Digital Commons Network^™

Architects Of War: The Economic And Industrial Strategies Of The Third Reich And United States Under Albert Speer And William Knudsen, Spencer David Taylor

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis presents a chronological narrative that delves into the economic and industrial underpinnings of the Second World War, focusing on the contrasting war machines of Germany and the United States. By examining the strategic decisions and outcomes shaped by two central figures, Albert Speer of Germany and William S. Knudsen of the United States, this study highlights how their approaches to war production profoundly influenced the overall trajectory and outcome of the war. Knudsen’s embodiment of the American industrial spirit and Speer’s manipulation of Germany's constrained resources illustrate the crucial roles that economic strategies played alongside military operations. The …

Crisis, Genre, And The Informatic Infrastructure Of The Critical Path Aids Project In Philadelphia's Early Epidemic, Sid Feinberg

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

The Critical Path AIDS Project was a grassroots information network that distributed AIDS-related information related to biomedicine, social services, and politics. I explore the ways the project made sense of the shattering social service and care landscapes they emerged within and responded to. I situate Critical Path’s work within Philadelphia’s splintering care infrastructures and the experience of crisis Lauren Berlant argues structures perception of neoliberal life. I focus on the ways that Critical Path’s articulation of crisis and spatial re-orientation pull on the modernist design work of Buckminster Fuller. Fuller’s design work formed a framework through which the project constructed …

Beauty And The Anthropocene: On The Emancipatory Potential Of Experiences Of Beautiful Places In The Natural World, Matthew John

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This dissertation investigates the proposition that beauty—specifically, experiences of beautiful places in the natural world—can contribute to the emancipation of modern persons (and thereby developed societies) from instrumental rationality, which is theorized as a major driver of contemporary socioecological crises of the Anthropocene. Buber’s concept of the I–Thou relation provides a framework for conceptualizing ideal non-instrumental relations. The project’s methodology, rooted in post-phenomenology, consisted of semi-structured remote interviews and four follow-up focus groups with 35 then current and recently former residents of Juneau, Alaska. Taken together, data confirm that experiences of beautiful places in the natural world can and do …

A Geography Of Transgender Belonging In Louisville, Kentucky, Lj Mcallister

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Louisville, Kentucky is home to a surprisingly robust – and complex – transgender community. This study uses qualitative data from interviews, collaborative maps, and archival research to analyze a geography of belonging for transgender residents in the city. It discusses how the twelve participants negotiate their relationships with the conservative, “red” state of Kentucky, as well as the geographical decision-making they use to navigate Louisville’s many neighborhoods. Ultimately, this thesis draws attention to the ways in which prejudice shapes the landscape of belonging for transgender life in Derby City.

Thirty Years Of ‘Emergency’ Food Aid In The Us And Canada: Findings From Comparative Research To Inform Uk Efforts To Tackle Food Poverty And The Need For Foodbanks, Charlotte Spring

Geography and Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Research observed how food providers in the United States and Canada have made changes during the decades of neoliberal policymaking that have seen foodbanking expand across North America and beyond. These changes, in part, reflect responses to critiques of foodbanking as an inadequate solution to food insecurity. Food charities have variously attempted to improve provision through healthier procurement, choice-based distribution models, diversified programming, and advocacy for policy solutions. Better foodbanking, however, does not negate the influence of corporate donors on food charities’ capacity to foster hunger-preventative change, such as the employment practices of those same donors. Meanwhile, grassroots organisers …

Stories, People, And Industrial Heritage Landscapes: Integrating Spatial Narratives And Deep Mapping For Use In Public Heritage, James A. Juip

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Understanding the complexity of the industrial heritage landscape and working towards its holistic representation are long standing challenges for heritage practitioners and scholars alike. This dissertation focuses on addressing a gap in industrial heritage scholarship by addressing the question; can the integration of spatial narratives and deep mapping theory and practice improve upon the practice of public discourse in industrial heritage? Community heritage narratives are an important intangible aspect of the industrial heritage landscape that forms a discursive relationship with authorized heritage sources. Influencing this discourse can alter contemporary power relations that intertwine modern issues with perceptions of the past. …

Net Zero And Settler Futurity, Jesse Goldstein

Sociology Publications

Net Zero ideology promises that current and ongoing emissions can be partially offset by ‘negative emissions’ strategies such as carbon capture and sequestration, allowing carbon intensive firms to narrate themselves as agents that are solving – not causing – the climate crisis. This represents a shift in liberal and corporate environmentalism away from both denial and delay, towards a new strategy acknowledging the need to end fossil fuel use while urgently deferring transformations to a future made possible by not-yet developed technological innovations. This paper argues that a through-line of settler futurity provides affective infrastructure potent enough to transect opposing …

Fire-Vegetation-Climate Interactions: An 8,000- Year Long Paleoecological Reconstruction From Round Lake, Idaho (Usa), Audrey Scott

All Master's Theses

The Idaho Transportation Department recently contracted archeologists from Eastern Washington University (EWU) to assess potential impacts to cultural resources near McArthur Lake in Bonner County, Idaho, as the result of rerouting U.S. Route 95. The goal of this research is to aid EWU archeologists in their interpretation of the artifacts recovered from the McArthur Lake site by providing them with a local paleoecological reconstruction. Lake sediment-based paleoecological reconstructions provide detailed information on fire history and vegetation change through time and indicate how landscapes responded to past climate variability and human activities. In summer 2022, a sediment core was extracted from …

Foodways: An Ethnographic Analysis Of Cwu International Students’ Perception Of The Role Of Culturally Relevant Food In Their Sense Of Belonging, Joy Ihuka

All Master's Theses

International students face unique challenges adjusting to new academic environments, including developing a sense of homesickness and lack of belonging. Studies have shown that consuming culturally relevant food helps international students relieve homesickness, fostering a sense of belonging. Curiously, nonetheless, literature on student belonging rarely focuses on food. Within this gap, this thesis explores the significance of culturally relevant food in fostering a sense of belonging among international students at Central Washington University. Using ethnographic interviews, this research examines how culturally relevant food (including how food is prepared) or lack thereof may influence international students’ perceptions of belonging. This study …

Recovering The Nium Trail: A Journey Through Collaboration And Multidisciplinary Mapping, Crystal West

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study explores and maps an ancient, historic, and contemporary travel corridor that follows the San Joaquin River in the Central Sierra Nevada of California. It is called the Nium or People’s Trail by the North Fork Mono Tribe, the French Trail in historic archives, and the Mammoth Trail on contemporary US Forest Service maps. When I agreed to the request by Chairman Ron Goode of the North Fork Mono Tribe to map the Nium Trail, I was saying yes to a different, more broad and inclusive approach than I had previously taken as an archaeologist documenting archaeological sites and …

Tiny Houses (Revisited): Geography Of Tiny House Villages For The Homeless In The United States, Yetimoni Kpeebi

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The increasing adoption of tiny house villages as a solution to homelessness in the United States (US) underscores the need for comprehensive tracking and documentation of their locations, physical attributes, and social characteristics. This is vital to assess their effectiveness, providing advocates and policymakers with the information needed to optimize outcomes, and ensure these initiatives truly benefit the homeless population. While initial efforts were made in 2019 to establish a database for these villages (Evans, 2020), this study represents an improvement by presenting an updated database that reflects the growing popularity of tiny house villages for the homeless. Building upon …

Riverview Community Park Commoning Plan, Haley B. Keene

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Riverview Community Park began as an illegal DIY skatepark in the Maymont neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. Now, although it is a city park, it is still entirely managed by volunteer community groups (skateboarders, the neighborhood Civic League, and a community garden) who view the park as a creative, experimental community-led spatial project. Due to a dearth of communication between the three groups, the park has suffered political strife between the groups and a chaotic physical atmosphere. This plan utilizes a commons governance framework and participatory, asset-based community design to usher in a new era of enhanced collaboration, common narratives, and …

Mapping Accessibility To Emergency Care Using Public Transportation, Bach Tran

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Intro: Public transit offers various advantages for both communities and individuals in terms of mobility and has the potential to serve as a practical alternative to private motorized transportation. Timely and convenient public transit becomes a lifeline for people who cannot access other types of transportation, especially when it comes to emergency care. Method: We built a private network analysis within ArcGIS Pro using coordinate data from hospitals and stand-alone emergency rooms as designated by the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) and public transit data from Orlando, FL. Establishing the accessible time as 30 minutes, we computed and visualized …

A Tale Of Two Working Landscapes, Sage C. Sutcliffe

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Sustainability Starts Small: Initiatives From Cuba To The Bitterroot Valley, Kathryn Marie Simecek

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Sustainability and sustainable business practices look different across every resource and industry.

From recreational scuba diving to grassroots recycling efforts, sustainability is driven by local communities with a vested interest in protecting their environments long-term. Access to these sustainability efforts and awareness about their existence are barriers that require intentional participation in sustainable resource use from relevant parties. In this professional paper, sustainability efforts will be examined across three domains. Food-grade glass is one of the easiest and most efficient items to recycle, but relatively little of it is recycled. Discarded glass can take various paths, from community-led recycling events …

Mapping With The Land: Co-Developing A Cumulative Impact Monitoring And Land Stewardship Framework With Sambaa K’E First Nation, Northwest Territories, Canada, Michael S. Mcphee

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Across the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada, Indigenous populations are striving to achieve effective environmental protection, whilst navigating complex methods, policies, and research relationships within co-management contexts. This thesis seeks to identify how differing cultural systems, environmental change, and fractured partnerships may be unified to align with the needs of the Sambaa K’e First Nation (SKFN), a remote Dehcho Dene community. Indigenous methodologies guided co-development of research questions with SKFN leadership which yielded objectives a) develop a GIS-based method to manage, organize and mobilize cultural and environmental data; b) develop a new stewardship monitoring procedure so that users can apply the …

Understanding Health And Well-Being Outcomes Associated With Protected Coastal Ecosystems: A Fundy National Park Case Study., Mhairi K. Chandler

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the mental health and well-being of Canadians, prompting many to turn to nature for consolation and social interaction. However, there is a lack of evidence linking these outcomes specifically to coastal areas. To address this gap, we conducted a self-reported survey at Fundy National Park, New Brunswick, Canada, in summer 2022. Over 400 visitors participated, revealing nature enjoyment, physical health, and mental well-being as primary motivators for park visitation. Notably, mental well-being showed significant differences across gender, sexual identity, and ethnicity, with males, straight individuals, and others exhibiting distinct preferences compared to females, 2SLGBTQIA+ …

Do Americans Support More Housing?, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

An analysis of opinion poll data on housing issues. The article finds that Americans generally believe that their community needs more housing of all types, but are more closely divided about whether such housing should be in their own neighborhoods. The article further finds that members of minority groups, lower-income Americans, and younger Americans are more pro-housing than older, affluent whites.

De Aquí, Y De Allá: Education, Culture, And Identity Development Of Transnational Latinas, Elizabeth Harris-Medina

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

De Aquí, y De Allá: Education, Culture, and Identity Development of Transnational Latinas This ethnographic case study examines the experiences of three transnational Latina women, descendants of families from Degollado, Jalisco, Mexico, exploring how their migration history and educational backgrounds influence their life trajectories. Focusing on these three women, the study aims to better understand their challenges and inform the development of resources to support their success in the U.S. education system. Using ethnographic interviews and Ecological Systems Theory, the research highlights how places and social systems shape views and life paths, offering insights into how best to support these …

Suledo Community-Based Forest Reserve: A Contested Terrain Between Peasants And Pastoralists In Kiteto District, 1990–2016, Juma Marmo

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This paper examines how the establishment of the SULEDO community forest reserve caused land use conflicts between peasants and pastoralists in Kiteto District from 1990 to 2016. The peasants complained that the government had deliberately made it possible for pastoralists to get more benefits from the reserve since they were allowed to graze their livestock in the reserve, which took large parts of their former agricultural land. Conversely, the grabbing of land by peasants in the forest reserve caused complaints from the pastoralists who claimed that the peasants were grabbing their grazing land in the reserve. Using archival sources, fieldwork …

Buddhist Music As A Contested Site: The Transmission Of Teochew Buddhist Music Between China And Singapore, Jie Zhang

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

In the Chaozhou City Gazetteer of Buddhism & Chaozhou Kaiyuan Monastery Gazetteer published in 1992, the then Abbot of the Kaiyuan Monastery, Shi Huiyuan 释慧原 heavily condemned the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) monk Shi Kesheng 释可声 (date unknown) for "starting the sins among laities in the Chaozhou region who dared transgressing (the Buddhist doctrines) and became chant leaders in a flaming mouth ceremony.” Why was the Abbot so upset with a fellow monk back in history? What did Kesheng do, and what were the implications of him starting this "transgression"? This article investigates the history of the international traffic of Buddhist …

We Built This Country For Free – Using A Phenomenological Approach For (Re) Imagining Mississippi Black Small-Scale Farmers, Destiny Denise Crockett

Theses and Dissertations

By the early 20th century, in 1920, Black farmers owned 14% of US farmland. Today, in the 21st century, Black farmers own less than 2% of US farmland. The demise of Black farmers and Black farmland in US Agriculture is a direct result of social, political, and racial weaponization against their foodways, culture, and livelihoods. The history concerning the plight of Black farmers goes beyond USDA's historical discrimination but enters a position where racism is embedded and perpetuated within the structure of US agriculture. In effect, Black small-scale farmers have reaped the downfall of this system, enduring racial biases and …

Socioeconomic Geographies And Municipal Decision Making Of New York's Climate Smart Communities Program, Stephen Corbisiero

Digital and Data Studies Student Scholarship

Nearly all of New York’s residents live in a municipality designated as a Climate Smart Community, but few are familiar with one of the state’s major legislative accomplishments. The initiative allows municipalities to earn points toward a climate smart certification by implementing sustainable technologies in their communities, which in turn makes them eligible for increased grant funding from New York State. As climate change begins to have a greater impact on human and natural life, investing in green infrastructure has never been more important. New York’s Climate Smart Communities program is widespread, but adoption rates vary greatly throughout the state …

Whose Woods These Are: Human-Environment Relationships Among Stakeholders Of South Mississippi's Longleaf Pine Ecosystem, Helen Greene

Master's Theses

Between 1870 and 1920, the longleaf pine belt of the southeastern United States experienced an extensive and unsustainable period of logging. In the years after the logging boom the landscape of the Southeast was reforested, but fire suppression and a preference among landowners for loblolly pine resulted in a dense and less resilient forest with reduced biodiversity. This research looks at the human geography of remnants of the longleaf pine ecosystem in South Mississippi and the nature of contemporary relationships between South Mississippi residents and this ecosystem.

In an effort to make sense of the complex relationships between people and …

Singapore's Hawker Culture At A Crossroads, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In a commentary, SMU President and Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Social Sciences Lily Kong discussed how Singapore’s hawker culture – which has been a key part of life in Singapore – has developed over the years. She also noted the anxieties over the long-term sustainability of hawker culture, but cited the 2021 National Environment Agency Hawker Perception Survey which offered cause for optimism as the overall experiences of and attitudes towards hawker centres were positive. Prof Kong noted the efforts made in encouraging young Singaporeans to enter the hawker trade and ensure recipes were inherited, but concluded only …

Into An Interference Zone: Childbirth And Care Among Mehinako People, Aline Regitano

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This article addresses issues of care and corporeality during gestation, childbirth, the postpartum period, and childcare through a case study conducted with Mehinako people. Among this Amazonian people, care forms the person, having an elementary function in the daily construction of kinship relations through means of affection. A recent trend has caused expressive transformations in the way women experience corporeality and the making of a person: the displacement of birth from the home to hospitals, motivated by women’s fear, desire, and curiosity. In the city, Indigenous women transit through medical institutions, which I propose may be read as interference zones …

Jean E. Jackson: A Pioneering Ethnographer In The Colombian Amazon, Patience Epps, Danilo Paiva Ramos, Flora Dias Cabalzar

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This essay celebrates the work of Jean E. Jackson, a pioneering female ethnographer who devoted most of her fifty-year career to the Indigenous peoples of Colombia. Her research, represented in an extensive set of publications from the early 1970s to the present, engages with themes of identity, stigma, and social inequality, manifested across a range of contexts. Jackson’s ethnographic contributions include her ground-breaking early work on Indigenous Tukanoan society in the Colombian Vaupés, focusing on the practice of linguistic exogamy (obligatory marriage across language groups) among the Bará people. Later, she expanded her focus to address Indigenous experiences in the …

The Age Of The Onanya - Regarding The Spread Of Ayahuasca Use Throughout The Ucayali Basin, Carlos Suárez-Álvarez

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

The spread of ayahuasca shamanism throughout the Upper Amazon has become a matter of debate among scholars since, in 1994, anthropologist Peter Gow formulated the controversial suggestion that it could be a recent phenomenon in the Ucayali basin, usually considered the stronghold of a millenary tradition. Following Gow, Brabec de Mori argued that the Shipibo-Conibo people, a paradigmatic example of the antique practice of ayahuasca shamanism, adopted both the brew and the associated shamanic practices in a “relatively recent” past. Gow and Brabec pointed at the Maynas missions as the origin of this shamanic complex, and the mestizo and Cocama …

The Way Of Warriors: Annotated Narratives Of The Mebengokre (Kayapo) In Brazil, By Gustaaf Verswijver, John Hemming

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This is a review of The Way of Warriors: Annotated Narratives of the Mebengokre (Kayapó) in Brazil, by Gustaaf Verswijver. Turuti Books: Almería, Spain.

Vaupés Multilingualism And The Substance Of Language, Stephen Hugh-Jones

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

By focusing on ordinary conversational language, relying on a notion of “group” derived from unilineal descent theory, and neglecting mythology and ritual, studies of Vaupés Tukanoan multilingualism have inadvertently tended to reproduce a Western ideology of language as marking national identity and concerned with conveying meaning. This paper suggests that attention to musical, ritual, and shamanic contexts reveals multilingualism in a different light, with ritual speech acts as constitutive of social groups, names as vehicles of reproduction, and breath as a substance-like bodily element and source of vitality. The more esoteric, rhetorical, musical, or visual ornamentation is given to breath, …