Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Alone in the West with a portrait of art history(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2024) Krause, Nicholas O'Brien; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Rollin BeamishHow do we find our place in the historical narrative of art on the vast continuum of human creativity? Art is a reflection and director of culture that embodies historic movements and fundamental principles that enable us to see a continuity and a relationship to humanity over the centuries. To understand our place in the historical canon we must reflect on the past to evaluate our current situation. We draw from the past to inform our understanding of art and culture to take responsibility for the direction of art in the future. To do this we must find a relationship to the aesthetics of historical, cultural movements and investigate the ideas and processes of different ages, to see how we can relate to them, and figure out how to represent the expanding collection of culture and art going forward.Item Hold fast: cultural resilience in the face of climate change(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2024) LaCalle, John Christian; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Hugo R. SindelarThe Cajun Prairie of South Louisiana offers a distinctive lens through which to view the resilience, spirit, identity, and culture of a regional community that is under threat by the impacts of climate change and unsustainable development. Hold Fast explores and captures these struggles using documentary storytelling techniques through the lens of an emblematic subculture in southwest Louisiana in the McNeese State University Rodeo Team. The film presents the challenges of living within a changing climate as the team rebuilds after Hurricane Laura ravaged southwest Louisiana and uprooted their lives in 2020. The short film showcases that in a time of upheaval and widespread displacement, strong cultural identity becomes critical to a community's ability to rebound after disaster. By highlighting the McNeese Rodeo team's journey against the backdrop of Cajun Prairie's challenges, this project seeks to illuminate the interconnectedness of human and environmental stories, showcasing the unwavering spirit of the Cajun community.Item Covid-19 response and recovery by tribes and urban Indian organizations in Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2024) Sorrell, Anna Whiting; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Alexandra K. Adams; This is a manuscript style paper that includes co-authored chapters.Research shows American Indians and Alaska Natives' resilience when they are connected to cultural lifeways, beliefs, and in relationship with families, their communities, and Tribes. It aids in traumatic times. This was true during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, it still disproportionally affected AIANs in the number of cases, hospitalizations, stays in intensive care units, deaths, and at younger ages than non-Hispanic Whites. This unequal impact of COVID-19 may be explained using the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's social determinants of health, but also raises doubt on the accuracy and thoroughness of data collected for AIANs. Additionally, when Tribes and urban Indian organizations responded to meet the needs of their members and communities, there were positive outcomes. This dissertation shows lessons learned in the response and recovery led by Tribes and Urban Indian Organizations, while successful, may have been improved if their actions were guided by a Tribal or UIO specific, comprehensive emergency preparedness plan. The literature review is a comprehensive examination of available reports, newspaper stories, and journal articles. It found there are gaps in available data that is tribal or UIO specific that has confidence of accuracy and cultural appropriateness as determined by Indigenous researchers. The co-authored manuscript focuses on the social, mental, physical, and spiritual impact COVID-19 had on one Native American and one Hispanic community. While the findings of the study revealed the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic on each of these qualities, there were positive realization about resilience and adaptability. The third dissertation product builds on the findings of the first two products and interviews from two Tribes and one UIO to create an Indigenous strategic planning process for Tribes and UIOs to use when they develop their own emergency preparedness plan to guide their response to the next emergency, crisis, or pandemic. These plans must be written by the Tribe or UIO and incorporate tribal lifeways, beliefs, and values, and shared with key stakeholders. Collectively, the three dissertation products affirm Indigenous leadership is fully capable of directing Tribes and UIOs recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and set plans to prepare for the next emergent event.Item Relationship between social support and substance use among American Indian people with substance use disorder(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Neavill, Morgan Eva; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Monica SkewesAmerican Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) have endured trauma over generations and still experience systemic racism and oppression today. Historical trauma has contributed to health problems among AI/ANs, including high rates of substance use disorder. Social support is a protective factor for substance use in other populations; however, little is known about the role of social support and substance use in AI/AN communities. The current study employed secondary data analysis to understand the relationship between social support and substance use among AI/AN adults with substance use disorder. Using a Community-Based Participatory Research framework, a cross-sectional survey was conducted in partnership with an AI reservation community in Montana to examine risk and protective factors for substance use. Participants were 198 tribal members who self-identified as having a substance use problem. Social network characteristics were assessed using a modified version of the Important People Drug and Alcohol (IPDA) interview and substance use was assessed using the Timeline Followback. Consistent with previous research, the current study found that network substance use behavior was a better predictor of participant substance use outcomes than general support, substance specific support, or support for recovery/treatment. Variables associated with greater drug and alcohol abstinence among participants included living in larger household, having a greater percentage of the household that is sober, not having attended boarding school, having a larger percentage of the social network that does not accept one's substance use, having a smaller percentage of the social network rated as moderate or heavy substance users, and having a smaller percentage of the social network that uses substances frequently. An additional analysis was conducted to test whether the association between social support and participant substance use was moderated by the substance use behavior of the network, but the interaction was not significant. Contrary to prior research, the size, general supportiveness, and importance of the social network were not significantly associated with participant substance use. Results suggest that the IPDA may benefit from modifications to improve its usefulness in addiction research with AI/ANs. Implications for tribal members with substance use problems, their loved ones, and community leaders are discussed.Item Cultivating legitimacy: how the Julio-Claudians used their Trans-Tiberum Horti to secure dynastic power(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2023) Jacobs, Erin Elizabeth; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Regina GeeThis paper will argue how the Julio-Claudians, then later the Flavian and early 2nd- century emperors, used the Trans-Tiberum imperial horti as sites for cultivating greater statues for themselves in several ways. These emperors had to navigate a unique challenge in terms of their leadership status. Emperors could not be kings nor gods outright, and they had to maintain the pre-established "traditions of the ancestors," which affected nearly every aspect of Roman everyday life and could not be openly changed. This meant that the first emperors, the Julio- Claudians, were on unsteady terrain in terms of how to establish and exercise their authority over the Roman people in life, and how they could ensure they would be well-remembered after death. While Emperor Augustus, the first Julio-Claudian emperor, established the tradition of using built monuments and topographical associations to achieve these goals, overtime, as the position of the emperor became more firmly established, subsequent Julio-Claudian emperors needed to come up with new, but equally subtle, strategies in order to assert their status, authority, and legacy. In addition to their locations near important sites, the Julio-Claudians, and then later emperors, had more freedom and ability within these imperial horti, that they owned, to more easily invoke numerous Republican-era traditions that subtly allowed them associations with figures or beings of great power. This paper will demonstrate, through various mediums of evidence, how these imperial horti were convergences of pleasure gardens and sacred groves in that they drew upon copious traditions associated with these spaces, as well as demonstrate how other Republican-era traditions concerning fluidity or strictness of boundaries, public and private spaces, topographical associations, symbolism in built forms, environmental manipulation, and controlled public reception were applied to these horti. All of these factors will demonstrate how these imperial horti were unique "stages" in which the emperors could perform suggestive transformations in order to try and wedge closer to a higher status, thus creating unique opportunities to legitimize the status of the emperor in numerous ways that could not be achieved through the use of any other single type of space in the Roman world.Item The impact of United States policy on Apsaalooke education(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2023) Real Bird-Amyotte, Rana M.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: William Ruff; Christine Rogers Stanton (co-chair)This dissertation focused on the perceptions of Apsaalooke (Crow) elders, descendants who experienced first-hand the trauma of the boarding school era. Apsaalooke is used throughout this paper when indicating ancestral peoples and experiences, while Crow is used in modern context. By sharing the Apsaalooke history, culture, personal experiences, and background knowledge we can better understand the survival of the culture and the Apsaalooke language. The research questions guiding this study are (1) How do Apsaalooke Elders perceive the impact of U.S. educational policies enacted between 1819 to 1934? And (2) What shared assumptions do Apsaalooke Elders perceive as essential for helping their children overcome contemporary cultural challenges? Six Apsaalooke enrolled tribal members participated in the study. From their interviews three main themes emerged: (1) generational trauma, (2) generational oppression, and (3) mistrust. The Apsaalooke elders voiced their frustration regarding the loss of land due to the negative impact it had on the Apsaalooke culture. Some families' lifestyles impacted their children's life at home and outside of the home creating a detrimental effect the learning of the Apsaalooke language and the cultural ways. The concern and hope of the Apsaalooke language and culture may not be lost as there remains hope for the younger generations to learn and speak the Apsaalooke language. The elders believed the Apsaalooke people are carrying the traumas of their ancestors, grandparents, and parents as well as their own trauma. The impact of generational trauma is loss of land, hunger, language cultural loss, broken Apsaalooke family units, and cultural extinction. Talking about the past hurts invites this hurt back into their lives. So, they move on wanting to live peacefully. The Apsaalooke elders all agreed education is a key component for their children to succeed and Apsaalooke tribal leaders need to address these issues by offering their support to help the younger generations. This was a major concern for all participants. An essential part of the preservation effort is conveying to the next generation the life their ancestors lived and the changes they survived; thus, facilitating Apsaalooke education's evolution for a new time in history.Item Gichi Bizhiki (Grandfather Buffalo): Anishinaabe sovereignty, the seasonal round, and resistance to the colonization of the web of life, 1780-1890(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2021) Ramaker, Jill Falcon; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Mary MurphyGichi Bizhiki (Grandfather Buffalo): Anishinaabe Sovereignty, the Seasonal Round, and Resistance to the Colonization of the Web of Life is an Indigenous environmental history of the years 1780 through 1890, in which many Anishinaabeg departed the wild rice- centered food system and fanned out across the Northwestern Plains from the Red River Valley to the Rocky Mountains, as they adapted to buffalo culture. The Anishinaabeg practiced the seasonal round, a highly complex pattern of movements on the land to hunt, harvest, cultivate, and trade foods as part of a holistic way of life, patterned on ancestral reciprocal obligations to place. From the 1600s forward, Euro-American colonizers, in support of industrial and capital development in Europe and eastern North America, extracted natural resources from Turtle Island including animal furs and robes, minerals, forests, and overtook land for monocropping. Euro-American colonization of the web of life to which Anishinaabe people belonged rendered the Anishinaabe seasonal round way of life unsustainable. Further, colonial policies attempted to suppress all aspects of Anishinaabe life including language, knowledge, and spiritual life. In response to colonial persecution, Anishinaabeg 'ran with the archives,' (their ceremonies) as it was unsafe for their children to be identified as Anishinaabeg. Following Anishinaabe western movement, this study tells the story of how Anishinaabe resisted colonization. Research methods included drawing on archival sources from Canada and the United States, and culturally-congruent sources including ceremony, traditional stories, ancestral knowledge of cultural leaders, language, and time spent on the land. This history is presented as one Indigenous view contributing to the field of History. This dissertation concludes that Grandfather Buffalo, the one that has stood for Anishinaabeg and their kin for millennia, is a central source of Anishinaabe sovereignty and the center of the Anishinaabe economy, the kinship network of exchange. Further, the Anishinaabe food system, the seasonal round, was sustainable for millennia because it was critically embedded in the holistic Anishinaabe way of life. Worldview is an essential factor in lifeway sustainability. Finally, by their words, deeds, and movement, Anishinaabeg resisted colonization of the web of life, or what Anishinaabeg refer to as 'all our relations'.Item Real Indians making real art: how indigenous artists struggle for creative sovereignty and identity in the contemporary art world and market(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2021) Aspensen, Ceilon Hall; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter FlemingThe problem presented is that Indigenous artists have been excluded from mainstream art venues and limited to exhibition in museums that only include collections of Indigenous art primarily limited to the pre-1890s era. Not having Native American artists' work regularly on display in contemporary art museums makes a powerful statement about the validity of contemporary Indigeneous art. This also limits the ability of Indigenous artists to exercise sovereignty over their own work and careers, by limiting their access to mainstream exhibition venues. Many modern Indigenous artists have found their work not taken seriously because of their ethnic identity and the expectations of the field of reception concerning the style of Native American art. Some contemporary Indigenous artists struggle to make a living creating the kind of art they choose to make, despite the general popularity of their work, because of these expectations. Limitations on marketability come from the modern art market itself and collectors who think of Indigenous art from an erroneous definition of 'traditional,' or from local tribal pressures to create only art that preserves the traditional culture of the tribe. The methods employed in this study were two-fold: an investigation of museum practices and available literature on contemporary Indigenous art, and interviews with eleven indigenous artists which served as case studies, employing a central tenet of CRT (Critical Race Theory) by which BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color) people are able to tell their own stories. The results of this investigation are the identification, and legitimization of contemporary indigenous art by Indigenous artists residing in the northern plains, through legal definitions, cultural and ethnic identities, individual artistic identities, and traditional and contemporary art production practices. It also explores how genealogies of concepts as they relate to indigneous art, as well as cultural reception, contribute to diffusing theories of art history where indigenous art is concerned. The author demonstrates and concludes through the findings of this study that the work of modern Indigenous artists qualifies as contemporary art by any definition, and that style is irrelevant when making that determination.Item A study of organizational culture in a business college using the competing values framework(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2022) Sybesma, Tessa Ann; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Durward K. Sobek IIOrganizational effectiveness within academia is an important area of study given the unique benefit institutions of higher education provide. Though many factors contribute to effectiveness, prior research has empirically tied organizational culture to effectiveness within academia. This study explores the current state and preferred future state cultures of an academic college within a research university, using the Competing Values Framework. Organizational culture and subcultures were measured using the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument, the results of which were explored in more depth using interviews to provide context. The findings revealed that the college has a non-congruent balanced clan and hierarchy type culture and that participants, on average, prefer to transition to a congruent balanced clan type culture by increasing the prevalence of clan and adhocracy characteristics and decreasing the prevalence of hierarchy characteristics. The college can make this shift by building on an existing friendly and caring attitude; bridging group separations by increasing trust, openness, and collaboration; moving away from a work-to-rule culture by creating more mutual support and focusing on student support; and by removing barriers to innovation and increasing the organization's ability to evolve. Though there was general agreement on desired cultural direction, the study also identified several subgroup differences among genders, roles, options, and seniority levels. From these insights, contextually-relevant intervention ideas were generated to support cultural shifts toward clan and adhocracy characteristics -- the two cultural types most associated with effectiveness within academia. The study demonstrates how a mixed methods approach to the Competing Values Framework can be usefully employed to understand cultural complexities within an academic context and support the effective management of the organization.Item Roadkill and wildflowers: land-based approaches to settler naturalization(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Zimmerer, Jacob Thomas; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Kristin T. RuppelSettler-colonialism is the process of severing relationships between people and the land. This ongoing process displaces well-established kinship networks between Indigenous communities and their other-than-human relatives, replacing them with systems of exploitation, settlers, and foreign ecologies. Decolonization, the philosophical counterpart to settler-colonialism, relies on the mending of relationships. This project explores the larger project of decolonization from a settler point-of-view and examines the complexities of navigating a colonial context not entirely of our own making. Settler cultures fail to adequately situate people within the ecosystems of the places they now live, and the ecological and social consequences of this failure have been catastrophic. This piece explores the philosophical underpinnings of settler cultures, provides settler-colonial context, and examines the intersections of colonialism, culture, land, food, and conservation. I propose settler-naturalization as a framework for revitalizing cultures that integrate human communities within ecological systems, and posit that the practices of hunting, scavenging, and foraging are potential pathways towards settler-naturalization. I conclude that there is a need for new stories that embody the concept of naturalization and guide settlers away from narratives of displacement.