MCLL Graduate Student Conference Papers
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Item Understanding equitable access to interpretive services in healthcare in Kansas(Wichita State University, 2023-04-14) Medina, Melissa; Colcher, Drew C.; Showstack, Rachel E.; Keene Woods, NikkiIntroduction: There is an increasing need in Kansas for qualified healthcare interpreters as the demographics continue to become more diverse. Patients with limited English proficiency are considered a vulnerable population. They experience medical errors with worse clinical outcomes compared to English speakers. Per the Affordable Care Act, most healthcare facilities must provide qualified interpreters for individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP). A community-based project funded by the U.S. Office of Minority Health works to understand barriers and improve language access across Kansas. Purpose: To determine how health service providers in southeast, south-central, and southwest Kansas provide interpretive services and to better ensure effective communication for LEP patients. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was developed based on a previous survey by the National Health Law Program (NHeLP). The pilot survey included 18 questions on how health organizations are paid or reimbursed for interpretation services and the quality of the service each individual receives. The survey will be administered to primary care providers, health service providers, and health service organizations. A snowball recruiting strategy will be used to recruit participants via email and newsletters. The study timeframe will be from January 2023 to April 2023. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize the findings. Results: The anticipated findings include additional information on the quantity and quality of interpretive services available across the southern regions of Kansas. We aim to determine whether language access plans that provide certified interpretive services during visits are in place at clinics and hospitals in Southern Kansas. We expect to find more information on the barriers to interpreting services in a clinical setting. Conclusion: To ensure better healthcare services and health outcomes for individuals with limited English proficiency, it is essential to increase the availability of interpretive services in healthcare settings. Education and training for healthcare workers and organizations can help improve health equity in an increasingly diverse community.Item Need for qualified interpreters in the judicial system for the Hispanic population(Wichita State University, 2023-04-14) Hernandez, Daisey; Henderson, Julie; Del Águila, RocíoThe United States has a large population of Hispanics with Limited English Proficiency (LEP), for whom interpretation services are provided in courtrooms, medical facilities, schools, and other government-funded locations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. However, many states do not require specific qualifications for court interpreters, assuming that interpreters only need to be bilingual and know the basic terminology of the field they are interpreting for. This assumption is dangerous and can be detrimental to the defendant. The lack of qualifications required for interpreters means that interpretation errors frequently go unnoticed by the court, potentially resulting in leading questions, longer trials, and wrongful convictions or unjust sentences. To address this issue, a qualitative analysis will be conducted on a Supreme Court case, official interpretations, and the coerciveness of leading questions to identify the skills and training required for court interpreters to become qualified. The Supreme Court case of United States v Dominguez Benitez illustrates the negative impact of unqualified interpreters. The LEP defendant was not provided with a qualified interpreter and was subjected to leading questions that resulted in a wrongful conviction and appeal. An analysis of the official interpretations and those leading questions demonstrates how easily the level of coerciveness can be changed. When poor interpretations are translated back into English, the meaning of the original is skewed, potentially leading to wrongful convictions. In addition, ethical dilemmas may arise when untrained interpreters accept cases for which they are not qualified, which can lead to confusion and mistranslations. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that court interpreters have the necessary qualifications and training to fulfill their responsibilities in the courtroom, safeguarding the rights of LEP defendants. The findings of this study will contribute to the development of effective interpreter training programs and policies.Item Enriquillo's revolts: A resilience archetype within Latin American music(Wichita State University, 2023-04-14) Gallardo Sánchez, Juan; Del Águila, Rocío; Veliz, MarivíThrough the análisis of "La Historia de las Indias" - "The History of the Indies", by Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, this essay will expose how Enriquillo became a symbol of stoic Latin spirit within Caribbean music. Fray Bartolome de las Casas was a Spanish priest that served theological purposes at Dominican Republic during its Spanish Colonization era, around the early 1500s. During his time at La Española, he wrote "The History of the Indies", a documentary narrative of Enriquillo's revolt against the Spanish colonizers. Enriquillo's narrative will serve as the entry point to illustrate a textual and cultural study of the text itself within Caribbean and Central American contemporary music. The narratives within songs such as, "Buscando América", by Rubén Blades, and "This is Not America", by Rene Pérez Joglar, will serve as an example to examine the dichotomy that every Latin American immigrant embodies. Blades, born in 1948, is a Panamanian Jazz singer who depicts Latin American stories in a troubadour character. Pérez Joglar, born in 1978, is a Puerto Rican rapper whose lyrics often condemn and criticize Latin American territories' injustices at the expense of alien forces. In search of a better future, every immigrant confronts an identity crisis in which the latter becomes a subjective duality composed of an existing nationality and a second perspective acquired from the immigration process. The indigenous figure that Enriquillo embodies has founded an overcoming precedent that enacts racial vigor within the Caribbean Taíno. There have been many stories akin to Enriquillo's trajectory. Enriquillo was one of the many indigenous leaders that eventually confronted Spanish colonizers and, in doing so, reattributed much candor and dignity to their land. This essay will celebrate how Enriquillo's character is an archetype of Hispanic resilience against supremacist and imperialist systems in the modern atmosphere.Item The immigrants who built Kansas: One spike at a time(Wichita State University, 2019-04-26) Masias, Jenny; Navarro Serrano, Jose EnriqueThe prevalent link in the position of Latino neighborhoods in cities throughout Kansas is the railroad. Whether it is Newton, Wichita, Topeka, Emporia or even larger cities like Los Angeles and Chicago, the proximity of Latino neighborhoods to the train tracks is no coincidence. Newton, Kansas has been a crucial geographical location where the railway traffic not only bridges east to west, north to south but internationally from Canada to Mexico creating a bullseye in the center of the country. The recruitment of Mexican immigrant labor during the late 19th and 20th century expanded the railway and allowed for the economic growth of Newton, and many similar cities in Kansas. These migrant workers who endured harsh working and living conditions managed, through solidarity, to forge tight-knit communities; all the while weathering a barrage of anti-immigrant political sentiment at the county, state, and national level. Via archival research, I intend to shed light on the copiousness of Newton's Mexican immigrant History through existing documents and pictures that have survived at the Kansas Historical Society, Harvey County Historical Society, and local church records. History has often been used as an instrument to advance the narrative of those in positions of power molding a one-dimensional historical memory. However, history can also be a tool to correct the silencing of the past and its contributors. It is only through a complex analysis of this narrative that is it possible to fully understand the value of the contributions Mexican immigrants have made not only to Newton but to the State of Kansas and beyond.Item Unreachable horizons: women's destiny in two short stories(Wichita State University. Graduate School., 2012-04-18) Scott, Colleen D.; Myers, Eunice, 1948-I examine the oppressed role of women in two short stories by Spanish author Carmen Martín Gaite. The stories are set against the backdrop of a post-civil war Spain and therefore echo the desolation and angst felt by many during this time. The female protagonist in each story dreams of and strives for a better life away from her own. They battle with internal conflicts as well as the external pressures of a patriarchal society. Escapism is their means of coping. I examine the incongruity between their dreams and reality and explore what impedes these female characters from realizing their full potential.