Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: Afghanistan encompasses a surprisingly diverse assemblage of wildlife and plant species resulting from its location at the intersection of three Biotic Realms and its varied topography. However, the country’s biodiversity has been significantly eroded by millennia of intensive land use and recent decades of conflict. Conservation efforts in Afghanistan have been hampered by security concerns, the economic insecurity of local people and structural discrepancies between western concepts of environmental preservation and traditional approaches to land tenure and decision-making. Here, we focus on the evolution of Band-i-Amir National Park, which was first slated as a protected area prior to the outbreak of hostilities in 1979. Band-i-Amir is composed of six, high-altitude, travertine-dammed lakes of exceptional beauty. However, these unique geologic formations and associated native flora and fauna are threatened by profoundly unsustainable practices of resource use. Here we examine early successes and challenges in establishing a protected area in a post-conflict region characterized by biodiversity loss, population increase, poverty and traditional practices. Although Band-i-Amir National Park is still in its development phase, initial results affirm that established principles of protected area development can be successful in troubled regions.

Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: Freshwater fishes have been intricately connected to traditional Cherokee Indian life and culture for centuries. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) has recently moved toward establishing a multi-faceted fisheries management program that strives to preserve aquatic ecosystem integrity and enhance culturally significant fish populations. In order to further these objectives conservation measures have been implemented for native sucker, redhorse, and southern Appalachian brook trout populations. The EBCI is currently working to re-introduce the imperiled sicklefin redhorse (Moxostoma sp.), a formerly abundanct and large bodied food fish, to the upper Oconaluftee River. Propogation and re-introduction efforts began in 2007 and will continue in 2008 with subsequent monitoring activities. Biological studies of other sucker and redhorse (Catostomidae) populations will also be initiated in the spring of 2008 to gather baseline population data and enhance management capabilities. A fish weir will be utilized to sample catostomid populations and gather life history, distribution, and movement data. Southern Appalachian brook trout management plans are also being designed and implemented in Cherokee tribal waters involving distribution surveys, genetic inventories, population monitoring, and habitat restoration. These efforts are moving the EBCI toward the ability to self sustainably manage and conserve important cultural fisheries resources.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Nancy Fraser’s propositions regarding the nature of ‘boundary’ work carried out by experts within organizations suggests that individuals who work within bureaucratic structures are so constrained by the institutional context, that they become detached, depoliticizing arbitrators of politicized claims. The purpose of the research reported in this article is to examine the assertion that workers in boundary roles necessarily engage only in work that depoliticizes the claims of oppositional social groups. By exploring the work of anti-harassment practitioners at Canadian universities, we uncover moments of both constraint and liberation in the practitioners’ work roles. Attending to the complexities of boundary role work illustrates that struggles over the definition of needs and claims made by marginalized social groups are not closed, nor are boundary workers completely co-opted by bureaucratic institutional prerogatives. Although variously constrained, interviews with practitioners reveals that their work can support counter-hegemonic challenges to the status quo.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In industrialized societies, the primary social expectation for youth is academic attainment. However, research consistently finds that adolescents often place greater emphasis on peer status and social acceptance than academic success. This study examines the individual characteristics and attributes associated with peer status and how these criteria are potentially moderated by gender, grade level and school contexts. It relies on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to identify status-related characteristics and test theoretically derived hypotheses. Contrary to the hypothesis that delinquency increases peer status by overcoming a “maturity gap” (Moffitt 1993), findings suggest that high-rate male delinquency is unrelated to sociometric measures of status. Although a positive association is found between female delinquency and friendship network size, this relationship declines significantly with grade level. Additionally, results support the hypothesis that non-athletic activities provide opportunities for once-rejected youth to connect with similarly situated peers. Through the high school grades, band participation, but not academic success, is found to significantly increase male sociometric status. Finally, several status criteria - including sports participation, student government, band, and delinquency - vary by school context, suggesting that local structural conditions are important contributors to student social relations.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The rapid growth of casino gaming--both from state-authorized casinos such as those in Mississippi, Colorado, and Illinois, and Indian tribal casinos in places like California, Connecticut, Mississippi, and Wisconsin--have provided much-needed revenues to states, local government, and native Americans. That growth has also fueled political activities by both pro- and anti-gaming forces. In 2004, the casino industry ranked number 35 among the 80 industries tracked by the Center for Responsive Politics as major contributors to electoral campaigns. The present research will take a case study of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, examining the explosive growth of their gaming operations in Philadelphia, Mississippi, and detailing the extent and uses of their political contributions. Contributions to federal and statewide campaigns will be examined, and possible explanations offered for the giving patterns established by this tribe. Implications of the study findings for other tribes will also be considered.