Interrogating the spaces of personal photography : women, identity, and the cultural formation of photographic practice

Personal photographs permeate our lives from the moment we are born as they define who we are within our familial group and local communities. Archived in family albums or framed on living room walls, they continue on after our death as mnemonic artifacts referencing our gendered, raced, and ethnic identities. This dissertation examines salient instances of what women “do” with personal photographs, not only as authors and subjects but also as collectors, archivists, and family and cultural historians. This project seeks to contribute to more productive, complex discourse about how women form relationships and engage with the conventions and practices of personal photography. In the first part of this dissertation I revisit developments in the history of personal photography, including the advertising campaigns of the Kodak and Agfa Girls and the development of albums such as the Stammbuch and its predecessor, the carte-de-visite, that demonstrate how personal photography has functioned as a gendered activity that references family unity, sentimentalism for the past, and self-representation within normative familial and dominant cultural groups, thus suggesting its importance as a cultural practice of identity formation. The second and primary section of the dissertation expands on the critical analyses of Gillian Rose, Patricia Holland, and Nancy Martha West, who propose that personal photography, marketed to and taken on by women, double-exposes their gendered identities. Drawing on work by critics such as Deborah Willis, bell hooks, and Abigail Solomon-Godeau, I examine how the reconfiguration, recontextualization, and relocation of personal photographs in the respective work of Christine Saari, Fern Logan, and Katie Knight interrogates and complicates gendered, raced, and ethnic identities and cultural attitudes about them. In the final section of the dissertation I briefly examine select examples of how emerging digital spaces on the Internet function as a site for personal photography, one that both reinscribes traditional cultural formations while offering new opportunities for women for the display and audiencing of identities outside the family.

Recurrent voluminous sector collapses at Volcán Barú, Panama

Two volcanic debris avalanche deposits (VDADs), both attributed to sector collapse at Volcán Barú, Panama, have been identified after an investigation of deposits that covered more than a thousand square kilometers. The younger Barriles Deposit is constrained by two radiocarbon ages that are ~9 ka; the older Caisán Deposit is at or beyond the radiocarbon range, >43,500 ybp. The total runout length of the Caisán Deposit was ~50 km and it covers 1190 km2. The Barriles Deposit extended to about 45 km and covered an area of 966 km2, overlapping most of the Caisán. The VDADs are blanketed by pyroclastic deposits and contain a predominance of andesitic material likely representing volcanic dome rock which accumulated above the active vent at Barú before collapsing. Despite heavy vegetation in the field area, over 4000 individual hummocks were digitized from aerial photography. Statistical analysis of hummock locations and geometries depict flow patterns of highly- fragmented material reflecting the effects of underlying topography and also help to define the limit of Barriles’ shorter termination. Barriles and Caisán are primarily unconfined, subaerial volcanic deposits that are among the world’s most voluminous. Calculated through two different geospatial processes, thickness values from field measurements and inferences yield volumes >30 km23 for both deposits. VDADs of comparable scale come from Mount Shasta, USA; Socompa, Chile/Argentina; and Shiveluch, Russia. Currently, the modern edifice is 200-400m lower than the pre-collapse Barriles and Caisán summits and only 16-25% of the former edifice has been replaced since the last failure.

Comparing remote sensing and ground-based methods of quantifying cover type and carbon storage in an urban forest

Understanding the canopy cover of an urban environment leads to better estimates of carbon storage and more informed management decisions by urban foresters. The most commonly used method for assessing urban forest cover type extent is ground surveys, which can be both timeconsuming and expensive. The analysis of aerial photos is an alternative method that is faster, cheaper, and can cover a larger number of sites, but may be less accurate. The objectives of this paper were (1) to compare three methods of cover type assessment for Los Angeles, CA: handdelineation of aerial photos in ArcMap, supervised classification of aerial photos in ERDAS Imagine, and ground-collected data using the Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) model protocol; (2) to determine how well remote sensing methods estimate carbon storage as predicted by the UFORE model; and (3) to explore the influence of tree diameter and tree density on carbon storage estimates. Four major cover types (bare ground, fine vegetation, coarse vegetation, and impervious surfaces) were determined from 348 plots (0.039 ha each) randomly stratified according to land-use. Hand-delineation was better than supervised classification at predicting ground-based measurements of cover type and UFORE model-predicted carbon storage. Most error in supervised classification resulted from shadow, which was interpreted as unknown cover type. Neither tree diameter or tree density per plot significantly affected the relationship between carbon storage and canopy cover. The efficiency of remote sensing rather than in situ data collection allows urban forest managers the ability to quickly assess a city and plan accordingly while also preserving their often-limited budget.

Erupted magma volume estimates at Santiaguito and Pacaya Volcanoes, Guatemala using digital elevation models

High resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) of Santiaguito and Pacaya volcanoes, Guatemala, were used to estimate volume changes and eruption rates between 1954 and 2001. The DEMs were generated from contour maps and aerial photography, which were analyzed in ArcGIS 9.0®. Because both volcanoes were growing substantially over the five decade period, they provide a good data set for exploring effective methodology for estimating volume changes. The analysis shows that the Santiaguito dome complex grew by 0.78 ± 0.07 km3 (0.52 ± 0.05 m3 s-1) over the 1954-2001 period with nearly all the growth occurring on the El Brujo (1958-75) and Caliente domes (1971-2001). Adding information from field data prior to 1954, the total volume extruded from Santiaguito since 1922 is estimated at 1.48 ± 0.19 km3. Santiaguito’s growth rate is lower than most other volcanic domes, but it has been sustained over a much longer period and has undergone a change toward more exogenous and progressively slower extrusion with time. At Santiaguito some of the material being added at the dome is subsequently transported downstream by block and ash flows, mudflows and floods, creating channel shifting and areas of aggradation and erosion. At Pacaya volcano a total volume of 0.21 ± 0.05 km3 was erupted between 1961 and 2001 for an average extrusion rate of 0.17 ± 0.04 m3 s-1. Both the Santiaguito and Pacaya eruption rate estimates reported here are minima, because they do not include estimates of materials which are transported downslope after eruption and data on ashfall which may result in significant volumes of material spread over broad areas. Regular analysis of high resolution DEMs using the methods outlined here, would help quantify the effects of fluvial changes to downstream populated areas, as well as assist in tracking hazards related to dome collapse and eruption.

Promoting Biodiversity in Forest Ecosystems Using Ecological Forestry

A subset of forest management techniques, termed ecological forestry, have been developed in order to produce timber and maintain the ecological integrity of forest communities through practices that more closely mirror natural disturbance regimes. Even though alternative methods have been described and tested, these approaches still need to be established and analyzed in a variety of geographic regions in order to calibrate and measure effectiveness across different forest types. The primary objective of this research project was to assess whether group selection combined with legacy-tree retention could enhance mid-tolerant tree recruitment in a late-successional northern hardwood forest. In order to evaluate a novel alternative regeneration technique, 49 group-selection openings in three size classes were created in 2003 with a biological legacy tree retained in the center of each opening. Twenty reference sites, managed using single-tree selection, were also analyzed for comparison. The specific goals of the project were to: 1) determine the fate and persistence of the openings and legacy trees 2) assess the understory response of the group-selection openings versus the single-tree selection reference sites, and 3) evaluate the spatial patterns of yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Britt.) and eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr.) in the group-selection openings. The results from 8-9 years post-study implementation and the changes that have occurred between 2004/5 and 2011/12 are discussed. The alternative regeneration technique developed and assessed in this study has the potential to enrich biodiversity in a range of forest types. Projected group-selection opening persistence rates ranged from 41-91 years. Openings from 500-1500 m2 are predicted to persist long enough for mid-tolerant tree recruitment. The legacy trees responded well to release and experienced a low mortality rate. Yellow birch (the primary shade mid-tolerant tree in the study area) densities increased with opening size. Maples surpassed all other species in abundance. In the sapling layer, sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) was 2 to over 300 times more abundant in the group-selection openings and 2 to 3 times more abundant in the references sites than all other species present. Red maple (Acer rubrum L.) was the second most abundant species present in the openings and reference sites. Spatial patterns of yellow birch and eastern hemlock in the openings were mostly aggregated. The southern edges of the largest openings contained the highest magnitude of yellow birch and eastern hemlock per unit area. Continued monitoring and additional treatments will likely be necessary in order to ensure underrepresented species successfully reach maturity.