When Charles Guiteau killed U.S. President James Garfield, he claimed that God had ordered him to do so. During his trial, Guiteau’s lawyers plead not guilty by reason of insanity, and the question of Guiteau’s innocence or guilt quickly became a question about the very nature of insanity itself. In...
This research explores the experiences of Iraqi women during and after the 2003 U.S.-led war (2003-2011). The aim of the project was to provide an occasion for a group of Iraqi women to give voice to their lived experiences of war and to document these voices, adding their subjective perspectives...
This dissertation aims to provide a comprehensive portrayal of doula care in the lives of pregnant and parenting adolescent mothers. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationships between psychosocial stress, social support, institutionalized constraints, and their impacts on health and well-being among adolescent mothers in the Northwestern...
This dissertation draws on ethnographic data and political ecological theory to analyze the experience of residents living in the IBM-Endicott Superfund site in Endicott, New York. Combining in-depth narratives and quantitative measures from a household survey, it highlights residents' perceptions of 1) environmental health risk, 2) risk mitigation, 3) deindustrialization...
Jellyfish benefit from many of the changes mankind is making to the ocean. Climate change, overfishing, nutrient runoff, the introduction of invasive species, and coastal development all promote these ancient, gelatinous creatures. Because of their familiarity to readers and affinity for degraded places in the ocean, jellyfish are used to...
Recent conflicts in America concerning the environment (the harvesting of old growth timber in the Pacific Northwest, or the proposed opening of public lands in southern Utah to mining interests, for instance) have precipitated a personal examination of "historical others" (Jensen 64), individuals that possess very different sensibilities from a...
The persistent underrepresentation and marginalization of women of color in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are well-documented. However, much of the existing literature takes an “either/or” approach, focusing solely on the experiences of either “women” or “minorities” in STEM, without adequately examining the unique experiences of...
Social discourse presents teenage childbearing as a “serious problem” that results in significant harm and expense to teenage mothers, their children, and society. Although the discourse of teenage childbearing has been multiple, overlapping, and contested, it has resulted in negative stereotyping and stigmatization of teenage mothers. Much of these stereotypes...
Substantial research has shown deficits in the quality of end-of-life care in the U.S. In response to evidence of these deficits, efforts have been made to improve quality of end-of-life care. One approach has been to ask the question, "What is a good death?" Data on views of a good...
Drosophila suzukii was a known pest of berries, grapes, and stone fruits in East Asia for almost a century. Yet in recent years it has successfully migrated throughout the United States, Mexico, and Europe due to globalized fruit trade. The invasive success of D. suzukii is causing unrest for fruit...