Place and Environment Commons^™

Decolonizing Ecology Through Rerooting Epistemologies, Lauren M. Bitter

Pitzer Senior Theses

My project is centered around a community garden in Upland, California called the People and Their Plants garden. This garden represents a five hundred year living history designed to show the changes in the ecological landscape of Southern California caused by colonization. This autoethnographic thesis works towards personal, interpersonal, and community-wide decolonization through building reciprocal relationships with Indigenous Elders. I explore, critique and problematize research and ethnography by examining the politics of knowledge, language, history, and ecology. I interrogate my own learned knowledge systems as well as colonial/capitalist food systems—and recognize how those systems/relations have worked to render Indigenous ways …

Co-Management And The Fight For Rural Water Justice: Learning From Costa Rican Asadas, Kristin B. Dobbin

Pitzer Senior Theses

Rural communities have, for much of history, been left with inadequate or no water service. This is because the traditional state/private dichotomy of water provision is inadequate for addressing the unique needs of small, isolated communities. Drawing from the Common-Pool Resource literature, co-management arose in recent decades as a solution to address this pandemic of rural water exclusion. In Costa Rica, co-management takes the form of community water associations known as ASADAS. This thesis explores the successes and challenges of ASADAS through the use of three case study communities. Using interviews, surveys, water sampling and national legislation in addition to …

Fruitful Communities: Evaluating The History And Impacts Of Treepeople’S Fruit Tree Program, Kayla B. Imhoff

Pitzer Senior Theses

TreePeople is a Los Angeles based non-profit organization that uses environmental education, initiatives, and programs to engage with the greater community to work towards the goal of a sustainable future for Los Angeles. The Fruit Tree Program is one of TreePeople’s longest running programs of 29 years, which distributes free bare-root fruit trees to economically disadvantaged communities as a source of fresh fruit and the other environmental benefits that trees offer. This paper is a comprehensive report detailing the history of the program and the impacts it has had on communities across Los Angeles County. Looking at three communities in …

Gagner La Vie: Examining Return Preparedness And Resource Mobilization Among Moroccan Immigrants To France Who Return To Live Permanently In Agadir, Morocco, Karolina Michelle Dos Santos

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

If Moroccan immigrants are so in tune to their home culture and home happenings, under what conditions do they stay in France facing the problems of unemployment and homelessness? This study focuses on the return migration of Moroccans from the Sousse region; specifically Agadir and the surrounding Tiznit areas, who left Morocco during the decade of 1960 and who have permanently returned to live in Morocco. The study was conducted by using the snowball sampling technique to conduct semi-structured interviews of Moroccan return migrants in AitMelloul, a neighborhood of Agadir. My findings suggest that the return migrants from the Sousse …

Maximizing Community Action: An Internship With Be The Change, Rachel Rosenbaum

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

From 3 April 2013 to 28 April 2013, I interned with the Brisbane branch of Be The Change, an organization that promotes ecological, social and spiritual sustainability through their empowering symposiums, in Australia. I focused on creating a tool to help symposium participants take community action after the event. My goal was to create a resource for Be The Change to use across Australia to further its impact, attend a symposium and implement sustainable actions in my everyday life.

In the 140 total hours of work I completed, I helped plan a symposium, participated in workshops and events within the …

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 …

Cultural Exchange: Afro Ethnic Tourism In Bahia, Ayana Oforiwah Austin-Depay

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Ethnic tourism is an amalgamation of all the faucets within Bahia’s society from religion to food to dance. In particular, Afro ethnic tourism, which is the tourism that brings African American tourists to Bahia, thrives on the African American interaction with these faucets and most importantly with the Afro Brazilian people. Although it is grand cultural experience, previous research discusses how tourism, and specifically ethnic tourism, is a modern version of imperialism as tourists objectify and romanticize the host country, people, and culture. Additionally, when ethnic tourism is discussed, it is often spoken about in snapshots that capture the external …

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 …

The Irish Dairy Industry: Globalisation, Competition, Recession, & Consumerism, Brian Clancy, Angela Wright

Dept. of Organisation & Professional Development Publications

In today’s global environment, the dairy farmer and his herd have lost major importance and influence as a consequence of a variety of factors, among them the Industrial revolution, continued and increasing consumerism, the technological explosion, and the ever-expanding concentration of people in urban areas. This research study examines the Irish dairy industry in its current format. The objective of this study is to look at what dairy farmers need to do to grow and expand their business efficiently and effectively. The major challenge for the industry is to attract a new generation of knowledgeable workers to the land. This …

Academic Progress: Factors That Affect A Student’S First Year Experience In College, Stephen Ward

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

The transition to higher education can be a journey of life changing experiences. These experiences culminate in factors that affect a student’s academic success. This can lend itself to areas of growth, change, and maturation that cultivate and stimulate the intellectual curiosity which motivate a student to succeed in college. Specifically, this study attempts to measure three factors that affect student success in college; these factors are the formal education of your parents, student work status, and access to the internet.

Organizational Leadership In Times Of Uncertainty: Is Transformational Leadership The Answer?, Sophon Shadraconis

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

In a world that is rapidly changing, organizations are finding that they must adapt quickly to meet the needs of their changing environment. Organizations can only remain relevant and achieve long-term success and sustainability by adopting a model of leadership that addresses the needs of their fluctuating environment. However, many organizations have failed to adapt to their operating environment. Some examples of recent major organizational failures and bankruptcies include: Circuit City, Hollywood Video, and Mervyn's. To remain competitive, leaders must adopt a model that allows for rapid responses to the changing business environment. Transformational leadership can serve as this needed …

It's Not About The Coffee: Queer Temporalities At A Community Coffeehouse, Jodi Davis

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

Long Beach California’s “gay ghetto” 1 is a loosely defined neighborhood with bars, coffeehouses and businesses that cater to the LGBTQ community. The corner of Broadway and Junipero roughly marks the center of the gay ghetto and is home to Hot Java “The Community Coffeehouse”. The customers there are loyal and through ethnographic inquiry this paper highlights the importance of Hot Java as a queer site of resistance and community building. Through interviews, observation, and exploration of queer theoretical models of space and time, this paper illustrates Hot Java as a queer temporal space marked by trauma, resistance, and community …

My Life As A Labelmaker, Hannah M. Frantz

SURGE

It’s easy to label to people. I find it particularly easy at Gettysburg College. When I assign a label to someone, it’s like it appears in big red letters across their forehead. Sometimes my snap judgment comes from what they’re wearing. Salmon colored pants? FRATERNITY, BRO, PREP. Sometimes it comes from what they say. “Dude that chick’s a femi-nazi.” MISOGYNIST, PRIVILEGED, JERK. My judgment comes from all sorts of different places but the important part is that my initial judgment sticks. It sits there, tattooed on people’s foreheads, staring at me, and it’s the only thing I see from that …

Fearless: Mike Altman, Michael A. Altman

SURGE

After participating in the 2011 Heston Internship in Uganda working in a community on clean water projects, Mike gained a new interest in Global Health. His interest grew and a few months ago he started an internship with charity: water, an organization working to bring access to clean water throughout the world in a way that attempts to break the traditional donation model. At charity: water, Mike is part of a greater group that is working to more closely connect people to specific water projects through financial transparency and innovative fundraising campaigns. [excerpt]

Green Mind Gray Yard: Micro Scale Assessment Of Ecosystem Services, Erin Jolene Kirkpatrick

Dissertations and Theses

There is a spatial mismatch between the size of the area where people are living and the extent of land needed to ecologically support developed areas. More people are living in urban areas than any time in history, and the resources need to support cities have had to expand to try and meet the demands of increasing urban populations. However, areas of opportunity exist for urban areas to begin to positively contribute towards the available resources in a region. Because a large portion of urban areas is within private control, gaining a baseline understanding of how residents interact with ecosystem …

Heritage And Health: A Political-Economic Analysis Of The Foodways Of The Paiute Indian Tribe Of Utah And The Bishop Paiute Tribe, April Hurst Eagan

Dissertations and Theses

Funded by Nellis Air Force Base (NAFB), my thesis research and analysis examined Native American knowledge of heritage foods and how diminished access to food resources has affected Native American identity and health. NAFB manages the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR), land and air space in southern Nevada, which includes Native American ancestral lands. During a research period of 3 months in the spring/summer of 2012, I interviewed members of Native American nations culturally affiliated with ancestral lands on the NTTR, the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah (PITU) and the Bishop Paiute Tribe. My research included participant observation and …

Defining Safety For Universities: The Slippery Conceptual Slope, Pam Jenkins

DRU Workshop 2013 Presentations – Disaster Resistant University Workshop: Linking Mitigation and Resilience

In this presentation, we address the issue of the fragility of campus safety. The uniqueness of a college campus creates a context for safety that requires an intentional and specific understanding. Campus life for many is no longer (or perhaps never was) ‘an ivory tower’— a place separated and protected from the rest of the community. However, many still have the attitude that a campus is not like the real world in the United States. And in fact, colleges and universities are often much safer and more open than communities around them. Yet, ask any student affairs director or safety …

An Examination Of Summer Bridge Programs For First-Generation College Students, Emily Christine Otewalt

Psychology and Child Development

During the last fifty years, nearly half of all students who entered a two- or four-year university withdrew without obtaining a degree. Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnic minority students, and students who were the first in their family to attend college were particularly vulnerable to this attrition. The following senior project examines current research on the backgrounds and attrition rates of first-generation college students, how "Summer Bridge Programs" aim to assist these students, and where shortcoming exist in current "Summer Bridge Program" assessments.

Urban Forest Justice And The Rights To Wild Foods, Medicines, And Materials In The City, Melissa R. Poe, Rebecca J. Mclain, Marla R. Emery, Patrick T. Hurley

Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Urban forests are multifunctional socio-ecological landscapes, yet some of their social benefits remain poorly understood. This paper draws on ethnographic evidence from Seattle, Washington to demonstrate that urban forests contain nontimber forest products that contribute a variety of wild foods, medicines, and materials for the well-being of urban residents. We show that gathering wild plants and fungi in urban forests is a persistent subsistence and livelihood practice that provides sociocultural and material benefits to city residents, and creates opportunities for connecting with nature and enhancing social ties. We suggest that an orientation toward human-nature interactions in cities that conceptualizes the …