Vol. 49, No. 1, Spring/Summer 2011 - "Latin America"



VISUALIZING THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL DIVIDES OF BOLIVIA WITH MULTIVARIATE MAPS

(pp. 3 - 17)


Cheryl Hagevik and Christopher A. Badurek

Department of Geography and Planning

Appalachian State University

Boone, North Carolina


Abstract


Following Evo Morales’ election as President of Bolivia in 2006, social and economic tensions have worsened between the indigenous populations of the west and the non-indigenous populations of the eastern lowlands. Relationships between social dynamics and changing political structures can be better understood through visualizing key factors involved. Social indicators of poverty can be studied with election outcomes to better understand regional divides and monitor relatively abrupt changes occurring in Bolivia. Multivariate mapping

assists in the visualization of these relationships if presented in careful manner. Relationships between voting and demographics are explored through use of multivariate mapping to display the percent of Castellano speaking population with election outcomes. Web based mapping applications can also assist in the study of optimal multivariate visualization techniques. However, it is found that these platforms are not suitably designed for the level of symbolization manipulation required in multivariate mapping of Latin American political data. 




THE CHANGING ANATOMY OF MEXICAN TOWNS: REPEAT STUDY AND STANISLAWSKI’S MICHOACÁN

(pp. 18 - 42)


J.O. Joby Bass

Department of Geography and Geology

The University of Southern Mississippi

Hattiesburg, Mississippi


Scott A. Brady

Department of Geography and Planning

California State University, Chico

Chico, California


Abstract


Data and descriptions gathered and created by earlier geographers can be used by contemporary geographers as archival baseline material with which to study landscape change. Assessing change by revisiting the results of past fieldwork in the field is called repeat geography. The body of repeat studies has grown during the past decade. Published sixty years ago, Dan Stanislawski’s monograph, Eleven Towns in Michoacán in Mexico, contains abundant information about a dynamic region. We utilize Stanislawski’s monograph and recent fieldwork in a repeat study that analyzes landscape change in Michoacán. They also assess the value and limitations of repeat study. Repeat mapping demonstrates that changes in transportation infrastructure and communications technologies are the most obvious and important changes impacting life in the towns Stanislawski described sixty years ago. Field interviews and observation reveal the growing importance of emigrant remittances to landscape change. 




THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY’S WEST AFRICAN ENTERPRISE--COLONIAL LIBERIA TO A FAILED STATE

(pp. 43 - 64)


William R. Stanley

Department of Geography

University of South Carolina

Los Angeles, California


Abstract


Back to Africa enterprises surfaced periodically in American history in response to societal and governmental unwillingness to absorb equitably that portion of the population with African roots. By late 18th Century, the slave population and free blacks were of increasing concern to slave holders, social moderates and abolitionists albeit for distinctly different reasons. The several colonies of free American blacks established on the West African coast in what was to become Liberia were nurtured with material, political and ecclesiastical

support from the American Colonization Society and timely assistance from the American Government. Liberia’s political and economic leadership derived from American settlers was seemingly destroyed in a 1980 military uprising by tribal soldiers trained by the U.S. Army. The next 30 years were a progression of steps into the abyss and the country is only slowly recovering from being perceived as a failed state. The paper traces critical political and economic events in this American enterprise. 




A CASE STUDY OF ATTEMPTED CONSOLIDATION IN THE LITTLE CONEMAUGH RIVER VALLEY

(pp. 65 - 96)


Larry Kleitches

Department of Geography

Texas State University

San Marcos, Texas


Abstract


This is an inquiry into one group of communities within a rural Cambria County, Pennsylvania school district. These communities spent money and time in studying consolidation, including placing it in the public forums, and were unable to reach agreement. This inquiry attempts to answer one question: what prevents specific communities from taking what would seem to be a rational step of consolidation and to choose instead decline and fiscal stress? The research presents a brief history of the study area (the Conemaugh Valley School District [CVSD]), the problems facing the region, the politics and events leading to the failure of the consolidation vote, and a final summation. 




EFFECTS OF DEM RESOLUTION ON HAZUS FLOOD MAPPING FOR THE MONONGAHELA RIVER, CALIFORNIA, PENNSYLVANIA

(pp. 97 - 123)


Timothy M. Lahmers, Kyle C. Fredrick, and Thomas R. Mueller

California University of Pennsylvania

California, Pennsylvania


Michael S. Scott

Salisbury University

Salisbury, Maryland


California Borough in Pennsylvania lies along the flood-prone Monongahela River. Flooding may cause financial losses to the borough, as well as to California University of Pennsylvania, a state-owned university located directly on the shores of the river. HAZUS is a disaster management tool developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that assesses risk and financial and property losses through its flood model. The HAZUS analytical solver requires elevation data. The standard (Digital Elevation Model) DEM input for HAZUS is the USGS National Elevation Dataset (NED), which has a lower resolution than elevation data sources derived from newer technologies. HAZUS was used to evaluate the Monongahela River's 100-year floodplain through California using the NED DEM and compared against the results from a high resolution LIDAR DEM Analysis of output data shows that NED estimates of the California floodplain poorly depicts small scale features and tends to be lower in floodplain extent and losses compared to the LIDAR DEM.



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