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Sociology

University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Evaluating The Role Of Latinidad And The Latino Threat In The State Of Missouri, Joel Jennings, J.S. Onésimo Sandoval Oct 2012

Evaluating The Role Of Latinidad And The Latino Threat In The State Of Missouri, Joel Jennings, J.S. Onésimo Sandoval

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Growing Latino populations in midwestern cities of the United States are leading to the creation of contested ethnic spaces and urban landscapes. In this article we examine the historical, demographic, and social contexts associated with a growing sense of Latinidad and the countervailing Latino threat narrative in Kansas City and St. Louis, the two largest metropolitan areas in Missouri. Latinidad, or a notion of belonging based on ethnic identity in Missouri, is being challenged by nativist discourses that frame the growing Latino population as a threat. We highlight the different historical trajectories and geographical characteristics that have created distinct demographic …


Review Of Gentle People: A Case Study Of Rockport Colony Hutterites. By Joanita Kant., Rod Janzen Oct 2011

Review Of Gentle People: A Case Study Of Rockport Colony Hutterites. By Joanita Kant., Rod Janzen

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Joanita Kant's Gentle People is an excellent case study of South Dakota's Rockport Hutterite Colony. The book includes in-depth description and analysis of the lifestyle of Rockport Colony residents and covers people of all ages and interests. There are numerous helpful photographs, both contemporary and historical. Members of the Rockport Colony belong to a religious society that has practiced "community of goods" for nearly five centuries. The book not only introduces the reader to the deep-seated beliefs and practices of members, but also provides important sociological analysis supported by helpful figures and maps, including population pyramids, floor plans, and colony …


Review Of Wives And Husbands: Gender And Age In Southern Arapaho History. By Loretta Fowler., Kathleen S. Fine-Dare Oct 2011

Review Of Wives And Husbands: Gender And Age In Southern Arapaho History. By Loretta Fowler., Kathleen S. Fine-Dare

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Wives and Husbands will likely become a classic of ethnographically informed historical anthropology. From the moment distinguished anthropologist Loretta Fowler's work opens with its account of Little Raven and Walking Backward-a brother and sister born in the early nineteenth century who lived to see great changes- to its final pages, which offer at least ten "new lines of research" that scholars might do well to follow to correct errors regarding everything from women's status under change to the "reidentification process" undergone by educated Arapahos returning to their communities, a wide variety of readers will find themselves engaged in a book …


Review Of Weird City: Sense Of Place And Creative Resistance In Austin, Texas. By Joshua Long, Sally Caldwell Apr 2011

Review Of Weird City: Sense Of Place And Creative Resistance In Austin, Texas. By Joshua Long, Sally Caldwell

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Joshua Long makes a fine contribution to the literature on urban places with Weird City. It is written in a way that makes it a natural for students of urban geography and an equally solid choice for classes devoted to urban sociology, community organization, urban planning, or public history. The book provides an in-depth look at the cultural landscape in a specific urban location. The book is well documented and includes a relevant and well-written annotated glossary of terms that is, regrettably, too short. In sum, Long has given us the sort of writing that appeals beyond the classroom. He …


Review Of Immigrants In Prairie Cities: Ethnic Diversity In Twentieth-Century Canada. By Royden Loewen And Gerald Friesen., Lori Wilkinson Apr 2011

Review Of Immigrants In Prairie Cities: Ethnic Diversity In Twentieth-Century Canada. By Royden Loewen And Gerald Friesen., Lori Wilkinson

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Loewen and Friesen trace the origins of public concern about the adverse influence of immigrants in terms of increased competition for jobs, threats to social cohesion, questioning the loyalties of newcomers at the beginning of the 20th century--issues remarkably similar to the mythology describing immigrants in western societies today. Readers may be tempted to ask, "If the situation in the 1900s is so similar to today's, why read this book?" Not only will readers get a sense of the longevity of these and other myths surrounding migration, they will learn about the creation of ethnic culture in the prairies and …


Review Of Hollowing Out The Middle: The Rural Brain Drain And What It Means For America. By Patrick J. Carr And Maria J. Kefalas., Peter F. Korsching Apr 2011

Review Of Hollowing Out The Middle: The Rural Brain Drain And What It Means For America. By Patrick J. Carr And Maria J. Kefalas., Peter F. Korsching

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

"Hollowing out the middle" refers to the loss of the well-educated young adults in rural communities of America's Heartland-the Corn Belt and Great Plains. Declining rural communities invest their meager resources to educate their brightest youth, thereby providing them opportunities for rewarding careers in distant cities. This further contributes to the communities' woes because it guarantees not only population loss, but also loss of expertise and leadership that could help them solve their problems. Carr and Kefalas's contribution to understanding the dilemma of rural communities promoting and supporting the loss of the best and brightest is through an in-depth analysis …


Review Of Environmental City: People, Place, Politics, And The Meaning Of Modern Austin. By William Scott Swearingen, Jr., Jonathan R. Wynn Apr 2011

Review Of Environmental City: People, Place, Politics, And The Meaning Of Modern Austin. By William Scott Swearingen, Jr., Jonathan R. Wynn

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

William Scott Swearingen, lr.'s Environmental City is a social history of how a place like Red Bud Isle and the larger city surrounding it could come to exist. Swearingen opens with the founding of Austin, and takes the reader through the ideals shaping its modern era: the battle between the twin paradigms of "growth" and "green." At its heart, the book tells the story of the success of Austin's green campaign: how "place" was created, fought for, and won. Not all battles were victories, but Swearingen points to key moments, and unpacks the slow process of institutionalizing broad environmental concepts …