Digital Commons Network^™

Fifty Years On The Fringe: Murray Bookchin And The American Revolutionary Tradition, 1921-1971, Aaron David Hyams

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Hyams, Aaron, M.A., Spring 2011 History Fifty Years on the Fringe: Murray Bookchin and the American Revolutionary Tradition 1921-1971 Chairperson: Dr. Michael Mayer Murray Bookchin was an American revolutionary and political theorist born in New York City in 1921. His career as both an activist and a theorist through the thirties, forties, fifties and sixties, made him an active participant and influential voice for both the American Old Left, and the New Left. Writing for Contemporary Issues, a left wing journal edited by Josef Weber, Bookchin became an important part of the schismatic Left, a loose conglomeration of Marxist and …

Our Collective History: The Curation Crisis And The Excavation Of An Archaeological Repository, Bethany Hauer Campbell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Museum curators, archaeologists, and researchers have recognized that a “curation crisis” exists at various American institutions housing artifacts and other archaeological materials. While this is an international phenomenon, the crisis in the United States is linked with a recent history of cultural resource management (CRM)—and academic research projects—having a tendency to survey, excavate, analyze, publish, and move on to the next project, often with little regard for the long term curation of the collections. What happens to these artifacts? Will they be available for the future? Here I examine the literature discussing the curation crisis, as well as federal laws …

Teaching Mindfulness To Individuals With Schizophrenia, Jennifer Leah Miller

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Mindfulness practice as a treatment intervention has mitigated psychopathological symptoms and improved aspects of quality of life for many individuals. Studies of mindfulness-based training interventions for individuals with Schizophrenia disorders have been limited. These have targeted psychosis only or addressed anxiety co-occurring with schizophrenia; there has not been a mindfulness intervention tailored to particular treatable experience(s) of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In this exploratory treatment development research, 10 individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders were individually trained in a tailored mindfulness intervention. Predictions were that as a result of participating in the intervention, participants would report less distress in relation to positive …

Communal Empathy In Native American Older Adults, Heather Lynn Dorlando

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Recently it has been posited that resilience is a dynamic process that develops, fluctuates, and is embedded in social context. With a dynamic systems approach it is possible to investigate resilience within a Native American community, which includes addressing the concept of cultural resilience and empathy. A secondary qualitative data analysis of 28 interviews with Native American older adults was conducted. Research questions addressed the context in which empathy was demonstrated, what dimensions of empathy were utilized, if empathy was used as an emotion-focused or communal coping strategy, and what outcomes were described when using empathy as a coping strategy. …

A Model Of Successful Adaptation To Online Learning For College-Bound Native American High School Students, Collier Kaler

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The primary purpose of this grounded theory study was to shed light on the personal online learning experiences of Native American high school students in Montana. The overarching research question was: What are the conditions for college-bound Native American high school students that result in a successful adaptation to an online learning environment?

Eight Native American students attending high schools on the Flathead and Blackfeet Reservations, and one small urban city, were interviewed two separate times for approximately 45 minutes. All participants had passed online coursework with a grade of C or better, taken through Montana Digital Academy. One hundred …

Creating An Image, Shaping A Destination In Chachapoyas, Peru, Charles Hoadley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis examines the place image of the Chachapoyas region in northern Peru by identifying themes found in tourism guidebooks and websites. Photographs and written descriptions of Chachapoyas were found to emphasize certain features of the region while avoiding or hiding others. To further inform the discussion of the place image of Chachapoyas interviews were conducted with international tourists visiting the region. These interviews indicate that Chachapoyas does not have the same level of recognition as sites in southern Peru. The purveyors of representations of Chachapoyas have tried to appropriate the intrigue of a place myth characterized by lost civilizations …

Whitebarkpine Forest Restoration: Cultural Perspectives From Blackfoot Confederacy Members, Kodi Jae Augare-Estey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Whitebark pine (WBP) is a keystone species on the brink of extinction, threatened by fire suppression, white pine blister rust, along with mountain pine beetle infestation and climate change. The Blackfoot Confederacy from the Northern Rockies region, as part of their traditional practices and Worldview, has long gathered the nutrient-rich seeds and cambium of whitebark pine as part of their subsistence. This paper demonstrates how the perspectives, indigenous intelligence and worldview of members of the Blackfoot Confederacy could inform and supplement western science and increase the probability of success in restoration efforts whitebark pine forest ecosystems. With Blackfoot Confederacy acculturation …

Literature Meets Biology: An Evolutionary Approach To Literary Studies, Samantha Reneé Dwyer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The following thesis engages with the relatively young development in literary studies, called evocriticism, which uses scientific perspectives to look at literature. It first gives an overview of the current state of English departments and their decline in numbers, budgets, and cultural relevancy, mostly due to outdated modes of literary criticism and theory. It then introduces evocriticism as a new paradigm for studying literature. Literature and the arts are studied as human behaviors with possible adaptive benefits. Individual texts are interpreted through a scientific lens, using the theory of evolution to find cultural and biological human universals that can help …

Writing Next To The West: A Spatial Consideration Of Women In The American West, Elizabeth Anne Boeheim

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Mary Clearman Blew and Judy Blunt are contemporary women writers of the American West. Both women grew up on ranches in Montana but left in adulthood. Despite leaving, each woman maintains significant intellectual and emotional connections to the land and culture of her youth in her writing. Blew's memoir All But the Waltz and Blunt’s memoir Breaking Clean reveal a friction between dependency on the land and necessary distancing from it that presents the opportunity to employ geographical analysis to the ways in which place figures into the production of identity and of these texts. In this paper, I seek …

The Seen And Unseen: Religion And Identity In The Chicago American Indian Community, Eli Steven Suzukovich Iii

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The following dissertation is an ethnographic community study focusing on religiosity and its relationship in maintaining tribal identity among urban Indians living in Chicago, Illinois. The research examines spirituality and religious practice in an urban Indian community and illuminates and examines how people conceptualize the sacred and how it applies to their sense of tribal, familial, and individual identities and its development through a lifetime. The goals of this research are to: 1) provide an overview of religiosity as it currently exists within the American Indian community of Chicago; and 2) examine religion and spirituality as is develops over time …

The Economic Impacts Of Wolves On Calf Production On Western Montana Cattle Ranches Beyond Direct Depredation, Joseph Ramler

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A novel sample of 18 western Montana cow-calf ranching operations were analyzed over a 16 year time period (1995-2010) using an ordinary least squares linear regression estimation model with robust standard errors focused on the potential effects wolves may have on average calf weight gain. Incorporating calf sex, calf breed, ranch, and year fixed effects into the estimation model, a vector of variables that changed both across ranches and over time were used to significantly explain (F = 59.32; p < 0.001) the variation in yearly average calf weaning weights on sample ranches with fairly good accuracy (R2 = 0.846). The use of hormone implanting (â=24.5), calf age (â=.34), annual aggregate precipitation (â=2.16), annual aggregate snowfall (â=-0.24), annual average temperature (â=4.27), and the standard deviation of NDVI (â=1.67) were found to be significant at least at the .1 level. One measure used to account for wolf presence on sample ranches based on yearly estimated wolf home range data from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks was found to have an insignificant effect on average calf weight (p = .569). The other measure used to account for wolf presence on sample ranches was found to be a significant factor on calf weight gain. On average, sample ranches that experienced at least one Wildlife Service (WS) confirmed wolf depredation on the ranch, weaned calves that were approximately 20 pounds lighter than ranches that did not have a WS confirmed wolf depredation in the same year, holding all else constant. The results suggest that calves on western Montana ranches that experience at least one WS wolf depredation in a year gain 20 pounds less weight than if there hadn’t been a WS confirmed wolf kill which directly correlates to decreased economic revenue received by affected ranchers.

Rural Community Vitality; The Cases Of Fort Benton, Montana And Watford City, North Dakota, Joseph Micheal Husar

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

There are many rural towns in the United States that are struggling economically. While many suffer population loss through out-migration, others continue to thrive. This project focuses on two rural communities: Fort Benton in central Montana and Watford City in western North Dakota. The research sets out to provide an understanding of how these towns prosper while maintaining their rural lifestyle. The purpose of this study is to explore and identify the efforts carried out by these rural communities to secure the power to live and grow; in other words to remain vital as a rural places. Both communities are …

Unearthing The Inner Compass, Kimberly Ann Kapalka

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The process of composing a body of artwork was to prove my artistic ability and prepare work for submission to artist-in-residence programs. To achieve this goal, I committed eleven months to this project. Inspiration for pieces came from my travels, interests in American Indian culture, wildlife, trees, photographs, and still-life objects. I devoted as much time as possible in my make-shift apartment studio working on art. Balancing career and home activities was a habitual challenge. I learned to trust my intuition while creating art making choices that reflected my intended message. Fear of public opinion floated through my mind as …

Empowerment Through Voice: A Case Study In The Leadership Of Restorative Justice, Kim Dalene Harding

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This qualitative case study identified shared leadership as a necessary component in the sustenance of restorative justice, a reform justice model used at Ada County Juvenile Court Services located in Boise, Idaho. Within each of its divisions, ACJCS utilizes this shared leadership model. At this court, leadership capacity was built though encouraging team members to take initiative and show innovation. Community capacity was built by the creation of networks with other private and county agencies, providing both leadership opportunities and community service hours for offending youth. Shared leadership sustains this reform justice model by allowing leaders to become followers and …

Different Challenges And Different Blessings: Life Experiences Of Young Mothers Of Children With Down Syndrome, Janice Driscoll Nugent

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Life experiences of young mothers of preschool aged children with Down syndrome were explored in this qualitative narrative study. Intensive interviews of four purposefully chosen young women were conducted. The findings of this study illustrate the impact of a preschool aged child with Down syndrome on the life of a young woman.

A variety of themes were identified. The primary themes were the background of the woman, including her public school experience, learning of the diagnosis of Down syndrome, supports, the child's medical complications, learning to cope and the impact of that disability on their day-to-day lives.

Child care and …

Wolves And Livestock: A Review Of Tools To Deter Livestock Predation And A Case Study Of A Proactive Wolf Conflict Mitigation Program Developed In The Blackfoot Valley, Montana, Peter Douglas Brown

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The recent recovery of wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains (NRM) was met with opposition from the ranching communities throughout Montana. This was not surprising, due to the fact that wolves are feared as a predator of livestock and therefore represent a direct economic loss for ranchers that experience depredations by wolves. Wolves are also revered as a native predator that have top down effects upon natural prey species. This in turn affects the web of plants and animals that make up natural ecosystems. This fact, as well as the strong emotional connection that some stakeholders have to wolves creates …

The Statistical Relationship Among Number Sense, Computational Fluency, And Montana Comprehensive Assessment System, Amy Jo Burland

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

According to recent studies, less than half of U.S. students perform at the proficient or advanced levels in mathematics by the time they reach grade 4 and the trend continues through high school. In order to improve instruction many districts have adopted scientifically based researched programs such as Response to Intervention (RTI), which allows for the examination of the effectiveness of the core curriculum that is being used in a school or classroom. In addition, RTI provides school administrators and teachers with educational tools to identify students who may be at-risk of failing and to inform teachers of supplemental instruction …

A Century Of Change In Forest Structure And Fire Regime Condition Class In A Western Montana Ponderosa Pine Douglas-Fir Forest, Robert Michael Rich

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

ABSTRACT A Century of Change in Forest Structure and Fire Regime Condition Class in a Western Montana Ponderosa Pine/Douglas-fir Forest - Restoring historical forest conditions is often a driving force behind forest management activities today. However, determining historical, pre-settlement conditions can be challenging. Utilizing General Land Office (GLO) survey notes to reconstruct historical stand structure is one method to achieve this goal. Original GLO survey notes from 1902 were used to reconstruct historical stand condition in a 2,694 acre ponderosa pine/ Douglas–fir forest. Surveyed corners or their approximate locations were relocated. The procedure for establishing bearing trees by the original …

Assessing The Balance: Burkean Frames And Lil' Bush, Elizabeth Anne Sills

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In light of former president George W. Bush’s remarkably low approval ratings during the later years of his administration, the Comedy Central program Lil’ Bush seemed to be a satiric outlet for societal angst. A closer examination of the show, however, reveals that its content is funny, but does more to entertain than it does to criticize. Using the dichotomy of Burke’s comedic and humorous frames as a standard for analysis, this thesis probes the program to determine the nature of its humor. Although the show does include some critiques of George W. Bush and the federal executive branch as …

Addressing Food Insecurity And Developing Social Resources Through Community Garden Projects In Low-Income Areas: Qualitative Interviews With Outreach Coordinators From Three Urban Agriculture Organizations, Elizabeth R. Chalgian

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As urban agriculture organizations become increasingly popular, it is important to understand the impact they have on low-income urban communities. Food security and political power are greatly lacking in these areas. Agriculture endeavors, such as community gardens and urban farms, have a significant potential to decrease these deficits. First, this thesis will address how social inequalities, which are products of structural power, prevent the poor from being properly fed and discuss how urban agriculture programs, specifically community gardens, can reduce food insecurity and build a community’s social resources. Later, the discussion will focus on how low-income populations become involved in …

An Assessment Of The Hiv Prevention Needs Of Men Who Have Sex With Men In Montana, Kelly A. Hart

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this study was to collect information about the HIV prevention needs of men who have sex with men (MSM) living in Montana. Prevention needs were explored by identifying the environmental factors and behaviors that put MSM at risk for HIV infection, describing the demographic and contextual factors that influence those behaviors, and comparing current prevention needs to existing resources and services. To evaluate the prevention needs, primary qualitative data was collected in the form of four focus groups and nine key informant interviews. Supporting secondary quantitative and qualitative data in the form of an online survey and …

Debt Structure In The West: Money And Gift, And The Influence On Community, James A. Becker

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Debt structures all relationships in America as well as all of our economic material exchanges. Historically debt has always been seen thus with our religious texts being written both in the terminology of the metaphysical and the economical combining them together in an attempt to understand the social and economic systems that individuals live in. At the core of the social and economic systems is community. In America the myth of the gift is a dominant catalyst that uses debt to make community through time. In order to study the structure of debt within America I will be using an …

Feasting On Fido: Cultural Implications Of Eating Dogs At Bridge River, Hannah Schremser Cail

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Dogs represent a unique facet of the faunal assemblage at the Bridge River site (EeRl4), a prehistoric aggregated winter housepit village in southern British Columbia’s Middle Fraser Canyon. As part of the Bridge River site investigation of emergent material wealth based status inequality of the hunter-gatherer-fisher economy, the 2008 and 2009 excavation of the village recovered the skeletal remains of domestic dogs within two distinct cache pit features in Housepit 24’s Activity Area 3. The two dogs unearthed from these separate cache pits features show dichotomous roles for man’s best friend; one, possibly as a prized companion, and the other …

Genetic Population Structure And Conservation Of Bull Trout In The East Fork Bitterroot River Drainage, Montana, Leslie Grace Nyce

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Bull trout Salvelinus confluentus are a species of conservation interest and are currently listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Understanding and conserving the genetic and life history diversity of bull trout populations across their range is critical as conservation, management, and recovery plans are developed. Numerous studies in different regions have shown that local bull trout populations in close geographic proximity are typically very genetically different and evidence for dispersal among neighboring tributary populations is weak. In addition to genetic diversity, maintenance of life history diversity may increase resilience of bull trout populations. The larger migratory …

Governance Of Community-Based Ecotourism In Bhutan: A Case Study Of Nabji Trail In Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park, Ugyen Namgyel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A limitation of Bhutan’s controlled tourism policy of “high value, low impact” is that its benefits have not extended to rural communities in remote places. To provide such opportunities, a pilot project on community-based ecotourism known as the “Nabji Trail” was developed and opened in Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park (JSWNP) in November 2006. The trail involves a walking tour across six villages including two ethnic groups, Monpa and Khengpa. Several tourism enterprises, including employment as porters, guides, cooks, selling handicrafts and providing cultural entertainment, are offered by local residents to raise income. Ten percent of all tourism earnings are …

Informal Mathematics Activities And The Beliefs Of Elementary Teacher Candidates, Matt B. Roscoe

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study sought to determine the relationship between participation in informal mathematics activities and the formal-to-informal beliefs of university teacher candidates in elementary education. Three classes of preservice teachers participated in the study through their enrollment in a content mathematics course for elementary education majors. Four informal mathematics activities were employed as part of the course requirements. Pre and post formal-to-informal beliefs about mathematics and mathematics instruction were measured using a Likert-scale beliefs assessment instrument used by Collier (1972) and Seaman et al. (2005). Changes in beliefs about mathematics and mathematics instruction were compared to a control group. Student reflection …

Life History And Demography Of Trillium Ovatum Pursh. (Liliaceae)In Western Montana, Tarn Ream

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Trillium ovatum is a long-lived, spring ephemeral that grows in moist forest habitats of the western United States. Extensive investigations of Trillium, including T. ovatum, have been accomplished, yet no prior studies of T. ovatum have been conducted at the eastern edge of its distribution in Montana, where populations experience increased aridity and highly variable climatic conditions as compared to other regions where it occurs. This study examines life-history characteristics and demography of T. ovatum in three representative populations that were sampled over 9 growing seasons to determine: 1) life history stages, stage class structure, and yearly transitions among stage …

The Heart Of The Matter: The Function And Relational Effects Of Humor For Cardiovascular Patients, Nicholas Lee Lockwood

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study examined the possibility that cardiovascular patient health is enhanced by the intentional communication of humor and associated increases in relationship satisfaction. In an effort to study the relationship between these variables it was predicted that relationship satisfaction mediates the effects between humor functions and health. Questionnaire data was collected from members of two national support groups for patients of cardiovascular disease. Findings support humor functions distinguished in previous studies and support the hypothesis that relationship satisfaction mediates health. Specifically, distancing humor negatively predicted relationship satisfaction and health. These findings offer new insight into the variability of humor effects.

The Influence Of Environmental Variables On Predicting Rare-Plant Habitat In The Nez Perce National Forest, Thor Burbach

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Habitat suitability modeling is widely-used in both biogeography and ecology to characterize the biophysical requirements and distribution of plant and animal species. Many of these modeling efforts use different variants of essentially the same topo-climatic variables (elevation, slope, aspect, precipitation, and temperature). However, these commonly used variables may not sufficiently explain the distribution of rare-plant species, which may have additional habitat needs. The aim of this project was to determine guidelines for selection of variables to include in statistical modeling efforts to predict suitable rare-plant habitat. Additionally, how background extent, data resolution, sample size, and various ranking criteria effect environmental …

The Tribal College Movement: Ensuring That Native American Students Successfully Complete An Associate Degree And Persist To Earn A Four-Year Degree, Cheri Lynn Kicking Woman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This mixed method study examined the utilization of educational resources available to 44 Native American students. One-half initially attended a tribal college, and one-half Native American students who initially attended a non-tribal college. The qualitative process involved face-to-face interviews with the participants at the seven Montana tribal colleges. The resources included: mentoring programs, library services, financial aid assistance, distance learning programs, disability services, scholarships' applications process assistance, assistance in use of computers and the skills needed, tutors, student organizations, and academic counselors.

The data from the first phase of the study were illustrated by the use of tables and descriptive …