Thesis (Ph. D.)--Queen's University at Kingston (Canada), 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 291-319).

“‘Perl’s of Wisdom’: ‘Rabbi’ Sam Perl, New Models of Acculturation, and the ‘In-Between’ Jew” examines archival materials from the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The Brownsville Herald and El Heraldo de Brownsville to demonstrate how Sam Perl — an Eastern European Jewish immigrant who changed the face of Brownsville, Texas — redefines historical approaches to Jewish acculturation. In this bordertown, Perl not only revitalized the Jewish community when he became the temple’s lay-rabbi, but he also actively united Mexican and Anglo communities both in Brownsville and across the border in its sister city of Matamoros. In Perl’s efforts to simultaneously revitalize his own religious community and the greater social landscape of the border area, Perl proved that he did not need to conform to the expectations of Anglo-Christian identity to succeed. Challenging theories of whiteness studies scholars, Perl never sacrificed his Jewish identity, had a boulevard named after him, and came to be known as “Mr. Brownsville.” Indeed, Perl’s profound impact on the Brownsville-Matamoros community was the result of his ability to occupy an “in-between,” interstitial position that did not require him to blend in with majority cultures; that is, Perl remained distinctly Jewish while simultaneously involving himself in both Anglo and Mexican arenas. Immersing himself in every aspect of bordertown life, Perl occupied multiple roles of community authority, serving as a businessman, rabbi, a Charro Days founder, cultural diplomat, court chaplain and radio host. A close examination of Perl’s life and considerable legacy demonstrates how new acculturation models are needed to better understand the manner in which Jews like Perl have adapted and contributed to dominant cultures. / text

No description available.

This thesis studies the diffusion of architectural types and the rise of regionally distinct typologies in the Willamette Valley's settlement period (1840-1865) in Oregon. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze the dispersion of architectural types within the Willamette Valley revealed trends amongst the extant settlement architecture samples. Brownsville, Oregon, was identified to have a locally-specific architectural subtype, the closer study of which enabled deeper investigation of the development of architectural landscapes during the Willamette Valley's settlement period. Field and archival research revealed that the appearance of an architectural subtype, at least in Brownsville, was not directly connected to a shared provenance of settlers but rather came about through a number of regionally-specific circumstances, especially an active local carpenter community.

Why are so many girls becoming pregnant in Brownsville, Texas? I encountered this question as a result of my field work. Teachers, school administrators, community officials, parents, and even students pose this question as part of a local concern over the high birth rate among Brownsville youth. As a response to this concern, I engage with this overarching research question by exploring the sex lives and romantic experiences of young mothering teens in Brownsville, through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. However, as part of a larger mission of problematizing common misconceptions and misunderstanding regarding Mexican-origin youth and their sex lives, this thesis offers a Chicana feminist/borderlands analysis of what the young women shared concerning their sexual experiences. Through their stories, I situate teen pregnancy as a symptom of a complex web of discourses, practices, social institutions, and ideologies regarding sex, thereby elucidating the socio-cultural factors that make young Mexicanas vulnerable to unprotected sex, and consequently unintended pregnancy in Brownsville, Texas. Throughout this thesis I focus on three social and personal venues that stood out as the most influential sources from which my informants learned and talked about sex: peers, mothers, and boyfriends. Contrary to the culture of silence presumed by the literature, the mothers and peers of the young respondents are quite vocal about sex; in fact, there is strong peer pressure for young women to have sex. However, they are expected to so within the context of a committed, heterosexual relationship in which young women give into male desire. This set of social expectations compels young women to have unprotected sex, but also to engage in unwanted sex. In the final chapter, I suggest how sex education can be improved and tailored to the particular needs of Brownsville youth—that is both women and men. / text

Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 47-06, page: 3487. Adviser: Cristina S. Barrosso. Includes bibliographical references.

This analysis of the Downtown areas in US- Mexico Border Cities such as Brownsville, McAllen, Laredo, and San Diego will chronicle the history and foundation of each city and also the current revitalization efforts underway in many of these cities. Brownsville, Texas is one of those cities located along the border with a rich history and a unique downtown that some have called the New Orleans on the Rio Grande. The architecture has a heavy New Orleans influence thereby making this downtown the most unique in the Rio Grande Valley. Revitalization Efforts in Brownsville continuously resurface only to be unsuccessful due to many variables including the lack of political will to take on perhaps the biggest challenge to face Brownsville. Nonetheless, revitalization of this area must occur and in order to fully understand the intricacies of Downtown Brownsville one must look back in time to see what exactly made Downtown Brownsville so special. This report will seek those answers and give positive and realistic recommendations that could assist in the revitalization of Downtown Brownsville. / text

No description available.

Emerging river policy has launched small dam removal as a viable option to meet the ecological and social demands for river restoration. As small dam removals gain precedence as a policy tool in river restoration projects there exists a glaring gap in the social considerations, in particular how small dam removals may affect existing community conditions. In order to determine the community impacts that may result, a case study of the Brownsville Dam Removal, in Brownsville Oregon was investigated to address two questions: 1) how has the Brownsville Dam removal affected the social and economic conditions of the community and 2) what indicators can be used to characterize and monitor the impacts. Twenty-nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with four community affiliations: 1) Canal Company members; 2) Calapooia Watershed Council members; 3) City Officials; and 4) community residents. A participatory social impact assessment (SIA) approach was used to validate existing and/or emergent impacts and indicators. The semi-structured interviews assisted in the development of a matrix of impacts and indicators specific to small dam removal. The local impacts and indicators were operationalized and measured. Findings suggest that the social and economic impacts when distributed across the community are minimal in this case of small dam removal. Because local data availability is limited, it was determined that the traditional social impact assessment framework can be vastly improved through the engagement of the community. This research further suggests that when collaboration is extended beyond a unidirectional flow of information (which is often the case in a traditional SIA), issues and concerns are open to deliberation in a non-threatening arena. The Calapooia Watershed Council served as the forum through which the residents of Brownsville were able to enhance their participation in decision making. This also contributed to a learning process that in the end furthered the community's understanding of the dynamic physical changes to the Calapooia River as well as their capacity to solve complex decisions. The case also demonstrated that collective learning is a reflective process of adjustment to the changing circumstances in which the community came to perceive, interpret, and act upon their interest. With a growing number of collaborative partnerships of watershed based management, distinguishable by their decentralized, participatory engagement of stakeholders, it may be likely that these place-based mechanisms will become the nexus to the successful coordination of small dam removal deliberation in the future. / Graduation date: 2010

This research sought to determine what relationship exists between time-on-task in computer-aided instruction (CAI) using Destinations courseware and progress in reading ability of developmental reading students as indicated by the reading portion of the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP) test. Time-on-task is the time during which a student actively works on Destinations activities, as recorded by the software management system. TASP, an exam required of all students in Texas public colleges, assesses reading, math, and writing skills. The population was made up of 482 students who took the TASP exam before and after CAI and who used Destinations CAI for remediation of reading skills. Null hypotheses were explored using Pearson correlation and linear multiple regression. The findings for the null hypotheses were the following: Ho1 - Correlation and linear regression correlation showed that time-on-task in Destinations CAI had no significant effect on the TASP scores of the population studied. Ho2 - Correlation and linear regression correlation showed that females made significantly better gains on the TASP test from CAI than males. Ho3 - Correlation and linear regression correlation showed that low-achiever students made no better gains on the TASP test from time-on-task in CAI than high-achiever students. Difference between the two group's gains was not statistically significant. Ho4 - The regression equations predicted the gain in TASP reading scores for less than 1% of the population studied. Only the regression equations for male students and female students separately were statistically significant. The researcher recommends replication of this study each semester to determine the effectiveness of CAI. Regular and systematic evaluation using pretest and posttest data will provide benchmarks so that the value of changes in instructional methods can be measured. This method of research can help to clarify questions that should be answered through other research methods.