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FINAL PAPER TOPICS

Please write up your final paper topic in as much detail as possible. Make sure to provide some information on each of the following:

1. In one or two phrases (all in all, not longer than 3 lines on the screen), present your topic. What exactly are you looking at? What are you looking for? So what? If you can't answer all of these questions in a pithy, clear way, you need to work more at narrowing down your topic and clarifying it for yourself. Then try again.
2. Provide more info on what your data might be.
3. Where would you find such data? Name your potential sources, and discuss the issue of access, if necessary.
4. What kind of methodologies will you be using? Mention whatever seems to fit - I will soon provide you with more concrete info on that. Refer to the "Ethnography" handout from a couple of weeks ago. A quick search on the Internet for "qualitative methods, social sciences" won't hurt either!
5. So what? Why are you undertaking this research? What are you hoping to find/prove/change with your research? Why should your audience (U.S. college students) pay attention to your research?

Rachael

For my final paper topic I will be looking at the education of the Aboriginal culture in Australian schools and how this could perpetuate negative attitudes toward the culture that I observed while abroad.

My data will be the information I get from Australian students that have attended a variety of schools. Textbooks will be a large part of my analysis because they provide a curriculum for classes. I will also rely on the information that I learned in my Origins of Australia class that I took while in Australia and my experiences of attitudes directed towards Aborigines. I will also contact Aboriginal societies within Australia to get more information on Aboriginal education.

I will be using a lot of email and phone contact with Australians to retrieve information since I’m going to be evaluating attitudes. I hope that the information in textbooks, or sections of textbooks are not hard to receive from outside the country.

I am undertaking this subject because I think it is particularly interesting how two conflicting cultures respond to one another and how attitudes and stereotypes remain constant over hundreds of years. I think that overall it is a valuable lesson in tolerance and knowing the cause and effects of past events which can aid in making better decisions in the future. As for students going abroad tolerance is an important skill they should exercise while abroad.

Jackie

For my final project I want to determine what students in public schools in Ghana learn about the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, if anything.

When I lived in Ghana, I decided to research this topic, so luckily I already have very useful and relevant data, like interviews with teachers, students, and members of the curriculum design board at the Ministry of Education. I also have copies of textbooks that contain the unit on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

In addition to utilizing the resources I already have, I might want to do some research into the history of the curriculum and the public school system in general in Ghana to determine what percentage of the population has access to free education.

As I mentioned in class, when I talked to people in Ghana I was surprised at what I perceived to be a lack of knowledge surrounding the issue of the slave trade. As a history major I believe in the importance of history and in understanding one’s past in order to most effectively move on with the future -- a concept also represented with the West African idea of “Sankofa.” I think that research into the curriculum will be revealing not only about education in Ghana but also about the people’s culture and what they consider to be worth learning and remembering about their people’s history. Even though Ghana feels very far away to most of us, it was central to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, a trade that influenced the rest of the world, and our country quite specifically. Thus my topic is indirectly related to all of us.

Matt

My topic is the effect of bringing traditional religious practices from India (specifically yoga) into a pop culture setting in America. I want to try and define the Western vs. traditional concept of yoga.

I am look at how the practice is altered from its original intention and what, if any, repercussions occur from this new interpretation.

I am look for a history and definition of the traditional practices and meaning in the traditional setting. I will compare and contrast this with the utilization and meaning (as derived from local practitioners) in the American, pop culture setting.

My data will be the responses to survey questions (most likely “What does this practice mean to you?” and “What is yoga?”) of local practitioners. I will seek data on how Indians historically practiced yoga and in what capacity, as well as how modern Indians practice.

Potential sources will be local yoga instructors (my mother, teachers at UMass and in the pioneer valley). I can contact these people by e-mail. Also by e-mail I can contact practitioners I met in India. Other research can be found online on interpretations of the pop culture appropriation of yoga practice and books that promote practices in the Western lifestyle (e.g. yoga as a form of athletic exercise or Western discussions of the meaning of yoga in the modern world). These texts can be found easily in the library and at local bookstores.

My methodology is the comparison and analysis of individuals’ relation to the practice of yoga in varying time and place. This includes looking at what are the repercussions of a new interpretation of a traditional practice? Further, what is altered in the transmission of a practice between two vastly different cultures? Are these changes inherently positive or negative?

I am undertaking this research in order to highlight the importance of caution in transmitting practices cross-culturally. For practices such as yoga it may be possible to understand how stereotypes, misinterpretation or mutation of ancient practices can take place. These changes could be seen as derogatory to those who still practice in the traditional fashion. Depending on the results, I could find that the introduction into Western pop culture may reinvigorate a fading Indian practice, and revive an ancient practice. The audience may be interested to see from where America receives some of the culturally accepted practices that are often taken for granted (and in the case of re-transmission back to India: the impact that our culture has on all other parts of the world).

re: Katie:

Anna

My topic is a look at human dignity and respect as noted in French mainstream culture. French ideas and behaviors are often dictated by an inherent or historically based mindset regarding these topics.

In my search, I will look at recent newspaper articles and products of French media as well as recollections from my time spent abroad, especially those which I have used in my previous posts. Specific areas I hope to analyze are interactions between consumers and vendors, attitudes toward exercise, thoughts on employment or termination, and beliefs regarding the death penalty. Also, I will consider historical events, such as the French Revolution, that have been a major component in shaping French customs.

I will analyze my sources with a focus on the beliefs, ideas, and/or behaviors that seem intrinsic to the mainstream culture of France.

To me, this research is interesting because it focuses on a country similar to the US yet that in many ways, especially ideologically, is different. I hope to better understand the cultural differences, which often seem rude to foreigners who visit France, from a more academic point of view. This research will be a simple example proving that initial impressions or generalizations of a people can be modified through further knowledge and understanding.

Amanda

My research topic is the different perception of the social norms and etiquette observed between an Irish music session in Ireland and the same thing in the states. This might provide some very interesting insights as to a)the understanding and display of humility in the two different cultures, and b)how traditions and rituals become skewed after passing from culture to culture.

My data for this project would mostly consist of a) my own personal experiences, b) the personal insights and experiences of individuals from both cultures that participate in this event, and c) some research into the history of the Irish session and how this commmunication event came into being/passed to the United States. I imagine most of my data will come from interviews held with people I played in sessions with in Ireland (who are Irish and have grown up within that tradition) and with people who are fairly new to the tradition from the States. I also have some books and documents regarding the history of Irish music, which might lend some light to the subject.

My main obstacle with this project will be the methodology, I think. In a way, I have a hypothesis, and I want to test the reactions of all these people to see if their views fit what I think they would be. However, I don't want to give this impression because it might seem, to the people who I talk with, that I'm trying to pass judgement on them or force them to say something in particular. The other trouble with getting this information is that a lot of the social norms and etiquette in question are not easily recognized as "rules" in this communication setting, but are "inherent elements" of the Irish session, so some people might not be completely aware of all the communication processes that occur in this event.

I would find this research very interesting because I have witnessed several disruptions among musicians that pertain to these unspoken rules... some people follow them without knowing it, some people are aware of the rules and follow them religiously, others are not aware of them at all, and this is mostly what causes disturbance in the community of musicians. A study like this could be very helpful not only for people interested in joining in the Irish music community, but for anyone interested in joining into a tradition that originally stems from another culture, and to help them be aware of the unspoken rules/history of that event that might not have made it across the pond.

Bart

My topic will be: The process by which the Chinese government has eliminated mention of the Great Leap Forward and the events at Tiananmen Square and what this means for the cultural interactions between China and the United States that are sure to become more frequent in the years to come. A good part of my research would come from historical documents involving the Chinese government practices and methodologies, but data from interviews of both Chinese living in China, Chinese living here in the United States, and foreigners living in China.

Talking with people living in China about issues like these will definitely not be easy. First of all, the government still monitors e-mail treads moving in between China and other countries. Also, Chinese people are well aware of the fact that the government does not want them to speak of certain “hot” issues, so not just any old joe in China would want to speak of these things. Then, there is also the issue of e-mailing in Chinese. There is still yet to be a good system that everyone uses for e-mailing in Chinese, because of issues involved with encoding. Regardless, I think that I could still perform the study. I will be focusing on research for the first part to give a background to the reader and then focus on small samples, but trying to pull a lot out of these small samples. Small samples are key because finding a large sample of people living in China who were willing to speak of these events, or even could speak of these events, would be somewhat difficult.

My issue is extremely important to the majority of modern college students. Subjects involving Chinese culture are becoming more and more important to the curriculums because of the growing economic relationship between the U.S. and China. China also plays no small part in the estranged relationship between the United States and North Korea. When entering China or simply reading about China, it would be very useful for students to have a grasp of the mindset of the majority of the Chinese population. I would have liked to have had a better grip of what most Chinese people did and did not talk about and the origins of their communicating inhibitions, so that in spending time there I could have tried to draw more from out conversations.

Sahar

I found that there is a lack of sexual education in schools in Morocco. I would like to find the impact of this on society, as well as Moroccan views towards it. That is, for the first part, perhaps compared to other Arab and/or Muslim countries that have sex ed (if there are any!), are birth rates in Morocco higher? Are STD rates higher? Also, psychologically, what is the effect of not having sex ed? Do young Moroccans receive the information from other sources (home, media, internet)? Are they scared of sex? If they have a deficiency of information, do they recognize this, or do they think that they understand all the issues involved with sex/sexuality? When a crisis/problem/question comes up, do they know who or what to ask? Do they feel comfortable asking at all?

As far as Moroccan views towards it, I would like to see if, especially in light of these previous questions, Moroccans support sex education. Not that I'm going to do a survery of all of Morocco- that is, do Moroccans tend to support sex ed? Do certain groups of Moroccans support sex ed? What kind of sex ed- full, comprehensive, or at just some information/discussion? This part of the project will hopefully come from interviews (via email probably) with Moroccans, hopefully a range of ages and classes. Or, if this is too broad, perhaps I can narrow it down to how do college aged, upper middle to upper class Moroccans view sex ed?" This info would come from friends at the university I attended in Morocco.

As for the first part, hopefully there is data on other countries, somewhat comparable in culture and religion to Morocco, for things like birth rate, age of childbearing, STD rates, etc. The questions I posed under the psychological part of "impact on society" can come from the interviews with Moroccan students. Perhaps there's a better source? I can also contact Moroccan organizations related to this issue, like the Young People's Action Association, Democratic Association of Women of Morocco, the Ennakhil Association for Women and Children, etc (there is a huge list! [1]).

I'm undertaking this research specifically because I find it interesting. I also think it is a very important issue globally. Moroccans may be very interested about the findings of this project. But why would American college students be? Well, I guess I'd hope that they would relate enough on the importance of the issue, or at least find it interesting to know what the issue and impacts of sex ed are in a Muslim country. Morocco is an interesting case study for Arab/Muslim countries. Secular, it is still very predominantly Muslim, and though there it is supposedly democratic, the government does not have much power and there are general Islamic rules enforced throghout the country. It's a good model of what may happen if the countries we consider radically Islamist secularize.

Amanda

I would like to look at the political rights of the four major language groups in Spain: Castilian, Catalan, Galician, and Basque, and their societal implications. I would first like to look into the history of these languages and their near-disappearance during Franco’s rule. More importantly, I want to investigate the resurgence of and pride in these languages and the reason for this sentiment. I will ask the questions: What do these languages represent to those who speak the language? What do they represent to those who do not speak the languages? What is the response of the government to these linguistic groups; and why does the government respond that way? Why are these languages historically the cause of such political and social disruption for the Spanish?

I will use historical documents, and accounts of political movements by the people within these language groups. These documents can be found in books on the Spanish Civil War and the reign of Franco at the WEB DuBois library. I will also search LexisNexis for articles on political movements and modern linguistic concerns. I could also contact my acquaintances in Spain to gather opinions on their national language rights. If I were to use these particular resources, I would engage in unstructured interviewing and case study methodologies.

I wish to discover why the many Spanish language groups choose adhere so strongly to and fight for their own linguistic identity rather than cling to the unified national and official language of Spain, which is Spanish. My audience should be interested in this research because each person maintains their own linguistic autonomy as identity. This research is relevant to all people who use language to communicate.

Marissa

I am researching all aspects of Italian food as a subculture in their society.

Apart from daily journal writing, the only constant research I maintained in Italy was a recipe book. I can literally tell the story of my trip through recipes I collected from Italians throughout the year! And that includes young people, people I met traveling, and family friends. Using my records, (recipes, food anecdotes, daily experiences with Italians, etc.), I will try to outline how important food, and the act of food as ritual is for Italians.

I have many contacts in Italy, and we keep in touch regularly, so I will use their interviews to help me get to the root of “why” Italians have rules and guidelines about eating.

Essentially, I want to break the “Olive Garden” stereotypes about what “Italian food” is. Spaghetti and meatballs is Italian American, not Italian. More importantly, however, I want to show my peers how the institution of eating can influence society. Italians support local grocers, waste very little, take the time to be together, just to name a few. Those small actions have a great effect.

Jia

The topic of my final paper involves examining the definition of “shame” and its social and psychological implications across Asian and South African cultures.

The primary source of my data will be my recollection of experiencing “shame” in the South African context. But, this may already present some challenges. I had not been very good at keeping a personal journal when I was traveling in South Africa. What I remember now about how I experienced “shame” might be an inaccurate but still valid perspective. I could, however, reconstruct my “shame” experience by interviewing Katie. Since she also studied in Cape Town with me, the recollection of her experience will fresh up my memory, and perhaps on top of that add on another perspective. If possible, I could also approach the South African students that are currently doing their study abroad at UMass and ask them about their understanding of “shame.” I think their interpretation of “shame” will add a fresh layer of understanding this term, allowing me to “decode” it more critically and insightfully.

The methodology that I will be employing includes interviewing individuals that have had an exposure to “shame.” I think myself is a great asset to this project because being Asian, I’m already familiar with concept of “shame” that is used in the Asian context. However, there are challenges in terms of writing ethnography about yourself or your own culture. How can I analyze “shame” without placing my personal justification is not an easy task. What I could do is to detach myself from the notion of “shame” and then approach this term as if I heard it for the first time.

I am undertaking this topic because “shame” is a rather foreign concept in the Western society. There is an interesting psychosocial phenomenon associated with this term. It is also interesting that the definition of “shame” evolves cross-culturally. I hope that by studying this term, I will provide some ground understanding in terms of not only the cultural implication of an English word usage but also the social sensitivity that surrounds a population.

Alison

I am looking at the concept of ‘machismo’ in Costa Rican culture and how this learned aspect of culture affects both Costa Rican men and women. How does the media and family culture encourage and/or discourage this image? How do female and male opinions differ? How do opinions differ between teens and parents? I want to see why men behave this way and in turn why male violence is such an issue in Costa Rica.

My data will include a variety of personal interviews with Costa Rican men and women who vary in age. I want to look to make comparisons in terms of gender and age. I will also look at local advertisements and media to see how the ‘machismo’ attitude is encouraged and/or discouraged in their culture. I will find this information in articles, websites, from personal experience, and from my interviews. I am a bit worried about finding enough people to interview to get sufficient, comparable information. I also worry about my ability to fully analyze the responses of my interviewees, especially if they only speak Spanish. Since Spanish is not my native language, and language is so important to communication and understanding, I worry about my capacity to do this research well. I have some contacts who speak English and some who do not. I hope some of my contacts can get me in touch with other contacts with whom I can communicate successfully.

I am doing this research because I was able to see and experience first-hand this culturally driven, learned attitude exhibited by Costa Rican men. It is also a concept that is widespread in Spanish culture, and I was able to see it in Spain as well (although for the purpose of this project I would like to focus on Costa Rica. A compare and contrast of the TWO cultures could be very interesting, but I am not sure how to go about that and it would be a more general - instead of specific - product.) I lived down the street from a woman who was murdered by her boyfriend. I lived in a host family where my host mom expressed opinions that essentially said “this is just how it is.” I also had a host brother so it would be interesting to interview my host mom. I am hoping to better understand and analyze Costa Rican culture. I think this research will be interesting for any US college student even remotely interested in learning about cultural differences and analysis involving gender, image, values, and attitudes (to name a few).

Katie

Topic

I want to research access to tertiary education for black South Africans, particularly those from impoverished backgrounds. I want to research how enrollment has changed since the elimination of the apartheid system, at attrition and graduation rates for black South Africans in comparison with other sectors of the population, what obstacles face poor black South Africans who want to go to university (or "varsity," as they call it in South Africa), and what policies and programs are in place to bridge this gap.

Methodology

I plan to use several methods of inquiry, including: -Empirical data about admissions and graduation rates at the University of Cape Town, by race -Journal articles and research about access to education in South Africa -Interviews with employees at the South African Environmental Project, an NGO that works with township high schools on extracurricular programs, university preparation programs, etc. and also runs a gap-year program for township students who did well in secondary school but are not yet ready for university -Interview with participant in gap-year program -My personal experience and narratives I heard

I have already contacted two employees at SAEP who said they are happy to do an interview, and can put me in touch with a gap-year student. I also contacted my former students in the Media School, the volunteering project I did, who are now in university to see if they could do an interview, but have not heard back. I have a link to the UCT statistics on admissions and a "focus page" published by the UCT student newspaper about this topic as well.

I may also try to contact the University of the Western Cape, a historically black university, and get their admissions statistics as well; however, I have tried before when in the country with limited success so I'm not sure if I'll be able to get the info. I need.

I want to focus most heavily on the narrative and experience, thus I plan to give more precedence to interviews and use statistics and studies to back up the narration, rather than the other way around, but we'll see how that plays out with my research.

Scott

I want to research the social and economic reasons behind the explosion in popularity of chewing the plant, "qat," in the past two decades in Yemen. I wish to connect its increased demand to early government policies aimed towards stabilization and economic integration in the newly formed Republic of Yemen in the early 1990s.

My research will be based mostly on essays and books regarding the topic. Country profiles offered by the World Bank as well as The Economist will also be useful resources. I'm not sure how useful personal interviews would be, though if I find them to be necessary while doing research I will certainly integrate them into the process.

The research is significant as qat is largely responsible (though certainly not solely) for water scarcity problems in Yemen. Already an extremely arid country, Yemen also has limited groundwater resources and an extremely large agricultural sector. Around 33% of agricultural value added comes from the cultivation of qat, due to its extreme profitability. Around 10% of total cultivable land in Yemen is dedicated to the cultivation of this one plant, and that number is rising. The problem is this: qat is a water-intensive crop, perhaps the most water intensive crop in Yemen (estimates of national water consumption for the purpose of qat cultivation range between 50% and 65%), and the expansion of its cultivation within the agricultural sector is further straining already limited water resources. Furthermore, qat is chewed by roughly 90% of the population at least 3 times a week for around 4-5 hrs at a time, often during the work day. The effects on worker productivity are obviously detrimental, with some studies suggesting that millions of work hours are wasted daily due to the chewing of qat.