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Good Enough To Eat: How College Students Are (Re)Forming Their Relationships To Food, Sophia Lewis Jan 2024

Good Enough To Eat: How College Students Are (Re)Forming Their Relationships To Food, Sophia Lewis

Scripps Senior Theses

In this thesis, I seek to critically examine how college students at American liberal arts institutions relate to food in their everyday lives and how those relationships to food are formed in a cultural landscape where what and how one eats can carry significant moral implications. Through a series of ethnographic interviews, I found that college students are negotiating a variety of interconnected social influences that have shaped their relationships to food, the most prominent being the ways that their parents taught them to relate to food in childhood and adolescence, cultural conceptions of health, and their own embodied reactions …

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Identity Formation In The Lebanese-American Christian Diaspora, Matthew Cesar Audi Jan 2024

Identity Formation In The Lebanese-American Christian Diaspora, Matthew Cesar Audi

Honors Projects

Since the late 1800s, people have immigrated to the United states from Lebanon and Syria, and the community’s racial and ethnic position within the United States has been contested ever since. Previous research emphasizes that while people from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are legally classified as “white” on the U.S. Census. However, many people from the region do not identify as white, and they often face discrimination or threats of violence. For people of Arab and Christian backgrounds this is further complicated because they are a part of the majority through their religion, but part of a …

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Foodways: An Ethnographic Analysis Of Cwu International Students’ Perception Of The Role Of Culturally Relevant Food In Their Sense Of Belonging, Joy Ihuka Jan 2024

Foodways: An Ethnographic Analysis Of Cwu International Students’ Perception Of The Role Of Culturally Relevant Food In Their Sense Of Belonging, Joy Ihuka

All Master's Theses

International students face unique challenges adjusting to new academic environments, including developing a sense of homesickness and lack of belonging. Studies have shown that consuming culturally relevant food helps international students relieve homesickness, fostering a sense of belonging. Curiously, nonetheless, literature on student belonging rarely focuses on food. Within this gap, this thesis explores the significance of culturally relevant food in fostering a sense of belonging among international students at Central Washington University. Using ethnographic interviews, this research examines how culturally relevant food (including how food is prepared) or lack thereof may influence international students’ perceptions of belonging. This study …

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Cultivating Green Public Spaces And Backyard Gardens Amid Covid-19: An Anthropological Study Of Metro-Orlando Gardeners, Chelsea N. Daws Jan 2024

Cultivating Green Public Spaces And Backyard Gardens Amid Covid-19: An Anthropological Study Of Metro-Orlando Gardeners, Chelsea N. Daws

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This dissertation critically analyzes home and community gardens within Metro-Orlando by considering the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic impacts residents' garden participation and access to green public spaces. The study utilizes an ethnographic approach to produce informed understandings of participants' experiences within local gardens, alternative food networks, and community supported agriculture analyzed using Marxian theoretical frameworks. Findings are primarily grounded in qualitative information derived from interviews, participant observation, and photovoice. Data were collected both prior to the global COVID-19 outbreak and over subsequent months of lockdown and public health mitigation measures. Primarily focusing on local community garden organizers, community garden …

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The Integrity Of Women: The Anthropological Vision Of Humanae Vitae, Emily Fasteson Jan 2024

The Integrity Of Women: The Anthropological Vision Of Humanae Vitae, Emily Fasteson

Honors Theses

The Catholic Church has expressed its opposition to contraception from the beginning. Use of the Pill is not coincident with the Church’s vision of the human person, and I will explore the anthropological grounds upon which the Church informs her stance. Modernity has a different anthropology than that of the Church; I seek to unearth and understand the difference between these two views by synthesizing the philosophy and theology behind Humanae vitae, taking its predictions seriously, and analyzing how they have come to fruition in the modern world. My focus is on man’s attempt to overcome his own limits …

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My Body As A Journey Accessing Pre-Colonial Identity For Healing Intergenerational Transgender Shame, Jennifer Lagman Jan 2024

My Body As A Journey Accessing Pre-Colonial Identity For Healing Intergenerational Transgender Shame, Jennifer Lagman

Art Therapy | Master's Theses

A graduate student in art therapy wrote this heuristic paper to explore shame's role as both a negative internal feeling and a cultural and social tool for evaluating and regulating behavior. As a transgender woman, she examines what it is like to be labeled as Filipino and deal with being transgender. Tiny advances have been made in the understanding of shame within the context of minority transgender self-research. Using art to expose those feelings associated with shame, balance them with affirmations, and ground them in native identity are key aspects of this process. Consequently, meeting one's shadow becomes a necessity …

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The Impacts Of Identity On Perceptions Of Safety On A Predominately White Campus, Rebecca Delrosso Jan 2024

The Impacts Of Identity On Perceptions Of Safety On A Predominately White Campus, Rebecca Delrosso

Honors Theses

This quantitative study examines the relationship between students’ marginalized identities of race, gender, and sexuality and their perceptions of safety at a predominantly white institution (PWI). Survey data collected from undergraduates at a small liberal arts university reveal associations between minority identities and feelings of discomfort, insecurity, discrimination, and vulnerability on campus. The findings highlight the need for PWIs to prioritize secure and inclusive environments through policies, practices, and support systems.

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Late Holocene Fire History Reconstruction Of Beaver Lake In The Northwest Lowlands Of The Olympic Peninsula, Grace Mckenney Jan 2024

Late Holocene Fire History Reconstruction Of Beaver Lake In The Northwest Lowlands Of The Olympic Peninsula, Grace Mckenney

All Master's Theses

Fire is an essential component of the landscapes and forests of the Pacific Northwest, including the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula. Previous fire history reconstructions from the peninsula show that fire return intervals varied throughout the postglacial period, primarily in response to climatic changes and corresponding shifts in vegetation. However, much less is known about the fire history of the low-elevation forests of the Olympic Peninsula and the role of cultural fire regimes in these environments. The purpose of this study was to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental history of a low-elevation study site, Beaver Lake, located in the northwestern part …

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Non-Market Food Practices Do Things Markets Cannot: Why Vermonters Produce And Distribute Food That's Not For Sale, Sam Bliss Jan 2024

Non-Market Food Practices Do Things Markets Cannot: Why Vermonters Produce And Distribute Food That's Not For Sale, Sam Bliss

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Researchers tend to portray food self-provisioning in high-income societies as a coping mechanism for the poor or a hobby for the well-off. They describe food charity as a regrettable band-aid. Vegetable gardens and neighborly sharing are considered remnants of precapitalist tradition. These are non-market food practices: producing food that is not for sale and distributing food in ways other than selling it. Recent scholarship challenges those standard understandings by showing (i) that non-market food practices remain prevalent in high-income countries, (ii) that people in diverse social groups engage in these practices, and (iii) that they articulate diverse reasons for doing …

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What Fishing Tackle Should I Bring Today?: Safety Harbor Resource Collection Tools As Adaptations To Aquatic Environments, Richard J. Davis Iii Jan 2024

What Fishing Tackle Should I Bring Today?: Safety Harbor Resource Collection Tools As Adaptations To Aquatic Environments, Richard J. Davis Iii

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This thesis reports on the results of research conducted to determine whether technological adaptations to local environmental conditions can be observed through geospatial and artifact analysis of Safety Harbor collections from the Tampa Bay region of Florida. Past artifact and spatial analysis did not take advantage of modern technological advancements when studying how human-environmental interactions can influence certain adaptations to local conditions. In this project, GIS was used to reconstruct local aquatic environmental conditions of waterways adjacent to Safety Harbor sites. New statistical software programs have also proven themselves useful to archaeologists seeking to conduct hypothesis testing of artifact data. …

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“Not Much Of A Job”: Everyday Life And Labor At Camp Au Train, Josef T. Iwanicki Jan 2024

“Not Much Of A Job”: Everyday Life And Labor At Camp Au Train, Josef T. Iwanicki

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In this thesis, I use data from Camp Au Train, a Civilian Conservation Corp camp in Michigan’s Hiawatha National Forest, as a case study to connect the everyday life of enrollees with dominant government narratives while including a focus on labor and the capitalist crisis of the Great Depression. Using the vantage point of work, play, study, and health, I integrate archaeological, historic, and photographic evidence to show contradictions between the enrollees’ real lived experience and the dominant perspectives of the CCC ‘authorities’ who organized their lives. I argue that to interpret these contradictions, the CCC needs to be connected …

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“It’S All In The Yellow Baskets”: Class Consciousness, Food Justice, And Community Through Dollar General, Blanche L. Darr Jan 2024

“It’S All In The Yellow Baskets”: Class Consciousness, Food Justice, And Community Through Dollar General, Blanche L. Darr

Senior Projects Spring 2024

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

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(Agri)Cultural Activism: The Role Of Pgaz K’Nyau Karen Youth In Sustaining Rotational Farming In Thailand, Mitchell Rigert Jan 2024

(Agri)Cultural Activism: The Role Of Pgaz K’Nyau Karen Youth In Sustaining Rotational Farming In Thailand, Mitchell Rigert

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The focus of this thesis is to shed light on youth group activism in an Indigenous Pgaz k’Nyau Karen community in Thailand. These youth are seeking rights and recognition to sustain their subsistence-based practice of swidden agriculture in the context of state forest policy officially banning such practices. I draw on over two months of multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in Thailand. I argue that the youth use a variety of strategies to render swidden agriculture visible and legible to the state and public in the interest of sustaining the practice, which they see as an essential part of their communal identity. …

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Re-Feminizing The Divine: Understanding The Cultural Constructs Of Gender And Sexuality In A Church-Based Christian Community, Cameron K. Thomas Jan 2024

Re-Feminizing The Divine: Understanding The Cultural Constructs Of Gender And Sexuality In A Church-Based Christian Community, Cameron K. Thomas

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Historically, Christianity has sought to maintain rigid separation between men and women. Christianity often views women as secondary to men, particularly in relation to authority under Jesus Christ. These ideals have led to the restrictions of rights and roles of people who choose not to adhere to strictly defined or enforced gender roles. For this ethnography, I examined one church community; namely Barbwire Baptist Church in northern Illinois and how its members used scripture and doctrine beyond simply worship to reinforce norms and expectations of self and others regarding gender and sexuality. I draw on scholarship in gender studies, and …

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The Evolutionary History Of Primate Litter Size, Jack Hansen Mcbride Jan 2024

The Evolutionary History Of Primate Litter Size, Jack Hansen Mcbride

WWU Graduate School Collection

Litter size plays an important role in the life history strategies of all mammalian taxa. It is one of the most important factors determining whether an organism is deemed to have a ‘slow’ or ‘fast’ life history strategy. Investigating how the evolution of litter size has influenced human evolution, extant primate biodiversity, and how it relates to other life history traits is crucial to understanding ourselves and our closest relatives. This thesis summarizes a two-pronged investigation into the evolution of litter size: 1) I performed a meta-analysis using 955 taxa within the magnorder Boreoeutheria, and 2) I performed a geometric …

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Access And Visibility: The Intersection Of Care, Justice, And Cultural Myths In The Response To Sexual And Domestic Violence, Laurel Elisabeth Channing Cline Jan 2024

Access And Visibility: The Intersection Of Care, Justice, And Cultural Myths In The Response To Sexual And Domestic Violence, Laurel Elisabeth Channing Cline

Senior Projects Spring 2024

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

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Exploring The Factors That Influence Female Offending In The U.S. And Mexico, Dana Villasenor Jan 2024

Exploring The Factors That Influence Female Offending In The U.S. And Mexico, Dana Villasenor

CMC Senior Theses

Hollywood has painted a picture of the criminal woman as a sexy, sneaky, and often psychotic female fatale. This is because men run Hollywood. Much like movies, research on why women offend had historically focused on men as their stellar. However, towards the turn of the century and with the disproportionate rise in female incarceration, literature caught up to the fact that women and men do not experience the same socialization, standards, or reality and, therefore, have different reasons for and ways of offending. This research explores those reasons for women in the U.S. and Mexico and paints the picture …

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“It’S Good For My Cooking”: The Life Of Cooking And Eating Of Bard Students Cooking And Eating At Bard Beyond The Meal Plan, Helen Zhang Jan 2024

“It’S Good For My Cooking”: The Life Of Cooking And Eating Of Bard Students Cooking And Eating At Bard Beyond The Meal Plan, Helen Zhang

Senior Projects Spring 2024

This project is about the Cooking and Eating Life of Bard students. I examined the Bard Food infrastructure, how students compose and cook "good food", and also how they share food impromptu in the common area and through dinner parties. I used Brain Larkin’s theory of infrastructure applies to the Bard Dining system, how Sophia Stamatopoulou-Robbins’ description of the bread on Palestine streets in Gifted resembles the food donated and taken in the common area by dorm residents, the actor-network theory of Bruno Latour used to analyze the relationship between people, food, and their cookwares in the kitchen, how Bard …

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Excavating Archaeological Knowledge: An Archaeological Ethnography Of Indigenizing Practices Within A Collaborative Field School Landscape, Isabella Pipp Jan 2024

Excavating Archaeological Knowledge: An Archaeological Ethnography Of Indigenizing Practices Within A Collaborative Field School Landscape, Isabella Pipp

WWU Graduate School Collection

This thesis outlines the results of the ethnographic archaeological research on the community-based participatory field school program undertaken in partnership between the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians and Western Washington University–the Stillaguamish-WWU Collaborative Archaeological Field School. The use of an ethnographic reflection of Indigenous and university collaboration offers lessons for institutions teaching archaeology that transform pedagogical practices, uphold Tribal sovereignty, and challenge academic standards to archaeological field schools and research. Goals of this research include exploring the efficacy of methodology implemented within the field school and to create a body of work about the field school that is relevant to the …

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Post-Mortem Resurrection: An Alternative, Practice-Based Examination Of Research And Education During The Covid-19 Pandemic, And An Argument In Favor Of Professional-Track Social Science Degrees, Rhiannon Joker Jan 2024

Post-Mortem Resurrection: An Alternative, Practice-Based Examination Of Research And Education During The Covid-19 Pandemic, And An Argument In Favor Of Professional-Track Social Science Degrees, Rhiannon Joker

WWU Graduate School Collection

The international tragedy of the coronavirus pandemic disrupted lives, livelihoods, and operations across the world. We as global citizens saw a massive upheaval in nearly every daily process, including health systems and education. In the spring of 2021, I had a fully developed research proposal, had won grant funding, and was making contact with local family practice clinics to study how patients experiencing culture-bound syndromes were being treated, in both the literal and medical sense of the term, by their physicians. After several years of trying and failing to complete this proposed clinical research in the midst of a global …

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Reimagining The Accuracy Of The Lovejoy Et Al. (1985) Age Estimation Method Of The Auricular Surface Of The Ilium Through Modern Color Photographs, Alyssa L. Edwards Jan 2024

Reimagining The Accuracy Of The Lovejoy Et Al. (1985) Age Estimation Method Of The Auricular Surface Of The Ilium Through Modern Color Photographs, Alyssa L. Edwards

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The ability to accurately estimate the age at time-of-death of an individual is crucial in numerous fields, particularly in a biological or forensic context. There are various methods, features, and bones that are utilized for determining the estimated age of an individual. This study dives into the Lovejoy et al. (1985) age estimation method of the auricular surface of the ilium by using the current age phase descriptions against different reference photos. The study tests whether updated color photos, when working collaboratively with the current age phase descriptions, increases the age estimation accuracy when estimating age based on the auricular …

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Peoples Of India: The Use Of Craniometric Data To Distinguish A Separate Ancestral Group, Stephanie A. Craig Jan 2024

Peoples Of India: The Use Of Craniometric Data To Distinguish A Separate Ancestral Group, Stephanie A. Craig

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Peoples of India come from an area with a long history of migrations into and out of the area. This area is considered the second most diverse genetically outside of Africa. Many would group these people as Asian due to the country’s location. However, when studies are done on the skeletal remains from this area, the remains tend to give results of mixed or indeterminate ancestry unless the analyst is familiar with identifying Peoples of India. This study aims to determine the Peoples of India as a separate ancestral group separated from Asians, Europeans, and Africans. To do this, …

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Foodway Comparions And Patterns Of Consumer Behavior: The Use Of Orphan And Salvage Archaeological Collections From Historic Missoula, Montana, Emily Thea Meick Jan 2024

Foodway Comparions And Patterns Of Consumer Behavior: The Use Of Orphan And Salvage Archaeological Collections From Historic Missoula, Montana, Emily Thea Meick

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The goal of this project is to better understand and test theories about consumer behavior and meat consumption through faunal remains using orphaned and salvaged historic archaeological collections from three sites across Missoula, Montana, from the 1860s through the 1920s. Previous research underscored the need for properly defined units of analysis that represent what was being purchased and consumed. Using a consumer behavior framework and meat quality index, as indicated by price and meat yield, foodways comparisons between a Euromerican household that maintained renters, occupants of a Chinese store, Joss House, and residential dwellings within Missoula’s Red-Light District, and enlisted …

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Bearing Witness: Ancient Dna Analysis And The Dynamics Of Food Procurement In A Historic Missoula Chinese Community, Sarah Elizabeth Grenfell Jan 2024

Bearing Witness: Ancient Dna Analysis And The Dynamics Of Food Procurement In A Historic Missoula Chinese Community, Sarah Elizabeth Grenfell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 2019, construction of a brewery called Cranky Sam Public House in downtown Missoula, Montana provided an unexpected opportunity to recover and preserve late nineteenth and early twentieth century archaeological evidence of a Missoula neighborhood that included a Chinese temple, a Chinese store, and dwellings with Chinese residents. The area, like many urban landscapes in the American West, also included a restricted, or red-light district. Teams of volunteer University of Montana graduate and undergraduate students conducted on-the-spot salvage archaeology monitoring and were able to recover a sample of artifacts and ecofacts from this once-bustling part of Missoula. The objectives of …

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Complexities Of Companionship: Exploring The Human-Dog Relationship Through Mtdna Analysis Of Bridge River Canine Remains, Seth Warnick Jan 2024

Complexities Of Companionship: Exploring The Human-Dog Relationship Through Mtdna Analysis Of Bridge River Canine Remains, Seth Warnick

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) hold an unquantifiable level of cultural influence and companionship across swathes of societies all over the globe. While dogs are genetically very distinct from Homo sapiens, throughout human history the two organisms have spread across the world together and have biologically gone through similar selective, social, and environmental constraints. Today the biological makeup of dog breeds is incredibly diverse, however, the archaeological record and genetic research has provided insight into the humble beginnings of a relationship between humans and dogs that has transcended the fabric of emerging civilization itself. Located on the Northwest interior plateau, Bridge …

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An Institutional And Policy Analysis Of Adaptive Capacity To Climate Change Of The Agricultural Sector Of Bangladesh, Calvin Wood Martin Jan 2024

An Institutional And Policy Analysis Of Adaptive Capacity To Climate Change Of The Agricultural Sector Of Bangladesh, Calvin Wood Martin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis evaluates the adaptive capacity of Bangladesh’s agricultural sector in the context of climate change, focusing on policy and institutional capacities. An analytic framework is applied to assess policy coherence, resources, and implementation effectiveness of key national and international policies. The study also examines aspects of institutional capacity, such as administration, technological innovation, protective infrastructure, and access to benefits and resources. Through expert interviews and a comprehensive literature review, the research identifies both strengths and challenges in current efforts to enhance climate resilience. The findings highlight areas for improvement, particularly in strengthening policy coherence, resource needs, and institutional support …

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Social Determinants Of Health: Evaluation Using Rates Of Vision Screening And Follow-Up Examinations, Madeline Dyer Jan 2024

Social Determinants Of Health: Evaluation Using Rates Of Vision Screening And Follow-Up Examinations, Madeline Dyer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Vision care is essential to the quality of life of young children, impacting them over the course of their lives. Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) affect the likelihood of a child having access to appropriate care specified by the Bright Futures. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of SDOH on the completion of vision screening and the rate of follow-up with an eye care provider when applicable. In addition, rates of instrument-based vision screening and recommended ophthalmology follow-up were compared with COI, a metric assessing the quality of resources available and the conditions that matter for …

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An Ethnographic Study Of Grace Services: Understanding Resilience At An Organizational Level, Jessica Paredes Strong Jan 2024

An Ethnographic Study Of Grace Services: Understanding Resilience At An Organizational Level, Jessica Paredes Strong

WWU Graduate School Collection

Drawing on organizational resilience theory, social support theory, and self-efficacy theory, this study explores the pivotal role of resilience among advocates working with survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV), domestic violence (DV), and sexual violence (SV). Conducted at Grace Services in Balevi County, the study engaged a total of five staff and volunteers. Grace Services is a non-profit organization that supports survivors of IPV, DV, and SV. They employ staff and volunteers who provide crucial services and support to these survivors. Given the emotional toll associated with their work, this research focuses on how Grace Services approaches fostering resilience among …

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Let Your Head Hang Down: A Narrative Examination Of Cultic & Conspiratorial Romance, Kyle Macy Jan 2024

Let Your Head Hang Down: A Narrative Examination Of Cultic & Conspiratorial Romance, Kyle Macy

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

A response to recent cultural trends of radicalization, extremism, and violence in American society, this dissertation, a novel rendered in ephemeral fragments of oral histories, interrogates the romanticist postures that compel a community of musical artists, the so-called “Folk Revival Revival,” toward infamy and tragedy. Where more traditional sociological approaches to cultic formations stress the importance of centralized charismatic authority, and more traditional psychological approaches rely upon a conspiratorial Cold War ethos of cognitive bias and coercive control (i.e. “brainwashing”), this project meets such assumptions with incredulity, asserting instead that cultic and conspiratorial entrancement awakens first from within, and may …

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A Growing Dome In The Clouds Of Everest: An Applied Anthropology Project In The High Himalaya, Gary Mark Lesley Jan 2024

A Growing Dome In The Clouds Of Everest: An Applied Anthropology Project In The High Himalaya, Gary Mark Lesley

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Presented is a novel approach to addressing food insecurity within a remote indigenous community situated in the high Himalaya of Nepal. The village faces challenges in accessing fresh, affordable produce, particularly during harsh winter seasons. This threatens the community's food sovereignty and adversely affects the stability of the Sir Edmund Hillary School, a site of historical and cultural importance. Through the integration of indigenous knowledge and technological advancements, this APP details a strategy to augment local agriculture, drawing on applied anthropological methodologies. The genesis of this project stems from the creative leadership of the school principal and his vision for …

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