Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Creación De Un Seminario Basado En La Equidad De Contenido Y Formato: Un Estudio De Caso Y Un Llamado A La Acción, Elizabeth L. Leclerc, Emily Blackwood, Kit M. Hamley, Frankie St. Amand, Heather A. Landázuri, Madeleine Landrum, Jordi A. Rivera Prince, Monica Barnes, Kristina Douglass, Maria Gutiérrez, Sarah Herr, Kirk A. Maasch, Daniel H. Sandweiss

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

Creación de un seminario basado en la equidad de contenido y formato: Un estudio de caso y un llamado a la acción

Creating a Seminar Based on Content and Format Equity: A Case Study and Call to Action

Toxicants, Entanglement, And Mitigation In New England’S Emerging Circular Economy For Food Waste, Cindy Isenhour, Michael Haedicke, Brieanne Berry, Jean Macrae, Travis Blackmer, Skyler Horton

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

Drawing on research with food waste recycling facilities in New England, this paper explores a fundamental tension between the eco-modernist logics of the circular economy and the reality of contemporary waste streams. Composting and digestion are promoted as key solutions to food waste, due to their ability to return nutrients to agricultural soils. However, our work suggests that food waste processors increasingly find themselves responsible for policing boundaries between distinct “material” and “biological” systems as imagined by the architects of the circular economy—boundaries penetrable by toxicants. This responsibility creates significant problems for processors due to the regulatory, educational, and structural …

In Conversation With The Ancestors: Indigenizing Archaeological Narratives At Acadia National Park, Maine, Bonnie D. Newsom, Natalie D. Lolar, Isaac St. John

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

In North America, Indigenous pasts are publicly understood through narratives constructed by archaeologists who bring Western ideologies to bear on their inquiries. The resulting Eurocentric presentations of Indigenous pasts shape public perceptions of Indigenous peoples and influence Indigenous perceptions of self and of archaeology. In this paper we confront Eurocentric narratives of Indigenous pasts, specifically Wabanaki pasts, by centering an archaeological story on relationality between contemporary and past Indigenous peoples. We focus on legacy archaeological collections and eroding heritage sites in Acadia National Park, Maine. We present the “Red Paint People” myth as an example of how Indigenous pasts become …

How To Record Current Events Like An Archaeologist, Matthew Magnani, Anatolijs Venovcevs, Stein Farstadvoll, Natalia Magnani

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

This article shows how to record current events from an archaeological perspective. With a case study from the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway, we provide accessible tools to document broad spatial and behavioral patterns through material culture as they emerge. Stressing the importance of ethical engagement with contemporary subjects, we adapt archaeological field methods—including geolocation, photography, and three-dimensional modeling—to analyze the changing relationships between materiality and human sociality through the crisis. Integrating data from four contributors, we suggest that this workflow may engage broader publics as anthropological data collectors to describe unexpected social phenomena. Contemporary archaeological perspectives, deployed in rapid response, …

The Digital Revolution To Come: Photogrammetry In Archaeological Practice, Matthew Magnani, Matthew Douglass, Whittaker Schroder, Jonathan Reeves, David R. Braun

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

The three-dimensional (3D) revolution promised to transform archaeological practice. Of the technologies that contribute to the proliferation of 3D data, photogrammetry facilitates the rapid and inexpensive digitization of complex subjects in both field and lab settings. It finds additional use as a tool for public outreach, where it engages audiences ranging from source communities to artifact collectors. But what has photogrammetry’s function been in advancing archaeological analysis? Drawing on our previous work, we review recent applications to understand the role of photogrammetry for contemporary archaeologists. Although photogrammetry is widely used as a visual aid, its analytical potential remains underdeveloped. Considering …

On Materiality And Meaning: Ethnographic Engagements With Reuse, Repair & Care, Cindy Isenhour, Joshua Reno

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

The reimagination and revaluation of discarded goods, through repair and reuse is, for many, a quotidian and mundane element of everyday life. These practices are the historical precedent and continue to be the stuff of common sense for a significant portion of human society. And yet, reuse, repair and other elements of a ‘circular economy’ have recently emerged as a significant focus in environmental and economic policy. Proponents claim that reuse practices represent a potentially radical alternative to mainstream consumer culture and a form of carework that generates new social possibilities and personal affects. This essay explores the myriad dimensions …

Emergent Sustainability In Open Property Regimes, Mark Moritz, Roy Behnke, Christine M. Beitl, Rebecca Bliege Bird, Rafael Chiaravalloti, Julia Clark, Stefani Crabtree, Sean S. Downy, Ian M. Hamilton, Sui Chian Phang, Paul Scholte, Jim Wilson

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

Current theoretical models of the commons assert that common-pool resources can only be managed sustainably with clearly defined boundaries around both communities and the resources that they use. In these theoretical models, open access inevitably leads to a tragedy of the commons. However, in many open-access systems, use of common-pool resources seems to be sustainable over the long term (i.e., current resource use does not threaten use of common-pool resources for future generations). Here, we outline the conditions that support sustainable resource use in open property regimes. We use the conceptual framework of complex adaptive systems to explain how processes …

2018 Film Series: Human Dimensions Of Climate Change, Jennifer Bonnet, Cindy Isenhour

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

In the spring of 2018, Cindy Isenhour and Jen Bonnet coordinated the fifth annual Human Dimensions of Climate Change film series, sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, the Climate Change Institute, Maine Island Institute, School of Education and Human Development, and Fogler Library. Each week for three weeks a different film was shown, followed by discussion with campus scholars. A library exhibit accompanied the series and highlighted a wide range of resources related to the topic. This poster represents the series, and was designed by Brad Beauregard.

2017 Film Series: Human Dimensions Of Climate Change, Cindy Isenhour, Jennifer Bonnet

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

In the spring of 2017, Cindy Isenhour and Jen Bonnet coordinated the fourth annual Human Dimensions of Climate Change film series, sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, the Climate Change Institute, and Fogler Library. Each week for three weeks a different film was shown, followed by discussion with campus scholars. A library exhibit accompanied the series and highlighted a wide range of resources related to the topic. This poster represents the series.

2016 Film Series: Human Dimensions Of Climate Change, Cindy Isenhour, Jennifer Bonnet

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

In the spring of 2016, Cindy Isenhour and Jen Bonnet coordinated the third annual Human Dimensions of Climate Change film series, sponsored by Fogler Library, the Climate Change Institute, and the Departments of Anthropology, Political Science, and Communication and Journalism. Each week for three weeks a different film was shown, followed by discussion with campus scholars. A library exhibit accompanied the series and highlighted a wide range of resources related to the topic, http://libguides.library.umaine.edu/humans-climate.

Decoupling And Displaced Emissions On Swedish Consumers, Chinese Producers And Policy To Address The Climate Impact Of Consumption, Cindy Isenhour

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

New developments in consumption-based emissions accounting suggest that the reductions claimed by wealthy, environmentally progressive nations have often come at the expense of increased emissions elsewhere – and thus net growth in global GHG concentrations. This paper traces Sweden's attempts to translate growing recognition of displaced emissions into national environmental policy. Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic research and policy analysis in Sweden and China, we argue that while the logical implications of consumption-based analyses point to the need to address production and consumption as an integrated system, complex governance challenges and the political precariousness of these ideas have thus far limited …

Mobility In The Mangroves: Catch Rates, Daily Decisions, And Dynamics Of Artisanal Fishing In A Coastal Commons, Christine M. Beitl

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

This paper integrates institutional theories of the commons with insights from geography and human behavioral ecology to explore the spatial and temporal dynamics of artisanal fishing in Ecuador’s coastal mangrove swamps. The focus is on the cockle fishery commons characterized by a mixture of formal institutional arrangements and an informal division of fishing space that partially influences fisher decisions about where and when to fish. Individual decisions are further explained to a certain degree by the patch choice model since fishers often move on to new grounds when their catch rates fall below average. These optimizing strategies requiring rotation within …

2015 Film Series: Human Dimensions Of Climate Change, Cindy Isenhour, Jennifer Bonnet

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

In the spring of 2015, Cindy Isenhour and Jen Bonnet coordinated the second annual Human Dimensions of Climate Change film series, sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, the Climate Change Institute, and Fogler Library. Each week for three weeks a different film was shown, followed by discussion with campus scholars. A library exhibit accompanied the series and highlighted a wide range of resources related to the topic, http://libguides.library.umaine.edu/hdcc.

Trading Fat For Forests: On Palm Oil, Tropical Forest Conservation, And Rational Consumption, Cindy Isenhour

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

The longstanding butter vs margarine debate has recently become more complex as the links between margarine, industrial palm oil plantations, and tropical deforestation are made increasingly clear. Yet despite calls for consumers to get informed and take responsibility for tropical deforestation by boycotting margarine or purchasing buttery spreads made with sustainably-sourced palm oil, research in multiple contexts demonstrates that even the most aware, engaged, and rational consumers run into significant barriers when trying to reduce their environmental impacts. This paper supplements important critiques of neoliberal conservation at the site of extraction or intended conservation (Carrier and West 2009; Igoe and …

Introduction: Moving Beyond The 'Rational Actor' In Environmental Governance And Conservation, Nicole D. Peterson, Cindy Isenhour

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

In this brief introduction, we examine the themes and issues that link the three papers in this special section. In each case, neoliberal conservation practices appear to be predicated on a certain kind of individual subject with certain kinds of motives and behaviours-the rational actor. Taken together, these three papers challenge three assumptions of rational actor models, including that individuals are self-interested and attempt to maximise their own benefits, that they only respond to economic incentives, and that economic markets are free, mutual, and rational. Together these articles promote greater attention to how individuals are conceptualised in conservation efforts, and …

Trading Fat For Forests: On Palm Oil, Tropical Forest Conservation, And Rational Consumption, Cindy Isenhour

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

The longstanding butter vs margarine debate has recently become more complex as the links between margarine, industrial palm oil plantations, and tropical deforestation are made increasingly clear. Yet despite calls for consumers to get informed and take responsibility for tropical deforestation by boycotting margarine or purchasing buttery spreads made with sustainably-sourced palm oil, research in multiple contexts demonstrates that even the most aware, engaged, and rational consumers run into significant barriers when trying to reduce their environmental impacts. This paper supplements important critiques of neoliberal conservation at the site of extraction or intended conservation (Carrier and West 2009; Igoe and …

Navigating Over Space And Time: Fishing Effort Allocation And The Development Of Customary Norms In An Open-Access Mangrove Estuary In Ecuador, Christine M. Beitl

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

Fisheries are increasingly understood as complex adaptive systems; but the cultural, behavioral, and cognitive factors that explain spatial and temporal dynamics of fishing effort allocation remain poorly understood. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a visualization tool, this paper combines catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) and ethnographic data about the Ecuadorian mangrove cockle fishery to explore patterns in fishing effort and the social production of fishing space. I argue that individual decisions about where, when, and how to fish result in spatial and temporal patterns in effort allocation, ultimately regulating open-access fisheries that typically operate on a first-come, first-serve basis. These emergent patterns …

Adding Environment To The Collective Action Problem: Individuals, Civil Society, And The Mangrove-Fishery Commons In Ecuador, Christine M. Beitl

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

Research on the commons suggests a more robust understanding of human-resource interactions is needed to strengthen theories about collective action and sustainable governance. I combine ethnographic and fishery data to explore how resource characteristics and institutions influence people’s behavior toward common pool resources in coastal Ecuador. This comparative study of the commons at two levels (mangroves and the cockle fishery) highlights how trust, communication, and social obligation depend on social histories of resource systems and types of collective action problems, largely explaining why local institutions encourage individuals to uphold mangrove forest conservation but have little effect on cooperation in fisheries.

Adult Scurvy In New France: Samuel De Champlain's "Mal De La Terre" At Saint Croix Island, 1604-1605, Thomas A. Crist, Marcella H. Sorg

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

2014 Film Series: The Human Dimensions Of Climate Change, Cindy Isenhour, Jennifer Bonnet

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

In the spring of 2014, Cindy Isenhour and Jen Bonnet coordinated the inaugural Human Dimensions of Climate Change film series, sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, Native American Programs, the Climate Change Institute, and Fogler Library. Each week for three weeks a different film was shown, followed by discussion with campus scholars. A library exhibit accompanied the series and highlighted a wide range of resources related to the topic, http://www.library.umaine.edu/displays/HumansClimate.htm.

Wabanaki Resistance And Healing: An Exploration Of The Contemporary Role Of An Eighteenth Century Bounty Proclamation In An Indigenous Decolonization Process, Bonnie D. Newsom, Jamie Bisonette-Lewey

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of this paper is to examine the contemporary role of an eighteenth century bounty proclamation issued on the Penobscot Indians of Maine. We focus specifically on how the changing cultural context of the 1755 Spencer Phips Bounty Proclamation has transformed the document from serving as a tool for sanctioned violence to a tool of decolonization for the Indigenous peoples of Maine. We explore examples of the ways indigenous and non-indigenous people use the Phips Proclamation to illustrate past violence directed against Indigenous peoples. This exploration is enhanced with an analysis of the re-introduction of the Phips Proclamation using …

On The Politics Of Climate Knowledge: Sir Giddens, Sweden And The Paradox Of Climate (In)Justice, Cindy Isenhour

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

There is a widespread assumption that most people will not effectively respond to climate risk until they personally experience its negative effects. Yet this assumption raises some interesting questions in the Swedish context. The majority of Swedes say they have not experienced the negative effects of climate change, but they are among the world’s citizens most concerned about and active on the issue. These observations raise the question - why do many Swedes act progressively if they do not feel environmental risks “closer to home”? Is there something exceptional about Swedish environmental ethics, political culture or governance structures? This paper …

Before Elites: The Political Capacities Of Big Men, Paul B. Roscoe

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

In directing us “beyond elites”, the editors of this volume invite us to consider not only whether we have over-estimated the centralized control that metal working enabled or demanded in prehistoric Europe but also to move beyond standard typologies of political forms and evolutionary concepts (Kienlin, this volume). To move beyond elites, of course, we must understand what constitutes an “elite” and elite society. If we take these concepts to imply some kind of socially reproduced restriction on access to leadership positions and accompanying social stratification, then we are asked to consider whether Bronze or Iron Age European societies operated …

Shifting Policies, Access, And The Tragedy Of Enclosures In Ecuadorian Mangrove Fisheries: Towards A Political Ecology Of The Commons, Christine M. Beitl

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

After decades of mangrove deforestation for the development of shrimp farming, the Ecuadorian state began to officially recognize the ancestral rights of traditional users of coastal mangrove resources in the late 1990s. This article traces the trajectory of coastal policy change and the transformation of mangrove tenure regimes from an implicit preference for shrimp aquaculture to a focus on conservation and sustainable development with greater community participation through the establishment of community-managed mangrove areas called custodias. I argue that while the custodias have empowered local communities in their struggle to defend their livelihoods and environment against the marginalizing forces of …

Can Consumer Demand Deliver Sustainable Food?: Recent Research In Sustainable Consumption Policy & Practice, Cindy Isenhour

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

How The Grass Became Greener In The City: Urban Imaginings And Practices Of Sustainability, Cindy Isenhour

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

Far removed from a direct connection to the land and environmental feedback, most urban inhabitants have little choice but to rely on external sources of information as they formulate their understanding of sustainability. This reliance on analytical, scientifically produced, and highly technical sources of information—such as life-cycle analyses, carbon footprints and climate change projections—solidifies definitions of sustainable living centered on technological resource efficiencies while concentrating the power to define sustainability with experts and the industrial and political elite. Drawing on 14 months of ethnographic field work in and around Stockholm, Sweden, this paper explores how urban alienation shapes ideas about …

Cockles In Custody: The Role Of Common Property Arrangements In The Ecological Sustainability Of Mangrove Fisheries On The Ecuadorian Coast, Christine M. Beitl

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

Scholars of common property resource theory (CPR) have long asserted that certain kinds of institutional arrangements based on collective action result in successful environmental stewardship, but feedback and the direct link between social and ecological systems remains poorly understood. This paper investigates how common property institutional arrangements contribute to sustainable mangrove fisheries in coastal Ecuador, focusing on the fishery for the mangrove cockle (Anadara tuberculosa and A. similis), a bivalve mollusk harvested from the roots of mangrove trees and of particular social, economic, and cultural importance for the communities that depend on it. Specifically, this study examines the emergence of …

Centuries Of Marine Radiocarbon Reservoir Age Variation Within Archaeological Mesodesma Donacium Shells From Southern Peru, Kevin B. Jones, Gregory W. L. Hodgins, Miguel F. Etayo-Cadavid, C. Fred T. Andrus, Daniel H. Sandweiss

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

Mollusk shells provide brief (<5 yr per shell) records of past marine conditions, including marine radiocarbon reservoir age (R) and upwelling. We report 21 14C ages and R calculations on small (~2 mg) samples from 2 Mesodesma donacium (surf clam) shells. These shells were excavated from a semi-subterranean house floor stratum 14C dated to 7625 ± 35 BP at site QJ-280, Quebrada Jaguay, southern Peru. The ranges in marine 14C ages (and thus R) from the 2 shells are 530 and 170 14C yr; R from individual aragonite samples spans 130 ± 60 to 730 ± 170 14C yr. This intrashell 14C variability suggests that 14C dating of small (time-slice much less than 1 yr) marine samples from a variable-R (i.e. variable-upwelling) environment may introduce centuries of chronometric uncertainty.

Fingering A Murderer: A Successful Anthropological And Radiological Collaboration, B. G. Brogdon, Marcella H. Sorg, Kerriann Marden

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

We illustrate an interdisciplinary approach to identify a victim in a case with complex taphonomic and procedural issues. Burning, fragmentation, species commingling, and examination by multiple experts required anthropological preparation and analysis combined with radio- graphic adaptations to image and match trabecular patterns in unusually small, burned specimens. A missing person was last seen in the company of a reclusive female on a remote rural property. A warranted search found several burn sites containing human and animal bones. Fragment prepara- tion, analysis, and development of a biological profile by anthropologists enabled examination by the odontologist, molecular biologist, and radiolo- gist, …

Afterword To Life And Traditions Of The Red Man By Joseph Nicolar, Bonnie D. Newsom

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.