Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Chinese Economic Behavior In Southeast Asia: A Historical And Cultural Overview Of The Migration Patterns, Culture, And Business Practices Of The Chinese Diaspora In Southeast Asia, Zachary Szklarz

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

For hundreds of years, ethnic Chinese have set sail in hopes of peace and economic prosperity in Southeast Asia. Over time, these immigrants became paramount to the culture, economies, and politics of their newfound homes. The immense success of these Chinese migrants and their descendants is based on two main factors: maintaining in-group preference in business and social life without explicit discrimination towards outsiders and holding individuals who have achieved wealth through ethical Confucianist means in high esteem. Unique among diaspora groups, the emigrants from China managed to become fully integrated in their adoptive homelands, while still maintaining traditional customs, …

Puerto Rican Haplogroup Distribution: A Taíno History, Paige Mackenzie Williams

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The extent to which Puerto Rico’s indigenous communities resisted, survived, and were transformed by colonization is unclear despite extensive ethnohistorical research. Historical claims of extinction are attributed to colonial census information but are strongly opposed by islanders who claim Indigenous Taíno ancestry (Nieves-Colón et al. 2019). Ethnic composition of Puerto Ricans is primarily European, African, and Indigenous and these compositions reflect migrations and admixture. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is of vast importance, as it permits tracing of the maternal line through a common female ancestor. In this, investigation of Indigenous haplogroup frequencies and their importance and relevance in Puerto Rican genetic …

Barriers To Outdoor Recreation For Marginalized Groups At The University Of Montana, Sabine R. Englert, Beatrix Frissell, Adrienne Liebert, Sophia Rodriquez, Margaret Jensen, Rachana Harris, Abby Doss

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Exclusion from outdoor recreation reflects legacies of oppression of marginalized communities and makes access to the outdoors not equally available. In the United States, approximately 38% of Black Americans and 48% of Hispanic Americans participated in outdoor recreation in 2020. This is compared to 55% participation among Caucasian Americans. Many other intersecting identities are actively excluded, including people with disabilities, fat populations, and members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community; furthermore, class-based hierarchies are shown through the restricted outdoor access of low-income populations.

While numerous studies show a lack of diversity in outdoor recreation, little to no research has been conducted on …

Ancient Migrations In West Mexico: Mtdna Analyses, Patricio Gutiérrez Ruano

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite the mounting evidence that suggests The Aztatlán tradition in West Mexico was a major cosmopolitan region during the Postclassic period (AD 900-1521) with connections to the rest of what is now Mexico, archaeologists have characterized items in West Mexico as culturally distinct from the rest of Mesoamerica. Recently, endogenous, and exogenous material culture has been interpreted as movement and exchange of goods and ideas between subregions and surrounding areas, all of which mention physical contact and trade were involved between Aztatlán and elsewhere. This has included interacting with areas as far as the U.S. Southwest, as well as in …

“How Do We Carry All These Stories On Our Backs?” An Investigation Of Violence In Native American Literature As Seen In The Works Of James Welch, Joy Harjo, & Louise Erdrich, Madison R. Hinrichs

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Traversing Paradigms: An Environmental Journey To Body And Mind, Martin Ceja Mejia

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Traumatic life experiences altered the way I perceive the world. As a result, I embark on a journey to reshape my relationship to self, the built and natural world; to environment. In this thesis I ask: How do I want to relate to the environment? Considering I am a doubly colonized agent, I also aim to decolonize my relationship to environment along the process. Therefore, this work aims to formulate a new, personal, relationship to environment through academic literature, history, psychology, Indigenous knowledge and science, and literary studies, among other fields of knowledge. This work is interdisciplinary in nature; life …

Demonstratives In Nsélišcn ‘Montana Salish’, Aspen A. Decker

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis presents a detailed analysis of the Nsélišcn ‘Montana Salish’ demonstrative system. I propose that there are three features encoded in the demonstratives that I examined in this thesis: (i) proximity of the speaker in relation to the referent, (ii) common ground between the speaker and addressee, and (iii) visibility of the referent. I further propose that the Nsélišcn demonstrative system distinguishes three degrees of proximity: proximal, medial, and distal. Nsélišcn is a member of the Southern Interior branch of the Salishan language family. The data analyzed in this thesis was collected from native Nsélišcn speakers.

An Exploration Of Ethnobotanically Significant Plants To The Native American Tribes Of Montana, Margaret Magee

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Ethnobotany is the study of the human uses of plants; for the Native Tribes of Montana these uses refer to everything from food, to ceremony, to medicine and everything in between. As a collaboration with the Payne Family Native American Center Ethnobotanical gardens, I conducted research on the various plants and their uses that are of particular significance to the 11 Tribes and 7 reservations across the state of MT. I collected information from first-hand experience working as an intern at the ethnobotanical garden, through discussions lead by Native ethnobotanists, and through extensive exploration of literature and plant identification manuals. …

Phillis Wheatley And Judith Sargent Murray: Revolutionary Founders In Women’S Political Activism And Women’S American Literary Tradition, Rebecca L. Warwick

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

During the Revolutionary War the dominant belief, held by men and women alike, was that women did not possess the mental capacity or intelligence for politics. Many perceived that women were strictly domestic beings, and therefore could not participate nor contribute to the inherently political war effort. Nonetheless, a few brave women such as Phillis Wheatley and Judith Sargent Murray insisted on participating in the political dialogue of their new nation through their poetry.

Through the respective lenses of gender and race, Murray and Wheatley used their literary skills and intellectual abilities to engage with the themes of patriotism, freedom …

Buffalo Renaissance: The Northern Plains Tribes' Path To Self-Determination, Elizabeth Louise Johns

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This long-form journalistic story and photo essay is about the Blackfoot Tribes in the United States and Canada and their efforts to restore bison to their land, their diet, and their culture. In 2014, ten tribes from the United States and Canada came together at Blackfeet Nation in Browning, Montana to sign the Buffalo Treaty, a commitment to bringing wild buffalo back to parts of their historical range. The Treaty signing marked the first time in more than 150 years that a diverse group of tribes, some historical enemies, came together in the name of restoring the animal they evolved …

"Black Colorism And White Racism: Discourse On The Politics Of White Supremacy, Black Equality, And Racial Identity, 1915-1930", Hannah Paige Mcdonald

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The following study unravels how Garveyite black nationalists, black integrationists, and Virginian white supremacists understood the race problem and its solution between 1915 and 1930. The racial identity and experiences of these three distinct groups, each informed how they understood the race problem and its solution. The divergent notions about the source of and solution to the race problem coalesced with colorism, sowing seeds of intraracial and interracial conflict and cooperation between the Garveyite black nationalists, black integrationists, and Virginian white supremacists as they navigated how to redress white supremacy and black equality. According to black integrationists and Garveyite black …

Beyond Nationalism: James And Grace Lee Boggs And The Black Radical Tradition In 1980s Detroit, Ryan A. Mccarty

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper explores the Black Radical Tradition in the 1980s through the lens of James and Grace Lee Boggs and their dedication to grassroots, community organizing and evolving revolutionary rhetoric. Existing scholarship on the decade is largely dedicated to the dialectic fluctuation of Black Power ideology and liberal reform that created a more conservative political agenda centered around partisan politics. Alternatively, the activism of James and Grace Lee Boggs in the immediate aftermath of the Black Power Era presents a complex view of the decade, providing space for black radicalism. The adaptation of the couple’s theories and mobilization strategies …

In Defense Of Non-Anthropocentrism—A Relational Account Of Value And How It Can Be Integrated, Ian I. Weckler

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Climate change has been show to be caused by humans. Human-centric behaviors have affected the world to the extent that many believe we have entered a new geologic epoch. This epoch— the Anthropocene—has prompted exploration into the ethical relationship between humans and the rest of the world. We know that a purely anthropocentric ethical system of values has lead ecological imbalance and environmental destruction, and that a non-anthropocentric (or humancentric) ethical system of value would be better suited for maintaining and regaining a habitable environment. However, past conceptions of non anthropocentrism have relied on abstract conceptions of value that fail …

Recovering Our Roots: The Importance Of Salish Ethnobotanical Knowledge And Traditional Food Systems To Community Wellbeing On The Flathead Indian Reservation In Montana., Mitchell Rose Bear Don't Walk

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis provides a culturally-comprehensive review of the plants utilized for food in the Bitterroot Salish tribe of northwestern Montana. As part of the larger Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CS&KT) of the Flathead Indian Reservation, the Bitterroot Salish historically utilized hundreds of plants for food, medicine and hygiene. This thesis aims to highlight food plants and their important cultural components. The information herein is a combination of history, ethnography, linguistics, ethnobotany, and first-hand experience with the current Salish community to provide a holistic framework of understanding traditional food plants today. A comprehensive plant list is provided with Latin, Salish …

Reproduction Of Space In The Mountains Of Morocco: A Case Study In The Western Rif, Ismail Medkouri

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The environmental history of the mountains in Morocco was written under the French colonial administration; and its revision upon independence was biased toward an Arabist perspective. These historical narratives significantly influence the study of contemporary spatial phenomena, typically by undermining the validity of the vernacular mode of production of space. This study (1) reviews key myths pertaining to the spatial history and transformation in mountainous areas in Morocco; and (2) analyzes the contemporary mountain settlement of Ain Mediouna, Province of Taounate in light of a revised environmental narrative. Methods include the following: (1) historical document analysis; and (2) morphogenetic analysis …

Breaking Chains Of Oppression: Popular Culture And The Plundering Of Blackness, Corina Sacajawea Ambrose

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis focuses on the ways in which white supremacy created mass incarceration, specifically mass incarceration of black individuals, and how this continues to perpetuate a racial caste system in the United States. First, I examine contemporary novelist Colson Whitehead‘s The Underground Railroad to provide a historical background of white supremacy and slavery. Then, I argue that pop culture is one area in which artists are focused on the abolition of the prison-industrial complex and ending mass incarceration. Finally, I focus on JAY-Z‘s music video “The Story of O.J.“ and Beyoncé‘s visual album Lemonade and her 2018 Coachella performance to …

The Practice Of Cartography: Imagining World Art Studies After Eurocentrism, Aja M. Sherrard

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As the discipline of art history becomes increasingly global, the prevalence of European systems of thought and the supremacy of European systems of value in the way that we record, synthesize, teach, and preserve history have become increasingly apparent. This primacy of European systems of value, what we may call Eurocentrism, can be reduced to a problem of singularity: the belief in a single canon, a single timeline, or a single hegemonic center. Taking as subject; the theoretical infrastructure of the discipline itself, the Eurocentrism that has shaped it, and the past twenty years of postcolonial discourse, this paper seeks …

Radical Dissonance And Haunted Gestures: Rupture And Reverence In The Artwork Of Aja Mujinga Sherrard, Aja M. Sherrard

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper serves to establish the studio practice of Aja Mujinga Sherrard within the framework of conceptual art, touching on the flexible use of media, the subversive or political nature of the work, and its relationship to movements and disciplines such as Feminism and Poststructuralism.

The section entitled “Race and Incoherence” addresses the practice of Radical Dissonance—or the creation of ruptures within commonly accepted concepts and social constructions—through the Costuming Kinship Series, 13≠12≠12.2 (Genetics Project), and Body Double. The section entitled ”Art, Loss, and the Unspeakable” traces an emotional shift in her work and speaks directly to the pieces …

Redskins Revisited: Competing Constructions Of The Washington Redskins Mascot, Eean Grimshaw

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This project looks at how synecdoche and ideographs function in the construction of competing position in the controversy surrounding the Washington Redskins mascot. I examined the rhetoric produced by both the Washington Redskins organization and its fans, as well as the rhetoric of Change the Mascot, the Oneida Indian Nation of New York and other opponents between the years of 2013 and 2015. Based in part on Moore’s (1993, 1994, 1997) argument that synecdoche and ideographs often prevent resolution and produce irreconcilable conflict, I extend this notion insofar as the controversy surrounding the Redskins mascot appears to be shifted towards …

Knife River Flint Distribution And Identification In Montana, Laura Evilsizer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

An examination of the spatial, temporal, and functional distribution of Knife River flint in Montana, and a study in misidentification of Knife River flint in archaeological assemblages. Lithic sourcing has the potential to provide a plethora of information to archaeologists: resource procurement strategies, mobility patterns, trade networks, and the preferencing of particular lithic material types. However, without proper identification it is impossible to study the distribution of lithic materials from their source. Knife River flint, a brown chalcedony, is a particularly fascinating material, geologically occurring in a small area, but culturally distributed over a large area. I analyze the distribution …

Knowledge And Resistance: Feminine Style And Signifyin[G] In Michelle Obama’S Public Address, Tracy Valgento

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis examines the public discourse of the first African American first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama. I argue that Michelle Obama uses the double-voiced discourses of feminine style and African American Signifyin[g] to negate post-race and post-gender mythologies that suggest that American society is “beyond identity”. Looking at three of Obama’s speeches: Michelle Obama's 2008 Democratic National Convention Speech, The Remarks by the First Lady at Memorial Service for Dr. Maya Angelou, and Remarks by the First Lady at Tuskegee University Commencement Address this thesis argues that Michelle Obama performativity interrogates and questions gender and race relations …

A Monastery For The Revolution: Ernesto Cardenal, Thomas Merton, And The Paradox Of Violence In Nicaragua, 1957-1979, Brendan Jordan

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

In 1957, a young Nicaraguan poet named Ernesto Cardenal, recently graduated from Columbia University, entered the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani, located outside Louisville, Kentucky. There he met a prominent Catholic thinker and pacifist, Thomas Merton, who soon mentored young Cardenal. Though Cardenal departed Gethsemani in 1959, Merton continued to counsel him in spirituality, poetry, and social activism until Merton’s death in 1968. While Cardenal during these earlier years was a committed pacifist, his experiences after returning to Nicaragua in 1965 radically altered his view of social action. Cardenal established a semi-monastic community in the Solentiname islands in southern Nicaragua, and …

May You Walk In Beauty: The Decline Of Navajo Land And Culture, Jocelyn Catterson

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

The Navajo homeland, Dinetah, is bordered by four mountains that are sacred to the Navajo people: two in Colorado, one in New Mexico, and one in Arizona. Historically, Navajo medicine men have traveled to these mountains to renew prayers and collect medicinal herbs. Today, the mountains, which exist outside of the reservation boundaries, are used for resource extraction and various recreational pursuits. While many Navajo are fighting for the protection of these sacred lands and their traditional culture, others are disinterested. Traditional practices and beliefs are slowly disappearing within the Navajo Nation. The land-use issues associated with these sacred mountains …

Discovering The Chinese Mining Child: The Archaeology Of Children And Childhood In Multicultural American Mining Communities, Nicole A. Lane

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Children made up roughly one-quarter of the population of industrial boomtowns in the

North American West, underscoring the connections of family to places commonly

thought to be bachelor communities. By comparing artifacts and historical contexts from

three mining communities (Butte, Montana; Deadwood, South Dakota; and Sandpoint,

Idaho) established in the late 19th century, this thesis will contribute to archaeologies of

children, childhood, and socialization, examining material remains as a line of evidence

to study the ways in which relationships, gender, race, and class pervaded the lives of

children in these industrial settings. The methods employed here integrate information

from historical …