Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Jack Epperson: A Modern Folk Healer, Janet Tracy

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study in folk medicine focuses on a modern magico-religious folk healer named Jack Epperson, who utilizes the principles of bioenergetics or placing hands on an ill person's body and directing healing energy into blocked channels to heal, in the context of the small Alaskan community in which he lives and practices. The thesis is divided into seven chapters preceded by an introduction and followed by a conclusion.

To fit Jack Epperson into the full spectrum of folk medicine, it is necessary to comprehend fully the two categories of folk medicine: herbal or natural medicine, and magico-religious healing or shamanism. …

Zora Neale Hurston: The Voice Of The Goddess, Mella Davis

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Zara Neale Purston has re-emerged as an author of promise due to the re-appraisal of her works led by Alice Walker and Robert Hemenway. In both literary and folklore academic circles, Hurston's work has been reclaimed by African-American female scholars and writers, but still a significant study has yet to be done about her ethnographic contributions to folklore and her farsightedness in fieldwork methodology. This thesis seeks to validate her work as a folklorist, thereby dismissing the charges of popularization and amateurishness by re-examining her work. Mules and Men and Jonah's Gourd Vine are Hurston's two most influential folklore texts …

Horsetrading: An East Texas Study In Establishing Context, Jon Rushing

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Scholarship to date on the subject of horsetrading and horsetraders has been primarily narrative collections with a minimum of attention paid to the cultural context within which the horsetrader lives and works. This thesis focuses on the lives and dealings of several horsetraders in a five county region in middle to southern east Texas.

Beginning with a discussion of the merits and failings of existing scholarship, I outline the historical background leading to the unique regional context and strong sense of independence in my area of study. A combination of early isolation, radical economic and political swings, and a strong …