Digital Commons Network^™

Women’S Water, Women’S Work: Evaluating Decentralized Management Of Deep Borehole Wells For Improved Rural Water Access In Tawa Fall Village, Senegal, Tenly Elizabeth Snow

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Throughout the developing world, countries face a number of issues regarding the health and welfare of their populations. One issue that stands out with critical and growing importance is the availability-and accessibility-of water. Across the Sahel, access to potable water for domestic use, as well as contaminant-free water for agricultural and animal husbandry purposes is of growing concern. This study evaluates Government of Senegal efforts at improving rural water access through public-private operation contracts to manage deep groundwater resources. In West Africa, Senegal currently counts itself among the few Sahelian countries having sufficient freshwater supplies to support its population’s growing …

Measuring Visual Literacy Ability In Graduate Level Pre-Service Teachers, Teresa Farrell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Farrell, Teresa, Ed.D., August 2013 Curriculum and Instruction Measuring Visual Literacy Ability in Graduate Level Pre-service Teachers Chairperson: Dr. Marian J. McKenna The field of visual literacy has been active since its inception in 1969 by John Debes and members of various fields of study such as science, mathematics, psychology, education, and the arts forming the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA). Recognizing that modern society is increasingly visual by nature, and with the advances in digital technologies, visual literacy is becoming an area of critical importance in education. Although much work has been done within the field to define it …

Lithic Technology And Risk: Winter Houses At Bridge River Villages, Kelly French

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The 2012 excavation of a single housepit (Housepit 54) at the Bridge River Village site (EeR14) offers the unique opportunity to look at lithic organization and techinological strategies during the Fur Trade era in the Middle Fraser Canyon. The main goal of this research is to understand how the winter occupation of Housepit 54 may have affected the lithic technological strategies carried out at Bride River Village. As a winter pithouse, lithic raw material sources would be inaccessible during the three months of occupation. The hypothesis of this thesis is structured with a theory of risk framework in order to …

The Blackfoot Demonstrative System: Function, Form, And Meaning, Shannon Scott Schupbach

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis presents a comprehensive analysis of the Blackfoot demonstrative system. Previous research on Blackfoot (Uhlenbeck 1938, Taylor 1969, Frantz 2009) identifies sixteen morphemes that make up demonstrative words in the language. I propose a demonstrative template that takes into account the fixed morpheme ordering observed in demonstrative forms. Based on the proposed template, I motivate the analysis of the suffix -ka as encoding motion towards the speaker as this accounts for its position together with the suffixes -ya, -ma, and -hka, each of which encode features of motion or visibility. In describing situational functions of each …

Household Organization In The Fur Trade Era: Socioeconomic And Spatial Organizations Of Housepit 54, Alexandra Christine Williams

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Households are fundamental units of society that possess powerful explanatory potential; however, few studies have approached household organization during the critical contact period within the Mid-Fraser Canyon. The 2012 excavation of Bridge River’s Housepit 54 (HP 54) offers a rare opportunity to investigate such socioeconomic relationships and their spatial manifestations. Hypotheses structured with a household archaeology theoretical framework emphasize household socioeconomic strategies. The first hypothesis outlines a network strategy characterized by greater centralization of power, hierarchical complexity, and material-wealth that is reflected in residential units with individual features and disparate accumulations of prestige goods and high utility resources. Such floor …

A Year Of Practice And Performance: Improving Piano Skills To Become A Better Choral Director, Ellen Mckenzie

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Piano skills are extremely important to a choral teacher’s success, and I always considered my piano playing as a weak point in my teaching. The intent of my project was to dedicate a year of intensive practicing and performing as an accompanist in order to improve my piano technique, gain a wider repertoire of music to use in teaching private lessons and choir, and gain confidence in my abilities as an accompanist. Through one hundred and three hours of documented practice time, eight performance experiences in a variety of settings, and eighteen pieces prepared and performed, my playing has improved …

The Changing Role Of Sámi Women In Reindeer Herding Communities In Northern Norway And The 1970-1980s Women’S Resistance And Redefinition Movement, Marcie Kaye Bremmer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Historically, different nations-states at different times have tried to claim authority over the Sámi in the circumpolar north. After the nation state borders were drawn in the 1700s and 1800s, separating Russia, Norway, Sweden and Finland, Norway introduced a harsh and 1800s separating Russia, Norway, Sweden and Finland, Norway introduced a harsh assimilation policy that lasted over a century. Cultural Darwinist views and national assimilationist legislation and social strategies chipped away at Sámi society and its identity as an indigenous people. Over time Sámi women found their accustomed social, economic, and political autonomy eroded. Post World War II, the emerging …

King Of Kings: Human Rights Rhetoric And Regional Security In The Shah's Iran, 1968-1978, Bennett Gabriel Sherry

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the spring of 1968, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’s personal rule and Iran’s domestic stability were at an all-time high. For five years, Iran had enjoyed the boons of the Shah’s White Revolution. This program of economic and social reform had placed Iran on the path to becoming one of the most populous, prosperous, and powerful nations in the Middle East. In January 1968 the United Kingdom announced it would withdraw its military from the Persian Gulf. The Shah seized upon this opportunity and that provided by the promulgation of the Nixon Doctrine in 1969 to put Iran on the …

Language Change In Spanish Heritage Speakers: The Interaction Between Lexical And Grammatical Aspect, Jackelyn Kelly Van Buren

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis focuses on preterit and imperfect usage in the Spanish of Chilean-American heritage speakers. Spanish heritage speakers in the United States are second generation bilinguals who learn Spanish in the home from Spanish speaking parents and learn English from school and the community (Montrul 2002; Rothman 2007). When societal factors limit heritage language exposure, tense and aspect morphology is susceptible to change (Guijarro-Fuentes & Clibbens 2004). Findings of a study on 11 Chilean-American heritage speakers show that production of the preterit is overextending, resulting in less frequent use of the imperfect. Large-scale studies of US Spanish-English bilinguals’ use of …

Sarah Palin, Conservative Feminism, And The Politics Of Family, Jasmine Rose Zink

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Female politicians are heavily constrained by discourses that prescribe masculine values as natural, yet at times they draw on societal expectations of femininity that allow them to utilize such discourses to their advantage. Motherhood, a feminine yet powerful role, provides such an opportunity. Capitalizing on this acceptable avenue of female power, women have strategically relied on maternal appeals since they first entered public life, often to challenge patriarchal social structures. Utilizing Lakoff‘s (2002) concept of the nation-as-family metaphor and informed by the pervasive myth of the traditional family, this analysis explores the consequences of Sarah Palin‘s use of maternal appeals …

Assessing The Role Of Shame And Honor During The Alta Conflict, Michael T. Bremmer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

For nearly a century the Sami peoples of Norway were subject to colonial policies of assimilation and integration. According to historians of the Sami, colonial processes stigmatized Sami individuals and the Sami culture, producing feelings of shame. The concept of shame, for both individuals and groups, centers on experiencing fear, pain, and/or uneasiness, and requires a judging audience. Honor is about individuals transcending self-interest and the need for individuals and groups to acquire self-esteem for that purpose; it also requires a judging audience. Concepts of shame and honor played an important role during the Alta conflict; a watershed moment in …

Between Harsha And Harira: Moroccan Women’S Relationships To Food And Kitchenspace, Lillie Greiman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The research presented in this thesis grapples with questions concerning the gendered and spatial aspects of food culture and “kitchenspace” in Fez, Morocco. The everyday geographies of urban women in Fez, Morocco are closely connected to local food systems and food spaces. Food spaces like the kitchen are where women’s complex relationships to food and gender identity are revealed. Kitchens are spaces where women negotiate gender identity and where specialized knowledge (concerning food and gender) is applied, shared, and transferred from one generation to the next. Critical knowledge concerning gender and identity is communicated through food and food systems. This …

A Comparison Of Metadiscourse Markers And Writing Quality In Adolescent Written Narratives, Susan Gold Sanford

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Discourse, a series of sentences that communicates a topic, consists of two distinct yet connected components. The first element is the propositional content or the meaning of the sentences, and the second consists of the words and expressions that enhance the communicative efficiency and effectiveness of the factual message. Metadiscourse markers, members of the second linguistic category, guide the reader through the text and establish a means for the writer to interact or influence the reader. The use of metadiscourse in writing and speaking embodies the concept that communication is more than just the exchange of information, facts, and figures. …

Phonological Awareness Skill Of Segmenting In Bilingual English/Spanish Speaking 4- And 5-Year-Old Children, Kate Lorraine Mckay

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Abstract Segmenting, the ability to pull apart words into their smaller linguistic units, is a known predictor of early literacy. This study investigated the segmenting skills (a component of phonological awareness PA), in bilingual English/Spanish-speaking 4-and 5-year-old children at the levels of syllable, onset-rime and phoneme. The results of this study were then compared to a previous study that explored PA skill development in monolingual English speaking children of the same ages. The comparative analysis explores how bilingualism impacts PA skill development. This study examined the segmenting skills of 31 bilingual students who attended a Spanish immersion school, the majority …

Emotional Availability And Touch Among Deaf And Hearing Mother-Infant Dyads, Grace Silvia

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Much attention has been paid in past literature to deaf children's development, especially in regard to how they compare to their hearing peers over time. Most deaf children (approximately 90%) are born to hearing parents. In these cases, the child's hearing impairment can be difficult to accommodate due to the parents' lack of familiarity with ways of interacting without heavy reliance on the auditory modality. Using Deaf parents as a model for comparison, previous research has found that frequent use of touch for purposes of gaining attention is an important strategy when interacting with a deaf child.

The purpose of …

Tradewinds And Traditions: Exploring The Archaeology Of German Gulch, William Travis Norman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The German Gulch Archaeological Collection, a result of archaeological investigation at German Gulch by Butte, Montana cultural resource management firm GCM and the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest during the late 1980s and early 1990s, represents a unique opportunity to explore ethnic relationships in rural Montana mining communities during the last half of the 19th century. The German Gulch site was a location of cultural interaction, between Overseas Chinese, European, and European American communities all focused on mining the mineral resources of the gulch. The collection presents an opportunity to test assumptions about bounded ethnic relationships as well as the process of …

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement (Binding) In Brazilian Portuguese, Kier Chrsitine Hanson-Santos

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Research (Duarte, 1995, Barbosa et al. 2005) indicates that Brazilian Portuguese (BP) is evolving linguistically: it apparently contains two grammars that are partially +NSL and partially –NSL. Within the framework of the Position of the Antecedent Hypothesis (PAH) advocated by (Carminati, 2002), null and overt subjects retrieve antecedents in different structural positions. Pronoun-antecedent agreement is based exclusively on the syntactic configuration of a clause in which a null pronoun is bound to a sentential subject antecedent; however, an overt pronoun retrieves an antecedent in a lower syntactic position (e.g., the direct object), or outside of the clause (e.g., a discursive …

The Effects Of Modeled Writing On Early Literacy Development In Preschool Children, Bethany M. Froehlich Collins

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the impacts on early literacy development in preschool children by engaging them in writing activities that were intentionally modeled within their typical classroom setting. Twenty-five typically developing children 3 to 5 years of age participated in the study. The "Picture Story/Word Story,” a preschool writing strategy described by Paulson, et al. (2001), was used to model the developmental levels of writing for the subjects two times a week for 10 weeks. The experimental group engaged in writing activities, which included intentional modeling of the stages of writing development that were just above …

Forgotten Sepulchers: The Uninscribed Tombs In The Valley Of The Kings In Luxor, Egypt, Roselyn Campbell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The elaborately decorated tombs in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt, have captured the imagination of scholars and tourists alike for thousands of years. Yet despite the attention lavished on these tombs, they are outnumbered in the Valley of the Kings uninscribed tombs that have been largely ignored. Excavations in several of the uninscribed tombs have demonstrated that although their walls may be bare, the tombs are certainly not empty, and a variety of finds ranging from scattered funerary objects and human remains to several nearly intact burials of high officials have been uncovered. This thesis will assemble …

How Ch-Paa-Qn Got It's Name: A Sixth-Grade Geography Curriculum Unit For Indian Education For All In Montana, Mary Elizabeth Nellis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Nellis, Mary, M.A., Summer 2013 Geography How Ch-Paa-Qn Got Its Name: A Sixth-Grade Geography Curriculum Unit for Indian Education for All in Montana Chair: Sarah J. Halvorson This thesis reports on the design and implementation of a sixth-grade geography curriculum based on Montana House Bill 412 (HB412), a bill whereby the legislature mandated the removal of the word “squaw” from public places in Montana. The framework for this unit is founded on place-based education principles and is tailored to fit within the concepts of Indian Education for All as mandated in the Montana State Constitution. Furthermore, as a place-based unit …

Evaluating Repeat Photography In Documenting Natural And Cultural Landscape Changes: A Changing Crown Of The Continent Ecosystem Between 1899 And 2010, Dusty Leigh Waltner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Photography can be an invaluable tool in human geographical research, for example, to better understand the importance of place to people. Increasingly, geographers are looking at how photography can play an active role in the construction of geographical knowledge, that is, how photographs are seen rather than what they show. This study examines the use of repeat photography as a research method by conducting a case study on landscape change in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem. Grounded in extensive archival research on the past, present, and future uses of photography as a research method, a repeat photography survey was …

Salud, Dignidad, Justicia: Articulating "Choice" And "Reproductive Justice" For Latinas In The United States, Kathleen Maire De Onis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This investigation explores the rhetorical evolution of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. The author argues that the rhetors of the reviewed texts reveal the organization’s dual goals of both altering and resonating with the values and attitudes of Latinas regarding their concerns, as well as the necessity of combating systemic barriers and oppressive dominant ideology hindering Latinas’ ability to exercise a full range of choices. Although this two-fold purpose is persistent throughout the artifacts, as the Latina Institute embraces the language of reproductive justice, the agency gradually shifts its rhetorical efforts from addressing internal issues directed toward its …

A Case For 'Be Going To' As Prospective Aspect, Sara E. Schroeder

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The focus of this thesis is the feature of current relevance as it is expressed by the English present perfect and the present be going to construction. I propose that be going to expresses the current relevance of a future situation in the same way that the present perfect expresses the current relevance of a past situation. Based on this shared feature of current relevance, I propose that the be going to construction is prospective aspect, the future equivalent of the present perfect. While literature on the English be going to construction has discussed the notion of current relevance as …

Students' Development In Proof: A Longitudinal Study, Nicolas John Haverhals

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite importance of teaching proof in any undergraduate mathematics program, many students have difficulties with proof (Dreyfus, 1999; Harel & Sowder, 2003; Selden & Selden, 2003; Weber, 2004). In this qualitative case study, nine undergraduate students were each interviewed once every two weeks over the course of an academic year. During each interview, the students were asked to complete, evaluate or discuss mathematical proofs. The results of these interviews were then analyzed using two different frameworks. The first focused on proof type, which refers to what kind of proof is created and how it came about. The second framework addressed …

Individual Agency And Military Structure: Personal Artifacts From 1890s Fort Missoula, Jackson Cossitt Mueller

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

With a history spanning over 135 years, Fort Missoula, Montana, was involved in several aspects of local and national history, including the Battle of the Big Hole, the 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and World War II internment camp. In the 1980s, former University of Montana anthropology professor Carling Malouf led a series of excavations, recovering hundreds of artifacts which, until this project, had been left unanalyzed. Over the course of two years and over 1500 hours of invested labor, the collections were re-processed, analyzed and curated, producing a detailed artifact catalogue and establishing provenience for most …

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 …

Gaze Toward The City They Won't Enter Again, Mehgan Mckenna

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Fiction thesis.

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 …

Pitch Contour Of Japanese Traditional Verse, Shiho Yamamoto

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this thesis I conduct experiments to investigate how pitch pattern is realized in Japanese Traditional Verses. My observation consists of four parts: (i) investigation of lexical pitch and accentual combinations of Contemporary haiku in prose and in verse (ii) investigation of lexical pitch and accentual combinations of Basho’s traditional haiku (iii) observation of Nonsense haiku and (iv) pitch range measurements of Contemporary haiku in prose and in verse. As a result, the following characteristics are found: Japanese speakers (i) tend to recite Contemporary haiku that include familiar lexemes with expected pitch patterns, compared with Basho’s Traditional haiku that include …