Hedekeyeh Hots’ih Kāhidi – “Our Ancestors Are In Us,” describes a Tahltan worldview, which is based on the connection Tahltan people have with our Ancestors, our land, and our language. From this worldview, I have articulated a Tahltan methodology, Tahltan Voiceability, which involves receiving the teachings of our Ancestors and Elders, learning and knowing these teachings, and the sharing of these teachings with our people. By giving voice to our Ancestors and Elders, as well as to all of our people, it sets the stage for research that is useful, relational, and transformative. Tahltan Voiceability speaks not only to the methodology of this study, but also the way in which the voices of my people can gain strength and healing from the revitalization of our language. Conversations with fluent speakers, language teachers, educators, administrators, and language learners informed this investigation with their ideas and experiences regarding Tahltan language revitalization. The learnings from the research are presented in such a way as to honour all voices, using different modes of written expression woven throughout the dissertation. The organization of the dissertation is based upon physical manifestations – examples of art – that have played key roles in my Tahltan journey. This investigation addressed the following questions: How can Tahltan language revitalization positively affect the lives of my people? In the past and present, what has been done to maintain, preserve, and revitalize our Tahltan language? In the future, what do my people need to do to continue to maintain, preserve, and revitalize our Tahltan language? In terms of positive effects, language revitalization can be the start of a process in which we begin to heal from the impacts of past losses by reclaiming our language, culture, and identity, thereby allowing our voices to become stronger and healthier. My people need to identify the steps and actions we need to take in the areas of health, education, social development, and Aboriginal rights and title, so that we can revitalize our language and heal at the same time. From what I learned from co-researchers, scholars who have worked with our Tahltan communities, other Indigenous community language revitalization experts, and international language revitalization scholars, I have provided suggestions to a newly formed Tahltan Language Authority dealing with the assessment of the language, community support, and language revitalization programs being used in British Columbia and other parts of the world. Finally, I speak about Tahltan identity, the process of language revitalization, and the connection between language revitalization and healing as forms of empowerment for my people. / Graduate

This thesis concerns a study of an elementary school Cree bilingual program. Students’ language proficiency, attitudes and academic performance were analyzed and parent and teacher interviews were conducted to assess the program’s effectiveness and to determine how well it meets community needs and expectations. The study found that students were learning Cree vocabulary but developing only limited communicative ability and they were not able to converse. The study also found that Cree Program students had positive attitudes toward Cree language and culture, and that their performance in other subject areas was not negatively affected by their focus on Cree language learning. Adult interviews demonstrated that parents and teachers had realistic assessments of students’ performance, but that they were strongly committed to the program. Parents demonstrated that they were very engaged in their children’s education.

Collective memories and how they are enacted through sensual experience of the material world play a key role in maintaining group identities. Material creations like art or social activities such as sports incorporate the social ideals of both the past as well as present; these creations can transform feelings of personhood into socialized objects. This thesis examines some of the creative expressions found within Oklahoma Choctaw revitalization practices to better understand how people maintain cultural sensory embodiments after they have experienced extreme social dislocation. Through the examination of the senses from an ethnographic approach a researcher can possibly identify those areas of culture that become embodied over time. I will be examining previously written research, oral histories pertaining to the Choctaw origin, and key material expressions of Choctaw identity alongside the contemporary practices associated with the current Choctaw revitalization efforts in Oklahoma.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / John W. Keller / In the mid-20th century a migration took place taking residents of American downtowns to the newly-developed, master-planned suburbs. In the wake were abandoned urban cores that evolved into poorly-perceived conditions. One of the many responses to correct these deteriorating central districts was the establishment of Business Improvement Districts (BID), a public-private partnership that develops complementary services to what a city already provides and is paid for by assessments collected from property and business owners in a defined area. With more than 1,000 BIDs in existence in the United States as of 2010 (Becker, Grossman, Dos Santos, 2011), the concept has caught on as a tool utilized to bring downtowns back to life. However, despite the popularity of BIDs and their nearly 50-year existence as a planning tool, the question of how successful they are in improving the conditions of safety, cleanliness, and business growth in the districts over time needs continued analysis. This study gauges the impact of BIDs through a case study of Fresno, California and its BID, the Downtown Fresno Partnership. To measure how the Downtown Fresno Partnership has been successful or unsuccessful, interviews with Downtown Fresno stakeholders were conducted to measure the BID’s ability to change perceptions and advocate for the property owners in its boundary. Also, to measure further impacts, crime, property values and retail data was investigated. A perceived injection of new energy seems to exist in Downtown Fresno, as evidenced by the activity taking place and the change in perception of the area since the Downtown Fresno Partnership was formed in 2011. The BID has played a central role in instituting physical change to the space while it has been a strong advocate for its property owners. In its first five years of existence, the Downtown Fresno Partnership has proven to be necessary, but it is not sufficient on its own. From a planning standpoint, it is important to recognize that in order to revitalize, a community must first organize. In the case of Fresno, the BID provided an opportunity to collect formerly competing interests and put itself at the center of an underperforming downtown to alter the course towards a more vibrant and thriving area. It has established positive momentum down this path, and it is expected to be a strong voice for downtown in the future as others join in on the fully-experienced revitalized state of Downtown Fresno.

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This thesis is an exploration of the fusion of building and landscape. Along with the development of modern design education, architecture design has been subdivided into several specific branches which actually cause harm to the whole design process and education in turn. In this thesis, I try to bridge the difference between the traditional concepts of building and landscape and try to make these two parts interweave with each other. By breaking the boundary between these two fields, integrity can be created which is able to make the building an object growing from its environment and to create a new middle landscape on the campus of Virginia Tech. / Master of Architecture

The main idea of the project is a gradual interpenetration of a town and nature and concurrently the free connection of the new projected area Rybníky and neighbouring quarter Prštné. And so the density of housing gradually becomes thinner and the density of vegetation thicker from the South to the North. At the same moment the form and function of buildings are changing. There is a sport area in greenery between Rybníky and Prštné as an open connection of new buildings in Rybníky and old ones in Prštné. Entrances of the area are defined by two dominant administration buildings. A local centre of the area is a park with a pavilion in its heart and a near public courtyard with café, kindergarten and the home for the elderly and singles. The projected area is full of cycle paths which connect the quarter and the Zlín city centre. The riverbank with a relaxation zone is created along the river Dřevnice.

This study presents a linguistic profile of a heritage speaker of Russian and recounts the efforts to revitalize his Russian after he had nearly stopped speaking it. The study was conducted over the course of almost two years, starting when the subject was twelve years old and ending when he was fourteen. Although this study found that the subject displayed many of the linguistic features typical of heritage speakers, the subject's Russian had suffered less attrition than is common for heritage speakers of Russian in the United States. This study presents its linguistic findings under the rubrics of phonology, morphosyntax, and semantics/pragmatics. This study also describes the pedagogical efforts to improve the subject's reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills in Russian. Finally, this study includes some reflections on the psychological factors that influenced the methodology and outcome.

No description available.