Thesis (Ph.D.)--Clark University, 2007. / (UMI)AAI3292110. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-11, Section: A, page: 4817. Adviser: Colin Polsky.

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The thesis that follows is interdisciplinary in nature, bringing together the fields of contemporary archaeology, cultural and historical Geography to explore the changing landscape of the Dean Forest and Wye Valley National Forest Park. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Forest of Dean was a significant industrial region, a landscape dominated by pitheads, tramroads and railways, coal mines, ironworks, and quarries. However, the twentieth century saw the radical transformation of this landscape, from industry to leisure. In the chapters that follow, it is aspects of this landscape transformation that are examined through the lens of non-representational theory, as each chapter explores the questions: what might a ‘more-than-representational’ approach to contemporary archaeology look like? And, what can archaeological perspectives offer in terms of the development of non-representational theory? Starting from the premise that contemporary archaeology is not just about the recent past, but about how we engage with the past from the perspective of the present, this thesis focuses upon those barely perceptible echoes from the past that have the power to move us in unexpected ways. As such, it examines not just the legacy of the past in the landscape, but its capacity to generate affective registers, to evoke and to unsettle. It develops a distinctly archaeological approach to considerations of materiality and time within non-representational theories, placing an emphasis on matter, memory and haunting, absence and presence. It focuses on new temporalities arising from the time of the ‘event’, new materialisms that are ‘more-than-representational’, and new ways of performing and practicing the archaeological.

In 2006 selected Cornish mining areas were validated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Here are found numerous remnants of the mining industry that justified Cornwall’s prominence from the Industrial Revolution up to the close of the last major mine in the 1990s. An essential part of that history is the trade of The Boulton and Watt Mining Company, formed when Midlands businessman Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) joined forces with Scotsman James Watt (1736-1819). This partnership influenced the history of Cornish mining and the whole Industrial Revolution. Traces of their endeavours remain on the Cornish landscape and in Cornish identity. Correspondence between the two men and Cornish mine manager Thomas Wilson (1748-1820) is held at the Cornish Records Office and is available online. Creative work began with these letters, seeking moments, words and gestures to resonate with narratives of the Cornish post-industrial landscape. These narratives were gathered through interviews with locals, tourists, students, mining enthusiasts and those who knew nothing of the Cornish industrial past, and were supported by experience and observation of the Cornish landscape. Poetry written from these sources strives to reflect upon contemporary landscape use and promote cultural ownership and understanding. To this aim, readings of the two collections were given in 2013 and the collections subsequently self-published. Responses to the work show that this project not only promoted Cornish industrial heritage but also prompted recognition of how stories of the contemporary Cornish landscape are intertwined with its history. This project’s partner was the King Edward Mine Museum, Troon, near Camborne, and its aims were supported by the Cornwall Record Office, Truro.

This thesis aims to develop an intermodal surf travel writing through the exploration of, and engagement with, Haïti’s coastline. Actor-network-theory (ANT) provides the methodological and theoretical framework to explore and explain how the key topics - surf, travel (Haïti) and writing - are brought into productive conversation through translation across persons, artefacts and ideas as an expanding network. Fieldwork is structured and informed by postmodern ethnography as the primary research method of ANT approaches. The entire coastline of Haïti is explored through four research trips, where potential surfing locations are mapped, bringing together my practices as writer, traveller and surfer, theorised through ANT. Engagement with Haïti operates at two levels: the macro level is the rhythm and cycle of anabasis (moving from coast to interior) and katabasis (interior to coast); and the micro level is the activity of surfing and mapping of surf breaks, offering tropes for writing with surfing in mind. The resultant intermodal writing is also a means though which Haïti is both represented and celebrated. The core areas of study - surf, travel (Haïti) and writing - afford equal status (in correspondence with the methodological framework of ANT), as do the roles of geography, ethnography and writing. My holistic approach to research and writing is guided by the literal definition of both geography (‘writing out the earth’) and ethnography (‘writing out culture’). Both the practice based and discursive elements of the thesis also claim equal status. This research attempts to contribute original work to the subgenre of surf travel writing and its critical discourses, and writing on Haïti - each activity drawing on (and making particular contributions to) geography, and an ethnography that explicitly aims to ‘write out’ and celebrate Haïti’s coastscape (coastal landscape, seascape and culture).

The goal of the Lake Ontario Maritime Cultural Landscape project was to investigate the nature and distribution of archaeological sites along the northeast shoreline of Lake Ontario while examining the environmental, political, and cultural factors that influenced the position of these sites. The primary method of investigation was a combined archaeological and historical survey of the shoreline within seven 1-km square areas. The archaeological component of the survey covered both the terrestrial and submerged portions of the shore through marine remote sensing (side-scan sonar and magnetometer), diving surveys, pedestrian surveys, and informant interviews. A total of 39 sites and 51 isolated finds were identified or further analyzed as a result of this project. These sites ranged from the Middle Archaic period (ca. 5500-2500 B.C.) through the 19th century and included habitation, military, transportation, and recreational sites. Analysis of these findings was conducted at two scales: the individual survey area and Lake Ontario as a whole. By treating each survey area as a distinct landscape, it was possible to discuss how various cultures and groups used each space and to identify instances of both dynamism and continuity in the landscapes. Results of these analyses included the continuous occupation of several locations from pre-Contact times to the present, varying uses of the same environment in response to political and economic shifts, the formation of communities around transportation nodes, and recurring settlement patterns. The survey data was also combined to explore regional-scale trends that manifest themselves in the historical Lake Ontario littoral landscape including ephemeral landscapes, permeable boundaries, danger in the lake, and factors of change.

<p> This thesis discusses the process and results of research gathered from a field season on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of South Dakota. By engaging in a community mapping project with Oglala Lakota elders, I show the benefits and reason behind the theory of participation. The project intends to "map" the indigenous <i>tiospaye</i> groups in the Porcupine District, and ends up gathering narrative representations of place rather than explicitly cartographic ones, a reification of the theorized "dwelling space." A discussion of the mapping project leads to a wider explication of the general practice of mapping indigenous lands throughout history. How indigenous perceptions of place and landscape are represented through acts of cartography is discussed to show the potential for empowerment or disempowerment of indigenous worldviews. The thesis concludes that a divestment of power to local communities is necessary for truly sustainable development, and further that the knowledge and perceptions of the traditional Lakota elders needs to be validated on their own terms in order to decolonize the relationship between their <i> tiospayes</i> and the tribal government.</p>

Traditionally migration scholarship has been concerned with the question of why people migrate. This has lead many migration researchers to search for lists of causal factors understood to influence migration decisions. More recent migration research has come to recognize that to understand why people migrate, it is important to look beyond such lists and attempt to provide a more complex and nuanced account of the migration process. This thesis draws upon these more recent studies and begins with the premise that to begin to answer the question of why people migrate, one must first try to comprehend how people negotiate, experience and understand their migrations. Through a study of the return migration of young adults to the state of Tasmania in Australia, this thesis discusses the utility of the concepts of 'mobility' and 'place' for exploring the complexities of people's negotiations, experiences and understandings of migration. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with thirty young adults (aged between twenty and thirty-eight) who had left Tasmania and subsequently returned. The thesis speaks to discussions surrounding the emigration of young adults and concerns about 'brain drain' occurring in many regions in Australia as well as internationally. The choice of Tasmania as a case study for this research is highly appropriate, as concerns surrounding the out-migration of young people from the state have influenced the State's social, economic and political life since the early 1900s. By examining return migration, the focus is shifted away from discourses that bemoan the negative effects of the emigration of young adults, instead recognising that migration can also bring benefits to both young migrants themselves and to the places they move between. The research found that people's experiences of migration were intricately tied to their negotiations and understandings of places. Through a complex analysis of constructions of mobility, place and belonging, the thesis reveals that young Tasmanians retain deep emotional and social connections to Tasmania at all stages of the migration process. These connections are influenced by constructions of Tasmania as a place that is understood simultaneously as 'bounded and insular' and as 'networked'. The thesis concludes by pointing to the implications of both mobility and place construction for the politics and economies of the places migrants move between, as well as for the practical considerations and identity constructions of the migrants themselves, and reasserts the importance of these concepts for studies of migration.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 10, 2009) Includes bibliographical references.

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