Elise Nelson's ePortfolio
Files
Description
This Social Justice e-portfolio showcases the academic work of Elise Nelson through papers and other documents.
These documents are under a Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND.
Publication Date
2020
Keywords
social justice
Recommended Citation
Nelson, Elise, "Elise Nelson's ePortfolio" (2020). Social Justice ePortfolios . 7.
https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/sjus_eportfolio/7
Contents
If God's Heart is for Justice, Mine Should be Too: A Personal Manifesto (Social Justice Class Paper): Struggle. Contradictions. Confusion. Hypocrisy. Frustration. Truth. Gray areas. All of these are words that would describe my thoughts and feelings throughout the semester I originally wrote this personal manifesto in the fall of 2018. I was coming back to university from having been abroad for a semester and was experiencing pretty intense culture shock. Many of the things that I learned or was made aware of about the world primarily through my classes that semester rocked my world. Add reverse culture shock to it, and one would see why this was a difficult yet important season of my life. I went into that semester knowing that my new Social Justice major was going to be difficult. I knew there would be things that I would agree with and things that would go against all that I have ever known (primarily politically). I understood that for me to study this subject, I was going to have to sacrifice a lot of pride, bias, and polarized, ignorant thoughts. I was ready to learn more about poverty, violence, injustice, and ways that both I and the government could help people. I was ready to learn how to make a difference in this world that God gave us.
Becoming Informed about Refugee Resettlement (History-Decolonization Class Paper): The slides from this PowerPoint presentation is to help learners differentiate between different types of displaced peoples, understand the process of seeking asylum, and understand the refugee resettlement process.
World at War: Final Research Paper (History-World at War Class Paper): The Ottoman Empire reigned for over five centuries throughout today’s Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Southern Europe, starting around 1299. However, after World War I, it completely disbanded, creating several nation-states. What led to the fall of this massive Empire? There seem to be several factors including actions of World War I. Both the Allies and the Entente fought in the Middle East, each side supporting different groups within the Ottoman Empire. During the World War I period, the Young Turks, those in government in the Ottoman Empire, desired to create a “Turanian nationality.” This included a “Turkification” of the non-Turkish areas of the Empire. The Germans supported this effort, while Britain and France supported the Arab nationalist revolt against the Young Turks. Were the actions of Western European nations in the Ottoman Empire part of the cause of the fall of the entire Empire? In this research paper, I will examine the relationship between Germany and the Young Turks, as well as the relationship between Britain and France and the Arab nationals. I will attempt to determine the intent of these relationships, as well as whether or not European actions in the Middle East were one of the causes of the fall of the Empire. I will also discuss the causes of the fall outside of the impact of European nations.
Women in Saudi Arabia: And the Source of Rights and Restrictions (Political Science-Third World Politics Class Paper): Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia has been a highlighted topic recently, as several human rights violations against women have come to light. The treatment of women in Saudi can seem quite misogynistic, especially from a Western perspective. From a Western perspective, there are some practices in Islam, and thus in Saudi, that seem sexist, such as separating women and men in the mosque and other places in society, like the workplace. However, from their view, certain practices in their religion and culture are absolutely necessary to their faith; in this instance, because sexual sin is of utmost defilement, and they have to merit paradise, separating men and women in the mosque and other places in society is a faithful step toward honoring God, not necessarily an attempt to degrade women. The role of women and the treatment of women in the home and in society is vastly different than in the West, especially since the West does not adhere to Sharia Law. Some of these things in Sharia Law may seem foreign to a Westerner, but they are culturally normal in Saudi Arabia. Though there are cases where a Western worldview will not make sense of the situation, there also are cases that are more widely recognized as injustices by most worldviews. Why have there been so many human rights violations in regard to women in Saudi? My argument is that Sharia law and Sunni, or more specifically Wahhabi, interpretations of Quranic teachings greatly contribute to the human rights violations and restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia. I will conduct a case study of the country, looking at their laws regarding women and looking at the treatment of women as is portrayed in the Qur’an, Hadith, and Fatwa. (Removed by Author Request)
Social Justice Capstone Paper (Social Justice Class Paper) EMBARGOED: In the spring of 2018, I spent my semester (my second semester sophomore year) living in Glasgow, Scotland working with a local church plant.[...] While I was there, I had the opportunity to work with refugees, primarily from Syria and Iraq. I had some experience working with refugees prior to my time in Glasgow, but this time I had several months to devote to them, not just a week. My main task was teaching English to them, which I got to do at my church once a week. One of the families in my class asked my ministry partner and me to go to their home twice a week to do one-on-one English lessons, primarily with the wife who did not speak hardly any English. During the many days, we spent over at their flat, I not only got to help teach them English, but I also got to help them with different legal paperwork regarding their immigration status and benefits (and also eat really good Syrian food). Because I was not informed of the U.K.’s immigration laws, I could only help to a certain extent. This got me thinking- how cool would it be to get to represent refugees legally? Or at least have enough knowledge of the process and program that I could help them in this tangible way? I began to look at ways at Ouachita I could study to do this, whether that meant more in the social work side or legal representation side.