Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

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 …

Marijuana Users In Their Own Words: Explaining The Continuation And Cessation Of Habitual Marijuana Use, Landon Shane Bevier

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study is a qualitative examination of twenty current and former users of marijuana, using in-depth interviews as the units of analysis. The relationship between the participants’ perceived costs and rewards, type and amount of linguistic accounts used, as well as frequency of use are explored using Homans' exchange theory and Lyman and Scott’s theory of accounts. Reasons for continuation, regulation, and cessation of use are also studied. It is found that the participants use marijuana for a varied amount of reasons; these reasons directly influence how they account for their behavior as well as their frequency of use, particularly …

The Conceptualization Of Genocide In The International Media: A Case Study Of Darfur, Kayla Costello

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Cross-national crime studies are often plagued with conceptualization issues. In specific, some countries may define certain acts of violence as crimes, whereas others may perceive these acts as justifiable or culturally prescribed. This difference in conceptualization is especially the case with the crime of genocide, which the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948 defines “as any of a number of acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” Despite this legal definition, countries, organizations, institutions or individuals may label a crisis as …