Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collection

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1

Open Access
A vision of ourselves: regional rhetoric's impact upon public policy relating to individuals experiencing homelessness
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Anderson, Garrison Michael, author; Dunn, Thomas, advisor; Prasch, Allison, committee member; Scott, Ryan, committee member
Public policy at all levels, local, state, and national, has a profound, yet seldom, recognized impact upon the lives of citizens unless the policy directly impacts them. In the following thesis, I explore the discourse and debate that a local-level public policy can have upon the construction of space, impact upon already marginalized populations, and the use of regional identity to justify said policy. More specifically, I explore the consideration of a "appropriate-use of public space ordinance" in a mid-sized city, Fort Collins, Colorado. I argue that visions of Fort Collins regional identity are used to justify certain aspects of the ordinance that criminalize individuals experiencing homelessness. In my analysis, I make use of theories of communication and space including critical regionalism, juxtaposition, and spatial trajectories. In application of these theories to understand my text I am performing an analysis of critical rhetoric to reveal potential power struggles at play and the possibility for change.