History, Community, and Culture
http://hdl.handle.net/2148/234
2024-03-29T07:07:18ZThe role of Fort Humboldt during the California gold rush: a focus on local indigenous women’s struggle, resistance and resilience
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/176139
The role of Fort Humboldt during the California gold rush: a focus on local indigenous women’s struggle, resistance and resilience
Oros, Chisa
The California Gold Rush was instrumental in the growth and creation of the American West. The sudden influx of settlers and the myriad of impacts of mining and settler community formation on the environment and Indigenous peoples drastically changed the Humboldt Bay region forever. The resulting clash of settler culture and existing Indigenous peoples enabled the United States government to rationalize establishing Fort Humboldt and militarizing the Humboldt Bay region. The realities of militarization, especially for Indigenous women, are rarely discussed in dominant history curricula in the United States, and throughout the world. In my research, I utilize the framework of Intersectional Feminism and the tool of discourse analysis to critically examine archival and historical texts and the impacts of hegemonic narratives like Manifest Destiny and associated frontier ideologies. In addition, I use semi-structured interviews to critically analyze and make visible local Indigenous knowledge, traditions, and forms of resistance and resilience. I do so in order to help shed light on systematically invisabilized stories of Fort Humboldt and Humboldt Bay militarization that provide counter-hegemonic narratives about the role of the fort, and its impacts on Indigenous women in particular. Finally, my research is guided by three main themes with respect to the consequences of militarizing the Humboldt Bay region: its impacts on the environment and on the natural world, and on the physical body, and on spiritual health of Indigenous women. Research findings indicate a strong presence of region-specific Indigenous oral histories and reveal information that directly challenges dominant U.S. educational models concerning the impacts of the Gold Rush on Indigenous peoples. Deconstructing this history and developing a more complex understanding of the impacts of militarization in the Humboldt Bay region is a crucial part of healing among Indigenous communities. The same holds true for elucidating stories of resilience and hope; recognizing ongoing struggles among Indigenous peoples; and both understanding forms of, and resistance to, the inter-generational trauma that continue to impacts Indigenous communities today. I argue that all of the aforementioned play a crucial role in not only genuine, long-term healing, but is essential for true self-determination, and the ability for Indigenous communities in this region to flourish.
Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, Social Science: Environment and Community, 2016
2016-05-01T00:00:00ZStructure and dynamics of a coastal dune forest at Humboldt Bay, California
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/161079
Structure and dynamics of a coastal dune forest at Humboldt Bay, California
Green, Shayne
Forest stands occurring on coastal dunes along the western margin of Humboldt Bay, California are isolated fragments of a regional forest type that stretches discontinuously along the Pacific Coast from northern California to Alaska. I used aerial photographs to stratify the forest at Lanphere Dunes into 3 stand types. Using fixed-radius (13.2 m) circular plots, I sampled these types to determine their composition (overstory and understory), size structure (basal area, height, and sapling, seedling, snag and tree density), and age structure.
Beach pine, Sitka spruce, and mixed-species types exhibit significant compositional and structural differences. The beach pine type is distinguished not only by the importance of beach pine in the overstory, but by high stem density, low basal area, and the overall importance of bearberry in the understory. The Sitka spruce type is characterized by the importance of Sitka spruce in the overstory, low stem density, high basal area, and the importance of twinberry and wax myrtle in the understory. In the mixed-species type, beach pine and Sitka spruce are almost equally important among an overstory layer that often includes grand fir. This type exhibits stem density and basal area values intermediate to those of the other two types.
Age structure differences among the types are non-significant, suggesting that each type has a similar disturbance history as the others. Within each type, beach pine and/or Sitka spruce populations consist of numerous age classes that are normally distributed. Age class chronologies correspond (in part) among types and among spatially disjunct plots of the pine type. Small patches of forest (<0.04 ha) typically include trees representing numerous age classes, and age class distributions (i.e. number and size) vary over larger areas. Patch dynamics are apparently complex and affect forest development at a variety of spatial and temporal scales.
These age and spatial patterns support the hypothesis that small-scale windfall events have been the most important disturbance factor underlying seedling establishment over the last 150 years. Though regeneration levels are currently low, beach pine stands generally appear to be self-replacing over a period of many decades.
Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, Biology, 1999
1999-12-01T00:00:00ZThe effects of teaching a metacognitive understanding of genre in the first-year composition classroom
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.9/1860
The effects of teaching a metacognitive understanding of genre in the first-year composition classroom
Benton, Jeannette Louise
This thesis explores the effects of explicitly teaching a metacognitive understanding of genre in conjunction with constructivist pedagogy. The study took place at California State University, Sacramento during the spring 2011. The participants were 18 first-year composition students: 11 were monolingual and 7 were multilingual. The data collected for evaluation was from Before and After Interview Questionnaires, an assignment entitled Letter to the Professor, and additional e-mail information gathered to clarify the monolingual or multilingual language skills of the participants. A context-sensitive text analysis was utilized which allowed for a reasonable range of interpretations. The findings showed that students made improvements in their metacognitive understanding of genre. More importantly, however, were indications that the multilingual students more frequently showed additional development in their genre metacognition than their monolingual counterparts did. While this was a very limited study, implications are discussed as to how these findings might influence pedagogical theory and practice as well as future research endeavors.
Thesis (M.A., English (Composition))--California State University, Sacramento, 2012.
2012-09-25T00:00:00ZCommunity food security: a new social movements approach
http://hdl.handle.net/2148/714
Community food security: a new social movements approach
Mabry, Dustin
This thesis explores a burgeoning social movement aimed at shaping the processes of food production and distribution, the Alternative Agrifood Movement. As a collection of initiatives, this movement seeks to mitigate environmental and social injustices perpetuated by the conventional agrifood system. An investigation of the movement is contextualized in social theory surrounding New Social Movements and Whiteness.
Research for this thesis focused on Alternative Agrifood Movement as experienced in the Humboldt Bay Region in Northern California. This research revealed tension between the two most prominent concepts of the alternative agrifood movement, sustainable agriculture and food security. In response to this tension, I promote the concept of community food security as a mediator. I illustrate how the community food security concept partners efforts of sustainable agriculture and food security. I stress that combining sustainable agriculture and food security work is fundamental for the success of the alternative agrifood movement. I conclude by stressing the importance of approaching food issues from a human rights framework while highlighting the role of race and whiteness throughout alternative agrifood efforts.
Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, Sociology, 2011
2011-05-01T00:00:00Z