For centuries humans have been searching for precious metals. The search for gold has greatly changed the landscape of the American West, beginning in the 1850s and continuing today. Various gold rushes around the country created mining colonies in remote areas, thereby connecting the frontier with the rest of America...
This dissertation explores the real world problem of rural youth out-migration and finds that the central problem is one of persistent class difference in this rural Oregon town. The research that informs this dissertation was conducted in a rural community of approximately 2300 residents in Eastern Oregon, here called Talltown....
Food insecurity is a widely researched global public health issue, but students in higher education are frequently omitted from the data and are not widely recognized as a population that faces hunger. This thesis explores the college student population in relation to food insecurity and, in particular, their attempt to...
The Oaxaca Valley, located in the state of Oaxaca in Southern Mexico, was the site of the Zapotec civilization and its now famous capital, Monte Albán. This site, with political, military, and economic influence and control, helped to consolidate the three arms of the Oaxaca Valley, resulting in a state-level...
This thesis explores the changes in mother-daughter relations in Northeast Thailand over the last three generations in relation to migration out of this region. Qualitative interviews were done with ten families in two villages; the interviews focused on representatives of three generations of women in each family. In recent decades,...
This thesis investigates how beginning, women farmers, within in a women farmers’ network in the Willamette Valley, Oregon are accessing land and farming information. Using ethnographic, community-based research methods, I ask how land access mediates their ability to care for their land and soil. Are these farmers interested in fostering...
This creative writing project employs the use of ethnographic fiction to position the voices of newly mothering women within the literature surrounding gender inequality, access to social services, and pregnancy while being situated during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The voices of four women are brought to life within a broader...
This thesis examines the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on farms in the Willamette Valley. Using semi-structured interviews, this study analyzes the economic and social challenges created by the pandemic and the adaptation strategies farmers employed to build resilience within the food system. This study found that the farmers experienced...
In 2010, Mexican cuisine was declared as intangible cultural heritage, integral to Mexican identity and necessary to preserve for the good of humanity. Despite this recognition, first-generation Mexican communities in the United States face an exacerbated likelihood of experiencing food insecurity. In most United States studies, understanding the relationship between...
Thesis explores the ways in which Information and Communication Technology (ICT)use, specifically that of telephones and the Internet, impacts the lives of Eritrean refugees in Rome, Italy. Informal interviews, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation were carried out in a 'center of second reception.' Results show that information obtained through the...