Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Opposition And Complementarity Of The Sexes In Ndumba Initiation, Terence Hays

Terence Hays

In this analysis of the juxtaposition of gender opposition and complementarity by Terence Hays, two important ceremonies of the unique culture of the Ndumba Highlanders are examined. Hays observes both gender ceremonies: the 'unmanra which is the male ceremony and the kwaasi which is the female ceremony. By observing these two ceremonies, Hays determines that the males and females believe they are opposed by their natures, but are also interdependent. By examining this culture's expressions of gender opposition, conversation, and complementarity, Hays believes understanding can then be realized.

Cultural Anthropological Research In The Business Environment, Caitlin Farmer

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

New Insights On The Peopling Of The New World: Analysis Of Migration Waves And Ancestral Areas Of The First Americans, Barbara Kathleen Alsup

Doctoral Dissertations

There is much debate regarding the ancestral area(s) and migration patterns of the first migrants into the Americas, referred to here as Paleoamericans. Using craniometric data of a comprehensive sample of Paleoamericans, Archaic Americans and modern, worldwide populations, various statistical analyses were conducted to further investigate these research questions, such as principal component analysis, Mahalanobis squared distance matrices and matrix permutation and design matrix analysis.

Most results indicate that the Single Wave model for movement into the New World is best supported by this data. This finding is among the first in providing craniometric support for a single wave into …

Records Of The Institut Fuer Deutsche Ostarbeit (1940-1943): Using Anthropometrics Of Polish Populations To Examine Secular Trends And Region Specific Variation, Alicja Karolina Lanfear

Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this dissertation was to describe population variation and secular trends in anthropometrics of Polish people before, during, and after World War II. The records of the Institute fü[ue]r Deutsche Ostarbeit (USHMM, 2008a), a dataset containing anthropometrics of the Polish population that were taken by Nazi Germans during WWII, was used in combination with other published data sources (Boas, 1928; Sikora, 1956; Stołyhwo et al., 1956; Miszkiewicz, 1956; Miszkiewicz, 1960; Total n= 17,732). Population structure was analyzed at three levels; town, municipality and county. Secular trends in cranial and body dimensions were investigated over an 85 year period …

Cross-Cultural Cannibalism Throughout Human History, Melissa Cochran

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Poetics And Politics Of Ivory Collecting And Display At The Milwaukee Public Museum, Arianna Wheaton Murphy

Theses and Dissertations

The museum paradigm shift, first identified by Weil (1990), is evident in the transformations of the poetics and politics of ivory collecting and display over the past 25 years. Based upon Igor Kopytoff's (1986) "biographical" approach to material culture, this thesis demonstrates how ivory in museums has accumulated substantial and diverse cultural meaning, priming it for fluctuation according to modern-day culture shifts. Evidence of fluctuations in the social understanding of ivory is based on a new political ecology, which recognizes that a socially constructed nature underpins wildlife conservation efforts and cultural responses to extinction, both biological and cultural. The interpretation …

Early-Life Influences On Body Composition, Metabolic Economy, And Age At Menarche, Megan Workman

Anthropology ETDs

Prenatal energy balance and postnatal psychosocial experiences have been linked by separate literatures to maturational timing, adult body composition (e.g., height, skeletal muscle mass), and life-long differences in metabolic physiology. This dissertation examines the potential influences of prenatal energy balance and postnatal psychosocial experiences in simultaneous analyses designed to test whether they exert additive or interacting influences on adult body composition (chapters 2 and 4), metabolic physiology (chapter 3), and age at menarche (chapter 4) among samples of U.S. men and women. Evolutionary models that address human developmental plasticity are explored as possible explanations for the observed relationships.

"She Of Gentle Manners": An Examination Of The Widow Pomeroy's Table And Tea Wares And The Emerging Domestic Sphere In Kinderhook, New York, Megan E. Sullivan

Graduate Masters Theses

Following the American Revolution, the new gender ideologies of Republican Motherhood and the Cult of Domesticity gained in popularity that associated men with the public sphere and relegated women to the private domestic sphere. Women were now tasked with the important job of raising the future citizens of the fledgling Republic. The quality of family and home life took on extra importance, and the elaboration of meals and the ceramics used in these rituals changed accordingly. This thesis analyzes the table and tea wares from an archaeological assemblage located in upstate New York that dates to the turn of the …

A Forensic Identification Utility To Create Facial Approximations Using Cone-Beam Computed Tomography Of 100 Hispanic Females: A Pilot Study, Behzad Nejat

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction:Estimation of facial soft tissue appearance from human skeletal remains is often necessary in forensic identification. This process has been referred to as facial reconstruction or facial approximation and is a branch of forensic facial anthropology. Original methods for facial approximation originated in nineteenth century Europe and consisted of artists shaping clay over skull models using average soft tissue depths measured in cadavers. The last two decades have introduced numerous computerized techniques that have digitized this process while attempting to accurately and objectively define the relationship between a skull and its overlying soft tissue. This pilot study describes a method …

The Maritime Archaeology Of West Africa In The Atlantic World: Investigations At Elmina, Ghana, Gregory David Cook

Anthropology - Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the first maritime archaeology research project conducted in Ghana, specifically off the town of Elmina in the Central Region. Survey and diver investigations resulted in the discovery of a mid-seventeenth century shipwreck, which archaeological and archival research suggests may be the Dutch West India Company vessel Groeningen that sank after arriving to Elmina on a trading voyage in 1647. The site lies approximately 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) southeast of Elmina and is characterized by a mass of trade goods, including brass and pewter basins, brass manillas, lead rolls, trade beads, pins, cowrie shells, as well as …

Omaha, Nebraska's Costly Signaling At The Trans-Mississippi And International Exposition Of 1898, Courtney L. Cope Ziska

Anthropology Department: Theses

At the close of the nineteenth-century, Omaha, Nebraska hosted the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition of 1898. Despite financial depression, drought, and war, the city chose to allocate its limited financial, time, and energy resources to the Exposition effort with no guarantee of success and little potential for profit. This thesis aims to make sense of this seemingly wasteful or irrational event by exploring its possible function as a costly social signal of Omaha’s qualities to potential residents, businesses, and city partners. Utilizing data from historical, geophysical, and demographic resources, this thesis assesses the Exposition as a costly signal and the …

The Road To Pomp And Circumstance For Ell Students: The Perceived Ambivalent Schooling Experience Of Ell Students With Mexican Ancestry In An Urban Midwestern High School, Kristine M. Sudbeck

Anthropology Department: Theses

Perceptions of high school faculty and staff members about the graduation outcomes of English language learners of Mexican ancestry were explored. Throughout the course of one semester, observations were made and field notes taken in classrooms and other school locations. Interviews were conducted with 25 faculty/ staff members and 7 students, all of whom were former or current English language learners of Mexican ancestry. The author used a mixed methods strategy; interviews were coded for themes to assess qualitative data, and SPSS was used to analyze quantitative data. Faculty/staff perceived the top three indicators of whether or not an ELL …

Opening Anthropology: An Interview With Keith Hart At Savage Minds, Ryan B. Anderson

Faculty Publications

This interview is part of an ongoing series about open access (OA), publishing,communication, and anthropology. The first interview in this series was with Jason Baird Jackson. The second interview was with Tom Boellstorff. The third installment of this OA series is with Keith Hart (See Part 1, Part 2,and Part 3on Savage Minds). Full text also posted onThe Memory Bank.

Digitization Protocols And Applications For Laser Scanning Human Bone In Forensic Anthropology, Matthew Filiault

HIM 1990-2015

In medico-legal investigations involving unidentified skeletal remains, forensic anthropologists commonly assist law enforcement and medical examiners in their analysis and identification. The traditional documentation techniques employed by the forensic anthropologist during their analysis include notes, photographs, measurements and radiographic images. However, relevant visual information of the skeleton can be lacking in morphological details in 2D images. By creating a 3D representation of individual bones using a laser-scanner, it would be possible to overcome this limitation. Now that laser scanners have become increasingly affordable, this technology should be incorporated in the documentation methodologies of forensic anthropology laboratories. Unfortunately, this equipment is …

Insights From Characterizing Extinct Human Gut Microbiomes, Raul Y. Tito, Dan Knights, Jessica Metcalf, Alexandra J. Obregon-Tito, Lauren M. Cleeland, Fares Najar, Bruce Roe, Karl Reinhard, Kristin D. Sobolik, Samuel L. Belknap, Morris Foster, Paul Spicer, Rob Knight, Cecil M. Lewis Jr.

Sociology & Anthropology Faculty Publications

In an effort to better understand the ancestral state of the human distal gut microbiome, we examine feces retrieved from archaeological contexts (coprolites). To accomplish this, we pyrosequenced the 16S rDNA V3 region from duplicate coprolite samples recovered from three archaeological sites, each representing a different depositional environment: Hinds Cave (~8000 years B.P.) in the southern United States, Caserones (1600 years B.P.) in northern Chile, and Rio Zape in northern Mexico (1400 years B.P.). Clustering algorithms grouped samples from the same site. Phyletic representation was more similar within sites than between them. A Bayesian approach to source-tracking was used to …

In The Shadow Of The Peñon: A Zooarchaeological Study Of Formative Diet, Economy, And Sociopolitics In The Río Pukara Valley, Peru, Matthew Christopher Warwick

Theses and Dissertations

In the Lake Titicaca Basin, the Formative Period saw extensive changes in the scale and nature of sociopolitical complexity, ritual practice and economic organization associated with the transition from small villages to the rise of regional Late Formative polities. These changes were partially fueled by the development and intensification of agro-pastoral economies. Consequently, it is essential to compare and contrast subsistence and herding practices associated with the domestic and political economies, given that these forces supported life at the village- as well as the polity-level. A growing database exists for animal exploitation associated with Formative through Tiwanaku Periods in the …

Never Put Your Head Down Unless You Pray: The Stories Of African American Men In The Wisconsin Prison System, Julia Marie Kirchner

Theses and Dissertations

Prior research on offender narratives has not examined culture as a factor in how prisoners explain their crimes. This qualitative ethnographic research project explores the self-constructions of African American male prisoners using both participant observation with active gang members on the street and discourse analysis of over 300 letters written by incarcerated men. Focusing primarily on six prisoner consultants, this study investigates the claims that offenders make about themselves in reference to their identity. These convicted felons justify their crimes as rational under the circumstances prevalent in segregated inner cities. In reference to economic crimes such as drug dealing and …

A Comprehensive Study Of Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, And Comparison, Per Maximilian Gasseholm

Social Sciences

Today complimentary medicine is being increasingly sought out. Ayurveda and TCM, are among the oldest systems of medicine and have been developed for over thousands of years in India and China respectively. This paper details the philosophies, medical theories, anatomy, diagnosis, and treatments of both of these systems, including a comparison. Both of these modalities of healing operate with a microcosm – macrocosm paradigm. This makes them fundamentally similar, and compatible with each other. Ayurveda uses Tridoshic theory to apply treatments ranging from diet, massage, meditation, yoga among other therapies to bring Vata, Pitta, and Kapha into balance. TCM is …

Urbanism In The Northern Levant During The 4th Millennium Bce, Rasha El-Endari

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The development of urbanism in the Near East during the 4thmillennium BCE has been an important debate for decades and with recent scientific findings, a revival of this intellectual discussion has come about. Many archaeologists suggested that urban societies first emerged in southern Mesopotamia, and then expanded to the north and northwest. With recent excavations in northern Mesopotamia, significant evidence has come to light with the finding of monumental architecture and city walls dated to the beginning of the 4th millennium BCE, well before southern Mesopotamian urban expansion. These discoveries reflect important administrative systems and stratified sociopolitical structures within these …

Population Dynamics In Predynastic Upper Egypt: Paleodemography Of Cemetery Hk43 At Hierakonpolis, Ernest King Batey Iii

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The site of Hierakonpolis is considered to have played an important role in the development of the Egyptian state, which formed at end of the fourth millennium BC. Archaeological evidence suggests that, for the Middle and Late Predynastic periods (ca. 3900-3200 BC), Hierakonpolis may be characterized as having experienced the following: a growth in both settlement and population size, an increased reliance on cereal agriculture, development of craft specialization, and the presence of a Social hierarchy as interpreted from an observed increase in the differentiation of mortuary behavior. Historical data suggest that these Social and economic changes would have affected …

Prehistoric Human Ecodynamics In The Rub Al-Khali Desert: Results Of Remote Sensing And Excavations In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Jason T. Herrmann

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Archaeological investigations in the Emirate of Dubai, UAE conducted by the Dubai Department of Archaeology and the University of Arkansas demonstrate that the desert inland of the Oman Peninsula was occupied not only during the Arabian Neolithic (8000-4400 BC), when the region experienced a moist period referred to as the Holocene Climatic Optimum (HCO), but also during the more arid millennia following the decline of the HCO into the Christian Era. During this period, desert settlement clustered near a band of oases, in contrast to the more widespread spatial distribution of remains of nomadic pastoralists from the Neolithic. Excavations at …

Subsistence In The Shrinking Forest: Native And Euro-American Practice In 19th-Century Connecticut, William A. Farley

Graduate Masters Theses

Southeastern Connecticut in the 19th century represented a setting in which Native Americans living on reservations were residing in close proximity to Euro-American communities. The Mashantucket Pequot, an indigenous group who in the 19th century resided on a state-overseen reservation, and their Euro-American neighbors both utilized local and regional resources in order to achieve their subsistence goals. This thesis seeks to explore the differences and similarities of the subsistence practices employed by these two groups. It further seeks to examine the centrality of forest landscapes to both Mashantucket and Euro-American subsistence, and to interpret the importance of the reservation to …

Effigy Mounds, Social Identity, And Ceramic Technology: Decorative Style, Clay Composition, And Petrography Of Wisconsin Late Woodland Vessels, Jody Clauter

Theses and Dissertations

This ceramic analysis is focused on a combination of technical and decorative analyses involving energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) and petrographic data unused by or unavailable to previous researchers. The ceramics used in this study are non-collared forms of Late Woodland (AD 700 - 1200) types found across southern Wisconsin. Ceramic attributes from these data sets are analyzed using multi-variate statistical methods and the resulting clusters are plotted geographically. Results indicate regionalization of particular attributes with a major east-west trend noted in some cases. However, geographical plotting shows broad overlap among river valleys and locales. Importantly, EDXRF data demonstrates that …

Material Expressions Of Social Change: Indigenous Sicilian Responses To External Influences In The First Millennium B.C., William Balco

Theses and Dissertations

Following the arrival of Greek colonists and Phoenician traders in the seventh century BC, indigenous Iron Age Sicilian populations underwent an intensive process of social transformation. As a result, many new behaviors, including those associated with Greek-style feasting and commensality, were introduced to indigenous Sicilians, together with the associated material culture. This study explores Iron Age indigenous Sicilian social responses to these interactions, focusing on the feast as a conduit of change and the concomitant transformation of feasting accoutrements. Vessel form, manufacturing technique, and surface treatment impact the emblemic ceramic styles used to communicate ethnic affiliations in the various social …

An Archaeological And Historical Investigation Of A 19th Century Leprosarium At Hassel Island, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Amanda Marie Barton

Masters Theses

Located on Hassel Island, a small island off the coast of Charlotte Amalie, in St. Thomas, USVI, a small leprosarium, or quarantine hospital for those affected with leprosy, was in operation from 1833 to 1861 as a way to isolate those with leprosy from the general population. Surface and sub-surface excavations took place over the spring and summer of 2008 in preparation for proposed National Park Service hiking trail that would be laid parallel to the site remains.

Firstly, this thesis provides a historical background on leprosy, as well as a background on how leprosy and disease has been studied …

Contextualizing The Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site (40wg59): Understanding Landscape Change At An Upland South Farmstead., Daniel Whitaker Howard Brock

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on a contextual archaeological approach to investigate the historic landscape of the Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site. Tipton-Haynes is a late eighteenth- through twentieth-century upland south farmstead located in Johnson City, TN. Home to two prominent Tennessee families and occupied until acquired by the state in the 1960s, the site has experienced many alterations to the landscape over time. The analysis presented views the landscape as material culture investigated through a multidisciplinary approach including historic research, architectural survey, geophysical survey, dendrochronology, and archaeology. To make sense of the complex nature of the Tipton-Haynes site, multiple methods were used …

Anthropological Apologetics: A Proposal Of An Anthropological Compendium As Evidence For The Imago Dei, Jeffrey R. Dickson

Masters Theses

Evangelical scholarship has shown great admiration for the work of Gary Habermas and others in their contribution to Christian apologetics by validating the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ with a list of minimal facts generally agreed to by historical and biblical scholars. This thesis will explore the methodology of the minimal facts approach and appropriate it as a tool to explore the data within the field of anthropology which offers evidence for the biblical concept of the Imago Dei. This study will focus on Wolfhart Pannenberg in his critically acclaimed work demonstrating the importance of the theological perspective …

(Re)Conceptualizing Death: Examining Attitudes Toward Death At The Anthropological Research Facility, Kiley Nicole Compton

Masters Theses

The Anthropological Research Facility (ARF), commonly known as the “Body Farm,” provides a unique research setting in which researchers work intimately with human remains in various stages of decomposition. While the ARF, and forensic anthropology, is well documented in popular culture, little academic research has been conducted to investigate the sociocultural phenomena associated with working with human remains.

This thesis investigates the reactions and attitudes toward death of those involved in operational and administrative duties at the ARF focusing on how these attitudes influence and are influenced by involvement at the facility. This research also provides a point of departure …

Morphological Features Of The Proximal Femur: Investigations Of Habitual Activities, Sex And Health In A Bronze Age Population From The Arabian Peninsula, Animikha Dutt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Bronze Age sites on the Arabian Peninsula are relatively rare. The undisturbed nature of Tell Abraq, located in the United Arab Emirates, is significant since it represents one of the longest known occupied settlement sites dating from the 3rd millennium BC to the 1st century AD. This site has revealed an undisturbed communal tomb that was used for approximately 200 years (2200-2000 BC), housing commingled and disarticulated human remains of at least 286 adults and 127 subadults. The strategic coastal position of Tell Abraq, at the intersection of several major cultural centers, allowed its people to actively participate in world …

Global Journeys: From Transnationalism To Diaspora, Nadja C. Johnson

Journal of International and Global Studies

The emerging interest in diasporic studies has recently begun to permeate various academic disciplines, none more so than cultural studies. Today, there are numerous articles, books, and journals that have begun to engage in heated discussions on the importance of recognizing and understanding diaspora communities as collective transnational organizations and movements. However, sociology, the discipline out of which traditional migration theory emerged, has seemingly been more reluctant to embrace the concept of diaspora. In this article, I initiate a much needed conversation between traditional sociological migration theory and theories of diaspora emerging out of cultural studies. I look at the …