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Anthropology

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

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Anthropology

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Growing Relations: An Ethnographic Study On Rice, Vanilla, And Yams In Madagascar, Tyler Macintosh May 2020

Growing Relations: An Ethnographic Study On Rice, Vanilla, And Yams In Madagascar, Tyler Macintosh

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

I examine the various ways in which the rice, wild yams, and vanilla that grow in northern Madagascar feature in the lives of numerous people including rural community members, representatives of the Malagasy government, and foreigners, focusing especially on the distinctive networks of relationships entailed by each of these plants. Each case presents interesting dilemmas from which we can gain insight into the everyday lives and hardships faced by rural Malagasy. Rice is a staple crop which both feeds and employs many Malagasy. More importantly it is at the base of everyday life, sustaining and creating important social ties. Wild …


What Is Writing In Undergraduate Anthropology? An Activity Theory Analysis, Boba M. Samuels Sep 2014

What Is Writing In Undergraduate Anthropology? An Activity Theory Analysis, Boba M. Samuels

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

How students learn to write in the disciplines is a question of ongoing concern in writing studies, with practical implications for academia. This case study used ethnographic methods to explore undergraduate writing in two upper year anthropology courses at a Canadian university over one term (four months). Student and professor interviews, classroom field notes, surveys, and students’ final papers were analysed using a framework drawn from activity theory and informed by genre theory. Four themes emerged from the data: anthropology as school; the familiar vs. unfamiliar; reading; and hidden rhetoric. Findings suggest students approach disciplinary work primarily as students rather …