Place and Environment Commons^™

Urban Renewal Or Urban Legend? Re-Historicizing Human-River Relationships Disrupted By Displacement Before And Now In Los Angeles, Jamie Sophia Helberg

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis speaks to how historical and on-going colonization of the river has consistently traumatized the relationship disadvantaged communities have had with the Los Angeles River. By historicizing those relationships, I argue that current use of human-centered market-based strategies to revitalize the river only furthers serial displacement of disadvantaged communities and will not adequately achieve sustainability. Using Frogtown as a case study, I also explore methods of resiliency to “green gentrification," an agent of neocolonialism along the river. In studying the placemaking practices implemented in Frogtown, I problematize notions of gentrification as “natural” and "necessary" for river revitalization. Elements of …

The Weaponization Of Poverty: An Investigation Into United States Military Recruitment Practices In High Schools Of Low-Income Communities In The Inland Empire, Michael Springer-Gould

Pitzer Senior Theses

Military recruitment in the United States is a highly contentious subject that has yielded a multitude of prior research across a variety of academic concentrations. To further the conversation, I narrow my focus to Southern California’s Inland Empire (IE) to explore practices of military recruitment in high schools that serve students in low-income communities. I begin with a general overview of life and labor in the Inland Empire before moving into prior research on military recruitment. My empirical research consists of five in-depth interviews documenting the lived experiences of individuals hailing from and attending high school in low-income communities of …

Street Musicians, Soundscapes And Hearing The State In Urban Public Spaces Of Istanbul, Lacin Tutalar

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This study explores street musicians’ routines and associations with public space in Istanbul, Turkey between 2014 and 2016, a period which corresponds to a new, more conservative routine in the aftermath of a time of political contention in 2013. The study overall takes up a rhythmanalytical perspective, following the cultural geography’s interest based on Henri Lefebvre’s use of the term. I contribute to that interest by paying attention to changes in the composition of an urban public in Istanbul through a mix of institutional (e.g. bureaucratic, capitalist and religious) and corporeal (e.g. tourists, musicians, young people, audience, street maintenance, refugees, …

Transformation As Desistance Inside: Temporality And Identity Reconstruction Among Men With Life Sentences, Richard Stover

Honors Theses

This thesis is an investigation of destistance strategies among men sentenced to life in prison in a medium security prison in Pennsylvania. Desistance here is defined as the process leading to the cessation of formally deviant behavior. Drawing from life narrative interviews conducted among 22 men, I argue that desistance is intrinsically tied to how inmates conceptualize themselves within the institutional context of the prison and can be expanded to include people who are still incarcerated. I build off of Peggy Giordano and colleagues symbolic interactionist perspective on desistance and expand it to chart how men with life sentences order …

Physical Activity In Two Low-Income Detroit Neighborhoods: Disentangling Human Agency From Social Structure, Daniel J. Rose

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article explores strategies developed by African American residents in response to barriers to physical activity in two low-income Detroit neighborhoods. Using 47 in-depth, qualitative interviews, a grounded theory approach allowed the analysis to be reframed around the ways in which structural factors conditioned, but did not determine the human agency of residents seeking physical activity. Interviews revealed numerous responses to structural barriers such as devising home routines, cognitive mapping to avoid perceived threats, and leaving the neighborhood to access resources. Differences in neighborhood contexts, along with unique individual concerns, showed that agency was neither a constant nor independent force, …

Martuwarra Country: A Historical Perspective (1838-Present), Martuwarra Riveroflife, Magalie Mcduffie, Anne Poelina

Nulungu Reports

No abstract provided.

The Public And The Personal: Mapping The Nyc Subway System As An Urban Memoryscape, Soledad O. Tejada

Library Map Prize

No abstract provided.

The Morphology Of Sex: Tracking Change In The Sex Discourse At Augustana College, Robert E. Burke

Audre Lorde Prize

Here, I track how the criteria for deeming sex as acceptable or unacceptable have changed over time at Augustana College. To do so, I apply two critical lenses to archived issues of the Augustana Observer. The first lens involves Rubin's concept of the "sex hierarchy," a variety of categories by which we may judge sex as good or bad. The second lens is related to Berlant and Warner's "national heterosexuality," a concept that claims that sexual norms are intrinsically elastic but politically, culturally, and economically firm under capitalism. Making use of a localized "snapshot" approach, I use recent Augustana history …

"This Is Home:" Pictures, Place Meaning, And Community In The Natural-Amenity-Rich Del Norte County, California, Erik Arndt

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This study contributes to the existing, yet small, cadre of research using photo elicitation to investigate the place meanings of people living in a natural-amenity-rich area. Ten current and former residents of Del Norte County, California took pictures of and discussed in an interview the people, places, and attributes they found valuable or meaningful about that place. The primary focus of the photos and interviews was how these natural amenities, in particular Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, impacted or influenced residents’ place meanings. Three major themes of place meaning were identified from the interviews: Environment-Landscape, Human-Social, and Recreation-Exploration. Each contained …

Green Public Spaces In The Cities Of South And Southeast Asia: Protecting Needs Towards Sustainable Well-Being, Marlyne Sahakian, Manisha Anantharaman, Antonietta Di Giulio, Czarina Saloma-Akpedonu, Dunfu Zhang, Rupali Khanna, Srikanth Narasimalu, Abigail Marie T. Favis, Cherie Audrey Alfiler, Sumana Narayanan, Xin Gao, Chenxin Li

Sociology & Anthropology Department Faculty Publications

The significance of green public spaces is well documented in relation to social inclusiveness, human health, and biodiversity, yet how green public spaces achieve what Gough (2017) has termed "sustainable wellbeing" is less understood. This contribution presents preliminary results from a study of green public spaces in four mega-cities of South and Southeast Asia: Chennai (the Republic of India), Metro Manila (the Republic of the Philippines), Singapore (the Republic of Singapore), and Shanghai (the People's Republic of China), cities that have climates ranging from tropical, to subtropical and temperate. The conceptual framework brings together social practice theories with human development …

Social Climatology: An Age Comparison Of Women's Sustained Commitment To Collective Action Against Climate Change, Sara A. Humphers-Ginther

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Climate activists urgently emphasize action to prevent catastrophic and apocalyptic-like damage from climate change. The foundation of the institutional change needed to combat climate change is collective action, which I study here through a collective action frame. These frames can gain traction for policy agendas: they are solution- and action-oriented. I interviewed women climate activists to understand how they frame the problems from, causes of, and solutions to climate change, as well as how they urge others to act against climate change. I compared my informants based on age because beliefs, values, and lived experiences are important in how activists …

Ethical Eating: Overcoming Alienation In The Industrial Food System By Aligning Our Practices With Our Principles, André Kushnir

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis arose out of a moment of discord, while an environmental philosopher was eating blackberries in the middle of a blizzard in Missoula, Montana. What follows is an attempt to bridge the gap between our principles and our practices, by asking the questions: What does ethical eating look like? Is it possible within our current industrial food system? and If not, what needs to change? Responding to the publication of the 2019 EAT-Lancet report, this essay moves beyond thinking of ethical eating as “healthy” and “sustainable” and challenges the networks of suffering and labour that we take for …

“We Had Become Trailer People”: Stigma, Social Boundary Making, And The Story Of The American Mobile Home Park, Katie M. Founds

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

Mobile homes and mobile home parks—still most often called trailer parks in common vernacular—occupy a particularly stigmatized position in American culture. A symbolic stand-in for a host of social ills, from bad hygiene and broken families to drug use and loose morals, mobile homes offer affordable housing at a social cost, branding their residents as likewise deficient. This piece of material culture did not come into being with such negative meanings attached. The process of becoming a symbol of stigma is an historical one, a story of meaning making in the midst of cultural shifts and changing norms. Since appearing …

Positive Wellbeing Among University Students From Diverse Communities: A Place-Based Approach, Kevin Bonnell

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Universities in Canada and across the globe are experiencing a significant diversification of their student population. However, there is a great need to understand how campus spaces can better support the wellbeing of diverse students, where supports have traditionally been built to support a privileged and homogenous group of students. The study builds on a multi-disciplinary theoretical framework (wellbeing, intersectionality, microaggressions, and the Psycho-environmental Potential Model) to explore a) the positive wellbeing of diverse students (i.e., racialized; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer, and/or living with any type of mental health issue or physical disability) and b) how the physical …

Flawed Assumptions Of Welfare Participation: A Comparative Analysis Of Ohio And North Carolina Counties, Kasey Ray

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Welfare participation has been a longstanding issue of public debate for 50 years but remains largely understudied in welfare literature. The purpose of this research is to challenge the flawed assumptions of welfare participation by examining the varying spatial inequalities that influence U.S. welfare participation rates among eligible poor. This comparative analysis uses spatial inequality theory to examine welfare-to-work participation rates in all North Carolina and Ohio counties. I find that Ohio county welfare-to-work participation rates are most affected by region, race and gender while North Carolina county rates are most affected by politics, industry and race.

Hopeless Heartland: Space And Labor In Virginia, Katrina Hamilton

Theses and Dissertations

In the US, labor market conditions vary by demographics and space. Though space has been shown to be highly related to labor force outcomes, lower-level analyses are under-utilized as statistical workforce analyses tend to rely on national or state-level data. This study addresses variability in labor markets by taking a spatial approach, using cluster analysis and logistic regression to explore variations in labor market variables across census tracts in Virginia. Cluster analysis reveals several hot and cold spots of key labor market indicators: rates of marriage, poverty, educational attainment, and income. In many cases, poor social conditions, such as low …

Changing Seasons Of Resistance: Impacts Of Settler Colonialism And Climate Change In Indigenous Worlds, Elizabeth Jackson

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This paper looks at the relationship between neoliberal capitalism, genocide, the biopolitics of settler colonialism and the impacts of climate change on the cultures and traditional lifeways of Indigenous communities. It also explores Indigenous modes and methods of adaptation and resilience. Climate Change is almost certainly the most urgent social problem in the history of human life on planet Earth. Many Indigenous people are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change due to marginalization and their commitment to land-based practices. Using in depth interviews with Indigenous Peoples, primarily from the Pacific Northwest, and the analysis of existing literature, this …

Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The Mountains: Hip-Hop, Exclusion, And The White Wilderness, Leonard Alexander Henderson

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The expectations of normative behavior in outdoor recreation are often taken for granted and naturalized within dominant cultural narratives about human/nature interactions. In particular, expectations of silence and an absence of evidence of humans and human sounds (anthrophony), are grounded within an understanding of nature and a wilderness/urban paradigm framed by whiteness. Hip-Hop provides an interesting point of analysis for thinking about the binary opposition of wilderness and urbanness. The intersection of Hip-Hop and wilderness is also the starting point for my research. This research aims to speak to just a few ways that white and masculine social norms in …

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (Nasis) 2020 Winter Methodology Report, Bureau Of Sociological Research

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS)

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Relationship Between Gender, Race, And Space, And Toronto Community Housing Policy, Anita Rachel Ewan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation presents the racial-gendered lived experiences of Black women living in Toronto Community Housing (TCH; subsidized housing). This research found that Black women and their families are disproportionately faced with challenges due to barriers caused by housing policy and procedures that also affect the overall development and wellbeing of their children. It also highlights the ways in which Black women continue to thrive and survive in the face of detrimental and derelict living conditions; accomplished through community development and support initiatives, and fostering strong communities.

This is a qualitative research project that includes an art-based method. Utilizing a feminist …

Career Funneling, Perceptions Of Success, And Their Impact On College Students At Scripps, Pitzer, And Claremont Mckenna Colleges, Carina A. Schick

Scripps Senior Theses

The U.S. News top college ranking lists have created a narrowing definition of collegiate and career success. Students are told an elite education is the ticket to a successful life, one filled with a high achieving career, meaning, and happiness. Through peer, familial, and media interfaces students are inundated with societal definitions of success such as fame, wealth, and status. Socialization primes adolescents to work towards these goals. This idealized type of success is only accessible to a select few, leading to dissatisfaction and creating pressures on students to work towards their college admission at early ages. This thesis examines …

Platform And Place: The Digitization Of Gift Economies, Sara A. Peters

Theses and Dissertations

Especially during times of economic and social upheaval, such as COVID-19, people may consider alternative means of acquiring the resources necessary for survival. These lifestyle shifts, or lifestyle movements, are often associated with economic alternatives to capitalism, such as gift economies. In recent years, many of these economies have shifted to digital platforms where members create and coordinate connections for exchanges. Using a case study of The Buy Nothing Project, an international network of local, digital gift economies, this paper explores the geographic and socioeconomic conditions facilitating the presence and activity of digital Buy Nothing Groups in two US states, …

The Effects Of Gentrification On Residents’ Sense Of Place And Group Cohesion: A Study Of Pittsburgh Neighborhoods, Bernard Digregorio

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Many researchers have studied gentrification. Much of the existing research on gentrification has focused on the extent of population displacement and changes in the community economic profile. Others have focused on the experiences of residents during and after gentrification. In this paper, I take the latter approach. Using data from the 2018 Pittsburgh Quality of Life survey, I examine the effects of gentrification on a range of community-related attitudes (e.g. sense of place and group cohesion). Specifically, I compared residents who reside in gentrifying or gentrified neighborhoods with those who live in neighborhoods that have not gentrified. My two main …

Theoretical Perspectives Of The Baltimore Ecosystem Study: Conceptual Evolution In A Social–Ecological Research Project, Steward T. A . Pickett, Mary L. Cadenasso, Matthew E. Baker, Lawrence E. Band, Christopher G. Boone, Geoffrey L. Buckley, Peter M. Groffman, J. Morgan Grove, Elena G. Irwin, Sujay S. Kaushal, Shannon L. Ladeau, Charles H. Nilon, Michele Romolini, Emma J. Rosi, Christopher M. Swan, Katalin Szlavecz

Advanced Science Research Center

The Earth's population will become more than 80% urban during this century. This threshold is often regarded as sufficient justification for pursuing urban ecology. However, pursuit has primarily focused on building empirical richness, and urban ecology theory is rarely discussed. The Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) has been grounded in theory since its inception and its two decades of data collection have stimulated progress toward comprehensive urban theory. Emerging urban ecology theory integrates biology, physical sciences, social sciences, and urban design, probes interdisciplinary frontiers while being founded on textbook disciplinary theories, and accommodates surprising empirical results. Theoretical growth in urban ecology …

Using Community Cultural Wealth Narratives Of Low-Income High School Students In A Rural Northern California Community, Rene Rodriguez Malamed

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the experiences of white, low-income high school students completing their senior year in a rural community and earning their diplomas. The purpose of the study was to examine participants’ stories during high school using a community cultural wealth framework and narrative methodological approach. Results showed that students utilized capitals such as social, moral, familial and resistant in their small communities. Multiple capitals interacted and influenced each other as rural youth draw on these for support.

Reflections On Critical Pedagogy In America Latina: La Lucha Continua, Peter Mclaren

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"When I speak in Mexico, I support efforts there to create a revolutionary critical pedagogy—one that has not been domesticated and depotentiated by neoliberal dogma. This means the inclusion of a decolonial pedagogy which challenges the “coloniality of power” (patron de poder colonial) that still resides at the heart of post-colonial societies. I would advise as a central, overarching goal of critical pedagogy the struggle for a socialist alternative to the “value form of labor” that exists in capitalist societies throughout North and South America, and that such efforts must be transnational in scope since capitalism is now transnational in …

Agronomic Or Contentious Land Change? A Longitudinal Analysis From The Eastern Brazilian Amazon, Stephen Aldrich, Cynthia S. Simmons, Eugenio Arima, Robert T. Walker, Fernando Michelotti, Edna Castro

Department of Earth and Environmental Systems

Since 1984, nearly 1,000 people have been killed in the Brazilian Amazon due to land conflicts stemming from unequal distribution of land, land tenure insecurity, and lawlessness. During this same period, the region experienced almost complete deforestation (< 8% forest cover by 2010). Land conflict exacts a human toll, but it also affects agents’ decisions about land use, the subject of this article. Using a property-level panel dataset covering the period of redemocratization in Brazil (1984) until the privatization of long-term leases in the eastern Amazon (2010), we show that deforestation is affected by land conflict, particularly in cases of expropriation of property for agrarian reform settlement formation. Deforestation on these settlements is much greater when soils are poor for agriculture and when the land has been the object of past conflict. Deforestation and conflict are episodic, and both agronomic drivers and contentious drivers of land change are active in the region. Ultimately, the outcome of these processes of contentious and agronomic land change is substantial deforestation, regardless of who was in possession and control of the land.

Raising An Indoor Generation: Outdoor Environmental Education Impact On Adolescent Development, Daisy Elizabeth Bewley

Student Theses 2015-Present

In an increasingly digital world, children are growing up with less involvement and interaction with the environment. Hands-on and experiential learning is less popular in schools and a more test-oriented and numerical evaluation is increasingly popular. This thesis explores the decrease in outdoor environmental education and the impact that has on adolescent development and developmental milestones in children. This impact extends past just mental development and impacts the physical health development of children. Obesity, attention deficit disorders, and other behavioral issues are just a few of the signs of the problems that have arisen due to a decrease in environmental …

The World Of Sports Sexual Harassment, Arsalan Sadiq Sheikh

MSJ Capstone Projects

Sexual harassment has been a major issue in all fields of life, similarly, the national and international level athletes also faced it on their way to the glory. The capstone project focused on exploring the state of sexual harassment in the field of sports in Pakistan, at the school, university, national and international level. During the investigative report, it was revealed that sexual harassment was much more common in sports than anyone had imagined. Moreover, the harassment was not always by male coaches or counterparts against female athletes. Instead, the females were being harassed by the same gender, while men …

Nof Kdumim: Remaking The Ancient Landscape In East Jerusalem’S National Parks, Irus Braverman

Journal Articles

This article explores two national parks in East Jerusalem and their legal administration as the focus of contradictory and complementary attempts at preservation, colonization, and normalization. Drawing on in-depth interviews with, and observations of, officials from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and others, I expose the Judaizing of the landscape in Jerusalem. Nature never stands for itself; it is always an echo of a human presence and, in this case, of a Jewish past and its modern reunion. The project of imagining the natural landscape as one that embodies an ancient past—what Israeli officials have referred to in our …