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open access

"Come along, Floyd!" An Ethnographic Study of the Crystal Cave District at Mammoth Cave National Park

Description: 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 t… more
Date: August 2022
Creator: McClain, Elisabeth Ray
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Sea-ing Blue: Community Responses to an Eco-Award in Galveston, Texas

Description: The Blue Flag program is a French international eco-award for beaches, marinas, and tour boats. With a set of 33 criteria required for obtaining the award, the Blue Flag program has sites all over the world, but none in the United States. The American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) sought to change that and provided an opportunity for locations in the U.S. to apply for the award. One of those applicants was the Galveston Island Park Board of Trustees in Galveston, Texas. This … more
Date: August 2022
Creator: Butler, Kristin
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Southeast Denton Neighborhood Needs Assessment for Program Evaluation and Development

Description: The intersection of race and space in one neighborhood in Denton, Texas, a college town situated within the greater Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, reflects the lack of economic opportunities caused by a legacy of racial spatialization. SED, formally known as Solomon Hill, was once a predominately Black enclave; however, the city's population growth has fueled the expansion of the downtown area into neighborhood, transforming it into a hotspot for new investment. As the city rebrands itself in the… more
Date: December 2022
Creator: Bell, K.D.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Awareness, Inclusivity, and Action in Western Historical Museums

Description: Dominant narratives in western historical museums often evoke a nostalgia for a Western Frontier that did not actually exist in the United States. Many Western historical museums, in particular, preserve nostalgia of an imagined Western Frontier through narratives of white masculine heroism, by featuring objects and artifacts symbolizing American exceptionalism and conquest, and by developing a sensory experience in exhibits to recreate an idealized time in history. As our understandings of his… more
Date: May 2022
Creator: Brown, Sonia Renee
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

"What kind of system have we built?": A Qualitative Analysis of the Asylum-Seeking System for Gender-Based Asylum Seekers in the United States

Description: Many asylum seekers have experienced trauma that causes them to flee their home country. A large portion of asylum seekers are women and are fleeing gender-based violence or experiencing it while fleeing. Due to this trauma, the researcher and the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, a non-profit legal and social services organization, developed a research project to examine how trauma-informed,the asylum-seeking system is in the United States, specifically for those who are fleeing gender-b… more
Date: May 2022
Creator: Byth, Janice Kay
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

"The Opposite of Addiction is Connection": Next-of-Kin Narratives in Overdose Fatality Reviews

Description: This study used ethnographic and qualitative research methods to provide data-driven support for the use of next-of-kin interviews to enhance overdose fatality review (OFR) datasets. This study's community of practice is a group of substance-use professionals that use OFRs to share confidential data and monitor Lucas County, Ohio substance use trends. To analyze OFR data collection, un-silo information, and understand how to include next-of-kin (NOK) interviews in the dataset, this study used r… more
Date: December 2022
Creator: Fournier, Lindsay Olivia-Rose
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Science and Politics in Forest Management

Description: In this thesis, I explore strategies used by the local timber industry to influence forest policy on the Black Hills National Forest. These strategies include leveraging political pressure, proposing alternative interpretations of existing laws, and first requesting and then rejecting scientific data. Discursive strategies used by the timber industry to influence US Forest Service policy are compared and contrasted with those used by the environmental movement. The paper explores when and why s… more
Date: December 2022
Creator: Smith, Solomon C.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Intersection of Race and Space in Urban Environments Confronting Development: The Black Church and Harlem's Gentrification

Description: Roughly 1 million Blacks fled from the South to cities in the North, and with this shift New York City saw a 66% increase in its Black population between 1910 and 1920. By the end of the 1920s Harlem had become home to approximately 200,000 Black residents. But during the period 2000 to 2016 three of the nation's top ten gentrifying zip codes could be found in Harlem, and Harlem's Black population decreased by 23,166 residents, while Harlem's white population increased by 33,442 during this er… more
Date: May 2022
Creator: McDonald, Autumn Dawn
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

An Exploration of Coping Mechanisms, Motivations, and Treatment Strategies Among Those with an Opiate Use Disorder

Description: The opioid epidemic is an issue that has ravaged much of the United States, and specifically Appalachia. Many different academic disciplines have attempted to provide a solution to no avail. This ethnographic study investigates the social nature of addiction & recovery related to problematic opiate use. Through semi-structured interviews and participant observation with clients at a drop-in mental health and addiction services center, the study explores the social conditions which facilitate pr… more
Date: May 2022
Creator: Jarrett, Zachary Mical
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Understanding the Needs of Educators in Environmental Education Programming

Description: This thesis describes a study conducted for the San Antonio River Authority to understand the needs of educators in environmental education programming. This study explores the experiences of educators in teaching environmental education, the tools and methodologies they use, what they think and feel about environmental education, and what their needs are when selecting environmental education curricula and programming to engage their students. This thesis contains an extensive literature revie… more
Date: May 2022
Creator: Villegas, Morgan P
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Community Perceptions of Wildfire Risk and Mitigation in Colorado Springs

Description: This research assessed wildfire mitigation and risk perceptions in two neighborhood in Colorado Springs, CO. Semi-structured interviews were used during transect walks with participants. The research compared residents' perspectives to fire personnel's knowledge.
Date: August 2022
Creator: Caruolo, Cara Danielle
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Digital Covens: An Ethnographic Examination of the Intersection of Paganism and Social Media

Description: This paper examines how does within the Pagan community uses social media, specifically Facebook groups, as a way of community building, knowledge gathering, and platform for digital ritual. The research was based on a combination of interviews and observational data gathered from various groups. To help analyze the data gathered, theoretical approaches of both mediatization and materiality are employed to understand how digital spaces are being used as a tool for those within the Pagan communi… more
Date: August 2022
Creator: Ferguson, Carlise Pamela
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Memories in the Body: Looking at the Connection between Emotional Stress and Autoimmune Diseases

Description: Autoimmunity is a modern age medical dilemma which is inextricably linked with emotional stress. Based on semi-structured interviews and participant Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) survey results, this study confirms that the autoimmune process may be initiated via psychosocial factors like emotional stress and childhood trauma. Ninety-three percent of participants experienced adversity or trauma in childhood, and 50% of participants talked about a period of prolonged stress that preceded t… more
Date: May 2022
Creator: Shenberger, Taylor
Partner: UNT Libraries

Re-Envisioning the Future: A Research Study about Increased Plastic Pollution from Desalination Plants and Environmental Education in Texas

Description: 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 interv… more
Date: May 2022
Creator: Gutierrez, Gabriela L.
Partner: UNT Libraries

Investigating the Effects of COVID-19-Related Restrictions on Abortion Access in Texas

Description: Whether it is social stigma or state policy, abortion seekers are facing an intense amount of obstacles when it comes to accessing their abortion in Texas during the pandemic. To better understand how COVID-19 affected the landscape of abortion access, it was necessary to listen to the experiences of abortion seekers during the pandemic. Experts in the field of abortion advocacy were also interviewed to provide perspective on the trajectory of abortion access during COVID-19. Abortion seekers w… more
Date: May 2022
Creator: Irby, Elsa Louise
Partner: UNT Libraries
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