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Anthropology

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Strontium Isotope Analysis In The Eastern Great Basin: Potential Challenges, Rewards, And A Fremont Case Study, David Yoder, Spencer Lambert, Michael T. Searcy Jan 2018

Strontium Isotope Analysis In The Eastern Great Basin: Potential Challenges, Rewards, And A Fremont Case Study, David Yoder, Spencer Lambert, Michael T. Searcy

Faculty Publications

Over the last 20 years strontium (Sr) isotope analysis has become a powerful tool in the study of prehistoric human behavior; especially for patterns of movement, migration, and trade. While used in many other parts of the world to determine if an individual or animal was local or non-local to the area in which they were found, this technique has been under utilized in the Great Basin. In this presentation we will outline the regionally specific challenges researchers face in using Sr analysis in the eastern Great Basin; the potential insights we may gain in understanding prehistoric culture and behavior; …


Sacred Texts And Introductory Texts, Terence E. Hays Sep 1997

Sacred Texts And Introductory Texts, Terence E. Hays

Faculty Publications

A survey of 118 introductory anthropology textbooks published in the period 1929-1990 examines the ways in which Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa has been presented to college undergraduates. In contrast to Derek Freeman's claim that her conclusions about Samoan sexuality and adolescence have been reiterated (approvingly) in an "unbroken succesion of anthropological textbooks," it appears that this work has been ignored almost as often as it has been cited. Criticesms of Mead, although relatively few and almost entirely methodological, have also been incorporated into texstbooks, both before and following Freeeman's 1983 book, Margaret Mead and Samoa. Whether …


"No Tobacco, No Hallelujah" , Terence E. Hays Dec 1991

"No Tobacco, No Hallelujah" , Terence E. Hays

Faculty Publications

According to myths and legends told by some peoples of New Guinea, tobacco is an ancient and indigenous plant, having appeared sponotaneously in a variety of ways. In other instances, the plant and the custom of smoking it are said to have been established by local culture heroes, while still other traditions prosaically cite adoptions from neighboring groups. On the basis of oral history alone, then, one might conclude that New Guinea tobacco appeared in widely scattered locations in the mythic past, and its distribution at the time of European contact is explainable as simple diffusion within the region.


Sacred Flutes, Fertility, And Growth In The Papua New Guinea Highlands, Terence E. Hays Jan 1986

Sacred Flutes, Fertility, And Growth In The Papua New Guinea Highlands, Terence E. Hays

Faculty Publications

Since Read's (1952) classic study of the nama cult of the Goroka area, ethnographers in the Papue New Guinea Highlands haved focused considerable attention on what I shall refere to as a "sacred flute complex" around which men's cults are organized. The flutes have been seen as acore symbol of male hegemony, and their associated riges and dogma as key factors in the perpetuation of "antagonistic" relations between the sexes, for which that region has long been known. In specific cases ethnographers have provided ingenious and persuasive analyses of the symbolic aspects of sacred flutes (e.g., Herdt 1981, 1982; Gillison …


Folktales From Habi'ina, Katnantu District, Eastern Highlands Province, Terence E. Hays Jan 1985

Folktales From Habi'ina, Katnantu District, Eastern Highlands Province, Terence E. Hays

Faculty Publications

The people of Habi'ina village live on the northern slopes of Mount Piora in the Dogara Census Division of the Kainantu District, Eastern Highlands Province. Like other Papua New Guineans, they possess a rich oral literature and tell each other stories for a wide variety of reasons. All stories are called huri, but several different types can be distinguished.


Utilitarian/Adaptationist Explanations Of Folk Bioglogical Classification, Terence E. Hays May 1982

Utilitarian/Adaptationist Explanations Of Folk Bioglogical Classification, Terence E. Hays

Faculty Publications

Attempts to explain the complexity of folk biological classification systems may benefit from utilitarian or adaptationist arguments, focusing on the utilitarian or adaptive value of the behavioral consequences of folk distinctions among organisms. To adequately assess such perspectives it is necessary to resolve a number of theoretical, methodological empirical problems, which are identified and outlined in this paper as a first step toward the construction of such theories of ethnobiological classification.


Uses Of Wild Plants In Ndumba, Eastern Highlands Province, Terence E. Hays Jan 1980

Uses Of Wild Plants In Ndumba, Eastern Highlands Province, Terence E. Hays

Faculty Publications

For Papua New Guineans,l as well as for those who wish to understand them better, traiditional knowledge of the local natural environment is a priceless resource. In the face of increasing commitments to a cash economy, however, many communities are rapidly losing their awareness and appreciation of the rich animal and plant worlds which are immediately available to them. As Powell has recently observed (1976), the recorded information regarding traditional plant knowledge and uses has tended to be widely-scattered in the literature and relatively difficult to access, especially for those who stand to benefit the most from it. A recent …