Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
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Item Sparks(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2024) Ratliff, Jacqueline Noel; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Hugo R. SindelarExploring a world unknown to some, the short documentary SPARKS invites viewers to view the world of welding through narrative and immersive storytelling. The short documentary demonstrates the impact of one's dream and highlights how even small acts of empowerment can lead to fulfilling endeavors. While making the film, this paper was written to help share specific research, thoughts, and ideas critical to creating the story. In the beginning phases, a detailed logistical outline provided insight into the filmmaker and crew. The research was a pivotal phase; deep diving into subjects and topics portrayed in the film and drawing insights from comparable films aid in illuminating overarching themes and editing styles. For SPARKS, the paper examines the industrial industry of welding and ironwork in the context of female labor. Thus, it identifies holes in employment for female workers in male-dominated careers. Understanding this key fact helped inform this film. The paper explores connections to the broader field of science and natural history documentary filmmaking, emphasizing observational/expository styles and immersive ethnographic experiences in contemporary documentaries. Films (not limited to) like Single Stream, Nuisance Bear, TOM, and Glass were examined. The latter part of the paper explains Brenda Stredwick's (protagonist) and filmmakers' connections while outlining distribution plans involving a festival circuit, educational showings, and free screenings. This paper offers insight into Stredwick's inspiring journey and its broader implications within documentary filmmaking and gender dynamics in the arts.Item From the mountain to the valley: the flows and frictions of commuting in a resort geography(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Otto, Elise Lodge; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Julia Hobson HaggertyThis research examines the commuting experiences of laborers who travel upwards of 60 miles to work in the resort town of Big Sky, Montana, USA. Using semi-structured interviews with commuters and an ethnographic approach, this case study describes the phenomenon of rapid luxury amenity growth with a focus on how on workers experience the commuting burdens of endemic housing shortages. The analysis draws on concepts from resource geography, urban planning, and transportation studies to elucidate the relationship between the spatial footprint of the resort economy, commuting and the subjective well-being of workers. To categorize a wide range of subjective descriptions of the commute, the study offers the framework of flows and frictions. A focus on commuting provides a new way to understand how costs externalized by the resort economy are adapted to, and absorbed by, workers. As wealth inequality continues to create demand for high end tourism and real estate, these results are an important contribution to understanding the associated social and spatial costs that accrue to resort laborers.Item The women's protective union : union women activists in a union town,1890-1929(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2004) Case, Bridgette Dawn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Mary Murphy.Women have organized into representative bodies to fight workplace oppression since the eighteenth century. Often the victims of abuse and exploitation, the positive attributes of collectively organizing were attractive to women. While many working-women found union membership alluring, few held positions of power within unions and many were denied entrance to unions altogether. In Butte, Montana, however it was a different story. Butte was a union town to the very core. Almost everyone who worked in Butte was a union member in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Although initially denied entrance into male trade unions, women took it upon themselves to organize their own womenαs union for white and black women workers in Silver Bow County in 1890. The Womenαs Protective Union founded and run by women, allowed for an organization that was exclusively gender segregated. Women were organizers, business agents, and delegates to the local Silver Bow Trades and Labor Council and Montanaαs State Federation of Labor. The unique attributes of the all womenαs union extend beyond its composition and leadership. By analyzing the WPU in the context of Butteαs labor community, this study attempts to illustrate the activism of the union women. The womenαs union used direct action methods to achieve change for its membership. Through boycotts and strikes, the WPU demonstrated its willingness to participate in the local labor movement. Its activism and membership in the Silver Bow Trades and Labor Council further illustrates the womenαs commitment to the labor community. This study focuses on the early activities of the Womenαs Protective Union and its navigation in the local and state labor movement. It highlights the activities of the womenαs union between the years 1890-1929, including the womenαs efforts to fight amalgamation with the male culinary union and the month long strike for higher wages in 1920. Ultimately successful in its fight against merging with the male culinary union, the WPU maintained gender segregation and emerged from the early twentieth century a cohesive womenαs union.