Human Geography Commons^™

Economic Autonomy Of The Miskitu Women Of The North Atlantic Autonomous Region, Nicaragua: Do Current Development Polices Apply To Matrifocal Societies?, Ariana M. Toth

Masters Theses

This thesis provides an ethnographic investigation into the economic autonomy of Miskitu women in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region of Nicaragua. The purpose of this study is to determine whether dominant development models created by patriarchal Western powers are suited to alleviating gendered poverty disparity among the matrifocal Miskitu Indians. Surveys of Miskitu women obtained during field research, with support from relevant literature, comprise the main source of information considered. It is concluded that while dominant development models are not best suited to alleviating gendered poverty in this region, it is the overarching indigenous nature of Miskitu culture and not …

Global Futures And Government Towns: Phosphates And The Production Of Western Sahara As A Space Of Contention, Mark Drury

Publications and Research

The study of natural resources lends itself to theorizing the politics of nature and the politics of time. The space of Western Sahara, where both remain highly contested, provides an opportunity to consider the ramifications of resources in political conflict at different historical moments. Drawing from environmental histories of North Africa and the Sahara, as well as the anthropology of time, the author focuses on two historical moments. The first, from 1945 to 1972, concerns the discovery of phosphate deposits during the Spanish colonial period and the implications of this discovery for political authority in the Sahara more broadly. The …

Motivations To Migrate: Migration From Morocco And The “Failure” Of Rural Development During The Eurozone Financial Crisis, Alexander Djaha

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

EU’s closing borders are impeding a fifty-year pattern of Moroccan migration to southern Europe to find work, prosper and provide for their families back home. Moroccan NGOs, as well as the Spanish and Italian governments, have recently invested in rural development initiatives aimed at increasing employment opportunities in Morocco and deterring workers from migrating. Yet Moroccans keep risking their lives and continue to migrate illegally every day as these initiatives are proving to be ineffective. This study examines the current conditions for Moroccan migrant workers amidst tightening European Union borders and a narrowing European frontier for employment. The Eurozone financial …

New Silicon Valleys Or A New Species? Commoditization Of Knowledge Work And The Rise Of Knowledge Services Clusters, Stephan Manning

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

This paper explores knowledge services clusters (KSCs) as a distinct and increasingly important form of geographic cluster, in particular in emerging economies: KSCs are defined as geographic concentrations of lower-cost skills serving global demand for increasingly commoditized knowledge services. Based on prior research on clusters and services offshoring, and data from the Offshoring Research Network (ORN), major properties and contingencies of KSC growth are discussed and compared with both high-tech clusters and low-cost manufacturing clusters. Special emphasis is put on the ambivalent effect of commoditization of knowledge work on KSC growth: It is proposed that KSCs attract most projects if …

Security, Development, And (Im)Mobility: The Uneven Geography Of Migration And Border Management In Ukraine, Jonathan Austin Crane

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

As a country of origin, transit, and destination for migrants that now borders four European Union (EU) member countries, Ukraine has seen future integration possibilities with the EU become, in part, conditional upon its willingness to cooperate in controlling cross-border migration. The EU is now “externalizing” aspects of migration and border control to Ukraine through making investments in Ukraine’s capacity to selectively “manage” cross-border flows in line with EU security and economy priorities. In the context of this emerging spatial arrangement of EU externalization, this thesis analyzes how, by whom, and to what effect migration is being managed in and …

“Damning The Dams”: A Study Of Cost Benefit Analysis In Large Dams Through The Lens Of India's Sardar Sarovar Project, Evelyn Wong

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines the evaluation of the economic, environmental and social effects of dams, and lessons learned from previous dams. It then focuses on cost benefit analysis as a decision-making tool pre-project for evaluating the potential gains and losses of building a dam; and as a framework for evaluating dams in operation. It reviews the basic assumptions required for a legitimate cost benefit analysis, and the inherent limitations of this method. It uses the Sardar Sarovar dam as a case study for the use and abuse of cost benefit analysis in decision-making, interstate politics, propaganda and activism. It also illustrates …

Foreign Direct Investment In Italy 2000-2010: Spatial Patterns And Implications, Enzo Crescentini

Masters Theses

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has long been shown to be an important driver of economic growth as well as a source of knowledge transfer in host countries. Italy, now the tenth largest economy in the world, has a remarkable distribution of FDI characterized by a metropolitan industrial North and what is commonly referred to as an economically unfit or "backwards" South. Given these regional differences, Italy faces many interesting challenges in attracting FDI in the current global economic climate. The nation must attract capital to less-developed regions as well as to the extensive industrial clusters in the North that are …

Securing Access To Lower-Cost Talent Globally: The Dynamics Of Active Embedding And Field Structuration, Stephan Manning, Joerg Sydow, Arnold Windeler

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

This article examines how multinational corporations (MNCs) shape institutional conditions in emerging economies to secure access to high-skilled, yet lower-cost science and engineering talent. Based on two in-depth case studies of engineering offshoring projects of German automotive suppliers in Romania and China we analyze how MNCs engage in ‘active embedding’ by aligning local institutional conditions with global offshoring strategies and operational needs. MNCs thereby contribute to the structuration of field relations and practices of sourcing knowledge-intensive work from globally dispersed locations.Our findings stress the importance of institutional processes across geographic boundaries that regulate and get shaped by MNC activities.

The Urban Fabric Of The Great Plains, Andrew Becker

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

To most Americans the Great Plains region of North America is mysterious place. There are disagreements when defining its limits, and some people just refer to it as the Midwest. The Great Plains has been a place under an ocean, a place under glaciers, and a place on fire. It was once dubbed “the Great American Desert,” but is now known for its agricultural viability. The Great Plains sparks imagination because it is so massive and was one of the final frontiers for Euro-American settlement. The Great Plains is seen as a rural place but the majority of the region’s …

A Literary Analysis And Case Study Evaluation Of The Environmental, Cultural, And Economic Impacts Of Ecotourism, Ashley M. Driver

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Growing Conflict: Agriculture, Innovation, And Immigration In San Luis Obispo County, 1837–1937, Douglas P. Jenzen

Master's Theses

The history of San Luis Obispo and its surrounding areas is complex. Agriculture, innovation, and immigration have all contributed to the formation of the region. The Spanish, Mexican, and early American periods established the framework successive waves of immigrants had to live within. Native Americans and immigrants from China, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, the Philippines, and other regions of the United States have all toiled in the fields and contributed to America’s tables at various points throughout county history. Many contingencies determined the treatment of successive waves of immigrants. Growth and development are taking place at exponential rates on the very …

Theorizing Practice In Economic Geography: Foundations, Challenges, And Possibilities, Andrew Jones, James T. Murphy

Geography

Over the last decade or so there has been an identifiable shift in the interests of many economic geographers towards a concern with practices: stabilized, routinized, or improvised social actions that constitute and reproduce economic space, and through and within which socioeconomic actors and communities embed knowledge, organize production activities, and interpret and derive meaning from the world. Although this shift has gained significant momentum its general theoretical significance remains somewhat unclear and the concept is vulnerable to criticisms that it is incoherent, too 'micro-scale' in emphasis, unable to provide valid links between everyday practices and higher-order phenomena (eg, institutions, …

Introduction: Culture, Economy, Policy: Trends And Developments, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The important nexus between culture and economy is by no means a recent development nor a novel inclusion on the social science agenda. As Harvey pointed out in his foreword to Zukin's (1988)Loft Living, the artist, as one `representative' of the cultural class, has always shared a position in the market system, whether as artisans or as “cultural producers working to the command of hegemonic class interest”. In the last two to three decades, in the US and more lately, in western Europe, cultural activities have become increasingly significant in the economic regeneration strategies in many cities. Geographers, however, have …

Preservation Ethics In The Case Of Nebraska's Nationally Registered Historic Properties, Darren Michael Adams

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation focuses on the National Register of Historic Places and considers the geographical implications of valuing particular historic sites over others. Certain historical sites will either gain or lose desirability from one era to the next, this dissertation identifies and explains three unique preservation ethical eras, and it maps the sites which were selected during those eras. These eras are the Settlement Era (1966–1975), the Commercial Architecture Era (1976–1991), and the Progressive Planning Era (1992–2010). The findings show that transformations in the program included an early phase when state authorities listed historical resources pertaining to the settlement of the …

Are Residents Who Are Displaced By Gentrification Better Or Worse Off After Relocating?, Alice M. Anigacz

Economics Honors Projects

This honors thesis examines how individuals displaced by gentrification fare after relocation, with changes in wage and income as the primary measures of well-being. Geo-coded Panel Study of Income Dynamics data is used in conjunction with decennial census tract-level neighborhood data to evaluate nationwide occurrences of gentrification and their effects on the displaced between 1990 and 1995, with a focus on whether changing neighborhood effects can account for the change in well-being. Standard OLS regressions not accounting for neighborhood effects find that compared to a nationwide sample, a sample of movers, and a sample of displaced residents, residents displaced specifically …

Learning Sustainable Development: Chimeneas De La Esperanza, Miriam V. Mollan Gundersen

Social Sciences

Social inequality and environmental degradation are motivating informed young people into action and connecting impoverished regions of the world with students in more developed nations. This Social Sciences senior project is to analyze an alternative development model designed by a group of Californian university students. The project, named Chimeneas de la Esperanza, is designed to help impoverished Nicaraguan women start a ceramics business. The major hurdle of this mission is to establish a market for the ceramics product. Energy efficient ceramic stoves and smoke ventilating chimneys would benefit the community and avoid an impacted crafts market. The project encompasses ideas …

Mapping Energy Poverty In Huntington, West Virginia, Elizabeth Anne Callicoat

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Energy poverty is a growing phenomenon culminating from the combination of low to mid household income, deteriorating housing structures and rising household energy costs. Energy prices are increasing for all households, but the burden is proportionally larger for those with low to mid income. These groups must sacrifice to afford energy and are often unable or do not have the autonomy to make structural improvements, especially if they rent their home. Data on residential dwellings from the Cabell County Tax Assessor? Office were used within a geographic information system to map where energy poverty likely exists within the city limits …

L’Aide Au Développement : Les Perspectives Des Immigrés Sénégalais = Development Aid: The Perspectives Of Senegalese Immigrants, Allyson Barnett

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Les perspectives des immigrés sénégalais, par rapport à la question de l’aide au développement, ont été étudiées à Toulouse, France. Neuf entretiens semi-directifs sur les thèmes d’aide bilatérale (France-Sénégal), l’aide multilatérale, et les expériences personnelles des participants composaient la substance de l’enquête. Les entretiens ont montré la complexité du sujet, et la compétence de chaque participant à donner une évaluation critique de la situation. L’enquêteuse a fait un lien avec cette évaluation et l’éducation formel et informel de participants. The perspectives of Senegalese immigrants regarding the question of development aid were studied in Toulouse, France. Nine semi-directed interviews were conducted …

Washington Heights/Inwood Demographic, Economic, And Social Transformations 1990 – 2005 With A Special Focus On The Dominican Population, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report examines demographic and socioeconomic factors concerning New York City based Latinos in Washington Heights and Inwood – particularly Dominicans.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: Since the 1980s the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights/Inwood has been transformed by the immigration of a large Latino population of whom Dominicans have been the most prominent national group. Latinos made up …

Darfur: Rainfall And Conflict, Michael Kevane, Leslie C. Gray

Economics

Data on rainfall patterns only weakly corroborate the claim that climate change explains the Darfur conflict that began in 2003 and has claimed more than 200,000 lives and displaced more than two million persons. Rainfall in Darfur did not decline significantly in the years prior to the eruption of major conflict in 2003; rainfall exhibited a flat trend in the thirty-years preceding the conflict (1972-2002). The rainfall evidence suggests instead a break around 1971. Rainfall is basically stationary over the pre- and post-1971 sub-periods. The break is larger for the more northerly rainfall stations, and is less noticeable for En …

Diminished Access, Diverted Exclusion: Women And Land Tenure In Sub-Saharan Africa, Michael Kevane, Leslie C. Gray

Economics

Increasing commercialization, population growth and concurrent increases in land value have affected women's land rights in Africa. Most of the literature concentrates on how these changes have led to an erosion of women's rights. This paper examines some of the processes by which women's rights to land are diminishing. First, we examine cases where rights previously utilized have become less important; that is, the incidence of exercising rights has decreased. Second, we investigate how women's rights to land decrease as the public meanings underlying the social interpretation and enforcement of rights are manipulated. Third, we examine women's diminishing access to …

Land Tenure And Rental In Western Sudan, Michael Kevane, Leslie C. Gray

Economics

This paper reports on aspects of land tenure in western Sudan, especially the nature of tenure insecurity and the functioning of the land rental market. The active land rental market accounted for about one-third of cultivated land. Patterns of land rental transactions, and tests of the importance of insecurity in renting land, where the owner may not be able to reclaim land rented out, do not support the presumption that rental markets perform poorly. The role of the sheikh as administrator of village land, and the claims of large landowners to vast tracts, are, however, important political problems that must …

Geo-Politics, The ‘War On Terror’ And The Competitiveness Of The City Of London, Richard Woodward

Books/Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Money And The Spatial Challenge: Multilevel Governance And The “Territorial Trap”’, Richard Woodward

Books/Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Bearing The Costs Of Human-Wildlife Conflict: The Challenges Of Compensation Schemes, Philip J. Nyhus, Steve A. Osofsky, Paul Ferraro, H Fischer, Francine Madden

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

An ‘Ation’ Not A ‘Nation’: The Globalisation Of World Politics, Richard Woodward

Books/Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Alternative Theoretical Approaches To Post-Communist Transformations In Central And Eastern Europe, Petr Pavlinek

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

Since the start of post-communist transformations in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), there have been disagreements about the best strategies to follow and policies to implement the reforms.¹ Similar disagreements have existed in practical and theoretical interpretations of these transformations. These differences have reflected various and often conflicting understandings of the previous state socialist system, the existing political-economic situation and the nature of post-communist reforms by economists, political scientists, sociologists, historians and members of other disciplines and suggest the complexity, diversity and unpredictability of post-communist developments. Views have also differed significantly within the individual disciplines.

Two basic groups of …

Teoretické Interpretace Transformace Ve Středni A Východni Evropě (Theoretical Interpretations Of Central And East European Post-Communist Transformations), Petr Pavlinek

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

Post-communist transformations have been approached and interpreted differently by different academic disciplines and their respective subdisciplines. This paper provides a critical review of traditional and alternative views of changes in Central and Eastern Europe since the collapse of state socialism. In particular, it focuses on neo-liberal and neoclassical economic interpretations and neo-marxist state to private capitalism thesis as examples of traditional interpretations of post-communist transformations. Alternative views critically reviewed in this paper are based on evolutionary and institutional economics, the analysis of networks of economic embeddedness, the Marxist analysis of production processes, and regulation theory. The differences between these traditional …

The Central And East European Automotive Industry Restructuring, Petr Pavlinek

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

have come to the Slavic Research Center of the Hokkaido University to study the profound changes that have been taking place in the automotive industry of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) since 1990. My work is based on several field research visits to the Czech Republic that included in depth interviews conducted with key informants (plant managers, trade union leaders and ministry officials) in car factories, car component plants and governmental institutions. The automotive industry restructuring in the 1990s involved a number of complex issues that my research addresses, such as the effects of price and trade liberalization in the …

Evolving Tenure Rights And Agricultural Intensification In Southwestern Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane, Leslie C. Gray

Economics

Popular and official representations of the environment in Burkina Faso present soils as fragile and potentially subject to catastrophic collapse in fertility. In the cotton growing zone of southwestern Burkina Faso, researchers and policy makers attribute changes in land cover and land quality to population growth. This paper presents evidence questioning the dominant "population-degradation narrative" as applied to Burkina. We find that farmers are intensifying their production systems. While population has led to land scarcity, farmers are responding to both the resulting uncertainty in land rights and reductions in soil quality by intensifying the production process. Investments are used both …