On January 3, 1841, Herman Melville boarded the whaler Acushnet and left the harbor of New Bedford. Traveling through the South Pacific, Melville spent time in the Marquesas, Tahiti, and the Sandwich Islands where he witnessed the missionary efforts among the islanders. The religious conversion and acculturation of the Polynesian natives led Melville to question the missionaries' activities. The different cultures of these islands increased Melville's already skeptical outlook on the standards his own culture insisted that he follow. Experiencing both the tranquil Typee Valley and the "civilized" island of Tahiti, Melville felt compelled to write about his island adventures in his first two books, Typee (1846) and Omoo (1847). Observing the influence of the Sandwich Islands' missionaries, Melville came to the conclusion that the natives of the Pacific would have been better off left to their own devices, as opposed to being converted to the Euro-American standards of civilized living. Instead of receiving the benefits of Christian living, the natives had been reduced from the Edenic state of the Typee Valley to the devastating, dehumanizing existence Melville witnessed in Tahiti and Hawaii. The contrasts Melville draws between the primitive Typee and the converted Tahitian cultures illustrate his belief that the missionaries were actually driving the natives toward a cultural death through the removal of pagan practices and the introduction of the "civilized" Christian beliefs governing Euro-American society.

21st Century Foresight offers a comprehensive study of ‘foresight’ as an instrument of policy. It covers the development of foresight methodology, the design of foresight activities and their evaluation. The thesis is based on eleven publications collectively making significant contributions to knowledge about global foresight practices and applications in different domains (i.e. research areas and socio-economic sectors). New conceptual frameworks developed include the Foresight Diamond, the SMART Futures Jigsaw and the Methods Combination Matrix (MCM), which can be used as tools for futures research, practical work in the design and management of forward-looking activities and knowledge transfer on foresight. The thesis shows both generalised and specific contributions to knowledge. The former is best demonstrated with the development of a “fully-fledged evaluation” framework with twenty criteria, the identification of critical factors influencing the selection of foresight methods (e.g. geo-R&D context) and the use of network analysis techniques in foresight. The latter is prominent throughout the thesis with examples including the results of particular evaluations and the profiles of foresight practices in Europe and Latin America. A prevailing theme is the use of mapping and benchmarking approaches to evaluate foresight practices and reveal a more detailed understanding of the impacts of foresight in science, technology and innovation systems. The theoretical contributions (e.g. using exploratory research and catastrophe theory) are complemented with a set of practical instruments providing methodological basis and guidelines for increasing the efficiency and outcome of foresight and horizon scanning activities. Overall, the thesis demonstrates original contributions to five distinct yet interconnected areas of knowledge: foresight methodology; foresight practices in Europe and the world; foresight in Latin America; foresight evaluation; and the evaluation of national technology foresight programmes. The various approaches used to frame the morphology of foresight – supported with evidence, comparisons and evaluations – are the main contributions to knowledge.

Women’s fictional narratives, besides influencing the process of nation building, also served to redefine the feminine gender and its incontrovertible contribution to the processes involved in imagining their communities. Although the systematic oppression suffered by women was effective, there were women writers who through negotiation gained access to male-dominated circles and achieved recognition. These women had a fundamental role in defying the stratification of gender in their society. They opposed every limitation imposed upon their gender, particularly the construction of the maternal role from a patriarchal perspective. In the works selected for this analysis, the authors reject the institutionalization of motherhood using as a narrative device motherless heroines who redefine femininity in their own terms and defy the patriarchal construct that confines motherhood to the seclusion of the home. Written in times of political upheaval, these novels emphasize the importance of women’s participation in the public sphere. In this dissertation I analyze four novels situated in or written during authoritarian regimes. The introduction provides the theoretical framework in which the definition of gender is discussed as well as the process of nation building in Latin America. I also include critical views on the topic of motherhood as women writers struggle with the representation of the maternal role and its implications in the construction of gender. In chapter one I discuss Argentinean writer Juana Manuela Gorriti’s La hija del mashorquero (1865); the second chapter analyzes Brazilian novelist Julia Lópes de Almeida’s A familia Medeiros (1892); chapter three is dedicated to the study of Argentinean Elvira Orpheé’s Uno (1961); the fourth chapter analyzes Brazilian Lygia Fagundes Telles’s As meninas (1973), so as to outline periods in which the patriarchal discourse concerning the role of women in society revolved around the traditional concepts of femininity and to reveal the insistence of women to obviate such concepts, specifically in terms of nation building. Through the detailed textual analysis of these novels, I aim to demonstrate the strategies used by these authors to openly defy the constructions of femininity through their critique of the socio-political systems of their times. / text

Central America and Mexico are characterized by high levels of poverty. In response, labor migration has emerged as a major strategy among families through the sending of earnings (or remittances) to households back home. Large amounts of remittances are sent, with over $13 billion to Central America and more than $23 billion to Mexico in 2011. While remittances to Mexico have been studied extensively, much less is known about the factors associated with remittances to Central America. This mixed methods study examined remittance sending and use patterns of Mexican and Central American labor migrants to the United States. Data on remittance behaviors were drawn from two major surveys, the Latin American Migration Project and Mexican Migration Project. Quantitative analyses were conducted using multiple regression to examine family-level predictors for the decision to engage in labor migration, whether remittances were sent, amount of remittances sent, and the purposes for remitting. Qualitative analysis involved focus group interviews of Mexican and Central American migrants in the United States who currently remit to their families back home. These interviews helped to discern the meaning of remittances for migrants and their families. The quantitative results suggest that top purposes for remitting include food and daily maintenance, education, health, and housing. Additionally, remittance sending patterns differed by region of origin. Mexican migrants were more likely to send remittances and to remit larger amounts. Additionally, individuals from Mexico had increased odds of sending funds for housing expenditures while Central Americans had greater odds of remitting for education and consumer goods. According to respondents who participated in the qualitative study, increasing costs of food, health, and education coupled with limited employment options contribute to a reliance on labor migration in both regions. For many, remittances have emerged as an essential source of income for economic wellbeing and even survival. A key implication for social work of this study on the larger population patterns on remittances is that at the family level, migrants carry a dual responsibility to settle into a new country while also maintaining the economic wellbeing of family left behind. / text

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The late Quaternary palaeoclimatic history of the lowland Southern Hemisphere Tropics of South America (SHTSA) has been little studied and analysis of key climatic events, such as the Last Glacial Maximum (centred ~ 21,000 years ago (21 cal. ka BP)) and the glacial-Holocene transition is limited. Studies from the SH tropical Andes and the Atlantic seaboard demonstrate a strengthening of the South American summer monsoon during the LGM, in tune with the ~ 20 kyr precession orbital cycle. However, palynological studies from SHTSA suggest a drier LGM. There are difficulties in interpreting different palaeoenvironmental proxy records and the extent to which they reflect changes in temperature, precipitation, and/or atmospheric CO2 concentrations. In particular, the palaeoenvironmental significance of palynological data is often unclear. Also, high frequency, millennial-scale events have not been captured in records from the lowland SHTSA due to a lack of high resolution temporal records. Diatoms have been used widely in other parts of the world to reconstruct lake level change and therefore provide an independent proxy for precipitation, and an understanding of the modern diatom ecology is essential for accurate palaeoreconstruction. The main rationale of this thesis is to address the uncertainty of the glacial-Holocene climate in South America. To this end, this thesis aims to: (a) investigate the distribution, ecology, and flora of diatom taxa at Laguna La Gaiba (17°45’S, 57°40’W) (LLG) in the heart of lowland tropical South America, where very few modern diatom studies exist; (b) determine whether modern diatom assemblages at LLG will provide a useful analogue for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, in particular, lake depth reconstruction; (c) provide a detailed late Quaternary lake level reconstruction for the lowland interior of SHTSA, based upon fossil diatom analysis of a sedimentary core in LLG. Descriptive, quantitative and multivariate analyses were applied to modern diatom assemblages and environmental variables to ascertain the modern diatom environment of LLG. Diatom, pollen, and geochemical analyses, chronologically constrained by 18 AMS 14C dates, were performed on a sediment core extracted from LLG. Key findings indicate: (1) Aulacoseira ambigua, A. ambigua var. robusta. A. distans and A. granulata var. angustissima were the most abundant species. Shallowwater species, such as Staurosira and Eunotia spp., dominated the shallows and littoral zone, whilst deep-water species, such as Aulacoseira sp., dominated in open water; (2) The highest percent variance in the diatom data was explained by depth and pH; (3) Analysis of fossil diatom assemblages from the LLG core demonstrated that the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and late glacial period (prior to 12.5 kyr BP) was drier than present. This corroborates and significantly strengthens pollen-based palaeo-hydrological reconstructions from the same core; (4) An abrupt shift from 12.5 kyr BP from shallow water to deep water diatoms signals major flooding of LLG associated with the transition from relatively drier glacial conditions to wetter Holocene conditions and also highlights an anomalously wet period centred over 12.2 kyr BP that falls within the Younger Dryas chronozone; (5) Deep-water diatoms remain high throughout the Holocene, which means that the mid-Holocene aridity inferred from the pollen data (expansion of seasonally-dry tropical forest) is not captured by the diatom data. These results not only present the modern diatom ecology of a little studied area in lowland Bolivia, but also highlight the potential of diatoms as a proxy for past lake level fluctuations, improving the understanding of late Quaternary palaeoclimate of tropical South America. Used as part of a multiproxy reconstruction, this record has provided a more complete picture of the variation between regions of late Quaternary climate change in South America, as evidence of a dry LGM climate contrasts with the robust, well-dated climate archives of the central Andes and E Brazil. This suggests the climate in the continental interior of SHTSA was not driven by the precesionally-forced monsoon cycle but is in step with changes in glacialinterglacial cycle boundary conditions.

The purpose of this study was to describe and compare the post-school adjustment of Native American youth who received special education or regular education services on White Mountain Apache Indian reservation in Arizona. This study reflects what the students have been doing since they left school, whether their school experiences have prepared them for life in general, and how their personal history helps identify their values, outlooks, and current community standing. In an effort to assess the transition status of these former students, a 38 item survey instrument was developed. A total of 132 students were identified from the Alchesay high school records. Of this number, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 106 former (80%) students. Students were compared in five areas which have been identified as important to successful transition from school to adult life. Comparisons were made on the respondents opinions of their secondary school education, employment status, independent living, maladjustment, and culture/traditionality. SES stated that mathematics, resource programs, and English prepared them for the job market whereas mathematics, office skills, science, and business education were selected by the RES. All the respondents wished for computer education. Only 31% of the total sample was employed up to five years after leaving school. Seventy-four percent of the students still live with their parents. Forty-four percent of both groups had arrest records, and 68% of both groups had a history of substance abuse. Sixty-four percent of the respondents use and speak the Apache language most of the time. Parents and the extended family provide the majority of guidance and support as these young adults seek employment, community integration and social adjustment. There is a pressing need for transitional programs, better job programs, and substance abuse preventive programs for both groups of Apache post-high school students.

Taste--an appreciation for some things, a disdain for others--is usually understood by sociologists as playing a key role in struggles for position within closed, hierarchical status systems. Yet taste that reaches across cultural and social boundaries is a common phenomenon in a world of mobility and falling barriers to travel and access. This study argues that this expression of taste also has a political dimension, through an examination of the sponsorship of traditional Pueblo Indian pottery by Anglo newcomers to northern New Mexico in the 1920s and 1930s. The organization that these newcomers founded, the Indian Arts Fund, played an important role in building a differentiated market for Pueblo pottery, supported by an increasingly complex body of knowledge and evaluation. This intervention into the market for pottery, and into the definition of Pueblo culture, served to insert the Indian Arts Fund's members into regional society, against the resistance of older, more established elites. A visible association with Pueblo pottery linked newcomers to the transformation of the regional economy by tourism, which had shifted the source of value in northern New Mexico from natural resources to the marketing of particularity and difference. An examination of the role of pottery production, and income from pottery, in Pueblo communities reveals that the relationship between pottery and Pueblo culture was more complex, and more tangential, than the image that was being constructed in the context of the market.

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No description available.