Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2008. / Adviser: Karla Saari Kitalong. Includes bibliographical references (p. 200-204).

No description available.

This dissertation project discusses individual photographs of the Brighton Seminole Tribe of Florida from the early 1900s to the current period, each organized by way of their institutional significance, not their place in chronological history. Following Jean Mohr and John Berger's model in Another Way of Telling, I create a narrative for the pictures with a discussion of historical information, current data from interviews, Tribal members' stories, and my own personal story as it is tethered to the tribe. The research addresses the following questions: Can photography offer a technological means to communicate culture in a vital, organic way? Can photos communicate culture as identity and not something merely to identify with? Can this cultural identification include me, an outsider, and is it possible that a colonialist viewpoint is actually beneficial to the tribe? John Berger, Roland Barthes, and Gregory Ulmer's theories allow opportunity for new perspectives, and even would-be answers at times. Admittedly, there is no frame large enough to hold all of the truth, but these theorists' works push the frame's boundaries to look at the pictures from other perspectives, other as both different and from the outside. These critics offer light and air, posing questions such as, what assumptions help a viewer transcend the normally limited perspective of a superficial observer? What possible contributions might an outsider bring to the interpretation?

The Seminole County, Florida solid waste transportation network was examined to determine alternate locations of transfer stations. The scope of this study is limited to transportation and assumed disposal costs. Collection costs are not included. Review of past generation records was conducted and a per capita generation rate of 4 lbs/day was determined. This compared favorably to a 4.06 lbs/day for Orange and Brevard County. The cost per ton for the present solid waste management system was computed and compared to alternative systems. The present system was compared to several alternatives by altering the number and changing the locations of transfer stations to arrive at an optimum cost configuration. Recommended alternate plans are provided which are dependent upon the waste generating districts participating as well as transfer station location in the overall solid waste management system.

This study examines in depth the most common interpretation of the opening of the Third Seminole War (1855-1858). The interpretation in question was authored almost thirty years after the beginning of the war, and it alleges that the destruction of a Seminole banana plant garden by United States soldiers was the direct cause of the conflict. This study analyzes the available primary records as well as traces the entire historiography of the Third Seminole War in order to ascertain how and why the banana garden account has had such an impactful and long-lasting effect. Based on available evidence, it is clear that the lack of fully contextualized primary records, combined with the failure of historians to deviate from or challenge previous scholarship, has led to a persistent reliance on the banana garden interpretation that continues to the present. Despite the highly questionable and problematic nature of this account, it has dominated the historiography on the topic and is found is almost every written source that addresses the beginning of the Third Seminole War. This thesis refutes the validity of the banana garden interpretation, and in addition, provides alternative explanations for the Florida Seminoles' decision to wage war against the United States during the 1850s.

This study was conducted for the Task Force on Domestic Violence in Seminole County whose purpose it was to study and address the problems of domestic violence. The data were collected by random digit dialing telephone interviews of a representative sample of 536 Seminole county families. The sample represented a .01% sample of the total population. The questionnaire was developed as a structured interview with unforced responses to many of the questions. Demographic information was also obtained on the respondent and members of the respondent's family. It was hypothesized that the Seminole County survey would yield family violence rates similar to those reported in national studies. The results of the study indicate that family violence in Seminole County appears to involve less than 1% of the population, a figure much lower than the statistics in the national studies.

This study demonstrates that both government officials‟ and the settlers‟ perceptions of the Seminoles and Black Seminoles in Florida were highly influenced by their paternalistic and Jeffersonian world views. These perceptions also informed their policies concerning the Seminoles and Black Seminoles. The study is separated into three sections. The first chapter covers the years of 1820-1823. This section argues that until 1823, most settlers and government officials viewed the Seminoles as noble savages that were dependent on the U.S. Furthermore, most of these individuals saw the Black Seminoles as being secure among the Seminole Indians and as no threat to white authority. The second chapter covers the years of 1823-1828 and demonstrates that during this time most settlers began to view Seminoles outside of the reservation as threats to the frontier in Florida. This reflected the Jeffersonian world view of the settlers. Government officials, on the contrary, continued to believe that the Seminole Indians were noble savages that were no threat to the frontier because of their paternal world view. Both groups by 1828 wanted the Seminoles and Black Seminoles separated. The final chapter covers the years of 1829-1836. It argues that by 1835 both settlers and government officials believed that the Seminoles and Black Seminoles were clear threats to the frontier because of the fear of a slave revolt and the beginning of Seminole resistance to removal. Most of the shifts in the perception of the Seminoles and Black Seminoles by government officials and the settlers were the result of their white gender and racial world views that then in turn affected their policies towards the Seminoles and Black Seminoles

The early economic and social development of Fort Lauderdale began in the late nineteenth century. Today’s well-known Stranahan House in downtown Fort Lauderdale was originally the Stranahan Trading Post and General Store, which was in operation from 1894 to 1906. Adjacent to this building was a campground, which was used by early Florida white settlers and Seminole Indians. This thesis presents a study of 204 whole glass bottles recovered from the Stranahan campground archaeological site (8BD259). The analysis confirms that a greater proportion of the bottles were used when the property was a campsite. Moreover, soda/mineral water, not alcohol, was the more common type of beverage consumed at the site during this time. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The following writing describes my MFA thesis audio-visual collage project, Attraction. Please, watch the experimental cinematic work before reading this document. The total runtime is 55 minutes.

Indian Key Historic State Park is a small island located on the Atlantic Ocean side of the Florida Keys, near Islamorada. Before it was bought by the state of Florida in 1970, Indian Key had been the setting for a number of historically significant activities. The most well known of these is the 1840 raid on the people and buildings that made up a small wrecking village, established on the island by Jacob Housman in the early 1830s. The limestone foundations of these structures are the main attraction to today's visitor to the park. There is more to the story of Indian Key, though, than the Housman period and the structural remains left behind from this stage of the island's history. Almost immediately after the near destruction of the island in 1840, the Florida Squadron of the Navy took over, constructing their own buildings, and re-using some of the previously constructed foundations. This cycle of rebuilding and re-use continued for another hundred years, with families and fishers trying to inhabit and profit from Indian Key. The focus of this thesis is to examine the foundations and associated archaeological features of Indian Key in order to determine better periods of use and re-use for the buildings that have been identified through archaeological investigations. This research was conducted in order to examine the site's architecture through an archaeological perspective; it is by no means an attempt at a complete architectural study of the site. Rather, it is an effort to examine the entire island of Indian Key, by focusing on the history of the buildings that helped make it an important piece of Florida's past.