Digital Commons Network^™

South Hadley Falls: Report On The Public Process, Elizabeth Brabec, Mark Hamin

Elizabeth Brabec

The goals of this design and visioning process were:

• to identify a common vision for the future of South Hadley Falls;

• to identify opportunities for future growth, change and development that are appropriate to the vision; and

• to consider creative visions to identify alternative outcomes.

Spread over a period of months from September 2011 through February 2012, the process was composed of four activities:

1. an initial information gathering phase of documentary research into the history, background and demographics of the community;

2. a visit to and discussions with residents;

3. a community design charrette to discuss …

A Communication Theory Of Culture, Donal Carbaugh

Donal Carbaugh

This chapter does three general things. First, following Bauman (1999), it discusses some prominent uses of the culture concept. Second, it introduces a communication theory of culture and uses that theory as a basis for reflecting upon earlier uses of the culture concept. Third, the chapter concludes by briefly summarizing some of the possibilities of this approach for the study of communication and culture.

Restoring The Power Of Unions: It Takes A Movement, Dan Clawson

Dan Clawson

No abstract provided.

Hands On Hips, Smiles On Lips! Gender, Race, And The Performance Of Spirit In Cheerleading, Laura Grindstaff, Emily West

Emily E. West

Cheerleading has long been synonymous with “spirit” because of its traditional sideline role in supporting school sports programs. In recent decades, however, cheerleading has become more athletic and competitive - even a sport in its own right. This paper is an ethnographic exploration of the emotional dimensions of cheerleading in light of these changes. We argue that spirit is a regulating but also flexible concept that is deployed in order to manage and uphold ideologies of emotion, and that these ideologies are central to how cheerleading reproduces racialized gender difference. On the one hand, the performance guidelines for spirit stabilize …

Reality Nations: An International Comparison Of The Historical Reality Genre, Emily West

Emily E. West

When 1900 House (Hoppe, 2000) premiered in the UK in 2000, a hybrid television form was born that would spawn spin-offs and imitators over the next several years in several other countries. These series place people in historical settings, asking them to leave their 21st century lives behind, and live within the material and social constraints of the past for a period of three or four months. For this chapter I examine a sample of seven historical reality mini-series that aired between 2000 and 2005 in English-speaking countries, ranging from four to eight episodes each. As existing scholarship on the …

Understanding Persistent Food Insecurity: A Paradox Of Place And Circumstance, Sheila Mammen, Jean W. Bauer, Leslie Richards

Sheila Mammen

Survey data from a USDA-funded multi-state longitudinal project revealed a paradox where rural low-income families from states considered prosperous were persistently more food insecure than similar families from less prosperous states. An examination of quantitative and qualitative data found that families in the food insecure states were more likely to experience greater material hardship and incur greater housing costs than families in the food secure states. Families in the food insecure states, however, did not have lower per capita median incomes or lower life satisfaction than those in the food secure states. A wide range of strategies to cope with …

Judaic Studies And Me, Joel Halpern

Joel M. Halpern

At the time I carried out my researches in Alaska among the Eskimo, in Balkan villages and in Southeast Asia among the peoples of Laos I must admit that I usually perceived “Self” and ”Other” as distinct categories, and certainly not interactive ones. But, from a contemporary point of view, applying a reflexive approach, I now readily perceive interrelationships which, at that time, seemed remote from one another. This specifically applies to the ways in which Jews and the Jewish experience have not been separated from but really a part of my experiences in distant places.

Development Of The Assabet Mills In 19th Century Maynard, John R. Mullin

John R. Mullin

Historians who focus on the development of nineteenth century New England textile mills generally place them in either of two categories. The first, referred to as the Rhode Island system, tended to be small, water-power dependent, family-owned, and located in villages and towns. The mills located in communities along the Quinebaug River in Massachusetts and Connecticut and the Blackstone River in Massachusetts and Rhode Island exemplify this system. The second category is most often called the Waltham or Lowell system. Large-scale, steam-powered, corporately-owned and located in larger cities, these mills could be found in Waltham, Lowell, Lawrence, Chicopee, and Holyoke, …