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Mexico\u27s Gender Violence Alerts: Ambiguous, Under-Resourced, and Uneven Impacts on Women’s Human Rights
No full textMexico has some of the highest rates of violence against women and femicide in the world and these numbers continue to rise. Over the past few decades, Mexico has attempted to address this issue through a series of penal code reforms, social campaigns, and comprehensive legislation, but the impacts of such measures are undercut and unevenly felt due to a series of under looked contributing factors. Mexico is the first in the world to implement the Gender Violence Alert Mechanism (AVGM), which was established under the General Law on Women’s Access to a Life Free from Violence (LGAMVLV) of 200. Once declared, it aims to coordinate a set of emergency actions tasked with addressing and eradicating violence against women in a specific geographical region. Its impacts and scope is unevenly and inconsistently felt as there are varying interpretations of its use, the institutions needed in its follow through are not adequately funded, and AVGM fails to take a intersectional approach to tackling VAW for all women and girls. Mexico\u27s Gender Violence Alerts are a first step in the country\u27s journey to combat VAW, however, significant additional research, funding, and clarity is needed for it to reach its full potential effects
War in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan: Freshwater Scarcity and the Path to Peace
No full textAs climate change intensifies, its effects on the natural environment are becoming increasingly visible. Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent. This transformation of the environment threatens access to natural resources, limits economic growth, and increases the vulnerability of a nation’s ecological, political, and social stability. Freshwater is one of the most essential natural resources. This paper addresses how inadequate access to freshwater in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan has impacted stability within and across borders. Chapter one introduces freshwater as a limited resource, highlighting how the scarcity of it threatens environmental sustainability and human health. It connects this to challenges of water scarcity and the resulting conflicts experienced in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Chapter two explores how policies, economic development, and outdated infrastructure from the Soviet era have intensified climate change related issues. Chapter three examines how Kyrgyzstan’s and Tajikistan\u27s reliance on natural resources and external investment supports domestic economic development, but risks intensifying environmental and geopolitical problems. Chapter four discusses how nationalism and authoritarian style governance can hinder advances towards peace with the prioritization of self-interests over the nation’s interests, and increased vulnerability to external political powers. Chapter five concludes with policy recommendations to bridge the gaps between peace, policy, and water scarcity, expanding on existing proposals and introducing new ones
Life in the Cracks: Law, Violence, and Resistance in Haiti
No full textA rich account of what it means to live with law amid its failures.
Life in the Cracks is a rich ethnographic portrait of law, violence, and resistance in Haiti. In a contemporary context marked by international interference, global capitalism, and state collapse, Haitians face complex challenges that are largely ignored and misunderstood. By examining the most unexpected inflections of ordinary life, Life in the Cracks offers a well-grounded account of people’s experience of law in their lives. The book describes what it means to endure violence partly engendered by the law, and thus to live up to one’s disappointment with the law itself.By not taking for granted the places where the law appears, Life in the Cracks asks legal anthropology to confront questions beyond law-making and law-application, dispute resolution, and social order. In everyday life’s textures of messy subtleties and contradictory movements that are never reconciled, Life in the Cracks reconsiders the place of law in human affairs. Motta reimagines how people cope with their disillusionments by reinventing relationships with each other. What had appeared questions of law and justice turn out to be questions of life and death. As life resists annihilation, Motta shows, many Haitians have found ways to breathe new life into the present and make the future worth fighting for.Life in the Cracks: Law, Violence, and Resistance in Haiti is available from the publisher on an open-access basis
Freddie Richardson, Humberto Pichardo and Corey Glover
No full textFreddie Richardson, Humberto Pichardo and Corey Glover lived and grew up in the Amsterdam Houses and Amsterdam Addition NYCHA projects in the Lincoln Square neighborhood which was once a part of the neighborhood known as San Juan Hill. Fordham students in VART 2222: The Art of the Interview, led by Professor Catalina Alvarez, interviewed them to hear their stories of growing up in the Amsterdam housing communities, the changes that have happened and strategies to support the community that they feel is in desperate need for uplift
Alice Mckenzie - Part 2
No full textPart 2 of an oral history recorded for the Bronx African American History Project with Alice McKenzie, who grew up in the United Workers Cooperative Colony, or the Allerton Coops, located at 2700 Bronx Park East. In this second part of her oral history, Alice speaks more about her experiences as a professional dancer, her time in the New York public school system, her experiences of race and sexuality, what the Coops represents to her, and much more.
LINK TO VIDEO INTERVIEW: https://cdm17265.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/baahp/id/99/rec/5
Conversation at VART 2222 Event at Fordham Lincoln Center
No full textA conversation recorded during an event held at the Lipani Gallery at Fordham at Lincoln Center showcasing work done by students and community participants for VART 2222: Art of the Interview, taught by professor Catalina Jordan Alvarez. Conversation Participants include Catalina Jordan Alvarez, Sean Khorsandi, Kujegi Camara, Marlene Williamson, Jackie Brown Richardson, Michael Nelson, Jessica Rivera and Sage Rochetti
Citizens United, Congress Divided: Examining the Connection Between Independent Expenditures and Polarization in the U.S. House
No full textThe U.S. Supreme Court ruling Citizens United v. FEC, issued in January of 2010, allowed an unprecedented amount of money to enter federal elections by removing spending limits for corporations on independent expenditure (referred to as ‘IE’, and meaning money spent of the proprietor’s accord, rather than directly by or in coordination with a political party or candidate). This paper addresses the lack of research on the outcomes of this ruling; there are few studies on the impacts of Citizens United on the ideological composition of Congress. To test the theory that this ruling led to significant polarization in Congress, it employs a statistical analysis of public campaign finance records for elections in the U.S. House of Representatives dating back to 2000 that demonstrates a significant correlation between spending on elections by ‘outside groups’ in the form of ‘IE-only committees’, known as ‘Super PACs’, and political polarization as measured by Poole and Rosenthal’s DW-NOMINATE scores, among nonincumbent (that is, newly elected) House members, particularly members of the Republican Party. This analysis is supported by anecdotal evidence of an intent to polarize by certain Super PACs, and lends credence to a theoretical game matrix that the paper proposes to represent the current arrangement of funding incentives for political parties and Super PACs. The paper uses this evidence to argue for further research into campaign finance reform in pursuit of political equality in U.S. federal elections
Brad Brewer
No full textBorn in Washington, D.C., Brad Brewer moved to New York City as a child when his father joined the New York Police Department. His family first lived in Queens briefly before settling in the Soundview section of the Bronx. After his parents separated, he, his mother, stepfather, and sisters moved to Wakefield, where he spent his teenage years. His maternal family is from Virginia, and his paternal family is from South Carolina. And as a child, he usually visited family in Piney River and Lynchburg, Virginia.
Brewer discovered puppetry at an early age. By the time he was ten years old, he owned nearly one hundred puppets and staged shows from his Soundview apartment, charging neighborhood children admission. His sisters worked as ticket collectors and ushers, while he did stage design, storytelling, and music. His shows, such as Red Riding Hood Meets Godzilla, were lively and community-driven. When his family moved, he continued performing at community centers and birthday parties, creating what would become his career in puppetry.
In the late 60s and early 70s, he became involved in the Black Panther Party in New York. He worked out of the Panther office on Boston Road, where a group of members ran programs including free breakfasts, daycare, and political education. Brewer’s responsibilities included producing flyers on mimeograph machines, maintaining the newspaper distribution (the chapter achieved the highest circulation in the country after headquarters), and helping to organize protests against unjust firings and arrests. The office served as a neighborhood hub, known as the “Black Community Information Center.”
Brewer once proposed using puppetry to tell the Panthers’ story on a large scale, but the idea was not pursued. As the Party split and members faced violence, distrust, and internal chaos, Brewer chose to step away. Within a year of leaving the Panthers, he enrolled at Pratt Institute to pursue his artistic training.
Brewer went on and found the Brewery Puppet Troupe, becoming a pioneering African American puppeteer and cultural worker. His puppets have been shown at the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of the City of New York, and other major outlets. He is the only African American puppeteer to have performed on Broadway, appeared in a major motion picture, and been featured on network television.
Today, Brewer lives in Nassau County. His Bronx upbringing, Southern family ties, activism, and lifelong devotion to puppetry built his career as both an artist and a community voice.
Link to Video Recording: https://cdm17265.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/baahp/id/59/rec/
Carline Frazier Crews
No full textCarline Frazier Crews’s interview with the Bronx Historical Society’s Director, Stephen Payne, is a captivating collection of stories from diverse racial and economic backgrounds. Born and raised in New York City, by plantation workers from South Carolina, her blend of southern history and city education made for an interesting upbringing that would empower her throughout her life.
A self-proclaimed “thinker,” Crews was labeled an exceptional student in junior high. Although her parents, who lacked a high school education and the ability to read and write, disagreed with her pursuit of education, she was forced by her father to drop out of school before the tenth grade. Having attended predominantly white elementary and high school was a pivotal experience for Crews, who endured “go back where you came from” comments daily. These were especially frequent when she attended the predominantly white (Jewish and Italian) Christopher Columbus High School on Pelham Parkway. Despite not being allowed to finish high school, Crews carries a monumental amount of wisdom, particularly on experiences related to race. She talks of these relations in the interview, describing the many terms for African Americans, which she expositorily reminds us, “I am not African American, I do not know anybody from Africa. All of my people came here in the bottom of the boat, and I am an empress from the slave world,” ([19:57-20:09]). Often circling back to familial history, Crews possess a considerable pride in their family’s long history in the United States, as enslaved people on Southern plantations.
After high school, Crews found herself working in public service. Beginning with welfare, she helped families complete forms for rent or other government aid. Then, recalling the five-year grant for employees in the mental health sector, she landed a job at Lincoln Hospital in 1965. Patients were assessed or assigned to her, many of whom were Black, as other staff weren’t as comfortable with Black patients. She remembers certain patients, a schizophrenic woman she would care for, and a man with erectile dysfunction that she would solve, and then be courted by for a date. These complex patients were no problem, though, as she remarks, “I’m not afraid of anything, I never was afraid of anything,”([38:01-40:09]). Until being let go due to budget cuts years later, Crews enjoyed her impactful work and the tight-knit group of coworkers at Lincoln Hospital.
Crews would go on to get married, ultimately unsuccessfully, have other relationships with men, and bear two sons. Struggles to make ends meet were scary, but her retelling of these times shows resilience and a respect for the demanding situations she was placed in, such as a fight with her working husband, who did not want to take the two young kids, even though she had no house for them. She ends her interview by recounting difficulties with the healthcare system herself, including issues with various injuries and diabetes. This interview is a testament to her strength and the value of her background, which provided the integrity that Carline Frazier Crews harnessed to help the lives of Lincoln Hospital patients.
Link to Video Recording: https://cdm17265.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/baahp/id/70/rec/1
Ripples on the Bronx River: Exploring Gentrification and Indigenous Magical Realism Through Creative Storytelling
No full textThe Bronx River has been left largely unexamined in the realms of literature and art in the 21st century. Prior to colonization, the riverbanks served as a home and resource for Indigenous communities. However, by the Industrial Revolution, the river had become a dumping ground, starting with the first watermill in 1666 in West Farms. Of the twenty-three mile river, the lower five miles served as an informal sewer and was hidden from the public eye, its few access points blocked by gigantic mounds of submerged cars, worn-out tires, less identifiable garbage, and rusting junk, (Jonnes, 463). Only in the past fifty years, when community activists took notice of the river, has it become a place of engagement for the South Bronx. Local activism in the Bronx has been instrumental in the environmental remediation and revitalization of the Bronx River and its aquatic wildlife health, like the alewife fish and the American eel. Furthermore, the Bronx River has been a stage for displacement for over four hundred years of recorded history. Beginning with European colonization in the 17th century, then Robert Moses’ highways through the Bronx, the decade of fire, and now, with the imminent threat of gentrification in the Bronx. These violent battles over land, both historical and modern, emphasize the value of the Bronx River. It is a place worth fighting for, in its beauty and natural resources. The future redevelopment of the riverbanks will determine whether gentrification will be the next plague of displacement on the land