Human Geography Commons^™

Human Geography Without A Map, William E. Demars, Laurel Rosenberger, Jimmy Rogers, Trent Hardee

Arthur Vining Davis High Impact Fellows Projects

Course materials developed for a 9th grade course on human geography, focusing on human rights, terrorism, and globalization.

The Establishment And Reterritorialization Of Planning Districts In South Dakota As A Response To Economic Challenges, George W. White, Robert H. Watrel

Geography Faculty Publications

Rural areas in South Dakota have been experiencing population decline over the last forty years. This has reduced tax revenues of small town and cities, in turn reducing the abilities of local governments to provide services. The concurrent rise in federal monies and federal policies has caused many local communities to reterritorialize into planning districts that are quasi-government in nature. These planning districts bring together the resources and talents of local communities to obtain much needed federal monies through grants. This is an examination of this process and its effects within South Dakota.

Political Party Affiliation, Regional Variation And The Demographic Correlates Of Euroscepticism On The Isle Of Great Britain, Jared Figgins

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Euroscepticism or opposition to the European Union has become a growing political philosophy among broad segments of Europe’s populace. This philosophy has manifested itself in some form throughout most of the European Union, but opinion polls and voter data indicate Euroscepticism is most acute within the United Kingdom and both among its general citizenry and elected officials. In the 2009 EU Parliament elections for the United Kingdom, the right wing United Kingdom Independence Party gained its most ever seats in the Parliament while the far-right British National Party gained its first ever seats in a national election. With overtly Eurosceptic …

Divided Diasporas: Southern Africans In Canada, Jonathan Crush, Abel Chikanda, Wade Pendleton, Mary Caesar, Sujata Ramachandran, Cassandra Eberhardt, Ashley Hill

Southern African Migration Programme

The protracted economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe led directly to a major increase in mixed migration flows to South Africa. Migrants were drawn from every sector of society, all education and skill levels, equal numbers of both sexes, and all ages (including unaccompanied child migration). Many migrants claimed asylum in South Africa which gave them the right to work while they waited for a refugee hearing. Many others were arrested and deported back to Zimbabwe. Migrants who were unable to find employment in the formal economy turned to employment and self-employment in the informal economy. These migrant entrepreneurs used …

Sex Trafficking: The Influence Of Cultures, Socio-Economic Structures And Law & Order On Sex Trade In Asia, Saanya Dua

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Sex trafficking and prostitution are both matters of concern in today’s world. Trafficking of human beings is a global phenomenon and has been a topic of increased discussion and attention. It is believed that the sex trade industry is considered to be the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, currently it is second to drug trafficking in terms of profits through an illegal industry. Several initiatives have been made to prevent trafficking, through significant legislative and other actions provided to aid victims and those vulnerable in the world. However, the lack of systematic research is a big issue. Asia …

“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 …

Landscaping Israel: Power And Resistance On The Ground, Janey Kemp

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The United States Military Realignment On Okinawa, Kevin M. Evringham

Master's Theses

The United States maintains military bases in foreign countries in efforts to protect American overseas interests, whether they are economic, diplomatic or for geostrategic purposes. In Japan, where the United States has maintained military installations since the end of World War II, debate over the realignment of forces on Okinawa has caused minor, yet growing, rifts in the stable United States-Japanese alliance. Current plans to shift American military forces from Okinawa to locations throughout the Pacific do not take into account the historical or geostrategic factors for their stationing in Japan. This thesis identifies the geostrategic challenges to the current …

One State Or Two In Israel/Palestine: The Stress On Gender And Citizenship, Gordon Babst, Nicole M. Tellier

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

As is the case with any of the three great Abrahamic religions, there is considerable ambiguity regarding the status and role of women both within doctrinal interpretations, and between religious and other cultural traditions in the community. These ambiguities are reflected in political practice and condition women's aspirations regarding what is possible for them to achieve. Nowhere is it more true that understandings of religious imperatives permeate politics and work to make other lines of division all the more intractable than in Israel/Palestine. The proclivity to violence between the two peoples not only victimizes women, but foreshortens attention to their …

Using Self Organizing Maps To Analyze Demographics And Swing State Voting In The 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, Paul T. Pearson, Cameron I. Cooper

Faculty Publications

Emergent self-organizing maps (ESOMs) and k-means clustering are used to cluster counties in each of the states of Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio by demographic data from the 2010 United States census. The counties in these clusters are then analyzed for how they voted in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, and political strategies are discussed that target demographically similar geographical regions based on ESOM results. The ESOM and k-means clusterings are compared and found to be dissimilar by the variation of information distance function.

Territoriality, Sovereignty And The Nation-State System In Israel-Palestine: The Creation Of The Palestinian Bantustan “State” And Shifting Palestinian Resistance Tactics, Sara Nichole Hughes

Master's Theses

The conflict in Israel-Palestine is over the sovereign control of territory and takes place within a global framework made up of clearly defined nation-states. It is within this framework that Israeli colonial expansion and construction of the separation barrier in the West Bank attempt to maximize Israeli annexation of the oPt while creating a Palestinian Bantustan “state” to contain and isolate the Palestinian people in non-sovereign territorial enclaves through the use of territoriality as a strategy for exercising sovereignty. In response to this obvious process of cantonization, Palestinians are resisting by supporting Israeli annexation – of the West Bank and …

Sloterdijk’S Cynicism: Diogenes In The Marketplace, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

The Challenge Of Successful Integration For Francophone Immigrants Within Minority Communities, Suzanne N. Huot, Belinda Dodson, Debbie Rudman

Western Migration Conference Series

A critical ethnography was undertaken to explore the integration experiences of French-speaking newcomers from visible minority groups residing with the London, Ontario Francophone minority community. Findings highlight a complex negotiation process involving learning the tacit social norms characterizing the host society.

The Ister: Between The Documentary And Heidegger’S Lecture Course Politics, Geographies, And Rivers, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

The Ister, the 2004 documentary by the Australian scholars and videographers, David Barison, a political theorist, and Daniel Ross, a philosopher, appeals to Martin Heidegger’s 1942 lecture course, Hölderlins Hymne «Der Ister»and the video takes us «backward» as the river flows: beginning from the Danube’s delta where it ends in the sea and «journeying» with it to its source in the Alps.

the value of the Barison/Ross documentary for both political theory and philosophy is its illustration of the technological incursions or assaults on the river itself, that is to say: its representation of the ‘uses’ and hence …

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 …

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 …

Locating Xenophobia: Debate, Discourse, And Everyday Experience In Cape Town, South Africa, Belinda Dodson

Geography & Environment Publications

In May 2008, South Africa experienced an outbreak of violence

against foreign Africans living in the country. Political

leaders expressed shock and surprise, but there has in reality

been long-standing and well-documented hostility toward

African immigrants in South Africa. Several competing explanations

have been put forward, with debate gaining urgency

and polarization since the xenophobic attacks of 2008. After

a selective review of the relevant literature to sketch the

contours of that debate, this paper presents findings from

research conducted with African immigrants living in Cape

Town. Their experiences provide further evidence that antiimmigrant

attitudes and behaviors on the part …

Maya: An Integrated Curriculum Unit, Institute For The Development Of Gifted Education, Ricks Center For Gifted Children, University Of Denver

Ricks Curriculum Units Series

An integrated curriculum is an instructional approach that connects the disciplines to an underlying theme or topic. Immersing students in an integrated-thematic unit provides the backdrop for experiences to occur across the disciplines. Shaping coursework around integrated themes is especially appropriate for gifted students, however using an integrated-thematic curriculum is appropriate for all learners as it develops students' abilities to make connections, to solve problems by looking at multiple perspectives, and to integrate information from different fields of experience. An integrated-thematic curriculum permits students to be active participants in their own learning as they design their own explorations and take …

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

Books/Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

No. 2: The Prospects For Migration Data Harmonization In The Sadc, Vincent Williams, Tiffany Tsang

Southern African Migration Programme

No abstract provided.

Gender And Remittances: Creating Gender-Responsive Local Development: The Case Of Lesotho, Jonathan Crush, Belinda Dodson, John Gay, Clement Leduka

Southern African Migration Programme

The number of international migrants passed 200 million in 2008, more than double the figure in 1965. As the number of migrants continues to grow, the character of international migration has been transformed. South-South migration, as it is now commonly referred to, is acquiring ever-greater significance in contemporary migration configurations. South-South movements of international migrants are highly gendered. In particular, the feminization of international migration has meant that the absolute numbers and proportion of women migrants is increasingly rapidly. More and more women are also migrating for work in other countries in their own right. The gender dynamics behind this …

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

Books/Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

No. 1: Towards The Harmonization Of Immigration And Refugee Law In Sadc, Jonathan Klaaren, Bonaventure Rutinwa

Southern African Migration Programme

The MIDSA project on legal harmonization of immigration and refugee law in the Southern African Development Community had four main objectives: (a) to collect and collate information on national legislation in a single publication as a resource for policy-makers; (b) to identify points of similarity and difference in national immigration law between SADC-member states; (c) to investigate the possibilities for harmonization of national immigration policy and law; and (d) in the interests of good governance and regional cooperation and integration to make specific recommendations for harmonization. A second, parallel, SAMP study is investigating the issue of harmonization of migration data …

Geography Of White Supremacist Groups In The United States: Gis And Mapping, Catherine Lisa Kostyn

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to examine some of the common stereotypes related to the distribution of white supremacist groups in the United States; that the distribution of such groups are driven by education levels, poverty rates, income levels and the presence of an immigrant population. Research conducted by police departments such as the Chicago, IL and San Diego, CA police departments show no correlation between socioeconomic factors and the spatial distribution of such groups. This thesis examines the question at a national scale, and county level for a limited number of states. Statistical analysis and mapping were chosen …

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

Books/Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Taking Over What Belongs To God: The Historical Ecology Of Tonga Since European Contact, Charles J. Stevens

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Contributors: Vol 22 No. 2, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Contributors list of Vol. 22 (1999): Pacific Studies Full Issue 2

Books Received And Book Notices, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Book Listing for the Vol 22, No 2 Edition of the Pacific Studies Journal

Cosmologies, Cities, And Cultural Constructions Of Space: Oceanic Enlargements Of The World, Wolfgang Kempf

Pacific Studies

This is a commentary on Epeli Hau‘ofa’s vision of an extended Oceania. By contrasting a widening “sea of islands” with the current discourse of an ever-shrinking world, I draw attention to a heterotopic terrain of incompatible spaces. I intend to show that the widely accepted narratives and maps of a shrinking world encompass and assure the image of an ever-extending Western sphere. This rhetoric of global shrinkage as a result of an expanding West is denying others the capability to create their own enlarged world. Hau‘ofa’s critique of a reductionist and diminutive view of Oceania can be seen as a …

Vol. 22 No. 2 (1999): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and …