Abstract
dc:description.abstract"Slash-and-burn" agriculture, or shifting cultivation, is perceived by many to be the leading cause of land degradation in tropical forests. Performed mainly by resource-poor farmers, shifting cultivation is the most widespread form of agriculture in the tropics. Concern over its environmental impacts has led to calls throughout the twentieth century for alternatives by policy-makers and development planners. This study employs a constructivist framework, post-colonial perspectives, and rhetorical methods to understand the images which support such assertions regarding shifting cultivation, primarily in policy-oriented depictions. Elements of Kenneth Burke's "dramatistic" method are used, including the analysis of hierarchies which structure discourse, and pentadic analysis.
Degree
thesis:*- Name thesis:degree_name
- Ph. D.
- Level thesis:degree_level
- doctoral
- Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
- Environmental Design and Planning
- Department dc:contributor.department
- Environmental Design and Planning
- Grantor dc:publisher
- Virginia Tech
- Year dc:date.issued
- 1996
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- O'Brien, William Eugene
- Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
-
- Browder, John O.
- Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
-
- Grossman, Lawrence S.
- Holloway, Rachel L.
- Randolph, John
- Wisdom, Harold W.
Subjects
dc:subject × 5Rights
dc:rights- Statement dc:rights
-
- In Copyright
- Licence dc:rights.uri
- Language dc:language.iso
- en
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- Dc Identifier Other
- etd-07112007-092856
- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/38766