Month: November 2017

Stephanie Gerretsen

PhD ’18, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning

In collaboration with São Paulo-based architecture firm, Raddar, and Union of Residents and Commerce of Paraisópolis (UMCP), Stephanie and Alexis are investigating land use and environmental laws, legal interventions, urban governance practices, and grassroots strategies affiliated with environmental risk as it relates to flooding and water contamination in Latin American informal settlements. The primary outcome for this project is to develop implementation strategies for a Socio-Environmental Risk Management Plan that is focused on mitigating the effects of environmental hazards for residents living in Paraisópolis, an upgraded informal settlement located within an upscale region of the city of São Paulo. Like most periphery areas in Latin America, these zones have a disproportionate number of informal and illegally subdivided settlements as compared to the city center (Buddsand Teixeira, 2005). Furthermore, environmental hazards are particularly damaging in informal areas because of unstable construction in areas of high environmental vulnerability, including riparian banks, drainage zones, and steep slopes where landslides are most likely to occur (Jacobi et al., 2015). The confluence of housing informality, precarious water infrastructure, and uneven governmental responses have produced contestations over how to better serve these residents. These debates have intensified in light of climate change and its catalyzing effect on the frequency of extreme weather events.

Library Mentor: Lori Tschirhart

Spencer Garrison

PhD ’19, Sociology

Making sense of relationship status is critically important not only to the organization of one’s intimate relationships, but also to the organization of general social life. Within the contemporary U.S., singlehood has been presented as a dysfunctional, socially undesirable alternative to long-term partnership; this tendency to stigmatize singles makes singlehood a source of social risk. To further complicate the issue, the deinstitutionalization of marriage and the diffusion of relationship forms historically associated with younger adults (such as polyamory and “living apart together” relationships) into older age cohorts have afforded adult women new opportunities to choose among relationship configurations other than marriage or singlehood: opportunities that introduce as many new constraints as they do possibilities. Today’s aging singles must navigate a matrix of intimate alternatives, each with their own promises and dangers. We conducted a total of 56 in-depth interviews with Black and white women between the ages of 35 and 55, hoping to explore how differing interpretations of the disadvantages and opportunities associated with singlehood may work to shape women’s pursuit of new romantic and sexual partners. We argue that different women arrive at different understandings of what it means to be “single” at mid-adulthood, and that these understandings work to influence long-term ideals and aspirations.

Library Mentor: Hailey Mooney

Sena Duran

BA ’18, Women’s Studies, Middle Eastern North African Studies, Arab and Muslim American Studies

While qualitative research concerning Muslim Americans has been a major facet in the fields of racial, ethnic, and religious studies, the diverse identities that exist within the Muslim American community have been underrepresented. Their nuanced and intersectional experiences as Muslim Americans are critical realities that must be addressed to further research and maintain activism and safety, both in the University of Michigan campus and beyond. Research concerning the effects of gender and sexual orientation on the experiences and identifications of Muslims in America can be expanded. In this project, I intend to do so by bringing to light the experiences of LGBTQ identified Muslims and Muslim women. Through conducting confidential surveys and interviews, I hope to give participants the opportunity to discuss their lived realities as women and/or LGBTQ individuals as they coexist with their Muslim American identities. I will take inspiration from identity models such as Bucher’s Identity Integration and the intersectional feminist concepts. This project will serve two major purposes: first, the collection of anecdotes will let me focus on the life stories of these individuals. Not only will this serve the underrepresented communities, but it will also aid research in intersectional feminist, ethno-religious, and Muslim American studies. Second, I hope to inspire a larger conversation about the realities of LGBTQ Muslims, as current research about this subject is limited. For resources to literature and participants, I hope to collaborate with the departments of Women’s Studies and Arab and Muslim American studies, as well as staff in the Department of Psychology and the Department of Communications.

Library Mentor: Meredith Kahn