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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Anthropology

Western Kentucky University

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

2015

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Burning Resources: Traditional Fuel Uses On The Mongolian Steppe, William T. Linder Nov 2015

Burning Resources: Traditional Fuel Uses On The Mongolian Steppe, William T. Linder

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Fuel (wood, bone, dung and coal) and the selection of it has always been an integral part in the lifeways of nomadic pastoralists. Certainly, the gathering of fuel, the storage of it, and its eventual use represents a large part of daily culture. Yet, it remains an understudied aspect of ancient household economies. This is unfortunate since understanding fuel selection and use can also serve to evaluate specific cultural practices and human-­‐environment relationships since there is often a close link between specific types of available fuel and local environmental conditions. Through ethnoarchaeological research in the Altai region of western Mongolia, …


Blood From Blood And Earth From Earth: Examining Cultural Identity In Second And Third Generation Hispanic Americans, Caroline E. Culbreth May 2015

Blood From Blood And Earth From Earth: Examining Cultural Identity In Second And Third Generation Hispanic Americans, Caroline E. Culbreth

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

To what extent does a Mexican American identify with Mexico? With the U.S.? How are these identities formed? Through a series of semi-structured interviews with second- and third-generation descendants of migrants emigrating from seven Spanish-speaking Latin American countries, I explore what it means to be Hispanic American. I begin by examining the informants’ perceptions of boundaries between the broad Hispanic and American ethnic groups and their self-defined positions relative to those boundaries. Having established this position, I then analyze the impact of external conceptions of authenticity and access to “ethnic raw materials” in their construction of this ethnic identity. Findings …