VTechWorks Repository :: Browsing by Author "Stephenson, Max O. Jr."

Browsing by Author "Stephenson, Max O. Jr."

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Actually Existing Democracy and Energy Justice: The Case of the Coalfields Delegation to the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development
Schnitzer, Marcy H. (Virginia Tech, 2010-11-09)
This dissertation explores the concept of Actually Existing Democracy in the transnational public sphere through the experiences of the Coalfields Delegation to the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development (UNCSD). In particular, this research examines the differential impacts of energy extraction on local communities, and what the term justice might usefully mean in the context of transnational energy politics. I provide an account of justice that engages with the theories of Nancy Fraser and Pierre Bourdieu and mines their insights to provide a novel intervention in debates about justice and the public sphere. I start by defining justice as a transnational construct using theories of the nation-state and then discuss the nature and roles of counterpublics, specifically the Coalfields Delegation, in transnational justice. I then explore Fraser's constructs of redistribution, recognition, and representation, viewing each through Bourdieu's theories of habitus and field. I show that the process through which counterpublics seek justice is mediated through the operations of power in the economic, cultural, and political fields (adopting Fraser's definition of culture over Bourdieu's). To achieve justice, it is insufficient to suggest that movement in a field proceeds directionally; rather, Fraser and Bourdieu are in accord in suggesting that these fields need to be deconstructed (Fraser's term) by counterpublics adopting heterodox practices to challenge the established ordering of the field. Energy injustice, in the particular form of mountaintop removal coal mining, occurs locally, yet is inherently global in its implications through the processes of international trade and consumption. Therefore, the appropriate level at which to examine these seemingly "local" concerns is that of the transnational. In the case of the Coalfields Delegation, appeals have been made at the local, state, and national levels, to no avail. The group pursued several interlinked strategies at the UN. To the extent that their plight is one of economic disparity, the Coalfields Delegation has sought to redefine economic power in a manner different from global capitalism. Where cultural marginalization has been used as a basis for justifying disparate impacts on mining communities, the Delegation decidedly used its own formulation of "culture" as a strategic publicity mechanism. In pursuing representation at the UNCSD, the Delegation began defining its concerns in global terms, suggesting human rights violations, and placing coal mining within the context of global sustainability and climate change. However, in so doing, members of the Delegation started to reconceive themselves in solidarity with other similarly affected groups represented at the UNCSD. Their quest for global redress has not been one of straightforward acts of agency, but rather should be viewed as an oscillation between agency and structure. Fields exert counter-pressure, however, as the Delegation members grew in experience and sophistication, their habitus changed accordingly. My research explores the dynamic play of these social forces by linking the ideas of public sphere and field, counterpublic and habitus, to develop a new way in which researchers might both describe and trace advocacy group efforts to secure justice in the transnational public sphere.
Administrative and Political Implications of GIS Implementation within the Fire Service: A Case Study of Norfolk, VA
Bloom, Paul Sean (Virginia Tech, 1998-04-24)
The advent of faster, cheaper, and more powerful computer hardware has led to the widespread integration of GIS technologies into decision making processes within local governments. Most GIS literature has focused on the models and benefits that the technology can produce and not on the impacts that GIS has on the organization. This research explores the political and administrative implications of utilizing a GIS to address a resource allocation problem within the Fire Service Administration of the City of Norfolk, VA. A network model is employed to allocate rescue resources throughout the city in various configurations. The goal of NFPS (Norfolk Fire and Paramedical Services) is to be able to cover the entire City of Norfolk within five minutes of travel time. City and NFPS administrators evaluate various models based upon a provided questionnaire that focuses on the administrative and political viability of each of the models produced.
Agency in the Barrio: Exploring the Intersection of Participation, Politics and Urban Development in Guatemala City
Brink-Halloran, Brendan Jon (Virginia Tech, 2013-11-19)
Completed as a series of article-length manuscripts, this dissertation reflects four interrelated aspects of my research on the topics of citizen participation, political practices of vote buying and approaches to community development in low-income urban areas, in the collection of neighborhoods known as Ciudad Peronia on the edge of Guatemala City. Together, the four articles in this thesis explore varying aspects of the social and political dynamics present in the interrelated processes of community organization and local development in Ciudad Peronia. The essays survey the complex array of contextual features that influence local outcomes, while also highlighting the important decisions of key actors. I highlight the interplay between context and agency, and in doing so, provide insight into the efforts of individuals and groups to construct meaningful citizenship rights, especially to basic living conditions, by means of a diverse array of self-organization initiatives and a variety of engagement strategies with the state. Despite the many obstacles revealed in this research, numerous individuals made a concerted effort to secure dignity and inclusion for themselves and members of their communities.
Agenda-Setting: The Universal Service Case
Eustis, Joanne D. (Virginia Tech, 2000-04-07)
The goal of this dissertation is to test the agenda-setting theories of John Kingdon and Frank Baumgartner/Bryan Jones in terms of applicability. Universal service policy and the 1996 Telecommunications Act serve as the test case. Case study methodology guides the dissertation and employs a variety of methods including the quantitative and qualitative techniques used by John Kingdon and by Frank Baumgartner/Bryan Jones. These methods involve content analysis and the coding of media articles, an analysis of congressional hearings and government reports, and a review of scholarly literature on topics related to the policy-making in general, and telecommunications policy development, in particular. Universal service was selected for legislative action because it was bound up with telecommunications legislation, which required revision. Although some policy-makers preferred a market solution (that is the elimination of subsidized telecommunication services), universal service remained part of the telecommunications policy revision. Reasons include a new issue definition accompanied by a compelling image (information superhighway), the support of rural senators, and presidential leadership. With regard to fundamental differences between the Kingdon and Baumgartner/Jones' theories Kingdon's premise regarding the impact of cyclical events and systematic indicators has more applicability than Baumgartner and Jones' punctuated equilibria model of policy change. In addition, unlike Kingdon's research results, which indicate the media have a minor role in agenda-setting, Baumgartner and Jones' media attention indicators of policy change demonstrated a similar pattern to the universal service media indicators. The influence of interest groups is another point of difference. The universal case as with Baumgartner and Jones' research results that interest groups were major actors in setting the policy agenda. The contribution of this dissertation is to suggest elements of a new integrated model for the study of agenda-setting that incorporates aspects of the work of Kingdon and Baumgartner/Jones.
Alternative Pathways to Peace and Development in Rural Chiapas, Mexico
Hollinger, Keith H. (Virginia Tech, 2011-05-02)
The concept of peacebuilding holds enormous importance for international relations, particularly in regions facing impending violent conflict and those recovering from such conflict. However, in order for peacebuilding to be a viable alternative to traditional peace operations, scholars and practitioners need to have a shared understanding of what peacebuilding is and what goals it hopes to achieve, in addition to fluid strategies for implementation. This dissertation seeks to identify strategies for building sustainable peace through sustainable community development and democratization. Using a qualitative metasynthesis of five ethnographies conducted in Chiapas Mexico, this dissertation develops mid-range theories, or strategies, for building peace in Chiapas and in regions experiencing low-intensity conflict more generally. These strategies are based upon the development of Pluriethnic collective governance at the local level in regions that are experiencing low-intensity conflict related to indigenous communities.
Arts as Dialogic Practice: Deriving Lessons for Change from Community-based Art-making for International Development
Kirakosyan, Lyusyena; Stephenson, Max O. Jr. (MDPI, 2019-06-20)
Communities around the world struggle with weakening social bonds and political, racial, ethnic, economic, and cultural divides. This article argues the arts can be a means of raising public consciousness regarding such concerns by catalyzing conscious, thoughtful dialogue among individuals and groups possessing diverse values and beliefs. Change can only occur when people become aware of and actively reflect on the ontological and epistemic-scale norms and values that so often underpin their divisions, and the arts can help them do precisely that. We examine the dynamics of participatory performing arts and mural-making in diverse contexts to contend that the dialogic character of community art-making can be valuable for practitioners and scholars in a variety of efforts in international community development. We conclude by sharing lessons that we believe will aid artists and practitioners in devising more inclusive and participatory approaches to their international community change or development projects.
Assessing Nonprofit Websites: Developing an Evaluation Model
Kirk, Kristin Cherish (Virginia Tech, 2018-04-23)
Nonprofit organizations are pivotal actors in society, and their websites can play important roles in aiding organizations in their socially-beneficial missions by serving as a platform to present information, to interact with stakeholders and to perform online transactions. This dissertation analyzed nonprofit websites in the United States (U.S.) and in Thailand in a series of three articles. The first developed a website evaluative instrument, based on an e-commerce model, and applied it to nonprofit websites through a manual decoding process. That article's findings suggested that Thai websites are not considerably different than U.S. nonprofit websites, except more American websites offer online transactions. The second article analyzed two different types of nonprofits in Thailand using the same model to assess website development in an emerging market. That analysis suggested local Thai nonprofits' websites lagged significantly behind those of internationally connected nonprofit organizations in the country in the features they offered. The third article compared the adapted model employed in the second analysis, which used manual decoding for website examination, to a commercially available, automated evaluation service. That analysis highlighted the differences between the two assessment tools and found them to be complementary, but independently insufficient to ensure robust nonprofit website evaluation.
Assessing the Boundaries of Participatory Democracy within an Emancipatory Political Framework: The Case of Parish Development Committees in Jamaica
Thomas, Marc Anthony (Virginia Tech, 2015-06-17)
This dissertation empirically expands the existing knowledge on participatory democracy through a study of Jamaica's Parish Development Committees (PDCs). These groups offer an avenue for Jamaicans to inform government policy, and this analysis explored the extent to which supportive institutional, infrastructural and superstructural (referring to the society's culture and power configurations) conditions for robust implementation of this democratization initiative existed. This inquiry involved observing more than one hundred hours of PDC activities at locations across Jamaica and conducting sixty key informant and four focus group interviews with relevant stakeholders. The analysis was bolstered by an appreciation of emancipatory politics employed by the country's general population since slavery not only to survive oppression, but also to influence the nation's political agenda. Riots during slavery and in the present day, for example, have offered citizens an avenue towards self-determination. This study found that the emergence, survival and thriving of PDCs in Jamaica is determined largely by the extent to which emancipatory political tactics are successfully applied by PDC stakeholders to combat a number of continuing challenges in these committee's environments. The democratization initiative symbolized by the PDCs promotes inclusiveness yet is led predominantly by older, educated middle class individuals with talents and capacities garnered from several years of experience in various fields. The dissertation argues that the opportunity cost of a more inclusive order explains this fact, in that Jamaica's finite resources mean there is limited space for a learning curve and the cash strapped committees have only been able to survive when their members could help to defray the cost of their operations. The dissertation explores other central challenges confronting the PDCs and the strategies these participative organizations have employed to address each. Primarily, this analysis provides a micro-scale view of the interaction of the factors that have shaped the power and possibility of Jamaica's democratization initiative.
Beyond Antagonistic Nonprofit Accountability: A Case Analysis of Practitioner Responses to the Contracting Regime
Christensen, Rachel Atkin (Virginia Tech, 2013-05-15)
The longstanding framing of accountability in principal-agent terms has encouraged adversarial and oppositional interactions and ways of thinking amongst nonprofit and funding agency practitioners within government-nonprofit relationships. These interactions are deeply rooted in the accountability claims made by government funders and responded to by nonprofit practitioners. This dissertation outlines the implications of nonprofit-government contracting for participating nonprofit organizations and explores various strategies practitioners in those institutions utilize to respond to the challenges raised by their relationship to public funders. To understand the tensions surrounding government accountability claims, I provide an overview of the emergence of the contracting regime and an exploration of the understanding of accountability that has attended its evolution. Through an in-depth qualitative case study, constructed on the basis of interviews, observation, and document analysis and following a grounded theory approach to analysis, I explore various nonprofit manager responses to the norms and pressures of the contracting regime. I chronicle nonprofit practitioners\' responses to contracting regime pressures, including accepting those norms, even when arguably inimical to their organization\'s mission, ignoring them in favor of serving clients, or leaving the employ of organizations altogether. I also explore examples of practitioner efforts to navigate outside of the contracting regime\'s antagonistic framing and engage both with powerful stakeholders and others in their organizations to negotiate changes. Drawing on the theoretical lens of agonism, I examine the context and characteristics of those responses to provide insights into how nonprofit managers might move beyond antagonistic accountability frames.
Biopolitical and Disciplinary Peacebuilding: Sport, Reforming Bodies and Rebuilding Societies
Zanotti, Laura; Stephenson, Max O. Jr.; Schnitzer, Marcy H. (Taylor & Francis, 2015-03-25)
The peacebuilding political rationality established in the first years of the current century broadened the target of such efforts from state institutions to populations and adopted an array of disciplinary and biopolitical techniques aimed at changing individuals and the ways they live together. This article explores international organization discourses on sport and peacebuilding and argues that the broad consensus on sport as a peacebuilding strategy is most fruitfully explored in light of the intensification of the biopolitical and disciplinary trajectories of the liberal peace.
Borders, Art, and Imagination: Journeys with 'Maré from the Inside' and 'The Frontera Project'
Todd, Molly Frances (Virginia Tech, 2023-09-28)
This dissertation analyzes the possibilities and limits of art to perform upon borders in the Americas, and to open space for individuals to encounter, experience, and imagine them otherwise. I share the story here of my journeys with two touring transnational art groups working at and across borders: The Frontera Project and Maré from the Inside. The Frontera Project is a community-engaged bi-national performance of varied stories about the U.S.-Mexico border, that aims to complicate simplistic narratives of that border and build connection across difference. Maré from the Inside is an evolving multimedia exhibition addressing the Maré favela complex in Rio de Janeiro that grew out of a collaboration between 'outside' researchers and artists living in that neighborhood. I ask: how are artist/scholars experiencing and imagining borders? How does art perform and (re)shape social, cultural, and political borders? To this end, I place border/lands studies, performance studies, and feminist international relations in dialogue and draw on my ethnographic fieldwork across different sites in the United States, Mexico, and Brazil to examine the ways that politically engaged artists seek to navigate and shape multi-scalar borders. Overall, I argue that Maré and Frontera valorize artistic expression as a form of thought and open space for alternate border imaginaries that challenge existing social frames. They do this through varied performance strategies and processes of collective artmaking that involve careful consideration of the content of their work (whose stories to tell, what the stories contain, what images to use), in tandem with embodied performances that facilitate encounters at and across difference. I utilize collaborative, arts-based methods, drawing on the artists' insights, and further reflect on the possibilities of these methods to challenge prevailing approaches in international relations.
Building a Transdisciplinary Trading Zone: Knowledge Sharing and Integration in a Heterogeneous Milieu
Rosbach, Derren Thompson (Virginia Tech, 2010-09-09)
The numerous transdisciplinary research initiatives currently addressing a variety of complex social issues could benefit from a deeper understanding of the ways in which intellectually diverse groups work together to address problems. This research focused on a small group of investigators in a transdisciplinary institute as they sought to work collaboratively in the domain of infectious disease research. The unit's members described many challenges and successes that provided insights into the character and dynamics of transdisciplinary research, including how members developed a shared conceptual framework. The process proved enormously complex and was the product of long-term interactions among group members. Because participants were rooted in different disciplines and did not share professional trajectories, communication and understanding took extra effort, patience, and the development of a counterintuitive set of cognitive skills. Over time an integrated work process evolved within the group through a combination of strong interpersonal relationships, the mediating role of interactional expertise, and the development of shared boundary objects. Group members began working more closely with other team participants throughout the lifespan of projects. That experience over time allowed individuals to connect the details of their work together with the overarching goals and strategies of the group. This study employed the theory of trading zones to illustrate the ways researchers worked across boundaries to establish shared ideas, values, and goals. It developed and applied the concept of a transdisciplinary trading zone to describe the group's ability to coordinate its action despite both epistemic and communication barriers. Ultimately, the researchers studied sought a balance between being "productive," understood as providing practical tools to industry and government, and generating novel scientific solutions to complex research problems. The group's success in securing a shared research aspiration despite its member's disciplinary and professional differences resulted from an iterative process of interaction that included learning from failed attempts and a constant and persistent negotiation of goals and values among those involved.
Building agroecological traction: Engaging discourse, the imaginary, and critical praxis for food system transformation
Kelinsky-Jones, Lia R.; Niewolny, Kimberly L.; Stephenson, Max O. Jr. (Frontiers, 2023-04)
Shifting the current food system toward a more sustainable and equitable model requires an alternative imaginary. Agroecology represents such an approach, but despite the construct's promise, policy and academic communities alike continue to maintain the current system. We contend that shifting away from the existing, dominant food system requires researchers to engage stakeholders with discourses that give meaning to an agroecological imaginary. We provide a methodological case study for how interested analysts may build agroecological traction through critical praxis. We advance our argument theoretically, methodologically, and empirically. Theoretically, we draw on scholarship arguing that food system transformation requires a discursive imaginary. Methodologically, we outline how Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as both a theoretical and methodological framework, illuminates the discursive power that shapes the future of food. We first used CDA to analyze United States Agency for International Development (USAID) policy, and subsequently presented those results to focus groups comprised of USAID-funded university-based research-practitioners. Empirically, we suggest that our methodology represents one possible mechanism or strategy to encourage the dialogue necessary to secure a new critical food system praxis. We conclude by offering recommendations for future inquiry.
Building Governance Capacity in Rural Niger: A Study of Decentralization and Good Governance Policy as Experienced in a Local Village
Lyon-Hill, Sarah (Virginia Tech, 2012-05-10)
Niger, a northwest African country with several systemic barriers to development, has made education a priority. In an effort to improve the national education system, Niger has implemented a decentralization program. This study examines the perceptions of local school actors concerning this decentralization policy, which prescribes improving access and quality to education and strengthening institutional capacity. Local interviews and an analysis of relevant policy documents reveal limited policy implementation at the local level accompanied by a lack of state capacity, accountability and responsiveness to local school needs. Moreover, interviewees perceive a decline in education quality due to these reforms. While policy review documents focus on building institutional capacity at the central and regional government levels, the locality examined has responded as best it can to the needs of its schools. These local efforts are hampered by few resources, limited capacity and understanding of the importance of education by citizens, as well as a mistrust in government institutions, including schools, among local community members. Community leadership, development of participatory public space and trust building, could improve local education capacity to a certain extent, however, strong central government that provides additional resources and builds the capacities of school staff is necessary.
Campus Master Planning; A Need for Standards
Mouras, Steven L. (Virginia Tech, 2004-12-07)
Universities, particularly large ones, often operate as autonomously as towns, with their own police departments, residential neighborhoods, public transit, and power plants. Universities and towns also address similar issues such as future land use, housing development; public services such as utilities, parks, recreational facilities and libraries; public safety; and transportation, transit and parking. There are areas where towns and universities are different such as a universityâ s focus on education, research, and learning facilities. There is also a difference in the primary planning tool with campus master plan versus the comprehensive plan for towns. This paper examined four campus master plans to determine whether a need exists to establish basic guidelines for campus master plans, to ensure they address the complex requirements of large campuses. The examination looked at both the uniformity and completeness of the four master plans. The results of the examination showed a wide variety of documents. The master plans lacked uniformity in basic areas such as implementation guidance, a summary of existing conditions, or even an executive summary. Additionally there were a number of core planning criteria that were incomplete (planning in land use, housing, and public safety). The conclusion of this evaluation is these plans are interesting and even insightful, but generally lack some basic areas of good planning. In particular there is a need for land use analysis for current or future growth management, inclusion of public safety planning, and a more complete explanation of methodology and data analysis.
A case study of the role of six Catholic social agencies as mediating structures in social welfare service provision in Virginia
Chew, Tracy (Virginia Tech, 1995-08-04)
This study explores the role of religious service organizations in social welfare provision by examining the activities of six social service/action agencies of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia. It compares Diocesan agency operations with a profile drawn from existing knowledge of secular nonprofits and finds similarities. In particular, these religious service providers evidence degrees of marketization and dependence upon public and private funds. An empirical portrait of the purposes, organization, funding, programs and scope of delivery, target populations, advocacy role, and influence of the bishop reveals that these agencies provide many different services to a limited number of recipients. Agency leaders argued strongly that their organizations are already functioning at their maximum capacity. Agency directors interviewed believe that their organizations cannot significantly increase their current service capacity and analysis of their funding bases supports their claims. The study concludes with an analysis of the mediating role of these agencies in Virginia’s social welfare system. Two mediation theories, by Tocqueville (1840) and Berger and Neuhaus (1977) are tested. The Diocesan agencies are found to vary individually as mediating structures suggesting that religious organizations play diverse roles in social welfare provision in Virginia.
Catalyzing organizational learning: Social, environmental, and cognitive factors promoting effective change management
Hanks, Sarah (Virginia Tech, 2018-12-21)
Diversity in the workplace remains a priority for leaders and managers as the dynamic nature of the global marketplace necessitates that organizations develop and maintain a competitive advantage in their field. Learning has long been touted as the key to leveraging limited resources to gain a corner in the market. However, organizations continue to struggle with the management of diversity, as well as systems and processes that promote learning at an organizational level. This study sought to explore a theorized relationship between individual problem-solving style, an aspect of cognitive diversity, and organizational learning capability. Two Midwestern companies participated in this sequential explanatory mixed methods study that aimed to: (a) examine the influence of cognitive style on organizational learning; (b) explore the differences between more adaptive and more innovative individuals, with respect to their organization's cognitive climate, in terms of their development and modification of learning frameworks and shared mental models; (c) determine what role more adaptive and more innovative individuals play in catalyzing organizational learning, namely double-loop and deutero-learning; and (d) identify inhibitors of double-loop and deutero-learning, distinguishing differences for more adaptive and more innovative problem solvers. Findings indicate that there was no relationship between problem-solving style, measured by KAI total scores, and organizational learning capability total scores in one organization and a small correlation between the scales of a second organization. This finding supports Kirton's (2011) assertions that problem-solving style is independent of learning, but some organizations may have small relationships between individual's problem-solving style and organizational learning based on various organizational dynamics. Five themes emerged as cultural mediators of cognitive diversity in the context of catalyzing organizational learning: 1) corporate expectations that create a clear, concise shared mental model for employee behavior and decision making (produced and promoted via an organizational guidebook); 2) the use of agreed-upon structures and methodologies for solving problems; 3) the employment of former military officers (due to the specific skills and experiences needed to successfully fulfill specific roles); 4) the development and nurturing of healthy teams; and, 5) an expectation of boundary-less collaboration. These themes, collectively, assert the importance of a culture that puts culture first. In practice, leaders and managers may find that a clearly defined culture that supports and promotes the use of systems and procedures to collaboratively solve problems and extend learning from individual to organizational is essential to mitigating the challenges that may result from exploiting cognitive diversity in the workplace.
A century of democratic deliberation over American and British national health care: extending the Kingdon model
McEldowney, Rene P. (Virginia Tech, 1994-12-20)
The issue of national health care has actively plagued the 20th century political spectrum in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom. It has been an issue of astounding resilience and vexation, alluding almost all simple-quick answers while consuming an ever increasing amount of public resources. There have been three principal time periods when both the United States and Great Britain have actively addressed universal coverage: the 1910s; the 194Os; and the 1990s. This dissertation extends John Kingdon's theory on policy agenda formation by examining the aforementioned debates. The conclusions that come from this study are four fold. (1) Contemporaneous interactions can occur between nations. (2) Century-long longitudinal development of a single policy area is possible and is illustrated. (3) Kingdon's policy streams approach can be utilized to conduct a comparative analysis of the policy agenda formation process. (4) Kingdon's conceptual model is more accurate at depicting the policy agenda formation process of the British parliamentary system than it is for the divided government structure of the U.S.
Circuits of Power in Alabama's Immigration Politics: Labor Justice and Corporate Social Responsibility
Jamison, Elizabeth Cori Shields (Virginia Tech, 2015-11-25)
At the time of its debate and passage in 2010-2011, Alabama's immigration law evoked support and opposition from across the state and nation. Despite the outcry, the Alabama business community projected a pronounced public "silence". This silence was particularly curious because of the law's clear and intended goal of self-deportation of Latinos who are a significant labor source for Alabama agri-businesses and food processing industries. The key question for this dissertation is: Why did the poultry processing industry, which has high populations of Latino employees and a significant industrial presence in Alabama, stay publicly silent despite a predictable impact on their labor supply? This qualitative analysis used the lens of the circuits of power model to interrogate this question. The findings indicate that Alabama poultry processors found themselves susceptible to the same opportunities and challenges as any other social actor confronted with the racialized, politicized, and historically contingent challenges facing Latino labor in Alabama. In other words, these business actors were fully socially embedded actors within Alabama. I demonstrate that individual residents, relevant associations, Alabama's politicians, and even the poultry processors themselves never fully realized the political vulnerability of their particular embeddedness until it was too late for poultry processing employers to publicly act to protect their Latino employees from this unjust state law. I collected and triangulated data from multiple sources, including semi-structured interviews, media reports, state and national statistics, official websites, and legal documents. Through discourse and content analysis of this data, I developed a case study that demonstrates how Alabama's poultry processors were on a collision course with Alabama state politicians over immigration reform, but they never saw it coming. In so doing, I raise important questions about limits on the "real" power of economic actors for achieving self-interested business outcomes when those interests contest strongly-held social and cultural norms that are infused with a particular history of race, difference, and alterity in local spaces. I demonstrate that these limits raise questions for the democratic process and have consequences for economic actors with regard to corporate social responsibility claims as they pertain to labor justice.
Civic Tinkering in a Small City: Imaginaries and Intersections of Art, Place and Marginality
Tate, Anthony Scott (Virginia Tech, 2012-03-30)
The purpose of this ethnographic case study was to explore the construction and alteration of Roanoke Virginia's cultural imaginary, as well as the engagement of marginal groups and their concerns in those processes. This research examined these issues through the experiences of key actors involved with the creation of Roanoke's first city-wide arts and cultural plan and the creation and growth of the Roanoke-based Marginal Arts Festival (MAF). Cities around the globe are increasingly engaged in transnational projects of place identification, reconfiguration, and attraction: attracting capital, residents, workers, tourists and attention (Cronin & Hetherington, 2008; Hague, 2005; Jensen, 2005, 2007; Pine & Gilmore, 1999; Zukin 1995). Moreover, cities undertake various kinds of identity projects: on-going, dynamic processes through which spaces are produced and reproduced by conscious strategies of place making and identity building (Nyseth & Viken, 2009). Such initiatives are concerted efforts to establish or extend a particular idea, or imaginary, of a city. This study focused on one kind of urban identity endeavor that has become widespread during the past two decades: the effort to shape and market a creative, culture-rich place, to project a specific urban cultural imaginary. This analysis also responded to a straightforward problem, that of the manner through which people, in places pursuing arts and culture as a primary focus for development, come to terms with differing understandings of art and its role in development. This study identified four principal future paths for the analysis of cultural imaginaries and the practice of cultural development: studying and supporting civic tinkering activities, recognizing the relevance of localized imaginaries and urban identity projects, valuing full participation in the project of the city, and conducting place-specific and critical analyses.

Browsing by Author "Stephenson, Max O. Jr."

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