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Browsing Undergraduate Works by Author "Aghel, Parsa"

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    The Anthropocene Commons – A New Paradigm of Scale Variance: Commons Frameworks and Climate Change Theory
    (University of Oregon, 2021-06) Aghel, Parsa
    The term Anthropocene, denoting the era where human activity is the greatest influence on the environment and climate, marks a new era of climate change theory and understanding. This paper, though, looks at existing promising works surrounding the Anthropocene and argues that the dialogue lacks holistic conceptions of agency and spatial and temporal scale variance in order to fully grasp its complexity. Agency refers to the flawed understanding of the Anthropocene as simply human without consideration for other assemblages, which denotes the other stakeholders apart from humans. Temporal scale refers to the need for a varied consideration of time and the creation of assemblages. Spatial scale refers to the different levels of interaction (national, international, socioeconomic. This understanding of scales, or scale variance, relies on Derek Woods’ theory that multiple scalar levels are necessary to encapsulate the Anthropocene. This paper will approach scale variance by constructing the Anthropocene Commons model. The model, based its theoretical framework on Garrett Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons on resource, will utilize the three levels of scale absent in other scholarship. The paper will examine other models used to address climate change and discuss their lack of the necessary scope and holistic framework and how their prescriptions for addressing climate catastrophe fall short. Using scale variance in the Anthropocene commons, then, will seek to correct it and offer a standardized but flexible framework to better address the ongoing and impending crisis.
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    Legal and Philosophical Intersections of Refugee Law: Imagining a More Just Migration
    (University of Oregon, 2022) Aghel, Parsa; Chari, Anita; Tichenor, Daniel; Shoop, Casey
    Despite the United States’ trove of migration laws, many of which promise to adhere to the United Nation’s handbook on refugees, our migration infrastructure is weak and exclusive. By using Michel Foucault’s analytical lens, biopower, this paper will examine the discrepancies between the two dominant forms of migration: immigration and asylum law. While other scholars have conducted refugee studies and claim to use biopower as their lens, this paper will challenge their academized framework by charting the real history of refugee advocacy. To critique these modern scholars, the paper will turn to Hannah Arendt’s articulation of citizenship’s value and her early work on the stateless. In doing so, this paper will be the first to suggest that the exceptionalism that dominates refugee law—and its separation from immigration law—stems from the biopower that underscores the nation’s migration statutes. The interdisciplinary analysis will uncover three areas where the law falls short: the particular social group (PSG) requirement in refugee law, the tendency to imagine citizenship as a binary, and the border wall as a space of legalized violence against migrants. This unique form of jurisprudence, though, reveals immediate solutions to the abstract problems. PSG provisions, for one, must be read with a corrected textualist lens that respects its broad origins. Statutes like Temporary Protected Status must be protected to fill the gap between immigration and refugee law, initiating a notion of semi-citizenship. Finally, test cases must make use of the constitutional similarities between Civil Rights law and immigration law to protect migrants at the border.