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Macalester College

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Full-Text Articles in Human Geography

Hakoah Wien: Kraft Als (Ver)Einigung Und Siedlung Der Unbeständigen Post/Modernen Identität, Owen N. Sayre May 2023

Hakoah Wien: Kraft Als (Ver)Einigung Und Siedlung Der Unbeständigen Post/Modernen Identität, Owen N. Sayre

German Studies Honors Projects

The Sport Club and in particular football team Hakoah Wien is one of the best known examples in its time for contemporary theorists interested in analyzing the austrian-jewish identity of the 1920s. However there are many developments in austrian studies such as “jewish difference,” “co-constitutionality,” “the spatial turn” and “decolonization.” What, in this context, does it mean for a sports club to materially propagate the ideas of a liberatory religious and national identity, while representing an oppressive austrian identity on the world stage? This question has a lot to do with the concrete history of property rights and jewish oppression …


Rural Resiliency: The Cause And Effect Of Minnesota's Maternal Health Crisis, Annabel Traudie Gregg Apr 2022

Rural Resiliency: The Cause And Effect Of Minnesota's Maternal Health Crisis, Annabel Traudie Gregg

Geography Honors Projects

The United States is experiencing a maternal health crisis that disproportionately affects those who give birth in rural communities. Rural birthing people have higher maternal mortality rates, increased risk of postpartum hemorrhage, non-indicated cesarean sections, and other adverse health outcomes. Despite the enhanced risks of rural birth, rural communities are losing access to hospital-based obstetric care at an unprecedented rate. Minnesota has vast rural territory, with one-fourth of its population living outside the urban sphere ­– making it a strategic area of study. As of July, 2021, 31% of Minnesota’s 91 rural hospitals were at risk of closing. The repercussions …


Hmong In The Twin Cities: Diaspora Experiences And Personal Identities, Anisha Rajbhandary Jan 2021

Hmong In The Twin Cities: Diaspora Experiences And Personal Identities, Anisha Rajbhandary

Geography Honors Projects

Asian Americans as a whole have been portrayed as “model minorities” due to their higher degree of socioeconomic success compared to the average population. However, this “model minority” stereotype primarily based upon the voluntary immigration experiences of East and South Asians with greater socio-economic resources, hardly accounts for the immigration experiences of other Asian groups such as Hmong Americans. Utilizing extensive literature review, first person interviews and collected survey data, this paper explores Hmong diaspora and identity in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, analyzing how Hmong Americans reconcile with the stereotypes set for Asian “model minorities” and construct their own …


Canvas Totes And Plastic Bags: The Political Ecology Of Food Assistance Effectiveness At Farmers' Markets In The Twin Cities, Sophia Alhadeff May 2020

Canvas Totes And Plastic Bags: The Political Ecology Of Food Assistance Effectiveness At Farmers' Markets In The Twin Cities, Sophia Alhadeff

Geography Honors Projects

In June of 2019, the Trump Administration proposed a policy that could result in three million people losing access to food stamp benefits. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly food stamps, is a governmental food aid program designed to help low-income individuals and families combat food insecurity across the country. According to Minnesota Hunger Solutions, in 2017, 9.5% of Minnesota households were food insecure. In the Twin Cities, SNAP benefits have been accepted at a selection of farmers’ markets since 2003 in order to improve accessibility of fresh, local produce. This paper utilizes a mixed method approach, including qualitative …


Understanding The Construction Of Accessibility And Mobility: Non-Car Transportation In St. Louis, Missouri, Hannah N. Shumway Apr 2019

Understanding The Construction Of Accessibility And Mobility: Non-Car Transportation In St. Louis, Missouri, Hannah N. Shumway

Geography Honors Projects

This research examines disadvantaged populations’ accessibility and mobility in the non-car transportation system in St. Louis. By employing mixed methods, this research investigates accessibility and mobility through three distinct scholarly lenses: physical infrastructure and proximity, individual experiences, and political processes. The thesis synthesizes the analyses from these three approaches in order to provide holistic policy recommendations for creating more equitable transportation systems in St. Louis and beyond. Empirical findings show that neighborhoods with lower median incomes and lower percentages of white population in St. Louis are less accessible for biking and walking, with highly variable public transit accessibility. Bike system …


"From The Neighborhood Up!": Neighborhood Sustainability Certification Frameworks And The New Urban Politics Of Scale, Alex J. Ramiller Apr 2018

"From The Neighborhood Up!": Neighborhood Sustainability Certification Frameworks And The New Urban Politics Of Scale, Alex J. Ramiller

Geography Honors Projects

Urban sustainability goals are closely tied to the current political context, in which the imperative to attract highly mobile global capital frequently steers the objectives of local government. In this paper, I argue for the incorporation of the neighborhood scale into contemporary understandings of “local” or “urban” sustainability policy, emphasizing the potential for multi-scalar certification frameworks to subvert the predominant global-local relationship. By shifting the conceptualization and implementation of sustainability from globally dependent urban regimes to a diverse array of discrete urban communities, neighborhood-scale initiatives are able to draw greater attention to issues of social equity, environmental justice, and spatially …


Social Medicine And International Expert Networks In Latin America, 1930–1945, Eric D. Carter Jan 2018

Social Medicine And International Expert Networks In Latin America, 1930–1945, Eric D. Carter

Faculty Publications

This paper examines the international networks that influenced ideas and policy in social medicine in the 1930s and 1940s in Latin America, focusing on institutional networks organised by the League of Nations Health Organization, the International Labour Organization, and the Pan-American Sanitary Bureau. After examining the architecture of these networks, this paper traces their influence on social and health policy in two policy domains: social security and nutrition. Closer scrutiny of a series of international conferences and local media accounts of them reveals that international networks were not just ‘conveyor belts’ for policy ideas from the industrialised countries of the …


“A Theoretical Model For Critical Geographies Of Gentrification: A Comparative Analysis Of Globalization In Two Gay Villages”, Spencer Nelson May 2017

“A Theoretical Model For Critical Geographies Of Gentrification: A Comparative Analysis Of Globalization In Two Gay Villages”, Spencer Nelson

Geography Honors Projects

Abstract: The role of gay villages in gentrification has long been contemplated yet their relationship to the global circulation of capital is understudied. This thesis sheds light on this phenomenon through an urban political ecology of gentrification and provides a new model of critical geographies of gentrification. The model is illustrated through ethnographic research in the two gay villages of De Waterkant in Cape Town, South Africa, and Loring Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The relationship between gentrification and globalization is analyzed through the four lenses that bring flows of financial capital, culture, technology, and ideology into focus and offers a …


Activating Informality: Negotiating Urban Identities In Bolivia And Brazil, Georgia E. Gempler Jan 2017

Activating Informality: Negotiating Urban Identities In Bolivia And Brazil, Georgia E. Gempler

Latin American Studies Honors Projects

Drawing on original research, this paper explores the relationship between community identity and informality in Bolivia and Brazil, answering the question “How does informality influence and operate as identity in the social imaginary of urban Bolivia and Brazil?” Based on case studies of informal settlements in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia and Niterói, Brazil, I argue that informality is a tool of social control, community resistance, and identity consolidation. Community identity is informed by the territorial stigmatization of place through national conceptualizations of race and violence, and histories of marginality, resulting in resistance identity and insurgent citizenships.


Rethinking Heterolocalism: The Case Of Place-Making Among Albanian-Americans, Merita Bushi May 2014

Rethinking Heterolocalism: The Case Of Place-Making Among Albanian-Americans, Merita Bushi

Geography Honors Projects

The theory of heterolocalism explores how immigrants connect to their new setting without clustering among co-ethnics. This research explores the role that Albanian-American organizations in Chicago and New York have in immigrant place-making and building a sense of community through semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The focus on institutions shifts the discourse from individual behaviors to networks. The Albanian case study is used to argue that segmented heterolocalism is more nuanced and thus describes the sociospatial behavior of immigrants in a way that resonates more closely with immigrants and incorporates their sense of community in a place.


The Social Implications Of Bicycle Infrastructure: What It Means To Bike In America's Best Cycling Cities, Erin Daly May 2014

The Social Implications Of Bicycle Infrastructure: What It Means To Bike In America's Best Cycling Cities, Erin Daly

Geography Honors Projects

The abundance of bicycle infrastructure appearing alongside controversial urban revitalization efforts in recent years has left many with distinct perceptions about people who ride bicycles and their role in society. The lifestyle associated with the most visible cyclist cohorts has furthered divisive perceptions and often times created resentment, as what was once a humble tool for mobility has become a symbol of an inaccessible cyclist “culture” often associated with gentrification. This paper aims to acknowledge existing research on how the bicycle has attained so many divisive connotations, while looking at methods to improve this reputation and increase accessibility to utilitarian …


Rural Renaissance: The Redevelopment Of Rapid City, South Dakota, Callie S. Tysdal May 2013

Rural Renaissance: The Redevelopment Of Rapid City, South Dakota, Callie S. Tysdal

Geography Honors Projects

By many quantitative measures set by the United States Census and academic literature, Rapid City, South Dakota is an urban settlement. However, Rapid City is a thriving example of how a city and its residents willfully and overtly ascribe to a rural identity. This rural character is very present in local discussions, events, lifestyles, and institutions in Rapid City. As recently as 2012, the previously fading downtown of Rapid City has undergone a renewal that cannot escape notice. Main Street Square, a new downtown attraction that provides outdoor gathering spaces for entertainment, recreation, and cuisine, has brought new life to …


Negotiating Neoliberalism: Community-Based Organizations And The Production Of Urban Place, Caroline S. Devany May 2013

Negotiating Neoliberalism: Community-Based Organizations And The Production Of Urban Place, Caroline S. Devany

Geography Honors Projects

Focusing on two community-based organizations’ roles in producing urban place, this thesis contributes to the “New Urban Politics” literature that explores the neoliberal governance of space. Synthesizing participant observation, informant interviews and ideas introduced in Henri Lefebvre’s Production of Space my thesis explores the possibility of aesthetic practices rooted in everyday life to create alternate subjectivities of people and place. While both organizations engage urban governance in ways that do not directly contest neoliberalization, they each affirm participants as agents in the production of urban place in ways that can destabilize the marketization of everyday life.


Geographies Of Poverty And Retail: The Impact Of Supermarket Expansion On Food Insecurity In Cape Town, Stephen D. Peyton Jan 2013

Geographies Of Poverty And Retail: The Impact Of Supermarket Expansion On Food Insecurity In Cape Town, Stephen D. Peyton

Geography Honors Projects

The rapid rise in supermarkets in developing countries over the last few decades has resulted in the radical transformation of food retail systems. In the city of Cape Town, the introduction of supermarkets has coincided with rapid urbanization and increasing levels of food insecurity. In the context of a neoliberal approach toward economic development and redistribution, regulatory policies have largely ignored urban problems of food insecurity; therefore, retail modernization has become a largely unregulated market-based solution to improving food access for the poor. However, the introduction of formal food retail formats is often seen as conflicting with the informal food …


The Life, Death And Rebirth Of University Avenue: Exploring The Relationship Among Transportation, Urban Form And Neighborhood Characteristics, Jillian G. Goforth May 2011

The Life, Death And Rebirth Of University Avenue: Exploring The Relationship Among Transportation, Urban Form And Neighborhood Characteristics, Jillian G. Goforth

Geography Honors Projects

The impending light rail transit development along University Avenue in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota has led to local curiosity about both the past activities and the future possibilities for this urban street. Part I of this paper explores the social, economic and physical evolution of University Avenue and its relationship to transportation eras. Part II argues that there is a connection between the urban form of each transportation epoch and the rate of crime along University Avenue. The study concludes with the prediction that safety will improve following construction of the Central Corridor Light Rail line.


The Ingredients Of Change: A Political Ecology Approach To Diabetes In The Somali Community Of Minnesota, Mina Tehrani Dec 2010

The Ingredients Of Change: A Political Ecology Approach To Diabetes In The Somali Community Of Minnesota, Mina Tehrani

Geography Capstone Projects

In the early 1990’s, due to political circumstances at home, Somali immigrants and refugees began arriving in the state of Minnesota in large numbers. Over the past two decades, Somali immigrants have come to comprise one of the most populous ethnic groups in the Twin Cities, and are the largest Somali population in the world outside of Eastern Africa. Although quantitative data is unavailable, qualitative evidence and testimonies of healthcare professionals support the conclusion that Somali immigrants in Minnesota suffer from higher rates of diabetes than non-immigrant groups and than they likely did before migration. Why might this be the …


Money, Power And Landscapes Of Consumption, Ana Miscolta-Cameron Oct 2010

Money, Power And Landscapes Of Consumption, Ana Miscolta-Cameron

Geography Capstone Projects

This paper explores the phenomenon of national parks and reserves in Tanzania as a product of early colonial ideology and the evolution of that ideology into a post-independence capitalist enterprise. Serengeti National Park, Selous Game Reserve and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area are examined as historically contested sites in which indigenous people have been denied customary use rights by successive regimes of power keen on profiting through resource exploitation and tourism. Though this paper’s focus is Tanzania, it attempts to reveal a pattern of colonial and neo-colonial environmentalism widespread throughout the developing world.


Are Residents Who Are Displaced By Gentrification Better Or Worse Off After Relocating?, Alice M. Anigacz May 2010

Are Residents Who Are Displaced By Gentrification Better Or Worse Off After Relocating?, Alice M. Anigacz

Economics Honors Projects

This honors thesis examines how individuals displaced by gentrification fare after relocation, with changes in wage and income as the primary measures of well-being. Geo-coded Panel Study of Income Dynamics data is used in conjunction with decennial census tract-level neighborhood data to evaluate nationwide occurrences of gentrification and their effects on the displaced between 1990 and 1995, with a focus on whether changing neighborhood effects can account for the change in well-being. Standard OLS regressions not accounting for neighborhood effects find that compared to a nationwide sample, a sample of movers, and a sample of displaced residents, residents displaced specifically …


The Places Of Birth: Navigating Risk, Control, And Choice, Hannah E. Emple May 2010

The Places Of Birth: Navigating Risk, Control, And Choice, Hannah E. Emple

Geography Honors Projects

Through qualitative research in the Twin Cities, Minnesota and a literature review grounded in health and feminist geography, this paper analyzes how women, their families, and health care providers view and navigate places of birth. Over four million births occur annually in the United States, making birth the most common reason for hospitalization of women. Although 99% of women in the U.S. give birth in hospitals, a small but vocal minority seek alternative places to birth – primarily at home. Where to give birth is a contested subject infused with social and political significance. I suggest that place is highly …


Negotiating Everyday Islam After Socialism: A Study Of The Kazakhs Of Bayan-Ulgii, Mongolia, Namara Brede May 2010

Negotiating Everyday Islam After Socialism: A Study Of The Kazakhs Of Bayan-Ulgii, Mongolia, Namara Brede

Geography Honors Projects

Using ethnographic interviews and participant observations from the Kazakh community of Bayan-Ulgii, Mongolia in June 2009, this study examines how Islamic discourses, practices, experiences, and scales of influence are negotiated in post-socialist Central Asia. To do this, local, national, and transnational dynamics of Mongolian Kazakh religious practice are considered alongside the individual-scale mediating roles of personal preference, social position, life course, power, and social networks. Islam in Bayan-Ulgii is shown to be integral to community and ethnic identity but also multifaceted, dynamic, and multi-scalar, militating against essentialist portrayals of Islam as monolithic or dichotomously split between “high” and “low” forms.


A Greenway Runs Through It: The Midtown Greenway And The Social Landscape Of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Aaron M. Brown Apr 2010

A Greenway Runs Through It: The Midtown Greenway And The Social Landscape Of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Aaron M. Brown

Geography Honors Projects

Minneapolis’ Midtown Greenway is a 5.5 mile bicycle and pedestrian corridor that replaced a grade-separated railroad line in 2000 and expanded to its current length in 2007. In an era of reinvestment in American inner cities and a heightened political awareness of both urban transportation alternatives and public spaces, the academic field of geography has much to contribute to the discussion about the viability, effectiveness, and success of projects such as this adaptive reuse of reclaimed, deindustrialized space. My research investigates results from a survey of 223 Greenway users, exploring participants’ demographics, residential proximity to the trail, and purposes for …


Who Draws The Line In El Paso, Texas: Multiscalar Interactions And The Chances For Border Reform, Robert L. Heyman Apr 2010

Who Draws The Line In El Paso, Texas: Multiscalar Interactions And The Chances For Border Reform, Robert L. Heyman

Geography Honors Projects

The question of how borders are defined and enforced has always been an important issue both to the state and to residents between whom make and must deal with those decisions. This project examines El Paso, Texas as a case study for shaping a more progressive future for border and immigration enforcement. It does so by reporting on 16 interviews with key actors in border policy discussions. El Paso offers an excellent opportunity to study how border and immigration enforcement approaches are negotiated between scales, including federal enforcement agencies, state government, city and county officials, and community activists. Immigration enforcement …


“The Bus Stops Here”: Place-Making And Transit Justice Issues In The Twin Cities Public Bus Network, Megan A. Macpherson May 2009

“The Bus Stops Here”: Place-Making And Transit Justice Issues In The Twin Cities Public Bus Network, Megan A. Macpherson

Geography Honors Projects

This project engages the formation of place-narratives within the Metro Transit bus system by examining the structural factors and individual agents shaping a passenger’s experience of the bus. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, I bring together the literatures of transportation geography, and cultural/feminist geographies. Major themes from my research include the bus as a theater of performance/theater of conflict, the bus as a gateway to public life for those with limited mobility, and the bus as a relational space for specific passenger groups. Additionally, this project explores the significance of place within transit justice work in the Twin Cities. I …


A Homeowner’S Last Gasp: Looking At The Redemption Process In Hennepin County, Minnesota, Michael Samuelson Apr 2009

A Homeowner’S Last Gasp: Looking At The Redemption Process In Hennepin County, Minnesota, Michael Samuelson

Geography Honors Projects

While the causes of foreclosure are generally well understood, the outcomes of foreclosure have been poorly documented. Although rare, home redemptions – when foreclosed homeowners retain their home after it has been sold in a foreclosure auction – are a possible outcome. This paper explores the occurrence of foreclosure redemptions in Hennepin County, Minnesota in the year 2005, and examines how and why some homeowners were able to keep their house after being foreclosed upon. Using GIS data from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and County Assessor, this paper analyzes the likelihood and spatial patterns of redemption.