Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Going Up The Country: A Comparison Of Elite Ceramic Consumption Patterns In Charleston And The Carolina Frontier, Rebecca E. Shepherd

Theses and Dissertations

The 18th century colonial world is characterized by a dramatic increase in the consumption of goods identified as the “consumer revolution.” During this period fashionable material culture and the social performances associated with their use became universally recognized symbols of group membership. This thesis uses archaeological evidence to explore variation in the degree of participation in the consumer revolution between urban and rural settings in late eighteenth-century South Carolina. The data used for this research will be taken from excavated ceramic assemblages of two domestic archaeological sites, both of which were homes owned consecutively by the wealthy Brewton and Motte …

Variable Education Exposure And Cognitive Task Performance Among The Tsimane, Forager-Horticulturalists., Helen Elizabeth Davis

Anthropology ETDs

At present, we know very little about the transition from traditional learning skills to models of standardized learning, and how it can influence the way one understands and solves problems. This research will examine cognitive performance and the factors affecting variation across communities and between individuals as it changes with age. The objective of this dissertation is to measure cognitive performance among children between 8 and 18 years of age exposed to variable levels of formal schooling in order to investigate three main research questions: (1) Whether exposure to schooling and increased performance in school-based abilities, such as math and …

Not On My Street: Exploration Of Culture, Meaning And Perceptions Of Hiv Risk Among Middle Class African American Women, Corliss D. Heath

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Black women remain at a higher risk for HIV infection than women of any other ethnic group. Of all new infections reported among U.S. women in 2010, 64% occurred in African Americans compared to 18% Whites and 15% Hispanic/Latina women (CDC 2013a; CDC 2014b). While the literature on HIV risk among African American women is extensive, it mostly focuses on low income, low education subgroups of women or those involved in high risk behaviors such as drug use. Very little has been done to understand the risk for HIV among college educated, middle class women who do not fit into …

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 …

Observations On The Performative Force Of The Qyama And The Ihidaye, And Its Pertinancy Today, C. A. Chase

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

Using contemporary social and art theory, with particular emphasis on the notion of performative, this paper examines the historical and theological context of a unique social and ecclesial phenomenon in 4th century Syria—the Sons and Daughters of the Covenant. By observing these committed laity as a ‘living performance,’ an exploration of the identity of the faithful, both severally and as a community, may be undertaken. This paper focuses on the relation of such a performative to notions of Christology and anthropology, with an eye towards today’s laity and their seeking for identity in a complex world of competing shifting …

Medical Pluralism In A Neoliberal State: Health And Deservingness In Southern Belize, Douglas Carl Reeser

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This ethnography explores the varied contours of a national health care system and how it is used in conjunction with traditional forms of health care in Toledo District, Belize, focused on the largest town of Punta Gorda (P.G.), In a medically plural environment, a variety of health care options are used based on a wide range of social, economic, and structural factors that shape people's choices and decisions. The convenience of and experience with low-cost home- and self-care options make these the most common first choice during an illness event in P.G., however a deeper exploration of health behavior reveals …

Cosleeping: A Universal Human Phenomenon, Sarah E. Nasatir-Hilty

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Owning Our Food System: Urban Community Gardening And Local Food Movements, Paige A. Edwards

Masters Theses

Food is a means of examining culture, including identity, autonomy and power. It creates relationships and memories between people via shared connections. Through food, I explore local food movements and urban community gardening.

We both ingest and produce garden-grown foods. This movement is often described as simple nostalgia. I suggest that it is a response against heavily processed foods within a system reliant on mass produced food. This desire for ownership pushes community gardens and other counter-hegemonic spaces forward in their goals of using social practice to challenge the established food industry and take control within their own lives.

Explaining Variance In Reproductive Success And Food Sharing In Ust’-Avam, Joellie Rasmussen

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In light of somatic and reproductive tradeoffs modeled in evolutionary theory, this thesis conducts two analyses of men’s behavior in the indigenous hunter-gatherer community of Ust’-Avam, northern Russia. First, a food-distribution network of men’s hunting documented in 2001 and 2003 is analyzed considering evolutionary models of food sharing: kin selection, reciprocal altruism, generosity signaling, and costly signaling. The frequency of inter-household food transfers from 36 donor households to 102 recipient households are examined using matrix regression with independent variables representing embodied, material, and relational wealth. This analysis does not support the costly signaling model, but provides robust evidence for kinship, …

Investigating Patterns Of Domestic Violence In The Marginally Urban Communities On The Outskirts Of Siem Reap, Cambodia, Sean M. Smith

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Snow Monkeys In South Texas, A Thirty Year Study Of Behavioral Adaptation, Lou E. Griffin

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

A thirty year study of a transplanted species of primate, Macaca fuscata, Japanese snow monkey, documents the environmental influences on an intact troop relocated from Arashiyama, Japan to south Texas. These influences include novel disease, toxins, and predation. The effects of the environment on the social structure, hierarchy, and population of the primates are presented. The study begins in 1972 and is completed in 2002.

"Beirut Speaks": New Graffiti Sub-Cultures Of Beirut, Lebanon, Jaime Alyss Holland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Modern graffiti is an ever-present part of urban space. It has become globalized and has adapted to different environments and social contexts. Today in Beirut, Lebanon a phenomenal street art movement is infiltrating public space. This particular movement questions the common understandings that have constructed Western graffiti artists and graffiti culture for so long. A new group of street artists is working to make the art form more inclusive of Beirut's many communities by writing messages that speak to the whole of Lebanon. They are making their work known in the presence of law enforcement, different sects, and generations. How …

Minds, Bodies, And Political Selves: Embodying Pro-Choice Activism, Samantha Leah Aisen

Honors Papers

The abortion debate in the United States is a contentious social issue. Within the past three years, legislators introduced abortion related restrictions in unprecedented quantities. Pro-choice activist organizations and individuals are responding to this influx of targeted legislation. My thesis is an ethnographic study of pro-choice activist habitus and the cultural capital shared among activists. I explore political activists' and clinic escorts'; shared rhetorical tactics and personal preferences regarding key pro-choice issues. First I discuss and analyze how gender inequality and gender identity is present in activists'; political abortion discourse and personal life choices. Second, I explore activist political and …

Can You Hear The People Sing: Community Theater, Play And The Middle Class, Heather Marie Moats

LSU Master's Theses

Over the last century community, or “little”, theaters have popped up all over the United States as a way for amateur actors to perform. Academic research in both anthropology and theater studies have greatly overlooked and dismissed these theaters. Using data collected via ethnographic methods over the course of two musical productions, approximately seven months total, at a community theater in Baton Rouge, Louisiana I hope to demonstrate both why individuals, predominately within the middle class, with limited leisure time choose to spend it volunteering at a community theater as well as some of the social and interpersonal benefits it …