Helen Hunt Jackson wrote the sentimental novel, Ramona, to call attention to social justice for Native Americans. This thesis presents a reconsideration and reevaluation of the novel, especially that of the Native American voice the novel presents, by recognizing the complexities of Native American literature and culture. Previous criticism of the novel focuses on the portrayal of Hispanics or the "real life" events, such as the shaping of Southern California, the "true" Ramona, or the life of Jackson. Since there is little critical debate of the text itself, this thesis initiates further exploration. An extensive review of the scholarship provides evidence of the problematic Native American voice. Other white authors, most significantly John G. Neihardt, have presented Native American literary texts such as autobiographies. While Ramona is a work of fiction, Jackson takes similar liberties as translators and editors of Native American autobiographies. In addition, Christianity shapes Jackson’s interpretation of Native American life. All of Jackson’s characters, both Native American and Hispanic, are influenced by Christianity, and no Native American religion exists within the novel. Despite Jackson’s genuine sympathy for Native American rights, she struggles with Native American stereotypes throughout Ramona and creates her own image of the civilized man as noble savage. Jackson can only present a portrait of the Native American as she perceives it because she encountered at least two distinct obstacles that prevented her from writing in an authentic Native American voice. First, at the time that Jackson wrote the novel, the Luiseño tribe, the subject of Jackson’s narrative, had been influenced by the role of Europeans in their society for over 300 years, and the tribe had lost at least some sense of its original native identity. Secondly, like other white authors, Jackson attempts to give voice to the Native American with her own white upper class female tongue. The Native American voice that Jackson presents is ultimately filtered through her Western lens.

The purpose of this project was to develop a computer-based instructional material for Temecula third grade teachers to use with their history/social science curriculum. What evolved was a stack about Old Town Temecula that supports the Framework, an integration of technology into the history/social science curriculum. The project connects the past and present by focusing on the historical buildings in Old Town Temecula. As an instructional tool the stack provides teachers with the pre field trip materials and follow-up activities to use when doing a field trip to Old Town Temecula.

This dissertation examines questions of water sustainability in contexts of wine production and state-led neoliberal development in the Temecula Valley, southern California, where wine tourism is at present being harnessed as an engine of economic growth. Natural and anthropogenic forces, such as global climate change, desertification, urban development, and the marketization and commodification of natural resources, affect the distribution and availability of water throughout the globe. As a result, the use of water, and associated political and environmental processes and consequences, in the production of global commodities, including wheat, citrus, and coffee, recently have come under increased scrutiny. Given wine's importance as a global commodity, and the concurrent growth of wine tourism as a worldwide phenomenon, local and regional water systems experience increasing strain to meet heightened demand for wine and the associated influx of tourists. This dissertation presents an ethnographic account of water use in the production of wine in Temecula, a desert-like setting already deficient in water that faces increasing human-induced pressures on its limited supply. Despite its social importance, very few dedicated ethnographies of wine and winemaking within the United States exist. This dissertation also describes the waterworld of Temecula, using (and critiquing) the model presented by Ben Orlove and Steven C. Caton that examines water in terms of value, equity, governance, politics, and knowledge systems, showing how these elements manifest in three "sites": the watershed, the water regime, and the waterscape. In Temecula, the winery serves as a central locus within the waterworld, a contested representation of the interests, goals, and perspectives of primary actors and stakeholders, while also serving as an important vector of landscape transformation through time. Despite this, no anthropological treatment examining water and winemaking within broader frameworks of the political economy of the environment and historical ecology is extant, a lacuna that this dissertation addresses. Throughout 2012, I conducted ethnographic fieldwork including archival research, interviews, and participant-observation. For the majority of my fieldwork, I spent time at an established winery in Temecula, during which I participated in many tasks related to wine production, with a focus on water use. Throughout this process, I interviewed dozens of people, including long-time residents, early pioneers in the Temecula wine industry, winery and vineyard employees, water management professionals at local and state levels, environmental service technicians, and many others. This dissertation demonstrates that under conditions of neoliberal development in challenging economic times in Temecula, environmental concerns such as water availability and sustainability are suppressed or downplayed in order to prioritize goals related to economic growth and development. Ultimately I suggest that developers and local business leaders are guiding this political legerdemain, even if only implicitly, above the din of objections from at least a good number of area wineries, vineyards, and residents. Also, I suggest that as an applied outcome, the totality of potential costs and outcomes at all scales, including regional, must be considered, rather than obfuscated, simplified, or restricted to a local boundary, especially in terms of natural resources and their governance, when such areas lie within locales inexorably connected within a delicate ecological web.

Small businesses and small business networks have become increasingly important over the past two decades. However, limited empirical research has been carried out on the interactions of these small businesses, specifically within supportive networks. This research focuses on the interaction of firms and organizations within a successful small business innovation network, and how innovative business practices are developed. Innovation network theory was used as a lens to view the dynamics within an innovation network comprised entirely of small businesses and organizations. For this research, a qualitative case study was undertaken, with an emergent wine region in Southern California targeted as an ideal case in which to study a small business innovation network. This research showed that in this instance of a small business innovation network, a hub firm, as defined by innovation network theory does not exist to orchestrate and manage the interactions within the network. Thereby, an adapted model for small business innovation networks is proposed and the results from this qualitative case study are mapped using this adapted theory. The results show a constellation of firms and organizations at the core of the network composition, undertaking deliberate and emergent strategies that affect the outcome and success of all members of the small business innovation network. The research identified a significant sense of place embedded in the regional culture and the importance of effective regional planning in positively impacting the success of the small business innovation network.

Small businesses and small business networks have become increasingly important over the past two decades. However, limited empirical research has been carried out on the interactions of these small businesses, specifically within supportive networks. This research focuses on the interaction of firms and organizations within a successful small business innovation network, and how innovative business practices are developed. Innovation network theory was used as a lens to view the dynamics within an innovation network comprised entirely of small businesses and organizations. For this research, a qualitative case study was undertaken, with an emergent wine region in Southern California targeted as an ideal case in which to study a small business innovation network. This research showed that in this instance of a small business innovation network, a hub firm, as defined by innovation network theory does not exist to orchestrate and manage the interactions within the network. Thereby, an adapted model for small business innovation networks is proposed and the results from this qualitative case study are mapped using this adapted theory. The results show a constellation of firms and organizations at the core of the network composition, undertaking deliberate and emergent strategies that affect the outcome and success of all members of the small business innovation network. The research identified a significant sense of place embedded in the regional culture and the importance of effective regional planning in positively impacting the success of the small business innovation network.

The purpose of this study is to examine if school or community characteristics correlate with suspensions and expulsions. The data examined in this study were drawn from Riverside County schools. The schools were examined to determine if school or social disorganization characteristics correlate with suspension and expulsion rates.