Human Geography Commons^™

The Changing Landscape Of A Rural Region: The Effect Of The Harry S. Truman Dam And Reservoir In The Osage River Basin Of Missouri, Melvin Arthur Johnson

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The Harry S. Truman Dam and Reservoir project is of immense size. Many thousands of tons of raw materials were required to complete the construction of the dam and relocations. Millions of dollars were spent to acquire land, compensate those who were displaced, and to pay those who were employed in the planning, purchasing, coordinating, defending, and managing the myriad of contractors, contracts, and legal defenses. The affected area of the project is not only complex physically but also socially and economically. It is, therefore, not surprising that the counties studied (Benton, Henry, and St. Clair) would react in different …

Analysis Of Mammoth Cave Pre-Park Communities, Matthew Brunt

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Before the creation of Mammoth Cave National Park, this area was home to numerous communities, each with a sense of identity. To prepare for the creation of the National Park, all residents living within these communities were relocated, and many of these communities were lost to the passage of time. Today, public memory of these lost communities is being fostered by the descendents of the pre-park area.

Through the use of a Historical Geographic Information System, 1920 Edmonson County manuscript census data, and statistical analysis, the demographic composition of these lost communities was explored. This project not only brought to …

A Study Of The East African Slave Trade In Bagamoyo, Jake Salyers

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of my study was to learn about the east African Slave trade and its relationship to the town of Bagamoyo. Bagamoyo was an important trading town on the coast of Tanzania during the peak of the Arab run slave and ivory trade. Slavery was only abolished in Tanganyika in 1922, so there are still many monuments and memories remaining in the town concerning the slave trade. I had two main methods of collecting information about the town, interviewing the descendants of slaves and slave owners and researching the history of Bagamoyo. I was able to get three different …

The Determinants Of First Nation And Inuit Health: A Critical Population Health Approach, Chantelle A.M. Richmond, Nancy A. Ross

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Environmental dispossession disproportionately affects the health of Canada’s Aboriginal population, yet little is known about how its effects are sustained over time. We use a critical population health approach to explore the determinants of health in rural and remote First Nation and Inuit communities, and to conceptualize the pathways by which environmental dispossession affects these health determinants. We draw from narrative analysis of interviews with 26 Community Health Representa- tives (CHRs) from First Nation and Inuit communities across Canada. CHRs identified six health determinants: balance, life control, education, material resources, social resources, and environmental/ cultural connections. CHRs articulated the role …

“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 …

Using Archetypal Metaphor To Analyze Cultural Landscape: A Chlilean Case Study, Cari Bourette

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In our increasingly complex and interactive world, it becomes ever more difficult to isolate and map the cultural identity of any given region, as bounded and contained cultural places have become a rare occurrence. To further complicate the matter, perspectives, loyalties, and identities shift with time, and appear to shift with circumstance. While cultural conflict per se was not the subject of this study, the ability to quantify differing cultural profiles in one location relative to another may be the beginning of the development of a tool for assessing degrees of difference in neighboring regions, and thus diagnosing the potential …

Multnomah County Youth Tobacco Access Report, Sara Avishan, Cameron Bremer, Mike Conley, Chad Dettlaff, Ben Fitzsimons, Ben Harper, Jennifer Jensen, Shawn Lenker, Dan Manders, Mateo Meazell

Asset Mapping: Community Geography Project

Multnomah County requested that the Summer 2009 Asset Mapping Capstone Group gather data relating to the proximity of tobacco advertising to Portland Public Schools. The group’s underlying objective was to create an accurate data set that may be used by Multnomah County public health officials to assess the possible effects of tobacco advertising on school-aged children with an eye to influencing policy. The data set was created using a number of tools in conjunction with primary data retrieved from field observation; great care was taken to ensure accuracy and objectivity. The findings, which may be used to inform future research, …

It's All Happening At The Zoo: Children's Environmental Learning After School, Jason A. Douglas, Cindi Katz

Publications and Research

Pairing dynamic out-of-school-time (OST) programs with zoos can encourage young people's relationships with and sense of responsibility for animals and the environment. The project presented in this article, Animal Rescuers, gave the authors the opportunity to examine how such a pairing can work. OST programs enable learning in settings that are generally unavailable during school time (Honig & McDonald, 2005). They provide space for collaboration among students, teachers, and others such as program visitors or outside educators. Taking advantage of the flexibility, location, and educational playfulness of an OST setting, the authors worked intensively with a small number of 10-12-year-old …

The Ties That Bind: Urban Migration, Family Networks, And Cultural Change In Modern Mongolia, Christopher R. Williams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Migrants represent the future of Mongolia. They are those members of Mongolian society who pursue, and often achieve, a better life by choosing to uproot themselves and their families to move to the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. Along the way they face many obstacles, and are in turn blamed for many of the problems that plague the city. However, they do not face these obstacles on their own. Migrants succeed with help, be it from society, friends, or family. Family in particular plays an important role in the lives of Mongolian migrants, creating important, nationwide networks which can support individual …

“Leur Rêve Et Leur Vie Sont Ailleurs:” University Student Attitudes Towards Migration And Domestic Opportunity In Morocco, Annie Seibert

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research project attempts to assess how migration fits into Moroccan university student perceptions of upward mobility and to what extent these perceptions relate to domestic opportunity and youth unemployment. The project likewise evaluates the extent to which emigration plays a role in university students’ personal aspirations and the reasons behind their desires to leave home or to remain in Morocco. Research data was acquired primarily through surveys conducted at the universities in Rabat, Casablanca, and Kenitra, and was supplemented by in-depth interviews with students from these universities and with organizations working in the areas of youth, development, and/or unemployment. …

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.

‘They Have To Know That They Are Moroccan’: A Sending Country’S Perspective On The Second Generation Of Emigrants Abroad, Olivia Paquette

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this project, I set out to understand the relations that Morocco has with its second-generation population abroad, the children of emigrants from Morocco who were born and are living in a foreign nation. As citizens of Morocco and as members of Moroccan families, who nonetheless have lived their lives in another country and may perhaps identify themselves in many ways other than Moroccan, I wondered what role these individuals had in the eyes of the Moroccan state and in the eyes of their relatives who live in Morocco. My questions extended to the very categorization of this group that …

L’Aide Au Développement : Les Perspectives Des Immigrés Sénégalais = Development Aid: The Perspectives Of Senegalese Immigrants, Allyson Barnett

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Les perspectives des immigrés sénégalais, par rapport à la question de l’aide au développement, ont été étudiées à Toulouse, France. Neuf entretiens semi-directifs sur les thèmes d’aide bilatérale (France-Sénégal), l’aide multilatérale, et les expériences personnelles des participants composaient la substance de l’enquête. Les entretiens ont montré la complexité du sujet, et la compétence de chaque participant à donner une évaluation critique de la situation. L’enquêteuse a fait un lien avec cette évaluation et l’éducation formel et informel de participants. The perspectives of Senegalese immigrants regarding the question of development aid were studied in Toulouse, France. Nine semi-directed interviews were conducted …

Modes, Means And Measures: Adapting Sustainability Indicators To Assess Preservation Activity's Impact On Community Equity, Mackenzie M. Greer

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Preservation of and reinvestment in the built environment as a redevelopment tool has been used by cities and towns across the country, in many cases providing significant social, economic and environmental benefits. Potential social effects have often been the least explored aspect of sustainable development, especially with regard to preservation, yet they are often the most challenging, particularly given the potential for displacement.

This thesis reviews literature where the issues of preservation, redevelopment and sustainability intersect. A set of best practices was developed that can be applied to other cities and towns to help balance preservation- and equity- enhancing activities. …

Stress, Status, And Sociability: Exploring Residential Satisfaction In The Rural Midwest Following Rapid Immigration, James Potter, Rodrigo Cantarero, Amy E. Boren

Architecture Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

This investigation examined predictors of residential satisfaction among newly arrived residents (NAR) and long-term residents (LTR) of a rural community following a rapid influx of immigrants into the community. The physical environment, social/cultural aspects of life, and resources and public services were hypothesized to affect perceptions of residential satisfaction. Both LTR and NAR were pleased with environmental attributes, sociocultural attributes, and public services. An inverse relationship was revealed between stress and residential satisfaction. The primary sources of stress for LTR related to economics and social status issues, whereas the primary sources of stress among NAR involved issues concerning family and …

Computing Travel Time When The Exact Address Is Unknown: A Comparison Of Point And Polygon Zip Code Approximation Methods, Ethan M. Berke, Xun Shi

Dartmouth Scholarship

Travel time is an important metric of geographic access to health care. We compared strategies of estimating travel times when only subject ZIP code data were available.Using simulated data from New Hampshire and Arizona, we estimated travel times to nearest cancer centers by using: 1) geometric centroid of ZIP code polygons as origins, 2) population centroids as origin, 3) service area rings around each cancer center, assigning subjects to rings by assuming they are evenly distributed within their ZIP code, 4) service area rings around each center, assuming the subjects follow the population distribution within the ZIP code. We used …

Im/Possible Lives: Gender, Class, Self-Fashioning, And Affinal Solidarity In Modern South Asia, Coralynn V. Davis

Faculty Journal Articles

Drawing on ethnographic research and employing a micro-historical approach that recognizes not only the transnational but also the culturally specific manifestations of modernity, this article centers on the efforts of a young woman to negotiate shifting and conflicting discourses about what a good life might consist of for a highly educated and high caste Hindu woman living at the margins of a nonetheless globalized world. Newly imaginable worlds in contemporary Mithila,South Asia, structure feeling and action in particularly gendered and classed ways, even as the capacity of individuals to actualize those worlds and the “modern” selves envisioned within them are …

Rhizomatic Encounters And Encountering Possibilities, Pamela Moss, Karen Falconer Al-Hindi

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

Many thanks to Joni Palmer, the panellists, and the participants in the Author Meets Critics session at the Association of American Geographers meeting (April 2008) where the conversation that we continue here began. We appreciate the gracious criticisms and are delighted with the authors‟ enthusiasm. Criticisms offered with such care nurture the larger intellectual project from which the book comes (see Schuurman and Pratt; Aufhauser ). We feel fortunate to be able to address some of the issues identified that we believe need more attention. We thank the editors of Thirdspace for the opportunity.

It may seem curious for editors …

Making Sustainable Creative/Cultural Space In Shanghai And Singapore, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Shanghai and Singapore are two economically vibrant Asian cities that have recently adopted creative/cultural economy strategies. In this article I examine new spatial expressions of cultural and economic interests in the two cities: state-vaunted cultural edifices and organically evolved cultural spaces. I discuss the simultaneous precariousness and sustainability of these spaces, focusing on Shanghai's Grand Theatre and Moganshan Lu and on Singapore's Esplanade-Theatres by the Bay and Wessex Estate. Their cultural sustainability is understood as their ability to support the development of indigenous content and local idioms in artistic work. Their social sustainability is examined in terms of the social …