Nature and Society Relations Commons^™

The Bearing Earth: Colonization, Conservation, And Political Ecology In Costa Rica (Coto Brus 1948 - Present), Pablo Alonso Arias-Benavides

Latin American Studies ETDs

This thesis presents two questions: How are relationships between people in Coto Brus and the land – specifically, forest – mediated by social, political, and economic forces? How are personal and collective identities expressed through relationship with the landscape? I chose Coto Brus because it is a forested region of Costa Rica which was populated with state support in the 1950s, and because it is my father’s hometown. In order to understand the subjective experiences of Costa Ricans involved in deforestation and reforestation, I performed interviews in the canton, visited conservation sites, and analyzed historical sources. This study combines multiscale …

Acid Mine Drainage In The Shamokin Creek Watershed: A Spatial Analysis Of Economic And Environmental Consequences Of Coal Mining, Ben Shimer

Student Project Reports

No abstract provided.

Disorientations, Noah Greene-Lowe

MFA in Visual Art

The materials that make up the ordinary and mundane in the United States also reinforce and normalize a white spatial imaginary. Conventions of mapping, imaging of land and landscape, and elements of the built environment continue to orient us in a logic of space as property. In my sculptural work, I employ strategies of disorientation and creative repair, or reconstruction, to unsettle the spatial practices of whiteness and structures of power embedded in the mundane, the familiar, and the domestic. I consider the planned cohousing community where I grew up as an influence on my work, and my whiteness. By …

Wilderness And The Geotag: Exploring The Claim That "Geotagging Ruins Nature" In The Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Wa, Mara Gans

All Master's Theses

This research explores the claim that “geotagging ruins nature” by quantifying and qualifying patterns in geotag use and visitors’ experiences in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, in Washington, United States. Many have raised concerns that geotags increase recreational visitation to public lands, which subsequently contributes to negative resource impacts. Others, however, claim that geotagging has made the outdoors more accessible to less privileged communities and raise concerns that condemning geotags will perpetuate the exclusion of certain groups from outdoor recreation. This debate is studied within federally designated Wilderness, which is legally defined as “untrammeled by man,” a definition rooted in problematic …

Revisiting Prehistoric Archeological Sites: Envisioning First Built Environments To Repossess Geographically Specific Approaches In Architecture, Alisa Mohammad Kheir Abdulghany, Marwan Halabi, Maged Youssef, Bahaa El Dine Abou El Khoudoud

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

Since Prehistoric times, architecture had been a human response to an occurring natural setting. Starting from places of dwelling to buildings that no longer only serve physical requirements for survival. Architectural languages were approached initially as an expression of culture, evolution, and growth of a community within a natural setting. This response resulted in the creation of built environments, humanity’s decision to become sedentary. This decision took place in the Late Stone age, a key phase in our timeline. First built environments were born in a time known as the Neolithic revolution, which shown itself as humans transitioned from hunter-gatherer …

Canvas Totes And Plastic Bags: The Political Ecology Of Food Assistance Effectiveness At Farmers' Markets In The Twin Cities, Sophia Alhadeff

Geography Honors Projects

In June of 2019, the Trump Administration proposed a policy that could result in three million people losing access to food stamp benefits. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly food stamps, is a governmental food aid program designed to help low-income individuals and families combat food insecurity across the country. According to Minnesota Hunger Solutions, in 2017, 9.5% of Minnesota households were food insecure. In the Twin Cities, SNAP benefits have been accepted at a selection of farmers’ markets since 2003 in order to improve accessibility of fresh, local produce. This paper utilizes a mixed method approach, including qualitative …

Measuring Sustainability (Geog 100 Intro To Human Geography), Michal Kohout

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

Sustainability is a complex measure of the correlation between economic, social and environmental factors. Using students' campus experiences as well as those from their communities we construct measures of sustainability, and create a sustainability index.

Cultural Politics Of Community-Based Conservation In The Buffer Zone Of Chitwan National Park, Nepal, Yogesh Dongol

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation research examines the socio-economic and political effects of community-based conservation initiatives within the Bagmara buffer zone community forests of Chitwan National Park, Nepal. In particular, the study investigates the role of buffer zones creation in structuring the way rural property rights have been defined, negotiated, and contested, in reinforcing or reducing patterns of ethnic dominance and exclusion, and in influencing how cultural identities are constituted and renegotiated. Using a political ecology framework with a specific focus on theoretical concepts of environmentality and territorialization, I conducted 12 months ethnographic and quantitative survey field research in the buffer zone communities …

Shifting Rurality American Gothic, Iowa Nice, Biotech And Political Expectations In Rural America, William D. Nichols 890252

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

This paper traces the linkage between heritage landscape within the context of the election of Donal Trump. Trump's invocations of heritage riled certain regions of the US which had a distinct connection to Regionalism, both as a political idea and as an aesthetic practice. Focusing on Iowa, home to the quintessential American painting, American Gothic, the paper looks at modernity and agriculture, and how the two categories seem to rely on (but also negate) heritage. By examining what a genetically modified landscape might mean in relation to the historical image of the pastoral/provincial farmer, a network of frictions and …

Mapping Community Space And Place In Mto Wa Mbu, Tanzania Through Surveys And Gis, Jessica Craigg

Georgia College Student Research Events

Cities throughout the African continent have been developing at an unprecedented pace, many of them due to the influence of the tourism industry. This is particularly true in Tanzania, a country famous for its national parks and their draw to tourists who help provide money for development. However, the only way to get the whole story on how to spend this money is through the experiences and needs of the people themselves. This study focuses on a small town in northeastern Tanzania, Mto wa Mbu, situated near Lake Manyara National Park, and its people’s perceptions of the park and community. …

Geography: A Career Without Borders

DePaul Magazine

What do mosquito abatement, education policy, retail site location and public transportation have in common? Although it might not seem obvious, these disparate pursuits all involve the work of geographers. This article looks at the wide variety of occupations open to geographers, who manipulate and map big data, use geographic information systems for municipal functions and pest removal, analyze transportation and job siting, pursue human and environmental sustainability practices, and teach. The article also includes a brief summary of the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers.

Placeness: Mongolia A Call For The Creation Of A Human Impact Assessment, C. Winston Kies

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Sense of place, place-­‐based identities, and “placeness” are fundamental ways through which human beings understand their physical place in the world. The means by which most Mongolians—and indeed most human beings—strive for placeness is fairly simple. First, one decides what location will become their place. Their place may be predetermined (i.e. a birthplace) or chosen (based on the wildlife, the scenery, the neighborhood, etc.). Once one has a place, sense of place necessarily follows. One’s place becomes the standard by which locations are understood, and by which one understands oneself. The latter process constitutes the formation of place-­‐based identities, which …

Justice And Immigrant Latino Recreation Geography In Cache Valley, Utah, Jodie Madsen, Claudia Radel, Joanna Endter-Wada

Joanna Endter-Wada

Latinos are the largest U.S. non-mainstreamed ethnic group, and social and environmental justice considerations dictate recreation professionals and researchers meet their recreation needs. This study reconceptualizes this diverse group’s recreation patterns, looking at where immigrant Latino individuals in Cache Valley, Utah do recreate rather than where they do not. Through qualitative interviews and interactive mapping, thirty participants discussed what recreation means to them and explained their recreation site choices. Findings suggest that recreation as an activity done outside the home, for fun with others, leads participants to seek spaces with certain characteristics. Reconceiving recreation more broadly and framing it from …

Justice And Immigrant Latino Recreation Geography In Cache Valley, Utah, Jodie Madsen, Claudia Radel, Joanna Endter-Wada

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Latinos are the largest U.S. non-mainstreamed ethnic group, and social and environmental justice considerations dictate recreation professionals and researchers meet their recreation needs. This study reconceptualizes this diverse group’s recreation patterns, looking at where immigrant Latino individuals in Cache Valley, Utah do recreate rather than where they do not. Through qualitative interviews and interactive mapping, thirty participants discussed what recreation means to them and explained their recreation site choices. Findings suggest that recreation as an activity done outside the home, for fun with others, leads participants to seek spaces with certain characteristics. Reconceiving recreation more broadly and framing it from …

Environmental Justice 2.0: New Latino Environmentalism In Los Angeles, Eric D. Carter

Eric D. Carter

This paper presents the results of ethnographic research conducted with several environmental justice (EJ) organisations in Latino communities of Los Angeles, California. Traditional EJ politics revolves around research and advocacy to reduce discriminatory environmental exposures, risks, and impacts. However, I argue that in recent years there has been a qualitative change in EJ politics, characterised by four main elements: (1) a move away from the reaction to urban environmental "bads" (e.g. polluting industries) in the city towards a focus on the production of nature in the city; (2) strategies that are less dependent on the legal, bureaucratic, and technical "regulatory …

Perception Of Disease Risk And Vulnerability As A Function Of Proximity To National Park Boundaries In East Africa, Irene Bridget Feretti

Honors Theses and Capstones

Studies suggest households closest to parks and protected areas (PAs) are more likely to sustain park-related losses, but the relationship between human sickness and PAs has not been fully explored. Existing literature primarily focuses on human-wildlife conflicts (i.e. crop raiding) and the potential for zoonotic disease spillover and emergence at the human-livestock-wildlife interface at PA boundaries. Understanding local perceptions of disease risk and vulnerability is essential for assessing human health relative to conservation areas. This understanding will promote better-informed consideration of human health impacts in decision making for conservation. Data from surveys taken at 301 households around Kibale National Park …

Australian Geography Unit, Daniel Scarbrough

Social Sciences

These lesson plans are designed for American students to learn about Australian Geography in a exciting and fun way. It will cover both physical and cultural geography aspects and this unit is designed for 9th grade geography and social science classes. The lesson plans consist of lecture portion and activities. This variety of teaching styles will cater to students of all learning styles (audio, verbal, and kinesthetic) and be enjoyable and informative.

¿Cuál Geografía?, Shawn Van Ausdal, Claudia Leal, Alejandro Guarín

Shawn Van Ausdal

A review of the conception of geography in two books written by economists: John Gallup, Alejandro Gaviria and Eduardo Lora, América Latina: ¿condenada por su geografía? (Banco Mundial y Alfaomega Colombiana, 2003); and

Santiago Montenegro, Sociedad abierta, geografía y desarrollo (Norma, 2006).