2001 Conference Abstracts

WSSA 2001 Abstracts Table of Contents AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES 2 AMERICAN STUDIES 3 AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES 10 ANTHROPOLOGY 28 ARID LAND STUDIES 36 ASIAN STUDIES 46 ASSOCIATION FOR BORDERLAND STUDIES 52 CANADIAN STUDIES 82 CHICANO STUDIES 98 CHRONIC DISEASE AND DISABILITY 99 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY 108 ECONOMICS (ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL THOUGHT) 118 ECONOMICS (BUSINESS AND FINANCE) 136 ECONOMICS (GENERAL) 140 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 155 GEOGRAPHY 166 HISTORY 168 MASS COMMUNICATION 172 NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIAN STUDIES 187 PHILOSOPHY 191 POLITICAL SCIENCE 195 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 203 RURAL STUDIES 223 SLAVIC STUDIES 227 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 233 SOCIOLOGY 236 URBAN STUDIES 247 WOMEN’S STUDIES 255 1 African American Studies Junne, George H. Jr, April Yates, and Nichole Bonner, University of Northern Colorado “Dearfield – The Rise and Fall of a Black Colony in Colorado” Dearfield is one example of black migration and colonization efforts that began in the 1870’s and ended in the 1930’s. Located in Weld County approximately twenty-five miles southeast of Greeley. The “Negro Colony” had almost 700 residents in the early 1920’s. This presentation is an attempt to pull together scattered material about the community and ascertain the social, political, economic and botanical dynamics that led to its success and eventual failure. Founded by Mr. O.T. Jackson in 1910 and based on Booker T. Washington’s model of “uplifting the race,” Dearfield had the support of state governors and presidents of what are now the University of Northern Colorado and Colorado State University. By examining soil samples, census data, personal papers, precipitation records, interviews, photographs, newspaper and magazine articles, plus other data, this project is able to “reconstruct” the history of Dearfield and the experiences of its inhabitants. Thobani, Akbarali, Metropolitan State College of Denver “Transformation of Western Sahara under Moroccan Administration” Western Sahara has been a disputed territory since 1975, when Spain ended its colonial rule and departed. With Spain’s departure, Morocco took over the territory claiming it as part of the Moroccan kingdom. At the same time, the territory was the subject of a decision by the international Court of Justice. In response to Morocco’s takeover, many of the indigenous people, led by the Polisario Front Movement, waged a struggle for independence. Between 1975 and 1990, a bitter war took place. Since 1991 a U.N. sponsored peace plan and cease–fire are in place. In the meantime, Morocco gained control of about 85% of the territory and undertook a massive program of socio- economic development which has significantly transformed the territory. My paper is based on a sabbatical that I undertook during Spring 2000 and will present highlights of the socio-economic transformation. 2 American Studies Ahmad, Diana L., University of Missouri-Rolla "'I Must Pay a Tribute to Our Wheel Oxen': The Relationship of Women and Children to Their Domestic Animals on the Way West, 1849-1900" During the 19th century, thousands of dogs, cattle, mules, and oxen accompanied settlers on the trails west. In diaries and journals, women and children described loving relationships with their quadruped companions and often used terms of endearment when referring to them. Diarists often attributed human characteristics to the animals that included courage, fortitude, and self-sacrifice. As a result, travelers transformed the animals from sources of meat, hides, and transportation into a source of comfort and strength for the long journey. The women and children went to great pains to make the journey as pleasant for their animal companions as they did for their human families. Human and animal travelers endured much, but the suffering of the animals was probably less because of the loving care provided by women and children. Braun, Mark E., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee "A Short History of Suburban Sprawl in Southeastern Wisconsin, 1975-2000" I examine the impact of the suburban milieu on social relations, politics, and ethnic diversity. Particular attention is devoted to economic restructuring and the spatial transformation of suburbs. The use of zoning and large minimum lot sizes by suburban politicians amounts to heavy governmental interference in the housing market. Just like investors in the stock market, suburban officials need to diversify their portfolios of residential types to include a variety of housing types in case of future downward cycles in the economy. All too often the choice in suburbia these days is not when will more people arrive, but how much virgin real estate will the wealthy consume? Politicians are permitting the transformation of forests into sprawling developments and shopping centers. We must conserve natural areas that have yet to be developed, preserve small farms, and find new paradigms for real estate development. Cameros, Cynthia, Montclair State University "Modernist Representations of War: A Comparison of Hemingway's Farewell to Arms and Dorgeles's Les Croix de Bois" Like other modernists, Ernest Hemingway and Roland Dorgeles faced the test of modernist sophistication in free indirect discourse and a teleological narrative. These narrative methods created a distance between author and readers, which Hemingway and Dorgeles resolved in different manners. Hemingway lessened the distance using a limited narrator; Dorgeles failed to completely break from the convention of free indirect discourse. 3 Carr, Jacqueline Barbara, California State University, Fresno "Our 'provincialisms' are 'so disgusting to strangers': Remaking Boston's Identity in the Early Republic" In the years following the American Revolution , a number of Bostonians began to openly express concern as to the provincial image of their community and its inability to handle growth. Arguing that Boston would lose importance in the new republic if it did not become cosmopolitan like its sister cities New York and Philadelphia, citizens proposed various schemes for "modernization." My paper explores efforts by Bostonians to transform the town's provincial image during the opening years of the early republic-- and the tensions inherent in such a process. Frequently, inhabitants vigorously disagreed as to an appropriate identity for their town in the post-Revolutionary world. Nevertheless, by 1800 the cultural and physical transformation of the town had begun. Dare, Alexa M., University of Alaska Fairbanks "The Postmodern Self and (Popular) Culture: Creating Dialogic Identities" The postmodern self-concept is constructed and reconstructed out of many cultural sources, and through reconstruction in particular, postmodern selves recognize subjectivity in a particular (ironic, transparent) way. The postmodern self is dynamic and contingent on dialogically created relationships, and this study examines relationships between culture and postmodern selves; communication and postmodern selves; and communities and postmodern selves. These issues are addressed through use of multiple methods, including participant-observation, ethnography, and interviews. Postmodern selves recognize irony and contradiction, but they do not dwell on it. They seamlessly incorporate voices from popular culture with their own voices to present a dialogue that always leaves room for other interpretations. Dodge, William A., University of New Mexico "Re-Making a Place: The Creation of Black Rock, an Agency Town on the Zuni Indian Reservation, New Mexico" During the first three decades of the twentieth century, the federal government altered the landscape of the Zuni Indian Reservation by creating the town of Black Rock, some five miles east the Pueblo. This paper will discuss how the building of this Bureau of Indian Affairs agency town forever transformed not only the physical landscape by constructing an imposing, self-sufficient town, but altered the perception of the place created by the Zuni people over centuries of previous use. I will examine how federal Indian policy played a role in deciding how the town was built and how changes in this policy has affected subsequent development of the area. I will also use remembrances and personal stories collected from Zuni elders to explore how this federal intrusion affected their lives and the meanings attached to this place. 4 Frye, Bob, Texas Christian University "Leavening Didacticism with Wit: Barbara Kingsolver's Effective Use of Humor in The Poisonwood Bible" Barbara Kingsolver is unabashedly a political activist. She set her first three novels--The Bean Trees, Animal Dreams, Pigs in Heaven--in the American Southwest while her most recent novel, Prodigal Summer, unfolds in southern Appalachia. The Poisonwood Bible reveals her extending her range, developing its sprawling narrative in the demanding heart of Africa. Yet all her novels are consistently didactic. As Kingsolver observes, "One can write for the sake of writing, or one can write because one feels an urgent nugget of truth that must be hurled at the public at large"--"her trademark didacticism," critic Paul Gray calls it. Kingsolver leavens her lessons with the artful humor of delightful malapropisms, ironic juxtapositions, and comical analogies. Such artful wit helps her, Emily Dickinson-like, tell the truth slant, providing significant insights into human nature--whether in Tucson, in Appalachia, in Georgia, or especially in the Congo. Gladden, James N. University of Alaska, Fairbanks "Alaska Wilderness

Load more