Digital Commons Network^™

Who Counts As A Citizen? Toward An Interdisciplinary Understanding Of Statelessness, Cole S. Kovarik

Nebraska Anthropologist

This paper highlights several limitations of the dominant legal framework for addressing statelessness and incorporates sociological understandings of citizenship and nationality into a revised approach to the issue. The analysis examines various national group dynamics surrounding the issue of statelessness for the Rohingya of Myanmar and concludes that legal citizenship status is neither the sole cause of nor the sole solution for the crisis that has emerged. It concludes with an assessment of the social dynamics that lead to statelessness and recommendations for future research.

A Social Inquiry On Theory In American Archaeology: Through The Lens On A Non-American Cultural Anthropologist, Mayo Buenafe

Nebraska Anthropologist

The following article is the author's treatise on the imperative for explicit theoretical use in North American archaeological approaches and research by critically assessing the views of Michelle Hegmon 's (2003:213-243) "Setting Theoretical Egos Aside: Issues and Theory in North American Archaeology" and Matthew Johnson's (2010:216-235) conclusions on the future of theory seen in Archaeological Theory: An Introduction, 2^nd ed. This commentary discusses theory development in North American Archaeology as a discipline and advocates for the explicit use of theory in North American Archaeological research. A critical analysis of American archaeology is discussed through an assessment of common themes, …

Statement Analysis Of The Dunbar Letters To The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions, Amanda F. Callahan-Mims

Nebraska Anthropologist

Statement analysis is used by forensic investigators to evaluate the truthfulness of written and verbal statements. Currently, it is most commonly used on contemporary documents to search for deception; often, these inquiries focus on persons under investigation for a crime. Recently, the use of statistical formulae was introduced to the field of forensic linguistics. Although initially limited primarily to law enforcement, implementation of forensic procedures such as statement analysis has since produced successful results within the field of archaeology. It thus seems likely that linguistic analysis may produce favorable results when applied to historic documents.

Excavating First-Person Accounts Of The Whitman Mission Massacre, Tamara J. Luce

Nebraska Anthropologist

A potential tool that can be utilized by historic archaeologists to locate and interpret archaeological sites is historic documents. One example of the ability to use documents to understand an archaeological site is the study the massacre that took place at the Whitman/Waiilatpu Mission, aformer Protestant mission near present day Walla Walla, Washington. While the fact that a massacre took place at the mission is well known, exactly how the events of that day unfolded are unclear. First-person accounts of the massacre hold the most promise for understanding what took place that day, and can be used to help plan …

The Legal Pluralism Phenomenon: Emerging Issues On Protecting And Preserving The Sacred Ifugao Bulul, Mayo Buenafe

Nebraska Anthropologist

Legal Pluralism is a pervasive social phenomenon encompassing issues relevant to the protection and preservation of indigenous peoples' intellectual and cultural properties. This study focuses on the sacred lfugao bulul or lfugao rice granary guardian spirit, which is being sold and traded as antiques, cultural properties, and tourist souvenirs. The sacred lfugao bulul is studied as an intellectual and cultural property and explores how it can be authenticated, preserved, and protected within three legal systems: Customary Law (lfugao rituals, beliefs, and practices), State Law (Cultural Properties Protection and Preservation Act or P.D. 374), and International Law (Intellectual Property Code of …

Grave Vows: A Cross-Cultural Examination Of The Varying Forms Of Ghost Marriage Among Five Societies, Lucas J. Schwartze

Nebraska Anthropologist

Marriage is one of the most ubiquitous social relationships in human societies. However, the forms this institution takes do not follow the same patterns across all cultures. This paper examines one of the rarer forms of marriage; ghost marriage. After introducing the societies that practice this rare form of marriage, the similarities and differences between the forms this practice takes are examined. Various scholarly explanations for this form of marriage are presented as well.

Collective Memory Of The Prehistoric Past And The Archaeological Landscape, Cynthia J. Wiley

Nebraska Anthropologist

The crossroads of archaeological investigation and indigenous oral tradition are ripe with potential for increased interaction between archaeologists and Native Americans. This interaction may become increasingly mandated in the future as NAGPRA affects excavations and material culture collections. Currently this body of information is not being fully utilized. However, as examples of chronologically lengthy prehistoric memory develop, including myths and traditions related to Pleistocene mammals, archaeologists must be prepared to incorporate this information into research designs and interpretations. Strong (1934) and Echo-Hawk (2000) provide a way to critique and organize oral tradition for analysis. Archaeologists must build on this foundation …

Cultural Identity And Continuity At The Missions Of New Spain: Examining The Native American Experience At The Spanish Missions Of Texas, William E. Altizer

Nebraska Anthropologist

The Roman Catholic missions of New Spain were an essential component of the Spanish colonial enterprise, and the effects of the missionization process on the Native American populations of the Americas were profound. How did these native populations respond to the new imperatives of colonization and religious conversion? In what ways were they able to maintain their cultural identity under the mission system? This paper examines the ways in which archaeology can address these questions of cultural continuity, with particular emphasis on the eighteenth-century Spanish missions of San Antonio, Texas.

The Past Is How We Present It: Nationalism And Archaeology In Italy From Unification To Wwii, Andrew P. Mcfeaters

Nebraska Anthropologist

Between the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, Italian archaeology was greatly influenced by nationalism. The political use of archaeology by the Italian government can be seen in the years following unification and even more so when Benito Mussolini came to power, determined to make a new Italy modeled after the Roman Empire. He planned to do this by enforcing the adoption of ancient Roman culture, but also by resurrecting the Roman past through various archaeological projects to remind the Italians of their heritage. This goal guaranteed a nationalistic approach to the …

Conceptions Of Humor: Lakota (Sioux), Koestlerian, And Computational, Benjamin Grant Purzycki

Nebraska Anthropologist

The Lakota (Sioux) sacred clowns (heyoka) of traditional religious practice offer a glimpse of the clown phenomenon found in many of the world's indigenous traditions. By illustrating the unified Lakota and Western conceptions of humor, the logic of how particular entities of the natural environment are understood as relatives according to Lakota thought is brought to light in hopes of introducing the idea that such insights were not only statements or observations about the external, physical world, but also about the internal or mental world.

There Is No Alternative To Tribalism, Denny Gayton

Nebraska Anthropologist

Tribal traditions and the western scientific tradition are not investigated for congruency or correspondences. The tribal order of the universe concerns itself with wholeness while the western order, in comparison, is fragmented The tribal order is introduced first through correspondences alluding to physics. The feature that both the tribal order and the western order, through modern physics, will speak to is reductionistic-externalistic mechanism The relativity and quantum theories illustrate inadequacy with mechanism; a feature central to the tribal Lakota order, wakan, is used to bring both theories together through its internal, qualitative nature. The tribal order clearly has no issues …

Theory Of Mind In Chimpanzees: A Rationalist Approach, Benjamin Grant Purzycki

Nebraska Anthropologist

The question of whether or not chimpanzees possess the ability to mentally represent others' mental states has been a popular question since Premack and Woodruff (1978) originally asked the question. It is well established that humans have a theory of mind (ToM), but extending this psychological faculty to our evolutionary cousins has created a massive amount of literature and research attempting to resolve this issue. Such a resolution is arguably not possible given the nature of the debate. An Either/Or approach to chimpanzee theory of mind both ignores the essential components of ToM as well as foreclosing on the possibility …

Omaha Metals, Coinage, And Syntax: Outside Influence?, Rory Larson

Nebraska Anthropologist

A study of acculturation terms for metals and money in Omaha and some of the neighboring native languages related to it sheds light upon the historical circumstances in which these terms were coined

Native American Survival In A Colonial United States, Charles Marr

Nebraska Anthropologist

The persecution of Native Americans in the United States has not yet come to an end. There are many policies still in place that lead to the reduction of the unique culture of the Native Americans. This can have disastrous impacts for their own survival and well being. These policies reduce their language, culture, selfdetermination, their knowledge of the environment, and increases their poverty. The United States government can help to solve these problems by eliminating the Bureau of Indian Affairs and forming a think-tank that would be composed of Tribal leaders, lawyers who specialize in Native American Law, and …

A Study Of Sign Language In Clump Anzees, Kelli Bacon

Nebraska Anthropologist

One of the hot topics in anthropology concerns the debate over chimpanzee communicative and lingual abilities. This paper will offer evidence gatheredfrom studies by Allen and Beatrice Gardner, Roger Fouts, Maury and Jane Temerlin, Herbert S. Terrace, T G. Bever, and Sheri Roush who all used American Sign Language (Ameslan) to teach their students Washoe, Lucy, Bruno, Booee, Cindy, Thelma, Nim, Moja, Pili, Tatu, Dar, Loulis, and Ally. Each of the studies lfas tailored differently, but many of the results were the same. This, in itself, might be evidence for some level of lingual ability, but some scholars such as …

An Exploration Of Possible Causes Of High Dropout Rates In Native American Reservation Schools, Mary Cornelius

Nebraska Anthropologist

Native American reservation schools have significantly higher dropout rates and lower graduation rates than the national average. Significant problems behind high dropout rates on Native American reservations in the United States include poverty, lack of support from elders and differing expectations and ways of communicating between teachers and students in the classroom. The history of Native American education includes many efforts at assimilation and the destruction of native cultural practices and languages. This still impedes today 's youth in that many elders still see schooling as a tool of assimilation and do not encourage or support success in what they …

The Fact And Fiction Of Vikings In America, Karri L. Springer

Nebraska Anthropologist

Many people do not fully understand the stories, history, archaeology or evidence for Viking presence in North America. This paper evaluates the stories against the scientific evidence found to date. Archaeologists, although qualified to discuss all sides of the arguments, rarely do, because of the lack of career rewards for doing so. However, the problems associated with hoaxes should be important to all archaeologists interested in maintaining credibility with the public. Viking legends are well suited for such evaluation. The Kensington runestone hoax is emphasized in this evaluation while other Viking hoaxes are overviewed. Relevant evidence from archaeological sites in …

Winter Counts As Possible Precursors To Writing, Petra Eccarius

Nebraska Anthropologist

Native Americans of the Great Plains did not have a formal system of writing. These groups did, however, have various types of graphical representation. One such example is the Siouan winter counts, pictures recorded once each winter on buffalo hide (or later on cloth) which served as mnemonic devices for a partial oral history and calendar of the group to which it belonged. Scholars often study the subject matter of these counts in order to gain historic or cultural information about Native groups. Despite the facts that only one important or unusual event is depicted each year, and that the …

Humankind's Greatest Gift: On The Innateness Of Language, Tina Brown

Nebraska Anthropologist

Although the environment has an effect on the quality of language development, the fact that language is limited to the human species, that neurological structures of the brain specialize in language functions, and that universal characteristics of language and language development occur independently of environmental factors suggests that human language has a definite biological component.

National Language Policy In The United States: A Holistic Perspective, Cody L. Knutson

Nebraska Anthropologist

English is not the official national language of the United States of America. However, this issue has often come to the forefront of many political debates, since language encompasses a wide array of political, economic and various other social implications. Acknowledging the right to the retention of local culture, a historical and cross-cultural study of language policy is interpreted to justify a limitation on the number of languages at the national political level if flexibility is maintained for individual states to adjust to the needs of their constituencies.

Nebraska Anthropologist Volume 12: 1995-1996 Table Of Contents

Nebraska Anthropologist

AN HONORING

03 Dorothy M. McEwen: An Appreciation (Peter Bleed)

1995 ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELD SCHOOL

05 Summer 1995 Field School: An Overview (Emilia Clements-Gonzalez)

07 The Effects of a Long-Term Drought on the Economic Roles of Hacendado and
Ejidatario Women in a Mexican Ejido (Jodi L Biskup and Darcy L. Boellstorff)

15 The Ethnobotany of a Mestizo Village (Christina A. Pereira)

ARTICLES

31 Environmental Resources and Range Size: A Study of Modem and Ancient Hunter Gathers (George H. MacDonell)

47 Women in Development: The Need for a Grassroots Gender Planning Approach (Darcy L. Boellstorff)

57 Geophagy: Adaptive or Aberrant Behavior? (David …

Postmodernism And Anthropology, Elisabeth R. Gaines

Nebraska Anthropologist

Postmodem anthropology questions the authority of the objective participant observer, yet eludes a precise definition. Many different experimental approaches comprise the postmodern stand, and represents a diversion from interpretive anthropology. Deconstructionists peel away the layers of subjectivity from written text derived from observation. The movement presently resides in a whirlwind of conflicting opinions conceming the postmodem style of ethnography. One of these styles, inclusive of anything and everything, conveys a chaotic message, but lacks a truly holistic quality. Some postmodem critics believe the key to fundamental meaning lies in a historical perspective where the subtleties of interpretation and writing are …

Some Questions About Anthropological Linguistics: The Role Of The Native (A Review Of A Critical Analysis By Michael L. Blake), Kenneth Hale

Nebraska Anthropologist

The author seems to be greatly concerned about current trends within his profession of Anthropological Linguistics. He has made some extremely valid observations and some equally valid suggestions to reconstruct the field of Linguistics in order to deal with pertinent problems of today.

Hale views Anthropology as a product of its origin. He believes that it is constrained by the limitations of a white Anglo-Saxon denomination in the field, in academic endeavors, and more precisely in its most important aspect, it's application. In particular he attacks the idea that non-native speakers, as objective observers, are more successful. The probable cause …

Claude Levi-Strauss: The Man And His Works, Susan M. Voss

Nebraska Anthropologist

"Claude Levi-Strauss, Professor of Social Anthropology at the College de France, is, by common consent, the most distinguished exponent of this particular academic trade to be found anywhere outside the English speaking world... " (Leach 1970: 7)

With this in mind, I am still wondering how I came to be embroiled in an attempt not only to understand the multifaceted theorizing of Levi-Strauss myself, but to interpret even a portion of this wide inventory to my colleagues. There is much (the majority, perhaps) of Claude Levi-Strauss which eludes me yet. To quote Edmund Leach again, "The outstanding characteristic of his …

The Nebraska Anthropologist Volume 3 (1977) Contents

Nebraska Anthropologist

Introduction ............ ii

CLIMATIC CHANGE AND THE INITIAL MIDDLE MISSOURI TRADITION (David L. Cook) ............ 1

THE GRANT ONEOTA VILLAGE (Marshall McKusick, Reviewed by Carol Raish) ............ 17

LEVI-STRAUSS: THE MAN AND HIS WORKS (Susan M. Voss) ............ 21

SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS: THE ROLE OF THE NATIVE (Kenneth Hale, Reviewed by Michael L. Blake) ............ 39

PERSONAL AND EXTRAPERSONAL VISION IN ANTHROPOLOGY (Robert Jay, Reviewed by David C. Dominik) ............ 41

COUNTER CULTURE AND CULTURAL HEGEMONY: SOME NOTES ON THE YOUTH REBELLION OF THE 1960's (A. Norman Klein, Reviewed by Patrick F. McCarty) ............ 45

THE LIFE AND …

Opportunities For Museum Research In Anthropology: Are They Really Dead Or Were They Only Sleeping?, Arthur H. Wolf

Nebraska Anthropologist

The decline of anthropological research in museums has been in part attributed to the changing goals of anthropology and the increase in the numbers of university anthropology departments. In recent years many suggestions for increasing museum research potentials have been put forward by Anthropologists interested in its resurgence. An increasing cooperation between museums and university departments is seen as a necessary condition for this resurgence and could lead to more programs which include and train museum anthropologists.