Diverse lines of evidence indicate that humans have come to dominate many environmental and climate systems across the globe, prompting some researchers to declare the present part of a new geologic age known as the “Anthropocene.” Since plants form the base of many biological ecosystems (including those to which people belong) and agriculture alone covers approximately forty percent of land surface, studying how humans appropriate Earth’s plant production allows us to explore one of the most significant ways people have come to dominate Earth systems. Previous work has mapped the global distribution of plant growth supporting humans but failed to fully link this production to specific populations. To understand these connections, we begin by tracing global agricultural and forest production through a simplified representation of the global economy (containing about sixty million economic flows). To do this, we use global economic data collected by the Global Trade Analysis Project, enabling us to connect fields and forests with the often distant human populations whose lives they eventually support. Our model accounts for indirect plant consumption (for example, factory products require plant consumption by laborers) as well as plant materials people consume directly. Mapping these results and transforming them through Geographic Information Systems (software which can visually and computationally manipulate the results in diverse ways) allows us to describe major intersecting processes of globalization linking distant peoples and lands. For us to respond effectively to the increased human domination of Earth systems, improving our understanding of these socioecological relationships will be critical.

There has been growing scholarly attention to the fact that most global health projects/research are disproportionately focused on specific locales resulting in temporary restricted interventions. This approach is, in some significant sense a 'betrayal' of the very idea of global health. This study asks how Seattle's various global health institutions and organizations approach Global health in Kenya. I hypothesize that most global health projects promote the production of inequity, unequal and uncaring exchanges between donor institutions and the recipients. I analyze the socio-historical, economic and political histories and ties between Kenya and global health institutions in Seattle drawing on political-economy analysis and feminist care ethical analysis. I also thematically code and analyze ethnographic interviews to investigate the relationship between the responses and the main research topic. I expect to find that global health projects may not necessarily achieve their intended goals because they do not fully consider the four phases of care, which involve attentiveness, responsibility, competence and responsiveness. Understanding the factors influencing the production of unequal and uncaring exchanges in global health is essential as it will impact how global health projects should be conducted.

The purpose of this research is to investigate hidden health narratives on campus regarding the use of tobacco products to contextualize the legitimacy of smoke-free and tobacco-free university initiatives. This academic endeavor will also reveal the structural and institutionalized violence of the tobacco industry which targets marginalized communities to entice the uptake of regular smoking habits. An analysis of biopolitical power, structural violence, and social theory will help to reveal the hidden narratives of these populations, twice-targeted by the social stigmatization of tobacco use and the manipulative advertising of the tobacco industry. By exposing, analyzing, and deconstructing patterns of profit-driven tobacco marketing directed at student demographics, it is possible to examine geographies of blame regarding tobacco use, impact of tobacco use on non-smoking populations, and the misleading agendas behind the dominant narratives of tobacco industry advertising. By identifying and bringing to light these messages, it is possible to legitimize the anti-smoking and anti-tobacco movements happening at the University of Washington, and U.S. universities at large, with a critical analysis of the health risks involved.

To address the growing international attention on the high rates of obesity in the Pacific Islands, this project examines the discursive patterns that play a role in both fueling and quelling the outbreak of obesity among the Samoan population. I will provide a historical account of the diet and lifestyle during the pre- and post-colonialism periods in American Samoa. I am especially interested in tracing the racialization of food and the differences in perceiving food. I draw on theorist Michel Foucault’s interpretation of biopower in  to further illuminate the narratives that perpetuate the issues of power inequality, colonialism and the racialization of obesity towards the Samoan people, and what exactly defines “health” and “wellness”. The sources of these narratives are extracted from everday popular media, news articles, and even film or artwork. The project also uncovers the various counter narratives from Samoan Americans in the local Seattle community as well as Pacific Island authors and educators to shed light on work counteracting obesity in the community, the significance of cultural preservation and indigenizing health and incorporating de-colonial movements. This leads into the movement towards individualized risk management awhile not losing sight of community and relationship. The implications of this analysis lead us to consider the correlation between discourse and body governance in the context of a growing global health and food industry.

Art, and the process of creative expression, has been used for centuries to catalog unique cultural traditions within regions. Perspective, compostition, and style are present in unique combinations within artwork and serve to give a strong sense of trends and values within a community. By applying the study of geography to art, a richer understanding of place begins to emerge: history, inhabitants, nature, and social processes are all expressed together in the same space. I have utilized this method of analysis, by specifically examining use of materials within the art, in order to examine cultural trends within the Pacific Northwest (PNW). I began by cataloging artists of the PNW, beginning in the early 20th century, studying material use and application of such in order to build a background. Next, I observed the trends of current artists within the region in order to observe shifting trends in artistic materials and use. In the final step of my research, I used material of my choice to create a work of art: a physical manifestation of my experience as a native Washingtonian. This last step was taken as a full participant in order to connect with my research in a more significant light. The overall purpose of my research is two-fold: 1) to understand past and present regional memes within the PNW, and 2) to understand the presence of regional trends within choice of material. This type of geographic analysis, utilizing artistic expression, contributes to the current body of knowlege by examining material as the singe substance of cultural meaning. Artists within the PNW have focused their work to reflect the presence of Native Americanism, light, nature, and Asian influences, and analyzing the materials within these works will uncover yet another layer of understanding what ties the region of the PNW together.

This project examines the role of gender inequality in HIV/AIDS and how this inequality perpetuates the susceptibility of women to contract the virus. Focusing on Ghana and Brazil, I explore how culture and society shape an imbalance that potentially increases risks to women in becoming sick through analysis of the relationship between social determinants of health, risk factors and vulnerability. I argue that preventative measures intended to fight against HIV/AIDS have failed to consider the social circumstances that place women at greater risk than men. In my analysis, I draw on and interpret Michel Foucault’s concept of biopolitics using feministic critique and gendered perspectives. I reference anecdotes from Stephanie Nolen’s “28: Stories of AIDS in Africa” to present personalized perspectives of the painfully multifaceted reality of the HIV/AIDS outbreak, while Silvana Paternostro’s personal accounts of sexual culture in Brazil in “In the Land of God and Man: Confronting Sexual Culture in Latin America,” serve as a framework for my examination of gendered social constructs in Brazil. I examine gender relations and the dynamic of marital relationships that often disproportionately allow the male greater power over the female, and how a male dominant ideology is reinforced by politics, culture and social norm. Distinguishing between gender and sex, I look at how gender inequality, the inequality of opportunities and power that follow being a certain sex, may expose mothers, daughters, sisters, and other women at risk in ways we may not have imagined.

Brasília, the capital of Brazil, was constructed primarily by a migrant labor force in the late 1950s. Brasília was intended to be a modernist utopia meant to transform Brazilian society for the better. The capital, which was planned for a maximum population of 500,000, now has nearly 2.8 million inhabitants. This growth can be attributed to consistently high rates of internal migration from Brazil’s rural areas. Over 80% of the Brazilian population now lives in urban areas of the country, compared to less than 40% at the time of Brasília’s construction in the 1950s. This influx of migrants has led to severe shortages in suitable housing, leading to a steady rise in the number of slums and squatter settlements across the country. While much research has been done on the impact of internal migration in Brazil’s two largest cities, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, comparatively little research has been done on Brasília. Through statistical and spatial analysis of Brazilian census data and with the help of geographic information systems software, this project builds a historical profile of internal migration to Brasília and examines changes in internal migration flows since the late 1950s. Additionally I analyze the spatial distribution of the migrant population around the metropolitan area of Brasília with an examination of the descriptive spatial statistics of the population in addition to an analysis of the residential segregation of both short-term (living in Brasília less than ten years) and long-term (more than ten years) migrants. Preliminary results suggest that, since the original construction of Brasília, internal migrants have consistently and overwhelmingly originated from states in Brazil’s impoverished northeast region and have usually settled in the outlying satellite cities of the Brasília metropolitan area.

Recently King County Metro has announced plans to cut 17% of its transit service due to a $75 million deficit. Assuming that no sufficient transportation financing package is developed, Metro will have to proceed with these cuts by the end of this year. Taking this as a case study, this project develops and compares different transportation network models for optimizing equity and efficiency in the distribution of bus service in King County. Extending upon previous work, this project aims to produce a new model for optimizing decision-making and critique current methodologies for equitably allocating public transit resources. The research question is: How can we develop a transportation model in which route cuts and reductions will be designed to minimize the impact on equity and efficiency of service? An origin-destination network model will be produced using ArcGIS software and Python scripting to analyze spatially aggregated need for transit within King County. Data include 2012 ridership statistics from Metro as well as transit corridor data. Also, demographic data for identifying and locating marginalized populations will be obtained from King County census blockgroups. I predict that results will show that no self-purported objective transit network model is truly unbiased with respect to the different demographic groups it impacts.

Matters of safety and vulnerability in the public sphere have dominated much of the discourse in both everyday queer media and scholarship in queer geography, as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) individuals continue to face often violent discrimination in public spaces. This project, while acknowledging the difficulty other researchers have discovered in defining what and where queer space is, addresses a gap within queer geography. Little research has been done to analyze the contradiction that lies in the conceptualization many individuals have of “queer spaces” as sites of safety and sites of increased vulnerability. Therefore this research seeks to explore how is safety conceptualized for queer individuals in spaces identified as queer or heterosexual and examine how these different conceptualizations affect how spaces are identified and sexualized. Personalized maps are used to deconstruct a static geography of sexualized space in Seattle and qualitative interviews with LGBTQ-identified Seattle residents are coded and thematically analyzed for patterns of how a subjective geography of un/safe is constructed by queer individuals. This research highlights the importance of lived experiences in how space is categorized and perceived, as well as the complicated relationship between the socio-cultural environment and individual identities in creating these perceptions.