The ISP, or Independent Study Project, is written by students from the undergraduate programs of SIT Study Abroad and relates to a program theme. Using primary sources students choose topics with a manageable focus that can be carried out in a variety of settings, such as schools, nongovernmental organizations or field research stations. During the independent study period students work closely with a project advisor and other key contacts in the field. The ISP is typically a 20- to 40-page paper presented to student colleagues, the academic director and, often, the advisor and other interested host-country individuals.

Copyright permissions have been obtained by all contributors to this collection.

Submissions from 2010

Queering Normal or Normalizing Queer? Marriage Equality and the Divisions Between the Queer and Mainstream Gay Movements in the Netherlands, Catharine Atkins

Energy from the Sun: A Solar Feasibility Study for Macquarie University, JJ Augenbraun

The rice farmer vs. the multinational: Mali’s winding path toward food sovereignty, Emily Bell

Faulty Structure and Uninspired Member States Fail the Euro: Lessons learned from the Greek crisis, Maximilian Bevan

Breaking the Cycle of Domestic Violence, Rebecca Bolden

Un estudio ecológico de las lagartijas del valle seco de Buenavista y de los valles húmedos de La Josefina y Salango, Ross Brennan

Innovation Education: Problems and Prospects in Governance and Management of the Vietnamese Higher Education System, Taylor Brooks

Internal Displacement: Recent History, Visions for the Action Ahead, Mayela Calderon

Policing With the Community, Dream or Reality: Perspectives of the Police Service of Northern Ireland in West Belfast, Tom Carey

Factors That Contribute to the Low Uptake of Skilled Care During Delivery in Malindi, Kenya, Alexandra Carter

Orphanages of Accra: A Comparative Case Study on Orphan Care and Social Work Practices, Jessica Colburn

Assessing the Potential Ecological Impacts of the Proposed Kazungula Border Development at Cassandra Farms, Gabe Cordry

Painting the Town Green: Realities, Challenges, and Possibilities in Mexico City’s Budding Urban Agriculture Movement, Molly Alexandra Croog

An Approaching Epidemic: Exploring Diabetes Awareness & Care In Mombasa, Kenya, Benjamin Marhan Dropkin

Derecho Originario y Democracia en Bolivia, Thomas Christopher Elliott

Ecology of the Seboba Community Trust Nature Trail, Amie Fleming and Erica Hann

Malagasy Conceptions of Good Governance and Democracy, Molly Fredrickson

Intellectual Propriety: Compulsory Licenses through the TRIPS Agreement and the Doha Declaration on Public Health, Samuel Mintzer Fuchs

“Tem um doido no CAPS / Que diz que louco é gente/Que diz que louco sabe/Que diz que louco sente” Failures and successes in Brazilian mental health reform A case study of CAPS – Quixadá, Zachary Fuhrer

Coloured identity in the rainbow nation: Historical narratives of the Durban coloured community, Olivia Greene

Contrainsurgencia y salud: Contradicciones en la teoría, historia y aplicación del Programa Oportunidades en comunidades rurales en Chiapas, José Carlos Gutiérrez

“Real Culture” Preservation, Authenticity, and Change in Hoi An’s Heritage Tourism Industry, Ursula James

Civil Society and Inequality in Jordan: A study on the effectiveness of the Community Development Center in Ashrafiyah, Mary-Katharine Johnson

AIDS Epidemic in the Russian Federation and Policy Reform, Veronika Kiselev

Pabean Sangsit: A Cultural Study through the Lives of One Family, Sylvie Kovnat

The Commodification Of Mountaineering On Mount Everest: The Ugly, The Bad, The Good And How Sherpas Are Getting Increasingly ‘Into The Game’, Emily Kruger

La Historia de la Energía y Desarrollo en Una Comunidad Rural: El Uso e Historia de la Energía en Santa Rosa de Pacto y las Implicaciones para el Futuro de los Países en Vías de Desarrollo, Julie Lapidus

Alcohol and Dutch Masculinity: How does Alcohol Influence the Dutch Male image?, Adriana Lara

Trapped in the Street: Defining the Health Care Use of the Homeless Adult in Salvador, Bahia, Nicole Lunardi

Lebanese Water Resources: A Potential to Alleviate Middle East Water Stress, Basil Mahfouz

Ethnicity, Gender, and Wetland Resources in Chobe Rural Livelihoods: A Database Analysis Project, Ian McCarthy

Modernization of the Hijab in Amman, Jordan: A symbol of Islam and Modernity, Nicole McDermott

Race, class, gender and the law: A study of the relationship between empregadas domesticas and their patroas, Vasti Marilyn Mejía

La Libertad do Expression Politica en la Prensa Escrita de Chile, Jessica Merrill

Indlovukazi Yase-Afrika (Zulu Queen): A curriculum for young women’s empowerment in Kwa-Zulu Natal, Judith Merzbach

Water Quality and Eutrophication: the effects of sewage outfalls on waters and reefs surrounding Stone Town, Zanzibar, Molly Moynihan

Perceptions of the International Media in Post-Conflict Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Erin Murphy

Utopian Marketization and the Historical Fate of Rural Society: Sideng Village, Shaxi Township, Ilona Nanay

Paradise Lost? Impact of Tourism and Public Use on the Mnemba House Reef, Allison Nangle and Vicki Sheng

Living in Pain, Throwing Out Agony: A Health Study of the Rural Residents of Three Hani Zu Ethnic Minority Villages in Hong He Prefecture, Yunnan Province, Haley Newman

Simplicity and the City: Understanding the Voluntary Simplicity Movement in Melbourne, Gershwin Penn

Social and community media in poor and marginalized urban communities: a study of collective action in Kiber, John Perkins

La Prise de la Violence, la Force de la Femme, Abi Pollokoff

The Kora and Korafolaw: A Treatise on the Musical Instrument and Those Who Play It, William Ridenour

Salud Reproductiva de Mujeres en Edad Fertil de la Zona de Intag: Deteccion Oportuna del Cancer Cervico Uterino (DOC) Papanicolaou, Astia Roper-Batker

“It’s a White People Thing”: The Experience of Negotiating Sexual and Cultural Identity for Young-Adults in Durban, Erin Schaff

“We can no longer declare ourselves a multicultural city until we start reacting to things like this” : Contextualizing the Violence at the 2008 Queer Sarajevo Festival, Sarah Schrag

Mujeres en las sombras: Un estudio sobre el aborto en Chile, Molly Serventi-Gleeson

Banking for the Rich: a case study, Cindy Shuck

¿Aprendemos Juntos? Guiando educación comunitaria en Oaxaca, Raisa Slutsky-Moore

Rural Tree Decline in Tasmania’s Midlands: Stand Structure, Substrate Geology, and Carbon Content Analysis, Claire Superak

Babylon by Tro-Tro: The Varieties of Rasta Identity and Practice in Ghana, Jonathan Tanis

Vietnamese Beauty: Exploring the Definition of Female Beauty in Present Day, Urban Vietnam as seen through the Desire for White Skin, Dorie Topolsky

Cultural Heritage Preservation Meets Modern Port Development: Securing the integrity and authenticity of the Lamu Town World Heritage Site In the face of current and future challenges, Sarah M. Wiggins

Las Jefas de Hogar Empobrecidas: Servicios y Recursos Públicos para Estas Mujeres en Chile, Florence Williams

HIV Risk Factors among Moroccan and Turkish Same-Sex Attracted Youth in Amsterdam, Daniel Woznica

75 Hours, 18 Babies, Dozens of Women, and Me: Exploring Gynecological and Obstetrical Care in Bamako, Minnie Yordon

Submissions from 2009

Effects of Re-grown Forest Habitat on Lemur catta Behavior, Sophie Ackoff

“We Didn’t Choose to Live in a Transition Society:” The Youth of Milošević’s Serbia Ten Years Later, Jessica Tsunami Acosta

The perseverance of Aboriginal Australian time philosophy and its impact on integration into the mainstream labor force, Kelly Adams

Critical Mass Representation in Uganda, Daisy-Cynthia Nneamaka Adi

Train Hard, Win Easy: Running on the Periphery in Rural Kenya: The Last Shall Be First, Jordan Apfeld

Marriage in Conflict: Formerly Abducted Women’s Struggles with Marriage Upon Return, Julie Bailey

Yugonostalgia: The Pain of the Present, Claire Bancroft

Who’s to Blame?: An Analysis of Agricultural Subsidies and their Effects on Development, Jared Baragar

Spirits & Sacred Sites: A Study of Beliefs on Unguja Island, Julie Bardenwerper

L’Aide au développement : les perspectives des immigrés sénégalais = Development aid: the perspectives of Senegalese immigrants, Allyson Barnett

Political Capital and the Project Planning Process: An Action Research Exercise of the Shirazi Community Health Clinic Project, Lindsay Beebe

Tradition in Transition: Tharu Traditional Governing System in Post-Conflict Nepal, Briana Bellamy

Lost Wax: An Exploration of Bronze Sculpture in Senegal, Kevin Bell

Forever Home: Funeral, Burial and the Life After This Life in Hue, Vietnam, Molly Bennett

Un Juego de Identidad y Percepción: Un Estudio de Caso de “Visuales,” una tribu urbana en Viña del Mar, Chile, Anya Bergman

The Role of the Local Community in Integrated Conservation with Development Projects: A Case Study of the Phu My Lepironia Conservation Project, Marion Boulicault

Rompiendo el Espejo Invertido: La búsqueda para autosuficiencia y una vida campesina y digna, Tara Brian

O Último Peixe Ideas About the Future in Coastal Trairí, MaryCate R. Brower

Shake It: A study of traditional dance and drumming in Tanzania with the African Traditional Dance Group, Megan Browning

El Espíritu Revolucionario: El Movimiento Obrero en los Sindicatos de Siglo XX y Catavi, Will Brunnquell

Learning for Life at Escola Comunitária Luiza Mahin: Integrating classroom and community experiences in a neighborhood’s mission for social change, Alexa K. Catao

The Ethical Limitations Of South Africa’s Education Market, Ethan Chang

Prevalence and intensity of trypanosome infections in stable and declining populations of brush-tailed bettongs (Bettongia penicillata), Melissa Chiasson

The Efficacy of Climate Change Projects in Samoa: Evaluating Community-Based Adaptation Initiatives, Marisa Chock

Disparities in the System: The Effects of Free Primary Education (FPE) on the Quality of Education in Nairobi’s Public Schools, Adrienne Chuck

Investigating the Technical Feasibility of Utilizing Aquifer Storage and Recovery to Supplement the Public Water Supplies in Evans Head and Ballina, Brandon Cohen

“Fusion” Musics and Tunisian Identity in the Age of the Global Stereo, Rachel Colwell

Renewable Energy as a Means to Community Development: A Case Study of Solar Power with Avani in Kumaon, Uttarakhand, Sarah Connette

Stand By Me: A study of activity budgets, nearest neighbor, social behavior, and home range of the olive baboons (Papio anubis) of Ndarakwai Ranch, Katie Conway

Bodhisattvas in the Pagoda and in the World: Socially Engaged Buddhism in Hue, Rachel Cotterman

Una manera de vida diferente: Embarazos en adolescentes y planificación familiar en la zona de Intag, Ecuador, Jennifer Dabrow

Die Taal is Gans die Volk? Building a Common Afrikaans-Language Identity and Community in Post-Apartheid South Africa, Susan DeMartino

The Impact of Brazil’s Bolsa Familia Program on Food Security in Santo Antônio de Jesus, Bahia, Mario Felipe Dest

Ugandan by Birth, Proud by Circumstance: A look at Pride and Patriotism in Northern Uganda, Hannah Detig

“It’s A Ripple Effect”: Global Mamas in a Developing Ghana, Mara Dold

Ceeb ak Jën: Deconstructing Senegal’s National Plate in Search of Cultural Values, Megan Duffy

Constructions of Disease in Mayo Village, Rachel Eades

An Oriental Christ: A Perfect Condition After the State was God, Thomas Nathaniel Eaves

Herbs, Qur’an, and Mashetani: Practice, Use, Perception, and Integration of Traditional Medicine in Bodo, Elan Ebeling

The Legalities and Realities of Emancipation Policies in the Netherlands and Their Associated Welfare State Typologies, Leigh Ellis

Power to the People: Rural Electrification in Uganda, Zachary Ezor

Teaching Peace: An Exploration in Youth Peace Building through Peace Education Programs in Gulu Municipality, Northern Uganda, Julia Firestone

L’adoption de Bracharia par les éleveurs Mahafaly : un étude du projet de AVSF dans la commune de Betioky, Michelle Fisher