The Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Reservation, which straddles the U.S.-Canada border in northern New York State, is analyzed in order to reveal how it has persevered, despite enormous political and economic difficulties, since its founding around 1754. It is demonstrated that a number of facets of Mohawk social life have allowed the community to flourish. Preeminent among these has been the issue of Mohawk sovereignty and the role of Mohawk women in maintaining the community. As the tendency for Mohawk men to work away from the community increased, the tradition of Mohawk women staying on the reservation to raise children and maintain traditional family and community values provided all community members with a geographically explicit area to which they could refer as home. These roles have reinforced and recast ancient Mohawk concepts of sovereignty. Social history and historical censuses provide valuable insights into these issues.

The purpose of this thesis was to determine if there was a significant relationship between the services provided First American juveniles in the Pima County Juvenile Court system as compared to others. In addition this thesis also provides an overview of the history of the Juvenile Justice system as well as the current practices in Pima County Juvenile Court.

There are a lot of misconceptions about the Owls Club, located at 378 N. Main Street in Tucson, Arizona. Many of these are the result of the popularity of the bachelors who formed Tucson's first men's club, The Owls, in the late nineteenth century. The restoration/renovation of the building in 1986 facilitated a revival of popular notions that the Owls Club served as a clubhouse for the gregarious society of men. However, by examining the building in its appropriate context of "Tucson Boosterism," different conclusions are drawn. Although the residence is connected with members of The Owls, the buildings construction after the organization's social and group emphasis had ended. Instead, research revealed that the Owls Club was designed as a single-family residence to promote the development of an elite Anglo neighborhood in Tucson while, simultaneously, reinforcing its patrons' position in society.

This paper examines the implementation of environmental policy on Indian land, by conducting a case study of the Pueblo of Isleta. In 1992 the EPA acknowledged the jurisdictional authority of the Pueblo to establish water quality standards for the Rio Grande. The Pueblo has since attempted to implement these standards despite opposition from the city of Albuquerque. The premise of this paper is that tribes, in general, have assumed a greater role in regulating their environments although financial, technical, and statutory impediments continue to thwart complete tribal control. By examining the historical process of inclusion of tribes into the regulatory arena and applying this to the Pueblo of Isleta, this paper presents a concise analysis of one tribes response to the intricacies of environmental regulation.

<p> Among the new technologies heralded as part of the emerging bioeconomy are plastics made from plant material, known as bioplastics. This dissertation examines the political and historical underpinnings of the bioplastics that are now being offered as an alternative to petrochemicals in the United States. As a case study of "green" technological development, bioplastics challenge dominant conceptions of innovation for sustainability. The bioplastics being developed and marketed today are the outcome of interventions in commodity crop prices, incubation of research on biomass during periods of fossil fuel dominance, and the commercialization of publicly funded research. Their origins can be traced at least as far back as the 1920s, when advocates of "chemurgy" encouraged the federal government to create research centers to discover new industrial uses of agricultural crops. </p><p> Research in science and technology studies (STS) indicates that social structures shape perceptions of problems, condition viable solutions, and limit the diversity of stakeholders and ideas present in the social construction of technology. This study examines these processes in the history and current debates about bioplastics. The dissertation asks who has influenced the social construction of bioplastics and why bioplastics have become part of a larger bioeconomic vision now. Theoretical insights are drawn from the sociological theory of the treadmill of production, which argues that environmental problems cannot be solved in a capitalist system in which the federal government, private industries, and organized labor continuously seek the expansion of production and consumption at the expense of environmental sustainability. Major players in the chemical and biotechnology industries have pursued bioplastics as a means of continuing economic growth and consumption of goods, even as petroleum becomes costly and environmentalists voice objections to petrochemicals. There are many critiques of bioplastics and their impacts at every stage of bioplastics, from sourcing feedstocks from food crops to disrupting existing recycling and composting systems. Nevertheless, the bioplastics currently on the market were not designed to resolve these environmental concerns. Increasingly, however, activists are using non-governmental institutions, particularly the development of voluntary standards, to shape the industry and technology. The study examines the extent to which such reforms might lead to the production of more sustainable alternatives to petrochemicals. </p><p> Ultimately, this dissertation presents the history and politics surrounding the field of bioplastics in order to highlight how things "might have been otherwise" and what changes in society could be useful for producing more sustainable technologies.</p>

<p>The purpose of this project was to record the private archaeological collection of the Keene family, which was previously unknown to the professional community. While at the two sites, Keene Redfield site (8Ja1847) and Keene Dog Pond site (8Ja1848), in Jackson County, northwest Florida, USF archaeologists also conducted field investigations to look for prehistoric cultural materials in undisturbed contexts. </p><p> This research was conducted at the request of the Keene family. The field crew systematically documented, cataloged and photographed each artifact in the Keene collection while at the sites. Surface survey and testing were also carried out in order to determine site boundaries, occupation and function. </p><p> ]Over 1,000 artifacts from every time period from the transitional Paleo-Indian/Early Archaic through the Mississippian were documented from the collection. Field investigations resulted in the location and investigation of undisturbed cultural strata below the plow zone, enabling the researchers to obtain radiocarbon dates from these deposits. Evidence of hunting and gathering activities and of tool processing including repair, sharpening and possible re-use was found at both sites. </p><p> This work allowed for the publication of two previously unknown, rich archaeological sites and for a better understanding of the prehistoric activities and functions of this region of the southeast. While participating in this public archaeology project, several other similar opportunities presented themselves, providing USF archaeologists with the ability to maintain a presence in the area to continue public archaeology efforts to engage the community and encourage appropriate participation and good stewardship of these types of private sites. </p>

<p> This dissertation explores the evolution of political activism among Haitians in the United States from the formation of Haitian New York in the late 1950s to the return of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to Haiti in 1994. It traces the efforts of Haitian activists to build bridges connecting New York and Miami to the grassroots organizations in Haiti, finding a considerable degree of success in their efforts to construct a transnational movement that had a substantial impact both in Haiti and in the United States. Shedding additional light on the interconnected history of Haiti and the United States, this dissertation also adds to the growing historiography on immigrant activism and international campaigns for democracy and human rights. </p><p> At the outset, politics in Haitian New York was splintered among competing factions, though by the early 1970s there began to form a somewhat unified anti-Duvalier opposition movement. The arrival of the Haitian "boat people" in South Florida in the early 1970s continued the evolution of Haitian politics in the United States, triggering a refugee crisis that drew the attention of the activists in New York and forcing a reconsideration of political vision and strategy that had previously been solely concerned with the overthrow of the Duvalier dictatorship. The grassroots resistance in Haiti and in the United States saw a slight opening with the arrival of President Jimmy Carter, but with Carter's successor, Ronald Reagan, came a wave of repression in Haiti and stringent new policies toward Haitian refugees. The uprisings of 1985 and 1986 that toppled the Duvalier dictatorship transformed Haitian politics at home and abroad, enabling an expanded and tightened network of activism connecting New York, Miami, and Haiti, which grew from 1987 to 1989. The years 1990 and 1991 were the pinnacle moment for the linked popular movements in New York, Miami, and Haiti, though Haitian activists were soon forced to pour their energy into the overlapping campaigns aimed at reversing the coup against Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and defending the new wave of refugees that the coup produced.</p>

<p> This study, guided by a Chicana feminist epistemology and Latina/o Critical Theory narrates and contemplates the experiences of people who have decided to take part in collective struggle. It explores the ways 10 Mexican-origin activists and organizers (5 women and 5 men, ages 19 to 60) from Santa Ana, California conceptualize identity, community, space, and grassroots. Within the findings, "alternative educational spaces" is introduced as a concept based in the participants' experiences in spaces that contributed to self-worth and built a sense of collective responsibility that countered institutionalized racism and classism in schools and within city policies. This study highlights the heterogeneity of Mexican-origin peoples and investigates the ways in which the participants' lived experiences as Santa Ana-based activists and organizers contribute to developing histories and community building. </p>

<p> Following the Civil War, the American government greatly expanded the opportunities available for private businessmen and investors in an effort to rapidly colonize the West. This expansion of private commerce led to the second industrial revolution in which railroads and the corporation became the symbols and tools of a rapidly modernizing nation. It was also during this period that the responsibility of food distribution was released from municipal accountability and institutions like public markets began to fade from the American urbanscape. While the proliferation of private grocers greatly aided many metropolises' rapid growth, they did little to secure a sustainable and desirable form of food distribution. During the decades before and after the turn of the century, public market campaigns began to develop in response to the widespread abandonment of municipal food distribution. </p><p> Like many western cities, Portland, Oregon matured during the second half of the nineteenth century and lacked the historical and social precedent for the construction of a public market. Between 1851 and 1914, residents of Portland and its agricultural hinterland fought for the construction of a municipally-owned public market rallying against the perceived harmful and growing influences of middlemen. As a result of their efforts, the Carroll Public Market was founded on the curbsides of Yamhill Street in downtown Portland. While success encouraged multiple expansions and an increasingly supportive consumer base, a growing commitment to modernist planning among city officials and the spread of automobile ownership determined the market to be incompatible with the commercial future of Portland.</p><p> In an effort to acknowledge and capitalize on the Carroll Public Market's community, a group of investors, incorporated as the Portland Market Company, worked with city officials between 1926 and 1934 to create the largest public market in the United States, the Portland Public Market. As the first building of the newly constructed waterfront development, many believed the massive institution would reinvigorate nearby businesses and ultimately influence the potential of the downtown business district. The Portland Public Market was decidedly distinct from the market along Yamhill and the promoters cast it as such. By utilizing the most modern technologies and promises of convenience there was little that the two organizations shared in common. In the end, the potential of the waterfront market was never fulfilled and amidst legal scandals, an ongoing struggle to meet operating costs, and the success of a rebellious Farmers Cooperative, it shut down after nine years.</p><p> This thesis discusses these two public markets during a period of changing consumer interests and the rise of modernist planning in Portland, Oregon. Ultimately, the Carroll Public Market was torn down for reasons beyond its own control despite the comfortable profit it enjoyed each year. Many city officials refused to support the institution as they increasingly supported the values of modernism and urban planning. The Portland Public Market fit perfectly with many city planners' and private investors' intents for the future. This essay seeks to offer a unique glimpse of how commercial communities form and how commercial environments evolve through the politics of food distribution, consumerism, and producer-to-consumer relationships.</p>

<p> Few modern economic historians dispute the notion that America's phenomenal economic growth over the last one hundred and fifty years was in large measure enabled by the development of the nation's antebellum Middle West&mdash;those states comprising the Northwest Territory and the Deep South that, generally, are located between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. By far, the labor of 14.8 million people, who emigrated there between 1830 and 1860, was the most important factor propelling this growth. </p><p> Previously, in their search for the origins of this extraordinary development of America's heartland, most historians tended to overlook the voices of a variety of peoples&mdash;African Americans, Native Americans, Mexicans, and artisans&mdash;who did not appear to contribute to the historical view of the mythic agrarian espoused by Thomas Jefferson and J. Hector St. John de Cr&egrave;vecoeur. Another marginalized voice from this era&mdash;one virtually forgotten by historians&mdash;is that of English women travel writers who visited and wrote about this America. Accordingly, it is the aim of this dissertation to recover their voices, especially regarding their collective observations of the economic development of America's antebellum Middle West. </p><p> After closely reading thirty-three travel narratives for microeconomic detail, I conclude that these travelers' observations, when conjoined, bring life in the Middle West's settler environment into sharper focus and further explain that era's migratory patterns, economic development, and social currents. I argue these travelers witnessed rabid entrepreneurialism&mdash;a finding that challenges the tyranny of the old agrarian myth that America was settled exclusively by white male farmers. Whether observing labor on the farm or in the cities, these English women travel writers labeled this American pursuit of economic opportunity&mdash;"a progress mentality," "Mammon worship," or "go-aheadism"&mdash;terms often used by these writers to describe Jacksonian-era Americans as a determined group of get-ahead, get-rich, rise-in-the-world individuals. Further, I suggest that these narratives enhanced migratory trends into America's antebellum Middle West simply because they were widely read in both England and America and amplified the rhetoric of numerous other boosters of the promised land in America's Middle West.</p>