Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
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Item Power and perils of partnership: a lifecycles approach to understanding barriers to data use in Montana volunteer water monitoring programs(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Bean, Liam Francis; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Sarah P. ChurchAs socionatural systems become more unpredictable due to increased anthropogenic interference, the need for responsive data-driven governance is apparent. However, there is a repeated assertion that public trust in science and the scientific process is eroding. Public participation in scientific research, or citizen science, is often seen as a pathway to rebuilding public trust in data collection and analysis while also being an effective cost-cutting measure as research funding becomes more and more difficult to secure. I developed case studies of five different volunteer water monitoring programs from across the state of Montana. Each case was primarily constructed from semi-structured interviews with various volunteers, program managers, and decision-makers. These cases explore how trust in volunteer water quality data was generated across stakeholder groups and if, and how, volunteer collected data are used in local governance processes. To explore the relationship between different volunteers, program managers, tributaries, monitoring equipment, and decision-makers, an approach inspired by actor network theory was adopted during the analysis. The five cases all had key parallels in their histories and while each case was distinct, all five seemed to pass through similar phases I describe as a generalized lifecycle. The four key phases of this lifecycle were: 1) an inciting incident, 2) enrollment of allies, 3) re-enrollment of allies, and 4) program evaluation. The second and third phases were key to understanding how data produced by volunteers would eventually be used. When programs enrolled alongside state actors like the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, volunteers and local community members saw decision-making processes as more legitimate, and volunteer water monitoring programs had a direct route to having their data used. However, the process of being enrolled alongside a different monitoring program or state agency created a problem with the salience of volunteer collected data, often making it less reflexive to community needs and less used in local governance processes. In addition, regular re-enrollment with new agencies, partners, and monitoring efforts allowed many programs to secure funding and paths to data use but hampered their ability to produce datasets for long-term trend analysis.Item Reading a novel in middle school science: the impact of socioscientific issues(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2021) Dobkins, Susie Ellen; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisThis study was conducted at Eileen Johnson Middle School, a 6-8 public middle school with about 400 students located in Billings, Montana. Since the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, schools have been under increased scrutiny to raise their student test scores in reading and math. Many schools have begun taking away students' science, social studies, and elective courses if they are testing below average in reading and/or math and placing them in an additional reading and/or math intervention course. This study aimed to see if incorporating a novel in a seventh-grade life science class could have a positive impact on students' enjoyment of reading, science content understanding, build 21st century skills such as perspective-taking and global-mindedness, as well as increase students understanding of socioscientific issues. Students were given a pre and post survey before beginning their Traits and Reproduction Unit. Students read between five to eight pages of the book per day at the beginning of class. The class then discussed what had occurred during that section and the discussion flowed wherever students wanted it to. Students in the treatment group showed a medium normalized gain in science content understanding whereas students in the non-treatment group showed a low normalized gain. Students showed a 75% increase in the answer response that showed an understanding of socioscientific issues, empathy, and a desire to be the scientist who cures malaria. Students showed an overall increase in responses that related to socioscientific issues such as who owns scientific information. Students who read the book had a large increase in seeing reading as useful in science. This study showed larger normalized gains in science content knowledge for the treatment group than the non-treatment group meaning reading a book on socioscientific issues could have helped students understand science content information. It also showed an increase in students understanding of socioscientific issues and global mindedness. In addition, students who read the book had an overwhelming increase in ability to see reading in science as useful in building their knowledge about the world and understanding of science content.Item Manifest Americans: the modern-day appropriation of the agrarian myth(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Robinson, Tonya Renee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Susan KollinIn 'Manifest Americans,' I examine the modern-day appropriation of the agrarian myth under neoliberalism and associated sheltering of systemic marginalization and health and environmental hazards. I argue persistent agrarianism rhetoric, perverted by neoliberal realities and devices, lies at the core of these problems. Specific to this neoliberal moment, my conception of neoyeomanship encapsulates the embrace of classic yeomanship dogma and modern neoliberal doctrine towards the realization of Manifest Americans as idealized persons(products) of the agrarian myth--created in the minds of republican agrarians, propelled forward by Manifest Destiny, and consolidated through white settlement and cultivation of stolen Native lands. Manifest Americans believe themselves the backbone of American society and the embodiment of democracy. Neoyeomen as Manifest Americans are the neoliberal reification of the nation's most American Americans. This project also presents a new framework for analyzing the neoliberalization of American society and culture, with emphasis on impacts to agrarian(rural) people and spaces. Specifically, I explore neoliberal cultural production through cultural products which work to either appease or disrupt the agrarian metanarrative in modern society. To accomplish this, I bring together cultural studies and ecocritical approaches as methodology for cultural criticism, with additional consideration of affect theory and nostalgia criticism to read the agrarian myth in this neoliberal age. I also introduce my concept of perverse nostalgia. Perverse nostalgia explains how simple nostalgia, which normally works to mitigate disruptions in meeting core human needs, becomes perverted by neoliberal realities, which in turn creates discontinuity and exacerbates existential fears, resultantly triggering perverse nostalgia for an idealized(mythical) past--an America made great again. 'Manifest Americans' also expands myth criticism. Their overt exceptionalist associations notwithstanding, enduring American myths play a crucial role in projecting, informing, and affirming dominant modern-day ideologies and identity(ies). Far from being mired in history, American myths are well-evidenced in modern society and help us to understand and explain the nation's complex ideologies and longings for an idealized(mythical) past. This is particularly true concerning the agrarian myth, which has largely evaded criticism and condemnation. The agrarian myth is alive and well in neoliberal America--and hides a multitude of sins.Item Hybrid objects(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2021) Figueroa, Casey Curran; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jim Zimpel and Walter Fleming (co-chair)What follows is an exploration of praxis in Studio Art informed by research and application of methodologies and paradigms found within Indigenous culture. By examining the roles of Relationality, Sovereignty, and Positionality found in Native American Studies, and applied in conjunction with the methods found in Contemporary Art, insight can be gained into how art and culture responds to contemporary circumstances and future changes, as well as how this can provide value to the fields of Native American Studies and contemporary art.Item Yellowstone National Park & the winter use debate: community resilience and tourism impacts in the gateway community of West Yellowstone, MT(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2016) Hamming, Carl Alan; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Julia Hobson Haggerty; Julia H. Haggerty, Ray Rasker and William Wyckoff were co-authors of the article, 'Community resilience in a tourist town' submitted to the journal 'Annals of Tourism Research' which is contained within this thesis.This study explores the socioeconomic impacts of the National Park Service's winter use management of Yellowstone National Park on the gateway community of West Yellowstone, Montana. As a highly specialized, tourism-dependent gateway community, the National Park Service's management decisions that affect park visitation also impact the economic viability of West Yellowstone. Previously, scholars have documented the challenges presented by tourism economies and 'resortification' in small communities, the process of a small town being converted into a resort destination with numerous vacation properties, increasing absentee business ownership, a highly seasonal economy and escalating real estate prices. Less is known about how the challenges of resortification and industrial tourism interact with the dimensions of community resilience within a gateway community. Community resilience exists as a mechanism for rural and remote communities to identify vulnerabilities, buffer change, develop resources and promote local progress during periods of uncertainty and stress. This paper explores how the snowmobiling restrictions and winter use management of Yellowstone National Park impacted the community resilience of the tourism-dependent gateway community of West Yellowstone. The debate over winter use management and snowmobiling restrictions in Yellowstone National Park drained the community resources of West Yellowstone and negatively impacted the economic viability of local wintertime businesses. Consequently, challenges of resortification intensified and diminished several dimensions of West Yellowstone's community resilience. The mixed methods approach provides insight to how West Yellowstone's social and economic well-being have been affected since the snowmobiling restrictions were implemented and how the tourism landscape of the entire Yellowstone region has changed. The case study of West Yellowstone contributes knowledge of the economics of gateway communities, the implications of federal land management decisions, and the community resilience of tourism-dependent, gateway towns.Item A survey of the teaching of sociology in the state of Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1970) Landa, Vida StoutItem Weathering Montana : the social meanings of extreme environments in the Big Sky(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2002) Conradt, Kevin; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Mary MurphyHistorians have largely ignored the influence of weather and climate on people. In Montana, this has certainly been the case. In a state where meteorological stability is ephemeral, society is consistently challenged by the extreme nature of Montana’s environment. In my thesis I argue that the term weather, which is a social construction, is flawed for assessing Montana’s meteorological instability because it relies on a methodology that sees temperature and precipitation in average or normal conditions. I also argue that the extreme nature of Montana’s environment has helped to shape the societal infrastructure of the state, which has in turn strengthened the Treasure State’s historical narrative. This nascent methodology requires a comprehensive understanding of meteorology from a state, regional, and global perspective. The combination of latitude, atmospheric circulation, land-water distribution, and topography act in concert to create the variability associated with Montana’s natural environment. From a societal perspective I have relied on a combination of primary and secondary source information to interpret the perceptions of people and their relationship to Montana’s natural environment. The human journey in Montana has historically been influenced by the severe nature of the state’s weather and climate. From Native Americans to Euro-Americans, evidence of societal development in Montana, especially in agrarian enterprises, indicates that the construction of place has been largely influenced by the meteorological variability of Montana’s natural environment. As long as Montana’s natural environment continues to be influenced by meteorological instability, people will continue to challenge themselves against an environment of extremes. My hope is that future scholars interpreting the bond between people and weather will help to strengthen the methodology linking human beings with their nature environment.Item The emerging Hispanic homeland of the Pacific Northwest : a case study of Yakima Valley, Washington(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2006) Darian, Laurie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jian-yi LiuThe transition of spaces and places by the increasing number of Hispanics in the United States is a topic of growing importance in cultural geography. The degree to which Hispanics integrate, or assimilate, into Anglo culture plays a vital role in such transformations. This research examines the different avenues of Hispanic assimilation and non-assimilation in the Lower Yakima Valley in Washington State. These avenues consist of economic, structural, cultural, and spatial assimilation, as well as the Hispanic representation in the cultural landscape. Fieldwork in the Valley, combined with census data from the last two decades suggests that Hispanics are assimilating into Anglo culture structurally, spatially, and economically, but not culturally. Due to the fact that this area is majority Hispanic, the maintenance of this culture has a distinct impact on the cultural landscape, as well as the Anglo population. By defying the traditional model of assimilation, a new Hispanic homeland is emerging in the Pacific Northwest. Mexicans in the Valley have created a place that, in their own words, "feels like home." The schools and businesses in these communities are faced with unique challenges, the solutions to which differ greatly from places where Hispanics are a minority. As the geographic distribution of Hispanics continues to change, it is likely that other communities will experience transformations similar to those in the Yakima Valley. This research serves to add to the growing literature aimed at benefiting such places.Item Entropy and Architecture : entropic phenomena actuating dynamic space(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2008) Bernier, Jobe Paul; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: John Brittingham; Christopher Livingston (co-chair)Accepting the second law of thermodynamics indicates that any energy source is not infinite. At the event fossil fuel reserves in Alaska are depleted, the massive infrastructure supporting fossil fuel extraction-including 800 miles of pipeline-is assumed to be obsolete. This thesis endeavors to acknowledge the Pipeline's relationship to energy transfer and create a future plan of adaptive reuse. This thesis exposes processes of energy transfer or entropy. It acknowledges environmental entropy and utilizes observable phenomena of global warming within Alaska. It argues that since physical systems are universally subject to entropy, and ideal systems are connected to physical systems, ideal systems are as subject to entropy as physical systems. The exposé of these entropic values occur in a design of an experiential space at the southern most marine terminal of the existing system. It demonstrates the experience of social entropy through spatial configurations affecting communication; it informs a hidden nature of fuel as commodity. Additionally, it exposes environmental entropy by connecting dynamic spatial changes in Valdez to measurable triggers along the Pipeline's corridor.