Human Ecology Commons^™

The Relationship Between Humans And Nature In The Himalayas: A Collection Of Poems, Floyd Cornett

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Throughout this research period I lived in the Gurung Village of Sikles in the Lower Annapurna Region of the Himalayan Mountain Range. Here, I grew in my understanding and learnings behind the village people’s relationship with nature, what shapes it, how it is changing, and general attitudes towards it. The Gurung community is traditionally of the Bon religion, but with the impacts of our ever-connecting world, many have also incorporated Buddhism and Hinduism into their beliefs and practices as well. Therefore, many of their traditions include pockets of animism and traditional worship of nature, but many villagers have slowly converted …

Los Impactos Del Cambio Climático En Las Comunidades Aymaras En Putre, El Valle De Azapa Y Arica, Lindsey Kaufman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Research Question: How is climate change affecting Aymara communities in Putre, the valley of Azapa, and Putre?

Objectives: To understand the effects of climate on communities by 1) describing which environmental problems exist and their impact on agriculture and ranching, 2) understanding the patterns of migration away from the ancestral land, 3) exploring the connections to the social determinants of health that exist with these change, and 4) analyzing the significance of these changes in the agriculture for the communities’ traditions and connection to the land.

Background: Aymara communities have historically inhabited agricultural and ranching lands in …

Occurrence And Ecosystem Effects Of Hiking Off-Trail In Michaux State Forest, Diana Biesecker, Quinn Doherty, Kevin S. Ganjon

Student Publications

American public lands provide significant outdoor recreational opportunities that enhance an individual's physical and mental well-being. Hiking is an example of a highly accessible and affordable recreational activity that is popular and easy for people to engage in no matter how experienced they are. While hiking has improved the well-being of many individuals, its impacts on local ecosystems are often disregarded. For our research, we focused on the impacts that hikers deviating off-trail may have on a local ecosystem in Michaux State Forest in Southern Pennsylvania. Through partnering with the foresters at Michaux State Forest and using AllTrails data, we …

Héroes Anónimos: La Relación Entre La Gente Y Las Plantas Nativas En Río Grande, Argentina, Rachel Elliott

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este estudio fue realizado para la Fundación Estepa Viva, Naturaleza y Ciudadanía con el fin de entender mejor cómo lxs residentes se relacionan con las plantas nativas y dónde ellas están ubicadas dentro de la ciudad de Río Grande, Argentina. Un total de 52 manzanas en 10 zonas de la ciudad fueron muestreadas en busca de 5 especies nativas clave: la lenga (Nothofagus pumilio), el ñire (Nothofagus antarctica), el guindo (Nothofagus betuloides), la mata negra (Chiliotrichum rosmarinifolium), and el calafate (Berberis microphylla). Además, se realizaron 50 entrevistas y se creó un mapa interactivo. Se observó que las plantas eran poco …

Restoring Dignity In The Gardens Of Ekhenana, Jordan Buser

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This case study investigates the lived experiences of eKhenana, a shack settlement under the leadership of Abahlali baseMjondolo, as they attempt to navigate the increasingly unequal urban landscape. The research presented is focused on theories of urban marginality, food sovereignty, and dignity. I advocate that, in the margins, dignity can be restored through the implementation of a communal garden. Presented as a case study, this research centers the voices and experiences of the commune. The paper first depicts a brief timeline of eKhenana, and explains how they have created not just a place to live, but a community and a …

Earth Stories: A Narrative Understanding Of Farmlife In Pokhara, Nepal, Grace Holmes

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Humans love to tell stories. The purpose of this Creative ISP is to collect stories, of the plants and of the earth, render them through quotations and summary, and then discuss and reflect on how these stories could describe the relationship between people and the land. I hope a narrative understanding of our dependence on agriculture can bridge the gap in modern society that separates us so fundamentally from the earth that we live on.

Sacred Scavengers: Vulture Conservation In Nepal, Hans Nedde

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the 1990s, a veterinary drug used to treat pain and disease in cattle nearly brought the nine vulture species of Nepal to extinction. In a span of 15 years, over 97% of vultures in Nepal perished. For the past 20 years, governments, organizations, and communities have been working together to save these vital scavengers from vanishing. From the lowlands to the Himalayas, vultures have been interacting with the environment and humans for millennia. This study explores the role that vultures play both ecologically and culturally in Nepal. It investigates vultures as a crucial ecological influence and how human action …

Transformation Of Farmer Resistance In Conservation Areas: Land Occupation By Farmers In Mount Halimun-Salak National Park, West Java, Sulastri Sardjo, Arya Hadi Dharmawan, Dudung Darusman, Ekawati Sri Wahyuni

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

A number of studies have shown various agrarian conflicts as a response by local farmers against the policy of national parks that prohibits them from accessing conservation forest areas. However, previous studies had not explained the dynamics of power relations between park authorities and farmers who stand in opposition to these policies. This study employs a qualitative research approach complemented by secondary data to explain the transformation of farmer resistance in the Mount Halimun-Salak National Park (TNGHS) area, namely from their repertoire of everyday resistance to practices of land occupation. Specifically, this study uses the “powercube” analytical framework to explain …

Honor Thyself, Alonzo O. Williams

Dance (MFA) Theses

The black male experience and identity in America are filled with complexity. We struggle to know ourselves. We work to see the way of love and the peace of an unviolated free spirit. We want to engage with ourselves with the highest degree of freedom and comfort, not to continue to question our identity in a life-threatening white patriarchal masculinity ideal. Honoring oneself from the lenses of the Reconstruction era of the United States is essential. Reconceptualizing this history explores the significance of emphasizing Reconstruction in my life as a black male to go through a process of self-discovery and …

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 …

Deep Roots In Eroding Soil: Building Decolonial Resilience Amidst Climate Violence And Displacement In A Louisiana Bayou Indigenous Community, Lia Mcgrath Kahan

Senior Independent Study Theses

The Pointe-au-Chien Indigenous community of coastal Louisiana is fighting for survival as climate change and socio-political factors threaten to displace them from their ancestral home. This project takes an ethnographic and historical approach to exploring how colonization and climate change have influenced Pointe-au-Chien tribal members’ ability to stay on their ancestral land. Climate projections estimate that the bayou this community has lived alongside of for generations will soon be unrecognizable, leading to potential displacement and devastating cultural loss. Due to the increasing severity of climate change, it is crucial to look to the experiences of frontline Indigenous communities to support …

Religion As A Micro And Macro Property: Investigating The Multilevel Relationship Between Religion And Abortion Attitudes Across The Globe, Amy Adamczyk

Publications and Research

In many countries abortion is the most contested issue being publicly discussed, in part, because it has implications for gender equality, health, family formation, and politics. Personal religious beliefs are often seen as having an important role in shaping disapproving attitudes. However, little attention has been given to the country religious context for understanding public opinion about abortion. Drawing on ideas from cultural sociology, the anti-ascetic hypothesis, and moral communities hypothesis, this study investigates the individual and country religious associations with abortion attitudes. Using hierarchical modeling techniques and survey data from over 70 nations, representing the majority of the world’s …

Agricultural Adaptation To Climate Change: How Montana Farmers Make Proactive Changes Despite Unpredictable Conditions, Austin Schuver

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In Montana, climate change is projected to increase interannual variability and the severity of weather events like drought. To sustain agricultural production, farmers must adapt to climate change within a complex decision-making process responsive to a range of climate and non-climate stressors. This study explores how Montana farmers approach proactive and long-term adaptation, two types of adaptation which are not well studied, but are expected to be increasingly important for adapting to the impacts of climate change. To understand Montana farmers’ approaches to adaptation, I conducted 30 in-depth interviews with farmers across the state. Farmers explained how unpredictability in weather …

Instructional Scaffolding In Internships: Supporting Future Professionals In Family Science, Katy Gregg, Meghan K. Dove, Nikki Digregorio

Human Ecology: Faculty Publications

Internships are known for being a valuable, albeit time consuming, opportunity for students, supervisors, and faculty in many fields. As undergraduate programs consider their current and future internship programs, we suggest the processes an intern takes to secure and complete an internship are key to furthering their learning and increasing their career marketability. In this article, we use scaffolding and self-efficacy theories as the foundation to developing an intentional internship program in the family science field. We share the steps faculty take to prepare students for the internship, use graduated guidance to support student learning, and to assess learning during …

Sons Of Disobedience And Their Machines: How Sin And Anthropology Can Inform Evangelical Thought About Ai, Gregory S. Mckenzie

Liberty Theological Review

The purpose of this paper is to further discussion about artificial intelligence by examining AI from the perspective of the doctrine of sin. As such, philosophy of mind and theological anthropology, specifically, what it means to be human, the effects of sin, and the consequent social ramifications of AI drive the analysis of this paper. Accordingly, the conclusions of the analysis are that the depravity of fallen humanity is cause for concern in the very programming of AI and serves as a corrupted foundation for artificial machine cognition. Given the fallen nature of human thought, and therefore, fallen AI thought, …

Book Review (Ije 3.1), Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Poem: Rat Jam, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

American Letters: Mencken, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Pseudo-Patriotism, Polemics, And Propaganda: European ‘Indianness’ And Contemporary German Populism, Dagmar Wernitznig

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

This article highlights and explores new nuances of colonialisms that can be witnessed in German populist politics in conjunction with public discourses about migration and refugeedom. In their xenophobic aversion towards aliens, ultra-nationalist organizations and parties in Germany pervert the colonial trauma of Native American peoples by projecting it onto their own existence. By drawing analogies between their own lives and the plight of Native American expulsion or forceful assimilation since the arrival of the first European settlers, right-wing individuals and groups perceive themselves as a vanishing tribe that is threatened with extinction, caused by Arabic and African newcomers …

Anthropocentric Tautologies: The Ape Who Mistook His Jabbering For A Self, George Conesa

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Humans (Really) Are Animals: Picture-Book Reading Influences 5-Year-Old Urban Children’S Construal Of The Relation Between Humans And Non-Human Animals, Sandra Waxman, Patricia Herrmann, Jennifer Woodring, Douglas Medin

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

What is the relation between humans and non-human animals? From a biological perspective, we view humans as one species among many, but in the fables and films we create for children, we often offer an anthropocentric perspective, imbuing non-human animals with human-like characteristics. What are the consequences of these distinctly different perspectives on children’s reasoning about the natural world? Some have argued that children universally begin with an anthropocentric perspective and that acquiring a biological perspective requires a basic conceptual change (Carey, 1985). But recent work reveals that this anthropocentric perspective, evidenced in urban 5-year-olds, is not evident in 3-year-olds …

Table Of Contents Ije Volume 3 (1), Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Editorial Introduction (Ije 3.1), Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Anthropocentrism: More Than Just A Misunderstood Problem, Helen Kopnina, Haydn Washington, Bron Taylor, John Piccolo

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

Anthropocentrism, in its original connotation in environmental ethics, is the belief that value is human-centered and that all other beings are means to human ends. Environmentally-concerned authors have argued that anthropocentrism is ethically wrong and at the root of ecological crises. Some environmental ethicists argue, however, that critics of anthropocentrism are misguided or even misanthropic. They contend: first that criticism of anthropocentrism can be counterproductive and misleading by failing to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate human interests. Second, that humans differ greatly in their environmental impacts, and consequently, addressing human inequalities should be a precondition for environmental protection. Third, since …

In Memoriam: Dr. Michael T. Caley, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

An Assessment Of The Traditional Botanical Usage Of The Indigeneous People Of The Bugungu Sub-Region Of Western Uganda, Elena Kilber

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The questions that this study aimed to answer were: how are indigenous plants used for medicine, and spiritual practices by the indigenous Bagungu communities? What effect has colonization and globalization had on the knowledge of plants held by indigenous Bagungu communities? And how is the knowledge the Bagungu people hold of traditional plant use preserved through the generations? The methods used to answer these questions were key informant interviews with five herbalists and seven clan custodians from the Bagungu community, and questionnaires administered to 31 Bagungu community members between the ages of 27 and 83. Data were analyzed using qualitative …

Man V.S. Wild: An Analysis Of Language Used Regarding Human-Wildlife Conflict In The Kibale National Park Community, Western Region, Uganda, Sophie Perfetto

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

If humans are to live sustainably and in harmony with wildlife in the vicinity of Protected Areas, policy makers, and government authorities need to make informed decisions with consideration to the needs of local communities. For this to happen, policy makers must understand the perceptions of local communities and take local perspectives into account. As language is at the root of perception, language was studied in the context of its role in shaping local perceptions of human-wildlife conflict and consequential conflict mitigation strategies. Six communities around the Northern region of Kibale National Park, Uganda, were studied, with sites located in …

Soil Not Oil: An Assessment Of The Role Of Earth Jurisprudence In Restoring Biodiversity Conservation In The Indigenous Bagungu Community, In Uganda, Joslyn Primicias

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

An Earth-centered way of living is essential in Western Uganda, along with many more repressed regions affected by giant corporate evils. The purpose of this study was to assess the contribution of Earth Jurisprudence in the restoration of conservation in the Indigenous Bagungu community. More specifically, this study examines the customary laws and rituals used by the Bagungu, the strategies used to decolonize their culture, and their perspectives on foreign influence and globalization. Key-informant interviews were conducted with seven custodians and questionnaire-led interviews were administered to thirty-one clan members from the districts of Buliisa and Hoima. The study sample size …

Retrato De Una Economía En Movimiento: Retos De La Economía Sustentable En San Francisco De Borja, Quijos, Napo, Meghan Mary Edwards

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Esta monografía presenta la situación económica actual en el Valle Quijos, en la parte occidental de la provincia de Napo, Ecuador. La mayoría de los residentes son gente campesina, que se dedica a la ganadería y la lechería. Se encuentran en la zona de amortiguamiento de dos parques nacionales, y mientras la población está creciendo, la gente tiene cada vez menos espacio entre las áreas protegidas, que ha generado conflictos sociales y conflictos ambientales, que incluyen la deforestación, la caza ilegal, y la erosión de las áreas pendientes. La monografía investiga el turismo y la ganadería tecnificada como algunos posibles …

Political Processes Of Displacement In Infrastructure Development: The Case Of Aldeia Da Luz And The Alqueva Dam, Cordelia Walz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In 2002, the residents of Aldeia da Luz left their village for the final time, displaced to make room for the Alqueva Dam, a massive regional hydropower and irrigation project almost half a century in the making. The Alqueva Multipurpose Project was marketed by the Portuguese government as a way to develop the impoverished region of the Alentejo and bring innovation to the agricultural sector. The village of Luz was the only physical obstacle to this goal and, therefore, its residents were dispossessed, sacrificed for the development of the greater Alentejo region. However, unlike many other large-scale infrastructure projects that …