My Dissertation
My dissertation is titled Crossing the Boundaries of Capitalism and Community:
Multistakeholder Networks and Collaborative Conservation in Montana’s Northern Great Plains. Grounded in community-engaged research with local partner organizations in North Central Montana, it explores how rural residents work across social and ideological boundaries to care for their land and one another. Through three summers of ethnographic fieldwork, I trace the moral and relational foundations of collaborative conservation in a changing rural West.
Chapter 1
Saving the Wild or Saving the Cowboy: Cultural Conflict between the Old and Nouveau West
Published in Rural Sociology, this chapter uses qualitative content analysis of the "Save the Cowboy, Stop the American Prairie Reserve" Facebook page to examine public objections to American Prairie’s mission. It finds that concerns about rural change dominate these objections and introduces the concept of the “Nouveau West” to extend the Old West/New West framework by highlighting the role of cultural capital in this land use conflict.
Chapter 2
The Moral Landscape of Montana’s Northern Great Plains: Land Use, Stewardship, and Conceptions of the Good
This chapter examines the moral foundations of land conflict in Montana’s Northern Great Plains, drawing on interviews with ranchers, environmental NGOs, and Indigenous community members. It analyzes how each group justifies land control and finds shared moral logics that could help foster more inclusive, multistakeholder conservation dialogues.
Chapter 3
The Many Hats of Conservation
This chapter draws on group network mapping interviews and group activities to chart the web of organizations and individuals engaged in conservation and community development in Montana’s Northern Great Plains. Using social network analysis, it identifies the key actors shaping regional collaboration and conservation efforts.
Chapter 4
The Jingle, the Rumble, and the Roar: Jam Sessions, Placemaking, and the Joys of Transcendence
This methodological piece reflects on my experiences entering rural Montana communities as an outsider. It focuses on my experiences playing the fiddle in local community jam sessions, which allowed me to gain acceptance from rural community members. Using this experience, the chapter advocates for a sociology of spontaneity—one that attends to how people engage with the social world in unscripted, everyday ways.
