First, the course syllabus.
Week One:
Readings--
-Our main text is Research Methods in Geography, which details various approaches to geography, ranging from the furthest extremes of quantitative to qualitative analysis.
-We also read and discussed the first chapter of The Chicago Guide to Collaborative Ethnography, which addressed perhaps what was missing from the beginnings of RMG; feminist ethnography and poststructuralist ethnography.
-After the background gained from the above readings, we were able to do a bit of a closer look at a specific situation in which these methods have been applied by Brannstrom, in the Bahia region of Brazil. Here, an area is contested between environmental conservation groups and high-input, high-output agriculturalists; the Q-method, essentially a way of moving between qualitative and quantitative data, was effectively put to use, with interesting results.
Finally, in preparation for our visit to the Cornerstone Building's IDEA Space Exhibit, an new take on the idea of an Indian Corner, we read this article, which was multifaceted in that it addressed both the concept of visual interpretation AND the representation of American Indians in American culture.
GIS Labs--
Lab 1 was a basic introduction to Geographic Information Systems, one of the more quantitative methods today used to present and analyze spatial data (frequently combined with other data sets, including demographic information, to find trends and patterns). This lab was intended largely just to familiarize the class with the GIS software, and the outcome was this map detailing internet usage by relative population of countries in the world.
Lab 2 continued this introduction by delving a little deeper into the concepts behind GIS, including coordinate systems and projections (how the data can be accurately displayed by referencing them back to an established system) ,and how they alter visual representations of the map and data. A few examples of how changing the coordinate system affects the visual product can be found when the Fuller, Mercator, or "The World From Space" projections are employed.
Just for fun, we decided to make a map using the cube projection that displayed the internet use vs. population data from the first lab. This was the final product:
Week Two:
On Saturday, we had an essay due discussing our own personal research philosophy (of the ones we discussed in class: spatial science, humanistic, critical realism, and post-structuralism) and how we may apply this to our project proposal. I found this an interesting task as it required some introspection, and I found it challenging to link my actual philosophies to a coherent research question; regardless, my essay can be found here.
Besides some very practical chapters from the RMG text, we have read so far this week two different essays addressing two anthropological/ethnographical methods. The first, from Weiss's book Learning From Strangers, discusses qualitative interviews; the different types and their respective purposes. The second, by DeWalt and DeWalt, discusses a more immersive method of research, participant observation. Both were very enlightening and drew very interesting "real-life" stories from our professors.
GIS Labs
Lab 3 was an exercise in geo-referencing, in this case bringing in an outside map of France that visually made sense and referencing it to actual points in the world that GIS recognizes, in order to add other information (like Tour de France route information). The outcome was a map that makes sense in space and displays stops and routes along the Tour de France, with extra information like elevation change and population of stopover towns.
Lab 4 was an exercise in the visual display of data. Using available information about change in number of people claiming to be religious adherents, we learned the effect that different breaks in the data has on its visual representation. The final product was one with six different classes; not too visually overwhelming, enough for a cursory glance to convery at least some information.
Research Materials:
Our final project centers around a research proposal on a topic of our choice, related to the Southwest. We were given extensive guidelines on how to write this proposal.
After studying the Colorado River for the State of the Rockies Project all last summer and into this year, I'm fascinated by issues of water allotment and distribution in an over-allocated system. For that reason, I decided to do a more specific case study on the issue of water rights (and lack of developed water sources) on the Navajo reservation, located in the Four Corners area. I am also very interested in further developing my GIS skills, so I decided to focus my project around creating quantitative visual representations of the issue. This includes things like a map of the physical reservation itself, with homes, water sources, water development projects, etc. labelled; after some further questioning today, it also seems quite pertinent to include some more specific geo-visualizations of flow rates, how water re-distribution will affect different water users, etc. This is a skill set I will certainly need to work hard to develop, but which could be invaluable in later projects and even jobs.
Doing some initial research, I found a report titled "Mapping of Infrastructure and Homes without Access to Safe Drinking Water and Basic Sanitation in the Navajo Nation" through the Environmental Protection Agency, which includes a map that I was essentially planning to create (although I'd like to include more demographic information if possible). I'm using this as something to base my spatial map off, and to help find different data sets.
Week 3:
Over the weekend, we had our proposal prospectus due, as a form of getting us going on our research and as a good check-in for our professors. I really got excited about researching and actually began writing my literature review, as well as created an outline. My prospectus can be viewed here. Our first reading for the trip actually also turned out to be a very useful source for my proposal, as it addresses Indian reserved water rights in a very coherent and concise manner.
On Monday of Week 3, we embarked on our week-long field trip to New Mexico. Our first stop was Taos, in Northern New Mexico, to learn more about the strong history of irrigation via the traditional acequia system, and how this system is surviving today. The first day was filled with travel, great food, and exploration of the Taos region, as well as reading a lot of local Taos author Sylvia Rodriguez's book, Acequia. Sylvia is an active member of the Taos Valley Acequia Association (TVAA).
On Tuesday, we had the great fortune of meeting with Sylvia herself, to discuss her book and ask her any lingering questions we might have had. After that Sylvia led us on a tour of the satellite communities of Taos, pointing out which water source fed who and the issues and successes of each ditch community. It was fascinating to get an insider's perspective, and to really learn and understand the way the people had altered natural water sources in a very sustainable way in order to work with the land.
Wednesday got us up bright and early to head to the Embudo Valley, nestled between Taos and Santa Fe. Here, we met with Juan Estevan Arellano, a native of Embudo and someone who has been involved with the acequia system for a long, long time. Estevan had us walk around and see for ourselves how the acequia system worked; one of the stops on our walk was at a headgate, where we could see how water was either retained or diverted. Estevan lamented about the current state of the acequia system in Embudo, saying that because nearly 50% of landowners in the valley are absentee, very little maintenance of the acequias is done and they are beginning to fall into disrepair. Again, it was fascinating to have an insider's perspective on the subject, someone who could both point out physical features and tell us great stories about the region.
That afternoon, we headed to Santa Fe and did a little walk to location of the old Santa Fe River dam and reservoir. This reservoir quickly became filled with sediment beyond usability, and has since been drained and become a local hiking spot. Instead, there are two smaller reservoirs up much higher above the city that cannot be visited by tourists (so we did not see them). The Santa Fe River is a mere trickle compared to the Rio Grande and other water sources in northern New Mexico, and Santa Feans have been adequately careful in their conservation of this precious resource. That night, we had dinner with a friend of Eric’s, who is an Anglo raised in New Mexico who is now mayordomo of a small acequia a little north of Santa Fe. The associated reading for this day largely focused on the Colorado River but addressed issues of importance to all modern water sources, including fair water distribution and how to initiate effective urban water conservation programs.
On Thursday, we again got up quite early to head to Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and Bosque del Apache. After an intense wind storm that threatened to blow our vans off the highway (see below), we made it to the visitor’s office to meet with Paul Tashjian, a hydrologist for the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
The night previous, we had read this reading on how instream flows for environmental purposes should be managed. It was a great summary article that helped point out important issues with focusing on a “minimum flow” requirement for streams, saying that we should instead try to replicate historical variability as this is what creates the richest and most healthy riverine ecosystem. Paul echoed these sentiments with an excellent presentation on the historic hydrographs of the Middle Rio Grande region, highlighting the successes and continuing issues with Bosque management and the NWR’s dealings with other rights holders on the Rio Grande (especially the agriculturalists). That afternoon, we took a tour of the NWR, hiking to the Rio Grande itself and also seeing all the channel management systems that Paul was talking about.
That night, we had dinner with Janet Jarrett, a dairy farmer and active community member in the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (the 150-mile stretch of the Rio Grande north of the Bosque and south of Albuquerque). Janet espoused a very hard-hitting, honest view point that pretty directly opposed many of Paul’s notions. She began her discussion by pointing out that in all our research on acequias and NWRs, we had missed perhaps the biggest group of western water rights holders, the agriculturalists (most of whom hold senior water rights because of their long-time establishment in the region). Janet was able to clearly and concisely lay out many issues with agricultural water rights and how they are frequently in severe opposition to environmental water rights holders and urban water users. For example, Janet mentioned that while farmers in the MRGCD use about 320,000 acre-feet of Rio Grande water annually, about 50,000 acre-feet are returned to the river through natural irrigation processes and are used by the Bosque del Apache. However, the farmers are not credited for these return flows, so essentially the Bosque is getting this water for free. The issue is that while senior, the water rights in the MRGCD are not yet adjudicated, meaning there is not an absolute quantity associated with these senior water rights. This was all hugely fascinating to me, especially in light of my senior thesis, where I was analyzing various strategies for sharing water between agriculturalists and municipalities along the Colorado River.
Now we are heading back to campus, where our task for the weekend is to finish up our research project proposal. I am taking on the additional task of trying to do some preliminary GIS work with mine, which is largely what I will be working on this weekend. It was a great field trip that really added to the course, and made me very thankful once again that Colorado College works on the block plan!
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