This mixed-methods study addresses the relationship between the availability of food and realized food access by studying the retail food landscape of Holyoke, Massachusetts – a small, socio-economically diverse city. While a large body of empirical research finds that low-income communities and communities of color are especially likely to lack adequate access to healthy foods and experience increased vulnerability to food insecurity, few studies explore urban food environments through a mixed-methods case study approach. Through the use of food store mapping, store audits, and resident interviews, this research is a nascent attempt to articulate how the unique development histories and cultural politics of urban neighborhoods affect food access. The analysis finds that local food environments in Holyoke vary by social and spatial context. The study further considers how health and stability of a community is affected by the distribution and variety of food retail stores. In particular the study articulates the constructs of race and class in the food environment via the spatial mismatch of preferred food stores, mobility challenges, and the role of small urban food stores in the context of Holyoke’s foodscape. Implications for local food security policy are discussed.

Nigerian immigrant women undergo constant navigation of their personal identities when conflicting cultural dynamics sometimes engender a balancing act between their personal beliefs and the ongoing process of acculturation. Their new Southern environment offers its own traditional mores, as well as greater opportunities for economic advancement. This places Nigerian Immigrant Women in a position where they must reconcile their desires for personal independence and empowerment with societal expectations that emphasize more traditional gender roles. This study explores the interview narratives of Nigerian immigrant women, reinforced by fictional accounts from prolific African women writers, which provides a more nuanced discussion of the female experience within the Western Nigerian diaspora. Highlighted within this study are the ways in which these women navigate and reconcile their indigenous norms, religious beliefs, and gendered expectations with the different cultural understandings of the host diasporic spaces.

Female survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Nigeria endure harsh and traumatic experiences that affect their rights as women and their well-being. As the phenomenon of IPV persists in Nigeria, it is not only a family problem but a critical social and psychological problem. This study examined Nigerian female survivors’ hidden strength, agency, and resilience, rather than their powerlessness and vulnerability. Analysis of survey questionnaires, interviews, and secondary scholarship reveals that some Nigerian female survivors of IPV are able to cope whilst navigating stressful and traumatic experiences. The results also show that survivors’ ability to thrive and cope under stress not only results from individual traits and use of agency, but also from external support. This study infers sociocultural change and female empowerment. The results propose a need for interventions and further research on the development of the concept of resilience in female Nigerian survivors of IPV.

Amid the global pandemic, it becomes more apparent that diabetes is a pressing health concern because racial/ethnic minorities with underlying diabetes conditions have been disproportionately affected. The study proposes a multiyear examination to document the role of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in racial/ethnic disparities in diabetes health. Using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System from 2011 to 2019, the study with a pre-post design investigated changes in access to care and diabetes health among non-White minorities compared with Whites before and after the ACA by conducting multivariable linear regression, with state-fixed effects and robust standard errors. Compared with Whites, racial/ethnic minorities showed significant improvements in health insurance coverage, having a personal doctor, and not seeing a doctor because of cost. Blacks (3.2% points,  ≤ 0.000), Hispanics (1.6% points,  = 0.001), and "other" racial/ethnic group (1.5% points,  = 0.003) experienced a greater increase in diagnosed prediabetes than Whites, whereas no and small differences were found in diagnosed diabetes and obesity, respectively. The yearly comparisons of changes in diagnosed prediabetes showed that Blacks compared with Whites had a growing increase from 1.2% points ( = 0.001) in 2014 to 3.3% points ( = 0.001) in 2019. Insurance coverage has declined after 2016, and obesity had an increasing trend across race/ethnicity. The ACA had a positive role in improving access to care and identifying those at risk for diabetes to a larger extent among racial/ethnic minorities. However, the policy impacts have been diminishing in recent years. Continued efforts are needed for sustained policy effects.

This Master Thesis aims to discuss the language mix-up in the Philippines. Originally, the people speak different dialects because of the lack of interaction due to geographical isolation. The Spaniards brought Spanish to them, which became the official language of the government until the Americans came and made English the medium of instruction in the school. The trouble lies in the fact that English-speaking-and-loving Filipinos want English only, Spanish-speaking-and-loving Filipinos want Spanish only, Tagalog-speaking-and-loving Filipinos want Tagalog only while non-Tagalog-speaking Filipinos are either indifferent or prefer their respective dialects. This is the uncomfortable mess created by the principles of democracy and should be solved through democracy also by Filipino citizens who can sacrifice regional interest and personal preference for the sake of national unity and honor. The three languages can co-exist harmoniously together in the Philippines if the people can be tolerant, just as the various dialects too can live as long as they are needed and used.

The Chinese community in Malaya, Singapore, and British Borneo, as in all of Southeast Asia, is in the early stages of a radical change. This ethnic group, which already holds virtual control of the economy of these three regions, is now finding it necessary to also reach out for political representation, or even political control, in order to preserve its place in local society. Such participation in local affairs constitutes a great change for a group which has always maintained an orientation toward China, socially and politically, wherever its individuals might happen to live. The process of change is bound to be a painful one, as any break away from jealously held traditional values must be. There is, however, no real alternative; the choice must be between this change and an even more radically changed China. ... Malaya, Singapore, and British Borneo were chosen as the locale of this study for two main reasons. First, the similarities of the three are marked. They have made· up the major British colonial area of Southeast Asia, and the original population of the region was basically Malay. Second, the concentration of Chinese. population there is greater than in any other area outside China. Malaya with nearly half its population Chinese; Singapore, with a population which is four-fifths Chinese; and British Borneo, with almost one third of its people Chinese, are certainly in the position of having their future decided by the direction taken in the development of their Chinese community. The importance of the Chinese is enhanced by their relatively better educational and economic standing. Thus, it can be seen that a knowledge of the Chinese community in Malaya, Singapore and British Borneo, is extremely important in developing an understanding of the probably future development of these countries. Moreover, such knowledge is even more important in gaining foresight of the future of the Chinese in all of Southeast Asia.

The web of Mexican-American life is complex in its origins, its manifestations, and its degree of identification with or alienation from the dominant culture. A thesis of the length of this one can deal with all this complexity only in a superficial way. However, by a rather narrowly defined examination of a few children certain insights may be gained which could be used as a basis for generalization about other children of similar background, and perhaps even for some tentative generalizations about the problems of the Mexican-American community as a whole. With this purpose in mind -- to inquire intensively concerning the lives of a very few people for whatever insights may accure -- this study has been undertaken. It should be added that the present paper represents an ongoing study, and should be viewed as part of a larger whole. The conclusions drawn from it are offered at this stage for their suggestiveness rather than as an attempted "system" or explanation of Mexican-American life. Doubtless with further investigation new questions will arise, and these conclusions may require modification and refinement It is hoped that this continuing investigation may be of service to the peers of the children studied, who need much help in their travels along the way, and for whom, indeed, the route is not clear nor the goal certain.

My own experience as an American have led to questions concerning stratification of Negroes by Whites and Negroes by Negroes. What, if any, is the history behind these social distinctions, based primarily on variables such as race and skin-color gradations? Evidence as to achievements by people representing all races and skin-color gradations is more available today than say, during slavery, because of better opportunities for all citizens of this country to become informed vis the mass media. What is there in history that lends basis to these ridiculous myths based on race and skin-color gradations? Could the institution of slavery in the United States be associated with these startifications? If so, what are the aspects of slavery that helped produce these stratifications of Negroes by Whites and Negroes by Negroes? In addressing myself to this problem, I intend to first list and operationally define the key variables in my problem. Then the probable associations among these variables will be inferred, followed by a triangulative historical analysis utilizing multiple data from various sources, to test my problem. Webb, Campbell, et al view that triangulations of data is the best method of controlling for rival explanations and/or data combinations. It is my hope that this thesis will be an addition to the somewhat limited current collections of works about the Negro and stratification, by “insiders” such as myself.

Because so little has been written concerning the Negro in California and because the dynamic and romantic sequences in the development of this country have always interested me, I have become interested in knowing what part the Negro, free and slave, played in this panorama of events. Were there Negroes with early expeditions? To what extent did they migrate to the West when "gold fever" had become a nation-wide epidemic? Did they find gold? Where did they settle? What did they do? What difficulty did they encounter politically, socially, and economically? These are questions that have filled my mind, and to which I shall endeavor to find the answers.

No description available.