Outstanding Dissertation Award

Catherine Hoover-Castañeda receives her 2004
award from Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate
Studies Victoria Rodríguez and her dissertation
supervisor, Karl W. Butzer (right)

CATHERINE L. HOOVER-CASTAÑEDA - Geography.  Dr. Hoover-Castañeda's dissertation, Environmental Change and Uncertainty in Coastal Communities of Northern Honduras, is an insightful study of two Honduran ethnic groups - the Mestizo immigrants to the coast and the indigenous Garifuna.  Her work chronicles the difficulties of adapting to new environments as inhabitants on the coastal plain of Northern Honduras change where and how they live under the increasing pressures of new settlers, land development, and environmental degradation.  Dr. Hoover-Castañeda's first-hand research has implications for scholars working in Latin America and elsewhere in the world where people are forced to adapt to rapidly changing political and cultural landscapes.  Dissertation supervisor:  Karl W. Butzer.