Finding Stable Isotope Signatures of Fauna of Northwest California: A Tool for Anthropological Investigations

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Anthropologists use Stable isotope analyses to understand environments where past and present human cultures lived. This project starts a database of isotopic signatures for the region of Humboldt County, in northwestern California, as a baseline for further research. I prepared samples at HSU Archaeology and Biological Anthropology Research labs for Carbon (C) and Oxygen (O) stable isotopes using H2O2 Hydroxyapatite-Carbonate protocol. The samples will be sent to Stable Isotope Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz and analyzed for δ13C & δ18O. As database entries increase, evidence of stable isotopic signatures of specific areas in northwest California may be identified.

Following the Menstrual Tide: A Counter Culture’s Conception of the Womb

Stella Rose Gallagher, Department of Geography, Environment & Spatial Analysis Undergraduate Student

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Menstrual practices sanction how menstruators engage with public and private spaces. Informed by the sociocultural factors of menstrual health today, I conducted several ethnographic interviews to further explore how menstruators mediate their own personal needs and the demands of their community throughout menses. Finally, I will integrate these interviews within the broader discourse of Critical Menstrual Studies.

Following the Money: Capitalist in Communist China - A Bibliographical Project

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

What happens when a planned economy is based on an unplanned economy? In this bibliographical project, we collected sources from all around the world relating to capitalist business and manufacturing in the first decades of the People's Republic of China. This project breaks new ground in historical studies of the early PRC by reexamining the relationship between the Communist Party-State and those capitalists who survived the transition to socialism. With over 500 entries, this is the largest collection of materials on capitalists and private enterprise in Communist China and will most certainly be an aid to any researcher, professional or in-training.

Food at School

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

This chapter explores the intersection of food and place in one of the most important places in the lives of children and youth -- school. The critical rhetorical analysis examines school menus, but makes it clear that food at school involves more than school lunches. Food at school has included breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as vending machines and campus gardens (Duram & Klein, 2015). In the broader society, food at school is at the center of public argumentation about agriculture, citizenship, economics, government, health, power & empowerment, religion, sustainability, and values.

Food Deserts and Why They Occur

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

This project centers on the environmental justice issue of food deserts in low income, poor communities of color and also breaks down why these people and areas are targeted. Major ongoing systemic structures, such as environmental racism and redlining are defined and explained, with examples, to help the audience understand how this issue was created. Finally, my own positionality is incorporated for contrast, further explaining the systemic processes coming into play.

Food Justice Through Decolonization

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Food Justice offers a reactionary approach to empower a person and communities’ rights to fresh and healthy affordable food. The Potawot Community Garden not only embraces this approach, but goes further through decolonial practices. In addition, the process of growing an cultivating one’s own food is shown to help heal certain varieties of trauma. Potawot offers its community a unique opportunity by providing fresh, local, and organic produce to local tribes in the greater Humboldt area. Furthermore, Potawot displays a primary example of promoting food justice by promoting justice for indigenous and native peoples by providing access to education and growing one's own food.

Forest Education and Upkeep

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

I have been helping Redwood State Parks with trail maintenance, removal of invasive species, and interpretive hikes through Patrick's Point's native plant garden. The goal of this work is to help maintain forests and trails, and educate the public about the botanical features of the region. I have also helped a biologist map plant diversity in various parts of Little River State Beach. The goal was to detect differences in areas that were both disturbed and undisturbed. I hope to contribute to the upkeep of Redwood State Parks in a meaningful way, as well as inspire others to see the importance and beauty of the natural world.

Fort Humboldt: The Development of Redwood Logging in Humboldt, 1878-1950

Qasim Naqvi, Anthropology Undergraduate Student

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

In this poster, I describe the process by which we inventoried items and analyze how technology evolved in concert with broader shifts in the Redwood timber industry. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of how archival research and data collection processes are conducted within the realm of historical archaeology and also reflects Humboldt County's independence. The material analysis presented in this project will showcase logging technology’s environmental, cultural and economic impacts on the landscape and lifestyles of the region’s inhabitants.

Fortuna Firefighting

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

For my research project, I engaged in volunteer work for the Fortuna Firefighting Department. To fully engage myself into the lens of a firefighter, I signed up for the full academy and will earn fire fighter I status. This entails firefighter ethics and expectations, safety, communications, tools and equipment, water supply and hose lays, fire behavior, building construction, ventilation, loss control, rescue and extrication, and wildland fires. The firefighter code is to save lives, protect the environment, and protect property. With doing so, firefighters continuously adjust to diversity, personal characteristics, personal responsibility, and resistance to change.

Fostering Preparedness: Service Learning with the Red Cross

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Community preparedness for extreme geophysical events (floods, wildfires, etc.) is essential, especially since such events are projected to increase in terms of frequency and intensity due to climate change. For my spring 2018 capstone project I have partnered with the Red Cross to engage with their local preparedness programs. Our collaboration has allowed me to apply my GIS skills and participate in mapping their supply trailers and shelter locations, which I will overlay with additional data such as flood zones, wildfire prone areas, etc. The maps I will complete throughout the semester will provide insight regarding possible emergency scenarios and contribute to their effective planning.