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Uncle Sam Plays Matchmaker: Intimate Encounters, War Brides, and Marital Policy in the Vietnam War Era
No full textDuring the Vietnam War era, thousands of American GIs married Southeast Asian women who immigrated to the United States together. While considerable scholarly attention has focused on the political and social dimensions of the Vietnam era sex work industry, the regulation of marriage and immigration policies for Vietnamese American couples provide new perspectives to explore. Although intimate encounters with local women also pervaded other twentieth century conflicts, the Vietnam War saw the American military implement a new system to screen and regulate war bride marriages. In doing so, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) constructed the first interservice set of marriage regulations. While military officials sought to create a fair and efficient application system, Vietnam era marriage policy was marred with high financial costs, bureaucratic complexity, and the prejudices of American officials. In policing war bride marriages, military officials sought to protect young GIs from the prospect of unhappy marriages. These anxieties, however, often lead to marital policy being shaped by older fears of war brides taking advantage of gullible soldiers; reinforced by Orientalist stereotypes. The difficulties faced by applying couples saw American diplomatic officials create reforms to streamline the process. The most significant of these being the K-1 or “fiancé’ visa. While these reforms helped, many couples withdrew applications and become separated as GIs returned to the United States. Despite the many challenges of applying for marriage in wartime Vietnam, thousands of American Vietnamese couples married and traveled back to the United States to start new lives together. Their unions reflect the intertwined legacy of the war that both nations engage with
The Desegregation of Mississippi\u27s Community and Junior Colleges
No full textABSTRACT
Mississippi’s progress on race relations remains a crucial aspect of American history. While the desegregation of the state’s public universities and the role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) have been widely documented, the experiences of African Americans at Mississippi’s community and junior colleges have received limited attention. This historical study explores the desegregation process in these institutions through the lived experiences of African American students who first integrated them between 1967 and 1977. Using oral history methods, this research examines their motivations for attending junior colleges, their social and academic experiences, and the challenges they faced, including racial hostility. Findings reveal that students often chose community colleges due to affordability, proximity, and athletic opportunities. While some experienced discrimination, many built positive relationships through academics and athletics. This study expands the discourse on Mississippi’s educational desegregation by shedding light on overlooked narratives, contributing to a broader understanding of racial integration in American higher education. By documenting these untold stories, this research highlights the resilience of African American students and the evolving role of community colleges in advancing educational equity in the South
Adolescent Students’ Adaptability During the COVID-19 Pandemic Impacting Their Academic Preparedness in College: A Qualitative Exploration of Resilience in Secondary School Disruptions
No full textThis study, conducted several years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, takes a unique approach to investigating the long-term effects of the pandemic-induced disruptions on adolescents during secondary schooling and their academic preparedness in college. The study combined a descriptive qualitative analysis of academic routine data with quantifiable resilience scores, providing a comprehensive understanding of the challenges students faced, their adaptability and resilience, and the overall impact on their education journey into college. This comprehensive descriptive qualitative study utilizes triangulation of quantitative data and qualitative approaches to understand the subject matter thoroughly. The quantitative scores meticulously analyzed resiliency and enhanced the credibility of findings by comparing and synthesizing the data module. In addition, the semi-structured interviews assessed students’ adaptability and resilience during secondary school disruptions and their future academic preparedness in higher education. The qualitative data in this study unites the students’ experiences in secondary schooling during the pandemic, seeking personal experiences, challenges, and adaptive strategies, thereby adding a human element to the research.
The findings of this study offer more than just insights into how the pandemic impacted these students’ experiences and academic preparedness in college. The results provide practical guidance on fostering resilience and adaptability, the effectiveness of different resources and strategies, and areas needing improvement to better support students, especially during educational disruptions. This study underscores the urgent need for improving educational practices and ensuring better preparation and support for students in times of crisis.
This study significantly contributes to the existing knowledge of students’ educational resilience and adaptability. The framework addresses challenges posed by unexpected disruptions and provides evidence-based strategies and interventions to mitigate adverse impacts and promote student success during future crises. The study\u27s implications, which are of immense academic value, highlight the importance of proactive measures in the face of educational disruptions
Prisoners and Other Stories
No full textSet in rural and suburban Faisalabad, Pakistan, Prisoners is a collection of short stories featuring characters routinely trapped in hopeless personal, social, and spiritual crises. Using a wide stylistic and tonal range—from urbane realism to absurd and sardonic humor to dense surrealism—I strive to reveal the complexity of human experience and the power of literary artifact. The critical introduction to the collection discusses the constricting expectations placed upon postcolonial writers and the ways in which I diverge from that tradition
Enhancing University Students’ Listening Comprehension Using the TOEFL Learning English Application (MALL) : A Quantitative Study
No full textThis study investigates the effectiveness of the TOEFL Learning English Application in enhancing the listening comprehension skills of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners and explores students’ perceptions of its use. A descriptive quantitative design was employed involving 45 English Education students at Universitas Muhammadiyah Purworejo. Pre- and post-tests measured listening comprehension gains, while a questionnaire based on the Technology Acceptance Model assessed student perceptions. Results showed a statistically significant improvement in listening scores, as well as generally positive perceptions regarding the application’s accessibility, usability, and ability to reduce learning anxiety. These findings support using the TOEFL Learning English application as a beneficial tool for promoting flexible, autonomous, and engaging listening practice
Our skins sing in complementary keys : Literary Crip Kinship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge\u27s Geraldine, Fanny Burney, and Audre Lorde
No full textFor 6 months starting in December of 2024, I went through an extended diagnostic process to determine the nature of masses in my breasts. The process is still ongoing. Meanwhile, I have been reading and writing about literary depictions of breast cancer and disfigured breasts, forging what I have experienced as a literary crip kinship with Audre Lorde, Fanny Burney, and, surprisingly, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Geraldine. These literary figures, and my own experience, have raised many of the same questions in my mind—of betrayal, of a sense of foreboding evil. How do my own experiences with breast biopsies, mammograms, and MRIs conversate with literary depictions of cancerous and disfigured breasts—and why might it matter to seek the kind of kinship I feel that I have forged with Lorde, Burney, and Geraldine?
In this thesis, I use Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Fanny Burney, and Audre Lorde to explore questions of crip kinship and breast disfigurement. By looking at the Romantic era I look at a time when, much like our own, conceptions of disability were both expansive and disparate. Fanny Burney echoes common Romantic era practices of demonizing female breasts within a letter chronicling her unanesthetized mastectomy. A similar deprecation appears in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem “Christabel,” when the speaker refers to Geraldine’s breast as “a sight to dream of, not to tell!” (line 253). Even Lorde endures the remnants of breast-centered fears in 1978, as other women attempted to convince her to obtain prostheses for her removed cancerous breast
Colonial Policing in Nigeria: British Tactics of Economic Control and the Hypocrisy of Order, 1900-1930
No full textThe British colonial government, after the conquest of Nigerian societies, effectively utilized colonial policing to maintain its authority and exploit Nigeria. As a pivotal administrative apparatus, the police provided coercive support for colonial rule in Nigeria and Africa. Scholars have examined the violence associated with the British suppression of indigenous resistance from the late 19th to the 20th centuries. This research broadens the understanding of colonial violence beyond the initial conquest by examining the police’s lesser-known role in regulating economic activities through threats and collective punishments. Additionally, the research highlights how Britain, as a capitalist empire, reflected its culture of racial superiority through the organization and operations of its police force. As a colonial construct and an important constituent of the racial system, the study of the police force in Nigeria deepens understanding of the racial structure and violence within colonized communities. The research contends that the order the police enforced was intentional in the sense that it primarily protected Britain\u27s economic interests. Through objective interpretation of archival sources and extant literature, this thesis analyzes society through the lens of policing, thus shifting focus from viewing the police as a separate entity to recognizing it as an integral part of the colonial system of prejudice. Again, it will demonstrate how the British colonial police, while striving to maintain order and ensure continued economic operations, especially during unrest in Nigeria, consistently exploited the local people within the colonial realm
Female Preference and Prezygotic Isolation In the Fundulus Notatus Species Complex
No full textUnderstanding how reproductive isolation arises between closely related species is central to evolutionary research. Hybridization is widespread across taxa and shaped by interactions among environmental factors, evolutionary history, genetic compatibility, and behavior. These forces often operate nonlinearly across space and time, yet mate choice is frequently assessed under artificial conditions that may not reflect natural behavior. To address this limitation, female mate preference was investigated within the Fundulus notatus species complex, where F. notatus and F. olivaceus hybridize at varying rates across replicate contact zones. Using a free-choice design, behavioral trials were conducted with individuals from populations characterized by high and low hybridization rates, along with F. notatus crosses produced from the divergent populations. During six-hour trials, fish interacted freely in semi-natural arenas while movements were tracked using AI video monitoring. Female association time with conspecific versus heterospecific males was used as a proxy for mate preference. Additionally, male standard length and spot density were measured to assess the influence of morphology on female behavior. Results revealed significant clade-level variation in female association behavior. Preferences for conspecific versus heterospecific males varied predictably with population-level hybridization rates: females from low-hybridizing populations exhibited stronger conspecific preferences, while those from high-hybridizing populations showed weaker discrimination. Clade-cross females displayed intermediate behavior, supporting a genetic basis for variation in mate preference. Furthermore, body size and spot count influenced female association across populations. These findings highlight the role of behavioral isolation in maintaining species boundaries
Assessment of a Muscadine Grape (Vitis rotundifolia) Mapping Population for Tolerance to Pierce’s Disease Pathogen Xylella fastidiosa and Resistance to Black Rot Disease Pathogen Guignardia bidwellii
No full textPierce’s disease (PD) and black rot disease cause severe economic losses for grape production under humid and warm conditions. Identifying resistance genes is crucial for controlling these disease by developing resistant cultivars. Muscadine grape (Vitis rotundifolia) cultivar ‘Pam’ has been identified to possess a high level of resistance to diseases. To elucidate the genetic basis of the resistance to the causal pathogens Xylella fastidiosa and Guignardia bidwellii in this cultivar, parents and 141 F1 individuals developed from open pollinated ‘Pam’ were evaluated for two seasons under natural disease pressure. The mapping population was genotyped using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) and a genome-wide association (GWAS) approach, based on 80,507 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. Results showed that only 10 genotypes were positive for PD during both seasons, and the average disease severity in the mapping population for black rot ranged from 0.09% to 14.10%. The GWAS analysis, using genotypic data and phenotyping data for black rot, identified major quantitative trait loci (QTL) on chromosome 16. The QTL for resistance was consistent across both years, and one significant SNP marker was consistently detected. Among the genes located in the major QTL interval, nine genes had annotation results, and the most significant candidate gene was found to encode a functional protein for bark storage protein A. The multiple significant markers identified in this study could be utilized to develop markers to assist in marker-assisted breeding programs
White-Spotted Eagle Ray
No full textTo learn how citizen science helps understand the distribution of this species in the French West Indies see Beaufort and Prieto Gonzalez, volume 36, pages GCFI19 - GCFI35.https://aquila.usm.edu/gcrgallery/1007/thumbnail.jp