Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item A black spot on the narcotics map drug policy in twentieth century Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2024) McLain, Kathryn Kohn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Molly ToddThis research examines cycles of drug policy from the federal down to the local level in Montana. I show how drug policy, and the people and organizations that influence that policy, are part of a broader historical and geographical process. If drug use and drug policy are cyclical, as so many policy makers point out, then using a historical methodology to examine them can offer stronger and more nuanced policy analysis. This scholarship is important in understanding past practices to improve our future relationship with drugs in our communities. Specific case studies show the influence of women's clubs on public opinion and policy in Montana in the 1930s. I unpack the long history of methamphetamine leading to the rise of a graphic prevention campaign in Montana at the turn of the twenty-first century. This work addresses the intersections of federal and local drug policies, drawing on professional expertise from my work with the federal government as well as my scholarly research in the field.Item Rainfall and the resettlement of the Pacific Northwest(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Griffis, Corey Lane Rowlett; Co-chairs, Graduate Committee: Catherine Dunlop and Mark FiegeThe Pacific Northwest has a reputation for rainfall. The region's relationship with that reputation is not uniform: some love it, some hate it, some deny that it should even exist. But this reputation -- and the role of rainfall in regional identity and everyday life -- has historical roots. This thesis considers rainfall as a powerful environmental force with profound impacts on the history of the Pacific Northwest. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship, diaries, letters, advertisements, promotional pamphlets, newspaper articles, travelogues, and other primary source documents, this thesis reframes the imperial and colonial history of the Pacific Northwest through the lens of rainfall. I cover the period between 1543 and about 1900. My argument is that rainfall has had visceral, embodied impacts on how Euro-Americans encountered, perceived, and experienced the Pacific Northwest for almost five centuries. Rainfall played a key role in discouraging almost all interest in permanent colonial settlement from 1543 through around 1830, and the rainy season profoundly shaped the rhythms of both the maritime and overland fur trade. Throughout this period, Indigenous knowledge of rainfall formed a point of leverage against imperial power. Beginning in the 1830s, American promoters flipped the script, emphasizing rainfall in narratives of the Northwest's potential as a haven for white agrarianism. Just like early navigators and fur traders, however, settlers struggled to adapt to the rhythms of the rainy season, which created new forms of isolation and inequality. The response of settler society to rainfall's power has been to terraform the environment to try and control how rainfall manifests upon the landscape. As climate change fundamentally alters human-environment entanglements and reinforces structural inequities in how people experience weather and climate, it is also challenging our senses of place, of home. Rather than seeking new ways to dominate our changing environments and insulate ourselves further from the elements, we need to imagine new ways of living with weather and climate that are resilient, equitable, and grounded in the everyday dignities and indignities of being human. By learning to live with rainfall, we can redefine what it means to call the Northwest home.Item American crops for American people: statist agriculture, race, and environment on the Northern Plains(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Chang, Micah TianFong; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Mark FiegeMy dissertation, "American Crops for American People: Statist Agriculture, Race, and Environment on the Northern Great Plains," argues that U.S. federal agronomy and standardized field crop agriculture driven by larger and larger corporate farms eliminated a diversity of ethno-agricultural practices and, ultimately, communities of Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican farmers. During the 20th century, the region was developed to produce massive staple surpluses, accumulate capital, and cement federal and corporate power in this extractive hinterland. Using documents from federal and local agricultural archives, I argue that the USDA and its corresponding outreach organization, the Cooperative Extension Service, defined the archetypal "American" farmer and simultaneously homogenized white European immigrants into American patriots, while ostracizing communities of color that fell outside this definition. Wheat and sugar beets represented an imagined and whitened national agrarian identity on the northern grasslands. While regional case studies on the intersection of agriculture and race exist, my work is the first to posit the consequences of USDA and land grant college agronomic practice as a reason for ethnic and racial homogenization in this part of the country. This scholarship is increasingly important as global agriculture must change and adapt to a warming world. It is my contention that these solutions must at the same time also address the sustainability of diverse peoples and communities that have deep connections to places and lands. If the standardization of crops relied on the homogenization of farmers and agricultural communities, then a more sustainable future must also include peoples that have been left out of myth of rural essentialism in America. I argue that understanding the pivotal moments of American agriculture in the 20th century could point us to a more equitable, diverse, and sustainable future. To accomplish this, I look to the genesis of wheat and sugar beet agronomic and agricultural systems on the Northern Great Plains and their environmental and social development in the late 19th and 20th centuries. My reconceptualization of agricultural history challenges the ideological foundation of a white American heartland mythology, instead revealing that agriculture in this country has always relied on multiethnic bodies and families.Item To hell, heaven, and back again: language, religon, and the varied meanings of Yellowstone(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2024) Taylor, Joshua James; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Mark FiegeThis thesis examines the history of language and Yellowstone National Park from the early nineteenth century through the second decade of the twentieth century. I examine how the language used to describe Yellowstone's many features changed over time and how that language reflected the larger culture and the change that took place over time.Item Blackfoot traditional knowledge, bison drive lines, and geospatial analysis(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2024) Edmo, Kendall Rae; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: David B. McWethy; This is a manuscript style paper that includes co-authored chapters.Bison drive lines provide material evidence of ancestral Blackfoot practices. The spatial dimensions of drive lines highlight a sophisticated understanding of bison-environment interactions and the strategic use of geographic landforms and environmental features to maintain a critical lifeway. Here we examine broad-scale landscape use patterns among prehistoric Blackfoot bison hunters on the Northwestern Plains through an analysis of a network of drive lines in traditional Blackfoot territory (US) using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and previous archaeological and anthropological research. The findings of this study show that ancestral Blackfoot designed bison drive lines to be positioned in proximity to key landscape resources including water, forested areas, and wetlands and kettle lakes. This study builds on previous research that applies an Indigenous archaeological framework that incorporates ethnohistoric narratives and traditional knowledge to provide important context for understanding the relationship between ancestral Blackfoot, bison, and the cultural landscape. Examining the relationship between drive lines and landscape features helps advance our understanding of the Blackfoot knowledge system that has adapted and endured for millennia.Item Yellowstone National Park and indigenous representation(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2024) Carlson-Strom, Daniel Zooey; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Matthew HermanYellowstone National Park, established in March 1872 as the United States' first national park, attracts millions of visitors each year due to its unusual and breathtaking landscapes, geothermal features, and bounty of wildlife. A critical aspect often overlooked by visitors is the park's history of forced removal and violence against Indigenous peoples during its formation. This thesis investigates the underrepresentation of Indigenous peoples and tribes who inhabited and utilized Yellowstone's lands before its designation as a national park. Through a comprehensive review of historical documents, and archival research, this study sheds light on the procedures and methods employed in the establishment of Yellowstone National Park, illuminating the systemic erasure of Indigenous histories from the park's public discourse. The results reveal a significant gap in the dissemination of information regarding the historic and current Indigenous presence within the park boundaries and the continued impacts of Indigenous displacement from the park. Conclusions drawn from this research underscore the necessity of acknowledging and centering Indigenous voices and perspectives in the interpretation and management of a national park.Item U.S. politics as a loss reminder: an adaptation of the historical loss scale(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Wood, Zachary John; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Neha John-HendersonHistorical loss, the degree to which American Indians (AIs) think about losses such as land, culture, and life, is a contributor to experiences of historical trauma and its negative impacts in AIs. The relationship between historical loss and political participation among AIs has not been examined. AIs have lower rates of political participation than other groups, and ample political participation among AIs is necessary to protect their sovereignty, values, and interests. Minority groups can become mobilized to political action through perceiving discrimination or injustices against them. Measures of historical loss contain items related to the discrimination and injustices that AIs have experienced. While the Historical Loss Scale (HLS) measures the frequency with which AIs think about historical loss, it is rather general and may not relate to U.S. politics or the U.S. government in all cases. Thus, an adaptation of the HLS is introduced called the U.S. Politics as a Loss Reminder Scale (USPLRS) that contextualizes historical losses within the context of U.S. politics. A primary goal of the study was to examine the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the USPLRS. Further, it is possible that by directly contextualizing historical loss within U.S. politics, there will be a positive relationship between the extent to which AIs report U.S. politics act as a reminder of historical losses, and their levels of political engagement. It is also possible that a frequency of general thoughts about historical loss measured by the HLS will also be associated with political engagement. To test these hypotheses, a sample of AI adults (n=877) completed a series of questionnaires including the HLS, USPLRS, and measures of political engagement during the November 2020 national election cycle. Results revealed a 3-factor structure of the USPLRS related to losses due to government mistreatment, death, and loss of respect. Scores on both the HLS and USPLRS were positively associated with political participation, with the USPLRS exhibiting unique predictability beyond the HLS.Item The historian, the philosopher, and the scientist: three approaches to science history filmmaking(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2023) Lea, Emily; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis AigScience history films are an underutilized way to build public interest in science. Required. Science history portrays the genesis of a significant idea and is an ideal topic for documentaries that aim to improve science literacy in a low pressure, highly entertaining cinematic experience, without being overly rhetorical. When attitude towards science improves, understanding may follow. By analyzing three influential filmmakers in their different approaches to history films, Errol Morris's The Thin Blue Line, Agnes Varda's The Gleaners and I, and Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, I assemble a toolkit of helpful techniques for science history filmmakers to employ. I apply these conditions to my science history film "The Great French Wine Blight" in order to best present this history in a thoughtful and engaging way while remaining faithful to the science and ideally improving the audience's attitude towards science in general.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 A tangled path to extremism: desperation, resentment, and rebellion in rural Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Dunn, Jennifer Anne; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Michael ReidyIn the closing decades of the twentieth century, the American West saw an increase in anti-government and white supremacy extremism. Montana had a number of events where residents resisted the federal government culminating in the Montana Freemen, a group who engaged in an 81-day armed standoff with the FBI in the spring and summer of 1996. Why were western residents so angry at the federal government who they believed was, at best, ignoring rural western communities, and at worst, threatening their liberty and their lives? To answer this question, I examined three rural Montana communities - Denton, Jordan and Libby - each of whom clashed with the government at the end of the century. While these conflicts developed for different reasons, residents' responses to the encounters and the regulations imposed on them illustrate a continuum ranging from resigned irritation, to urgent pleas for help, to outright rebellion. In this dissertation, I argue that the study of the 1990s in Montana reveals the development of anti-government extremism. To understand how western residents' frustrations and concerns coalesced into this directed anger, I examine three rural communities in Montana - Libby, Jordan, and Denton - whose residents were frustrated with federal regulation and believed not only that they had been forgotten by the government, unions, academics, and urbanites but that those groups were working against them. The residents of these towns lived and worked in resource communities and supplied the materials that built post-World War II America. They believed that their communities and economies had been sacrificed and forgotten. The residents in these rural town expressed their anger in different ways, but it did not dissipate after the decade ended. Their responses reveal the mounting tension, frustration, and anger that existed in the last decade of the twentieth century and highlight a throughline of connection and historical significance to anti-government extremist groups that continue to threaten democracy today.