Place and Environment Commons^™

Análisis Comparativo De Los Gobiernos Locales: La Política Del Medio Ambiente En Las Comunas De La Pintana Y Peñalolén, Nicolás Thorpe

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

With the approval of many international environmental agreements and the passage of national environmental laws, Chile has gradually created institutions at the national level that focus on environmental policy. However, given local government’s proximity to the people and their demands, local authorities also play an important role in environmental protection and sustainable development. This investigation answers the following question: What are the factors that influence a commune to have an environmental policy? After describing Chile’s national environmental policy and intergovernmental relations, this investigation will compare two communes in the metropolitan area of Santiago: La Pintana and Peñalolén, which both have …

The Impacts Of Education: A Case Study Of Muslim Women In Ngaoundéré, Cameroon, Margo Brookfield

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper is the product of a study on the ultimate impacts that education can have on the lives of Muslim women in the city of Ngaoundéré, Cameroon. Women in the North of Cameroon have been confined within traditional gender roles that have been in place for generations, due to deep ties with culture and religion in the region. This research explores Muslim women’s opinions on the impacts of the modern education system in place in the city. In addition it looks into the impacts that this education can have on different aspects of a woman’s life, including her relations …

Fearless: Jessie Pierce, Jessie M. Pierce

SURGE

A vocal advocate for socio-environmental justice issues and a believer in the potential for social change in the developing world, Jessie Pierce ’14 fearlessly travels, volunteers, and researches to promote awareness and change. Studying abroad last year for both semesters, spending one semester in Denmark and one in India, gave Jessie the interest, skills, and drive to continue pursuing a deeper understanding of these issues while at Gettysburg. [excerpt]

Fearless: Aleksandra Petkova, Aleksandra V. Petkova

SURGE

Consistently serving the campus community, conducting new research in psychology, and leading younger students to realizations about their own roles in fighting for social Justice, Aleksandra Petkova ’14 has fearlessly pursued opportunities to promote social change all four of her years here at Gettysburg.

Men's Modesty, Religion, And The State: Spaces Of Collision, Karen M. Morin

Faculty Journal Articles

This article examines religious practices in the United States, which govern modesty and other dress norms for men. I focus both on the spaces within which they most collide with regulatory regimes of the state and the legal implications of these norms, particularly for observant Muslim men. Undergirding the research are those ‘‘gender equality’’ claims made by many religious adherents, that men are required to maintain proper modesty norms just as are women. Also undergirding the research is the extensive anti-Islam bias in American culture today. The spaces within which men’s religiously proscribed dress and grooming norms are most at …

Fearless: Christine Serwan And Sam Holmes, Christine M. Serwan, Samuel R. Holmes

SURGE

This week, we’re recognising the fearless work that Christine Serwan ’13 and Sam Holmes ’13 will be doing over the next two years during with the Peace Corps. [excerpt]

The Legal Limits Of Racism, Chelsea E. Broe

SURGE

When I heard the news that the Food Network decided not to renew Paula Deen’s contract after she admitted to making racist comments, I was happy. Not because she used racial slurs, of course, but because she was punished for it. Maybe I’m a cynic, but I like the idea of public attention being placed on wrongdoings. That’s the whole point of having free speech, after all: to have an open dialogue wherein all possible viewpoints can be voiced, considered, challenged, and criticized until they are ultimately decided to be acceptable or unacceptable. [excerpt]

Implementing A Green Economy In Least-Developed Countries The Challenges Of Intellectual Property Rights And Technology Transfers Within The Trips Agreement, Spencer Schloss

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The world has come to a stage where technology is the crux of development and growth. Vast technological advances allow for opportunities to produce at rates more efficient than even the most prodigal of scientists could have imagined. As the world simultaneously experiences development and growth, there is an unfortunate environmental tradeoff. The same industries that lead to economic advancement are causing extreme environmental degradation and least developed countries are the ones to bear the burden.

LDCs are dependent upon natural capital as their economic survival base. If the world continues to develop without considering the detrimental impacts on LDCs, …

Wind Energy Opposition In Vermont: Perspectives On The State's Energy Future, William R. Pitkin Iv

Pomona Senior Theses

Due to its high levels of concern and awareness of environmental issues, rural character, and sparse population, Vermont would at first glance appear to possess the ideal recipe to become a national leader in renewable energy development. Renewable initiatives have focused primarily on wind energy, as over a dozen wind farms have been proposed in the last few years across the state. However, in spite of the widely held belief in Vermont’s wind energy future, its proponents have run into vehement opposition at every proposed site, often successfully impeding the planned developments.

This report develops a wide-level framework of the …

Fearless: Diversity Peer Educators, Center For Public Service

SURGE

The Diversity Peer Educators was started in the Fall of 2012 with the vision of starting conversations about and advocating for diversity issues and inclusion on this campus. Right off the bat, twelve students (of all different class years) were trained in how to facilitate those conversations and lead activities that make those conversations a little easier. Now, there are seventeen DPEs fearlessly making change at Gettysburg College. [excerpt]

Adding Injustice To Injury - Health Perceptions, Plurality, And Power In The Ongoing Bhopal Disaster, Ruth Markwardt

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Standards of health, human rights, and development are typically defined and dictated by policymakers instead of the populations directly affected by so-called development efforts. This paper seeks to contextualize global development efforts by highlighting specific local realities among the community of Bhopal Disaster survivors in Madhya Pradesh, India. As the site of the world’s largest industrial disaster, a disaster which is not over but ongoing, Bhopal represents an important population to highlight as the disaster continues. The Political Ecology of Health model was used to highlight political and environmental influences on community health. Within Political Ecology, this study takes a …

Viendo De Camino A Casa: La Construcción De La Identidad Transnacional En La Comunidad Libanesa De Buenos Aires = Looking Homeward: The Construction Of Transnational Identity In The Lebanese Community Of Buenos Aires, Lindsay Miller

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

At the end of the 19^th century through World War I, around three million immigrants entered Argentina. The vast majority left behind homes in Italy and Spain; however, a significant minority population arrived from Greater Syria, specifically from present-day Syria and Lebanon. Today, the descendents of these Syrian-Lebanese migrants make up the third largest community in Argentina. Despite the significant presence of the community, the Syrian-Lebanese community has been largely absent from scholarly work on Argentine ethnic groups.

The objective of this study is to explore the relationship that the descendents of Lebanese immigrants, living in Buenos Aires, have …

Nunca Han Visitado, No Han Vivido Ecoturismo Comunitario: Una Alternativa Sostenible Y Constitucional De Desarrollo En La Zona De Intag, Jenny Johnston

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Durante mi estudio en Ecuador y a través de todas mis clases, conversaciones, y experiencias, han habido muchos temas nuevos e interesantes. Aunque todas me han enseñado mucho, la experiencia que me impactó más fue mi semana en Intag. Durante toda mi vida siempre tuve una fascinación con el bosque nublado con la combinación de palabras más mística y romántica. La verdad es que antes de llegar en Intag la mi primera vez, no sabía nada sobre el poder de la belleza de los bosques, la naturaleza, y también sobre la lucha en contra de la minería. A través de …

Tensions Between Firm Size And Sustainability Goals: Fair Trade Coffee In The United States, Philip H. Howard, Daniel Jaffee

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Sustainability marketing trends have typically been led by smaller, more mission-driven firms, but are increasingly attracting larger, more profit-driven firms. Studying the strategies of firms that are moving away from these two poles (i.e., mission-driven but larger firms, and profit-driven firms that are more committed to sustainability) may help us to better understand the potential to resolve tensions between firm size and sustainability goals. We used this approach to analyze a case study of the U.S. fair trade coffee industry, employing the methods of data visualization and media content analysis. We identified three firms that account for the highest proportion …

From Toxic Tours To Growing The Grassroots: Tensions In Critical Pedagogy And Community Development, Celina Su, Isabelle Jagninski

Publications and Research

Structural inequalities in American public education are inextricably tied to deep-seated patterns of racial and economic segregation. Children in poor neighborhoods are less likely to have the household resources, neighborhood institutions, or school amenities necessary for a good, challenging education. In response, a growing number of organizations have launched initiatives to simultaneously revitalize neighborhoods and improve public education, emphasizing youth participation as an essential component in their efforts. We draw upon ethnographic data from two such organizations to examine their practice of place-based critical pedagogy in community development. We focus on how they engage marginalized, “hard-to-reach” youth via (1) experiential …

The Growth Of Single-Sex Schools: Federal Policy Meets Local Needs And Interests, Katherine Cumings Mansfield

Educational Leadership Publications

Changes to Title IX allowing the growth of single-sex schools have garnered media attention promoting the benefits of separating boys and girls. Alternately, civil rights groups such as the ACLU continue to oppose any type of school segregation. Within this context, a private philanthropy, the Foundation for the Education of Young Women (FEYW) has established public-private partnerships with six Texas school districts to open all-girls’ public college prep magnet schools with plans to expand. This multi-year ethno-historical case study explores the meaning making of one community in the FEYW network as it attempts to make sense of federal policy at …

North Dakota’S Oil Boom And Its Effect On North Dakota Politics, Nick "Nick" Nelson

Political Science Theses and Capstones

North Dakota’s oil boom is causing some of its countries to experience significant population increases. I study the effect this is having on the politics of North Dakota. To assess the effect of increased oil production on the population of counties and its effect on the politics of those counties I gathered statistics at the county level in the areas of oil production, populations including total, black, Hispanic, white, and male populations, and voting behavior (Republican or Democrat) from the United State Census, the North Dakota Secretary of State, and the North Dakota Industrial Commission, Department of Natural Resources. My …

A Bottle Half Empty: Bottled Water, Commodification, And Contestation, Daniel Jaffee, Soren Newman

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bottled water has rapidly been transformed from an elite niche market into a ubiquitous consumer object. Yet the literature on drinking water privatization has largely neglected the growth of bottled water and its emergence as a global commodity. This article draws on Harvey’s analytic of accumulation by dispossession to explore how commodification unfolds differently across multiple forms of water. Based on ethnographic interviews with participants in two conflicts over spring water extraction in rural U.S. communities by the industry leader Nestlé, we make three arguments. First, contestation over bottled water commodification is refracted through competing framings regarding control over local …

Emotion, Community Development, And The Physical Environment: An Experimental Investigation Of Measurements, George E. Boone

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

A wide range of research fields have studied how emotions and behavior are affected by the physical environment. This gestalt theorist approach of experimental research as well seeks to measure emotion (using the valence-arousal scale) and micro-scale community development interactions when weighted physical environment factors are adjusted. Community development (CD) interactions at the micro-scale have received but slight attention from scholars in the CD research field and this study aims partially to investigate developing objective measures from social observations. CD interactions from recordings along with self-reported emotion through surveys in four quasi-experimental groups (where the environments were constructed based on …

A More Perfect Commodity: Bottled Water, Global Accumulation, And Local Contestation, Daniel Jaffee, Soren Newman

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bottled water sits at the intersection of debates regarding the social and environmental effects of the commodification of nature and the ways neoliberal globalization alters the provision of public services. Utilizing Polanyi's concept of fictitious commodities and Harvey's work on accumulation by dispossession, this article traces bottled water's transformation from elite niche item to a product consumed by three fourths of U.S. households. Drawing on ethnographic research with participants in two cases of proposed spring water extraction from rural communities by industry leader Nestlé Waters, we make two principal arguments. First, the case of bottled water necessitates a reevaluation of …

The Flow Of Water, Power, And Ideas: Water Commodification In Cape Town, South Africa And The Stratified Experiences Of Time And Space Compression, Jenna Washburn

Master's Theses

I use the neoliberalization of the water sector in Cape Town, South Africa in order to test my theory of unequal development. I assert that the neoliberal economic practices of water commodification, business-friendly tariff policies, and prepaid management devices keep people along the periphery from accessing water, power, and ideas – thus causing a stratification of time and space compression between the core and the periphery.

By painting a theoretical picture of world cities, I wish to complicate the dominant views of time/space compression and suggest that, much like development and arguably because of it, time and space compression actually …

“Podemos Vivir Sin Oro, Pero No Sin Agua”: Un Estudio De La Minería, Sus Efectos Y El Movimiento De Resistencia En Azuay, Ecuador, Kyle Schneider

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

“Si bien los gobiernos neoliberales que se sucedieron en la década de los noventa definieron un marco legal e institucional ‘atractivo’ y permisivo para la inversión extranjera en el sector minero ecuatoriano, el gobierno de Rafael Correa es el primero que apuesta por la gran minería como una actividad estratégica para el modelo económico de Ecuador.”[1] Esta cita explica la política del actual gobierno con respecto a la minería, y como las industrias extractivas se han convertido en parte principales del ambicioso plan del gobierno para recaudar fondos para sus obras públicas y la inversión social. El hecho de …

Nationalism And Painting In Colonial Bengal, Jasmin Cohen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

What began as a general inquiry into the nature of nationalism in the paintings of “the Bengal School” turned into a project focused on tracing the pulse of nationalism between two distinct yet related groups in Bengal roughly between the years 1895 and 1920. The bulk of this paper deals with existing scholarship on the painter Abanindranath Tagore, whose name is most often mentioned in the discourse regarding nationalism and painting in Bengal; in addressing this scholarship, I deliver a critical analysis on the relationship between Abanindranath, his paintings, and the idea of nationalism. I then follow that discussion with …

Age, Period And Cohort Effects On Social Capital, Philip Schwadel, Mike Stout

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Researchers hypothesize that social capital in the United States is not just declining, but that it is declining across generations or birth cohorts. Testing this proposition, we examine changes in social capital using age-period-cohort intrinsic estimator models. Results from analyses of 1972–2010 General Social Survey data show 1) that informal association with neighbors declined across periods while informal association with friends outside of the neighborhood increased across birth cohorts; 2) that formal association was comparatively stable with the exception of relatively high levels of formal association among the early 1920s and early 1930s birth cohorts; and 3) that trust declined …

Catastrophes And The Role Of Social Networks In Recovery: A Case Study Of St. Bernard Parish, La, Residents After Hurricane Katrina, Carrie E. Lasley

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the experiences of St. Bernard Parish, La., residents as they coped with the impact of the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. An estimated 50,000 St. Bernard Parish residents relocated to a new home one year after Katina in 2006, and many of those residents moved again. This study examines the effects of the decisions of St. Bernard residents to relocate or to return on their social connections. The utility, adaptability and durability of social networks of these residents will be explored to enrich our knowledge about the social effects …

Bosnian Refugees In Bowling Green, Kentucky: Refugee Resettlement And Community Based Research, Elcin Celik

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

To understand the reasons for the increase in recent years of the Bosnian population in Bowling Green, Kentucky and their adaptation problems as refugees in their host country, this study focused upon the Bosnian community in Bowling Green and addressed what the role of their challenges is in the shaping of refugees’ new life in their host country. Extensive literature review helped to emerge that for an understanding of the situation of the refugees, their interaction in the host country is more meaningful topic for research.

This study employed qualitative research methods, drawing from existing empirical studies addressing resettlement in …

The Leadership Of Sustainable Cities: A Multiple-Case Study Of Two Oregon Cities, Kenneth L. Weaver

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In order for cities to become more sustainable it is necessary for the leaders of the efforts to change the organizations and governments so that they understand and embrace what it means to be more sustainable. This study examined the change processes of two Oregon Cities, Corvallis and Eugene, that had made the choice to become more sustainable as a community. The approaches that the participant leaders used demonstrated the use of different ways of thinking about the leadership of change. The ways of thinking of the community leaders were formed by their unique personal backgrounds, knowledge, skills, and abilities. …

Exploring German And American Modes Of Pedagogical And Institutional Sustainability: Forging A Way Into The Future, Lindon N. Pronto

Pitzer Senior Theses

Rooted deep in Germany's past is its modern socio-political grounding for environmental respect and sustainability. This translates into individual and collective action and extends equally to the economic and policy realm as it does to educational institutions. This thesis evaluates research conducted in Germany with a view to what best approaches are transferable to the United States liberal arts setting. Furthermore, exemplary American models of institutional sustainability and environmental education are explored and combined with those from abroad to produce a blueprint and action plan fitting for the American college and university.

Mapping Community Mindscapes: Visualizing Social Autobiography As Political Transformation And Mobilization, Emily C. Bluck

Scripps Senior Theses

Historically, autobiography has been used to perpetuate neo-liberal ideologies. Yet, when autobiography becomes social and is used to engage political communities of color, political transformation is possible. This project, through the collaborative visualization of Asian American social biography using pedagogical and relational methods as a means for engagement, seeks to destabilize dominant notions of time and space, and provide a mechanism for the retention of and documentation of institutional, and social histories using the Asian American Student Union at Scripps College as the site for political praxis.

Activism In The Gulf Coast After The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Sara Em Gassman

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.