Moving out of theoretical academic constructs, the indigenous movement has attracted the attention of the Malawian education system to explore the value for contextualizing science by way of indigenous technologies. This is a milestone decision but the beginning is not smooth. However, indigenizing the curriculum has a promise of hope to invigorate science educators to pursue the search for the science out of indigenous technologies out of the "taken for granted" and "place-based" traditional knowledge systems. This is only the beginning of the journey in pursuit of local sciences that bear a promise for sustainability in development without relying exclusively on the outcomes of globalization. This study sought to unravel the issues that surrounded implementation of ground braking primary school science and technology curriculum, which has integrated indigenous knowledge in the learning of science. Commencing prior to the implementation of the new curriculum, this was a pilot study strategically conceptualized and timed to inform the curriculum developers and other stakeholders about issues to pay attention to as the curriculum implementation process unfolds. The study revealed that teachers are likely to face multiple challenges stemming from the design of the curriculum, teachers background knowledge in academic science, pedagogical knowledge, and cultural foundations. The outcome of teaching was negatively affected by the design of the curriculum, teachers' knowledge of science, and attitudes toward indigenous knowledge. Recommendations for improving the integration of indigenous knowledge and science in the curriculum include the need to better articulate the scientific principles involved in indigenous technologies and to involve learners in meaningful "practical work" in science lessons, supported by further research. / Ph. D.

In low-income, rural, and indigenous communities, metal mining is associated with numerous negative social, political, economic, human, and environmental health impacts. A number of studies from around the world have looked at specific aspects of human and environmental health related to various contaminants from mining and the landscape alterations associated with the processes, along with the growing community resistance and opposition to mining operations. The individual impacts of each of these components are understood, but a deeper understanding of the syndemic effects of a mine operating in a community, particularly in an indigenous community, was needed, especially as the industry is expected to grow around the world. Using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, we utilized a combination of participatory mapping, interviews, and community mapping workshops to examine the underlying patterns and perceptions of environmental risk and healthy and unhealthy spaces in the Ch'orti' communities of Olopa, Guatemala that have been impacted by the Cantera Los Manantiales antimony mine. Results suggest that, since mining operations began, residents have experienced an increase in violence and community divisions surrounding the mine, a higher incidence of a variety of diseases, and an extensive loss of crops and domesticated animals. Furthermore, participants were concerned about both water and air contamination, all of which they attributed to the mine. The results of the study will be useful for local activist leaders and allied NGOs to effectively assess and improve health in indigenous communities impacted by the Cantera Los Manantiales mine in Olopa. The approach, particularly the use of participatory mapping methods, could be implemented in future studies attempting to understand syndemics and other environmental health risks and outcomes. / Master of Science / In low-income, rural, and indigenous populations, metal mining is associated with numerous negative social, political, economic, human, and environmental health impacts. A number of studies from around the world have looked at the specific ways that human and environmental health are impacted by mining processes, along with how and why communities protest mining operations. Each effect is well understood, but a deeper understanding of how those effects of a mine operating in a community interact was needed, especially as the mining industry is predicted to grow. Involving the community throughout the study, we used interviews and maps made by members of the Ch'orti' communities of Olopa, Guatemala that are impacted by the Cantera Los Manantiales antimony mine to understand patterns and perceptions of environmental risk and healthy and unhealthy places. Results suggest that, since mining operations began, residents have experienced an increase in violence and community divisions surrounding the mine, an increase in disease and illness, and an extensive loss of crops and domesticated animals. Furthermore, participants were concerned about both water and air contamination, all of which they attributed to the mine. The results of the study will be useful for local activist leaders and allied organizations to understand and improve health in the communities impacted by the Cantera Los Manantiales mine in Olopa, and the mapping methods that were employed will be useful for future studies that are mapping interacting health threats and outcomes.

In this qualitative research project, I explore the daily lived experiences of five Caribbean students studying at a rural university in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I investigate the personal challenges encountered by young adult Caribbean students and focus on their perspectives and coping strategies as they negotiate the racial binary and sociocultural norms found in the United States. I present my research here in two manuscripts. In manuscript one, Transcultural Adaptations: Caribbean Students at U.S. Universities, framed both by my use of testimonio as method (Haig-Brown, 2003; Pérez Huber, 2009) and the composite lens formed by my use of bricolage (Kincheloe, 2001; Kincheloe, 2004; Kincheloe, McLaren, and Steinberg, 2012), I look at how all these factors influence their academic experiences and their perception and performance of the Self. In doing so, I highlight key aspects of the community experience and add to the conversation surrounding the adaptation of international students to U.S. universities. In manuscript two Interrogating Whiteness: The View from Outside, I delve more deeply into one aspect of their adaptation by interrogating one participant's perspectives on whiteness. I use critical autoethnography (Boylorn and Orb, 2014; Tilley-Lubbs, 2016), and the call-and-response tradition (Hebdige, 1987; Toussaint, 2009) common in Trinidad and Tobago and in the African diaspora to present my exploration of his perspectives. I present his perspectives using the third person voice, followed by an examination of my own ways of knowing, to highlight the questioning and internal conflict that emerged as a result of these conversations on whiteness. I share my epiphanic experience (Denzin, 2013; 2014) in the hopes of establishing discourse and resonance with my reader in this deconstruction of my way of understanding the world. / Ph. D.

This thesis will address the impacts of Chilean neoliberal education reforms on students access to primary and secondary education. Across three body chapters, I will conduct a historical, policy, and comparative analysis, as well as case study on the Mapuche population within Chile, to exemplify neoliberal reforms' impact on students across differing socioeconomic statuses. Ranging from the 18th century to 2017, this thesis will provide a comprehensive image of how Chile's national education system has transformed from Catholic, missionary schools with majority state influence during heightened colonial practices to increasingly decentralized and marketized institutions during the 1980s. Through a series of analyses, I hypothesize neoliberal education reform has negatively impacted vulnerable students' access to education through exacerbating discriminatory, financial elements at the hands of the rise of privatized education. To support this, I will initially analyze neoliberal dictator Augusto Pinochet's education policies and reforms starting in 1980. To fully understand these lingering impacts, I also analyze 2005 socialist president Michelle Bachelet's education reforms as a method to further understand which 1980 neoliberal education policies were preserved during the restoration of democracy in Chile during the 1990s and early 2000s. The thesis closes with a final case study of the Mapuche population, the largest indigenous population in Chile. With the use of the methodological frameworks deployed in chapter two and chapter three, I attempt to expose the disproportionate impacts of neoliberal education policies on the Mapuche even as modern education and government administrations attempt to transform the education system away from oppressive and discriminatory policies implemented during the 1980s. Riddled throughout the entire thesis are discussions of social movements advocating for greater education equity, amplifying the call for increased attention on justice for students, teachers, and families. / Master of Arts / This thesis will address the impacts of Chilean neoliberal education reforms on students' access to primary and secondary education. Chile is widely known as the "neoliberal experiment" state, making it a prime region to study how neoliberal reforms have impacted the development of the country. I will argue the creation and maintenance of neoliberal education policies have negatively impacted students' access to education, especially focusing on disproportion impacts on students of differing socioeconomic statuses and demographics. The thesis is split into three main chapters, which cover from the 18th century to around 2017. Across these chapters, I will analyze the beginnings of the education system in Chile, studying the main factors that ultimately shaped it into its current system. The second chapter will take on a narrower focus and will examine the main similarities and differences between Augusto Pinochet's 1980s neoliberal dictatorship and early 2000s socialist president Michelle Bachelet's education policies and restructurings. To demonstrate how impactful neoliberal education reforms, the thesis will close with a case study of the Mapuche in Chile. The Mapuche are the largest indigenous population in Chile, and the case study of them aims to show the uneven effects of neoliberal policy creation and preservation within Mapuche education structures. Overall, I work to shed light on the negative elements in education and academic environments, which are drawn out or amplified through neoliberal restructurings.

In this study, the biodegradation potential of MTBE in uncontaminated and previously contaminated aquifer sediments under aerobic conditions was investigated. Laboratory microcosms were constructed using aquifer samples collected from three different areas of a shallow gasoline-contaminated aquifer in eastern Fairfax Co., Va in the Atlantic Coastal Plain province. Uncontaminated aquifer samples were collected upgradient of the plume, and contaminated aquifer samples were collected in the source area and in an area downgradient of the source. Biodegradation of MTBE was observed in microcosms that contained previously contaminated aquifer sediments. More complete degradation was observed in aquifer sediments containing a low level of petroleum contamination than in heavily contaminated aquifer sediments. Biodegradation of MTBE appeared to be limited by a lack of oxygen in heavily contaminated soils. When degradation was discernible it appeared to follow a first order pattern with a rate constant (l) of between 0.037 and 0.066 d-1, following a lag period of 20 to 40 days. In microcosms containing lightly contaminated aquifer material, MTBE was respiked during active metabolism, and degradation occurred with no lag or acclimation period. Results indicated that little or no degradation occurred in the microcosms containing uncontaminated soil. The results of this research suggest that the availability and level of petroleum hydrocarbon compounds influence indigenous microorganisms capable of degrading MTBE. / Master of Science

My thesis describes the praxis of geographical exploration in the mid-nineteenth century through the activities of members of the Royal Geographical Society of London (RGS). I focus on the First East African Expedition (1856-1859), which was led by Richard F. Burton. Geographical exploration was intended to provide data that would allow geographers in Britain to construct an accurate description of East Africa, with emphasis on the rivers and lakes that may contribute to the waters of the Nile and ethnographic research. Earlier geographies of the East African interior had relied upon a variety of sources: ancient, Arab, Portuguese, and local informants. In order to replace these sources with precise observation, the RGS provided some prescriptive instructions to explorers based upon the techniques of celestial navigation and surveying available for field research in the 1850s. The instructions emphasized careful, daily recording of data, using instruments as much as possible. However, in the field explorers experienced a diminished ability to control the consistency of their observations due to insufficient finances, politics, disease, and climate. Where unable to directly observe, they relied upon local informants for descriptions of the regional geography. These informants had a great impact upon the geographies produced by the expedition. In order to complete a full description of the praxis of geographical exploration it therefore becomes necessary to consider the expedition in its wider context--as a remote sensing tool for a scientific society and as a contingent of foreigners visiting a region for which they have little information and entered only with local permission. I propose that five steps, or contexts, must be considered during the analysis of expeditions: contact, acquisition, appropriation, reporting, meta-analysis. These steps make lucid the epistemic transformations that must take place as explorers gather data in the field. At each stage the identity of the individuals involved are contingent upon their relationship with each other and the information they desire. The relationship between explorers and local informants was especially critical to the establishment of credibility. Even when fully trusted by explorers, the British geographers who analyzed expedition data and generated maps of the region debated the veracity of local informants. Explorers (and by extension, local informants) found that other researchers, through the meta-analysis of expedition reports, appropriated any ownership of the information produced by expeditions. / Master of Science

The United Nations as well as the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions highlight the value and the need for appropriate knowledge organization of Indigenous knowledge in memory institutions. This paper seeks to contribute to research in the field of Indigenous librarianship. The purpose of the study is to investigate the need for Indigenous knowledge organization and information retrieval with the help of the following research questions: In what way are Indigenous knowledge systems affected by Western knowledge organization and classification structures? What tools and processes are required in order to implement Indigenous librarianship? Data collection includes semi-structured interviews in addition to literature and audiovisual review. The theoretical framework combines the themes of language revitalization, collaboration and relationality with discussions of indigenization and decolonization. The two cases studied are Indigenous librarianship in Aotearoa-New Zealand and Sweden. The results show that while the Western classification systems have shortcomings related to categorizing of Indigenous knowledge the thesaurus is a tool to work around this problem. The conclusion is that language-revitalization together with national and international collaboration is necessary to assure a deep understanding of Indigenous worldviews and knowledge organization.

The exponential growth of international tourism necessitates a shift towards more sustainable and holistic development strategies. This thesis explores the concept of regenerative tourism, focusing on Hawai’i - a popular tourist destination renowned for its natural beauty yet facing significant environmental and social impacts from tourism. This thesis explores the paradox of balancing the economic necessity of tourism while preserving local communities and the environment. This study aims to investigate the implementation of regenerative tourism in Hawai’i, focusing on its interaction with local communities to address environmental and social well-being. Through interviews with Native Hawaiians, local communities, tourism industry employees, and tourists, the study explores perceptions and collaborations within the tourism industry. The research employed the theoretical frameworks of Regenerative Development, Communities of Practice and Transformational Leadership to deepen the analysis of the current implementation and effectiveness of regenerative practices in Hawai’i.  Findings reveal that while there is an awareness of the need for inclusion in regenerative practices, increased efforts are necessary to include Indigenous voices and ensure economic sustainability for local communities. The recommendations of this study highlight the importance of respect, inclusion, and empowerment of Native Hawaiians, advocating for active engagement with local communities to form reciprocal relationships that promote learning and growth. The theoretical lens offers practical tools and applications to address the expressed needs of community members.  Effective implementation of these regenerative practices has the potential to transform Hawai’i into a destination where tourism not only benefits the economy but also enriches the environment and local communities. This transformation promises a unique travel experience, allowing tourists to gain a deeper appreciation of the natural world and contribute positively to the islands, perpetuating a cycle of reciprocity and regenerative development.

Native American communities are continually impacted by Federal Indian policy. Over one-half of all Native American nations function politically under the provisions of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act (IRA). There are claims that many of these Native American communities experience intra-tribal conflict due to the lack of congruence between the tribal governments formed under the IRA and cultural traditions of governance. This claim was investigated via a comparative trend analysis of the Santa Clara Pueblo, operating politically under the IRA provisions, and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, operating under a constitutional form of governance outside of IRA provisions. After an historical analysis, an evaluation of tribal constitutions, and an examination of news media coverage for the period of 1991 – 2000, the project concluded that the legacies of the IRA are not the primary causal agent of intra-tribal conflict. / Master of Arts

Indigenous architecture is a loving response to the natural conditions surrounding ones inhabitation of architecture. It is designed and built by those who will inhabit it and is necessarily designed in coordination with both environmental considerations and practical (or use-oriented) considerations. The product of such a building shows the love present in it both as an independent architectural entity and as an inhabited structure. The late 20th century has seen a revival with regard to appreciating this aesthetic. The 'green' movement had hoped to open people's eyes to a certain aesthetic of conservation but unfortunately has lost sight of the ideological foundations of its existence. My proposal is to look back to these roots of architecture. Not to revert architecture to mere building, but to find the aesthetic through the love put into the creation of a purposeful structure intended for a specific set of criteria and inhabitants for an intentional duration in a specific spot. We must look intently at the indigenous builders for how to find the balance of sustainability, response to environment and the physical aesthetic. / Master of Architecture