Cultural landscape reports (CLR) are commonly utilized by the National Park Service to define the significance of cultural landscapes. This thesis explores the importance of documenting not only physical characteristics of cultural landscapes, but the cultural elements such as associated values, beliefs, ideas, and traditions. My applied research was conducted for Mammoth Cave National located in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky and focuses on the Crystal Cave District. Research explores data collected through archival research, a PPGIS exercise, and ethnographic interviews to examine the experiences and relationships between research participants and the Crystal Cave District. Research findings highlight the ways in which concepts such as place, history, identity, and tradition can act as significant factors in shaping environmental relationships today.

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.

Land and water use at archaeological sites is a growing field of study within Mesoamerican archaeology. In Mesoamerica, similar to elsewhere in the world, landscapes were settled based partially upon the characteristics of the environment and the types of food and water resources available. Across Mesoamerica, landscape concepts were also important to religious beliefs and ritual activity in a manner that may have had the potential to influence the power dynamics of a site. This thesis focuses on the management of water at the site of Takalik Abaj in Guatemala during the Middle to Late Preclassic periods (c. 1000 B.C. - A.D. 250) in order to analyze potential ritual and political functions of the water management system. Using spatial data within GIS, this thesis examines the flow of water across the site as directed by its topographical features. The archaeological record of Takalik Abaj and comparisons to water management systems at other Mesoamerican sites are also used to investigate the functions of the water management system. Thesis findings suggest that the water management system of Takalik Abaj was multi-faceted and that ritual functions tied to the control of water may have contributed to the identities and power of the elite.

NATURE'S CLASSROOM: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC CASE STUDY OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION DOROTHEA JODY OWENS ABSTRACT This ethnographic case study examines the dynamic relationship between culture and environmental education within the context of a specific Florida-based public education program. The School District of Hillsborough County (SDHC) offers the program through a three-day field trip to the study site, Nature's Classroom, and accompanying classroom curriculum. The site is located in Thonotosassa on the Hillsborough River, and serves approximately 13,500 to 15,000 sixth grade students annually. The key purpose of the research was to explore public education in a local setting as a vehicle for the transfer and acquisition of cultural knowledge, values, beliefs, and attitudes related to the environment. My primary research question is as follows: What role do American cultural values play in the public education system, as demonstrated in environmental education at Nature's Classroom? Factors that guided data collection include the sociocultural and historical context, the field site itself, curriculum development and content, delivery of the curriculum to students, student outcomes, and additional or external factors that could potentially influence outcomes. This dissertation explores the six factors using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection and analysis. Methods include participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and archival document reviews. Results indicate that environmental education at this site has evolved in tandem with broader sociocultural trends in environmentalism, anthropology, and environmental education. Students show positive gains in knowledge and skills related to the environment.

The Florida Everglades is a highly diverse socionatural landscape that historically spanned much of the south Florida peninsula. Today, the Florida Everglades is an iconic but highly contested conservation landscape. It is the site of one of the world’s largest publicly funded ecological restoration programs, estimated to cost over $8 billion (U.S. GAO 2007), and it is home to over two million acres of federally protected lands, including the Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park. However, local people’s values, practices and histories overlap and often conflict with the global and eco-centric values linked to Everglades environmental conservation efforts, sparking environmental conflict. My dissertation research examined the cultural politics of nature associated with two Everglades conservation and ecological restoration projects: 1) the creation and stewardship of the Big Cypress National Preserve, and 2) the Tamiami Trail project at the northern boundary of Everglades National Park. Using multiple research methods including ethnographic fieldwork, archival research, participant observation, surveys and semi-structured interviews, I documented how these two projects have shaped environmental claims-making strategies to Everglades nature on the part of environmental NGOs, the National Park Service and local white outdoorsmen. In particular, I examined the emergence of an oppositional white identity called the Gladesmen Culture. My findings include the following: 1) just as different forms of nature are historically produced, contingent and power-laden, so too are different claims to Everglades nature; 2) identity politics are an integral dimension of Everglades environmental conflicts; and 3) the Big Cypress region’s history and contemporary conflicts are shaped by the broader political economy of development in south Florida. My dissertation concluded that identity politics, class and property relations have played a key, although not always obvious, role in shaping Everglades history and environmental claims-making, and that they continue to influence contemporary Everglades environmental conflicts.

Libraries play an important role in society by offering cultural activities to families with younger children. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the libraries had to restrict their services. Due to the restrictions, families have lost many of the opportunities that the library offered. This thesis explores the effect that the restrictions have had on families. To get a contemporary insight into these effects the photovoice method was applied, followed by semi-structured interviews. Four families who frequent the library were used in the study. To present and analyze the needs of the families, the four spaces-model by Jochumsen, Rasmussen, and Skot-Hansen was used. An environmental anthropological perspective on the context of crisis by Vigh was used to analyze aspects of a prolonged pandemic. The results of this thesis show that the families miss libraries and their activities. The families expressed a wish for more outreach from the libraries. The interviews showed that socializing during the pandemic was the hardest challenge to overcome due to social distancing restrictions. At the same time, the families were able to come up with activities to do with the help of digital tools. This helped them to learn how to find and cre-ate new activities which then gave them a new experience. The thesis also presents that libraries are not able to follow the library act or appointed goals with the restrictions.

The overall main goal of this research is to assist with the planning and creation of an ethnobotanical addition at the Heronswood Garden, a botanical garden located in northwest Washington state recently purchased by the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe. Methods included a three month long ethnographic study of Heronswood Garden as an official intern, and conducting a needs assessment that primarily employed participant observation and semi-structured open-ended interviews with all garden employees. Information revealed through the research includes causal issues behind a lack of community participation at the garden, elaboration on the solutions to various issues facilitated by negotiating and combining the views and opinions of the garden’s employees, and author reflections on the needs assessment report and the project as a whole. This research connects itself with and utilizes the methodologies and theories from applied anthropology, environmental anthropology, and environmental science to provide contemporary perspective into the subject of preserving or preventing the loss of biodiversity, language diversity, and sociocultural diversity.

Abstract New forms of environmental governance are implemented with promises associated with more flexible and participatory decision-making. However, resistance towards these ways of doing decisions occurs also in relation to forests in northern Finland. This thesis seeks to explain this resistance and to discuss how participation in the context of multi-level environmental governance can be enhanced. A combination of anthropological fieldwork methods and concepts from environmental politics is used to create a bottom-up research strategy to examine forest governance. Based on theme interviews, planning documents and press releases of various actors, this thesis identifies problems for hybrid forest governance modes, which combine State, market, and civil society actors in decision-making processes. Based on selected topical case studies regarding state-owned commercial forests in Inari, Forest Lapland, Muonio, and Liperinsuo three different governance modes are identified: a State-based mode with a participatory dimension and two ‘pressure’ modes taking place via market-based campaigns of environmental NGOs and local protests. Concerning the protected areas, namely Malla Strict Nature Reserve and the Pallas-Ylläs and Oulanka national parks, one governance mode is identified as taking place on the vertical park managements – international conservation agencies – local resource users axis. A major explanation for resistance towards the different governance modes is that decision-making processes neglect site-specifics. Related problems include missing stakeholders, lack of site-specific discussions in planning processes, generalised concepts used in standardisation practices, engagement of ‘faraway’ stakeholders in decision processes, and lack of transparency. As a result, ‘the site strikes back’ responses, i.e. pressure campaigns, protests, opposition, and rumours have emerged. In order to mitigate resistance, this thesis proposes ways to enhance participation and deliberation in forest governance. However, the utility of these suggestions is challenged by polarised views and a lack of trust between the different parties. Finally, hypotheses explaining resistance towards decision-making are formulated. Also, contributions to environmental anthropology are outlined, and further questions relevant for research on environmental governance are posed. / Tiivistelmä Uudet ympäristöhallinnan muodot lupaavat parempaa kansalaisosallistumista ja joustavuutta päätöksentekoon. Kuitenkin näitäkin hallinnan muotoja vastustetaan myös Pohjois-Suomen metsiin liittyen. Tässä väitöskirjassa pyritään selittämään vastarintaa metsien hallintaa kohtaan valtion omistamissa talousmetsissä ja suojelualueilla. Väitöskirjassa yhdistetään antropologisia kenttätyömenetelmiä ja ympäristöpolitiikan käsitteitä. Pohjaten teemahaastatteluihin, suunnitteludokumentteihin, lehdistötiedotteisiin ja www-sivuihin tämä väitöskirja määrittää ongelmia hybrideille hallinnan ja päätöksenteon muodoille, jotka koostuvat valtioon, markkinoihin ja kansalaisyhteiskuntaan liittyvien toimijoiden vuorovaikutuksesta. Pohjaten ajankohtaisiin metsäkiistoihin Inarissa, Metsä-Lapissa, Muoniossa ja Liperinsuolla kolme erilaista hallinnan muotoa erotellaan: valtiovetoinen hallinnan muoto, johon kansalaisyhteiskunta linkittyy osallistavien prosessien kautta sekä kaksi ”painostusmuotoa”, jotka koostuvat ympäristöjärjestöjen markkinapohjaisista kampanjoista sekä paikallislähtöisistä protesteista. Mallan, Pallas-Ylläksen ja Oulangan suojelualueisiin liittyen määritellään yksi hallinnan muoto, joka muodostuu puistojen hallinnoista, kansainvälisistä suojelutoimijoista sekä paikallisista luonnonkäyttäjistä. Näitä hallinnan muotoja yhdistää se, että niiden kohtaama vastarinta johtuu paikkakohtaisen päätöksenteon puutteista. Ongelmat liittyvät päätöksentekoprosesseista puuttuviin intressiryhmiin, suunnitteluprosesseissa käytyjen keskustelujen yleisluonteisuuteen, yleispätevien käsitteiden käyttöön standardoimisprosesseissa erityisesti suojelualueilla, läpinäkyvyyden puutteeseen sekä kaukaisten toimijoiden osallistumiseen paikallisiin päätöksiin. Näiden ongelmien seurauksena paikkakohtaisuutta ei huomioida riittävästi hallinnassa, mistä seuraa ’paikan vastaisku’ protestien, huhujen, vastustuksen ja kampanjoiden muodossa. Vastarinnan syntymistä voitaisiin ehkäistä parantamalla osallistumista ja neuvottelua, joskaan parannusehdotuksetkaan eivät ratkaise luottamuksen puutteeseen ja osapuolten näkemysten napaistumiseen liittyviä ongelmia. Väitöskirjassa luodaan hypoteeseja, jotka selittävät ympäristöhallinnan kohtaamaa vastarintaa. Lisäksi väitöskirja tarjoaa antia sekä uusia tutkimuskysymyksiä erityisesti ympäristöantropologialle.

This study examines the relationship between proposed desalination plants and increased plastic pollution along the Texas Gulf Coast. It specifically focuses on their expected impact on communities in the area and was conducted for Society of Native Nations. The goal was to gather information about environmental ideologies and experiences from different environmental experts and scientists to educate community members and inform policy recommendations. The study relied on semi structured interviews and archival research to understand how environmental experts and scientists envision the future, how they interpret the impact of desalination plants as related to plastic pollution. Ideas that guided this research include decolonial methodologies, political ecology, Indigenous research agendas, environmental justice and knowledge, cultural hybridity, and the anthropology of the borderlands. This research provides actionable steps and recommendations to improve environmental education in Texas Gulf Coast communities on the U.S./Mexico border and to reduce plastic pollution in order to ensure that these communities have ample amounts of water supply without relying on desalination plants.

<p>Since time immemorial, agricultural changes in the Philippines have been inspired by the notion of self-sufficiency projected by developed and industrial countries. Through ethnographic writing and historical analysis, I visit the outcomes of the Green Revolution and how the development of new agricultural technology escalated violence embedded in communities that experienced multiple colonialism. These acknowledged and disclaimed forms of violence are perpetuated by occurring negotiations between community actors, primarily the landed and landless farmers, living in the context of precarity.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-five farmers (aged 20 – 85), who mostly cultivated on borrowed land. I argue that in a post-colonial town like Nabua, the socio-cultural and socio-economic factors involved in farming do not coincide with the Philippine government’s plans for agricultural development and progress. These ethnographic essays investigate how colonial legacies manifest and perpetuate violence locally by examining Nabua’s historical experience with multiple colonialism, the outcomes of persisting precarity, and agricultural developments. In the first chapter, I contextualize precarity by analyzing the history of change from the Spanish colonial period to the peak of the Green Revolution, cruising through how national policies manifest in agricultural developments at the local level. For the second chapter, I dive into the present-day farming situation in Nabua and how violence and precarity are perpetuated by the national government’s agricultural development master plan. I conclude with a call to localize agricultural development and address local challenges to attain sustainable and progressive agricultural development.</p>