China is experiencing rapid economic growth through trade and investment in other developing countries, including countries in Africa. What are the implications of trade and investment for Africa, specifically in West Africa as defined by the United Nations? This paper will examine how China's Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) has impacted poverty in West Africa. It will do this by analyzing data on West African countries’ Human Development Index (HDI) and GDP per capita. The relationship will be evaluated using econometric analysis. The discussion of the findings will include implications for other Sub-Saharan African countries and whether FDIs are effective in reducing poverty in this region.

In this project, I explore different facets of the Bracero Program. The main question my research answers is: Who were the braceros that participated in the Bracero Program and what were their experiences and motivations to participate in this program? To begin, I examine the bureaucratic structure and history of the Bracero Program, an immigration program established during WWII from 1942 to 1964 that allowed 5 million Mexican workers to work in the US as farmworkers. Then, I discuss the different experiences and motivations of Braceros that immigrated from Mexico. I also describe how some braceros who participated in this program had strong voices and advocated for themselves through efforts to unionize that were done with organizations, such as La Alianza Braceros Nacionales de México. My paper also discusses the Mexican state and United States' role in developing and continuing the Bracero Program. I conclude by stating that there were many facets to the Bracero Program that one needs to critically examine to understand the program and the impact that it had on braceros themselves and guest-worker programs. The evidence and research that I present in this project will consist of previous literature on the Bracero Program and oral history archives of past braceros.

Examinations of ancient adoptions reveal that adopters had different intentions in antiquity than they do now. Scholars of ancient Roman social and familial connections have found that marriages, adoptions, friendships, and other social interactions were sometimes politically motivated. These studies have revealed much about the romantic, platonic, and political relationships of the time; but the literature on adoption as an imperial tool leaves much to be desired. While the Roman imperial practice of adoptive succession is noted in Roman scholarship, there has yet to be a comprehensive study of the effects of this practice. The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not the practice of direct adoptive succession promoted stability in the Roman Empire. To determine this, the study seeks to quantify stability in the Roman Empire through economic data, evidence of political unrest, and measurements of personal needs of the public being met, such as food, housing, medicine, and safety. Additionally, criteria are outlined to identify which Roman emperors are classified as “adopted” and not—and outside factors are considered in cases where appropriate. With equal samples of adopted and non-adopted emperors, and primary source data to determine stability, this study will find whether the Roman imperial practice of adoptive succession was ultimately better or worse for the Roman Empire. This limited research is the precursor to a larger study on classical ‘philosopher-kings’ as technocrats.

Many literary scholars have recognized the slave narrative as one of the most explored forms of African American literature due to their ability to reveal information about the lives of early enslaved people. While this genre receives it’s acclaim from narratives, such as Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the plethora of woman-authored narratives go woefully ignored. This study aims to go beyond typical analysis of the canonical slave narrative to explore pre-Civil War enslaved women’s relationships with religion and spirituality through a feminist lens, while also taking a comparative approach to the works of enslaved men to support the aforementioned analysis. An investigation of these practices amongst enslaved communities will support the argument that religious coercion was used by the planter class to maintain a patriarchal value system amongst enslaved communities that works to assert their place as property in early American society. This study also engages with spatial theory to evaluate the role of performance in religious worship as it pertains to the divide between Christian religious practices enforced on the enslaved community by the planter class and the practice of liberation theology that the enslaved truly embraced. Moreover, as black spiritual and religious practices begin to evolve beyond Christianity in the 21st century, it becomes imperative that one look back at the formation of religious practices that have been passed on through generations in order to gain a better understanding of their current evolution.