An ongoing struggle for affordable housing in Southern California has led many predominately White, middle, and upper middle- class families to seek home ownership in divested urban communities. This phenomenon, known as gentrification, can benefit a community by increasing property values, but often comes at a cost to longstanding, Black and…

Agricultural and natural resource managers face complex problems that involve thinking across multiple disciplines, particularly in North America where professionals often work in multi-use landscapes containing both private and public lands. Here we describe a multidisciplinary, conflictbased experiential learning course we developed to prepare…

Transformative learning can lead to great awareness of one's own and others' personal perspectives and result in changes in how participants understand important social issues and how they choose to take action or not. Three examples of Extension teaching that embrace transformative learning are presented: a phenomenological approach to…

Forest Resource Management Plans is the capstone course in many forestry and natural resource management curricula. The management plans are developed by senior forestry students. Early management plans courses were commonly technical exercises, often performed on contrived forest "tracts" on university-owned or other public lands, with a goal of…

Google Earth is an accessible, user-friendly GIS that can help landowners in their management planning. I offered hands-on Google Earth workshops to landowners to teach skills, including mapmaking, length and area measurement, and database management. Workshop participants were surveyed at least 6 months following workshop completion, and learning…

In Native American literary studies today there is a gap between the variety of criticism being produced and the metacritical debate about what Native literary criticism should look like. A review of recent issues of "Studies in American Indian Literatures", for example, will discover a wide variety of approaches, some relating literary…

This paper investigates the changing relationship between land, citizenship, and power in Brazil, where land-related policies have historically served to situate political and economic rights in the hands of an elite land-owning minority. In response, contemporary grassroots movements in Brazil, including the Landless Rural Workers Movement…

Heir property is land held communally by family members of a landowner who has died intestate. Because this informal arrangement does not fit neatly into the individualist-centered, integrated property rights system of the United States, it is viewed by most as a hindrance to economic development and capitalism. We present an alternative framework…

This is an essay about Indian claims for the return of historically stolen lands, written from the perspective of a "Western" academic moral philosopher. I want to try to outline points of agreement and disagreement between Indian and Western moral conceptions and to seek common ground on which land claims can be more clearly evaluated…

In this study we identify factors that influence farmers' expectations to sell some or all of their farming operation in areas where the increase in the conversion of agricultural land has been relatively rapid. Findings indicate that the following factors increase farmers' propensity to sell some or all of the agricultural operation for…

The central focus of social studies education is to help develop effective citizens in a democratic society, and one of the components of effective citizenship is the development of critical thinking skills (Mallen 2005; National Council for the Social Studies 1991; Parker 1999). One aspect of critical thinking is the ability to look at…

Throughout American history, marital property reform has been a concern of farm women. With most of the farm family's business assets in real estate, women without the right of ownership can find that they have limited wealth and no influence in the distribution of the farm's assets. The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws…

Discusses the present ideal of land ownership compared to the views of Jeffersonian democracy. Traces the concept of the American dream and Jeffersonian ideals through Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath." Offers suggestions for teaching about the Great Depression and the novel by demonstrating the conflict of Jeffersonian ideals and the…

Canada and Brazil have set a precedent for aboriginal lands rights cases in recent decisions to set aside homelands for indigenous peoples. Discusses these decisions, land claims settlements, ramifications, and outstanding issues in need of resolve. (MCO)

Examines Alaska Natives' land claims and current issues surrounding Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (1972). Although Act was passed to preserve Native control of land, current conditions threaten Natives with loss of control. Discusses legislative proposals of Alaska Federation of Natives as possible remedies. (TES)