Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Decolonizing Texts: A Performance Autoethnography, Hari Stephen Kumar

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

I write performance autoethnography as a methodological project committed to evoking embodied and lived experience in academic texts, using performance writing to decolonize academic knowledge production. Through a fragmented itinerary across continents and ethnicities, across religions and languages, across academic and vocational careers, I speak from the everyday spaces in between supposedly stable cultural identities involving race, ethnicity, class, gendered norms, to name a few. I write against colonizing practices which police the racist, sexist, and xenophobic cultural politics that produce and validate particular identities. I write from the intersections of my own living experiences within and against those cultural …

Situated Architecture In The Digital Age: Adaptation Of A Textile Mill In Holyoke, Massachusetts, Dorcas A. Brooks

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The City of Holyoke, Massachusetts is one of many aging, industrial cities striving to revitalize its economy based on the promise of increased digital connectivity and clean energy resources. But how do you renovate 19th century mills to meet the demands of the information age? This architectural study explores the potential impact of sensing technologies and information networks on the definition and function of buildings in the 21st century. It explores the changes that have taken place in industrial architecture since 1850 and argues for an architecture that supports local relationships and environmental awareness. The author explores the industrial history …

Meat And Meanings: Adult-Onset Hunters’ Cultural Discourses Of The Hunt, Tovar Cerulli

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This study is a description and interpretation of talk about hunting. The study is based on data gathered from in-depth interviews with twenty-four hunters in the United States who did not become hunters until adulthood. A single overarching research question guides the study: How do people create and use discourses of hunting? The study is situated within the ethnography of communication research program and, more specifically, within the framework of cultural discourse analysis. The study employs cultural discourse analysis methods and concepts to describe and develop interpretations of how participants render hunting symbolically meaningful, and of what beliefs and values …

Does Parenting Predict Child Relational Aggression?, Nastassja A. Marshall

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Relational aggression is associated with significant psychosocial consequences for children including anxiety, depression, and delinquency. Few research studies have examined the relationship between parenting and childhood relational aggression. Furthermore, only one previous published investigation has examined the relationship between observed parenting and child relational aggression. The current study examined the relationship between six observed parenting factors (laxness, overreactivity, negative affect, disparagement, problem-solving, and positive emotional support) and teacher-reported relational aggression. Forty-six children, mainly of European-American and Puerto-Rican descent, between 7 and 10 years old (M = 8.29, SD = .75), participated in the study. Observational data from a discipline …

Geo-Graphies: Performing City Space And Economic Possibility And The Storyteller Of Cairo, Miriam C. Maynard-Ford

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Albert Cossery, known as the ‘story teller of Cairo’, weaves tales of the marginalized living in a city of the global South whose geographies have been impacted by colonial and neocolonial legacy. Cairo’s city and economic spaces have often been theorized as determined and dominated by the forces of neoliberalism, an approach that obscures the experience of residents who contest and evade these forces daily. For example, in “Les Couleurs de l’infamie”, the main character is a robin-hood archetype that revels in observing the resourcefulness of the city’s residents. ‘Alternative’ occupations and spatial uses abound: an unemployed philosopher teaches secretly …

Determinants Of Health Care Use Among Rural, Low-Income Mothers And Children: A Simultaneous Systems Approach To Negative Binomial Regression Modeling, Swetha Valluri

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The determinants of health care use among rural, low-income mothers and their children were assessed using a multi-state, longitudinal data set, Rural Families Speak. The results indicate that rural mothers’ decisions regarding health care utilization for themselves and for their child can be best modeled using a simultaneous systems approach to negative binomial regression. Mothers’ visits to a health care provider increased with higher self-assessed depression scores, increased number of child’s doctor visits, greater numbers of total children in the household, greater numbers of chronic conditions, need for prenatal or post-partum care, development of a new medical condition, and …

Exploring The Relationship Between Neighborhood Social Interactions And Urban Sprawl In U.S Metropolitan Regions, Liliana Carvajal

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

As a pattern of growth, sprawl is often criticized for its extensive negative impacts. These impacts range from economic costs to health and environmental problems. Critics of sprawl have also emphasized the negative consequences of this type of growth for social neighborhood ties. The physical environment of sprawling areas, characterized by low population density, segregation of land-uses, and lack of public spaces does not provide spaces for social interaction. On the contrary, transit-oriented and mixed-use neighborhoods might encourage interaction among residents because individuals are more likely to walk from place to place which might increase opportunities for informal contact and …

A Study Of The Video Game Industry In U.S Metropolitan Areas Using Occupational Analysis, Hinlan Wong

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The video game industry is a billion dollar industry with an ever-growing fan base. Massachusetts, along with other states, has begun to take an interest in further developing this dynamic industry. A problem facing many policy makers and economic developers is accurately defining the video game industry, determining the types of workers that form of human capital within its workforce and where these businesses are located. This study helps to solve this problem by converting video game credits, found in all video games, into Standard Occupational Codes to identify the types of workers who comprise the industry and by conducting …

Modeling Space Heating Demand In Massachusetts’ Housing Stock And The Implications For Climate Change Mitigation Policy, Nathan H. Robinson

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This research examines variation in average household energy consumption for space heating in municipalities in Massachusetts in order to explore the magnitude of variation among communities and potential causes. A dataset that aggregates natural gas consumption at the municipal level is used for a sample of municipalities in Massachusetts. Based upon this data, a regression model is developed to determine building and household occupancy characteristics that influence household energy consumption. The findings suggest dwelling size, tenure, and age are related to average household energy consumption.

Based upon these findings, recommendations are developed for the restructuring of federal and state level …

An Analysis Of Defensible Space And Crime Prevention Through Design In Crime Hotspots Of Select Boston Neighborhoods, Mario Teran

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

There is a lack of emphasis in the planning world, both academically and in the field, on preventing crime. Defensible Space and Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) has been the two main approaches taken by planners and criminal justice officials that is design-based and that has brought some level of collaboration between the two professions. This study will analyze the built environment of select crime hotspots in the city of Boston from a design-based crime prevention perspective in order to draw correlations between high crime areas and elements of design-based theories.

Using GIS, a kernel density analysis is conducted …

An End To The “Vichy/Algeria Syndrome”?: Negotiating Traumatic Pasts In The French Republic, Justin W. Silvestri

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Within the past few years, France has exhibited a changing relationship in regards to its memory of its collaborationist and colonial past. The controversies of the loi du 23 février 2005 and the 2007 Guy Môquet Commemoration displayed a new openness to discuss and evaluate traumatic pasts. Public debate during the two controversies focused on the difficult process of how to incorporate these traumatic events into the national narrative. Furthermore, this process of negotiation has opened up a vibrant discussion over what parties in France possess the authority and the right to construct the nation’s history. Medical metaphors of neurosis …

Regulatory Compliance In Small-Scale Fisheries In Old Providence Island (Colombia), Laura Maria Alayon

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This research evaluates how contextual variables such as knowledge of the rules, the perception about punishment and formal enforcement levels, perception of social control, fishers’ attitudes about legitimacy of rules, and social/economic factors, affect compliance with fisheries regulations. The analysis is carried out in Old Providence Island [OPI]. A survey of 100 fishermen was completed and data from that survey is used to econometrically estimate a model of compliance choices. Results suggest that reports on compliance change depending whether the interviewed is asked about compliance or about violation. I argue that this seemingly inconsistency, reveals an implication on methodological approach. …

The Jante Law And Racism: A Study On The Effects Of Immigration On Swedish National Identity, Kevin J. Turausky

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This paper focuses on how the Swedish social code known as The Jante Law plays a role in the prevalence of racism in Sweden, both on the individual and societal levels. Its core message that no one is superior to another fundamentally contradicts racism and informs government policy, but also reinforces institutionalized discrimination. I use literature review, ethnographic observations and interviews to examine the ways in which racism is understood and experienced in Sweden. This paper also investigates how concepts of sameness and community have changed over time and how the shifting of these concepts have resulted in greater inclusiveness …

Rethinking Economy For Regional Development: Ontology, Performativity, And Enabling Frameworks For Participatory Vision And Action, Ethan L. Miller

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The stories we tell about "the economy" in discourses of regional economic development play an active role in shaping our economic realities. The construction of more equitable, democratic and ecologically-sound economies must involve an interrogation of our assumptions about what “the economy” is, how it works, and how these conceptions shape our senses of agency and possibility. I argue in this thesis that key texts in regional economic development present a concept of economy that renders the interrelationships between social, economic and ecological processes invisible or beyond ethical contestation, restricts the field of economic possibility, and generates a problematic sense …

Ripped From The Land, Shipped Away And Reborn: Unthinking The Conceptual And Socio-Geo-Historical Dimensions Of The Massacre Of Bellavista, Aurora Vergara Figueroa

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The monograph Ripped from the land, shipped away, and reborn introduces the concept Destierro-which translates as uprooting, deracination, exile, exodus, and banishment- to unthink the intellectual, political, and legal categories used by prevailing intellectual models to narrate/explain the 2002 massacre, occurred at the community of Bellavista-Bojayá-Chocó-Colombia. This thesis offers a critical prospect of the event. It highlights ethno-historical analytics to deconstruct the concepts of forced displacement, and forced migration. I study the racial, class, gender, generational, and regional dimensions undergirding this phenomenon to propose an Afrodiasporic Decolonial Critique of the field of Forced Migration. Single-axis explanations of this event and …

Landscapes Of Compassion: A Guatemalan Experience, Travis W. Shultz

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

ABSTRACT

LANDSCAPES OF COMPASSION: A GUATEMALAN EXPERIENCE

MAY 2011

TRAVIS WILLIAM SHULTZ

A.S., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST

B.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST

M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST

Directed by: Professor Peter Kumble, PhD

If landscape architecture can intertwine with the practice of social justice, how should academic training provide an atmosphere where this correlation is developed? In a professional degree program, such as landscape architecture, there are a plethora of skills among students that can be utilized no only in their future careers, but during their academic experience. By learning the tools while implementing them, there is a profound educational …

An Assessment Of Regional Partnerships For Economic Development Through The National Heritage Area Collaborative Model, Kimberley Mckee

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The National Heritage Area program administered by the National Park Service represents a collaborative partnership approach to managing large-scale natural and living landscapes. Heritage area management objectives integrate goals across disciplines including resource conservation, historic preservation, community revitalization and economic development. With the growing number of National Heritage Area designations over the past decade, increasing focus has turned towards efforts to measure program effectiveness and resulting economic impacts as a return on federal investment. Previous studies established a working program evaluation model that places emphasis on the importance of the partnership system in heritage area implementation and outcomes. The purpose …

Schoolyard Renovations In The Context Of Urban Greening: Insight From The Boston Schoolyard Initiative, Boston, Massachusetts, Katherine A. Tooke

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Twenty years ago the public schoolyards in Boston, Massachusetts were in a deplorable state: most were entirely paved, seriously neglected and used predominantly for parking. Since 1995, the Boston Schoolyards Initiative (BSI) has worked to transform these spaces into vibrant environments of recreation and learning. Renovations typically include adding play structures, gardens, murals and seating that can engage children at recess or support an educational activity. Recent research has shown that BSI renovations have had a positive impact on student academic performance (Lopez, Jennings and Campbell, 2008), but little attention has yet focused on how these revived and greened spaces …

In The Face Of Threat: How Relationship Threat Affects Cognitive Processing, Ariel Baruch

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This investigation examined the hypothesis that the presence of relationship threat leads to decreased working memory capacity, and also changes partner perceptions based on adult attachment style. To test this hypothesis, participants were exposed to a threat or no-threat manipulation and then completed measures examining partner perceptions and individual differences. Results suggest that the threat manipulation might have been strong enough for only highly anxious people. These individuals showed higher levels of working memory capacity following a relationship threat, compared to more securely attached persons, and later described their partners in more global, less desirable terms, regardless of threat condition. …

Parenting And Parent Predictors Of Changes In Child Behavior Problems, Marianne H. Tichovolsky

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Behavior problems are common during early childhood, and while many children will outgrow them, others will continue to have substantial difficulties. Unfortunately, too little is known about which children will exhibit continued difficulties, making it difficult to intervene before maladaptive behavior becomes entrenched. A number of parenting and parent characteristics, including ineffective discipline, maternal depression, parenting stress, and limited social support have consistently been found to be associated with externalizing problems in young children. While these variables are concurrently related to behavior problems, we know very little about whether or not they predict change in externalizing behaviors over time. The …

Patient Outcome Expectations And Credibility Beliefs As Predictors Of The Alliance And Treatment Outcome, Rebecca M. Ametrano

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The clinical relevance of patients’ psychotherapy outcome expectations has been substantiated by a fairly robust correlational literature. Furthermore, as a related yet distinct construct, patients’ treatment credibility beliefs have also been associated with positive treatment outcomes. Addressing several methodological limitations of past research, the current study examined the influence on early adaptive process (patient-psychotherapist alliance quality) and early treatment outcome (patient distress level) of patients’ outcome expectations and credibility beliefs, measured both statically and dynamically with a psychometrically sound self-report instrument. Patients were 110 adult outpatients receiving naturalistically delivered psychotherapy in a community mental health training clinic. The primary research …

The Behavioral Effects Of Increased Physical Activity On Preschoolers At Risk For Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Jasmin L. Roberts

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Physical activity (PA) has many health benefits, both physical and psychological. PA has been linked to improved cognitive functioning, superior overall health, and enhanced emotional well-being in populations ranging from school-age children to older adults. There has been less research, however, examining the benefits of PA in atypical preschool populations.

The present study examined the efficacy of a PA intervention in preschool-aged children at risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD symptomatology, response inhibition, and physical activity were measured at three time points over a 6-month period. Results provide support for the efficacy of PA as an alleviative tool …

Beyond Race And Ethnicity: Predictors Of Maternal Depressive Symptoms Across The Transition To Parenthood, Aya Kwegyirba-Kaiser Ghunney

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This study investigated whether ethnic identity, financial and educational resources, and social support predicted levels and trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms above and beyond racial and ethnic categories. A sample of Black, Latina, and White working class mothers were interviewed at five time points during the first year of parenthood. Findings indicated that Latina mothers experienced significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms compared to Black mothers at the final time point. There was a significant interaction between race and ethnic identity in predicting symptoms such that Latino mothers saw an increase in the growth rate of symptoms compared to White …