Scholarship & Research
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Item Firescapes and the birth of a genre: an environmental and literary history of 1910(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Wood, Amelia Anne; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Mark FiegeThis thesis discusses the unique interplay of the historic fires occurring in Montana and Idaho in the summer of 1910, the prominent ideologies of the American West and the Conservation Movement at the time, and the life and work of contemporary Idaho author, Edward Elmer Smith. The purpose and driving question behind this study is to examine the various means by which a communal environmental consciousness is culturally produced. In addressing this question, the fires of 1910 serve as a useful case study. By exploring the mutual influences of the 1910 fires (an environmental event), the ideologies of the time (the prevailing culture), and the content of Smith's popular science fiction trilogy, The Skylark, (a tangible vessel by which one culture is carried into and made part of a future culture), we can begin to see how communal environmental ideas and ethics are birthed and carried into new generations. This thesis argues that Smith, residing in Idaho during the fires, allows dominate ideas of fire, wilderness, frontiers, masculinity, and more, to shape the characters and plot of his fiction. In this manner, the trilogy should be understood as an example of literature shaped by an environmental event--in this case fire, and subsequently as a powerful tool used to shape an aspect of an on- going communal environmental consciousness as his works grew in popularity.Item Avatar: a cultural and ethical journey across settler-colonialism(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Koh, Celia; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Alex HarmonThis thesis critically examines James Cameron's blockbuster Avatar, as a complex cinematic narrative that delves into themes of colonialism, environmental degradation, and Indigenous rights. By identifying the practices of settler-colonialism present and denounced in the movie, this paper aims to draw parallels with the settlement in America and to understand if Avatar's anti-colonial and environmental messages is a truthful representation of Native American culture in the United States. In this line of reasoning, the focus will be on the portrayal of Pandora as a parallel representation on Earth and his interpretation of the roles of the Indigenous inhabitants of Pandora. First, looking at the movie as a critique of settler-colonialism, also embedded in the American history, and of the cultural construction of race will help shed light on the intricacies of the understanding of cultures and their appreciation. Then, by focusing on the strong environmental message conveyed in the movie, as interconnectedness, respect for nature, and the safeguarding of resources is omnipresent throughout, I aim to understand to what extent Jamec Cameron's Avatar is authentically--or not--representing Native American spirituality and environmental values. Finally, this paper explores the potential of the movie as decolonizing, although Cameron's representation and depiction of Indigenous cultures have caused controversy.Item Interpreting the impact of bioregional curriculum design: measuring sense of place in high school science students(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Dille, Victoria Christine; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisThe purpose of this study was to gain insights into the relationship between bioregional curriculum design, place-attachment, and ecological awareness in high school science students. Research questions were as follows: (1) Does bioregional curriculum affect place-attachment in high school science students? (2) Does a bioregional approach to studying environmental issues affect local ecological literacy--including shifting ecological awareness and an understanding of local stewardship and conservation topics? (3) What attitudes do students have towards learning experiences informed by bioregional curriculum design? Pre- and post-semester surveys, interviews, performance assessments and a mapping exercise were used as data collection instruments. Data were processed using qualitative and quantitative analysis strategies. The results suggest that students made gains in place-attachment and ecological awareness and had formative learning experiences tied to the curriculum.Item Impacting the environmental awareness and personal environmental behaviors of high school biology students through action projects(Montana State University - Bozeman, Graduate School, 2011) Quintia, Erin Anna; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Peggy Taylor.This research project examined personal environmental behaviors of high school freshman biology students who were exposed to environmental topics in class and participated in environmental action projects. The effectiveness of classroom lessons and action projects on student's environmental behaviors were evaluated. The student's environmental awareness and voluntary environmental behaviors were monitored throughout the year by in class surveys, short answer responses, informal classroom discussions/interviews and teacher journals. Findings suggest that changing voluntary behaviors is not a quick and easy process. However, the researcher was able to see continued voluntary environmental behaviors in a portion of the students after the completion of action projects.Item Cinematic geographies : environmental determinism in film analysis(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2012) Keto, David Wayne; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ian van Coller.Through much of its history, film has been used as a mechanism to help naturalize human cultural assumptions. Through this process human cultural stereotypes are positioned as arising from nature. The theory of environmental determinism has been used as a mechanism to further this naturalizing process. This paper analyzes two films, 'The Columbia' and 'No Country for Old Men', to uncover how environmental determinism is deployed across a range of film types as a naturalizing apparatus. The paper goes on to suggest how a more critical approach to film analysis using environmental determinism in conjunction with critical regionalism is a viable means of better understanding the complex interaction of nature and culture on film. This approach can help viewers better recognize when particular ideas within a film are structured as being derived from nature when in reality the ideas are human cultural artifacts.Item The objective of nonprofit environmental groups : are they maximizing services or their budgets?(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1994) Brown, Daniel K.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Terry Anderson.The purpose of this thesis was to determine the objective of prominent nonprofit environmental groups. Two possible objectives have received considerable attention in the nonprofit literature: service maximization and budget maximization. Accordingly, this study examines whether environmental organizations attempt to maximize the services they provide or maximize the budgets they control? A linear model using procedures to handle pooled data was used in the estimation. The results imply that the environmental groups tested tend to maximize their own budget rather than the services they provide, but the results are not entirely conclusive. There is some evidence that these organizations have mixed motivation. Future studies would be aided by additional data, including both more years and organizations.Item Theorizing nature : seeking middle ground(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2005) Voss, Dahlia Louise; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Susan KollinAcknowledging that our ideas about nature and culture are both inextricably linked and the result of social factors shaped by multiple forms of knowledge is at the center of this project. Through a postmodern analysis, informed by environmental cultural studies, I critique a relatively new genre, the environmental memoir, to theorize the ways interconnections between nature and culture are either resisted or revealed. Environmental memoir is a genre-hopping exploration of both personal narrative and environmental literature. Critiquing the literary constructions of nature, culture, environmental philosophy, and the autobiographical subject in David Oates' Paradise Wild: Reimagining American Nature and Janisse Ray's Ecology of a Cracker Childhood I question why we think about nature and culture in the ways that we do and what are the implications. This project exposes how problematic any postmodern critique of nature is. We assume that our ideas about nature are straightforward. We claim that nature is anything not-man-made and it often becomes represented through a literalized version of 'nature' as a pure and pristine Eden. Ideas about nature, however, are always informed by culture and we often dismiss the need to theorize and question what factors contribute to our ideas about nature, who benefits from these ideas, and who does not. When we essentialize and naturalize nature we set up dualisms and binaries between nature and culture that reduce the real complexities we face in dealing with environmental philosophy, politics, and literature. These dualisms encourage rigid and extremist thinking that cloud our vision. Theorizing nature breaks down and complicates the binaries that separate nature from culture. Seeking the middle ground in the contested terrain of nature requires us to acknowledging that our narratives about nature, culture, and environmentalism are products of multiple sociohistorical factors. Resisting dualistic thinking offers us a new way to think about the interconnections between our lives, wildness, culture, and nature.