This study was initiated to demonstrate how declining neighborhoods can be revitalized through the cooperation and Partnership of local residents, financial institutions, and local government. The Neighborhood II Conservation Plan assumes that interested and informed residents can plan their own environment just as they plan their own family affairs and budget their incomes. The plan further assumes that residents working together as a team can revitalize their neighborhood at the point of decline. This study pursues various approaches to neighborhood preservation which may be useful to other cities.

This project explores the agricultural heritage and current social landscape of the Stinking Creek community of Knox County, Kentucky, and the legacy of the local nonprofit organization the Lend-A-Hand Center. Through participatory research, this project presents a reflexive account of the Lend-A-Hand Center Grow Appalachia Gardening Program examining the diverse economy of the Stinking Creek watershed and possibilities for new economic imaginings and post-coal futures for central Appalachia. This dissertation includes an oral history project, a theoretical examination, and an ethnographic reflection, bridging several literatures in the fields of agricultural history, Appalachian Studies, Participatory Action Research, research within the diverse economy framework, and feminist political ecology. For three years I coordinated the Grow Appalachia program through the Lend-A-Hand Center, developing agricultural initiatives in Knox County, working to re-localize food systems through home gardens, community gardens, and the establishment of the Knox County Farmers’ Market, and gathering stories through oral histories on the Creek. Problematizing the 1967 book Stinking Creek, by John Fetterman, this account of the community seeks to call attention to the importance of critical analyses of representations of people, processes, and places. In the face of pressing social issues in central Appalachia and renewed interest in the discourses of development, local food, and post-coal transition, this work seeks to intervene in region-wide discussions and suggest avenues for change and possibility. The Lend-A-Hand Center Grow Appalachia Gardening Program illustrates the potentials for community-based agriculture projects in the region to promote a variety of economic processes, foster and preserve agricultural traditions, and impact the conversation about outlooks for the region. This research provides policy and programmatic suggestions regarding the importance of relocalization of food systems and different (re)presentations of community narratives as part of a multifaceted agenda toward a just, sustainable future for eastern Kentucky and the region.

TreePeople is a Los Angeles based non-profit organization that uses environmental education, initiatives, and programs to engage with the greater community to work towards the goal of a sustainable future for Los Angeles. The Fruit Tree Program is one of TreePeople’s longest running programs of 29 years, which distributes free bare-root fruit trees to economically disadvantaged communities as a source of fresh fruit and the other environmental benefits that trees offer. This paper is a comprehensive report detailing the history of the program and the impacts it has had on communities across Los Angeles County. Looking at three communities in Los Angeles and interviewing key community members from these communities, I identified the impacts that the program has had on addressing important urban environmental concerns and facilitating community development.

This study examines geographic patterns and geographic factors of residential burglary at the Nashville, TN area for a twenty year period at five year interval starting in 1988. The purpose of this study is to identify what geographic factors have impacted on residential burglary rates, and if there were changes in the geographic patterns of residential burglary over the study period. Several criminological theories guide this study, with the most prominent being Social Disorganization Theory and Routine Activities Theory. Both of these theories focus on the relationships of place and crime. A number of spatial analysis methods are hence adopted to analyze residential burglary rates at block group level for each of the study year. Spatial autocorrelation approaches, particularly Global and Local Moran's I statistics, are utilized to detect the hotspots of residential burglary. To understand the underlying geographic factors of residential burglary, both OLS and GWR regression analyses are conducted to examine the relationships between residential burglary rates and various geographic factors, such as Percentages of Minorities, Singles, Vacant Housing Units, Renter Occupied Housing Units, and Persons below Poverty Line. The findings indicate that residential burglaries exhibit clustered patterns by forming various hotspots around the study area, especially in the central city and over time these hotspots tended to move in a northeasterly direction during the study period of 1988-2008. Overall, four of the five geographic factors under examination show positive correlations with the rate of residential burglary at block group level. Percentages of Vacant Housing Units and Persons below Poverty Line (both are indicators of neighbor economic well-being) are the strong indicators of crime, while Percentages of Minorities (ethnic heterogeneity indictor) and Renter Occupied Housing Units (residential turnover indictor) only show modest correlation in a less degree. Counter-intuitively, Percentage of Singles (another indicator of residential turnover) is in fact a deterrent of residential burglary; however, the reason for this deterrence is not entirely clear.

In this thesis, I explore Latino masculinities and contest their uniformity through transforming an oral history conducted with my father into a collection of short stories. Following storytelling traditions of Latino/Mexican culture, I converted an oral history interviews with my dad into a collection of short stories. From these short stories I extracted themes relating to the micro and macro manifestations of gender policing. Drawing from Judith Butler's Theory of performativity and Gloria Anzaldua's theory of Borderland identities, I rethink masculinity and offer Jose Esteban Munoz's theory of disidentification. With these theories in conversation, I analyze the themes of the short stories I present. In Chapter One, I investigate the potential of verguenza and respeto, or shame and respect, to complicate masculinity. In Chapter Two, I critically analyze my father's interaction with INS officials during his interview to become a U.S. resident. In these two sets of stories, I use disidentification to uncover the third space relationship with masculinity. I see this relationship at the intersections of race, class, gender and ability, the identities which come together to leave my father in the borderlands. Ultimately, I complicate masculinity through these analyses, offering a space for a nonoppressive masculinity.

Ample empirical evidence highlights the significant prevalence of persons with mental health issues and concurrent disorders involved in the criminal justice system. This population frequently uses services provided by community based non-profit organizations for aid and support. Yet, there is a dearth of research that addresses the prevalence of mental health issues and concurrent disorders amongst those served by such organizations, and the barriers to community reintegration that they face. Focusing on the prevalence of mental health issues and concurrent disorders among individuals involved or at risk of involvement in the criminal justice system, the John Howard Society of Waterloo-Wellington and the University of Guelph embarked upon a mixed-methods community-engaged research partnership. Information for the clients in the ‘Community Aftercare’ program was collected in relation to mental health issues and concurrent disorders. Our data reveal the ‘typical’ profile of the clients accessing the Aftercare program, which includes a high prevalence of mental health issues and concurrent disorders. Further, interviews identified stigma, history of victimization, complex needs, criminal history, diminished welfare state, and a lack of social support/social capital as barriers faced by the Aftercare clients. The Aftercare program, however, acts as a form of social support and builds social capital for the clients. A lack of adequate funding to address the complex needs of the Aftercare clients was identified as a program limitation, and the findings revealed a need for additional funding.

There are significant mental health disparities in Aboriginal communities in Canada as a result of historical assimilation policies (Health Canada, 2012). One approach to mitigating these mental health concerns is through prevention programs that include a wilderness component. Wilderness based programs for Aboriginal youth are informed by cultural wisdom and empirical research that connects immersion in nature with psychological well-being. The goal of this study was to collaborate with two community partners (Nala Winds canoe family from the Heiltsuk First Nation, and Victoria Native Friendship Centre) to develop an evaluation tool that will satisfy mainstream funding standards as well as community, cultural standards. This tool-kit was designed to reflect the youth experience and mental health consequences of Tribal Journeys, an annual canoe journey program for Coastal First Nations peoples. The findings were shared with community partners and may be helpful in facilitating the creation, maintenance, and evaluation of other Aboriginal youth programs. / Graduate / 0620 / 0347 / 0621 / tansmethurst@gmail.com

Child maltreatment is not a new issue. It has existed in various forms in every society since the early days in history. However, it is only in the past four decades that abuse and neglect of children has attracted widespread interest among health professionals and the general public. There is now a large body of evidence that identifies four main maltreatment forms: physical, sexual, emotional maltreatment and neglect. Child maltreatment is a substantial public health problem, as it is associated with immediate and long-term health problems. Most research into child maltreatment has been conducted in English-speaking, developed countries. Although there has been a small but steady increase in the number of studies from less developed countries over the past decade, there remains a relative dearth of research in these populations, especially in Asia. Over the years, most research projects around the world tend to be focused on only one type of child maltreatment (usually either child sexual abuse or child physical maltreatment), and many studies do not examine risk factors in depth, or address the possible outcomes of various forms of maltreatment. Children have always held a very important place in the culture and traditions in Vietnam. In 1989, Vietnam was the first Asian country and the second country in the world to sign and ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Since then Vietnam has adopted various measures to promote children's rights and particularly children's rights to be protected from abuse and exploitation. Despite strong political support for the rights of children, there is little formal research into child maltreatment. From the small amount of available evidence and media reports, it appears that children in Vietnam are vulnerable to maltreatment, just as they are all over the world. It is clear that information about the extent and health consequences of different forms of child maltreatment from scientifically sound studies is still far from sufficient. Thus, more research is essential to ensure effective and culturally appropriate responses to protect children from maltreatment. The primary aim of this research was to examine the nature and co-occurrence of four forms of child maltreatment including sexual, physical, emotional maltreatment and neglect among Vietnamese secondary and high school adolescents in both urban and rural settings, and determine the extent to which such adverse experiences impact on self-reported health risk behaviours and physical and mental health. A mixed methods design including qualitative interviews and focus group discussions, and a cross-sectional survey was employed in this study. Incorporation of qualitative inquiry added a cultural dimension on child maltreatment and informed to develop appropriate quantitative measures. Following 8 focus group discussions and 16 in-depth interviews as well as a pilot study of 299 adolescents in Vietnamese schools, a cross-sectional survey of 2,591 adolescents randomly selected from eight secondary and high schools in one urban district and one rural district was undertaken between 2004 and 2005. Data were collected by self-administered questionnaires in class rooms. Key information included demographics, family characteristics and environment, and four scales measuring sexual abuse, emotional and physical maltreatment and neglect as well as standard brief assessments of health related risk behaviours, mental and general physical health. The study clearly revealed that experiences of different forms and co-occurrence of child maltreatment among school adolescents were prevalent in Vietnam. The prevalence estimates of at least one type of physical and emotional maltreatment, neglect and sexual abuse were 47.5%, 39.5%, 29.3% and 19.7% respectively. A significant proportion of respondents (41.6%) was exposed to more than one form of child maltreatment, of which 14.5% and 6.3% experienced three or four maltreatment forms. Results from multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that the prevalence of child physical and emotional maltreatment and neglect among adolescents was not statistically different between urban and rural districts. However, children from rural schools were more likely to report unwanted sexual experiences than their counterparts in urban schools. There was no significant gender difference in reports of adverse sexual experiences. In contrast, girls were more likely to report emotional maltreatment and neglect whereas boys were more likely to experience physical maltreatment. Furthermore, family environment assessed by parental quarrelling, fighting, perceived quality of parental relationship and emotional support appeared to be the most consistent factors significantly predicting each form of child maltreatment. After controlling for a wide range of potential confounding factors, many significant correlates between each type of maltreatment, each level of maltreatment co-occurrence and each health risk behaviour were found. In general, the pattern of correlations between child maltreatment and health risk behaviours was similar for females and males. Emotional maltreatment significantly correlated with most behaviours examined. Physical maltreatment seems more likely to be associated with involvement in physical fights and being threatened. Sexual abuse was significantly related to smoking, drinking, being drunk, and involvement in fighting. Statistically significant associations between neglect and self-harm such as involvement in fighting, feeling sad and hopeless, suicidal thoughts and attempts were found. Clearly, co-occurrence of child maltreatment was significantly associated with almost all examined health risk behaviours and a dose-response relationship was observed in most of the dependent variables. Regarding continuous measures of mental and physical health, multivariate regression analyses revealed that presence of four types of child maltreatment explained a small but significant proportion of variance (from 5% to 9%), controlling for a wide range of background variables. Additionally, while each form of child maltreatment had independent effects on depression, anxiety problems, low self-esteem and poor physical health emotional maltreatment appeared to be the strongest influence on mental and physical health of both female and male adolescents. Analysis of variance also clearly suggested that exposure to increasing numbers of maltreatment forms significantly increased the risk of mental and physical health problems in a dose-response fashion. The present study extends a small body of previous research examining poly-victimization in developed nations to an Asian country. The data contribute new knowledge on cross-cultural child maltreatment problems. Considerable commonalities as well as some differences in the findings in Vietnam compared with earlier research were found. One important conclusion concerns the significant independent associations between various types of child maltreatment, as well as the cumulative effects of poly-victimization on a wide range of health risk behaviours, depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and general physical health. This pioneering research in Vietnam provides timely and substantial evidence that can be used to raise public awareness of the nature of child maltreatment and the harmful effects of not only sexual and physical abuse but also other forms of emotional maltreatment and neglect which have not received attention before. These results from a community-based sample have demonstrated the urgent need for prevention programs. The current study provides an impetus for more comprehensive research in this sensitive area in the near future so that culturally and politically relevant evidence-based responses to child maltreatment can be developed in Vietnam.

I argue that although the abusive conditions experienced by farmworkers have complicated causes, they have persisted and will continue to persist as long as farmworkers are stripped of virtually any political and economic power. The chapters build upon each other logically, beginning with the second chapter, which uses farmworker testimony to establish that a combination of economic and political circumstances have kept farmworkers from protesting not only methyl bromide, but every other dangerous condition they face in the fields. In the third chapter, I argue that despite commonly held assumptions, growers are virtually powerless to change the circumstances of farm workers because competition they face in the strawberry market precludes any single grower from paying their workers more than the going rate. I will conclude by arguing that to begin to improve the working conditions of farm workers, consumers will need to engage with the issue on both political and economic levels. The conclusion builds on the arguments established in the second and third chapters; namely, given that neither growers nor farmworkers will be able to leverage change within the current political and economic context, consumers are the only remaining actors with both the incentives and power to influence both the political and economic arenas. Just as scholarship that focuses on only one set of actors (i.e. only growers or only regulators) will necessarily fail to provide practical solutions because such papers tend to discount the pressures faced by and produced by other actors, so too will change be impossible without consumers who advocate that farmworkers both receive a just share of political voice and fair wages.

In this Master’s thesis, I document my experience working with members of the W̱SÁNEĆ Nation in their efforts to revitalize the reef net fishery. As part of this research project, I interviewed W̱SÁNEĆ community members, and I created a digital map of reef net fishing locations (SWELSWÁLET). In each of these interviews, different W̱SÁNEĆ community members chose to frame reef net fishing differently, and they highlighted specific and unique “alternative political approaches” toward W̱SÁNEĆ cultural resurgence (Kew & Miller 1999:58-59). Despite these differences, each W̱SÁNEĆ community member that I interviewed believed that reef net fishing is something that “needs to be shared” (XA’LATE, pers. comm., June 14, 2016). In Chapter 1, I explore the variations in what specific W̱SÁNEĆ community members want shared. In Chapters 2 and 3, however, I examine the delicate cultural, political, and legal contexts that have made sharing a complicated process. In Chapter 2, I analyze how the BC Treaty Process (BCTP) has exacerbated conflicts among First Nations in British Columbia. Further, I discuss the impact that these conflicts have had on how the W̱SÁNEĆ Nation shares information with their intranational and international neighbours. In Chapter 3, I explore how my misaligned expectations of knowledge sharing in collaborative community-based research—as a white settler man—clashed with “the values and beliefs, practices and customs of [the W̱SÁNEĆ Nation]” (L. Smith 2012:15-16; Lassiter 2005). I also make recommendations for how settler researchers in the future should proceed with research projects in these contexts. / Graduate / 2019-12-06