Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Human Geography'

Thesis (M.S.)--Indiana University, 2009.
Department of Geography, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Owen J. Dwyer, Jeffrey S. Wilson, Scott M. Pegg. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 135-168).

As a teacher of the New South Wales Higher School Certificate Geography Syllabus in the 1970s, I became aware of problems of interpretation and implementation of syllabus documents dealing with models and theories of human aggregate behaviour. A positivistic underpinning allowed explanation in human geography to employ deductive - nomological methodology. This field study investigates a defined literature of academic geography including journals, and both secondary and tertiary documents to identify the extent and quality of nomothetic and idiographic traditions from the late 19th century to the mid 1970s. The literature prior to the late 1950s revealed a dominant regional tradition and idiographic methodology with an emphasis on description of uniqueness of areal phenomena. But underlying currents of a nomothetic nature, running parallel to this regionalidiographic tradition,exerted a noticeable challenge to gain acceptance in geographic circles. This kind of nomothetism was in the form of environmental determinism which held that physical laws operating in nature were also at work to shape and direct human societies. Environmental determinism contained generalised assertions, enjoyed some appeal, but lacked rigorous justification. Even within regional frameworks, authors used environmentally induced determinants to explain the unique character of regions. Not until the 1930s did environmental determinism lose its appeal, after which time the regional - idiographic tradition strengthened as an explanatory mode of human behaviour. Nomothetism emerged in the late 1950s in Australia in the application of models and theories explaining human behaviour. Normative theory was supported by an increased use of quantification and by the growing preference for systematic studies in geography. Neither mode of explanation exists at the total exclusion of the other; so that while nomothetism enjoyed widespread appeal in academic geography from the late 1950s, significant challenges were mounted against it because of its inadequacies as a mode of explaining human aggregate behaviour. Nomothetic explanation in human geography can be seen at the research level and in education circles. Many normative models and theories found their way into senior geography courses to the extent they promoted a systems approach. Teachers would have been aware of normative theory in geography from their university studies and teacher training courses during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s. The tension between associated explanatory modes in systematic and regional geography becomes apparent in the analysis of the N.S.W. H.S.C. Geography Syllabus in which confusing statements raise problems for teachers interpreting and implementing this prescriptive document. Given these tensions and problems of explanation in human geography, the adoption of a critical rationalist viewpoint as propounded by Karl Popper is suggested as a possible solution for geography teachers when interpreting a syllabus such as that of the N.S.W. H.S.C. Falsification rather than verification should be the node of inquiry towards explanation of human aggregate behaviour.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2007.
Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 217-229). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Abstract

This is a study of peoples interpretations of what they consider are unexplainable experiences, the geographical effects of it and the connection between the interpretations and effects. The phenomenon itself is not studied. The study is conducted in Sweden in the county of Värmland by a student, in Human Geography at Karlstads University. An inductive way to work, a behaviour ideology and qualitative method have been used to answer the questions. Data have been collected by a “structured open ended” interview technique. Seven people have been interviewed. No general conclusions are drawn because the low amount interviews. Similarities and differences on the other hand are showed.

Using the example of a locality this thesis examines the key elements of the new public health from a geographic perspective. Three voluntary groups (based in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets) have been examined as a case study of expressions of the new public health. The thesis argues that the new public health is an urban social movement, which has expressions at the local level which vary. It is argued that this variance results from the key elements which inform and shape the new public health. They are the nature of the public health activities and initiatives carried out; the organisation and representation of the groups that make up the movement; and the knowledge and activities informed by sense of the place that the groups have. The sense of place of the groups collectively, and the individuals within the groups, informs what public health activities and initiatives are implemented based on perceived need. The sense of place of the area is also the main mobilising factor for the agents who make up the public health groups and hence the new public health movement. The new public health movement is an urban social movement organised at a number of different geographical levels and in particular at the local and international levels. In discussing and describing how the new public health is a social movement, the thesis contends that previous exploration of social movements has failed to examine the importance that place has to the organisation and shape that movements take. This thesis, through a geographic analysis, constructs a new framework for looking at urban social movements with an emphasis on place. It also outlines how an geographical analysis of the new public health can broaden the focus of current research within medical geography by examining health within the wider context of society.

The study of human-environment interactions by geography is traditionally conceptualized as the "man-land" theme in geographic analysis. Feminists and other post-structuralists criticize that conceptualization. Following those critiques, this study evaluates ecofeminism as a possible alternative to a "man-land" formulation.

Ecofeminism is presented and analyzed as a school of thought that also studies human-environment interactions. Vandan Shiva's discourse and treatment of Chipko provide the central ecofeminist case study. The thesis elucidates ecofeminism's sensitivity to the geographic concept of place in order to determine whether or not ecofeminism is adequate as a geographic theory. Analysis of Vandana Shiva's texts reveals that ecofeminism universalizes and fails to accomodate the geographic concept of place.
Master of Science

The purpose with this essay is to explore the social changes in relation to changes in mortality for the two largest ethnic groups in Estonia; ethnic Estonians and the Russian minority. Since this is a geographical essay, my purpose is also to explore these changes in relation to the country’s internal geography. As these changes appear over time in space, the content is partly rooted in a time geographical point of view. It is also rooted in a regional geographical point of view, since I have been comparing the mentioned changes between different areas in Estonia (with considerations on developments abroad).

Two different development lines can be seen as a consequence of the social changes taking place in the 1990s. While the ethnic Estonians situation has improved, the Russian minority’s situation has instead declined regarding to social existence and health. As a result the mortality has increased enormously for the Russian minority. The ethnic Estonians had also a mortality increase in practically all studied causes of death in all studied areas, but this increase wasn’t as high as for the Russian minority. Nevertheless, when comparing two different counties with each other as well as with the country as whole, the pattern seems to be more complicated. The Russians living in the western county of Läänemaa, have been affected more favourably by the social change than those living in the north-eastern county of Ida-Virumaa. Except for mortality by alcohol poisoning, the Russians living in Läänemaa had a much lower mortality increase than those living in Ida-Viruma and even compared with the country as whole.

It seems as those Russians living in the western parts of Estonia have been affected more favourably than those living in the north-eastern parts. These structures are very much depending on the history, since most of the Russians living in the north-eastern area immigrated during the Soviet era, while the western parts had a much earlier immigration of Russians. Considering the time and place of the Russian immigration, one can divide the Russian minority in two groups; those in the west, and those in the east.

In this Bachelor paper, I have studied the field of citizen wage, a revolutionary concept that challenges the current system of welfare, our view of society today, which can have implications on our perception of different spaces and patterns of movement between different rooms. The subject has on an academic level been discussed and accepted however not on a political level.

Citizen wage is a concept of a broader meaning of a social security system that entails providing the states citizens with economic subsidy without any form of requirements around it. The subsidy should cover all basic costs of living and be collected through taxation.

The idea is based on principles of human justice, that everyone has the right to a decent living, and the state is therefore obliged to distribute sufficient economic means for living without any conditions, as a right not as a solution.

The main focus of this study has been to investigate the opinions of citizen wage in Sweden, what the main arguments for or against an implementation of citizen wage is perceived to be. This study is based on a literature study concerning subjects relevant when discussing citizen wage, as well as a quantitative study of a number of articles derived from Swedish press concerning the theme.

The study resulted in findings that reflect a mostly negative outlook on citizen wage, however the large amount of positive articles indicate that there is an interest of implementing citizen wage in Sweden. Therefore one can ask if it is representative or not, that citizen wage is no longer found on any parties political agenda in Sweden.

In recent years, the United States has observed a significant increase in the Hispanic population within its borders through immigration. Since the 1980s, there has been a shift in the immigration and movement of the Hispanic population from border states to states in the southeastern United States. Many Hispanics, attracted by employment opportunities, have moved into growing metropolitan areas in the American South. In some of these cities, new Hispanic immigrants have created distinct enclaves. These enclaves provide almost all needs for the Hispanic community, such as shopping, healthcare, legal assistance, dining, employment, entertainment, and religion. This study examines the creation and functionality of the burgeoning Hispanic enclave within Davidson County, Tennessee through fieldwork, in-depth interviews with immigrants, volunteer work with Hispanic organizations, and census data. It suggests that the rise of this enclave, complete with Hispanic cultures, businesses, organizations, and churches, is interfering with the assimilation of Hispanics into the local community. The results from this study indicate that many Hispanics immigrants choose to function almost entirely within this enclave and that the enclave creates an environment in which immigrants do not need to intermingle with the host society. While Hispanic enclaves can serve as an important transition tool for many newly arrived immigrants, these findings suggest that ethnic enclaves can also have negative impacts on assimilation into the larger host community.

Urban agriculture has been advocated by NGOs and development agencies as being a food security strategy, and an effective poverty alleviation measure. This view is reflected within the City of Cape Town, as the City's 2007 Urban Agriculture Policy illustrates. Since the initiation of the Policy, many urban agriculture projects have been established by the local government in the low income areas of Cape Town. The urban agriculture projects set up in the townships of Du Noon and Joe Slovo Park are two of the projects established by the city. While these projects have provided primary livelihoods for some participants, the City has expressed concern regarding the age demographic of this practice, as a lack of youth involvement is noticed. Academic literature within this discourse highlights a gap in knowledge concerning the urban youth, and this increases the importance of understanding why the younger generation is hesitant to partake in this activity. The main aim of the study is to explore two City established urban agriculture projects, one in which youth involvement is visible, whilst in the other it is not. The study interrogates whether there are any barriers which could prevent the youth from participating within this activity. The City of Cape Town's Urban Agriculture Policy and projects were examined in order to explore how they engage with urban agriculture, and in turn how they understand the youth and their lived experience. In addition, the existing urban farmers' perceptions of the youth were examined in order to explore what role these perceptions play in youth involvement. Lastly, the study narrowed its focus onto the youth themselves in an attempt to understand their own opinions of urban agriculture, and explore what underlies these perceptions.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-69).
Community participation has become a key concept in research on the development and governance of underprivileged communities. It is on these grounds that the post-apartheid South African government has encouraged meaningful participation between local communities and the state, particularly through structures of local government. However, the role that street committees can play in the realisation of this ideal has received little attention from either government or academic scholars. For this reason, this study examines the role that the street committee in Waterworks, Grabouw, in the Western Cape plays in community governance. It analyses data from a qualitative study which took place between 2007 and 2008. In this thesis I argue that while the street committee has a role to play in the governance of the community, that role is limited by their lack of power. The street committee is not a statutory body and this hinders their ability to participate in local government issues. Despite these restrictions, the street committee in Waterworks was largely perceived by the local residents as doing their best in addressing pertinent issues. However, there were some who accused members of the street committee of nepotism and seeking political patronage.

Includes bibliographical references.
The history of the nature conservation in South Africa’s protected areas is marked by the unfortunate reality of forced removals and land dispossession. Ultimately landlessness created an unequal society in terms of land holding, use and ownership. Nature conservation was also not spared. The land reform program in South Africa more especially the land restitution in the Kruger National Park re-defined the relationship between nature and society. However, such redefinition of nature and society takes place at the confluence of neo-liberalisation of nature and neoliberal land reform. The thesis provides insight into variants of neo-liberalism which point to ways in which nature conservation is increasingly being incorporated into market conditions and ideals. In the case of South Africa, the neo-liberalisation of nature takes place through a market-based approach to land reform. This brings together two threads of neo-liberalism, namely, the neo-liberalisation of nature and neo-liberal land reform. The study focuses on the land restoration debate which revolves around whether it is feasible to restore all land that was lost as a result of apartheid’s discriminatory practices; the appropriate method for achieving an equitable land restitution; and the method by which such restitution can be achieved with due consideration to all other national imperatives and long term goals.

Geography education is undergoing change in K-12 education due in part to the introduction of geospatial technologies, including geographic information systems (GIS). Although active engagement in GIS mapping would seem to enhance students’ spatial thinking, little is known about the mapping strategies that students employ or about changes in their geographic knowledge that would result. This study, set in a high school Advanced Placement human geography class, sought to contribute to these areas of inquiry. Participants performed a web-based GIS task focused on global population and migration. Attention in the study was on (a) the strategies students employed when investigating geographic phenomena using GIS, (b) changes in their cognitive maps, as assessed through sketch maps, resulting from the activity, (c) the relationship between GIS maps and sketch maps, and (d) the ways in which a subset of students serving as case studies explained the nature of their mapping. The study employed screen-captures, video-recordings, observations, pre- and post-study sketch maps, and interviews. Analyses of the GIS process revealed that, in creating their maps, the students used a number of strategies, which included searching, layering, removing layers of data, adjusting transparency, editing, and noting. Although searching and layering were employed by all students, there was variability across students in use of the other strategies. With respect to changes in their spatial thinking, analyses of the sketch maps showed increases in elaboration and accuracy in terms of migration patterns. When GIS maps were compared to sketch maps, analyses showed relations for many students. The six students who served as case studies revealed major connections between personal interests and the reasoning employed in mapping. They also described their entry points into the process. The study shows how real-time data collection, including screen captures, as well as more static measures, specifically sketch maps, can provide insights into the spatial thinking of students while using GIS. It provides some support to educational approaches to geography in which students become creators of maps, not simply users of maps, and suggests that, through their own mapping process, students expand their cognitive maps and enhance their spatial thinking.

The research is informed by the post-modernist theoretical framework. This framework is chosen because of its dynamic and eclectic epistemology which allows the study to identify the experiences of a group of African Caribbean people within the British education system. It also explores the patterns of experiences among three African Caribbean generations in Preston. The study seeks to explain the relative success of minority African Caribbean people in the education system. Data was gathered from questionnaire, interviews along with ethnographic observations from local secondary school and participation in seminars and conferences. The tools used to analyse the data employs the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) is used to analyse the survey data while Nvivo is used to analyse the interviews conducted. Both packages yielded significant results. The research concludes that while racism remains a widespread educational experience among the three generations of African Caribbean people studied, a great disparity of achievement also exists at different levels of educational success. While the second generation tops the success rates of educational attainment, the third generation fared abysmally. The research found that the length of African Caribbean peoples' stay in Britain does not correlate with their educational success. There is a social stratum within the African Caribbean community which mimics the host society; those from the middle class families tend to account for the largest rate of educational success in the English education system. The research also concludes that whilst living in semi urban environments does not guarantee educational success, in comparison it is even far worse for African Caribbean people living in deprived inner city council estates to achieve success in the educational system. The research proposes significant recommendations for policy makers, Local Education Authorities, schools, teachers, and the African Caribbean community especially parents to work together to promote educational success among African Caribbean people.

This thesis investigates concepts of marginality and the response of human populations to changing environmental conditions in prehistoric Orkney. Archaeological remains from the Orcadian Bronze Age are less visible than those from the Neolithic and Iron Age, leading to suggestions that the Neolithic-Bronze Age transition represents a cultural and/or economic 'decline'. This 'decline' has often been attributed to environmental deterioration, although there is little published evidence for post-Neolithic environmental conditions in the islands and that which does exist comes from areas that are considered agriculturally marginal today. Palaeoecological records from three small wetland basins situated within landscapes with differing degrees of marginality are presented here. Radiocarbon chronologies for these sequences show that events previously assumed to be synchronous across Orkney, such as woodland decline, are in fact highly variable. High-resolution analysis has been carried out between c. 3000 cal. BC and c. 600 cal. AD (late Neolithic to Iron Age), and records compared with the distribution of archaeological sites in order to reconstruct changes in land-use, farming practices and settlement patterns across this time period. The new records have been synthesised with existing palaeoecological and archaeological data in order to review the evidence for the hypothesised 'Bronze Age decline' in Orkney. These data indicate that during the Bronze Age a pastoral specialism developed in the more marginal parts of Orkney while elsewhere arable cultivation intensified. This seems to have occurred in response to the fragmentation of society and population which is argued to have begun during the late Neolithic. There are indications of a slight climatic deterioration and of the spread of heathland at some sites in the late Bronze Age, and it seems that farming practices were adapted in order to cope with changing environmental conditions. Although there are distinct cultural differences between the Neolithic and Bronze Age, there is now no reason to suggest that Orkney underwent a 'decline' shaped by environmental deterioration during the latter period. The changes seen in the archaeological record at this time are likely to result from a combination of environmental, social and cultural factors.

This survey study examines cell phone usage data and focuses on the application of the data to disaster response management. Through the course of this study, the structure of cell phone usage data and its characteristics will be reviewed. Cell phone usage data provides us with valuable information about human movements and their activities. The uniqueness of the data is that it contains both spatial and temporal information and this information is free of fixed routes such as roads or any preset data capturing timing. In short, it is a very fluid kind of data which reflects our activities as humans with freedom of movement. Depending on data extraction methods, the data server can provide additional information such as application activities, battery level and charge activities. However, cell phone usage data contains shortcomings including data inconsistency and sparseness. Both the richness and the shortcomings of the data expose the hurdles required in data processing and force us to devise new ways to analyze this kind of data. Once the data has been properly analyzed, the findings can be applied to our real life problems including disaster response. By understanding human movement patterns using cell phone usage data, we will be able to allocate limited emergency resources more adequately. Even more, when disaster victims lose their cell phone functionality during a disaster, we might be able to identify or predict the locations of victims or evacuees and supply them with necessary assistance. The results of this study provide some insights to cell phone usage data and human movement patterns including the concentration of cell phone activities in specific zones and rather universal cell phone charging patterns. The potential of the data as a movement analysis resource and the application to disaster response is apparent. As a base to leverage the study to the next level, a possible conceptual model of human movement factors and data processing methods will be presented.

Industrialized human societies both affect and are vulnerable to environmental change, but the dynamics of human-environment relationships during prehistory are less well understood. Using large databases of accumulated paleoecological and archaeological records, this dissertation explores the relationship between prehistoric humans and environmental change in eastern North America. A synthesis of late Quaternary paleoecological and archaeological data from the northeastern United States shows a close temporal correspondence between changes in climate, terrestrial ecosystems, human culture and population numbers. These synchronous changes occurred at 11.6, 8.2, 5.4 and 3.0 thousand years before present, before the adoption of maize agriculture when human groups in eastern North America subsisted by hunting and gathering. Further examination of these datasets in southern Ontario over the last two thousand years found that clearance of forests by prehistoric Native Americans for agricultural fields significantly altered terrestrial ecosystems at a sub-regional scale (102-10 3 m). Together, these results support the hypothesis that prehistoric Native Americans had a greater environmental impact than previously believed, but show that this impact was concentrated around agricultural settlements and was less substantial than that associated with European settlement during the historic period. The methodologies developed in this dissertation provide a means to better understand human-environment relationships in other regions which differ in their environmental and cultural histories.

Significant damage and loss is experienced every year due to natural hazards such as hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, floods, wildfires, volcanoes, and earthquakes. NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI) reports that in 2016 the United States experienced more than a dozen climate disaster events with damages and loss in excess of a billion dollars (NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, 2017). Identifying vulnerabilities and risk associated with disaster threats is now a major focus of natural hazards research. Natural hazards research has yielded numerous theoretical frameworks over the last 25 years that have explained important elements of risk and vulnerability in disasters (Birkmann, 2016b). However, there has been much less progress made in operationalizing these frameworks. While the theory is well established, one of the more pressing challenges before us is the lack of development of user-friendly and flexible risk assessment techniques for emergency managers (Mustafa et al., 2011). The trend in operationalizing natural hazards, theoretical frameworks has been the development of general, all-purpose, static models to measure vulnerability. However, important missing elements in the current hazards literature is the need for an operationalized risk model that is (1) simple, quick and easy to use, (2) flexible for changing conditions, and (3) site-specific for various geographic locations. Many of the current models for determining risk and vulnerability are very complex and time consuming to calculate and thus make them of little use for emergency and risk managers. In addition, little analysis has been conducted to see if a flexible risk identification measurement system could be developed. As vulnerability and risk become fluid due to changing conditions (environmental—hazard and location) and circumstances (social, economic, and political), our measurement tools need to be able to capture these differences in order to be effective. This dissertation examines whether the Pressure and Release (PAR) natural hazards, theoretical framework can be operationalized using financial risk ratio methods. Specifically, it analyzes risk ratios using key vulnerability indicators to identify escalating vulnerability and ultimately predict risk. A structured modeling approach was used to identify key vulnerability indicators and develop risk ratios. These are applied to a case study to demonstrate whether this new approach can identify emerging risk trends. My research suggests that instead of operationalizing natural hazards theoretical frameworks using the current static, aggregate index method, a flexible risk ratio method could provide a new, viable option.

Uppsatsen grundar sig i nyfikenheten kring hur smarttelefoner och sociala medier påverkar individens sociala interaktion. Uppsatsen fördjupar sig i individens personliga upplevelser av det hybridiserade rummet, samt studerar smarttelefoner och sociala mediers konflikt och samverkan med ansikte-mot-ansikte interaktioner i det fysiska rummet. Arbetet avgränsar sig till studenter vid Uppsala Universitet och använder sig av en kvalitativ metod för att besvara syftet; undersöka hur smarttelefoner och sociala medier påverkar individers sociala interaktion. Uppsatsens resultat och analys visar att smarttelefoner konkurrerar med det fysiska rummet om individens uppmärksamhet som i sin tur påverkar sociala ansikte-mot-ansikte interaktioner. Det är en följd av att individen skapat ett behov av kontroll av smarttelefonen och bär med sig den vart man än går, smarttelefonen blir en del av kroppens rörelsemönster i det fysiska rummet. Smarttelefonanvändning har lett till minskade fysiska möten samtidigt som behovet av fysiska möten inte minskats. Individens inställning till smarttelefonanvändning beror således på om individen är ensam i det fysiska rummet eller i sällskap av vänner. Mindre fördelaktigt med smarttelefonanvändning sägs utifrån resultatet vara i sammanhang med vänner, där smarttelefonen förflyttar individen rent sinnesmässigt till ett annat rum och drabbar den sociala ansikte-mot-ansikte interaktionen.

Communities neighbouring protected areas often disproportionally accrue the costs of conservation, but they can also benefit from the existence of a protected area. In this dissertation, I investigate the value and spatial distribution of benefits and losses accrued by villages next to Kibale National Park in Uganda, and determine if the accrual of benefits and losses affect the levels of illegal resource extraction from the park. Since other factors may also influence illegal off-take from the park, this assessment is carried out within the context of local demographic and socio-economic landscapes. Illegal resource extraction was measured within the boundaries of the park near 25 study villages. Data for benefit and loss accrual, as well as demographics, and livelihood activities, were collected through focus groups, a household survey, and key informant interviews. Losses to crop raiding by park-protected animals were also collected by physically verifying damage over a six month period. The influence of local urban markets was represented by road distance to urban centres. Accrued financial benefits included park-based employment, tourism revenue sharing, non-governmental organization development projects, and resource access agreements. Although benefits positively influenced attitudes towards the park, only revenue sharing lowered illegal resource extraction. Losses were primarily caused by park-protected animals raiding crops, and preying on livestock, and loss aversion dominated attitudes about living next to the park. Eight villages accrued an annual net benefit as a result of the park, while 17 villages accrued a net loss. Losses were highest within 0.5 km of the park boundary, while benefits accrued up to 15 km from the park. Human disturbance inside the park was spatially clustered, identifying hotspots for extraction of particular resources. Although influenced by benefit provision, illegal resource extraction from the park, particularly tree harvesting, was more strongly driven by local and urban demand and the proximity of households to the park. Household wealth was found to generally mitigate resource extraction, with the exception of livestock-based wealth. Illegal in-park livestock grazing increased where more livestock was owned. To reduce illegal resource extraction from the park, improve attitudes towards the park, and address the spatial inequity of benefit and loss distribution, I recommend that the Uganda Wildlife Authority, in partnership with local governments and non-governmental organizations, focus benefits closer to the park boundary. In particular, they should direct revenue sharing funds, and additional funding sources that can be developed, to mitigate crop raiding and predation. To help manage the demand for wood outside the park, the authorities could incentivize farmers to grow trees, provide tree seedlings to local communities, and expand existing wood saving stove programs.
Les communautés vivant aux abords des aires protégées sont souvent imposées de façon disproportionnée des coûts reliés à la conservation mais bénéficient toutefois de l'existence de l'aire protégée. Dans cette étude, j'analyse la valeur et l'étalement géographique des pertes et bénéfices cumulées par les villages environnants le parc national de Kibale en Ouganda, afin de déterminer si ceux-ci affectent le niveau d'appropriation illégale des ressources du parc. Puisque d'autres facteurs peuvent également influencer l'appropriation illégale des ressources du parc, cette évaluation est réalisée dans le contexte démographique et socio-économique de la région. La mesure de l'appropriation illégale des ressources a été faite à l'intérieur des limites du parc, tout près de là où se trouve 25 villages visés par cette étude. Les données relatives aux pertes et bénéfices des communautés ainsi que les données sur la démographie et les activités de subsistance, ont été recueillies via des groupes de discussion avec les villageois, un sondage auprès des familles, et d'entrevues individuelles. Les pertes dues à la destruction des cultures par les animaux sous la protection du parc ont été recueillies en mesurant physiquement les dommages causés par ceux-ci sur une période de six mois. L'influence des marchés urbains locaux est représentée ici par la distance les séparant des centres urbains. Les bénéfices financiers pour les communautés environnantes comprennent: les emplois dans le parc, le partage des revenus dû au tourisme, les projets de développement d'organismes non-gouvernementaux et les ententes sur l'accès aux ressources. Bien que ces bénéfices influencent positivement l'opinion des communautés environnantes face au parc, seul le partage des revenus provenant du tourisme influence à la baisse l'appropriation illégale des ressources. Les pertes sont principalement dues à la destruction des cultures et à la prédation des animaux de la ferme par les animaux sous la protection du parc. C'est l'aversion envers ces pertes qui domine dans l'opinion des communautés vivant aux abords du parc. En tout huit villages démontrent un bénéfice annuel net grâce au parc alors que 17 villages cumulent une perte nette. Les pertes les plus importantes ont été répertoriées à l'intérieur d'un cercle de 0.5 km aux abords du parc alors que les bénéfices se sont retrouvés jusqu'à 15 km du parc.La perturbation humaine dans le parc a été localisée ainsi que l'identification des "point chauds" pour l'appropriation illégale des ressources. Malgré l'influence positive due à l'avantage financier des bénéfices, l'appropriation illégale des ressources (particulièrement l'abattage des arbres) est reliée à la demande des populations locales et urbaines et à la proximité des familles établies près du parc. Les biens cumulés par les familles ont réduit l'appropriation illégale des ressources du parc, exception faite des communautés élevant du bétail pour lesquelles le pâturage illégal des animaux dans le parc a été plus fréquent. Afin de réduire l'appropriation illégale des ressources du parc, améliorer les comportements envers le parc et gérer la répartition équitable des pertes et bénéfices, je recommande que l'autorité de la faune d'Ouganda, en partenariat avec les organisations gouvernementales et non-gouvernementales, distribue les bénéfices aux communautés ceinturant les limites du parc. Plus particulièrement, ils devraient utiliser les fonds communs de revenu ainsi que d'autres formes de financement potentielles, afin de contrôler et réduire la destruction des cultures, et la prédation du bétail. De plus, ces autorités devraient aider à la gestion des demandes en bois en encourageant les agriculteurs à cultiver des arbres, en fournissant les semis d'arbres aux communautés locales, et en élargissant les programmes existants sur les fours 'écono-bois'.

Little information beyond generalities exists regarding the cultural landscape of the Chickasaw Indians in their ancestral homelands prior to Removal in the late 1830s. This dissertation evaluates one possible archival source for specifics of Chickasaw land use, the field notes and survey plats compiled as part of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). The process of original survey following land cession treaty divided the ceded area up into the familiar square-mile rectangular system of townships and ranges that extends from the Mississippi Territory westwards, in the so-called public land states. The research compiles all cultural observations made by the surveyors within a fourteen township area (totaling 504 square miles). This study area, generally located on the west bank of Town Creek between present-day Tupelo and Pontotoc MS, was chosen to cover the traditional center of Chickasaw settlement and elements of important roads such as the Natchez Trace. The resulting catalog of observations was compared to similar features on the township plats and to other cultural resource inventories to identify patterns of inscription and possible erasure of Native American cultural activities. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology was used to consolidate and compare these data resources. The PLSS survey documents provide a useful but not complete resource for identifying Chickasaw cultural presence within the study area. No consistent pattern of omission or erasure of Chickasaw activities was identified. The analysis identifies several opportunities and caveats for future researchers who might extend this analysis, including technical challenges in applying GIS technology to this data.

The Internet is a constant source of information about the world and has contributed to the globalization of texts and pictures. A part in the tourists process of consumption involves looking at pictures and read about places that create an image of places that they have never been to. Websites are therefore important as a first impression and it is here that places are being represented. Places are created on the Internet and the Australian outback is an example of this. The study is interesting because it can be used to understand the relationship between people and places. The purpose of this study has been to study how the inner part of the Australian country is represented on the Australian official websites. The questions I have asked is about what is represented in the texts and pictures on the websites and what discourse is created whit these texts and images about the inner parts of Australia. I have also asked the questions of what is unique for the outback and what is alike/not alike tourism marketing in general. The study is based on a discourse analysis which means that I have studied how texts and images on the Internet represent places. A discourse is about different kind of representations, to speak about places. The websites that I have chosen to analyze is created by governmental organizations in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Also the official website for Australia as a destination is analyzed. Representation is about describing different things and picturing things in the mind. The analysis showed that the outback is represented as an unknown and mystical place whit spectacular landscapes, adventures, farms and friendly locals. One of the conclusions is that the outback is a place whit meaning of difference depending on who it is that experiences it. Another conclusion is that the discourse about the Australian outback is a part of the tourism marketing discourse order which affects how the discourse is constructed.

Olivia Simson, KGGC01, Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för Samhälls- och livsvetenskaper avd. för Geografi och Turism. Att sätta Sverige på kartan - En jämförelse av två Sverigerepresenterande hemsidor.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hemsidorna för Svenska Institutet och Svensk Turism AB för att se vilka gemensamma nämnare dessa har och om någon av dem redogör för geografiska regioner och på vilket sätt om så är fallet.

 

Tonvikt har i litteraturstudierna lagts på hur Sverige och svenskar beskrivs, vilken bild man försöker ge omvärlden av sig själva samt hur de geografiska regioner som finns i Sverige skiljer sig från varandra. Skillnaderna mellan dessa regioner och orsaken till detta berörs också. Empirin består av den information som ges på nämnda hemsidor och hur dessa beskriver Sverige geografiskt.

 

Svenska Institutet skildrar Sverige på ett återhållsamt sätt geografiskt. Lite information ges om det svenska folket och hur det är att leva i Sverige. Det som framhävs är det svenska internationella arbetet, svenska nätverk på olika plan på olika områden och Svenska Institutets roll i det hela.

Svensk Turism framställer Sverige som en naturälskande nation med rikt kulturutbud, också utan att beröra hur svenskar lever. En egen regional indelning har gjorts av Sverige för att kunna presentera det landet erbjuder på ett fördelaktigt sätt. Här ges emellertid mer information om hur det svenska samhället fungerar på en vardaglig nivå.

 

This study examines the importance of the Human Rights of the UN conventions in one aspect of our daily lives – our constant need for water. The right of all human beings to healthy water is confirmed by General Comment number 15, an annex to the Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as does the Swedish Constitution, the so called Regeringsformen. The study examines, amongst other matters, if these rights are presently considered at the practical level, that is, in the water management of a local municipality.

The crucial matter that is investigated is how these rights should be guaranteed when private, global companies, which have no responsabilities to consider the UN-conventions, enter as new agents in the area of public water administration. The hypothesis, that the privatization of the water administration could be put at risk the right of the citizens to healthy, accessible and affordable water, is therefore examined.

Which are the agents that actually have the power over the water adminstration and the application of the Human Rights in this area in Sweden?

In order to seek further knowledge in these matters studies of documents were undertaken, as well as a comparative study of the water administration of the municipality of Norrtälje and their private subcontractor, Veolia Water AB, a daugther company of the global multi-utility company Vivendi.

The conclusions are several: one is that the municipality experiences certain advantages with the privatization; another that the Swedish water administration is included in a global, commercial network consisting of private agents and therefore sees itself threatened by a potential loss of power; the Swedish state thus defends itself from being dominated creating new laws to protect the municipal control of water administration and to prevent further privatization. Last but not least there are global tendencies towards further cooperation in the area of Human Rights and water administration promotioned by different agents: UN-entities, the private commercial sector, nations and non-governmental organizations.

Knäckfrågan som uppsatsen rör sig kring är hur dessa rättigheter skall kunna garanteras när privata globala bolag, som inte har åligganden enligt FN-konventioner, kommer in som nya aktörer inom den kommunala vattenhanteringen. Hypotesen, att privatiseringar av vattenförvaltningen kan innebära risker för medborgarens rätt till tjänligt och tillgängligt vatten till rimlig kostnad, prövas därför.

Vilka aktörer har i dagsläget egentligen makten över vattnet i Sverige och över

de mänskliga rättigheternas tillämpning i vattenfrågan? För att få kunskaper om detta utfördes litteraturstudier i ämnet, liksom en jämförande studie mellan Norrtälje kommuns vattenförvaltning och dess driftentreprenör, Veolia Vatten AB, ett dotterbolag till det globala multi-utilitybolaget Vivendi.

Konklusionerna är flera: dels att man från kommunalt håll upplever vissa fördelar med viss privatisering; dels att svensk vattenförvaltning är införlivat i ett globalt kommersiellt nätverk av privata aktörer och därför känner sig hotad av en potentiell maktförlust, s.k. ”överlagring”; dels att även den offentliga makten värnar sin domän i och med att den stiftar nya lagar med syfte att förhindra privatiseringar och stärka den offentliga kontrollen över vattnet; dels att det

finns tendenser till global samverkan kring mänskliga rättigheter mellan FN-organ, det privata näringslivet, stater och ideella organisationer.

Japan is an advanced country when it comes to mobile phone technology. This thesis firstly investigates the mobile phone usage in Japan. Secondly it describes the prerequisites for implementation of some distinguished Japanese mobile phone functions in Sweden. This is done from a social as well as a technological aspect.

The Japanese mobile phone usage is investigated on three levels; governmental, industrial and consumer. The governmental level is characterised by an ICT policy which strives to make the technology ubiquitous. On the industrial level we have found that dominant design is of great importance for the supply of mobile phones, furthermore that the operators have a strong position on the mobile phone market compared to the manufactures. Finally, on the consumer level the thesis shows that the culture of the country affects the usage of the mobile phones with the concept of kawaii as an example.

The results regarding the possibility to make use of the Japanese mobile phone usage in Sweden relates to six functions. These are mobile phone Internet and e-mail, mobile phone TV, QR-code, wallet phone, GPS and mobile phone novels. The thesis shows that the prerequisites for these functions to be of use in Sweden are both social and technological.