Human Geography Commons^™

Analysis Of Human Trafficking Cases In Rhode Island, 2009-2013, Donna M. Hughes, Rachel Dunham, Faith Skodmin, Lucy Tillman, Jessica Wainfor

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: 6th (2014)

This presentation is an analysis of seven state and federal cases of human trafficking, including forced labor and sex trafficking, in Rhode Island from 2009 until 2013. In 2009, Rhode Island passed a comprehensive human trafficking law. Since then there have been six cases of sex trafficking and one case of forced labor. Sources for information on the human trafficking cases were police reports, witness statements, court documents and media reports. This presentation will briefly summarize the cases and discuss the similarities and difference among the cases and discuss of some key findings from these cases, which include:
1) Victims …

Human Trafficking To Northern America: The Balkan Connection, Natalya Timoshkina, Naser Miftari, Antonela Arhin

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: 6th (2014)

This paper draws on the results of a large multi-method study, which examined human trafficking from the former Eastern Bloc to Northern America (Canada and the United States). The study was conducted in 2011-2013, and funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The analysis is grounded in the findings from 9 countries of the Balkan region included in the study: Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. The following data sources were used: (a) national and international reports, media and academic articles, and various documents (in English and official languages …

Human Trafficking, Education And Migration At Ngos In Cambodia And Thailand, Robert Spires, Xinyi Duan

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: 6th (2014)

This presentation is based on in-progress collaborative research between researcher Dr. Bob Spires and Hong Kong-based NGO Liberty Asia. The research involves interviews and observations conducted at multiple NGOs in Cambodia and Thailand working to address human trafficking and incorporating educational components into their programs. The study uses comparative lenses to examine issues of education and migration in both the Cambodian and Thai context for human trafficking survivors and at-risk populations. The study is interdisciplinary, drawing on the work on human trafficking in several social science fields. The framework for the research is based on Frank Laczko and Elzbieta Gozdziak’s …

Bra’S For A Cause: A Service Learning Project In A Freshman Level Human Trafficking Course, Beth A. Wiersma

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: 6th (2014)

Women and Children for Sale: The Global Problem of Human Trafficking is a General Studies Portal course for college freshman at a Midwestern university. The students in the course were surveyed the first day of class about why they chose the course, what they hoped to get out of the course, what they believed to be true about human trafficking, and how they learned about human trafficking. During the semester the students planned and carried out a service learning project “Bras for a Cause”. This project involved educating others about human trafficking and collecting bras. The bras are sent overseas …

The Problem Of State Intervention In Post-Abolition Slavery: A Critique Of Consensus, Anthony Talbott, David Watkins

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: 6th (2014)

Slavery is now illegal by all states and under international law. Contrary to the hopes of abolitionists, this state of affairs has transformed rather than eradicated slavery as an institution. Furthermore, responses by states to post-abolition forms of slavery have often been less than ideal. This paper begins by comparing two state responses to slavery in the early 20th century: the federal peonage trials in Montgomery, Alabama from 1903-1905, and the federal response to an alleged epidemic of “white slavery” from 1909-1910, culminating in the passage of the White Slave-Traffic Act. Taken together, these responses engender pessimism about the state …

Reconstructing A College Model For Countering Human Trafficking, Ron D. Petitte

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: 6th (2014)

Assessment is a hallmark of 21st Century academia. Accordingly, the 2013 college model for countering human trafficking² was reviewed and assessed by the author, leading to a restructuring of the model, in order to present developments that have occurred since the October 2013 Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, as well as attempting to engineer a more practical and effective model: There are two areas of research that link directly to the spectre of human trafficking. The first is economics; and, the question that is raised: “Is human trafficking, today, the result of unjust economic …

A Content Analysis Of Backpage.Com Advertisements In Louisville, Kentucky, Theresa C. Hayden

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: 6th (2014)

Backpage.com and Craigslist are replacing the street corner as a crime source for buying and selling of sex. “To reduce commercial sexual exploitation and enforce existing trafficking laws, communities must first recognize the extent of the problem within their local area (Janson, Mann, Marro, & Matvey, 2013, 99). In a population density study conducted in 15 major U. S. cities, it was found that males over 18 years of age who buy sex online ranged from 0.6% in San Francisco to 21.4% in Houston (Roe-Sepoqitz, Hickle, Gallagher, Smith, & Hedberg, 2013). Researchers in the Greater Cincinnati area found a high …

The Social And Economic Implications Of Human Trafficking In Nigeria: Naptip In Focus, Eunice I. Anuforom

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: 6th (2014)

Human trafficking is globally recognized as a modern day slavery with multifarious negative socio-economic, legal and health implications. Besides drugs trafficking and gun running, human trafficking has become a lucrative business globally and yields an estimated US$32 million annually. Traffickers trade on human lives, subject them to gory and traumatic experiences in order to make profits. Human trafficking is therefore the worst form of human rights violations and a gender based violence against female who constitute the majority of the victims in the country. Regrettably, Nigeria occupies the ignoble position of a source, transit and destination country for trafficking. In …

An Interpretive Plan Guide For Wilderness Park In Lincoln, Nebraska, Rachel J. Ward

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

Wilderness Park, located in Lancaster County, Nebraska, is a public park of unique ecological and historical value to the city of Lincoln and to the surrounding region. The natural and historical features of the park present an opportunity to communicate environmental and historical topics that are relevant on local, national, and global levels, as well as inspire a lively sense of pride in the community. The problem is that many topics relevant to Wilderness Park are not currently being interpreted at the park, and that there are relatively few interpretive resources available to park visitors.

The purpose of this project …

Using Gis To Assess Firearm Thefts, Recoveries And Crimes In Lincoln, Nebraska, David A. Grosso

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Firearm use in the United States has long been of great concern and at the center of many debates. Most research, however, has either focused on the use of firearms in violent crimes or the availability of firearms compared to the violent crime rates. Few studies have focused on the theft of firearms or the relationships between stolen firearms and crime. Using seven years of data collected Lincoln, Nebraska Police Department, this thesis focuses on the geospatial dimensions of firearm thefts and recoveries. Specific attention is given to the relationship firearm thefts and recoveries have with gun-related crimes, violent crimes, …

"I Want To Be Brave": A Baseline Study On The Vulnerabilities Of Street-Working Boys In Sihanoukville, Cambodia, Jarrett Davis, Glenn Miles, M’Lop Tapang

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: 6th (2014)

Focusing on street-working boys in Sihanoukville, this study partnered with social workers and child protection officers from M’lop Tapang (a key social service provider in Sihanoukville) to identify locations where young boys were known to be working along the beaches and within the town center. In recent years, Sihanoukville has become known as a rapidly developing commercial beach area, which has received increasing attention from foreign tourists, backpackers, and ex-patriots. Within this context, it has become a destination for migrant workers from surrounding provinces who have hopes of generating income through selling, begging, and other various means. The study conducted …

Exploring The Neighborhood Preferences Of A Segment Of Millennials In Omaha, Nebraska, Aaron Kloke

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

In 2010, Millennials, or those between 18 and 34, surpassed the Baby Boomers in population size. Today, Millennials, also known as Generation Y, make up over 25 percent of the United States’ population. In Omaha, they make up 26.9 percent of the population. The next largest generation in Omaha, the Baby Boomers, make for 19.2 percent of the population. Clearly, this emerging demographic has the ability to change the way we create and design our built environment if it so chooses.

To review how this generation may choose to change the way we design our future neighborhoods, national trends were …

Trafficking In Child Labor In Ghana And Senegal, Steven Brandt

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: 6th (2014)

The goal of this paper is to determine the efficacy of anti-trafficking governance in Senegal and Ghana and what social, political, legal and economic factors work for or against those policies such as: - social policies for and against the growth of the NGO community - enforcement of anti-trafficking laws - economic policies for impoverished urban and rural communities - government rehabilitation policies for minors - federal, state and local corruption - border security/immigration - religious and political freedom This research comprises a comprehensive literature analysis as to the current state of trafficking of minors in Ghana and Senegal. First …

Geog 140: Human Geography—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio, Katherine Nashleanas

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Large lecture classes, often of 100 students or more, present unique challenges to both teaching and learning. The common method of “delivery” by instructors is lecture, often augmented by a set of Power Point slides while the research literature shows that this more traditional way of teaching does not reach students in the way we hope and often assume. At the same time, most of the current students populating these classes are born of the Digital Age and have different expectations for learning, requiring new approaches in the classroom. Faculty are exhorted to incorporate more critical thinking in their classes …

Building A Gis Model To Assess Agritourism Potential, Brian G. Baskerville

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Rural areas of the world are developing and implementing tourism programs to diversify and reinvigorate their local economies. Often, these programs focus on privately-held lands in largely agricultural regions. In some countries, tourism development strategies have combined agriculture and tourism to create a new industry – agritourism. This industry, although not new in the United States, is still in its nascent stages. Before starting an agritourism enterprise, farmers and ranchers must consider the various factors that will likely influence their potential for long-term success. These factors can be grouped into 1) farm-specific factors such as an operator’s personality or the …

"We Shall Meet Beyond The River": An Analysis Of The Deathscape Of Brownville, Nebraska, Ashley J. Barnett

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Gravestone studies have traditionally focused on the East Coast, particularly the Northeast, because of the long Euro-American settlement history in that region and because of a landmark 1966 study produced by Edwin Dethlefsen and James Deetz which focused on this region. Significantly less attention has been paid to the interior of the continent, particularly the Great Plains. This study analyzes the temporal variations in gravestone iconography and inscriptions to determine major cultural shifts that took place in Brownville, Nebraska, from the town’s founding in 1854 to the present. 1,224 gravestones in Walnut Grove Cemetery were recorded and analyzed for the …

Exploring The Nature Of Space For Human Behavior In Ordinary Structured Environments, Molly Boeka Cannon

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

What is the nature of the built environment? Built environments are the settings within which people carry out activities and emerge from the specific combining of spatial conditions with specific social content for the setting. The social content and the spatial conditions form a core-defining relationship that serves to distinguish one structured setting from another. A core-defining relationship such as this refers to the essence of the built environment. What are the implications for human behavior that emerge from conceptualizing built environments in this manner? I argue that space, through its essential relationship with the contexts of daily living (i.e. …

A Historical Geography Of Sand Island 1870–1944, Lucas P. Johnson

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis examines the settlement of Sand Island, one of two permanent colonies included within Lake Superior’s Apostle Islands archipelago. Following the introduction and literature review, a summary of Sand Island’s geology, climate and biological features is presented, serving to construct a baseline upon which to build a discussion of the island’s communal life. This foundation gives context to the seventy-four year struggle faced by the predominantly Norwegian immigrants adapting to that environment. It also serves to assist future scholars in studying wilderness recovery after what today is nearly an eighty year absence of the farmer’s plow. Chapter Four includes …

Looking For A Diverse Teacher Force, Guy Trainin, William England, Britney Tonniges

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

At some point over the next 10 to 12 years, the nation’s public school student body will have no one clear racial or ethnic majority. But the makeup of the nation’s teacher workforce is not keeping up with these changing demographics. At the national level, students of color make up more than 40 percent of the public school population. In contrast, teachers of color—teachers who are not non-Hispanic white—are only 17 percent of the teaching force. (Boser,2011- Teacher Diversity Matters) This infographic presentes a snapshot of the situation in Nebraska 2012.

Social Interaction At The Maya Site Of Copan, Honduras: A Least Cost Approach To Configurational Analysis, Heather Richards-Rissetto

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

In this article, I employ least cost paths using GIS to measure the relationship between site configuration and social connectivity at the ancient Maya site of Copan, Honduras. I investigate two questions. First, did people of different social classes experience varying degrees of social connectivity? Second, did people living in different parts of the city experience difference degrees of social connectivity? Ultimately, the goal is modify traditional configurational analysis using least cost analysis (LCA) to identify how social hierarchy was embedded in landscapes and how ancient people may have strategically manipulated landscapes to structure social interaction and community organization.

Ecological Revival And Sustainable Living In The Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest Of Tamil Nadu: A Measurement Of Residential Perception In Sadhana Forest, Elizabeth Collette Mcguire

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Since 1970, the role and function of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been to promote environmental quality and to form strategies for carrying out environmental policy¹. The EPA has committed to sustainability as the next level of environmental protection. The agency states that sustainability calls for policies and strategies that meet society’s present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs². Presently, society’s requirements have resulted in natural resource exploitation and population distention- projected to reach 10 billion people within two human generations³. These paired occurrences are …

Mapping Injustice: The World Is Witness, Place-Framing, And The Politics Of Viewing On Google Earth, Joshua P. Ewalt

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Working from assumptions that inequality is often spatially informed, a set of interactive cartographies has recently proliferated on Google Earth. In this essay, I analyze one of those interactive cartographies: The World is Witness produced by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). I read the map as an organizational rhetoric that frames place as "embedded injustice." I also argue that thorough analysis of the framing of local place on Google Earth must inherently question whether the map can create a disruption in the viewing subject. While the map presents vital information on excruciatingly despicable acts of injustice, and the …

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 …

Hyphenated Identities As A Challenge To Nation-State School Practice?, Edmund T. Hamann, William England

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This chapter concludes the edited volume Hyphenated Identities and affords a chance to juxtapose how transnational students negotiate school and identity with how school systems in turn view such students, and then it allows the examination of two different strategies -- situational ethnicity versus the assertion of hyphenated identity -- as a glimpse into the cosmology of transnationally mobile students as they come into adulthood.

Review Of Holy Ground, Healing Water: Cultural Landscapes At Waconda Lake, Kansas. By Donald J. Blakeslee., Lauren W. Ritterbush

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

In Holy Ground, Healing Water readers are treated to a historical journey through the changing cultural landscapes of the Waconda Lake area, northcentral Kansas. This region provides the setting for discussion of unique and representative Native American and EuroAmerican cultural developments in the Great Plains. Don Blakeslee, anthropologist with Wichita State University, briefly reviews roughly 13,000 years ofNative traditions, based on archaeological investigations in the region, then discusses the Pawnee Trail, early European and Euro-American expeditions, complex Native-Native and Native-Euro-American interactions during the 19th century, sacred and secular perceptions and uses of Waconda Spring, and Lincoln Park, a local example …

Review Of Hard Grass: Life On The Crazy Woman Bison Ranch. By Mary Zeiss Stange, Linda M. Hasselstrom

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Twenty years ago, Stange and her husband traded a modest New Jersey house for seven square miles of overgrazed prairie and set out to right the wrongs done to a place that had been mismanaged ecologically as well as environmentally. The restoration begins disastrously with llamas before it proceeds to success with bison. Her narration includes her own experiences, but most of her essays are serious, in-depth studies of the broader topics that constitute life in the great grasslands spreading across the interior of the country. She begins with prehistory, analyzing the evolution of both plants and animals in the …

Review Of Gentle People: A Case Study Of Rockport Colony Hutterites. By Joanita Kant., Rod Janzen

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Joanita Kant's Gentle People is an excellent case study of South Dakota's Rockport Hutterite Colony. The book includes in-depth description and analysis of the lifestyle of Rockport Colony residents and covers people of all ages and interests. There are numerous helpful photographs, both contemporary and historical. Members of the Rockport Colony belong to a religious society that has practiced "community of goods" for nearly five centuries. The book not only introduces the reader to the deep-seated beliefs and practices of members, but also provides important sociological analysis supported by helpful figures and maps, including population pyramids, floor plans, and colony …

Levels Of Response In Experiential Conceptualizations Of Neighborhood: The Potential For Multiple Versions Of This Place Construct, Cynthia M. Williams

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In the literature, numerous theoretical perspectives have defined and interpreted what is meant by “neighborhood.” A criticism of these perspectives is a lack of a universal definition, with no one-to-one empirical counterpart. The intent of this dissertation is to develop experiential conceptualizations of the construct neighborhood. Residents, those who experience and interact on a daily bases will provide the meaning and interpretation of what is meant by neighborhood.

The “levels of response” are the means of identifying and interpreting the systematic differences in the cognitive processing involved in the construal of neighborhood. Five cognitive levels of response were identified: Affective, …

Foreword, From Holy Places And Pilgrimages: Essays On India, Robert H. Stoddard

Geography Program: Faculty Publications

This collection of twelve articles continues a long and rich body of information about pilgrimages. Written materials in the form of pamphlets, guidebooks, manuals, itineraries, and treatises about pilgrimages date from antiquity (see, e.g. the discussion in this volume by Rana Singh about ancient epics, pp. 15-20). Travelling to places regarded by worshippers as having extraordinary spiritual power is a phenomenon permeating all religious traditions so it is logical that it appears in various literary forms.

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 …