American Studies Commons^™

Queer Pedagogical Desire: A Study Guide, Matt Brim

Publications and Research

This essay explores the queer pedagogical desires that attended my writing of the Study Guide for the documentary film United in Anger: A History of ACT UP (Jim Hubbard, 2012). The analysis takes up Robyn Wiegman’s central question in Object Lessons, “What is it we expect our relationship to our objects of study to do?”, which is of particular importance to the discipline of queer studies insofar as the field is oriented around the desire to meld social justice with critical pedagogy. The queer professor’s desire in the case of the Study Guide-as-object was to create a text that …

Review Of The Bioregional Imagination: Literature, Ecology, And Place Edited By Tom Lynch, Cheryll Glotfelty, And Karla Armbruster, Jenny Kerber

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Given the emphasis that advocates of bioregionalism have historically placed on principles of decentralization and localization in the development of more ecologically sustainable modes of inhabitation, it is perhaps not surprising that no wide-ranging survey of bioregional literary criticism has appeared on the scene until now. This is a shame, however, because it turns out that examining bioregional practices across cultures and places yields a wealth of new ideas about how to live more sustainably in one's home place. In The Bioregional Imagination, readers finally have access to a much-needed set of comparative perspectives on bioregionalism, ranging from the implementation …

Great Plains Quarterly Fall 2013 Vol. 33 No.4 -- Editorial Matter

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Contents

Book Reviews

Notes and News

Review Of Inside The Ark: The Hutterites In Canada And The United States By Yossi Katz And John Lehr, Rod Janzen

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Geographers Yossi Katz and John Lehr's new book on the Hutterites provides an in-depth analysis of the social life of one of the four branches of the Hutterite Church in North America, the Group 2 Schmiedeleut. In many ways it is also an informative introduction to Hutterite life in general.

Katz and Lehr provide detailed explanations of virtually every aspect of Hutterite life in the province of Manitoba. This includes social and political organization at the colony and intercolony levels, religious and cultural traditions, the impact of space and how it is employed (with helpful charts and images), as well …

Review Of I'Ll Be Here In The Morning: The Songwriting Legacy Of Townes Van Zandt By Brian T. Atkinson, Chuck Vollan

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Texas's Townes Van Zandtwas a musician's musician whose fame grew after his 1996 death. Brian T. Atkinson, contributor to the Austin AmericanStatesman, Texas Music, Lone Star, American Songwriter, and No Depression, has woven together a collection of interviews from Van Zandt's contemporaries and friends, as well as his musical heirs-singer-songwriters who grew up too late to have known the troubled author of "Pancho and Lefty," "Tecumseh Valley," and "Lungs" but who admired his dark, poetic lyrics.

The Diminishment Of The Great Sioux Reservation Treaties, Tricks, And Time, Alan L. Neville, Alyssa Kaye Anderson

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Historically, Indian-white relations have been marred by mistrust and dishonesty. This is especially true in numerous land dealings between the United States government and the Lakota/ Dakota/Nakota people of the northern Great Plains. Indeed, the U.S. Supreme Court noted, "A more ripe and rank case of dishonorable dealings will never, in all probability, be found in our history."¹

Our focus here is to chronicle and analyze the tragic diminishment of the Great Sioux Reservation, first established by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851.² The land loss progressed with the Homestead Act of 1862, Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, …

Making War On Jupiter Pluvius The Culture And Science Of Rainmaking In The Southern Great Plains, 1870-1913, Michael R. Whitaker

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

For two weeks in August 1891, the grounds of the "C" Ranch in rural West Texas thundered with the sound of explosions, as a federal government- sponsored expeditionary force hurled hundreds of pounds of heavy ordnance against an invisible enemy. In command of this unusual operation was "General" Robert Dyrenforth, who with $9,000 of congressional funding in pocket was doing his utmost to find out whether, as a bit of folk wisdom ran, the furious tumult and aerial concussions of battle could somehow cause rain. From tiny western hamlets to the metropolises of the East, Americans were fascinated by the …

Review Of Terrible Justice: Sioux Chiefs And U.S. Soldiers On The Upper Missouri, 1854-1868 By Doreen Chaky, Steven C. Haack

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

When strong tensions exist between cultures, small incidents can have grave consequences. Thus, in August of 1854, when a Sioux Indian living near Fort Laramie, Nebraska Territory, found a lame cow and killed it to feed his family, a sad chapter began. The cow's emigrant owner complained of his loss to the fort's commander, and Lt. John Grattan was soon on his way to a Sioux encampment to demand that the thief be turned over to face justice. As a cannon rolled into place to reinforce his demand, violence broke out, and thirty soldiers, including Grattan, soon lay dead. Secretary …

Review Of Native Historians Write Back: Decolonizing American Indian History Edited By Susan A. Miller And James Riding In, Angela Parker

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Susan Miller and James Riding In position this anthology as the first to collect historical work from Native scholars participating in an "Indigenous discourse"-an academic conversation "rooted in North American Indigenous thought" and, they claim, global Indigenous thought. If your essentialism alarm bells are ringing, it is for good reason. Ignore the alarms long enough to work your way through the entire anthology and you will find rich, complicated, vibrant historical analysis and critique from Indigenous historians working in Canada and the United States.

The introduction and framing essays by Susan Miller in part 1 elaborate on the idea of …

Review Of Dance All Night: Those Other Southwestern Swing Bands, Past And Present By Jean A. Boyd, John Mark Dempsey

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The patrons of Saturday-night Texas dance halls still two-step to the music of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, more than thirty-five years after Wills's death. Jean Boyd is one of the Texas music authors who has mythologized Wills in her previous "We're the Light Crust Doughboys from Burrus Mills": An Oral History (2003) and The Jazz of the Southwest: An Oral History of Western Swing (1998). In her newest book, Dance All Night: Those Other Southwestern Swing Bands, Past and Present, Boyd puts the spotlight on less well known practitioners of the music that Wills pioneered along with …

Review Of Weapons Of The Lewis And Clark Expedition By Jim Garry, Brooke Wibracht

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Jim Garry's recent publication offers a meticulous assessment of the Corps of Discovery's arsenal. One of Garry's goals centers on correcting outdated information from well-known books, about the Corps and the weaponry the men carried, especially Carl P. Russell's Guns of the Early Frontiers (1957). The author acknowledges that historians have continuously advanced the scholarship on the Corps' weaponry, but misconceptions about the arsenal still exist, muddying the historical record. He encourages readers to view his book as a tool for placing the expedition and the weapons of the early nineteenth century in an accurate historical context.

The volume contains …

Review Of Villages On Wheels: A Social History Of The Gathering To Zion By Stanley B. Kimball And Violet T. Kimball, W. Paul Reeve

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Villages on Wheels is the culmination of historian Stanley B. Kimball's more than fifteen years' research on and long career as a scholar of the Mormon Trail. When he died in 2003, his wife, Violet, a writer, photojournalist, and occasional student of the trail herself, completed the project. This social history, a detailed examination of the everyday aspects of creating and maintaining a mobile society, is the result of their collaboration.

Based upon "hundreds of journals"-mostly located at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Church History Library in Salt Lake City, the L. Tom Perry Special Collections at …

Strategies For Strengthening The Great Plains Oral Health Workforce, John Reinhardt, Kimberly Mcfarland

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The looming shortage of dentists in rural communities throughout the Great Plains is a well-documented concern. Access to care can be a problem, and the lack of dental care is generally most acute among those with low income, those with complex health issues, and minorities. Studies are finding that there are significant associations between poor oral health and the occurrence of systemic diseases or problems. Examples include cardiovascular disease, stroke, and preterm delivery of low-birth weight infants. The two primary diseases of the oral cavity-dental caries and periodontal disease-are not only treatable but also preventable with adequate care.

The University …

Ensuring Mathematical Learning In Rural Schools Investing In Teacher Knowledge, Wendy M. Smith, W. James Lewis, Ruth M. Heaton

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

In this research article we share our vision of how to improve student mathematics success in rural districts. Good teaching matters. We have found two recurring features that can support teachers' success in effectively teaching students mathematics: high-quality, longitudinal professional development and professional connections. We partner with rural districts and master teachers to offer local high-quality professional development for mathematics teachers to strengthen their mathematical knowledge for teaching. We have substantial evidence that participation in longitudinal, high-quality professional development significantly increases teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching, as well as improves their confidence in teaching. Bringing teachers together for professional development …

School Consolidation And Community Development, Gary Paul Green

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The linkages between schools and community are seldom discussed in the research on school consolidation. Most of the focus of this body of literature is on the effects of school consolidation on efficiency and equity. In this essay I discuss the importance of school-community relationships and the critical role schools can play in community development. School consolidation can have several negative impacts on the local economy, social capital, and community identity. Assessments of the benefits and costs of consolidation need to consider more carefully the impacts on communities and the potential of building a stronger relationship between schools and communities.

Atmosphere For Learning Undistracted Rural Schools Of Nebraska, Charles W. Guildner

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

In the spring of2002, while traveling in Nebraska making images for my "Lives of Tradition" photography project, I saw a small rural school. It occurred to me that there could be no more traditional lives than those of people attending a small rural school. This one, Round Hill School, is located about 15 miles south of Broken Bow, Nebraska.

I stopped to ask if! might visit and photograph. Mary Jane Graham, the teacher, welcomed me in to meet the students, learn about their school, and make photographs.

During the four years that followed, after researching the locations of other still …

Rural Communities And School Consolidation--Introduction To Special Issue, Richard Edwards, Peter Longo

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

This special issue of Great Plains Research focuses on rural communities and school consolidation. It publishes some of the contributions, both essays and research articles, first presented at the Center for Great Plains Studies' 39th Annual Symposium at the University of Nebraska at Kearney on April 5-6, 2013. It also includes some images from a special Chuck Guildner photographic exhibition staged at the Museum of Nebraska Art. The symposium broadly addressed the connection between rural schools and rural communities, including a particular focus on the gains and losses from school consolidation. Good schools are essential to the good life. Americans …

Demographic Foundation Of Rural Education In The Great Plains The Impact Of Urbanization, Robert Blair, Jerome Deichert, David Drozd

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Demographic factors have been transforming the Great Plains for decades. Although the region increased in population from 1950 to 2007, closer analysis reveals that much of that growth took place in the Core Based Statistical Areas. These population trends reflect the broader impact of urbanization. This article provides a contextual perspective of critical demographic factors influencing the structure of educational systems in rural communities in the Great Plains region, helping administrators and decision makers understand the impact of demographic forces on the delivery of rural education.

The Importance Of Being Emily Lessons From Legislative Battles Over Forced School Consolidation, Marty Strange

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Pressure to force or induce the consolidation of rural schools through legislation is common across the United States. Whereas consolidation was once chiefly about school improvement, today it is more likely to be about fiscal savings. Legislative battles have produced many lessons for rural school advocates which are discussed here. Consolidation is also on the agenda of many of the school reform movements at work in the United States, many of which see rural schools as too numerous, too attached to the communities they serve, and too democratically managed to reform from without. As reformers grapple with the resistance to …

Tiebout In The Country The Inevitable Politics Of Rural School Consolidation, Steven L. Willborn

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

This essay explains why school consolidation issues are especially difficult in rural America. Consolidation is most appropriate when adjacent districts have similar preferences for taxation and spending on schools. In that case, economies of scale can be reaped without interfering much with resident preferences on taxes and school quality. In urban areas residents signal these preferences by moving into (or out of) school districts that match their preferences, a process known as Tiebout sorting. As a result, school consolidation decisions can be based on good information about resident preferences. The basic claim of this essay is that Tiebout sorting works …