Mountain Scholar :: Browsing by Author "Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member"

Browsing by Author "Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member"

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Open Access
A defense of emotions in evolutionary epistemology
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Van, Minh-Tu, author; Rice, Collin, advisor; Kasser, Jeffrey, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
Current literature in evolutionary epistemology places a kind of epistemic 'rationality', guided by evolution, as the primary consideration or rationale that directs whether and how we acquire knowledge. Foundational works by the likes of Donald Campbell, Konrad Lorenz, and Sir Karl Popper paved the grounds of evolutionary epistemology by prioritizing natural selection's role within theories of knowledge. By recognizing and understanding the significance of humans' niche within the biological world, it better informs us of the aims of evolutionary epistemology. My thesis aims to incorporate emotions in the understanding and development of evolutionary epistemology. My arguments stem from the idea that emotions are an innate and biological response that have an epistemically significant evolutionary history while also concurrently conferring epistemic advantages. With much of the current discussion focused on evolutionary 'rationality' sans emotion, there is much left to be desired in evolutionary epistemology: I believe evolutionary epistemology is missing an evaluation and incorporation of our emotional systems that shape and influence epistemic aims. While evolutionary epistemologists allude to emotions' significance and relevance through other causal mechanisms, there is little discussion of how emotions explicitly affect and interact with our epistemic processes. The overall aim of my thesis is to stress the epistemic contribution that emotions would have to the current developments within evolutionary epistemology and its fittingness within the scope of evolutionary epistemology's aims as currently construed. I first summarize evolutionary epistemology using the works of Campbell, Lorenz, and Popper and explicate what evolutionary 'rationality' entails. Then, I explore some epistemic roles emotions play within important features extrapolated from an evolutionary 'rationality': epistemic fallibility and epistemic creativity. I argue that evolutionary epistemology benefits from an investigation and application of emotions to these features because their role reinforces the same aims that evolutionary epistemology strive to achieve. To wrap things up, I lay out implications and future directions of accepting my defense. I ultimately contend that a more serious consideration of emotions within evolutionary epistemology would only elucidate a fuller comprehension of our naturalized knowledge; not only will we learn more about what human knowledge is construed as, but we will also learn more about how the construction of knowledge, for and by evolved humans, ought to be produced.
Open Access
Adaptive disembodiment: towards an enactivist theory of body schematic sensorimotor autonomy
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) White, Halie Elizabeth, author; MacKenzie, Matthew, advisor; Rice, Collin, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
The enactivist approach to embodied cognition relies on a non-reductive biological naturalism that is recursive at higher levels of complexity in living systems. In addressing an account of cognition, I will consider Xabier Barandiaran's objection that biological autonomy properly sets biological norms but under-specifies sensorimotor normativity. Barandiaran suggests the implementation of pluralist autonomy to the meta-pattern of organization in the enactivist agent that becomes recapitulated. By forming an account of sensorimotor autonomy, we can then specify normativity at the sensorimotor (cognitive) level. In consideration of this issue, I will propose the body schema functions to provide sensorimotor autonomy to the embodied subject through motor stability and thus functions to specify normativity at the sensorimotor level. This then allows for what enactivists term 'sense-making' in terms of enacting affordance structures. The position I take within the enactivist frame is thus a pluralist autonomist view on cognition. I go on to consider how this view bears on cognitive case studies often addressed in body schema literature. Drawing primarily from the work of Shaun Gallagher, body schema interacts with and develops body image through primary and secondary intersubjective capacities. I argue that body image is intersubjectively constructed through joint attention, thus invoking considerations of one's social milieu. This consideration shifts the discussion to address how the pluralist autonomist enactivist, through body schema and body image interaction, can account for alterations of the body schema due to distortions in one's body image that result from oppression. This pluralist autonomist enactivist theory provides three benefits for understanding these alterations: (1) enactivism begins with a fundamental postulate that individuals are embedded in a world; (2) in distinguishing between different levels of autonomy, we can thus discuss different forms of normative interaction with the environment; (3) and finally, with differentiated forms of normativity, we can thus differentiate and track different modes of adaptation an embodied subject can take when faced with various sorts of perturbations. I argue that disembodiment can be seen as an adaptation of the body schema in relation to hostile environments where stigma targets the body image. This hostile environment does not allow one's comfortable and normative navigation of the world due to the hypervisibility of the body. I explore this case of adaptive disembodiment through fatphobia and public weight stigma.
Open Access
An antidote to fear: exploring death reflection as a predictor of pro-social values
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Canning, Brian A., author; Steger, Michael F., advisor; Dik, Bryan J., committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
In over three decades of terror management theory (TMT) research, results have continuously pointed towards one grave lesson: that unchecked fear of death can lead to terrible outcomes both for the self and for the world at large. TMT research has connected mortality salience (MS) manipulations (reminding one of their mortality) to increases in greed, racism, political extremism and a host of other negative outcomes (Greenberg, Schimel, Martens, Solomon, & Pyszcznyski, 2001; Hirschberger et al., 2016; Kasser & Sheldon, 2000). While negative outcomes have been thoroughly outlined in the research, less attention has been given to investigating ways to ameliorate these problematic effects and to reveal healthier, more productive ways to engage with our mortality. The death reflection (DR) manipulation—in which participants actively imagine their simulated death and engage in reflection and perspective taking—has shown promise in bridging this gap (Cozzolino et al., 2004). The research on this manipulation and corresponding theory is at this juncture minimal, and further development is needed. Study 1 sought to replicate Cozzolino et al's findings from their (2004) study, where DR was found to produce significantly less greedy behavior when compared to MS. This study was not able to find significant effects, despite having a larger sample than the original study. The findings of this study generate questions about the effects of MS and DR manipulations, which are explored in detail. Study 2 sought to test for changes in values from the DR manipulation through a new Emergent Values Measure (EVM) protocol that used free listing and sorting methodologies. This study was unable to demonstrate a strong statistical relationship between that measure and the Aspirations Index (AI), which impeded further comparison and analysis. The data for these studies is explored, and implications for future research are detailed.
Open Access
An escape from anger and other Buddhist contributions to the philosophy of emotions
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Murray, Adam, author; MacKenzie, Matthew, advisor; McLeod, Alexus, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
This paper begins with an examination of several theories of emotion in general—a ‘mixed theory’, an ‘attitudinal theory’, and a Buddhist ‘componential theory.’ I argue that the Buddhist theory has a theoretical advantage over these alternatives insofar as it avoids two ‘thin’ characterizations of emotions that exclude either affective or conative states from the concept. The Buddhist theory of emotions, I claim, has another advantage insofar as it brings practicality to the forefront, connecting our theorizing about emotions with what is most important—developing good character and bringing about the welfare of beings. Chapter 2 proceeds to an in- depth analysis of the emotion of anger in particular, examining several philosophically important accounts—those of Aristotle, Seneca, and the Buddha. I raise problems of definition, highlight some typical and contentious features of anger, and draw from several classical sources to reconstruct a Buddhist account of anger. In the final chapter, I argue that typical anger is not necessary for moral life, addressing myself to arguments from Zac Cogley and Emily McRae. I continue by demonstrating that Buddhism has resources that allow us to both eliminate or largely attenuate anger, and to approach the problems we face without anger; finally, I sketch out exactly how this can be accomplished.
Open Access
Call of Cthulhu and Vampire: the Masquerade: invocation, spatiality, and ritual transcendence in two tabletop role-playing games
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Brunette, Tyler, author; Diffrient, Scott, advisor; Dickinson, Greg, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
In 1974 the world's first Tabletop Roleplaying Game (TRPG) was published, Dungeons and Dragons. Since that time hundreds of TRPGs have been published in multiple genres. In this thesis I explore the rhetoric of two of the most popular horror-themed TRPGs: Call of Cthulhu and Vampire: the Masquerade. I focus on explaining how these games came to be, how they serve their players as equipment for living, how they rhetorically (re)construct real-world places and spaces, and finally, how they encourage transcendence and jamming through ritual play and participation. This thesis hopefully helps to show the complex multi-layered rhetoric taking place in a relatively ignored form of media. Additionally, I introduce the concept of textual invocation as a complimentary theoretical construct to that of textual poaching as an explanation for how players and designers engage in a give and take of authorship.
Open Access
Comida y los orishas de Santería, La: alimentando el bienestar de los creyentes
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Ellis, Riley, author; López-Cabrales, María del Mar, advisor; Suárez-García, José Luis, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
This thesis addresses the interconnections between food, religious myths of the deities, called orishas, and well-being in Cuba, demonstrated through the ritualistic practices of Santería, specifically in La Habana. A parallel exists between the mythological world of the orishas and our own world, a relationship of give and take. Upon investigating the relation between ceremonial food, the mythological appetites of the orishas, and the practice of Santería in Cuba, I discovered a correlation between the nourishment of the orishas and the strengthening of believer´s well-being. This work focuses on Ochún, Yemayá, Changó and Orula, as they were the deities mentioned most frequently during my visit to the island. The methodology consists of the use of two disciplines: a literary analysis of Natalia Bolívar Arosteguí joined with an anthropologic investigation, incorporating ethnography via participant observation and formal interviews. The theoretic framework finds its base in the study of mythology by Roland Barthes, the culinary triangle of Claude Lévi-Strauss, Pierre Bourdieu's concept of food consumption and relevant literature concerning subjective well-being, such as Ed Diener. What I argue is needed is an ethnographically informed exploration of the culinary identity of Cuban Santería, framing it as a source of well-being.
Embargo
Crystallizing change in a tourism-based economy during COVID-19: an intermountain western gateway case study of Nederland, Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Branstrator, Julia, author; Cavaliere, Christina T., advisor; Bruyere, Brett, committee member; Cottrell, Stuart, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped mobility patterns within the tourism system uniquely stressing parks and protected areas (PPAs) and respective bordering gateway communities. Tourism research has explored changes related to PPAs since COVID-19 at the international (Spenceley et al., 2021), national (Lebrun, et al., 2021), and regional and local scales (Cavaliere & Branstrator 2023; Sohn et al., 2021). Recent scholarship in tourism has brought attention to the experiences and knowledge of residents living within communities bordering PPAs to understand the impacts of COVID-19 from local perspectives (Jones et al., 2021). However, tourism scholarship related to COVID-19 underrepresents the experiences of intermountain western gateway communities (IWGCs) - small communities within remote mountain regions bordering PPAs that often live with tourism-based economies (Stoker et al., 2021). Throughout COVID-19, IWGCs have lived through societal, political and health crises compounded by climate disasters such as wildfires and flooding. The remote geographic location and economic basis of tourism shapes the impacts, adaptations and needs of IWGCs, imperative to inform crisis and disaster management due to the presence and power of tourism-based economies. Residents from the Town of Nederland, Colorado hold lived, situated knowledge of changes experienced during COVID-19 which can further tourism scholarship of resiliency as related to the COVID-19 crisis. Therefore, this research aims to explore the relationships between changes experienced by Nederland residents hosting a tourism economy during COVID-19 through a narrowed scope of identity, affect, and technology use – each representing important components of crisis and disaster management needing further exploration. Three objectives are established to achieve the aim of this research. First, to further the critical and affective turns within tourism scholarship through an embodied research design exploring identities of Nederland residents. Second, to assess the role of technology in navigating spatial and social realities of the COVID-19 pandemic impacting identities. Third, cultural realignment is used as a tool of analysis to explore processes and agents of change revealing power dynamics within Nederland including community resilience and representation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Influential literature from social-ecological and psychological resiliency, embodiment and affect, biocultural knowledge, identities, and technology underpins this research. Through an embodied approach, the worldviews of myself as researcher and Nederland residents become new contributions to knowledge by considering the body as an intersecting point between affective, biocultural, and technocultural influences. A crystallization methodology is employed guided by a feminist new materialist epistemology to construct a robust representation of resident accounts through critical qualitative methods. Reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured, in-depth interviews is complemented by field notes and secondary sources such as online featuring and representation of Nederland to conceptualize identities at the individual and community scale. This investigation of identities within crisis management and resiliency through the research context of Nederland, Colorado conducts holistic, empirical reflection upon resident agency and community resilience to changes during COVID-19. This methodological approach elicits rich knowledge to conceptualize identities of Nederland residents as complex, affective embodiments of multi-scalar changes mediated by tourism impacts during the COVID-19.
Embargo
Cultivating collaborative adaptability in public lands social-ecological settings: linking theory, practice, and evaluation across cases and contexts
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Beeton, Tyler Andrew, author; Galvin, Kathleen, advisor; Cheng, Antony, committee member; Schultz, Courtney, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
Collaborative and adaptive forms of governance have become increasingly common in environmental management as they are claimed to help reduce conflict over resource management issues and uncertainty, increase trust, support shared understanding and buy-in for management actions, and facilitate social learning. In the USDA Forest Service, legal, regulatory, and bureaucratic challenges, and the increased emphasis on ecosystem management has increased the demand for, and investment in, collaboration as a tool to meet forest and fire management goals. Collaborative governance and adaptability scholarship has documented the key drivers and external conditions that influence collaboration, the internal dynamics that cultivate or constrain collaboration, and the outputs and outcomes of collaboration. Still, a number of research gaps remain that, if addressed, could advance the theory and practice of collaborative governance. First, the ways in which groups adapt and remain resilient to inevitable internal and external changes remains underexplored. Second, despite over twenty years of research in this space, relatively little is known about the configuration of, and relationship between, factors that comprise collaborative governance and adaptability. Third, collaboration is dynamic. As groups evolve, they create value in different ways, and their needs and priorities change. Thus, there is a need for periodic and ongoing assessments of how collaboration is working in local contexts, current challenges, and what adaptations are needed to improve collaborative processes and progress. This dissertation starts to address these research gaps and needs. I situated this work within the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, a Forest Service-administered program first authorized in 2009 and reauthorized in 2019. The work presented in this dissertation was co-developed with the Southwest Ecological Restoration Institutes and the Forest Service Forest, Range Management, and Vegetation Ecology Program. Specifically, the work supported synthesis of lessons learned from the first 10 years of the CFLRP and the development of a standardized and longitudinal assessment of collaborative governance and adaptability for use in the CFLRP Common Monitoring Strategy. Broadly, my dissertation contributes to our understanding of the factors that facilitate or frustrate adaptation to inevitable change in collaborative settings. This is a critical line of inquiry given the increased and sustained investment in long-term collaborative environmental management in the United States and beyond. I employed a mixed-method analysis consisting of focus groups, program-wide surveys, and a systematic review, and I drew on the Integrative Framework for Collaborative Governance, collaborative adaptability and resilience literature, and organization theory to frame my analysis. In Chapter 2, I asked, how do collaborative governance regimes adapt to disruptions and what barriers constrained collaborative resilience? I found that collaboratives demonstrated the ability to mobilize social capital, learning, resources, and flexibility to respond to disruptions. Yet authority, accountability, and capacity complicated collaborative resilience. I conclude Chapter 2 with policy and practice recommendations to cultivate collaborative resilience moving forward. In Chapter 3, I developed and deployed a program-wide collaborative governance and adaptability assessment to all currently authorized CFLRP projects. I used a modified grounded theory approach to document and describe CFLRP project respondents' recommended actions and adaptations to improve collaborative processes and progress towards desired outcomes. Key recommendations included the need for: inclusive engagement throughout the process; institutional arrangements; resources and capacity; monitoring and social learning; trust, relationships, and commitment; external communication and outreach; and local autonomy in decision making. I discussed these findings in light of collaborative governance theory and practice and included relevant resources and actions that practitioners and funders of collaboratives and policy actors may consider to support collaboratives in working towards forest and fire management objectives. In chapter 4, I again used the program-wide CFLRP collaborative governance and adaptability assessment, and I used confirmatory factor analysis to test assumptions underlying the dimensional structure, reliability, and validity of measures thought to comprise collaborative governance and adaptability. I found that the components of collaborative governance and adaptability comprised six dimensions – principled engagement, shared motivation, leadership, resources, knowledge and learning, and institutional arrangements. As expected, several dimensions were significantly related, and the pattern of inter-factor relationships aligned with theoretical and empirical assumptions. We also found that the six dimensions represent statistically reliable, valid, and distinct measures that may be used to evaluate collaborative governance and adaptability. While our focus was on the CFLRP, the assessment can be adapted to other collaborative environmental governance contexts. Chapter 5 ends with a summary of findings, limitations of the work, and future research directions to address lingering questions about collaborative environmental governance.
Open Access
Depression and the college transition: the lived experiences of first-year college students who self-report as having depression
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Alvarez, Joshua T., author; Anderson, Sharon K., advisor; Peila-Shuster, Jackie, committee member; Basile, Vincent, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
The transition to college is a transformative time in a student's life. The first year of college is especially critical as the transition from secondary education to college can determine whether a student succeeds or fails in in college (Gale & Parker, 2014; Taylor & Harris-Evans, 2018). Students with depression enter their first year of college with symptoms that create difficulties with work, home, or social activities (Pratt & Brody, 2014). Depressed mood results in a lack of energy, concentration, self-worth, and interest in daily activities (Auerbach et al., 2018; National Institute of Mental Health, 2019; Vanderlind, 2017). This phenomenological study examined the research question: How do students who recently completed their first two semesters describe their lived experienced with depression during their first-year transition to college? The 11 student participants who participated in this study had graduated from high school in the spring and transitioned to college the next fall, recently completed their first two semesters at a public university, and self-reported having depression prior to and during their first year of college. Using Schlossberg's Transition Model as a framework, the study's ordinate themes were captured within the 4S's: Situation, Self, Support, and Strategies. The ordinate themes of Situation consisted of: Transition Recognition, Adulting, Loneliness and Isolation, Questioned College, and Hopeful. Self consisted of: Comparing to Others, Minoritized Identities, and Self-Discovery. Support consisted of: Family Support and Friend Support. Strategies consisted of: Changing Strategies, Detrimental Coping Strategies, and Inability to Cope. The study provided implications for higher education and future research.
Open Access
Engaging reality: examining how mixed reality mobile apps and games facilitate sense of place development for a more engaged citizenry
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Bamesberger, Carla, author; Wolfgang, David, advisor; Castillo, Daniela, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
Growing concerns regarding declining community and civic engagement as a result of increased access to new technologies calls for research on purposeful design that could have a reverse impact. Location aware mixed reality mobile apps and games may be one such technology that, with purposeful design, have such potential. It is possible that this technology could be purposefully designed to facilitate sense of place development among users, which can lead to outcomes like engagement in one's community. According to sense of place theory, sense of place is made up of place identity, place attachment, and place dependence, which relate to how a person experiences place. To assess this possibility, twelve users of either Pokémon Go, Ingress, or iNaturalist were interviewed and their experience of place was analyzed. All of the apps required users to spend time in place in order to use them, a key part of sense of place development. The game apps encouraged exploration, spending time in place, and noticing unique place features due to using unique place features as a key game mechanic. iNaturalist similarly encouraged exploration, spending time in place, and noticing unique features (nature) due to allowing users to take geotagged photos and upload them for identification. Competitive and team-work-oriented game mechanics facilitated online and in-person social encounters, and iNaturalist's commenting function encouraged online social interactions about place. Features of these apps facilitated experiences that relate to sense of place, suggesting that future studies on the impact that these apps have on sense of place development would be worthwhile.
Open Access
Material culture, social networks, and the Chinese of Ouray, Colorado, 1880-1920
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Knee, Alexis Ryan, author; Van Buren, Mary, advisor; Orsi, Jared, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
This study examines a sample of artifacts recovered from the Vanoli Site (5OR30) encompassing a privy and trash midden located directly behind an historic Chinese laundry. Previous research in Overseas Chinese archaeology has focused on historically large Chinese communities and processes of acculturation, resulting in a homogenous perception of past Overseas Chinese experiences. The purpose of this project is to explore the small, historic Chinese community of Ouray, Colorado, and work to understand their past experiences in terms of social interaction rather than acculturation. Borrowing concepts from social network theory, artifacts recovered from behind the Chinese laundry drive the reconstruction of past social relationships. When these relationships are placed within the context of Ouray and the United States at the time, they can lead to an understanding of past experiences. Quantitative analyses included organizing artifacts by material type, stylistic traits, function and minimum number of items. The production, acquisition and use contexts were also determined for artifacts when possible. Using historical sources, qualitative analyses began with researching the local context of Chinese living in Ouray and the attitudes of Ouray residents towards them. The social meanings of activities associated with excavated artifacts were understood within the contexts of China, the United States and Ouray at the time. These contexts, combined with identified patterns in the assemblage drove the reconstruction of several possible past social relationships. These relationships reveal that Chinese living in Ouray likely shared many of the same experiences as Chinese living in larger communities, specifically negative experiences stemming from racism and labor discrimination. However, they also likely had experiences that were unique to Ouray and were not completely dependent on ethnicity. Rather, a combination of factors, including occupation, place of business and residence, social status (within Chinese and Euroamerican communities), personal relationships, and wealth, seem to have had a more meaningful impact on experiences and whether those experiences were positive or negative. This was likely the case for most people living in the area. This study suggests that a close examination of local and historical contexts combined with archaeological evidence is necessary to illuminate Overseas Chinese experiences, and in doing such, could alter current perceptions of early Asian American history.
Open Access
Moderation and mediation of the spirituality and subjective well-being relation
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Sargent, Adam M., author; Dik, Bryan, advisor; Steger, Michael, committee member; Swaim, Randall, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
The present study aims to replicate the finding that spirituality correlates positively with subjective well-being and examines important moderating and mediating variables within this relationship (Koenig and Larson, 2001; Hill and Pargament, 2003). First, spiritual affiliation (religious denomination) is tested as a moderating variable and is found to significantly moderate the positive relationship between spirituality and subjective well-being furthering the case that spiritual affiliation should be considered in this line of research. Next, social support, spiritual support, spiritual strivings, and meaning in life are tested as mediators of the relationship between spirituality and subjective well-being. Social support, spiritual support, and spiritual goals/strivings are not found to mediate the relation between spirituality and subjective well-being, but meaning in life fully mediates this relationship suggesting that meaning in life may play a key role in understanding the spirituality and subjective well-being relation. Finally, a combined mediated moderation analysis is tested with spiritual affiliation as the moderating variable and meaning in life as the mediating variable. Evidence for mediated moderation was not found. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.
Open Access
Modernization and cultural identity: the case of Ri-Bhoi women handloom weavers
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Dias, Rebecca Maria, author; Diddi, Sonali, advisor; Ogle, Jennifer P., committee member; Knowles, Katie, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
The handloom industry is a vital part of the rural and semi-rural population of North East Region of India (NERI) providing these populations with a source of employment. Hand woven textiles are deeply associated with the culture of NERI weavers who practice the art of cloth making. In recent years, the traditional handloom industry has seen tremendous growth and change through initiatives intended to modernize the industry. This evolution of the handloom industry due to modernization has impacted the people involved and their relationship to weaving. The purpose of this study was to understand how modernization has changed or evolved the traditional handloom industry of Ri-Bhoi, a district in NERI, and how women weavers in the Ri-Bhoi develop a sense of identity through weaving. The foundation of this research is based on cultural identity and modernization theories that suggest the conversion of traditional values to modern values, or the persistence of traditional values (Inglehart & Baker, 2000). A qualitative ethnographic approach was used, and data were collected from four villages in Ri-Bhoi district, Meghalaya, a north eastern state in India, using participant observation, interview, and field notes and journaling. The data were analyzed using open coding to develop a coding guide and to identify overarching themes. Findings from the analysis showed a change in the traditional handloom industry mainly in terms of loom technology and yarn type. Analysis revealed a grounded theory model that presents five significant themes: (a) exchange of knowledge; (b) social support; (c) role of weaving in everyday life; (d) symbolizing tribe and culture; and (e) joy, pride and happiness that contributed towards developing a cultural identity for women weavers. The data also revealed that women weavers adapted their traditional ideals related to weaving to preserve and sustain their handloom industry and textiles to meet with social, economic, and political changes due to modernization. Understanding weavers' perception of change is vital in preserving cultural heritage. Implications of the study and future directions are discussed.
Open Access
Pathways toward a posthumanist approach to wildlife-human coexistence: a case study of environmental policies and education in Costa Rica
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Schneider, Amy, author; Thomsen, Bastian, advisor; Knight, David, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
This thesis project is a two-part evaluation of policy creation and environmental education in Costa Rica. Part I applies a posthumanist theoretical framework to a patchwork ethnography methodology to identify patterns within perceptions and implementation of environmental policy. Methods selected include semi-structured interviews and participant observation accomplished during a January 2022 pilot study in Costa Rica where the research team partnered with three wildlife rehabilitation centers of varying size. In conjunction with this posthumanist evaluation of current policy, actor perceptions, and creation of legislation, Part II assesses the use of a Vertical Integrated Project (VIP) model in correlation with environmental education practices and programs. Findings suggest, based on additional analyses of interviews and participant observation, that values play a significant role in the creation, content, and enforcement of environmental policies in Costa Rica. Further, the use of the VIP model in research methods directly mirrors many of the environmental education programs and techniques demonstrated by the partnering centers. These findings illustrate potential pathways forward for other environmentally conscious nations to foster coexistence and shift the way wildlife is perceived and valued on a national scale.
Open Access
(Re)Defining movie ratings: acceptability, access, and boundary maintenance
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Lachowitzer, Chance, author; Chung, Hye Seung, advisor; Diffrient, Scott, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
This thesis explores the allure of motion pictures in transition by focusing on moments of controversy, and in the way, these moments play-out through constant negotiation between an industry and an audience. In this way, the project dismantles MPAA rhetoric about film regulation in order to analyze the regulatory themes of access, acceptability, and boundary maintenance. In doing so, the project examines the history of film regulation to provide context to contemporary controversies surrounding the PG-13 and NC-17 ratings. Through a critical cultural lens, each rating is evaluated according to its impact on viewers and its reflection of cultural standards and norms. For this project, the most credible rating controversies question the themes of acceptability for the PG-13 rating and access for the NC-17. In these moments, the rating system does not successfully respond to discourse from audiences and industry members and shows the inherent limitations of the film industry's self-regulatory practices. At the same time, the project notes the necessity of the rating system to ensure the long-term success of the industry, in addition to, the overall freedom of film content.
Open Access
The temporal elements of emotional identification with film characters
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) McCormick, Stephanie, author; Romagni, Domenica, advisor; MacKenzie, Matt, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
I argue that the subjective experience of time passing, felt duration, is a crucial element in the emotional and immersive experience of narrative films. First, I review multiple theories of emotional identification to conclude that the most accurate and thorough account is provided by the simulation theory of emotions. Growing from this account, I establish a framework of emotional engagement (general and emotional identification) and immersion (emotional and temporal). Film theories about emotional engagement often overlook felt duration despite it being a feature of emotional experiences. A film's depiction of a character's felt duration facilitates the audience's emotional engagement and immersion. Additionally, the audience's felt duration can be manipulated by the film's pacing techniques to further engagement and immersion. There are two main upshots of my thesis I will briefly outline in the last chapter: aesthetic value and ethical value. The emotional and temporal experiences of the audience are vital to the understanding of narratives and the experience of films. Emotional identification exercises our capacity to relate to other people. This affects our ability to empathize and treat other people. In this thesis, I draw attention to felt duration as an element of emotional engagement and immersion that often goes unacknowledged.
Open Access
Transmen and transwomen in China: darkness and resilience
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Xue, Yan, author; Kwiatkowski, Lynn, advisor; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member; Daum, Courtenay, committee member
Anthropologists have studied transgenderism in various cultures and societies; however, few of these studies investigate the topics of identity development, family lives, and transgender community engagement, and their interwoven relationships in a socialist society. In this research, I look at the lives of Chinese transgender people and aim to understand what roles the government, family and domestic transgender community institutions play in their identity development trajectory. I approach this main research question through a contextualized cultural perspective, analyze it within a critical-interpretive medical anthropological framework, and draw from both anthropological and non-anthropological literature that focus on these three themes. Research data is collected through a mixed qualitative methodology, including online and offline participant observation and semi-structured interviews of ten Chinese transwomen, ten Chinese transmen, and three key informants. Findings suggest that for Chinese transgender respondents, their trajectory of realizing, exploring, and living as their identified gender, which is different from their assigned sex/gender, is commonly repressed and stigmatized on an everyday basis within the cisgender male-female binary system in Chinese society. During these processes, acquiring family recognition and building community connection are respondents' vital sources of resilience, which not only consolidate their (trans)gender identification but also facilitate their transitions. Nevertheless, this is not to say that the family and community institutions are immune to the sexist ideology and cisgender prejudice circulating in Chinese society, which can generate distress mixed with their empowering influences on Chinese transgender respondents. Therefore, throughout their identity development trajectory, respondents always have to resort to their own agency to protect and emancipate themselves from both structural discrimination and transnormative discipline that operate within the institutions which are commonly expected to enhance the resiliency of transgender people.
Open Access
Understanding environmentally responsible behavior of national park visitors: a cross-cultural perspective
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Zhao-Pliske, Wen, author; Bright, Alan, advisor; Knight, David, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member; Bruyere, Bret, committee member
Foster environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) among tourists is seen as a practical approach to alleviating human-induced impacts on national parks. In light of the increasingly popularity of national parks and their diverse users around the world, national park practitioners and researchers need to pay closer attention to the cultural influences on tourists' behaviors across cultures. This dissertation introduces a cross-cultural perspective to investigate tourists' environmentally responsible behavior in two national parks in China and US. This dissertation summarizes three studies that are presented as manuscripts suitable for submission to peer-reviewed journals. It begins with an overview of the visitor impacts in national parks in the US and China—two of the largest nature-based tourism market in the world— and the associated theoretical frameworks and models that assess the antecedents of individuals' environmental behavior. We articulate and clarify the theoretical debates and methodological considerations associated with cross-cultural comparative analysis. Chapter II provides a comparative discussion of the national park system between China and the US. It begins with a review of the current state of knowledge of China's protected areas development and the motivation to form a new national park system, followed by a comparison of the management structure, funding mechanism, as well as the visitor and tourism management of the national parks in China and US. Chapter III and IV present two cross-cultural quantitative studies. A review of extant literature shows there are inconsistencies in understanding tourists' environmentally responsible behavior in national parks. In Chapter III, we use multi-group confirmatory factor analysis to examine the measurement invariance of a proposed measures of tourists' environmentally responsible behavior between US and China. The confirmatory factor analysis assessments of equivalent structure, factor loading pattern, and intercepts between samples revealed that the ERB is a multi-dimensional construct and can be examined across cultures. Further, Chapter IV builds upon the previous and investigate how environmental values, attitudes, and norm affect tourists' environmentally responsible behavior intention in national parks between US and China. We discuss the differences and similarities of the patterning of tourists' behavior intention across distinct cultural settings. Chapter V connects these three studies and subsequently discuss theoretical and practical implications. We illustrate how the results can facilitate national park management in developing sound visitor use planning and communication programs to better promote environmentally responsible behavior among tourists. Overall, this dissertation seeks to comprehend the cultural components in the activation of environmentally responsible behavior. Our findings highlight the need of utilizing quantitative cross-cultural comparative perspectives to understand the culturally conditioned behaviors.
Open Access
Veterans' brains and the positive and negative perceptions of mental health care; realities virtual and otherwise
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Gingras, Chelsea, author; Seel, Pete, advisor; Sivakumar, Gayathri, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
The purpose of this study is to identify the benefits of using virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) to treat veterans who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and to ascertain the efficacy of the treatment. In order to evaluate VRET as an effective treatment, prior case studies utilizing VRET will be analyzed to answer the research questions through the method of content analysis. Nine case studies were studied and coded for themes revolving around gender, age, education, definition of PTSD, the lapse of time between trauma and treatment, deployment length and location, and type of technology used. Findings across the board indicate that this method of treatment is highly effective and should continue to be utilized by practitioners in the treatment of veterans with PTSD. Specific research questions did not all arrive at conclusive answers, as the amount of data available and studied is limited. Information on gender, age, and education level are not readily available, and this study suggests that further research be completed in these areas in order to better understand and cater to these specific populations.
Open Access
Wildlife-human relations and education in community-based marine tourism: a case study of coastal Oregon, U.S.A.
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Fennell, Samuel R., author; Bright, Alan, advisor; Knight, David, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
The tourism industry has witnessed an increased use of non-human animals, both within various attractions as well as in advertisements. This increased interaction and reliance can generate significant hazards which threaten the well-being of these non-human animals and require ongoing study. Animals in marine and community-based tourism destinations, in particular (e.g., coastal Oregon), are facing considerable pressures from tourism and climate change. In view of these concerns, this thesis represents a multi-species and multi-sited ethnography investigating the complexities around degrowth management, tourism policy, and education as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic within select Oregonian coastal and marine community-based tourism destinations. Utilizing a posthumanist critical lens, researchers gathered and thematically analyzed data gathered from local inhabitants on Oregon's coast. For efficiency and proficiency, the study employed the Vertical Integrated Projects (VIP) education model, allowing members to gain a hands-on and individualized educational experience. This study has significant relevance for the anthropology of tourism and environmental anthropology literature and broadens current understanding of marine and community-based tourism. Practical implications hold promise for the livelihoods of local Oregonian coastal animals, as well.