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A Magical Country : Stories From Appalachia., James Eric Leary 1977- Dec 2014

A Magical Country : Stories From Appalachia., James Eric Leary 1977-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fairy tales and other forms of fantastic literature have fascinated children and adults for generations. The scholarship on these types of works indicate that many find their folkloric origins in oral storytelling, and those roots may be quite ancient. However, some of the earliest examples of recorded literature capture stories of magic and fantasy. The interplay between the oral and literary form remains a significant area of study and development for folk literature, and new artistic productions, termed variants in the scholarship, continue to appear frequently in contemporary American culture. The criticism and creative work presented here add to the …


Eating In Opposition: Strategies Of Resistance Through Food In The Lives Of Rural Andean And Appalachian Mountain Women, Veronica A. Limeberry Dec 2014

Eating In Opposition: Strategies Of Resistance Through Food In The Lives Of Rural Andean And Appalachian Mountain Women, Veronica A. Limeberry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines ways in which rural mountain women of Andean Peru and southern Appalachia use their lived histories and food knowledge in ways that counter Cartesian epistemologies regarding national and international food systems. Using women’s fiction and cookbooks, this thesis examines how voice and narrative reclaim women’s spaces within food landscapes. Further, this thesis examines women’s non-profits and grassroots organizations to illustrate the ways in which rural mountain women expand upon their lived histories in ways that contribute to tangible solutions to poverty and hunger in rural mountainous communities. The primary objective of this thesis is to recover rural …


"I Came To America, Crying": Rebuilding A Life, Redefining The Self—Ethiopian Women Refugees In Denver (Colorado) (2012–2013), Barbara Guglielminotti Valetta Aug 2014

"I Came To America, Crying": Rebuilding A Life, Redefining The Self—Ethiopian Women Refugees In Denver (Colorado) (2012–2013), Barbara Guglielminotti Valetta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the challenges faced by Ethiopian women in the Denver community to reach harmony within their new social and cultural space and to examine what they feel they have lost and gained in their self-identity as a result of their immigration. Refugees face a multitude of dilemmas when they are compelled to relocate from their home countries to a new, foreign-host society. Ethiopian refugees have been arriving in the US since the 1970s and feel the uprootedness of being away from their homeland. Being uprooted is losing one’s culture and ways of life. …


Facing Crisis : Maintaining Class Status In Victorian Old Louisville., David Walter Schatz May 2014

Facing Crisis : Maintaining Class Status In Victorian Old Louisville., David Walter Schatz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The late Victorian era (1876-1915) was a time of economic and social crisis as America entered into the industrial age. Multiple economic crises including three market crashes and resulting depressions placed a strain on the economic viability of the growing middle classes. The changing nature of middle class work also created a social crisis as professionals and entrepreneurs were forced into clerk and managerial positions within the government and corporations to maintain their middle class lifestyle. One of the ways that middle class families mitigated the social and economic crises was to participate in the practice of segmented dining. Segmented …


Applications Of Gis Analyses And Ecological Approaches To Paleolithic Sites In Portugal., Christopher M. Sims May 2014

Applications Of Gis Analyses And Ecological Approaches To Paleolithic Sites In Portugal., Christopher M. Sims

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Developments in landscape approaches to archaeological research have been greatly advanced by the use of geospatial technologies. Despite this boon, certain questions remain where the spatial distributions of archaeological material are complicated by other factors. Geomorphic processes significantly hinder site survivability and visibility, and complicate fieldwork. Such is the case for Paleolithic archaeological sites in Portugal, where the current landscape has been drastically altered since Paleolithic human occupation at the Last Glacial Maximum. The challenge to landscape-scale approaches is to provide a bridge between long-term environmental factors and smaller-scale evidence for human-ecosystem interaction. This requires that adaptations be made to …


Natures And Wars : Neoliberal Discourse And The Contested Future Of East Kentucky., Shelly Annette Biesel 1986- May 2014

Natures And Wars : Neoliberal Discourse And The Contested Future Of East Kentucky., Shelly Annette Biesel 1986-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Coal mining has been Appalachian Kentucky’s keystone industry for over a century. However, in 2012 and 2013 coal production plummeted, driving industry employment to historic lows. In the wake of production declines, the coal lobby attests that President Obama is waging a “war on coal.” Drawing primarily from ethnographic data, this research offers a holistic and critical examination of the recent decline in coal production and concomitant narratives that have emerged in the wake of socio-economic uncertainty. I argue that “war on coal” discourses, informed by neoliberal philosophies, seek to conflate the region’s mining heritage with the coal industry’s desire …


Wealth And Acculturation: A Qualitative Study Of The Influence Of Wealth During Chinese International Students' Acculturation, Linshan Fu Mar 2014

Wealth And Acculturation: A Qualitative Study Of The Influence Of Wealth During Chinese International Students' Acculturation, Linshan Fu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the increasing number of Chinese international students coming to the United States every year, a more in-depth understanding of these international students’ acculturation is necessary and urgent. Given the fact that past researches mostly describe Chinese immigrants, migrates or international students as oppressed cultural adaptors, who cannot avoid being marginalized; who suffer from various adjusting problems; and who have to make use of acculturative strategies to adapt to the new country, this thesis takes the factor of wealth and its relation with class, status and power into account during Chinese international students’ acculturation under the globalized context. Instead of …


Chemical Differentiation Of Human Osseous, Non-Human Osseous, And Non-Osseous Materials Using Scanning Electron Microscopy - Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometry (Sem/Edx) And Multivariate Statistical Analysis, Cayli Meizel-Lambert Jan 2014

Chemical Differentiation Of Human Osseous, Non-Human Osseous, And Non-Osseous Materials Using Scanning Electron Microscopy - Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometry (Sem/Edx) And Multivariate Statistical Analysis, Cayli Meizel-Lambert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identification of osseous materials is generally established on gross anatomical factors; however, highly fragmented or taphonomically altered materials are often problematic and alternative methods, such as biological, histological, or chemical analysis, must be utilized. Recently, chemical methods have been proposed to sort unknown materials according to their Ca/P ratios. Ubelaker and colleagues (2002) proposed using SEM/EDX to achieve this distinction and Christensen and colleagues (2012) have validated X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF) for this application. An alternative method of analysis involves performing principal component analysis (PCA) on element spectra to classify unknown materials based on their trace element composition. Zimmerman (2013) …


A Spatial Analysis Of Chachapoya Mortuary Practices At La Petaca, Chachapoyas, Peru, Lori Epstein Jan 2014

A Spatial Analysis Of Chachapoya Mortuary Practices At La Petaca, Chachapoyas, Peru, Lori Epstein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Diversity of Chachapoya mortuary practices is not well understood archaeologically, even though the region has received some attention for the monumental constructions and visually striking mortuary complexes located high on open cliff faces. This may be due to the difficult accessibility and often poor state of preservation consistent with many Chachapoya mortuary and occupation sites. This thesis reconstructs mortuary practices at La Petaca in the Chachapoyas region of Peru, applying paleodemographic and GIS methodological approaches to facilitate and improve the bioarchaeological study of commingled skeletal remains in an open, disturbed communal funerary context. Research focused on SUP CF-01, a natural …


Catholic Healing Masses: Intersections Of Health And Healing In Yucatan, Suzanne Draper Jan 2014

Catholic Healing Masses: Intersections Of Health And Healing In Yucatan, Suzanne Draper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The conception of illness and healing in contemporary Mexican Catholic discourse highlights both particular and ubiquitous instances of a health experience perceived locally and widespread. Catholic healing masses are utilized as supplemental methods of individual health restoration coupled with Western medicinal techniques in Catholic dramas. Aside from the spiritual and religious significance of this practice, the use of healing masses as an additional means to achieving an optimal health status implies that something is lacking in current biomedical models. The purpose of my research is to explore the humanistic terms under which healing masses operate and translate these terms into …


Chert Tool Production And Exchange At Two Late Postclassic Coastal Maya Households, Marc Marino Jan 2014

Chert Tool Production And Exchange At Two Late Postclassic Coastal Maya Households, Marc Marino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chert tool production and exchange has long been studied for the Maya Preclassic to Terminal Classic Periods of Northern Belize (1000 B.C.-A.D. 950). It is increasingly clear that lithic systems of production and exchange were an integral part of the economic environment for this region, yet lithic research pertaining to the Maya Postclassic Period (A.D. 950-1530) is not well represented in the general literature. A recent examination of 110 chert, chalcedony, and obsidian small side-notched projectile points and point preforms, as well as 2,163 pieces of associated production debitage from two Late Postclassic households at Santa Rita Corozal, Belize, has …


Traversing The Terrain: A Least Cost Analysis On Intersite Causeways In The Maya Region, Alexander Rivas Jan 2014

Traversing The Terrain: A Least Cost Analysis On Intersite Causeways In The Maya Region, Alexander Rivas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study of ancient Maya causeways is crucial for understanding Maya social and spatial organization. Archaeologists have been interested in Maya causeways for decades, specifically documenting their locations. More recently, the use of Geographic Information Systems, or GIS, has been used for understanding the spatial organization of archaeological sites. GIS analyses on ancient Maya causeways however have been very limited. This thesis aims to evaluate ancient Maya causeways through GIS analysis. Specifically, five intersite causeway systems are looked at: the Mirador Basin, Yaxuna-Coba-Ixil, Uxmal-Nohpat-Kabah, Ake-Izamal-Kantunil, and Uci-Kancab-Ukana- Cansahcab. These causeway systems were evaluated using least-cost paths based on the terrain. …


Sharing Aloha On The Mainland: Cultural Identity And Connecting To Heritage Through Commercial Luau Shows In Central Florida, Brittany Hoback Jan 2014

Sharing Aloha On The Mainland: Cultural Identity And Connecting To Heritage Through Commercial Luau Shows In Central Florida, Brittany Hoback

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Polynesian luau is one of the most well-known examples of cultural tourism. As such, it has accrued plenty of criticism, from issues of authenticity to primitivizing stereotypes and bodily framing. Lost in these critiques, however, are the voices of Polynesian performers who have chosen to participate in this form of cultural presentation. Based on ethnographic research with Polynesian performers employed in tourist luau shows in Orlando, Florida, from 2012 to 2014, I argue that not only are performers presenting their culture in a way that is meaningful for them and their audience, but that they are also using their …


Investigating Town Design And Social Organization At Port Tobacco, Maryland, Through The Use Of Archaeology And Geophysics, Peter Craig Quantock Jan 2014

Investigating Town Design And Social Organization At Port Tobacco, Maryland, Through The Use Of Archaeology And Geophysics, Peter Craig Quantock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the connection between town planning and social organization at the small town site of Port Tobacco in south-central Charles County, Maryland from the beginning of the 18th century through to the end of the 19th century. By employing a methodology of both geophysical techniques and archaeological excavations, I was able to locate and map numerous structures and features associated with town planning and examine how these spaces were used. This data was used to show how social order, power, and wealth transformed the town layout from a linear settlement along the river into a grid-like pattern. Specifically, …


Representing Race Responsibly: A Case Study Of The Social Responsibility Paradigm In Colorado Museums, Angela Rueda Jan 2014

Representing Race Responsibly: A Case Study Of The Social Responsibility Paradigm In Colorado Museums, Angela Rueda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although museums have moved towards more reflexive practice, misrepresentation continues to be a concern. How then can museums successfully represent racial and ethnic groups that have historically been marginalized or misrepresented? In this thesis I argue that with greater integration of the social responsibility paradigm--which argues that museums can be agents of social change-- museums may be able to improve representation. During the summer of 2013, I conducted field research that explored how the social responsibility paradigm was or was not being enacted at The History Colorado Center and Museo de las Americas. This thesis offers a critical analysis of …


Beyond Donors And Dollars: An Ethnographic Case Study Of International Aid And Its Agents In Mozambique, Carly Amanda Santoro Jan 2014

Beyond Donors And Dollars: An Ethnographic Case Study Of International Aid And Its Agents In Mozambique, Carly Amanda Santoro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Mozambique, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) work mainly in Mozambique's rural areas, with programs dedicated to the prevention of infectious diseases, education, access to food and clean water, gender equity, and many other concerns. Yet despite these efforts, Mozambican populations are critical of NGOs' missions and practices, and Mozambique remains one of the poorest countries in the world. To explore these issues concerning contradictions in aid in Mozambique, I employ the concept of cultural capital, which refers to cultural practices, perspectives, and beliefs in relation to one's ability to access symbolic and material goods. My thesis examines the degree to …


Hohokam Population Dynamics: Settlement Organization And Migration At The Sabino Canyon Ruin Site, Arizona, Daniel Shereff Jan 2014

Hohokam Population Dynamics: Settlement Organization And Migration At The Sabino Canyon Ruin Site, Arizona, Daniel Shereff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Hohokam people occupied the southern Arizona desert for more than one thousand years from approximately 450 A.D. to 1450 A.D. Beginning approximately 1100 A.D., the Hohokam underwent a dramatic cultural change. This change was reflected in many aspects of the Hohokam way of life including architecture, trade, subsistence, and ceramic production. Contemporaneous with these changes, there was an influx of people from the north who migrated into the Tucson Basin. The archaeological record of several Classic Period sites in the Tucson Basin demonstrates the presence of locally produced non-native ceramic styles. The Sabino Canyon Ruin site, located on the …


Bankruptcy Stigma: A Socio-Legal Study, Michael D. Sousa Jan 2014

Bankruptcy Stigma: A Socio-Legal Study, Michael D. Sousa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For as long as the institution of bankruptcy has existed, legal commentators have debated whether it is appropriate for debtors to experience some social stigma upon filing for personal bankruptcy--that is, whether it serves the goals of bankruptcy law for debtors to feel shame. While this issue has been extensively discussed as a theoretical matter, to date no legal commentator or scholar has examined the question as an empirical matter: do debtors in fact associate feelings of shame with filing for bankruptcy, and, if so, why (or why not)? This article, for the first time, undertakes precisely this inquiry. Specifically, …


Welcome Home Ranch Rockshelter: Examinations Of Prehistoric Cultural Transitions In The Palmer Divide, Colorado, Katherine V. Mayo Jan 2014

Welcome Home Ranch Rockshelter: Examinations Of Prehistoric Cultural Transitions In The Palmer Divide, Colorado, Katherine V. Mayo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Welcome Home Ranch rockshelter is located in the Palmer Divide region of Colorado. The archaeological evidence on site suggests that this rockshelter was occupied between the Late Archaic period (c. 1000 BC – AD 150) and Early Ceramic period (c. AD 150- 1150). Excavations at Welcome Home Ranch provided a dataset of lithics, ceramics, and features with which to test ideas about prehistoric life during this transitional time frame between the Archaic stage and the Late Prehistoric stage. It is during this transitional time period, c. AD 150, that the Palmer Divide region and its prehistoric residents experienced a variable …


Resource Sovereignty: The Indigenous Value Of Mount Rainier Within Activities Of Traditional Resource Harvesting, Samantha Joan Nemecek Jan 2014

Resource Sovereignty: The Indigenous Value Of Mount Rainier Within Activities Of Traditional Resource Harvesting, Samantha Joan Nemecek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Nisqually, Puyallup, Muckleshoot, Cowlitz, and Yakama Indian Tribes historically utilized the plant resources of Mount Rainier until the National Park Service established Mount Rainier National Park in 1899. Since 1992 there have been formal, written requests by these Tribes to revitalize the harvest of these culturally significant plant resources in their original collection location. Through archival analysis, participant observation, and interviews with Indigenous consultants, I investigated the impetus for these requests and furthermore the role of Mount Rainier in tribally relevant plant harvesting. Data indicates a lack of plant resource monitoring in the United States Forest Service has resulted …


Understanding Strawberry Plains Through Landscape Archaeology, Leeanne Wendt Jan 2014

Understanding Strawberry Plains Through Landscape Archaeology, Leeanne Wendt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Strawberry Plains is a site that is located in Marshall County, Mississippi and is comprised of Woodland, Chickasaw, antebellum, and postbellum components. The focus of this thesis was placed on the postbellum time period. The information presented here is intended to give a comprehensive view into the lives of the sharecroppers that resided and worked on Strawberry Plains during the early to mid-twentieth century and also understand the economic relationship between them and the landowner. Also of importance to this project was the placement of the houses and their dispersed pattern across the landscape and comparing this pattern to other …


Language And Museums: Supporting Alaska Native Languages Through Collaborative Networking, Heather J. Mcclain Jan 2014

Language And Museums: Supporting Alaska Native Languages Through Collaborative Networking, Heather J. Mcclain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the ever-increasing risk of language loss and possible extinction of the world's Indigenous languages, museums are quickly becoming active supporters and valuable resources for communities engaged in revitalization initiatives. Although working with language material is inherently difficult for museums because of their traditionally object based nature, it is imperative for museums to focus on the documentation and preservation of language as intangible cultural heritage (ICH) because of the vital connection between language and culture. This thesis examines how museums in Alaska, particularly the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center, Alaska Office, are supporting Alaska Native language and cultural revitalization through collaborative …


Childhood Growth In An Oneota Community: Examining Long Bone Growth Differences In The The Juveniles At Norris Farms 36, Whitney Broughton Jan 2014

Childhood Growth In An Oneota Community: Examining Long Bone Growth Differences In The The Juveniles At Norris Farms 36, Whitney Broughton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Oneota migration into the central Illinois River valley around ad 1300 resulted in a number of different interactions with Mississippian groups. Milner and colleagues (1991) identified significant numbers of perimortem injuries at the Norris farms 36 cemetery, along with biological markers for poor health, such as cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis. They suggested that the threat of violence may have forced the Oneonta at Morton village to limit subsistence activities to circumscribed areas close to the settlement, thereby reducing the resource base and negatively impacting the health of the community. However, recent research (Bengtson et al. 2012; Bengtson and O'Gorman …


From The Mouths Of Mississippian: Determining Biological Affinity Between The Oliver Site (22-Co-503) And The Hollywood Site (22-Tu-500), Hanna Stewart Jan 2014

From The Mouths Of Mississippian: Determining Biological Affinity Between The Oliver Site (22-Co-503) And The Hollywood Site (22-Tu-500), Hanna Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Mississippian period in the American Southeast was a period of immense interaction between polities as a result of vast trade networks, regional mating networks which included spousal exchange, chiefdom collapse, and endemic warfare. This constant interaction is reflected not only in the cultural materials but also in the genetic composition of the inhabitants of this area. Despite constant interaction, cultural restrictions prevented polities from intermixing and coalescent groups under the same polity formed subgroups grounded in their own identity as a result unique histories (Harle 2010; Milner 2006). As a result, phenetic similarities and differences are not homogenized. In …


I Am See-Through: Participatory Video Making As A Method For Social Change In The Mississippi Delta, Paige Prather Jan 2014

I Am See-Through: Participatory Video Making As A Method For Social Change In The Mississippi Delta, Paige Prather

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis traces my application of critical participatory video scholarship to the development of a teen video documentary course that I facilitated during my graduate school tenure at the Tutwiler Community Education Center in the Mississippi Delta. Since at least the 1960s, documentarians have utilized participatory video methodologies as a way to tackle social issues through a ground-up approach in which community members play a vital role in the production of documentary projects. The development and application of participatory video varies greatly across disciplines including radical documentary filmmaking, visual studies, developmental studies, and emerging social media studies. Over the years, …


Bioarchaeological Assessment Of Diet And Changes In Femoral And Humeral Stable Isotopic Values Among Subadults At Medieval Alytus, Lithuania., Katherine Page Jan 2014

Bioarchaeological Assessment Of Diet And Changes In Femoral And Humeral Stable Isotopic Values Among Subadults At Medieval Alytus, Lithuania., Katherine Page

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Establishing a chronology of variation in isotopic values can reveal frailty associated with biological and social age, as well as highlight individuals who vary from typical patterns. Although general dietary characteristics and infant feeding practices were previously unknown for subadults excavated from the cemetery at Alytus, Lithuania (14th-18th centuries), previous research concludes that Alytus' subadults experienced high rates of physiological, metabolic, non-specific stress, in addition to specific diseases like tuberculosis. To investigate nuanced relationships between diet and mortality, nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes from the femoral and humeral midshaft diaphyses of 70 subadults (32 weeks gestation to16 years) were analyzed. …


Diet At Medieval Alytus, Lithuania: Stable Carbon And Nitrogen Isotope Analysis Of Bone And Dentin Collagen, Katie Whitmore Jan 2014

Diet At Medieval Alytus, Lithuania: Stable Carbon And Nitrogen Isotope Analysis Of Bone And Dentin Collagen, Katie Whitmore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Baltic region was a vibrant center of power and economic prosperity in medieval Europe; Lithuania in particular. Until now, little stable isotopic analysis has been utilized to assess diet in this region during this time period. The aim of this study was to undertake a preliminary assessment of the composition of diet at late medieval Alytus (late 14th to early 18th centuries) from bone (N=35) and dentin (N=38) collagen samples. The stable carbon isotopic data suggest a diet primarily comprised of C3 plants such as barley, rye, wheat, and flax, and animals consuming C3 plants. The stable nitrogen isotopic …


Speaking With The Orishas: Divination And Propitiation In The Lukumi Religion, Kristi Marrero Jan 2014

Speaking With The Orishas: Divination And Propitiation In The Lukumi Religion, Kristi Marrero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Lucumi religion was born in Cuba from African and European religious systems. The enslaved Yoruba were brought to the New World through the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. They were taken from their homes, family, language, and religion and brought to countries like Cuba to provide free labor to growing agricultural markets that benefited European colonizers of the Americas. The Yoruba would hold on to their religion, but in order to keep it alive, they would have to make it into a new religion. This new religion would become the religion known as Lucumi. In Cuba, Lucumi practitioners would hide their …


Cohonina Social Organization And The Role Of Forts In Integration And Interaction: A View From The Pittsberg Community., Travis Brent Cureton Jan 2014

Cohonina Social Organization And The Role Of Forts In Integration And Interaction: A View From The Pittsberg Community., Travis Brent Cureton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the role of "forts" in the sociopolitical organization of a prehistoric people known as the Cohonina through the application of settlement systems analysis and functional studies. The primary objective of this thesis is to test ideas of Cohonina sociopolitical organization through an examination of the functional characteristics of forts and their positions on the landscape using a combination of theory derived from settlement and landscape archaeology, deployed in a geographic information system work environment. A Cohonina fort site known as the Pittsberg Fort Complex, was placed in its community context through broad scale survey. Artifact, architectural, and …


An Archaeological Investigation Into The Cluskey Embankment Stores, Andrew B. Ayala Jan 2014

An Archaeological Investigation Into The Cluskey Embankment Stores, Andrew B. Ayala

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Between November 2012 and June 2013 Georgia Southern University conducted an archaeological investigation into the Cluskey Embankment Stores (9CH1352) on behalf of the City of Savannah, Georgia. The project was first initiated by the Earl T. Shinhoster Youth Leadership Institute over a concern of how the vaults were being used. Members of the Shinhoster organization went before City Council and proposed an archaeological investigation of the Vaults. The City Council supported to the proposal and the City’s Research Library & Municipal Archives contacted Dr. Sue Moore of Georgia Southern University to conduct an archaeological investigation of the site. The Cluskey …