Digital Commons Network^™

Desalination And Development: Locating The Missing Masses In Dakar’S Water Network, Marina Riad

Scripps Senior Theses

The introduction of desalination technology to the water network in Dakar, Senegal marks a monumental change in how state and commercial interests aim to solve systemic problems using novel technologies. Desalination aims to transform the ocean surrounding Dakar into potable water, a vital resource in the growing metropolis. However, this desalination project must integrate itself within a network of social, historical, political, commercial, and ecological influences shaping the role of desalination in urban Dakar. With millions of dollars and an entire ocean mobilized towards solving Dakar’s water problems, it may come as a surprise that this project will only provide …

The Penobscot Nation, The State Of Maine, And The River Between Them, Jarred Haynes

Honors College

Since the arrival of Europeans in North America, Native Americans have been enticed into deceptive treaties and agreements that dispossessed them of their land, significantly alter their autonomy, and infringed on their sovereign rights. Sticking with this tradition, the State of Maine, today, is apprehensive to recognize Wabanaki sovereign rights, as guaranteed in federal Indian law. The rights and benefits that tribes have in other states, such as federal legislation regarding tribal healthcare, are withheld from Wabanaki Nations. This trepidation leaves Maine’s Native peoples vulnerable to political exploitation and environmental degradation. I endeavor to understand how Maine’s Land Claims Settlement …

The Territory, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The Territory (2022), directed by Alex Pritz.

Indigenous Stewardship Should Be Central To Conservation Efforts, International Study Finds, Beth Staples

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Darren Ranco says Indigenous peoples should be part of land use decisions, including whether to expand the quarantine zone for the emerald ash borer in northern Maine. "We have to be at the table because proof is in the pudding," says the University of Maine associate professor of anthropology, chair of Native American Programs, and citizen of Penobscot Nation. "When Indigenous people are on the land and making decisions about land management, biodiversity increases."

Distinction Between Indigenous And Western Cultural Conceptions Of The Earth And Its Relation To The Environment, John M. Zak

Student Publications

The differences between Indigenous and Western cultural conceptions of the Earth is a major cleavage between both communities and a source of tension and misunderstanding. Native American religious beliefs in communal ethics, the belief in the Earth and nature more broadly being a source of spiritual fulfillment and enlightenment, has encouraged Native Americans to work to safeguard the environment they feel a spiritual connection to. This is contrasted in Western notions of human centrality that encourages Western consumer economies to exploit resources for commercial profit that has led to the dispossession of Native lands and desecration of its sacredness in …

Environmental Transformative Justice: Responding To Ecocide, Manuel Rodeiro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation’s central objective is to normatively devise ethically appropriate sociopolitical and juridical responses to ecocide (i.e., grave environmental harm). More specifically, the work seeks to philosophically engage the ethical question of what is owed to human societies that are displaced due to intentional environmental destruction.

The motivation behind the project stems from the lack of academic research (excluding a pocket of recent analysis of the international community’s obligation to assist ‘climate refugees’) involving the question: “What ought to be afforded victims of environmental harm?” The dearth of scholarship is surprising, considering growing global concerns, vis-à-vis accelerating rates of environmental …

End Racism On Campus: Justice For Indigenous Students, Desiree Nicole Vargas

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Screen capture of a Facebook event announcement for an "End Racism on Campus" gathering held on the University Mall at UMaine on Monday, October 28, 2019

This Is A River: Malaysian Borneo Research Expedition, Gigi Buddie

EnviroLab Asia

No abstract provided.

Disease Prevalence And Politics- A Study Of Chagas Disease In Bolivia, Rebecca Dickson

Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship

Reducing disease prevalence within South America is critical for reaching global health goals and increasing life expectancy of vulnerable populations. Chagas disease, often referred to the “the New HIV/AIDS of the Americas,” is a prevalent cause of disability and death within Bolivia (Hotez et al. 1). The Plurinational State of Bolivia, a large South American nation-state, is a crucial player in promoting global health outcomes. However, intra-state political turmoil and historical tensions often affect its healthcare systems, which in turn affect individual health outcomes. This paper traces these connections within the Bolivian healthcare system- first by identifying political and cultural …

Holding Canada Accountable: An Evaluation Of Canada's Compliance To The United Nations Declaration On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples, Jackson A. Smith

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Compliance of human rights norms requires the application of pressure from a multitude of directions and levels. It takes individual advocacy, micro-system/organizational/community-level pressure, and macro-level pressure from other nation-states and international organizations and governance bodies. This MA study focuses on the mechanisms employed by the United Nations to monitor the compliance of signatory nation-states to the standards established in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), with particular focus on Canada. A crucial goal of this study is to translate the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNSRRIP), James Anaya’s, findings on the …

Towards Respecting Indigenous Rights In Development Policy: The Case Of A Community-Based Forest Management Project In Panama, Benjamin Goodman

Benjamin Goodman

As Latin American countries reach new heights of development, perched on the shoulders of an increasingly globalized economy, their local indigenous communities continue to be the most marginalized and impoverished people in the world. Sustainable development initiatives present themselves as a way to contribute to global economic development, while at the same time, respecting the livelihoods of rural peoples and preserving natural resources for future generations. However, unsustainable exploitation of natural resources continues to threaten the livelihoods and identities of many rural indigenous communities. As the economic, legal and political marginalization of indigenous peoples persists, the inevitable result of these …

The Hidden Constitution: Aboriginal Rights In Canada, Brian Slattery

Brian Slattery

This article reviews the constitutional and historical grounds for Aboriginal and treaty rights in Canada and discusses the legal effects of entrenching these rights in the Constitution of Canada in 1982.

The Land Rights Of Indigenous Canadian Peoples, Brian Slattery

Brian Slattery

The problem examined in this work is whether the land rights originally held by Canada's Indigenous peoples survived the process whereby the British Crown acquired sovereignty over their territories, and, if so, in what form. The question, although historical in nature, has important implications for current disputes involving Aboriginal land claims in Canada. It is considered here largely as a matter of first impression. The author has examined the historical evidence with a fresh eye, in the light of contemporaneous legal authorities. Due consideration is given to modern case-law, but the primary focus is upon the historical process proper.

French Claims In North America, 1500-59, Brian Slattery

Brian Slattery

This article reviews the history of early French explorations in North America in their diplomatic context and concludes that, contrary to common assumptions, there is little reliable evidence that France laid official claim to North American territories prior to 1560 or that it viewed these territories as territorium nullius or denied the capacity and rights of Indigenous American peoples.

Aim Leader Blasts Enemies Of Indian Movement, George Lauriat

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Christianity, education, and the United States of America were cited as the three enemies of the American Indian by Russell Means, the American Indian Movement leader who lead the siege at Wounded Knee, S.D. last year. The right margin of the newspaper page is torn, leading to loss of a portion of the article.