Browsing by Author "Uygun, Banu Nilgun"

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    Agency, Vulnerability and Citizenship of Semiautonomous Youth in Nicaragua: Voices of Former Street Children
    (2012) El-Youssef, Nour Amal; Uygun, Banu Nilgun
    This investigation draws on two summers of fieldwork with La Asociación Los Quinchos, a Nicaraguan non-profit organization dedicated to the empowerment of street children. The aim of this paper is to elucidate the various ways in which Nicaraguan history and political economy have both shaped and strained the family, and contributed to the rising number of children living in the streets. This historical trajectory marks shifting ideologies of childhood situated during times of dictatorial rule, civil war and socialist reform, and finally neoliberal political economy. The second focus of this paper is the liminal position street children occupy between sites of agency and self-sufficiency on the one hand and extreme social vulnerability on the other. While recent developments in child-centered anthropology have called upon researchers, states and social institutions to see children as competent social actors and not just cultural beings in-the-making, this paper seeks to take a step back from this criticism and recall the various ways in which youth continue to inhabit deeply troubling power imbalances predicated on age. Insofar as street children represent a marginal population in Nicaragua, how do their testimonies point to the continued experience of vulnerability? In place of a strict dichotomy between agency and vulnerability, this paper calls for a more nuanced, ambivalent and porous view of youth agency/vulnerability. The argument here is that experiences of vulnerability do not preclude the fact that children are still competent social actors in their own right.
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    Giving Birth to Misconceptions: Portrayal of Childbirth in Popular Visual Media
    (2012) Walker, Coral A.; Uygun, Banu Nilgun
    Giving Birth to Misconceptions is the study of how childbirth in popular media for the sake of entertainment and dramatic effect can influence how the audience understands childbirth. I take a closer look at how reality television shows like 16 & Pregnant, and fictional films and television shows, like Knocked Up, Up All Night, Juno, and Baby Mama, depict the childbirth process and how these are understood and internalized by some viewers. Through the use of a critical lens I analyze the previously mentioned forms of visual media using the theoretical lens of authoritative knowledge, the birthing body as a machine of production, childbirth as pathological, the media effects of editing techniques in different genres, and artifice of visual media productions. I then expand my research with the help of a focus-group to understand how these forms of visual media influence the audiences’ understanding of childbirth through editing techniques and creation of expectations. These analyses provide a closer understanding of how despite the participants' awareness of editing techniques and plotline fabrications, are still influenced to understand childbirth as it is depicted in fictional films and television shows.
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    "The arrow means never give up": Art Education: A Case Study in the School District of Philadelphia
    (2012) Kay, Ariel; Uygun, Banu Nilgun
    Through ethnographic research in two elementary schools in the School District of Philadelphia, this thesis investigates the purpose and position of Art Education in public schooling in the U.S. Art lies in the periphery of public education as education turns to a neoliberal state of scientific measurement (assessment through standardized testing) and economic framework, in which Art Education is not easily quantifiable or profitable. Through participant-observation and interviews I found that students, parents, teachers, and principals of the two schools I performed research in value Art Education and feel strongly that Art class should remain a part of U.S. school children’s education. Art Education provides needed social and interpretive skills for success in the work force and students gain capital by partaking in Art programs. Art provides a space in public education for students to express their emotions, identity, and lived experiences. Through Art Education students gain critical skills and the ability to take symbolic action. The possibilities for Art Education grow if the resources for art programs are present and the teacher is intent on utilizing Art class as a site for critical pedagogy.