Social Sciences – Page 28 – UROP Spring Symposium 2021

Social Sciences

Human Rights and Indigenous Rights in Africa

Throughout the world, indigenous peoples’ ways of life are being threatened due to surrounding governments and economic conquests. In 2007, the United Nations signed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which states that indigenous peoples have both individual and collective rights to their culture and identity along with other human rights such as education, healthcare, employment, language, etc. It also prohibits the discrimination of indigenous peoples and allows indigenous peoples to continue their traditional ways of life. Despite all of this, indigenous people’s rights that were outlined in this document are being violated. This project investigates the current violations against the rights of indigenous peoples in Africa and the implications on certain indigenous groups. By researching articles that describe these violations and creating case studies that summarize numerous violations across the continent, this project aims to create an interactive website that documents these violations in a way that is easy to access and understand. The purpose of this project is to present these violations to the United Nations in order to get justice for these indigenous populations.

Human Rights and Indigenous Rights in Africa Read More »

The influence of COVID-19 related racism on the behaviors amongst Asian Americanss

Since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic, many instances of anti-asian sentiment (discrimination, hate crimes, etc.) have been experienced by Asians in the United States. Such experiences can influence one’s well being (the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy): a huge and overlooked aspect of health. Due to the novelty of this issue, little is known about the depth of the implications these experiences have on one’s well-being, and their inherently behavior; this study aims at looking at the influence of experiencing or viewing such racial instances on protective behaviors carried out by Asians Americans. Protective behaviors can be operationalized as behaviors that ensure one’s feeling of safety. The study utilized an online survey in a convenience sample. The final study results will provide data to verify hypotheses that if there are positive correlations between experiencing or viewing COVID-19 related discrimination and the likelihood of carrying out protective behaviors. The information will provide insight about racism and its association on protective behaviors. The results can better assist in developing mitigation strategies that are tailored to individual characteristics in hopes of improving one’s overall well-being and ultimately, improving their health.

The influence of COVID-19 related racism on the behaviors amongst Asian Americanss Read More »

Promoting Flu Vaccination among Chinese Americans; Providing Flu Education through Trusted Messengers

Objective: The flu is a severe respiratory disease that can cause severe complications, including hospitalization, and is responsible for 290,000-650,000 [6] global deaths per year. The flu vaccine is safe and the best way to prevent the spread of the virus. However, there remains a lot of hesitancy and misinformation regarding the vaccine and the virus itself especially within the Asian community [2]. This study sought to examine reasons for flu vaccination hesitancy as well as to increase influenza knowledge, specifically among the Chinese American community. Methods: Eastern Michigan University Center for Health Disparities Innovations & Studies held 11 CDC funded mobile flu clinics in Michigan in Fall 2020 and provided vaccinations to 337 individuals; during the clinic, bilingual trusted messengers provided flu education. This project reported the results from pre and post flu vaccination surveys with 11 questions about influenza knowledge and demographic information. The results were based on data from 39 Chinese participants. Statistical analyses were conducted in order to measure the efficacy of the flu informational sessions for overall and Chinese participants. Results: The survey data showed that the main reason why the Chinese sub-population had not gotten vaccinated in the past was due to lack of access to the vaccine. Paired t-tests showed that the flu education resulted in significant improvements in overall participants’ knowledge on various aspects about flu, for example, timing of the flu season, vaccination timeline, ways to prevent flu, and others. Conclusion: This study indicated that education on flu and flu vaccination is necessary in order to promote increased vaccination, specifically among Asian communities. Increased education and vaccination will ultimately slow the spread of the virus and improve health outcomes of underserved communities. However, due to the small sample size of the Chinese participants, further research with a larger sample will provide more information about this specific Asian American population. Future intervention efforts can be focused on addressing flu vaccination hesitancy which will provide additional insights for effective strategies to promote COVID-19 vaccination in this population.

Promoting Flu Vaccination among Chinese Americans; Providing Flu Education through Trusted Messengers Read More »

Financing and Counter-Financing of Violent Non-State Actors Project

There are numerous ways to deter terrorist groups from being active, one of them being obstruction of financing of the terrorist groups. It is a very important method governments and institutions take to stop violence, yet there is only a few organized dataset on the economic counterinsurgent actions taken against terrorist groups. This project collects and organizes data of counterinsurgent actions that hinder financing of the terrorist groups. Through a database Nexis Uni, this project records relevant events through articles from 1990 to 2018. The dataset classifies the counterinsurgent incidents into specific actions, showing clearly the frequency and impact of each type of actions. The dataset aims to cover most terrorist groups in the world and the project is still in the process of collecting data. The project provides analysis on the impact and effectiveness of each action, which will be useful in fighting against terrorist groups. It also gives further insight in how the actions and attitudes towards these violent non-state actors have changed over the last 30 years.

Financing and Counter-Financing of Violent Non-State Actors Project Read More »

How do Undergraduate Research Programs Help First-Generation College Students?

The existing literature on first-generation college students (Ives and Castillo, 2020; Antonelli et al., 2020; Keefe et al., 2020) centers primarily on the unique obstacles they face on their path to success upon entering college. Though some authors (e.g., Almeida et al. 2019; Chang et al., 2020) have studied how first-generation students can overcome these barriers, few have mentioned how undergraduate research programs can be an effective method for doing so. Palmer et al. (2015) suggest that students can benefit greatly due to the many mentoring relationships involved in undergraduate research programs. To synthesize these studies and identify these benefits, I conducted a literature search of multiple databases (i.e., PsychInfo; ERIC) to identify articles related to first-generation college students’ participation in undergraduate research programs. In my review of the 31 articles I collected, I found that first-generation college students can utilize undergraduate research programs as a social capital intervention. This intervention allows first-generation college students to gain social capital, which refers to the benefits and resources (i.e., psychological and academic support, increased retention, field socialization, a communication network) received from a social support network (Parnes et al., 2020). These benefits and resources aid students in their college career and are obtained through interactions with faculty and peer mentors in the research setting. I discuss mentoring techniques to facilitate social growth and additional improvements to undergraduate research programs that can further benefit first-generation college students’ transition to higher education.

How do Undergraduate Research Programs Help First-Generation College Students? Read More »

Human Rights and Indigenous Rights in Africa

Many indigenous peoples of Africa face violations of their rights to land and other resources. This project works to create a website that documents and archives an array of case studies concerning indigenous peoples from across the continent. Those who have long standing rights to specific land territories and who preserve their own cultural, linguistic, and social practices in the continent are considered to be “indigenous”. The research being done aims to increase public awareness of violations that otherwise can be difficult to locate as indigenous people count for approximately 5% of the global population and their concerns rarely make it into mainstream media. We divide the violations into six categories, covering conservation, agribusiness, infrastructure, refugee crises, mining, and farming conflicts. Cases are built by researching the actors involved and collecting informative sources regarding the violation, and each is paired with accompanying images/maps/and videos. A narrative outlining the violation’s causes and consequences as well as the additional media are uploaded onto the website and neatly organized with tags referencing relevant keywords. In addition, all of the bibliographic sources are archived in Zotero. From here, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are used to broadcast each case. By both building a comprehensive online resource to inform people of these violations, and then using various platforms to extend the audience of the information, it is hoped that attention will be brought to the injustices occurring.

Human Rights and Indigenous Rights in Africa Read More »

Lessons on Community Building from The Dream Storytelling Project

The Dream Storytelling Project is an oral history initiative with the purpose of educating the wider public about Detroit’s African American Muslim and African Muslim community-building and revitalization efforts. I served as a transcriber for several oral history interviews. In this capacity, I worked to make the content of each individual’s interview clear for the wider public. As I carried out my work, I learned about the mosque as a venue for community-building, acting as a gathering place for people to meet throughout the week. I also observed the importance of language and shared rhetoric, noticing the prevalence of Arabic terms and phrases. Additionally, I noted the importance of community building efforts via the devotion of individuals’ time and skillsets, applying them to the different needs of the population in order to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all. Once finalized, the transcripts are then shared via an interactive multimedia website and permanent public archive. This allows for The Storytelling Project to provide educational materials about African American Muslim and African Muslim history and leadership in Detroit, thereby building knowledge about under-represented and under-served populations.

Lessons on Community Building from The Dream Storytelling Project Read More »

Human Rights and Indigenous Rights in Africa

Introduction: In this project, we cover a diverse array of both peoples and issues happening across all regions of Africa. We have nearly 70 cases, each of which were carefully researched and written up as a case study for the general public to learn about on our website . We break down cases into six different categories: Conservation, Agribusiness, Infrastructure, Refugee Crises, Mining, and Farmer Conflicts. The issues that we find in regard to the crisis’ indigenous peoples of Africa face are constantly expanding. In partnership with various NGOs, we are working hard to expose these issues for the purpose of helping to raise awareness and potentially bring change to the indigenous communities of Africa. Methods: Each member of the project is assigned a certain number of cases in which we are responsible for updating information and links on the website (maintenance for older cases), researching and finding information on developing cases, and taking turns writing a case study to be featured on the website and our social media platforms. In order to make sure citations are standard across all case studies, we import them into a system called Zotero which accurately alphabetizes each citation and puts them in the same format. To do site maintenance we use wordpress and ArcGis. The data collected is qualitative. Results and Conclusions: There are constantly new developments and updates to many cases in that these issues are prevalent and still continue today. There are no finalized results for any of the cases because none of these issues have been “solved”. There are cases that have not had any development in the last few years but because these communities still exist and in most cases still in danger, our research has not been concluded.

Human Rights and Indigenous Rights in Africa Read More »

The Dream of Detroit’s Storytelling Project

Dream of Detroit’s Storytelling project is aimed at educating the public about African-American Muslim and African Muslim communities in Detroit through oral history interviews. I helped transcribe a set of these interviews to prepare them for the project’s multi-media website and permanent public archive. These interviews, carried out by a team of young people from within community, center around how members of these populations participate in community building, leadership, and the revitalization of Detroit. Through my work in the project, I deepened my understanding of how community members view the importance of Islamic education, neighborhood revitalization, and social justice. I learned about the diversity of individuals and experiences within these communities. I will benefit from this broadened perspective in both my personal and educational life. The transcriptions of these interviews and the project as a whole will increase understanding, appreciation, and respect for the history, diversity, and impact of African American Muslim and African Muslim communities in Detroit.

The Dream of Detroit’s Storytelling Project Read More »

Financing and Counter-Financing of Violent Non-State Actors Project

I am working on data collection for the Countering the Financing of Violent Non-State Actors Project. The goal of the project is to develop the first comprehensive database of actions that obstruct the finances of terrorist groups in hopes to measure the efficacy of these actions and whether or not certain counterinsurgent actions either harm or embolden terrorist groups. This project is one of the first of its kind. The data used for this database is obtained from newspaper and online article entries regarding the different groups from the years 1990 to 2018. The articles are accessed on NexisUni then codified by a team of coders. Different coders code the same groups in order to ensure reliability of the data. There are no results yet for the project, as it is projected to take more time to complete the database. When the database is nearing completion, statistical analysis of the data will be performed in order to determine the efficacy of certain counterinsurgent actions.

Financing and Counter-Financing of Violent Non-State Actors Project Read More »

lsa logoum logo