Introduction

From the margins, we find ourselves well positioned to tell other stories -- life histories, traditions, and cultural myths which typically go unheard in dominant society.[2] As illustrated in the lead article, A Pattern of Possibility: Maxine Hong Kingston\u27s Woman Warrior, by Thelma J. Shinn, such stories are meronymic -- mero from the Greek meaning part -- because our unique social location allows us to see beyond the dominant mythos and tell other parts of the story. Telling these stories is not only empowering to those whom we name, but it also changes and transforms the official storyline itself. Life stories of marginalized peoples demonstrate time and again that there is no one story, no one way of seeing, thinking, or feeling. Moreover, the core of these stories and identities reveal multiple parts of a more inclusive story, a more inclusive way of thinking. Further, meronymic stories unveil the complex operations of power and domination which have denied and suppressed other voices. This special issue of Explorations in Ethnic Studies on race, class, and gender is devoted to telling the other parts of the story

Selected Readings On Race, Class, and Gender

Selected Readings On Race, Class, and Gende

From Scholarship Girls to Scholarship Women: Surviving the Contradictions of Class and Race in Academe

This article explores the dilemmas graduate education poses for women of working-class origin who come from different ethnic and racial backgrounds. It proceeds in a chronological narrative using examples from the authors\u27 personal experiences to make general points about how the intricate web of class, race, and gender relations shaped their experiences in higher education. Both women -- Cucidraz, a Chicana, and Pierce, a white woman -- struggle with the feelings of alienation and marginality as outsiders within the academy as well as their material needs for financial support. Their personal narratives reveal, as well, how race shapes their experiences in the academy. Racism renders Cuadraz\u27 class status visible, whereas whiteness masks Pierce\u27s background. Finally, the authors shift their focus from an examination of the structures which shaped their lives to an exploration of their attempts to find their own voices in academic work, and to resist the very structures which excluded their experiences as women from working-class backgrounds

Forecasting the Response of Earth’s Surface to Future Climatic and Land Use Changes: A Review of Methods and Research Needs

In the future, Earth will be warmer, precipitation events will be more extreme, global mean sea level will rise, and many arid and semiarid regions will be drier. Human modifications of landscapes will also occur at an accelerated rate as developed areas increase in size and population density. We now have gridded global forecasts, being continually improved, of the climatic and land use changes (C&LUC) that are likely to occur in the coming decades. However, besides a few exceptions, consensus forecasts do not exist for how these C&LUC will likely impact Earth-surface processes and hazards. In some cases, we have the tools to forecast the geomorphic responses to likely future C&LUC. Fully exploiting these models and utilizing these tools will require close collaboration among Earth-surface scientists and Earth-system modelers. This paper assesses the state-of-the-art tools and data that are being used or could be used to forecast changes in the state of Earth’s surface as a result of likely future C&LUC. We also propose strategies for filling key knowledge gaps, emphasizing where additional basic research and/or collaboration across disciplines are necessary. The main body of the paper addresses cross-cutting issues, including the importance of nonlinear/threshold-dominated interactions among topography, vegetation, and sediment transport, as well as the importance of alternate stable states and extreme, rare events for understanding and forecasting Earth-surface response to C&LUC. Five supplements delve into different scales or process zones (global-scale assessments and fluvial, aeolian, glacial/periglacial, and coastal process zones) in detail

Quantifying Pedogenic Carbon Content Within the Boise River Terraces Using Pressurized Calcimetry

Soil carbon is the third largest carbon pool within the global carbon cycle; however, soil carbon amounts are not well quantified, and exchange rates of soil carbon are not well understood. Soil carbon can be divided into organic carbon and inorganic carbon, where inorganic carbon (pedogenic carbonate) is precipitated during soil formation and accumulates over time in semi-arid and arid environments. Calcic soils within the semiarid regions of the Boise Valley result from active pedogenic accumulation of secondary CaCO3 resulting in prominent \u27caliche\u27 layers in soils formed on many of the Boise River terraces. The larger goals of this project are to quantify inorganic carbon sequestered within the Boise River terraces, and investigate rates of carbonate dissolution due to irrigation. This portion of the project focuses on developing methods for measuring inorganic carbon content in soils using pressurized calcimetry. Samples are acidified within a closed system to form CO2 under constant temperature, allowing time-pressure readings to delineate the levels of inorganic carbon present. Future work will reveal trends in carbon content with depth in individual soil profiles, and variations in carbon content for terraces of different ages

Holocene Fire Occurrence and Alluvial Responses at the Leading Edge of Pinyon–Juniper Migration in the Northern Great Basin, USA

Fire and vegetation records at the City of Rocks National Reserve (CIRO), south-central Idaho, display the interaction of changing climate, fire and vegetation along the migrating front of single-leaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla) and Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma). Radiocarbon dating of alluvial charcoal reconstructed local fire occurrence and geomorphic response, and fossil woodrat (Neotoma) middens revealed pinyon and juniper arrivals. Fire peaks occurred ~10,700–9500, 7200–6700, 2400–2000, 850–700, and 550–400 cal yr BP, whereas ~9500–7200, 6700–4700 and ~1500–1000 cal yr BP are fire-free. Wetter climates and denser vegetation fueled episodic fires and debris flows during the early and late Holocene, whereas drier climates and reduced vegetation caused frequent sheetflooding during the mid-Holocene. Increased fires during the wetter and more variable late Holocene suggest variable climate and adequate fuels augment fires at CIRO. Utah juniper and single-leaf pinyon colonized CIRO by 3800 and 2800 cal yr BP, respectively, though pinyon did not expand broadly until ~700 cal yr BP. Increased fire-related deposition coincided with regional droughts and pinyon infilling ~850–700 and 550–400 cal yr BP. Early and late Holocene vegetation change probably played a major role in accelerated fire activity, which may be sustained into the future due to pinyon–juniper densification and cheatgrass invasion

Volunteer Motivations at the 2012 Super Bowl

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine mega-event volunteers’ motivations and their impact on volunteer satisfaction. Additionally, this study investigated motivational differences between volunteers based upon four demographic variables: age, gender, educational level, and income. Design/methodology/approach – A modified version of the Volunteer Motivations Scale for International Sporting Events (Bang and Chelladurai, 2009) was administered to 8,000 Super Bowl volunteers via Survey Monkey with the permission of the Indiana Sports Corporation. In all, 24 percent (n=1,928) of the volunteers completed the survey. Exploratory factor analysis was used to reduce the survey questions into a smaller number factors. Multivariate analysis of variance was utilized to compare differences in the four demographic variables on the factors. Multiple regression was used to predict satisfaction on the basis of the four factors. Findings – Volunteers were motivated by four factors: Community Support, Love of Sports, Personal Growth, and Career Development. These four factors all significantly predicted satisfaction with the volunteer experience. The overall MANOVA was significant and revealed that ten of 16 group comparisons possessed significant differences. Females rated Community higher than males, while males rated Love of Sports higher than females. Older volunteers and those with higher household incomes were motivated more by Community Support, while younger volunteers and those with lower incomes were motivated by Career Development. Likewise, less educated volunteers placed a higher value on Career motivations than more educated volunteers who placed a high value on Personal Growth. Research limitations/implications – Dissatisfied volunteers may have chosen to not participate in the study. Follow-up interviews with dissatisfied volunteers might provide insight for event organizers that would shed light on factors that influence retention and recidivism. Practical implications – The findings of this study suggest that mega sport volunteer managers should recognize that motivational differences among volunteers do exist and utilize this information for creating recruitment materials targeted to specific groups. Then volunteers can be assigned to tasks that tap into their desire, thus enhancing potential volunteer satisfaction and their return as a volunteer at future events. Originality/value – This study was conducted in the context of America’s largest mega event in a city that hosted the event for the first time. In addition to collecting one of the largest number of responses for volunteers at mega-sporting events, the development of the Community Support factor was unique within the context of this study. The Community Support factor was rated as the most important by volunteers and tied to other questions such as wanting to help make the event a success, helping others, and creating a better society. This indicates that volunteers had pride in their community and wanted to help the event be successful by helping the city’s visitors

Assessing Ability to Forecast Geomorphic System Responses to Climate and Land-Use Changes

As the global community faces the effects of ongoing and future climate and land-use changes (C&LUC), geoscientists are called to action to assess the risks associated with such changes, assist with forecasts of future Earth states, quantify hazards to life, and suggest reasonable adaptation strategies. Earth surface scientists have developed conceptual and mathematical models for how geomorphic systems, including those associated with natural hazards that put trillions of dollars in infrastructure and tens of millions of lives at risk, will respond to and give feedback on C&LUC

Hillslope Asymmetry Maps Reveal Widespread, Multi-Scale Organization

Hillslope asymmetry is the condition in which oppositely-facing hillslopes within an area have differing average slope angles, and indicates aspect-related variability in hillslope evolution. As such, the presence, orientation and magnitude of asymmetry may be a useful diagnostic for understanding process dominance. We present a new method for quantifying and mapping the spatial distribution of hillslope asymmetry across large areas. Resulting maps for the American Cordillera of the Western Hemisphere and the western United States reveal that hillslope asymmetry is widespread, with distinct trends at continental to drainage scales. Spatial patterns of asymmetry correlate with latitude along the American Cordillera, mountain-range orientation for many ranges in the western United States, and elevation in the Idaho Batholith of the Northern Rocky Mountains. Spatial organization suggests that non-stochastic, process-driven controls cause these patterns. The hillslope asymmetry metric objectively captures previously-documented extents and frequencies of valley asymmetry for the Gabilan Mesa of the central California Coast Range. Broad-scale maps of hillslope asymmetry are of interest to a wide range of disciplines, as spatial patterns may reflect the influence of tectonics, atmospheric circulation, topoclimate, geomorphology, hydrology, soils and ecology on landscape evolution. These maps identify trends and regions of hillslope asymmetry, allow possible drivers to be spatially constrained, and facilitate the extrapolation of site-specific results to broader regions

An Investigation of Student Performance, Student Satisfaction , and Learner Characteristics in Online Versus Face-to-Face Classes--RESEARCH

The purpose of this study was to investigate student performance, student satisfaction, and learner characteristics in online versus face-to-face delivery formats in accounting. Forty-four students, enrolled in either the face-to-face or online section of an accounting course, completed a survey assessing satisfaction, learning outcomes, and learner characteristics. Significant differences were found regarding satisfaction with learning and perception of the instructor. However, online learners displayed similar traits as their face-to-face counterparts. In addition, researchers compared pre-test / post-test, homework, quiz, and exam scores to determine if delivery method affected learning. A significant difference was found between face-to-face and online students in post-test performance. Overall, the results of this study suggest that students perform as well in an online course as they do in a traditional face-to-face classroom and learner characteristics are similar for both online students and face-to-face classroom students. Post-test results indicate that students in an online class do not retain the information as well as those in a face-to-face class. These results, like others, show that online instructors continue to face challenges in promoting student participation and interaction in the course and overall satisfaction with learning. There is a need to replicate this study in other online courses in different disciplines