Abstract
Bill Denevan supervised or co-supervised 20 doctoral dissertations and 22 master’s theses over four decades. His students have often retained intellectual affinities and friendships long after graduate school. This is a personal appreciation of Bill’s role as a mentor, based on my own years at Madison and subsequent interactions in the field, professional meetings, and at Sea Ranch. The discipline is now populated by second- and even third-generation students, whose advisors and advisor’s advisors have continued to transmit the Denevanite ethos of respect for the local, integrity, attention to detail, and skepticism about dominant discourses of progress.
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References
Denevan, W.M. 1983. Adaptation, variation, and cultural geography. The Professional Geographer 35: 399–407.
Gade, D.W. 2011. Curiosity, inquiry, and the geographical imagination. New York: Peter Lang.
Knapp, G.W. 1999. William M. Denevan: Winner of the 1998 Robert McC. Netting Award. Cultural Ecology Newsletter of the Association of American Geographers. Published online; currently (2018) at: https://capeaag.wordpress.com/cape-honors/william-m-denevan/
Master’s Theses Chaired (22) *Also Ph.D.
Roland Bergman, 1969*
Thomas Magness, 1969
Norman Berday, 1971
Hector Rucinque, 1972
Stuart White, 1975*
Paul Blank, 1976
Kent Mathewson, 1976*
Daniel Parr, 1978
Gregory Knapp, 1979*
Pascal Girot, 1984
Michael Johns, 1985
Andre Parvenu, 1986
Lisa Naughton, 1987
Emily Young, 1990
Mrill Ingram, 1991
Michael Castellon, 1992
Christian Brannstrom, 1992
Ellen Webber, 1993
Maya Kennedy, 1993
William Gartner (Co-Chair), 1993*
Joseph McCann, 1993*
Louis Carlo, 1995
Doctoral Dissertations Chaired (20)
Gade, Daniel, (Co-Chair), 1967, “Plant Use and Folk Agriculture in the Vilcanota Valley of Peru” (Published 1976); Deceased (June 15, 2015), formerly Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography, University of Vermont.
Nietschmann, Bernard, 1970, “Between Land and Water: The Subsistence Ecology of the Miskito Indians, Eastern Nicaragua” (Published 1973); Deceased (January 22, 2000), formerly Professor, Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley.
Byrne, Roger, 1972, “Man and the Variable Vulnerability of Island Life: A Study of Recent Vegetation Change in the Bahamas” (Published 1980); Deceased (March 11, 2018), formerly Emeritus Professor, Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley.
Bergman, Roland, 1974, “Shipibo Subsistence in the Upper Amazon Rainforest” (Published 1980); Department of Sociology and Geography, Shepherd University, West Virginia, retired 2018.
Turner II, B.L., 1974, “Prehistoric Intensive Agriculture in the Mayan Lowlands: New Evidence from the Río Bec Region” (Published 1983); currently, Professor, School of Sustainability and School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University.
Daum, Mary, 1977, “Land Amalgamation in Government Colonies in the Aroa Valley and Barinas Piedmont Regions of Venezuela;” formerly, Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York.
White, Stuart, 1981, “Moments in the Narrative Landscape of Highland Peru;” currently, Department of Geography, University of Vermont (Adjunct Assistant Professor) and General Coordinator of Fundación Cordillera Tropical, Ecuador.
Córdova, Hildegardo, 1982, “Negative Development: The Impact of a Road on the Agricultural System of Frías, Northwestern Peru;” currently, Professor, Humanities (Geography Section), Universidad Católica, Lima, Peru.
Knapp, Gregory, 1984, “Soil, Slope, and Water in the Equatorial Andes: A Study of Prehistoric Agricultural Adaptation” (Published 1991); currently, Associate Professor and Director, Sustainability Studies, Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Texas, Austin.
Mathewson, Kent, 1987, “Landscape Change and Cultural Persistence in the Guayas Wetlands, Ecuador;” currently, Professor, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University.
Treacy, John, 1989, “The Fields of Coporaque: Agricultural Terracing and Water Management in the Colca Valley, Arequipa, Peru” (Published 1994); Deceased (October 23, 1989), formerly George Washington University.
McGrath, David, 1989, “The Paraense Traders: Small-Scale, Long Distance Trade in the Brazilian Amazon;” currently, Deputy Director and Senior Scientist, Earth Innovation Institute, San Francisco, and Professor, Graduate Program in Society, Nature, and Development, Federal University of Western Pará, Brazil.
Coomes, Oliver, 1992, “Making a Living in the Amazon Rain Forest: Peasants, Land, and Economy in the Río Tahuayo River Basin, Peru;” currently, Professor, Department of Geography, McGill University.
Langstroth, Robert, 1996, “Forest Islands in an Amazonian Savanna of Northeastern Bolivia;” currently, Sector Senior Specialist, Environmental Safeguards Unit, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, D.C.
Greenberg, Laurie S.Z. (Geography and Land Resources), 1996, “You Are What You Eat: Ethnicity and Change in Yucatec Immigrant House Lots, Quintana Roo, Mexico;” currently, Owner, Cultural Landscapes LLC, Madison, WI.
Castellon, Michael, 1996, “Dynamics of Deforestation: Qeqchi-Maya Colonists in Guatemala’s Sierra de las Minas, 1964–1995;” Geography Faculty, Front Range Community College, Fort Collins, Colorado.
Giordani, Lourdes (Co-Chair, Anthropology), 1997, “Imagining Who We Were, Believing Who We Are: Ethnogenesis Among the Yabarana Indians of Venezuela;” formerly, teacher at a Navajo school in New Mexico; currently, staff member, Washington State University Health Professions Student Center.
Brooks, Sarah, 1998, “Prehistoric Agricultural Terraces in the Río Japo Basin, Colca Valley, Peru,” retired, formerly lecturer, Department of Geography, University of New Mexico.
Gartner, William (Co-Chair), 2003, “Raised Field Landscapes of Native North America;” currently, Senior Lecturer, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
McCann, Joseph M. (Co-Chair), 2004, “Subsidy from Culture: Anthropogenic Soils and Vegetation in Tapajônia, Brazilian Amazonia,” independent, New York, NY.
External Examiner, Doctoral Dissertations (3)
Gorecki, Powel, 1982. “Ethnoarchaeology at Kuk” (New Guinea); Anthropology, University of Sydney, Australia.
Erickson, Clark, 1988. “An Archaeological Investigation of Raised Field Agriculture in the Lake Titicaca Basin of Peru;” Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana.
Young, Emily, 1995. “Elusive Edens: Linking Local Needs to Nature Protection in the Coastal Lagoons of Baja California Sur, Mexico;” Geography, University of Texas, Austin
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Knapp, G.W. (2021). Being a Student of Bill Denevan Introducer: Gregory W. Knapp. In: WinklerPrins, A.M., Mathewson, K. (eds) Forest, Field, and Fallow. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42480-0_10
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