Browsing by Author "Leisz, Steve, committee member"
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Item Open Access Viewed from above: extracting the built environment from the ancient Purépecha site of Angamuco through development of a new methodology(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Harris, Edwin, author; Fisher, Chris, advisor; Leisz, Steve, committee member; Falkowski, Michael, committee memberThis thesis utilizes commonly used GIS tools to develop a methodology capable of extracting the built environment from the complex topology of the ancient Purépecha site of Angamuco located in Michoacán, Mexico. Unlike lowland areas and coastal regions Angamuco sits upon a volcanic malpaís consisting of rolling hills, small valleys, complex ridgelines, and a multitude of microtopographic features creating a complex physical landscape. This topographically complex landscape creates unique challenges in extracting subtle archaeological features and requires a new methodology to separate the built environment. This new methodology utilizing common GIS tools in a flexible workflow consisting of topographic manipulation, value identification, and analysis preparation. The results of the methodology provides a data set of 87,407 possible archaeological features. These features are all greater than 5m² in area and consist of a wide range of circular to rectilinear, linear, and numerous miscellaneous shaped features throughout the site. The capability of this dataset in further analysis is shown through the application of a density analysis and classification based on the Thinness Ratio to conduct OBIA at the individual feature level. Although, the dataset does require manual clean-up the application of the data to answer certain questions about the urban attributes of the site of Angamuco is valid. Further analysis of this output dataset through GIS can provide detailed answers to questions about urban design for the Purépecha prior to and during the early Empire phase.Item Open Access Wolakota: the face of ReZilience in "post"-colonial America(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Chesnais, Aude, author; Pickering, Kathleen, advisor; Hempel, Lynn, committee member; Taylor, Peter, committee member; Leisz, Steve, committee memberThis research aims at exploring the features of sustainable social change in Lakota country. More specifically, it uses the concept of resilience to analyze local expressions of social change and challenge the colonial framework and discourse. It focuses on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota, and compares two scales of social change at the grassroots and larger organizational level. This research's project follows a participatory and decolonial approach and emerged from a specific local need formulated by local grassroots projects managers to bring attention to the lack of resources and visibility they encounter. Reservations are historically defined territories embedded in colonial power dynamics that create socio-economic vulnerability and multi-dimensional hardships in tribal members' everyday life. What they face remains perceived and defined primarily by an etic/outsider perspective, which hinders expressions of local resilience. Ground observations indicate that creative sustainable projects with unique features actually emerge in response to local stress. Yet, by western definitions, these projects are not visible and do not qualify as resilient. This research questions the western hegemonic use of resilience in Lakota country and explores endogenous expressions of social change that shape alternative definitions and challenge the colonial discourse.