Place and Environment Commons^™

Desalination And Development: Locating The Missing Masses In Dakar’S Water Network, Marina Riad

Scripps Senior Theses

The introduction of desalination technology to the water network in Dakar, Senegal marks a monumental change in how state and commercial interests aim to solve systemic problems using novel technologies. Desalination aims to transform the ocean surrounding Dakar into potable water, a vital resource in the growing metropolis. However, this desalination project must integrate itself within a network of social, historical, political, commercial, and ecological influences shaping the role of desalination in urban Dakar. With millions of dollars and an entire ocean mobilized towards solving Dakar’s water problems, it may come as a surprise that this project will only provide …

Toward A Reconceptualization Of Gentrification: Assessing Neighborhood Variation By Socioeconomic And Economic Processes, Annette M. Mackay

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The core conceptualization of gentrification is social class ascension. Researchers and the public have often disagreed about how, when, where, and why gentrification occurs. When there is agreement, researchers often add specifications, such as displacement, that further confuse the concept. Reasons for the confusion include non-integrating theoretical dimensions, methods that assume independent effects, and the context of place. The objective of this study is to conceptualize gentrification in a case study city using two key dimensions, socioeconomic and economic processes, in a spatial context. Using principal component analysis to identify the latent constructs that account for change in Pittsburgh, PA, …

Retention And Persistence Of Low-Income, First-Generation Rural College Students From West Virginia, Rachel D. Nieman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A considerable body of research demonstrates that first-generation college students face greater obstacles to college retention, persistence and completion compared to their non-first-generation counterparts. However, the extant literature rarely explores rurality as a salient factor to understand these challenges. Even less visible in the literature are the experiences and voices of West Virginians. West Virginia is a predominantly rural state and ranks 49^th in the nation in terms of educational attainment, with only 19.6% of residents over the age of 25 having earned at least a bachelor’s degree. While rural areas may experience multifaceted struggles, the educational attainment of …

Reading Group As Method For Feminist Environmental Humanities, James Gardiner, Hayley Singer, Jennifer Hamilton, Astrida Neimanis, Mindy Blaise

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This article argues that reading groups are a collective field building and research method in Feminist Environmental Humanities, an interdisciplinary scholarly area at the intersections of feminist social justice and environmental concerns. We begin by historicising three Australian Feminist Environmental reading groups (COMPOSTING Feminisms, Eco Feminist Fridays, The Ediths) within a longer feminist tradition, then demonstrate how they respond to declining research funding in the neoliberal university and accelerating ecological crisis. Drawing on survey data, we first thematically code and analyse the results to categorise the groups’ functions and impacts. Departing from more traditional data analysis, we then develop a …

Care Visits: Obligations, Opportunities And Constraints For Vietnamese Grandparent Visitors In Australia, Hien Thi Nguyen, Loretta Baldassar, Raelene Wilding

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In examining the ageing-migration nexus from a Global South perspective, this paper explores the obligations, opportunities and constraints of caregiving performed by Vietnamese grandparent visitors during their sojourns in Australia. Employing a grounded theory approach and care circulation framework, we investigate how grandparent visitors and adult migrant children experience and understand care and ageing in contexts of mobility, including an analysis of how gender, age, socio-economic contexts and culture shape and affect their care norms and practices. The analysis emphasizes the critical contributions that Vietnamese grandparents make to the reproductive labour of their adult migrant children who often face challenges …

Gendered Perceptions Of Climate Change And Agricultural Adaptation Practices: A Systematic Review, A. T. M. Sanaul Haque, Lalit Kumar, Navjot Bhullar

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The present systematic review was undertaken to obtain a detailed understanding of how climate change perceptions and adaptation differ globally by gender and different intersections among the farmers. Findings from 41 studies selected following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol, mostly from Africa and Asia, suggest that climate change perceptions and adaptation are highly contextual and considerably varied by gender and different intersections. Existing gender role, farmers’ age, education, knowledge, marital status, intra-household power structure, religion, social status and ethnicity were intersecting with gender and climate change perception and adaptation. Apart from gender and intersectionality, access …

Integrating Feminist Approaches In Counseling Work With Adult Women, Kristen M. Toole

Adultspan Journal

The scope of ‘women’s issues’ in counseling is an ever-evolving landscape. Recent events such as the reversal of Roe v. Wade and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on women serve as powerful reminders of the necessity of this focus while underscoring a deep-rooted history of oppressive patriarchal structures. Therefore, counselors must remain informed of the unique considerations surrounding adult women in counseling and acquire proficiency in versatile techniques to meet this population’s nuanced needs. This article examines the complexity of contemporary womanhood and explores the fundamentals of Feminist Counseling Theory (FCT), a holistic, multiculturally conscious, social justice theory in counseling. …

Distilling Best Practice Principles For Public Participation In Impact Assessment Follow-Up, Angus Morrison-Saunders, Jos Arts, Jenny Pope, Alan Bond, Francois Retief

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Building upon principles for public engagement and for impact assessment (IA) follow-up, this paper distils best practice principles specific to public participation in IA follow-up. Literature review, followed by a simple survey distributed to IA follow-up and/or public engagement practitioners, helped identify key principles and related published sources. Twelve principles for public participation in IA follow-up are presented, which relate to (1) mandatory public reporting, (2) ease of access to published material, (3) full transparency, (4) clarity about the IA follow-up process, (5) input to decision-making, (6) continuous access to IA follow-up activities and feedback, (7) independent verification, (8) two-way …

Protective Indigenous Collective Value Of Ubuntu And Child Neglect: Implications For Rural Child Protection Practice, Alhassan Abdullah, Hajara Bentum, Margarita Frederico, Felix Mensah, Lucy P. Jordan, Clifton R. Emery

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Theories on collective efficacy and social support suggest that indigenous values that support collective practices and sanction community obligations to childcare would be protective against child neglect. Likewise, new qualitative findings show that collective values are stronger in rural areas than in urban. This study tested the claims that the value of Ubuntu, which is a symbolic cultural value of ‘being for others’, will be protective against the likelihood of neglect; this relationship will be stronger in rural compared with urban communities in Ghana. Using data obtained from a nationally representative sample of 1100 mothers (from 22 communities) in Ghana, …

Feeling And Hearing Country As Research Method, Anne Poelina, Marlikka Perdrisat, Sandra Wooltorton, Edwin L. Mulligan

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper explains Feeling and Hearing Country as an Australian Indigenous practice whereby water is life, Country is responsive, and Elders generate wisdom for a communicative order of things. The authors ask, as a society of Indigenous people and those no longer Indigenous to place, can we walk together in the task of collectively healing Country? The research method uses experiential, creative, propositional, and practical ways of knowing and being in and with local places. Evidence may take many forms based upon engagement with an animate, sentient world. The research method can generate new meanings, implications and insights, and regenerate …

“The Ice Is Melting And I Don’T Want Santa To Drown!”: Reflections On Childhood, Climate Action, And Futurity, Lucy Hopkins

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper’s reading of a specific cultural artifact to emerge from children’s climate activism in contemporary Australia enacts an argument that children themselves can be seen to be redefining childhood and futurity through their climate activism and demonstrates how their placards are evidence of this. It argues that we as critical childhood scholars can follow their lead by uncovering the discourses that underpin their activist slogans. In doing so, we can set about contesting the limiting and disempowering discourses of childhood that would dismiss the very idea of children as political participants in the fight to save the planet.

Climate Change As A Social Determinant Of Health: An Interactive Case-Based Learning Activity, Arindam Sarkar, Nital P Appelbaum, Rathi Asaithambi, Connie Tran, Doris Lin, Anjali Aggarwal, Stephanie Nguyen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

INTRODUCTION: Despite consensus on climate change's impact on humans, medical schools have not widely adopted inclusion of environmental topics into their mandatory curriculum. This educational activity explicitly addresses climate change as one of the environmental determinants of health (EDH).

METHODS: We developed a required, 1-hour module for all first-year medical students. This interactive, case-based, small-group activity was incorporated into a curriculum within an advising program but could be run independently. Before and after the session, participants completed evaluations assessing knowledge gains and attitude shifts.

RESULTS: Of 183 first-year students, 155 completed both pre- and postmodule surveys. Participants' rating increased on …

Raj Karega Khalsa! - The Evolution Of The Sikh Identity, Vineet Mehmi

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Generally, religion has served as a method of creating a unique identity and history for many groups across history. This concept is especially true for the Sikh community, to the point that they have carved their own niche across the different places they inhabit in the world, whether that be their homeland of Panjab or their extensive population in places like Canada or the United Kingdom. However, this expansion and development of their culture did not come without a cost, formed through countless battles, martyrdom, and revolutions. Chardi Kala, a foundational idea in Sikhi that refers to eternal optimism even …

Energy Efficiency Retrofit And Decarbonization Of Old And Historic Buildings In California, Daria Nikolaeva

Master's Projects and Capstones

Buildings are responsible for almost 40% of total global greenhouse gas emissions and the retrofitting of existing buildings is an essential part of solving the problem. About 75% of buildings in Californian were constructed before the first energy-efficiency building code was adopted in 1978. Old buildings are inefficient, responsible for large carbon footprints and must be retrofitted to stay on track with the state's climate targets. However, current policies do not require substantial changes and tend to favor historic preservation over energy efficiency, missing improvement opportunities. Recognizing the significance of carbon intensity, the 2019 California Energy Efficiency Action Plan shifted …

25 Years Of Garage Review – Music Documentary Falls Prey To The Same Mistakes That Killed The Scene, Monique Charles

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

"A host of veterans from the heyday of the UK’s garage scene (including Heartless Crew, Dane Bowers and members of So Solid Crew) star in 25 Years of Garage, a new documentary co-directed by former promoter Terry Stone.

As an academic who specialises in Black music and advocates for its serious intellectual study, I find it encouraging to see active members of the garage scene documenting the culture.

UK garage was a genre of electronic dance music, which peaked between the late 1990s and early 2000s. Incorporating elements of R&B, jungle and pop, its sound was marked by pitch-shifted vocal …

School Standard, Adrian Montenegro

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Neglecting the importance of student education only serves to decrease the morale amongst students. These new implementations are only reminders of the danger present in today’s schools. Unfortunately, communities are never the same after a tragedy, impacting generations to come. Why are students still being punished after the tragedies.

“It’S Getting Hot In Here”: Climate Change And Tensions Surrounding Environmental Injustice For Minority And Low-Income Communities, Symone Gaskin

Symposium of Student Scholars

Our current climate crisis presents the perfect opportunity to address other social ills that reflect environmental injustice. The purpose of this research was to explore if, when, and how climate change disproportionately impacts minority communities. A thematic analysis was developed through the creation of a literature review matrix comprised of twenty academic and practitioner articles. This thematic analysis uncovered four key themes: implications in the workplace, the housing market, the economy, and the standard of health. Consequently, confirming the disenfranchisement of marginalized groups in relation to the environment, this research uncovered the long-lasting effects of systemic racism as an important …

Chinese Celebrities’ Political Signaling On Weibo, Dan Chen, Gengsong Gao

Political Science Faculty Publications

In China, celebrities can dominate public discourse and shape popular culture, but they are under the state’s close gaze. Recent studies have revealed how the state disciplines and co-opts celebrities to promote patriotism, foster traditional values, and spread political propaganda. However, how do celebrities adapt to the changing political environment? Focusing on political signaling on Weibo, we analyze a novel dataset and find that the vast majority of top celebrities repost from official accounts of government agencies and state media outlets, though there are variations. Younger celebrities with more followers tend to repost from official accounts more. Celebrities from Taiwan …

Without Indigenous Leadership, Attempt To Stop The Tide Of Destruction Against Nature Will Fail, Zsofia Korossy, Anthony Burke, Robinson Daniel, Katie Moon, Michelle Mei Ling Lim, Miri Raven

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

At the crucial COP15 nature summit in Canada, almost 200 countries are reckoning with the world’s extraordinary loss of the variety of life. Climate change, mining, urban development and more are threatening Earth’s biodiversity to an extent never before witnessed in human history. The conference will see countries negotiate a global 2030 plan, called the Global Biodiversity Framework, to set worldwide targets for a range of issues, from establishing national parks to habitat destruction. The framework will hopefully be delivered by next Monday (19 December).

Criterion Validity Of A Short Food Frequency Questionnaire For Mexican American Adults, Natalia I Heredia, Deanna M Hoelscher, Vanessa Vega, Belinda M Reininger

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: The purpose of this study was to validate the School Physical Activity and Nutrition (SPAN) Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) for Mexican American adults (SPAN MAA). Methods: A sample of 100 Mexican American adult participants was drawn from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort (on the Texas–Mexico border). We used Spearman rank order correlation coefficients, kappa statistics, and percent agreement to compare the SPAN MAA questionnaire to a 24 h recall collected on the same day. Results: Of 100 participants, 93 were included in the analyses. One item showed substantial (>0.6), five items moderate (>0.4), five items fair ( …