<p> The social behavior and stigma of epilepsy in Korean nationals and Korean Americans throughout California are studied. This study seeks to explore the cultural differences in the social behavior of participants, their thoughts about epilepsy, their familiarity, social order, stigma, and educational knowledge about epilepsy between the Korean national and Korean American society. It argues that Americanization has influenced a positive change in the portrayal of neurological disorder and disease. The method of data collections and analysis were done through convenience sampling with the use of mixed methods. 56 face to face semi-structured audio recorded interviews were done to collect data. The findings of my study came to be of little difference between the two cultures. My hypothesis of the more Americanized a person is the more understanding, less stigmatic with fair social behavior towards epilepsy was correct but only at a baseline level. The key findings that education, cultural outlook and time gap were the main reasons of these results. Link and Phelan&rsquo;s model of stigmatization holds strongly toward the outlook of stigmatism and Americanization in the Korean national and Korean American cultures. In this research paper my created hypothesis will be backed up by theories and history of epilepsy, the methods of how I approached the interviews, the questions asked, how the results came to be, and the conclusion of if my hypothesis was correct or incorrect.</p><p>

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<p> This integrated literature review compiles past and present literature on the African Holocaust or Maafa to provide a more in-depth understanding of the unique sociopolitical narrative of the enslavement and oppression of Africans and African Americans for half a millennium in the United States. This study integrates historical data, theoretical literature, and clinical research to assess immediate and sequential impacts of the traumatization of the African Holocaust on enslaved and liberated Africans, African Americans, and their descendants. This investigation engages literature on trauma (Root, 1992), historical traumas (Duran, Duran, Brave Heart, &amp; Yellow Horse-Davis, 1998), historical unresolved grief (Brave Heart &amp; DeBruyn, 1998), and multigenerational trauma transmission (Danieli, 1998) to explore claims of slavery and relentless oppression leaving a psychological and behavioral legacy behind to the contemporary African American community (Abdullah, Kali, &amp; Sheppard, 1995; Akbar, 1996; Leary, 2001, 2005; Poussaint &amp; Alexander, 2000; B. L. Richardson &amp; Wade, 1999). By and large, this study provides a comprehensive exploration and critical examination of Leary&rsquo;s (2005) Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome theory (PTSS), which suggests that the traumatization of slavery and continued oppression (i.e., racism, discrimination, and marginalization) endured by enslaved Africans in the United States and their descendants over successive centuries has brought about a psychological and behavioral syndrome prevalent amongst 21st century African Americans. Findings from the critical analysis revealed that in addition to inheriting legacies of trauma from their enslaved and oppressed African ancestors, contemporary African Americans may have also inherited legacies of healing that have manifested as survival, strength, spirituality, perseverance, vitality, dynamism, and resiliency. Clinical implications from this research underscored the importance of not pathologizing present generations of African Americans for their attempts to cope with and adapt to perpetually oppressive environmental circumstances. Further quantitative and qualitative research that directly tests the applicability of PTSS within the African American community is needed to better grasp the representational generalizability of PTSS. Lastly, rather than focus on the repeated victimization of African Americans, the findings from this study suggest that future research should focus on the mental sickness of African Americans' oppressors in addition to identifying and delineating intergenerational legacies of survival, resilience, transcendence, and healing birthed out of the historical trauma of slavery.</p>

<p> The study investigated the impact of ethnicity and gender on sexual orientation disclosure in the workplace. A total sample of 129 African American lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) workers between 20 and 61 years of age completed an online survey on PsychData. Respondents were given several measures to determine their ethnicity, gender conformity, and workplace sexual identity coping strategies. A 2x2 multivariate analysis of variance was used to examine the differences between the independent variables (gender conformity/nonconformity and ethnic identity) and dependent variables (passing, covering, implicitly out, and explicitly out). Based on the minority stress model, the research questions focused more on passing and covering coping strategies among LGB individuals who have dual minority identities (i.e., sexual orientation and African American ethnicity). No significant differences were found in terms of using passing and covering coping strategies among LGB individuals who identified with their African American ethnicity combined with gender-nonconforming behaviors. This may have been due to several factors such as a restricted sample size, change or shift in social stereotyping, or the contradicting feelings or concerns of LGB workers with regard to disclosing their sexual orientation. Although previous researchers posited that LGB individuals have a fear of being discriminated against and rejected in the workplace, there are few laws that prevent sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination, leaving the LGB individual to engage the continuum of coping strategies. Methodological implications and limitations of the study are discussed, and suggestions for future research are presented.</p>

<p> This dissertation examines the reasons behind the rise and fall of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) in Somalia. The UIC was born out of the chaos of the Warlord Era in Southern Somalia from within the fabric of Somali Society. The peace and stability that the UIC brought to the region had not been seen since before the fall of Said Barre's regime. However, the rapid martial expansion of the UIC and the perceived threat caused by their success resulted in Ethiopia invading Somalia thereby destroying the UIC and spawning the al-Shabaab movement. .</p>

<p> The U.S. military has struggled with the implementation of diversity efforts throughout history and a key factor supporting this failure is the lack of information collected from its minority groups. An extensive examination of women and gays in the military illustrated a continued disadvantageous environment for both minority groups, which was created by the military's sexual based discrimination. More specifically, the history of sexual orientation discrimination of gays in the military coupled with the lack of research available indicated a need for additional exploration in this field of study. Seminal research efforts provide little insight to the gay service members' perspective within the military. Additionally, current research is excessively narrow, focusing on military readiness, cohesion, and overall military effectiveness. In an effort to close the gap in literature, this qualitative study explored the perspectives of 11 gay men and their experiences as gay service members, before and after the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT). The results of this phenomenological research indicated, as per social identity theory, participants struggled with being gay in the U.S. military. Based on the in-depth interviews, participants felt DADT was an unfair policy which silenced them as a minority group. The DADT policy created family issues and a hostile work environment where participants were subject to sexual orientation discrimination, leading to a sense of alienation, a reduction in job participation, and a decrease in overall job satisfaction. After the repeal, participants reported a slow and sometimes forced attempt at cultural change which resulted in continuing discrimination and ongoing family issues. Out of fear of military retaliation, only some of the participants chose to reveal their sexual orientation following the repeal. Some of the participants who chose to come out of the closet reported continued harassment from their peers and leadership. These gay servicemen suffered from minority stress related to their experiences and expressed concerns regarding their future treatment in the U.S. military. </p>

<p> This study examines young, Black women's hair practices and perspectives within the current wave of the Natural Hair Movement. Based on twelve in-depth interviews with Black women in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, this analysis uses Black feminist thought and standpoint theory to center the concept of "natural" hair and explore participants' relationships to it. The analysis is attentive to the ways family, peers, and media have influenced Black women's hair practices and perspectives, and grounds these in the history of racialized, gendered, and class-related perceptions of Black women's hair. My interviews reveal that "natural" has become such a desirable label that even Black women in this study who straighten their hair consider themselves "natural" due to the term's newfound subjective meaning. This indicates that the Natural Hair Movement has contributed to the rhetorical success of this label, even while its meaning has now expanded so broadly that it includes nearly every hair care practice other than chemical relaxing. While some may argue that this inclusive definition of "natural" dilutes an important cultural distinction between Afrocentric and Eurocentric hair practices, it may also indicate that these Black women seek not to be divided over hairstyle preferences but rather, seek a collective identity as Black women who are free to make informed choices on the basis of what is important to them.</p>

<p> The aim of this research is to explore whether and how gay and bisexual men experience street harassment&mdash;those public interactions committed by strangers that are targeted at individuals with specific (perceived) identities <i> because</i> of those identities. Street harassment is unwelcome and intimidating and makes people feed scared, uncomfortable, and humiliated, and research up to this point has mainly focused on the harassment of women by men. This study was conducted using only online methods, using a survey to interact with 331 gay and bisexual men from at least 42 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and 22 countries, in addition to follow-up interviews with 24 of those survey-takers. Ninety percent of the survey respondents reported sometimes, often, or always feeling unwelcome in public because of their sexual orientation, and 71.3 percent said they constantly assess their surroundings when navigating public spaces. This is not the case for everyone, though. Some men don't report these feelings because they may view victimization as inconsistent with their male identity, or they may just not experience it at all. The results also suggest important differences between the harassment of women vs. the harassment of gay/bisexual men. They also show interesting variety in experiences across identity categories&mdash;including age and race&mdash;in addition to differences depending on how men view their own masculinity and legibility of sexual orientation. Much more research is required to fully understand the experiences of particular groups, including transpeople, but that degree of focus was unfortunately beyond the scope of this study. </p>

In recent years, South Korean filmmakers have repeatedly drawn upon the nation’s experience of Japanese colonialism as an element in the construction of their films. This thesis examines the multiple ways in which contemporary South Korean cinema has drawn upon this period in the nation’s history, through both direct representation, and allegory and evocation. I demonstrate how new perspectives have emerged, creating a space to construct more nuanced considerations of the colonial period beyond nationalist paradigms, whilst not shying away from the traumatic elements which had heretofore defined the dominant perceptions of the era. Utilising trauma theory as a key framework, I argue that by restaging the traumatic events of the past on-screen, filmmakers have provided an opportunity for audiences to come to terms with this past. Turning towards the Korean concept of han, which addresses the accumulation of negative affect and how these negative emotions can be purged through the expression of han, I explore how the folk song Arirang has been mobilised as a way of connecting a film to this legacy of sorrow. By invoking the feeling of han in their work, South Korean filmmakers have tied their personal concerns to a wider national sentiment. I then draw upon the notion of spectrality, and the depiction of ghosts in contemporary films, in order to demonstrate the ways in which the present is haunted by the unaddressed actions of the past. Finally, I argue that a series of films featuring amnesiac protagonists serve to allegorise the ‘settling the past’ movement, which saw the establishment of a number of ‘truth councils’ tasked with investigating aspects of the nation’s twentieth century history. Ultimately, this thesis argues that it is only by addressing and coming to terms with the traumatic elements of our past that we can ever hope to be rid of their negative influence.