Sociology & Anthropology Masters Theses

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Women's Power: A Cross-Generational Exploration of One German-Russian Farm Family
(North Dakota State University, 1992) Dockter, Shona Ann
Exploration of the familial power women possess is growing as sociologists and anthropologists recognize the legitimacy of power internal to the family. The focus of this research was to uncover the forms of power German-Russian women held as they operated in the private sphere of the family. Attention also focused on the transference of women's power, and the family power dynamics unique to farm families. Members of three generations of one German-Russian farm family were interviewed. The results indicated German-Russian women operated from bases of power derived from their roles as farm wives who contributed to family sustenance, and as caretakers and kinkeepers, maintaining family cohesion. While male power is largely public and formal, women's reliance on the bonds of familial relationships across generations lend them greater power in that realm.
Are Rural North Dakota Hospitals Prepared for a Disaster? An Exploratory Study
(North Dakota State University, 2009) Walter, Melissa Beth
This study examined the disaster preparedness plans within selected rural North Dakota hospitals. The ultimate goal was to explore rural North Dakota hospitals' disaster preparedness plans, gathering information that would provide answers to some key disaster preparedness questions. This study looked at the steps these hospitals have taken, but also what they have planned for in terms of surge capacity, plan activation, and implementation of the disaster plan and training that goes along with it. Several themes emerged from the data that brought new light to the research. These themes included reviewing and revising the disaster preparedness plans, memoranda of understanding, disaster preparedness plan activation, all-hazards planning, training and exercising the disaster preparedness plan, liability and insurance, community representation, and surge capacity. Specific thoughts about rural hospital disaster preparedness versus urban hospital disaster preparedness were also discussed. The significance of the study and suggestions for future research were also presented.
Primary Health Care Provider Differences in the Management of Preschool Aged Children's Mental Health Issues
(North Dakota State University, 2010) Erickson, Kendra Nicole
This thesis examined health care providers' methods of identification and treatment of preschool aged children's (age 0 to 5) mental health issues and barriers to those methods in the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area. I used a quantitative approach and utilized secondary data from a 2007 Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) Study. The conceptual framework of the domains of expertise guided this thesis. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there were significant differences by type of health care providers' methods to identify and treat preschool aged children's mental health issues; to identify how barriers to indentifying and treating children's mental health issues differ by type of health care provider; and to investigate the possible contextual characteristics that influence the methods used by health care providers to identify and treat preschool aged children's mental health issues. Findings from this research suggested that there is limited support for the theoretical framework of the socialization of physicians and non-physicians: domains of expertise, which indicated that differences should exist regarding the identification and treatment of children's mental health issues based on the type of health care provider (i.e., physician and non-physician). However, there were several notable exceptions. There were several differences based on the type of providers' treatment methods. There also were a number of differences based on health care providers' type of practice (i.e.,pediatric group practice and walk-in practice) regarding their identification level of sensitivity and treatment methods.
Paleopathological Conditions Presenting in a Collection of Juveniles from a Merovingian Site in Central Germany
(North Dakota State University, 2010) Locket, Lacey Laura
This thesis explores the pathological conditions that affected a juvenile skeletal population dating to the Merovingian ages in what is now central Germany. The goal of this research is to gain an understanding of the physical health of this sub-adult population through the use of physical anthropology and historical evidence. In 1960 the cemetery ofMannheim-Vogelstang was excavated, revealing 149 juvenile skeletons dating from the sixth to the eighth century CE. Of the 149 recovered from the site, 105 were used in this research. These individuals were thoroughly visually examined for any indication of nutritional, infectious or congenital conditions, as well as evidence of trauma. All individuals were closely examined and any abnormalities were noted. Signs of porotic hyperostosis, hypoplasia, abnormal bending/bowing, fractures, abnormal growth, caries and dental abscesses were all present in this population. Porotic hyperostosis (PH) was the most prevalent pathological condition found in this population. Signs of porotic hyperostosis were found in 21.49% of the individuals. Linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) was the second most common condition found within this population, occurring in 11.21 % of the individual. Signs of PH and LEH are both indicators of metabolic distress. SD08, 600-620CE, revealed the largest number of individuals with signs of pathological conditions.
The Historic Fargo Theatre: A Symbol of Collective Memory and Community Consciousness
(North Dakota State University, 2010) Rau, Jessica Lynn
The Fargo Theatre has been the gem of the Fargo, North Dakota, area for eightytwo years and is at the epicenter of the community's collective history. The theatre has hosted independent films, musical productions, vaudeville, social and political meetings, festivals, celebrations, and most importantly, memories of the people of this community, past and present. It is a physical structure that has evolved into a symbol with diverse meanings for all who know of its existence. Individual experiences and the symbolic meanings that make up the collective consciousness of the theatre, and therefore the community, are the focus of this study. By representing diverse threads of collective memory far beyond those of mere entertainment, the Fargo Theatre is a significant and enduring symbol of Fargo's collective memory and community consciousness. Relying heavily on the theoretical work of the symbolic anthropologist Victor Turner, this study encapsulates a community spirit by exploring the life of the theatre through the memory culture of theatre patrons, theatre employees, and citizens of the Red River Valley. The accumulation of symbols and stories about the Fargo Theatre provides insight into the memory culture of our region, as well as focused insight into the Fargo community itself. The theatre is a vital part of the community consciousness via other realms of experience that are not necessarily divorced from the entertainment and pleasure aspects of the theatre. Exploring these various realms reveals unexpected symbolic richness.
Land Use and the Human-Environment Interaction on Olosega Island, Manu'a, American Samoa
(North Dakota State University, 2011) Quintus, Seth James
The human-environment relationship has often been characterized as one of human adaptation. This particular view has now come into questions as critiques have shown that the relationship is complex and dynamic. In archaeology, one way of examining this relationship is to study the settlement, subsistence, and land use of a given area. This thesis serves that purpose by providing a case study of a small island in the Samoan archipelago in the central Pacific. The survey of Olosega Island identified over 200 different features distributed across the interior. Although no test excavation was conducted, it is interpreted that these features relate to domestic, subsistence, ceremonial, and political activities that likely occurred in the later prehistoric period. The combination of these features, supplemented by environmental data from the interior and further archaeological work along the coast, indicates that the human population was a member of a complex and dynamic system with its environment. Through time, this system likely evolved in a number of ways, not just adaptive, that often caused changes requiring responses by both the human population and the environment of the area.
Ghostly Narratives : A Case Study on the Experiences and Roles of Biafran Women during the Nigeria-Biafra War
(North Dakota State University, 2011) Okigbo, Karen Amaka
Since the end of the Nigcria-Biafra war in 1970, political and social theorists, journalists, and scholars have discussed the significance of the war and the major players. Yet one perspective is often omitted, and that is the experiences of women and the roles they played during the war. This thesis begins to unearth some of those hidden narratives through the use of in-depth interviews with seven Biafran women who lived during and survived the Nigeria-Biafra war. Their stories about the importance of their ethnic and religious identities, their roles and experiences during the war, their encounters with death and refugees, and their discussions of a generational shift are important parts of some of the unearthed narratives.
Downtown Fargo: Stakeholder Struggles and the Crisis ofldentity
(North Dakota State University, 2011) Bergenheier, Lindsay Alair
This research sought to discover the social impact of demographic, aesthetic, and economic neighborhood restructuring in downtown Fargo, North Dakota. In-depth interviews were conducted with 19 cultural, economic, and practical community stakeholders, comprised of downtown Fargo residents, business owners, and community service providers. Their narratives are used to explore how spatial and economic change has been perceived, as well as how similarities and differences between economic, cultural, and practical stakeholders have shaped their perceptions of the neighborhood. This research discovers that downtown stakeholders actively manage the social identity of their community by accentuating speci fie aspects of the neighborhood, creating an idyllic origin story for the neighborhood and an anti-suburban character for the space. The similarities and differences between participants' community perceptions stem from the different roles they play in the community, and issues of power and marginalization are tied to the process of economic neighborhood revival. Contributions to scholarly literature on community development, urban sociology, space-based theorizing, and an expansion of stakeholder theory is discussed. The process of community restructuring in downtown Fargo has entailed a redistribution of cultural and economic power, and the narratives given about this community are found to be both a source of social marginalization and potential political action and empowennent.
Perceived Social, Economic and Environmental Costs/Benefits of a Fargo-Moorhead Diversion Plan
(North Dakota State University, 2012) Kubas, Andrew
Flooding has long been an issue in the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota. Recently, leaders in the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area called for a permanent solution to the annual flooding woes. This solution took the form of a proposed diversion channel, an extensive ditch designed to divert a portion of the Red River west of the metro in order to lower river levels in the urban core during flooding events. This project seeks to understand how residents in the Fargo-Moorhead community perceive the costs and benefits of the diversion plan when compared to current strategies that are in place. The purpose of the research is to understand how various flood mitigation strategies are perceived by local residents and whether or not positive and negative perceptions are a result of place-based linkages to different parts of the metropolitan area.
Perceptions of Gender in Collegiate Coaching: How Men’s and Women’s Experiences are Different
(North Dakota State University, 2012) Chappell, Christie Mikyla
The number of men in collegiate coaching, in comparison to women, is overwhelmingly unbalanced. The accessibility men have to the profession of collegiate coaching at a high level in comparison to women’s’ greatly affects women’s’ ability to achieve similar jobs. The ease at which men attain jobs coaching both genders is perpetuated through the desire to maintain collegiate athletics as a male dominated profession. The women’s perspective broadens the profession itself and helps to break down the societal roles that have been assigned to women. The lack of women in collegiate coaching discourages other women from entering the profession and the women did not feel supported, accepted, or welcomed as collegiate coaches. The results also show a combination of feeling scrutinized because of their gender, and pressure to prove themselves as valuable members of the profession, which led the women interviewed to question if they should continue to coach.
Spaces for Developing Sociocultural Capital: A Case Study of Community Gardens in an Agrarian Community
(North Dakota State University, 2012) Brown, Jessica Rae
Common themes growing out of current research on community gardens center on issues in large urban areas including community-based responses to more healthful food options, local sustainability efforts, and combating urban crime. One area of research that is lacking is how sociocultural capital is generated in smaller metropolitan communities though community gardening. This thesis addresses this void as a means to begin understanding of how the sociocultural networks between community organizations and community gardeners form a symbiotic relationship of interconnected capital production within cities found in historically agrarian regions. This research includes a specific set of methods for investigating Fargo-Moorhead community gardens as places utilized for building sociocultural capital by providing gathering spaces, learning centers, food security, and social interactions. It sheds a new perspective on the intricate connections community gardening plays in the role of building sociocultural capital to aid in sustainability, particularly for, historically agrarian communities.
Understanding Child Work and Child Labor in the 21st Century
(North Dakota State University, 2012) Mudzongo, Courage Chikomborero
Child labor is on the increase and this is exacerbating an already desperate situation in Africa. Past research has focused on which levels of determinants are most effective in influencing the decision on children's activities. Using the Malawi Integrated Household Survey and the Tanzania National Panel Survey, this research seeks to unearth the factors that influence the number of hours that child workers and laborers work. I can conclude that the greatest degrees of change are at the individual level as child's enrollment status is significant for child workers from Malawi and Tanzania and laborers from Tanzania. At the community level, the rural residence factor is associated with child workers and laborers from both countries. More resources need to be invested in developing interventions at the individual and community levels to overcome the child labor problem. Evidently, there seems to be greater divergence between children in Malawi and Tanzania.
It's the Process, not the Project: The Role of Social Capital in Adaptive Co-Management in Northwest Minnesota
(North Dakota State University, 2012) MacGregor, Molly Frances
Changing behavior to improve water quality must be endogenous, arising from a balancing or integration of self-interest and shared interests. The subject of this study is the public who are not organized, affiliated or represented by any government agency or special interest group. Property owners living upstream and downstream of a water management control structure were surveyed to determine experiences and opinions about that project. Respondents supported the project, but expressed greater support for the process used to develop the project. The adaptive co-management process used to develop the project built a social organization including norm-based processes, shared goals, and a framework for continuous learning. The resulting social framework provides the opportunity for the individual to modify self interest and to accept the shared interest of the process. Long-term monitoring is recommended to measure ecological and organizational performance of the project.
Community Perspectives on Girls' Dropout in Tajikistan
(North Dakota State University, 2012) Thapa, Madhurim
Girl's dropout from school is problematic towards the overall wellbeing of those who drop out and to the society as whole. The goal of this study is to uncover some of the underlying factors that hinder girls from attending school in Tajikistan. For reference I used secondary data collected by UNICEF which was conducted to analyze the demand side of the drop out girls in Tajikistan. There were thirteen focus group discussions and seven individual interviews were conducted with the participants. The results from the analysis indicated that political and institutional factors, culture, poverty and school factors are the key elements for girls to drop out from school. Further, the intersections of these factors create discriminatory situation for girls to participate in schools. The result also identified the differences in perspective of participants on the importance of school for girls.
Nature’s Best: An Analysis of a Lactation Education Needs Assessment
(North Dakota State University, 2012) Wiertzema, Ashley Rae
This thesis explores the perceptions of nurses regarding the importance of breastfeeding, the need for lactation education, and the barriers that may be preventing nurses from obtaining lactation education. Nurses working in Minnesota, North Dakota, or South Dakota were the focus. Secondary data from a lactation education needs assessment was used to explore the perceptions and barriers in these states. It was determined that 290 surveys were useable. The Health Belief Model was used to explore the relationship between the nurse's characteristics, perceived breastfeeding importance, perceived need for lactation education, likelihood to take action to obtain lactation education, and perceived barriers to lactation education. Findings from this study indicate that several characteristics of nurses were significantly related to nurses' perceptions of breastfeeding and the need for lactation education. Among several findings, work setting and the level of nursing education were significantly related to nurses' perceptions of the importance of breastfeeding.
Inheritance Patterns and Strategies: Process for Intergenerational Farmland Transfer in Southeastern North Dakota
(North Dakota State University, 2013) Bohnenkamp, Shelby Ann
In this project, I conducted interviews with members of farm families in order to understand the process of intergenerational farmland transfer. Focusing on southeastern North Dakota, I paid particular attention to the youngest generations’ intentions in this process. Two of the primary themes that emerged related to the youngest generations’ desire for security and stability into the future and the gendered expectations that arose throughout the parent generation and the youngest generation interviews. There was a common sentiment that the family farmland was an unsafe occupation to pursue in the modern economy, making the desire for security and stability a core theme. This factored into the youngest generations’ decision of whether or not to farm the land. In addition, a second key theme of gendered expectations emerged as the parent generation and the youngest generations made decisions about who would take over the family farm.
A Study of Direct Care Staff for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities/Mental Illness Regarding Grief and Loss Issues
(North Dakota State University, 2013) Wood, Elizabeth Anne
Social service agencies often ignore death and dying issues (DDI). Direct care staff (DCS) are left to fend for themselves when it comes to these issues. Training on DDI and GLI is scarce. Theories such as Symbolic Interactionism and Awareness Theory help explain DDI and GLI. The methods used in this study include qualitative interviewing. Ten DCS were interviewed in 2012 from a Fargo social service agency. They were asked questions about their belief in DDI and their work with clientele. Addressed were their belief about DDI effects them personally and their educational background. Results indicated there were positive perceptions of disabled persons regarding GLI and DDI. The DCS believed the disabled individual grieves adequately with staff and family assistance. The disabled persons with whom DCS worked with understood DDI and GLI. The staff at this agency were not trained for GLI or DDI until such an incident occurred.
Exploring the Gendered Efficacy of Photovoice Methodology
(North Dakota State University, 2014) Bartholomay, Daniel John
This study set out to measure the gendered efficacy of the participatory action research method of photovoice. This study utilized secondary analysis, imagery analysis, and qualitative research methods to analyze both photographs and interview transcripts from a previous photovoice study that examined the lives of individuals who have been prescribed medication for a mental illness. This study sought to: 1) evaluate the independent relationship between the researcher and the participants’ photographs; 2) unveil how effective photovoice is as a research method in terms of extracting rich data from mentally ill persons; and 3) assess photovoice’s efficacy in regard to the gender of the participants within a given study. The findings of this study indicate that the high quality of data gathered from both male and female participants in the initial study indicates that photovoice is an effective methodology for examining mentally ill populations, regardless of the participant’s gender.
Violence towards Aboriginal People: Consulting with Aboriginal Community Members to Develop Culturally Safe Victim Service
(North Dakota State University, 2014) Haldane, Marie Janet
The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of Aboriginal people when they accessed victim services in order to determine if the services were culturally safe for them. Several themes emerged which included: discrimination by the police stops Aboriginal people from using the services which are available to them; historical trauma continues to negatively affect Aboriginal people; there is a lack of understanding about Aboriginal history and the legacy of colonization. Study participants suggested ways services could be changed to better meet their cultural needs: services need to have a cultural focus; there needs to be more Aboriginal service providers. Aboriginal people are more likely than other Canadians to experience violence and victimization. In order to support them it is essential that they have access to culturally safe services. Using cultural safety as a framework for program development gives us the tools to provide culturally safe service.
Marine Resource Use and Distribution on Ofu Island, Manu’a, American Sāmoa
(North Dakota State University, 2014) Aakre, Allison Katie
Marine resources have played a vital role in the lives of the prehistoric populations that settled Oceania. While it is widely accepted that marine resources make up a considerable component of the diet of prehistoric peoples, distinguishing between shell fragments as a result of food procurement or debris from tool manufacture can be a difficult task. This study, in addition to examining the density and distribution of shellfish use by human populations on Ofu Island, examines the various ways these shellfish might have been procured and processed by utilizing archaeological, ethnographic, and experimental methods. By analyzing excavation data from three sites, interviewing locals, taking part in a shellfish gathering trip, and performing test breaks on Turbo shells, it has been possible to gain a holistic view of shellfish use since initial human occupation. Findings reflect mobile populations that have exploited abundant marine resources in a resilient marine environment throughout prehistory.

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