western perspective for centuries. Arab science fiction, often drowned out by dominant Western pop cultural forces presents the Arab world from an Arab perspective, fighting the negative global perception of the Arab world that Orientalism has worked hard to carefully cultivate. Cities such as the futuristic city of NEOM in Saudi Arabia, further serve to destroy the orientalist views of Arab society through innovative urban planning and artificial intelligence (AI) technology. In this thesis, I analyze the way Iraq+100 by Hassan Blassim and Linda Sansour’s Nation Estate push back against orientalist ideology in conjunction with Saudi Arabia’s urban and cultural revolution as the Arab nation builds the city of NEOM. Additionally, I will explore how Arab science fiction and dystopia reflect an optimistic future for the Arab world at large despite modern Western attempts to colonize the region.

Date Created
2022-05
Agent

Discardscapes of Fashion: Postcolonial Resistance in Post-Consumer Transboundary Textile Waste Management, From the U.S. to South and East Africa

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Description

The clothing and textile industry is often referred to as one of the largest polluters in the world. Over the last two decades, global annual consumption has increased, and the volume of discarded clothing in America has doubled from 7

The clothing and textile industry is often referred to as one of the largest polluters in the world. Over the last two decades, global annual consumption has increased, and the volume of discarded clothing in America has doubled from 7 to 14 million tons a year (Shirvanimoghaddam, 2020). Over 60% of textile waste overall is exported to the Global South. In the Global South, landfills that receive this waste often lack proper funding and legislation to implement effective waste management systems (Schiros). Textile waste bears a carbon and water footprint that disrupts environmental and health standards on egregious levels, disproportionately harming the health of the populations situated near to those disposal sites, and preventing so-called “developing populations” from economic independence and from sustaining critical environmental health standards. The exploitation of the Global South as a dumping ground also erodes the possibility of economic development by local production and economic self-reliance. Structural adjustments and trade regulated by the ‘developed’ country subjugate the Global South to neo-colonialist, exploitative economic partnerships with the Global North. Rwanda is one example of a country attempting to rise to the World Bank’s classification as a middle-income country, but has been accused of trading human rights for development in the process.

My investigation first seeks to answer, What are the specific health threats of post-consumer textiles? I consider the human health impacts of textiles from cultivation to disposal. This study examines the role of waste as a potential function in the production process, where waste is not considered a negative economic value. My second question is How is the Global South's participation in international collaboration empowered by acts of resistance against the assumptions, research, and policies that suggest Western aid and medicine is superior and the basis for innovative technology? Acts of resistance are pursued within the public sphere (especially in terms of community building and art making), low technology, and locally situated science (that consider the culture, approach, and resources of the Global South before scaling up to the North). Corporations and state policy are considered to expand research, but the focus is largely on acts of resistance by the public, and acts of resistance at a community-level of cooperation. Through the framework of the zine, audiences can better understand the relationship between the US and countries in the East African Community, in South Africa, in shared regions. This creative project informs and challenges the reader to think critically about their role in a postcolonial context. I seek to understand how colonialism pervades the economic relationship and import-export business today between the Global North and the Global South. My purpose is to provide the reader with a vision that suggests the most critical changes that should be made to secure humane and environmentally sustainable solutions. It also serves as a catalyst for additional research on the Global South.

Date Created
2021-05
Agent

Money or Mercy? What Really Drives US/Middle Eastern Relationships?

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Description
"The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened".
- John F Kennedy

For over a century now, the United States has publicly professed a commitment to upholding human rights around the world, yet to this

"The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened".
- John F Kennedy

For over a century now, the United States has publicly professed a commitment to upholding human rights around the world, yet to this day economically supports numerous dictatorships and undemocratic regimes that flout human rights on a daily basis. The rhetoric of American politicians would imply that human rights and democracy are a priority in America's foreign policy, yet given US support for autocracies, both of these principles seem forgotten. If not respect for democracy and human rights, what is truly influencing America's relationship with these countries? I hypothesize that a country's resource availability will be the best predictive factor for its economic relationship with the US, followed by its military involvement with the US, and finally, human rights records will be the least predictive factor. The study found that a country's military cooperation with the US is the best predictive factor regarding our economic relationship, resource availability comes with a weak correlation, and human rights abuses very rarely substantively impact our economic relationships.
Date Created
2020-05
Agent

Atrocity, Trauma, and the Implementation of Psychological Aid

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Description
This thesis examines the current state of intervention in developing countries that are suffering from human rights abuses, mass killings, and/or politicide. The first part of this thesis will be a brief examination of present-day United States intervention efforts in

This thesis examines the current state of intervention in developing countries that are suffering from human rights abuses, mass killings, and/or politicide. The first part of this thesis will be a brief examination of present-day United States intervention efforts in order to understand the decision making and reconstruction process within the status quo. This will also be done by looking at the global community´s preferred form of intervention and how the United States aligns with these standards such as those represented in the Responsibility to Protect. Secondly, this thesis aims to remodel the reconstruction process in order to conceptualize the addition of mental health first aid. This will be presented by first analyzing the importance of mental health aid and then looking at the specific diagnoses that concatenate with trauma. This thesis argues that current reconstruction efforts are insufficient without the implementation of psychological aid. Without adding psychological aid, countries are more likely to return to cycles of violence that were present pre-intervention. Public policy should change to include aiding civilians, not only physically, economically, or militarily, but also by including psychological aid. Implementing behavior health specific aid in developing countries may potentially be the missing component to lasting change that countries need in order to sustain political sovereignty and support community efforts to rebuild. This research, therefore, aims to bridge important gaps between United States intervention efforts, public policy and mental health.
Date Created
2019-05
Agent

The Multipolar Moment: Changes in the Global Environment and the Conduct of Humanitarian Intervention

Description
This thesis seeks to analyze the phenomenon of increasing multipolarity in the global environment vis-à-vis the conduct of humanitarian intervention. Established powers, including the United States and United Kingdom, and rising, predominantly developing states seem at odds over where to

This thesis seeks to analyze the phenomenon of increasing multipolarity in the global environment vis-à-vis the conduct of humanitarian intervention. Established powers, including the United States and United Kingdom, and rising, predominantly developing states seem at odds over where to intervene, when, and on what basis. Situating this conflict within the responsibility to protect (R2P) doctrine, which has been the guiding international framework for intervention over the past decade-and-a-half, the research answers whether the processes of multipolarity will ultimately lead to the reconciliation of nation-state interests (cooperation) or unreconciled divergence (competition). Using United Nations Security Council resolutions to temporally track multipolarity and map nations’ language into the rhetorical spaces of humanitarianism and inclinations toward intervention, the research finds support for the proposition that concepts of humanitarian intervention between great and rising powers are more conflictual. Furthermore, nations appear to be clustering into “camps” along broadly humanitarian/interventionist and state sovereigntist lines. To preserve humanitarian intervention in a more multipolar world, its proponents must accommodate diverse nation-state interests, facilitate improved relations among the member states of the U.N. Security Council, and empower regional bodies as partners in alleviating conflict under an R2P mandate.
Date Created
2019-05
Agent

Judaism and Charity: A Qualitative Analysis

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Description
The connection between Judaism and Charitable giving was evaluated by researching what Judaism teaches about giving to charity and also how Jews practice these teachings. Primary research was gathered by referring to Jewish texts like the Torah and the

The connection between Judaism and Charitable giving was evaluated by researching what Judaism teaches about giving to charity and also how Jews practice these teachings. Primary research was gathered by referring to Jewish texts like the Torah and the Mishneh Torah. Three Jewish people were interviewed about their perspective and practices towards giving and the connection to Judaism. All answers were referenced against the research to determine the most likely causes that Jews give to charity.
Date Created
2019-05
Agent

Brexit and the Irish Border: Media, Identity, and Rhetoric in the run up to the vote, June 16-23, 2016

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Description
In June of 2016, the United Kingdom held a referendum for its citizens to decide whether to remain a part of the European Union or take their leave. The vote was close but ultimately the U.K. decided to leave, triggering

In June of 2016, the United Kingdom held a referendum for its citizens to decide whether to remain a part of the European Union or take their leave. The vote was close but ultimately the U.K. decided to leave, triggering the two-year process of negotiations that would shape the U.K.’s departure (Brexit). The question of what will become of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is heavy with implications for the national identity of people living on either side of the border, and this makes it one of the more pressing concerns in Brexit discourse. This research analyzes how national identity is used as a rhetorical tactic in media to influence and persuade readers to vote in accordance with the author’s political goals. It does so by evaluating how borders shape national identity and analyzing newspaper articles from the two highest circulating Northern Irish daily newspapers (The Irish News and the Belfast Telegraph) during the week leading up to the June 23rd, 2016 referendum. In analyzing news articles relating to the Irish border issue of Brexit from The Irish News and the Belfast Telegraph during the time frame of June 16th-23rd, 2016, four analytical categories of how identity-related rhetoric was used were discovered: fear, self-interest, Irish Nationalism, and a negative association of the past. Further, it was hypothesized and confirmed the political leanings of the papers influenced which type of rhetorical tactic was used. In the broad realm of Brexit and media related discussion, this research could help strengthen understanding of how traditional media uses national identity to persuade readers to and influence voting behavior in the midst of such a divisive referendum.

Key Words: Brexit, Irish border, national identity, rhetoric, newspapers
Date Created
2019-05
Agent

Playing by the Winner's Rules: Democracy & Political Identity Manipulation in the Former Yugoslavia and Chile

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Description
The end of the Cold War brought global norms of democracy and a renewed notion of national self-determination. This paper seeks to understand the political and economic influence of the international community in the definition of national identity in the

The end of the Cold War brought global norms of democracy and a renewed notion of national self-determination. This paper seeks to understand the political and economic influence of the international community in the definition of national identity in the former Yugoslavia and in Chile at the end of the 1980s. This paper begins with a history of Bosnia-Herzegovina to provide context for the power shifts that occurred during the twentieth century. In this section I address the popular misconception of the root of the violence in the 1990s as due to “ancient hatreds” and offer several examples of primarily political and economic—not ethnic—differences. The next section further disproves this theory with a study of the fluctuating nature of identity. Existing on multiple planes and very much subject to social environment, this section explores the possibility and strategic appeal of identity manipulation to achieve political and economic expansionism. In an era marked by legitimacy earned through democratic support, political leaders used the media to manipulate popular conceptions of identity to promote cohesion through fear and pride. These themes are addressed in the section on the history of Chile, where national identity was formed to legitimize independence from Spain. As global economic markets grew more interdependent, people became unhappy with vulnerability to international shifts and demanded individual protections. Finally, the conclusion provides a brief analysis of the role of the media in reforming economic interests as identity politics. The susceptibility of identity to manipulation in the media, by both internal and external actors, sheds light on the potential fallibility of democracy as a liberal institution.
Date Created
2018-05
Agent

Indigenous Land Rights: A Local to Global Examination of the Finnmark Act of Norway

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Description
This thesis aimed to further research of indigenous land rights by examining the Norwegian Finnmark Act and how it interacts with the international indigenous land rights movement. The Finnmark Act was legislation that returned land to the indigenous people, the Sami.

This thesis aimed to further research of indigenous land rights by examining the Norwegian Finnmark Act and how it interacts with the international indigenous land rights movement. The Finnmark Act was legislation that returned land to the indigenous people, the Sami. This project examined the impact that the International Labor Organization’s Convention 169 on Indigenous Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries had on the passage of this Act and what other indigenous communities can learn from the Finnmark Act.
Date Created
2018-05
Agent

U.S. - East Asia Relations: Before and After the Trump Campaign

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Description
This piece highlights the Trump administration's history of diplomatic relations with states in East Asia (specifically North Korea (DPRK), South Korea (ROK), Japan, and China). The research in this essay primarily focuses on Trump's public attitudes towards these states during

This piece highlights the Trump administration's history of diplomatic relations with states in East Asia (specifically North Korea (DPRK), South Korea (ROK), Japan, and China). The research in this essay primarily focuses on Trump's public attitudes towards these states during his presidential campaign, and seeks to establish if any negative statements towards East Asian states have affected social and diplomatic relations after Trump's inauguration. Overall, residents of Japan and South Korea had an overwhelmingly negative view of Trump during his campaign, primarily due to cultural differences and dissatisfaction with Trump's blunt, unpredictable demeanor which clashes with Japanese and Korean social norms. While public opinion of Trump was still low in mainland China, Trump's attitude is reminiscent of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution which serves as the societal and governmental framework of the modern People's Republic of China. Therefore, individuals living in China were more likely to be attracted to Trump's personality \u2014 this evident through the popularity of Trump "fan clubs" which gained popularity on Chinese social media websites during the American presidential campaign period. In terms of the bilateral relations between the U.S. and each East Asian state, Donald Trump's negative statements towards China, Japan, and South Korea during his campaign did not significantly impact diplomatic relations during his presidency. While Trump is vocally opposed to certain initiatives that are supported by these heads of state, he has demonstrated a willingness to discuss issues with these leaders. While this openness is not completely evident in U.S. \u2014 Southeast Asian relations, the leaders of Northeast Asia have set aside Trump's controversial campaign statements and have reciprocated his willingness to discuss important issues.
Date Created
2018-05
Agent