Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Book Review: Becoming Creole: Nature And Race In Belize By Melissa A. Johnson, Marcia Mikulak

Anthropology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Colonial Subjugation And Human Rights Abuses: Twenty-First Century Violations Against Brazil’S Rural Indigenous Xukuru Nation, Marcia Mikulak

Anthropology Faculty Publications

This article addresses the struggle of rural Xukuru indigenous peoples in Pesqueira, Pernambuco, Brazil as they organize to stop historical violence against them and work to regain their constitutional right to their ancestral lands. The article illustrates what a single researcher working along-side rural people's and NGOs can do to make change in an oppressive state. With the birth of the United Nations (UN) in 1945 and the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, member states have often provided rhetorical validity to human rights documents and conventions; a rhetoric that is often ignored upon return to …

White Kids: Language, Race, And Styles Of Youth Identity, Marcia Mikulak

Anthropology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Music, Anthropology, And The Senses: Cognition For Social Change, Marcia Mikulak

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Both anthropology and music embrace the method of participant observation: performance and observation of self and others. As a classical musician, I bring a musical heritage in both classical and experimental music performance, and as a cultural anthropologist my training in ethnology allows me to couple musical sensibilities with participant observation. This paper explores three venues of human expression: experimental musical improvisation, musical performance with and for street and working youth in Brazil, and anthropological fieldwork. I argue that the combination of musical expression and participant observation provide unique opportunities to share the universality of lived experiences, while augmenting complex …

The Symbolic Power Of Color: Constructions Of Race, Skin-Color, And Identity In Brazil, Marcia Mikulak

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Some current cultural anthropologists define race as a social construct, yet explorations of the socio-historical constructions that give form and structure to racial identities perpetuating notions of “race” are rarely discussed. This study explores the theory of racial formations proposed by Michael Omi and Howard Winant as it applies to Brazil’s racial project, arguing that Brazil’s rhetoric on race and national identity during the late 19th to early 20th century culminated in a racial project ultimately known as democracia racial. As a result, I propose that Brazilian racial consciousness is symbolically pluralistic, encompassing race, social class, and social position, generating …

Anthropology And Child Development: A Cross-Cultural Reader, Marcia Mikulak

Anthropology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Love And Suffering In Bom Jesus: Marileia As Favela Woman And Mother, Marcia Mikulak

Anthropology Faculty Publications

This article explores the life history of Marileia, a favela woman and mother of five children, several of whom work the streets in Curvelo, Minas Gerais, Brazil, and is drawn from research carried out between 1997-2000 in Brazil. Ethnography exposes the multiple realities coexisting within and between individuals engaged in the constructionist process of fieldwork. From the anthropologists perspective, narrative is a translated and transcribed event that can magnify inequalities and barriers between researcher and subject. This article explores ethnographic representation by extending the cantankerous and complex experiences of researcher, subject, and reader into a form similar to a musical …

The Political Economy Of Everyday Life: Working Children In Curvelo, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Marcia Mikulak

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Numerous articles about working children in Brazil focus on HIV-Aids, child labor, crime, and petty thievery; however, social science literature does not analyze their positive contributions. From the perspective of working children, this article discusses the contributions that they make to their families as they navigate between home, school, and the informal labor market. Data are presented on the types of work that working children perform, time spent working, money eared, and contributions to their family household incomes. In addition, this article argues that the lack of extra-familial support networks within favelas contributes to the high numbers of children working …

Childhood, Marcia Mikulak

Anthropology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Student Attitudes Towards Smoking, Department Of Anthropology And Sociology

Anthropology Faculty Publications

The contents of this volume constitutes the final report of research findings of a project designed to investigate the smoking behavior, plus the attitudes and beliefs about smoking and its effects, of the student body of the University of North Dakota. The study was sponsored by the Cancer Research Division of the U. S. Public Health Service.

The study was the result of an idea initiated by the University of North Dakota Pan Hellenic organization. This organization wit the assistance of George Starcher, President of the University contacted the U. S. Public Health Service to investigate the possibility of starting …