Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Student Ethnographic Research Experiences At The University Of Puget Sound, Andrew M. Gardner

All Faculty Scholarship

This brief essay describes programming at the University

of Puget Sound that allows undergraduate students to pursue

independent ethnographic research projects. This programming

undergirds all three of the subsequent student essays included in this

issue. The mission of this programming is to encourage “experiential

learning”—an objective that is aligned (and perhaps derivative)

of the methodological toolkit long deployed by anthropological

ethnographers. The essay describes the pedagogic goals that I

have been able to integrate into the supervision of this experiential

programming, and also discusses how we have sought to balance

independently-derived student research interests with the broader

research agendas codified …

Big Parcels: Modernist Planning In Washington State History, Andrew M. Gardner, Becca C. Murphy

All Faculty Scholarship

In anthropology’s spatial turn, cultural anthropologists directed portions of their attention to the spaces in which human habitation takes shape. This article concerns the large planned spaces configured in the Modernist era of the twentieth century. Utilizing a fieldwork-based methodology that draws on the ethnographic toolkit, analysis compares and contrasts three large planned spaces located in Washington State: the former site of the Northern State Mental Hospital in Sedro-Woolley, the location in central Spokane at which Expo 74 was hosted, and the rural location of the never-completed Satsop Nuclear Facility near Elma, Washington. Our analysis suggests the singular use for …

Savages, Deplorables, And The Promise Of Anthropological Ethnography, Andrew M. Gardner

All Faculty Scholarship

This short essay describes a longitudinal ethnographic project on which I am embarking with successive coteries of students here at the University of Puget Sound. The essay starts with a discussion of the latent power of ethnography to cross thresholds of difference on a mission of empathy and understanding. I tie this mission to the legacy and definition of anthropological ethnography. In the second section of the essay, I discuss the fractious nature of the American polity, and the caricatures of rural Americans that I've encountered in the urban and academic environs of the west coast. In the final …

Megalithic Art In The Boyne Valley Passage Tombs, Andrew Benoit

Summer Research

The purpose of this study is to quantify the locations of megalithic art within the main passage tombs at Knowth and Newgrange, in the Boyne Valley of Ireland, with the aim of better understanding meanings associated with the art as well as their social contexts. Of particular interest to this study was the identification and analysis of the location of “endogenously-derived arts” as a way to take into account the often overlooked role that altered states of consciousness (ASC) play in rituals throughout prehistory and history. Furthermore, this study places megalithic art at the forefront of its analysis in the …

Cosmopolitanism And Urban Space In Doha, Qatar, Andrew M. Gardner

All Faculty Scholarship

This essay commences with an ethnographic sojourn through the Industrial Area, a peripheral zone of the urban landscape in Doha, Qatar that is densely inhabited by low wage migrant laborers. In this segregated urban enclave, I ascertain the openness to alterity and the interactions with difference that connect their experiences to the conceptual legacy of cosmopolitanism. Via a discussion of the segregated experiences of transnational migrants in Doha’s urban landscape, I then stake out a speculative argument for the connection between that segregation and the resulting cosmopolitan conditions. Together, these two assertions explore manifestations of cosmopolitan urbanism in non-Western and …

Review Of Beyond Exception: New Interpretations Of The Arabian Peninsula, Andrew M. Gardner

All Faculty Scholarship

This is a published review of the book Beyond Exception: New Interpretations of the Arabian Peninsula, by Ahmed Kanna, Amélie Le Renard, and Neha Vora.

A Window To Urban Arabia, Andrew M. Gardner

All Faculty Scholarship

This set of images collectively seeks to provide viewers with a window into Doha, Qatar, and into the urban heart of the modern Middle East that’s arisen on the Arabian Peninsula. Designed as an exhibit of photography, the images include overlapping themes that explore particular facets or threads of the urban landscape and life therein. In the final accounting, the collection as a whole is intended as an ode to the city itself.

Diversity And Its Discontents: Deepening The Discourse, Ragnhild Utheim

Race and Pedagogy Journal: Teaching and Learning for Justice

This article explores the shifting meanings of diversity discourse from the classical demarcations associated with demographic groups to the individualized applicability the concept has assumed in recent years. The trend toward attenuated understandings of diversity comes at the risk of slighting historic hardship that groups of people have long endured. The analysis weaves student testimonies and teaching experience from the classroom together with existing research and critical theory on diversity. In emphasizing the need to honor legacies of oppression among particular groups, while animating the possibilities that shared experiences across expansive human variation provide, the author includes feedback from classes …

Building Racial Coalitions: Limitations And New Directions To Teaching “White Privilege”, Eric César Morales

Race and Pedagogy Journal: Teaching and Learning for Justice

In this article, I pull from critical race theory, psychology, and philosophy to deconstruct the underlying psychological components that lead to “white fragility,” and I explore the limitations in current pedagogical approaches to teaching privilege. I argue that we adopt a more nuanced and context based understanding of “white privilege,” one that breaks down the concept into its two constituent parts: the “privilege/adversity paradigm” and “colonizer alignment privilege.” In the former, basic human physical or cultural traits are presented to students as capable of being beneficial or detrimental depending on context. In the latter, the ways in which people create …

On Teaching Ethnography In Troubled Times, Andrew M. Gardner

All Faculty Scholarship

In this essay, I describe an incident stemming from a field-based ethnographic exercise I utilize in one of the courses which I have designed and which I regularly teach. In my estimation, the contours of the incident I describe here reveal the institutional and ideological parameters of a paradigm that currently dominates contemporary American campuses. I suggest that my experience points to frictions between that seemingly hegemonic academic paradigm and the core values and practices that the discipline of anthropology endeavours to carry into the new millennium. I conclude that this experience, and the institutional practices and ideologies it reveals, …

Interstitial Space: An Exploration Of The Urban Landscape And Marginal Communities Of Tacoma, Washington, Oscar Edwards-Hughes

Summer Research

In this project I researched the interactions between Tacoma’s homeless population and interstitial spaces. Interstitial space is the unplanned or abandoned space that can be seen throughout urban areas. It consists of those spaces where planning and boundaries are unclear or non-existent; a space seemingly missed, un-calculated, or overlooked by city planners. In conversation with Professor Andrew Gardner, who has conducted extensive field research on the subject in Doha, Qatar, I focused my research on the vitality and social importance of interstitial space to the homeless communities of our society in this era of high inequality in America. The goal …

Understanding Burning Man Through Fundamental Religious Studies Theories, Tio Lloyd

Summer Research

Burning Man is an arts gathering that has taken place every year up until 2020 in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. The gathering brought together more than 70,000 “burners” in 2017 to create a massive community for nine days on a dry lake bed. The temporary city provides a space to explore and more deeply understand humanity and humanity’s relationship to religion. The event is unique, it is the participants’ responsibility to put on the show. Themed camps, art displays, and interactive settings are created by burners, for burners. A climactic burning of “The Man,” a massive wooden figure, …

Tutmania: An Exploration Of Western Portrayals Of King Tutankhamun And Orientalism In Egypt, William Danton

History Theses

Since his discovery on November 4, 1922, King Tutankhamun has been turned into a symbol of ancient Egyptian culture by the Western world. Through Orientalist representation, the West has ensconced Tutankhamun into their own visualization of ancient Egypt that is removed from most historical realism. He has become a symbol for a distant and exotified past, which further contributes to the romanticization of ancient Egypt by the West. Tutankhamun has had a profound influence on numerous Western cultural outlets including art, fashion, architecture, film, music, and much more. This is because Tutankhamun, or at least his Western portrayal, has captivated …

Who Owns World Heritage? The Effects Of Western Based Cultural Heritage Management On The Local Populations Of Angkor Wat Archaeological Park, Lee Nelson

Outstanding Student Work in Asian Studies

The region of Angkor, Cambodia has historically been in a constant state of adjustment. From the early Angkorian Civilization, to the French colonization of 1863 to 1953; and from the Khmer Rouge era to the popular tourist destination it is today, the Angkor region has always been in flux. In 1992, Angkor Wat Archaeological Park was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in response to the critical condition of the historical monuments. This declaration has caused a rapid increase in tourism, tourist accommodations, and massive implementations of Western-based cultural heritage management programs. This increase has resulted in the displacement …

Weaving Sustainability, Carving Identity: An Exploration Of Artisan Livelihood In Oaxaca, Mexico, Mariana Sanchez Castillo

Summer Research

The southwestern region of Mexico is world known for its beautiful folk art that is high in quality and variety, and which derives from ancient indigenous traditions. Weaving and woodcarving are such pre-Hispanic traditions that have taught artesanos to care for the gifts that nature can provide. However amidst a global environmental crisis and a rise in socioeconomic barriers to indigenous community development, artesanos have had to find ways to uplift their families from poverty resulting in the exploitation of primary resources. This ethnographic exploration of two aspects of folk art production in Oaxaca, Mexico uncovers the ways in which …

Exploring The Urban Infrastructure Of Transnational Labor Migration In Nepal, Alena Mcintosh

Summer Research

This project examines the ways in which outmigration from Nepal is impacting the built landscape of Kathmandu. This project employed ethnographic methods to explore transnational labor migration through the lens of the city and the use and construction of urban spaces. While outmigration was the original focus of the project, it became clear through the research process that internal migration, the first step in the transnational migration process, plays a more direct role in the development of the city. This research was based on nineteen interviews conducted in Kathmandu as well as photo ethnography. Transnational labor migration is an exceedingly …

Curating A Nation: The Role Of Asia’S Twenty-First Century Museums In Constructing National Narratives, Lee Nelson

Pac Rim Posters

Museums of the modern world act to preserve and promote cultural heritage, science, and art. Within the continent of Asia, museums have been crucial foci for various nations’ cultural ministries. By analyzing the missions of specific museums with a critical lens, the objective of national identity and narrative building becomes exposed in the decisions of museums’ exhibits and curations. With having used ethnographic methods and scholarly research concerning national museums in the countries of Mongolia, Japan, China, Thailand, and India, I argue that museums serve as mediums of communication for higher political and cultural institutions to foster, construct, and manipulate …

Classification As Narrative: A Renewed Perspective On A Longstanding Topic In Ethnobiology, Denise M. Glover

All Faculty Scholarship

The present work offers a renewed perspective on natural-kind classification in the field of ethnobiology, one that focuses on analyzing higher-order classifications as a form of narrative. By examining changes in classification of materia medica in three main medical/pharmacological texts from three time periods of the Tibetan medicine tradition, we see an overarching shift in classification from a focus on medical efficacy to one on material substance and morphology, thus suggesting influence from pre-twenty-first century western, Linnaean science. The work then links this historical narrative to the complexities of classification of materia medica among contemporary doctors of Tibetan medicine in …

(Re)Writing Home: Unimagining And Reimagining Haitian Identity In Diasporic Literature From The United States, Ashley Coyne

Summer Research

This study explores the responses of the members of the Haitian diaspora in the U.S. to the current historical moment. This historical moment in which the President of the United States would feel so inclined as to ask: “Why do we want people from Haiti here?” and “Why are we having all these people from sh*thole countries come here?” (Davis et al. 2018; Dawsey 2018). The same man who promised Haitians “I will be your champion,” has made the decision to force 59,000 members of the Haitian diaspora who currently hold Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to return to Haiti in …

Values, Justifications, And Perspectives Connected To The Anti-Vaccination Movement, Gigi Garzio

Summer Research

The array of reasons for drifting from mainstream medical guidance surpasses a lack of comprehension, but rather stems from the propagation of alternative ideologies and the rationalization of these perspectives through different modes of thought. The people who make up the anti-vaccination movement range in socio-economic status, gender, age, race, and religion, however, they are unified by their ideals and means of justification. I was curious as to what mechanisms allow these individuals to continually rationalize their medical decisions and what contributes to making people so immovable in their beliefs, even in the face of empirical scientific data. Multiple themes …

An Ethnographic, Experimental Philosophical Inquiry Into Attitudes And Perceptions Toward Suicidality, Samantha Dawn Lilly

Summer Research

With the logical and analytical approaches of experimental philosophical inquiry and the qualitative methodologies of ethnography I was able to create an account of the ways that the initial moral assumption that “suicide is wrong” appears to be harmful, not only to the deceased, but to the survivors, and those who have previously attempted suicide. A possible normative solution to these harms would be to shift our current societal intuition that: "suicide is morally wrong" to understanding suicide as a social fact.

The International Folk Art Market: Cultural Commodification In The Global Marketplace, Kate Roscher

Summer Research

This research project focuses on the work of the International Folk Art Market (IFAM) which takes place annually in Santa Fe, New Mexico. IFAM emphasizes the importance of preserving folk art traditions, providing artists with opportunities for social innovation, and hosting a lively international event for Market attendees. The IFAM provides a unique vantage point from which to view historical forces which shape social and economic relations between individuals at the Market and, more broadly, between the Global North and the Global South. The goals of this research are to gain a better understanding of how cultures are commodified at …

Segmented Assimilation Concern Among Refugee Families, Tessa Samuels

Summer Research

My research project examined what public schools, day-camps, and childcare facilities can do to help newly-arrived refugee families in the socialization process. With my AHSS research project, my goal was to bridge the communication gap between school/childcare systems and refugee families. This project was mainly executed through the use of semi-structured interviews and participant observation.

What I quickly came to understand was that most families are not so concerned with the ongoings in classrooms or childcare facilities, and did not express fear of segmented assimilation or loss of culture and values — which I had anticipated would be the worry …

Environmental Decision-Making And Sense Of Place: Exploring The Effects Of Bears Ears' Shifting Status On Stakeholders' Personal Relationships To The Land, Ana Siegel

Summer Research

The aim of my summer research was to explore how sense of place is affected by environmental decision-making—whether that be on a local or federal level—examining Bears Ears, as a case study. Ever since the initial push—back in 2013—to designate Bears Ears as a National Monument, this landmark of the Four Corners Region represented a quarrel, familiar to the American Southwest: friction between those who wish to conserve Western landscapes for their sacred value, and those who would rather exploit those lands for their natural resource—and thus economic—potential. After years of advocacy and petitioning of the federal government, in 2016, …

Introduction To Special Section On Cannabis, Denise M. Glover

All Faculty Scholarship

Introduction to Special Section on Cannabis.

The Journey To Arabia: A Visual Essay, Andrew M. Gardner

All Faculty Scholarship

This photographic essay includes numerous photographs portraying the journey transnational migrants take from South Asia to the Arabian Peninsula, and includes a short essay that describes the major features of this migration system.

Review Of Bodies In Balance: The Art Of Tibetan Medicine By Teresia Hofer, Denise M. Glover

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Tacoma’S Lincoln District: Assessing And Improving Collaboration Between City Government And The Vietnamese Business Community, Julia Lin

Summer Research

Known as "The City of Destiny", the city of Tacoma and its government continue to build on urban planning projects in hopes of making the town a true destination city. Amongst the district roadway improvements, the extension of the lightrail, and the renovation project passed for the Tacoma Dome, the developers are in full flux. The funding has been passed and the construction in motion -- but what about the communities? This research aims to gauge the tensions that emerge within the relationship of community engagement and urban planning.

Face, Identity, And Normalcy: Systems Of Support For Individuals With Clefts Of Lip And Palate, Ariane Farris

Summer Research

This summer I conducted a project studying the stigma of facial anomalies through the eyes of the health care professionals who work with patients who have them. My goal was to learn what kind of stigma these individuals deal with and what kinds of support systems are available to help these individuals thrive in a society that values the concept of normalcy. I believe that this research is particularly important because of the large number of individuals who have a facial anomaly of some sort and because it relates to many other forms of stigma tied to the perception of …

Review Of Environmental Education In China By Gerald A. Mcbeath And Jenifer Huang Mcbeath, Denise M. Glover

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Book Review