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Module 8 - Structuration Theory & My Daily Path

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 My daily path is pretty typical during the week and varies on the weekend. Monday-Friday I will typically wake up between 8 and 8:15am in order to get ready for work. I work from home, so I get out of bed, get ready for the day, and travel from my bedroom to my living room to work at my desk. I work from 8:30-5:30 and after work I typically go into my kitchen to make dinner. Some nights during the week I then go to my dance studio to take classes, other nights I may go to the gym or go outside for a walk, or sometimes I may choose to have a date night out with my fiance or stay in and watch a movie. The biggest thing that constrains my movement is my workday - I can't stray too far from my apartment during the house of 8:30-5:30. Another thing that has strained movement in the last few years is COVID and the precautions to go along with the pandemic (although those seem to be fading away a bit now). I'm lucky enough to have a car, so in terms of resources, there isn't much...
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Module 7 - Climate Change Initiatives in Cities

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          Climate change is one of the biggest issues facing the world today. While some national governments have taken initiative and instituted policies to try to curb the effects of climate change, others have not done much and the responsibility has trickled down to individual cities. New York City is one of those cities that has tried to work against climate change.  Average Monthly Temperature Predictions with High Emissions, April 2090-2099 ( Projections ). New York City recently passed a ban on gas-powered appliances in all new buildings, including heaters, stoves, and water boilers ( Barnard, 2021). This is a huge step for the city to take, as there are many residents that live in apartment buildings or condominiums, and this will help reduce their carbon footprint. These new regulations are expected to take effect in December 2023 for all buildings that are below seven stories, and by 2027 for all taller buildings (Barnard, 2021). While t...
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Module 6 - Elections

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The two countries I chose to evaluate were the Dominican Republic and the United States. I chose articles about each of their 2020 elections, respectively, that way I could compare elections from the same year. The main similarity that I found was that both elections were held democratically, and both resulted in a transfer of power from one party to another. How that transfer was handled is where I found the biggest differences. The 2020 Presidential Election is famous in the U.S. for accusations of fraud and cheating. Haberman, Berzon & Schmidt (2022), note that allies of Donald Trump are still working to get electoral votes rescinded from President Biden. These accusations have also caused podcasts and television shows to discuss how the results can be overturned, even two years later (Haberman, Berzon & Schmidt, 2022).  The 2020 Presidential Election in the Dominican Republic did not come with as much controversy. Luis Abinader of the Modern Revolutionary Party won the...
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Module 5 - Immigration and Migration Patterns

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     Immigration always seems to be one of the biggest talking points of U.S. politics. This can make one wonder if immigration is as much of a conversation starter in Europe as it is in America. Based on statistics, I would say that it is not.  Connor, Passel & Krogstad , (2019), found that in 2017, the population of unauthorized immigrants in Europe was less than half of that in the United States. The sheer number of unauthorized immigrants can help determine if immigration is seen as an issue – it seems as though in the U.S. immigration is a larger issue because unauthorized immigrants make up a larger portion of the population. In fact, 3% of the United States’ population was unauthorized immigrants in 2017, compared to only 1% of Europe’s (larger) population (Connor, Passel & Krogstad, 2019).                                 Graph of Unauthorized Immig...
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Module 4 - Sovereign Territory

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     The Dominican Republic has a long and storied history when it comes to their territory and sovereignty. Flint & Taylor (2018), define territory as “the land belonging to the ruler of a state,” and refer to sovereignty as a legal concept that implies on absolute authority in the realm of politics and government (p. 134). Over time, while the territory of the Dominican Republic has essentially remained unchanged, the sovereignty has changed quite frequently.  Map of the Island of Hispaniola (Britannica). Map of the Dominican Republic's Location in Relation to Other Caribbean Countries (Britannica). The first time the Dominican Republic was settled was by the Spaniards, in 1492; in 1496 during a second settlement period by Spain, Santo Domingo was established – during this period, the island was called Hispaniola ( Britannica ). This was the start of a long period of colonization, occupation, and intervention for the Dominican Republic. In 1795, Spain gave up...
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Module 3 Blog - Military & Hegemony

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      For this blog I chose to look at Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan. My dad was actually stationed here for about a year, right after my parents got married in 1985 and i enjoyed getting to learn a little more about the base and its history!     According to the  Military Bases website, Kadena was originally a small Japanese air field, but it was quickly overtaken by U.S. Marines and soldiers upon their invasion of the island (Kadena Air Force Base). After Okinawa entered into a shared cooperation agreement with mainland Japan, the U.S. was able to begin stationing permanent troops there, and in return the U.S. would shoulder some of the responsibility for the defense of the country (Kadena Air Force Base). While at first this sounds like a pretty nice deal, that changes a bit when considering this from a hegemonic view. Flint & Taylor (2018) explained that, "to represent its military actions as just, the United States represented its own ac...
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Module 2 Blog - Feminist Geopolitics

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  Module 2      I found that one of the most interesting topics in this chapter was the discussion around feminist geopolitics. I had never heard of such a thing, and the description was fascinating to me. Flint & Taylor (2018), speak of feminist geopolitics as challenging critical geopolitics in three main ways: it critiques the content for continuing to be state-centric, it reconceptualizes geography to different spaces as intertwined in vast ways, and they see critical geopolitics as “stopping at academic critique, rather than doing something. In other words, no normative geopolitical agenda is promoted” (p. 83). These ideas fascinate me – I especially enjoy that the content is challenged, considering that most still currently relates to the thoughts of old, white men. I also enjoyed the discussion around intimate geopolitics, which focuses on seeing violence and war in new ways, including how they impact the individual body and the home (Flint & Taylor, 2...
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