http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/human Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Sun, 16 Aug 2026 04:57:37 -0400 Sun, 16 Aug 2026 04:57:37 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1928/structural-violence-in-the-queer-community-a-comparative-analysis-of-international-human-rights-protections-for-lbtiq-people By Misty Farquhar - This paper discusses the structural violence experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, or queer (LGBTIQ+) people and people with disabilities (PWD), and reviews the international human rights protections available to each group through United Nations (UN) processes. It begins by exploring the human rights issues faced by LGBTIQ+ people, the impacts on their health and wellbeing, and the lack of international systems in place to protect them. It then repeats the process for PWD and highlights the efficacy of the protections afforded them. A comparative analysis contextualises the... Mon, 20 Dec 2021 09:19 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1928/structural-violence-in-the-queer-community-a-comparative-analysis-of-international-human-rights-protections-for-lbtiq-people http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1923/medusas-blood-on-the-ovidian-assertion-of-fame-in-cellinis-perseus By Hannibal De Pencier - Cast in one piece of bronze in 1554, Benvenuto Cellini'sPerseus with the Head of Medusa representeda monumental feat of artisticvirtuosity. Viewers marvelled at the imposing size of the bronze, the sense of liquid tactility in the blood pouring from either end of Medusa's neck, and—most importantly to Cellini himself—they marvelled at the artist's skill. Ostensibly meant to allude to the political mastery of Grand Duke Cosimo I de Medici, the sculpture's Ovidian iconographic program is demonstrably concerned with aggrandizing Cellini's generative power and asserting the artist... Tue, 30 Nov 2021 09:27 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1923/medusas-blood-on-the-ovidian-assertion-of-fame-in-cellinis-perseus http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1904/industrial-safety-factors-that-present-barriers-to-reporting-workplace-incidents-and-contribute-to-cultures-of-non-reporting By Rana M. Van Tuyl - This research study explores factors that present barriers to reporting workplace incidents and contribute to cultures of non-report. The research purpose was to explore human, workplace/organizational, and external factors identified by industrial sector personnel working in the oil and gas industry in Northern Alberta, Canada to build an understanding of why cultures of non-report develop as a subculture. The participant organization was a multinational that provides construction and technical services on industrial facilities. Data was collected through one-on-one, semi-structured interviews... Tue, 08 Jun 2021 08:52 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1904/industrial-safety-factors-that-present-barriers-to-reporting-workplace-incidents-and-contribute-to-cultures-of-non-reporting http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1870/liberal-and-realist-explanations-of-merkels-open-door-policy-during-the-2015-refugee-crisis By Niklas Ernst - During the 2015 refugee crisis Chancellor Angela Merkel allowed refugees to enter Germany in unprecedented numbers. Her historic decision to adapt the so-called “open-door policy” continues to shape contemporary German politics. More precisely, it will likely define Merkel’s legacy and political future. This article analyzes her decision through two major IR theories: liberalism and realism. It aims to contribute to the discipline’s understanding of the “open-door policy” by assessing what each theory can explain well and less well. While the article analyzes... Mon, 01 Feb 2021 02:03 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1870/liberal-and-realist-explanations-of-merkels-open-door-policy-during-the-2015-refugee-crisis http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1847/genocide-memorialization-in-the-modern-era-communal-mourning-through-institutions-and-culture By Emily Bennett - Genocide Memorialization focuses on the community after a genocide in what they choose to remember and how they achieve that goal of memorialization. Memorialization efforts are museums, institutions, policy, law, education, documentaries and first person accounts and testimonies. By examining the precedent set by the aftermath of the Holocaust and the Genocide Convention of 1948, future survivors of genocide are able to expand the precedent or potentially ignore the precedent by no longer recognizing a genocide. After introducing the Holocaust I examine three modern genocides: The Indonesian... Mon, 07 Dec 2020 01:23 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1847/genocide-memorialization-in-the-modern-era-communal-mourning-through-institutions-and-culture http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1831/challenging-the-dichotomy-between-natural-and-cultural-in-museums-a-case-study-of-bird-symbolism-and-human-origins By David Lichty - Many natural history museums use the categories of “cultural” and “natural” as a means of separating exhibition content. This article challenges this practice and the inherent paradigm that supports it. By dismissing the integral connection between these categories, it is possible to overlook humanity's role in the manipulation of the environment and how the environment has affected the development of human culture and human evolution. This article argues that it is essential for museums to design exhibitions without separating culture and nature, thereby informing our... Thu, 05 Nov 2020 07:33 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1831/challenging-the-dichotomy-between-natural-and-cultural-in-museums-a-case-study-of-bird-symbolism-and-human-origins http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1806/the-effectiveness-of-the-international-criminal-court-challenges-and-pathways-for-prosecuting-human-rights-violations By Sarah J. Goodman - Of the thousands of potential cases that could have been investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC), only 44 individuals have been indicted, with 45 cases currently before the ICC. Further, only 14 out of the 45 have resulted in a complete proceeding, and only nine were convicted. Scholars in the field have not adequately addressed why cases come before the ICC and how this process may result in a full hearing and verdict. Because of these gaps, empirically-informed recommendations for areas of improvement for the ICC are also largely absent. To begin to fill these gaps, this research... Wed, 30 Sep 2020 12:04 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1806/the-effectiveness-of-the-international-criminal-court-challenges-and-pathways-for-prosecuting-human-rights-violations http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1802/improving-medical-humanitarianism-pitfalls-and-best-practices-for-international-aid By Casey Kozak - The necessity of international relief is unending as new crises continue to emerge across the world. International aid plays a crucial role in shaping how affected communities rebuild after a crisis. However, humanitarian aid often results in a variety of unanticipated consequences and negative outcomes. Inadequate aid leaves behind substantial and foundational problems that the local community or healthcare system is not equipped to handle. There exist a number of hurdles to the success of international medical aid, including those posed by medical pluralism, short-term aid, lack of coordination... Fri, 25 Sep 2020 11:30 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1802/improving-medical-humanitarianism-pitfalls-and-best-practices-for-international-aid http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1801/abu-ghraib-homonationalism-and-the-rationalization-of-modern-torture By Emma D. Rosner - Drawing on Jasbir Puar’s analysis of homonationalism in the post-9/11 United States, I investigate the Orientalist and Islamophobic discourses present in liberal and LGBTQ news articles and human rights reports responding to the release of torture photos from Abu Ghraib prison in May 2004. This study looks at how Western journalists and human rights organizations from diverse political and social identifications bolstered the homonationalist project in their responses to torture at Abu Ghraib. In doing so, it reveals homonationalism as a discourse with multiple iterations that differ across... Thu, 24 Sep 2020 10:18 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1801/abu-ghraib-homonationalism-and-the-rationalization-of-modern-torture http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1759/climate-change-as-a-security-issue-in-the-indo-pacific-region-borders-environmental-phenomena-and-preexisting-vulnerabilities By Billie R. Trinder - In recent years, climate change has been increasingly framed as a security issue, with some theorists going so far as to call it the most important security issue of the 21st century. This paper will examine the relationship between climate change and human security through the lens of environmental possibilism (Sprout, 1965), recognizing related environmental phenomena as risk intensifiers. It is recognized that climate change acts as a risk multiplier to violent conflict rather than a direct cause, where the vulnerability and ability or inability of populations to adapt to environmental change... Fri, 15 Feb 2019 09:38 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1759/climate-change-as-a-security-issue-in-the-indo-pacific-region-borders-environmental-phenomena-and-preexisting-vulnerabilities http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1757/gender-based-violence-in-refugee-camps-understanding-and-addressing-the-role-of-gender-in-the-experiences-of-refugees By Mie A. Jensen - The discussion of 'women's rights' is often subsumed into the broader consideration of 'human rights,' but when it comes to understanding the experiences of the world's most vulnerable people — refugees — the issue of gender cannot be ignored. The experiences of refugees depend on one’s gender, where women are significantly disadvantaged. Globally, 80% of the refugee and internally displaced people are children and women, which leaves them in a vulnerable position (Qayum, Mohmand and Arooj 2012:63); this includes vulnerability to physical attacks, sexual assaults, and transactional... Tue, 05 Feb 2019 09:10 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1757/gender-based-violence-in-refugee-camps-understanding-and-addressing-the-role-of-gender-in-the-experiences-of-refugees http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1702/domestic-violence-and-the-indian-womens-movement-a-short-history By Kaamila Patherya - The Indian women’s movement, from the 1920s until the 1970s, was heavily influenced and directed by the external economic and political forces of the nation, to the effect that women’s issues were effectively sidelined, never occupying central concern in the minds of people. The period from the 1920s until Independence saw the imbuement of the women’s movement with nationalist politics, its contours shaped by the on-going struggle for freedom from British imperialism. This period, from the 1920s to the 1970s, was characterized by the inception of various local women’s associations... Wed, 08 Nov 2017 10:33 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1702/domestic-violence-and-the-indian-womens-movement-a-short-history http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1643/nature-or-culture-the-anthropocene-as-social-narrative By Kelly Power - Is it possible to objectively define the Anthropocene? This essay argues that whether or not it is precisely definable as a geological epoch, its true value, as a concept grounded in futurity, lies within the social realm. The origins of the term are discussed and several hypotheses for defining the Anthropocene are considered. These are linked to earlier accounts of human influence over the environment. Next, the universality of the Anthropocene narrative is challenged, with an emphasis on its cultural and social dimensions. This critique does not seek to diminish its value but refocus it, stressing... Mon, 22 May 2017 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1643/nature-or-culture-the-anthropocene-as-social-narrative http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1650/alienating-ethnic-kin-assessing-immigration-integration-policies-for-the-brazilian-nikkeijin-in-japan-and-joseonjok-marriage-migrants-in-south-korea By Kenneth Lee - In recent decades, Japan and South Korea have become hosts to ethnic return migrants who have returned to their ancestral homeland after once emigrating overseas. Since the 1980s, the Brazilian nikkeijin, or members of the Japanese diaspora, have returned to Japan as labor migrants. From 1992, joseonjok, or ethnic Korean Chinese, migrant women traveled to South Korea to marry Korean men. Japan and South Korea have targeted these groups for their ethnic affinities – the attraction and kinship between the homeland population and returning migrants – on the presumption that they would... Mon, 22 May 2017 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1650/alienating-ethnic-kin-assessing-immigration-integration-policies-for-the-brazilian-nikkeijin-in-japan-and-joseonjok-marriage-migrants-in-south-korea http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1642/libya-2011-exploring-the-implementation-of-the-responsibility-to-protect By Andrew R. Aubuchon - This article explores the role that the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) played in the 2011 intervention in Libya. It examines the R2P legal framework in coordination with events on the ground in Libya during the early part of 2011 in order to thoroughly explain that R2P was correctly invoked by the United Nations Security Council in order to uphold international law. The article argues that this mandate allowed for the lawful intervention by NATO thereafter. However, the R2P was not fully carried out. The law clearly mandates actions that must be taken upon the conclusion of fighting carried out... Thu, 11 May 2017 10:26 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1642/libya-2011-exploring-the-implementation-of-the-responsibility-to-protect http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1639/does-essence-precede-existence-a-look-at-camuss-metaphysical-rebellion By Scot N. DuFour - Albert Camus lived during a tumultuous time that included his experience of World War II and the Algerian War. Camus is most prominently known as an author of fine French literature but he was also a philosopher. While it is debatable whether Camus was an existentialist, a label he personally disliked, his analysis of rebellion in his work The Rebel serves as a relevant argument for the establishment of an ethic based on metaphysical rebellion. Camus faced and was witness to great oppression throughout his lifetime so it is no surprise that he wrote about rebellion. Camus was personally part of... Mon, 01 May 2017 10:41 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1639/does-essence-precede-existence-a-look-at-camuss-metaphysical-rebellion http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1609/the-rebel-hero-albert-camus-and-the-search-for-meaning-amidst-the-absurd By Meghan E. Von Hassel - Man in his search for meaning—everyman— is Albert Camus’ rebel. In The Rebel man must accept and seek to encounter the universe as it presents itself in absurdity. He encounters the universe out of a strange love and a need for something in which he can place his hope: “a moment comes when the creation ceases to be taken tragically; it is merely taken seriously. Then man is concerned with hope.”[1] Rebellion in the face of absurdity finds hope in the beauty of solidarity which is rooted in the dignity of man, namely, that there is value in human life. In the darkness... Tue, 04 Apr 2017 02:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1609/the-rebel-hero-albert-camus-and-the-search-for-meaning-amidst-the-absurd http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1590/lowering-restrictions-on-performance-enhancing-drugs-in-elite-sports By Rory W. Collins - This article argues that performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) ought to be allowed across all elite sporting competitions for athletes over the age of 16 so long as consuming them does not pose a significant risk to their health. I begin with a brief explanation of the current state of PED use in professional sports before assessing the prospect of allowing PEDs by three widely-accepted (though far from comprehensive) measures of ethical merit: well-being, autonomy, and justice. I end with a critique of the World Anti-Doping Agency's criteria for banning PEDs, concluding that allowing athletes to... Fri, 24 Mar 2017 09:28 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1590/lowering-restrictions-on-performance-enhancing-drugs-in-elite-sports http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1552/world-war-ii-in-the-united-states-colony-of-the-philippines-beyond-the-bataan-death-march-and-douglas-macarthur By Martha M. Helak - World War II ranks among the deadliest military conflicts in history. From 1939-1945, the estimated number of casualties worldwide exceeded 60 million.[1] The United States suffered military fatalities in excess of four hundred thousand, and the Philippines, an archipelago in Southeast Asia and an American colony from 1898 to1946, endured horrifying atrocities such as the Bataan Death March.[2] One hundred thousand Filipino civilians (the majority being women, children, and the elderly), were ultimately slaughtered by Japanese Marines during the sack of Manila.[3] By March of 1945, this cosmopolitan... Tue, 07 Mar 2017 05:03 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1552/world-war-ii-in-the-united-states-colony-of-the-philippines-beyond-the-bataan-death-march-and-douglas-macarthur http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1542/reinterpreting-the-treatment-of-the-rural-population-by-perus-shining-path By Auston Stiefer - The Peruvian Communist Party (PCP) was founded as the Peruvian Socialist Party in 1928 by José Carlos Mariátegui after his analysis of the “semifeudal” Peruvian economic state, which did not strictly follow Marx’s socialist model.1 Just over 30 years later, the PCP began to radically transform under the teaching of Maoist thought by Abimael Guzmán, a philosophy professor at the National University of Haumanga and future leader of the party.2 Over the next two decades, the PCP renamed the Sendero Lumnioso (“Shining Path”) drew upon Mariá... Wed, 22 Feb 2017 11:33 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1542/reinterpreting-the-treatment-of-the-rural-population-by-perus-shining-path http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1503/the-lgbt-movement-in-china-public-perception-stigma-and-the-human-rights-debate By Arber Mavraj - Ever since its elimination from the list of mental illnesses in 2001, and decriminalization in 1997, homosexuality in China continues to be at the forefront of China’s growing human rights debate. The estimated 40 million lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered (LGBT) Chinese[1] are victims of violence or discrimination both inside and outside their families and do not have equal access to justice and social services, such a legal aid, counseling, or health-care due the predominantly negative public opinion regarding sexual orientation and gender identity[2]. Likewise, the portrayal of... Mon, 05 Dec 2016 10:56 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1503/the-lgbt-movement-in-china-public-perception-stigma-and-the-human-rights-debate http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1502/first-language-attrition-in-german-jewish-refugees-of-the-nazi-dictatorship-the-impact-of-age-and-attitude-on-language-loss By Christian David Zeitz - First language attrition (L1) studies are a comparably young and theoretically unspecified field of research in bilingualism. Young, because the first scientifically acclaimed, related article, Andersen’s “Determining the linguistic attributes of language attrition,” was only published in 1982. (For comparison, Lennenberg’s monograph Biological foundations of language, widely cited in second language acquisition (SLA) studies, was published as early as 1967.) Theoretically unspecified, because most studies concerned with L1 attrition offer a well-derived discussion of data... Fri, 02 Dec 2016 10:46 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1502/first-language-attrition-in-german-jewish-refugees-of-the-nazi-dictatorship-the-impact-of-age-and-attitude-on-language-loss http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1436/depoliticizing-and-deconstructing-human-rights-changing-the-lens-through-which-we-view-universal-human-rights By Uday V. Garg - This paper is an attempt to navigate through existing theories of universalisation of human rights and existing justifications thereof. It is premised on several cultural and political notions that it takes as starting points, not as truisms, but through ideological deconstruction, which enable positively directing the aforementioned navigation, with the object of illustrating fundamental flaws in the current regimes, both political and discursive, of the human rights movement. The paper derives this idea from Mutua’s (2001) article, and takes it forward to proposing an alternative regime... Thu, 01 Sep 2016 09:20 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1436/depoliticizing-and-deconstructing-human-rights-changing-the-lens-through-which-we-view-universal-human-rights http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1433/comparing-godly-and-satanic-happiness-in-john-miltons-paradise-lost By Alison L. Bare - Two conflicting modes of living—happiness pursued obediently (Godly) versus happiness pursued disobediently (Satanic)—produce persistent problems with conceptions of free will in John Milton’s Paradise Lost. The Godly mode of happiness recognises that one is free to choose their path to human happiness, but only within God’s bounds; the Satanic mode of happiness recognises that one is entitled to human happiness, but not limited by God’s bounds. It is the relationship between these two modes of living that reveals a Miltonic paradox—free to choose human happiness... Sun, 21 Aug 2016 03:41 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1433/comparing-godly-and-satanic-happiness-in-john-miltons-paradise-lost http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1431/erasmus-and-the-transformation-of-early-modern-political-authority-in-the-education-of-a-christian-prince By Zachary S. Brown - Often called the “prince of the humanists” Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536) was one of the most influential European philosophers and theologians of the early modern period. However, today he is often overshadowed by his more radical contemporaries, particularly Niccolò Machiavelli, and regarded as a quixotic moderate. This article seeks to challenge this traditional view of Erasmus by exploring the rhetoric and claims of one of his most famous works, The Education of a Christian Prince (1516), a political advice manual written to the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. An... Sun, 07 Aug 2016 09:35 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1431/erasmus-and-the-transformation-of-early-modern-political-authority-in-the-education-of-a-christian-prince http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1408/exploiting-the-poor-and-powerless-forced-labor-systems-in-the-early-and-later-modern-world By Drew Liquerman - Our world has witnessed significant shifts, transformations, and evolution in government systems, the balance of power among nations, economics, the rights of men and women, and social structures and relationships over the past 500 years. However, the plight of the poor and powerless worker has remained static. Societies blessed by climate, latitude, disease resistance, powerful militaries, and a little bit of luck have used this opportunity to exploit others. Throughout recorded history, nations and cultures have taken advantage of the cheap or free labor of conquered areas or the downtrodden... Sat, 14 May 2016 07:46 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1408/exploiting-the-poor-and-powerless-forced-labor-systems-in-the-early-and-later-modern-world http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1382/the-development-agenda-after-the-millenium-development-goals-is-the-post-2015-agenda-truly-transformative By Florence Lee - In 2014, the United Nations called for "a truly transformative agenda to follow the Millennium Development Goals." This study applies a critical qualitative discourse and textual analysis to examine the first priority of the agenda—to end extreme poverty and hunger—set fourth in The Action Agenda for Sustainable Development Report (SDSN) and assesses the extent to which this ‘transformative agenda’ is likely to be achieved. This study found that the report's goal of ‘ending hunger and poverty’ encouraged implementation strategies that were conceptually narrow... Fri, 25 Mar 2016 02:49 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1382/the-development-agenda-after-the-millenium-development-goals-is-the-post-2015-agenda-truly-transformative http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1371/book-review-planet-of-slums-by-mike-davis-2006 By Florence Lee - In essence, Davis blames neoliberalism for these problems. The ‘villains’, or driving forces behind modern slum creation, are the World Bank and the IMF. And Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) – conditions attached to provisional loans that poor countries are subjected to whereby neoliberal market policies (opening up of the market, removing trade barriers and excess state control) are promoted – have been the reason. By encouraging less trade subsidies and privatization, SAPs lead to borrowers having to cut back on public taxation and spending. Davis states that millions... Sat, 27 Feb 2016 02:29 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1371/book-review-planet-of-slums-by-mike-davis-2006 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1312/what-was-the-influence-of-cosmopolitan-law-on-the-permanent-court-of-international-justice By Melissa S. McHugh - At the heart of many contemporary international organizations, such as the United Nations, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), the theory underpinning cosmopolitan law represents the ideal they strive to achieve in a world plagued with war, conflict, and genocide. Before the UN, the ICJ and the ICC, the League of Nations established the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ)—not as a utopian realization of Immanuel Kant’s perpetual peace, but as a tool for European nations to seek rational resolutions to disputes arising from... Fri, 20 Nov 2015 10:43 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1312/what-was-the-influence-of-cosmopolitan-law-on-the-permanent-court-of-international-justice http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1362/human-rights-framing-in-us-newspaper-coverage-of-the-sochi-olympic-preparations By Michelle Alfini - Every two years, the global spotlight shines on the Olympics and the nation hosting them. The Games provide an example of a "mega-event," which means a globally recognized occurrence of "shortlived collective cultural actions" that are perceived to have "extra-ordinary status" based on their large scale and scope (Xi, 2013). These mega-events attract media engagement from around the globe, and their host nations have long used such events as opportunities to reframe their national narratives and achieve greater status in the international community (Roche, 2000; Black, 2006). In addition to international... Wed, 18 Nov 2015 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1362/human-rights-framing-in-us-newspaper-coverage-of-the-sochi-olympic-preparations