Anthropology Commons^™

Legal Consciousness And The Legal Culture Of Nagpra, Eleanor Haskin

Honors Papers

This thesis explores the "life history" of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). It chronicles NAGPRA's story beginning with what created the perceived need for such an act, the work and the groups of people that went into its ultimate advent in 1990, the "nitty-gritty" details/language of the policy itself, and its various successes and failures throughout the years. With research conducted through the lens of legal anthropology, this paper focuses on the certain "requirements" (education, class, race, ethnicity, tribal affiliation, etc.) that have allowed people(s) to actively participate in the formation/policy-building of NAGPRA, become NAGPRA representatives, …

"Regularities" And "Irregularities" In Chinese Historical Phonology, Tianrang Bu

Honors Papers

With a combination of methodologies from Western and Chinese traditional historical linguistics, this thesis is an attempt to survey and synthetically analyze the major sound changes in Chinese phonological history. It addresses two hypotheses – the Neogrammarian regularity hypothesis and the unidirectionality hypothesis – and tries to question their validity and applicability. Drawing from fourteen types of “regular” and “irregular” processes, the thesis argues that the origins and impetuses of sound change is far from just phonetic environment (“regular” changes) and lexical diffusion (“irregular” changes), and that sound change is not unidirectional because of the existence and significance of fortifying …

The Terror Experts: Discourse, Discipline, And The Production Of Terrorist Subjects At A University Research Center, Liam Christopher Mclean

Honors Papers

This thesis examines the production and circulation of discourses related to (counter)terrorism at a university-affiliated terrorism and security studies research center in eastern Massachusetts. Drawing on participant observation, documentary analysis, and interviews with faculty and students at the research center, I suggest that expert discourses of (counter)terrorism at the center traffic in an archetypal construction of the terrorist that I call the “depoliticized radical.” This construction locates the root of terrorism in individual morality and psychology, tending to abstract the terrorist from the political conditions in which they enact violence. I further propose that the depoliticized radical functions as a …

"Crooked" Language: Moroccan Heritage Identity And Belonging On Youtube, Radia Lyna Lahlou

Honors Papers

With the advent of user-generated social media, people are able to assert their ideas, opinions and positionality through online multi-way communication and participation. One such website is YouTube, a video platform where language production and identity negotiation are common. This thesis looks at a series of videos published on YouTube, entitled the "Moroccan Tag" to examine the ways five second-generation French-Moroccan YouTubers assert their national identities online. Using methods of guerrilla ethnography, I glean discourse from video content and comments to outline three key scaler processes through which identity performance manifests: through semiotic ideologies surrounding authenticity, language and imagined community. …

Codeswitching In Hiaki Conversational Discourse: An Evaluation Of Myers-Scotton's Matrix Language Frame Model, Sofia Gottlieb Pierson

Honors Papers

Through the lens of Hiaki-Spanish codeswitching, this paper provides evidence that the languages that engage in bilingual codeswitching are grammatically asymmetrical. With the exception of a few counterexamples addressed at the end, this research supports Myers-Scotton's theory that the surface word order and certain types of morphemes should always come from the grammatically dominant language (the Matrix Language) in mixed language constituents. If the other (Embedded Language) contributes morphemes that violate either of these principles, the remainder of its constituent must be finished in that language. Although the Hiaki language has been thoroughly studied, this study is one of the …

Hyphenated Japan: Cross-Examining The Self/Other Dichotomy In Ainu-Japanese Material Culture, Jonathan Chira Shapiro

Honors Papers

This is a historical ethnography that examines how shifts Japanese national identity and values of homogeneity have affected Japan’s minority Ainu population. I argue that the symbolic position of Ainu culture has historically been rearranged to suit prevailing ideas about Japanese nationality and culture without input from Ainu. Using theoretical understandings of Self-Other dichotomies, I examine the particular way these practices manifested in Meiji Japan to create modern Japanese national identity, and how these functioned both against the West and people colonized by Japan. From there, I look at how cultural nationalism was objectified as present from time immemorial in …

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 …

Reconsidering The Puebloan Languages In A Southwestern Areal Context, Michael Sklar Everdell

Honors Papers

Areal linguistics is the study of diffused linguistic features across different languages which are geographically contiguous and culturally connected. My research attempts to standardize definitions for the vocabulary surrounding linguistic diffusion which will apply cross-areally. I also examine these definitions within the case study of the Pueblo and Southwest regions of North America. These areas have been culturally linked, but no agreement has been made as to whether or not these make up a linguistic area with sub-areas or are both part of a much larger area including the Great Basin, southern Plains, and southern Californian languages.

More Than Duffle Bag Medicine: An Ethnographic Analysis Of A Student Movement For Global Health, Julie A. Christensen

Honors Papers

Student activism around global health is occurring with visibility and fervor in the United States collegiate setting. Over the past two years, I have traveled across the US and Vietnam to immerse myself in the life of a nonprofit organization called GlobeMed. A largely student-led organization, GlobeMed partners each chapter with its own unique community health organization. My thesis is an ethnographic study that draws from narratives of young people, analyzes the organizational structure, and provides a broad contextualization of GlobeMed. First, I explore the history and development of GlobeMed. I then present life histories of young people involved in …

One Nation, Many Borders: Language And Identity In Mayan Guatemala And Mexico, Anna Caroline Peckham

Honors Papers

This paper explores language ideologies, code choice, and ethnolinguistic identity in Maya-dominated areas of Mexico and Guatemala. As the Maya, or Pan-Maya, Movement has grown in scope and force since the 1980s, particularly in Guatemala, possessing a "Maya" identity has become defined in new ways. Since Mayan languages are still spoken with a strong degree of vitality in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and the western highlands of Guatemala, examining Maya identity through beliefs about, and use of, indigenous languages and Spanish is a particularly useful focus. In comparing Maya peoples' beliefs and identities in each of these regions, this paper argues …

We Are Not These Bodies: Identity And Transcendence Among American Devotees Of Krishna, Rachel Lynn Williams

Honors Papers

This paper discusses the ways in which American devotees of Krishna understand their identities. Some second-generation Asian Americans have criticized American Krishna devotees of cultural appropriation, but devotees defend themselves against this claim with a philosophy of bodily transcendence. Many devotees practice transcendence through a rejection of nationalism and sectarianism. The paper also considers vegetarianism and ISKCON's attitude toward animals.

Determining Whether Spectrophotometer Cie L*A*B* Color Analysis Is An Effective Alternative To Munsell Soil Color Charts For The Study Of Burnt Bones: Insights From Analysis Of Bab Edh-Dhra Eb Ii-Iii Burnt Bones, Aaron B. Wolf

Honors Papers

This research examined a collection of burnt bones from Bab edh-Dhra, an Early Bronze Age site on the Dead Sea Plain of Jordan.The goal of the research was to determine if the bones were accidentally or intentional burnt, and intentionally burnt might indicate cremation as part of the mortuary practices at Bab edh-Dhra. The bones were examined using two systems of color measurement, Munsell Soil Color charts and CIE L*a*b* spectrophotometer. Whether CIE L*a*b* was an effective alternative to Munsell color charts was also evaluated during the research. It was concluded that the bones likely did not represent intentional cremation. …

Female Genital Cutting, The Veil, And Democracy: Navigating Cultural Politics In Human Rights Discourse, Andrew Flachs

Honors Papers

This paper explores the perceived incompatibilities between human rights discourse and traditional values in the Middle East and North Africa. After reviewing relevant literature and concepts, it posits that this conflict is the result of social, political, and economic factors within a historical context and suggests using capabilities approach forwarded by Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen as a tool for better understanding and implementing human rights in the region. Rather than see culture as an adversary, this approach explains the potential of culture and religion in resolving ideological conflicts, especially for ambiguous human rights. This paper presents veiling, gential cutting, …

The Accessibility Of Adulthood, Hilary Finedore

Honors Papers

Among individuals with developmental disabilities, an individual's needs and self perceptions interact continually with mainstream expectations about adulthood and disability, altering the very way in which the concept of adulthood is expressed. Fieldwork at a county agency serving the needs of individuals with developmental disabilities (consumers) suggests that at the agency's adult day center, unique kinds of social interaction can develop as a result, reflecting the reconciliation of these specific needs and abilities with mainstream expectations.

This county agency seeks to recreate social and economic aspects of mainstream life for individuals that attend this day center, and thus through these …

Pop Song As Custom: Weddings, Ethnicity, And Entrepreneurs In West Sumatra, Jennifer Fraser

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

From Graceful Adaptations To Jarring Collisions: Oberlin Students’ Experiences Integrating Divergent Conceptions Of Gender, Rebecca Elizabeth Witheridge

Honors Papers

This thesis explores the ways in which straight, cisgender Oberlin College students conceive of gender, and is based upon ethnographic data collected from interviews the author conducted with fifteen informants. Oberlin College is known for its acceptance of gay and transgender students, and the ways in which Oberlin College students self-actively challenge gender norms is visible everywhere, from the gender identity oriented course offerings to the all-gender bathrooms common across campus. The overarching conception of gender at Oberlin College that is prevalent and dominant challenges traditional ideas of gender and gender identity as being fixed to the body, biological, and …

The Language Of Nation: Multiculturalism, Nationalism And Language Policy In The United States And Canada, Laura Blum-Smith

Honors Papers

This thesis will examine the ways in which the national character of these two countries interacts with their histories of immigration and settlement. It will also examine the histories of language policy and debate in the two countries. I consider histories of immigration, nationalism, and language policy for each country, beginning with the United States and then Canada, and then examine the interaction between these factors within each nation. Finally, I compare and contrast the experiences of the US and Canada, examining their similarities and differences with respect to their experiences of the interplay between immigration, nationalism, and language. Benedict …

Pirahã, Language Universals And Linguistic Relativity, Nina Moffitt

Honors Papers

In this thesis I will place Dan Everett's work on the Pirahã in the context of these linguistic theories, criticisms and perpetual questions.

Activist Anthropology: An Ethnography Of Asian American Student Activism At Oberlin College, Ashley R. Suarez

Honors Papers

This thesis examines the issues that have become enmeshed in the body politic of the current generation of Asian/Pacific American student activists at Oberlin College. It discusses students' personal trials as they confront academic burnout, institutional amnesia, and a continued lack of support for A/PA studies, through a case study of activism in motion. Other aspects of this research include the role of identity in pan-ethnic Asian American community organizing, the power dynamics of identity and the strategic deployment of identity as a political tool (Lowe 1991, Espiritu 1992). In addition, the project highlights emerging concerns in the community and …

The Roma Of Eastern Europe In Transition: Historical Marginalization, Misrepresentation, And Political Ethnogenesis, Michael Bobick

Honors Papers

This thesis primarily deals with how the ongoing political transformations in Central and Eastern Europe have affected one particular group, the Roma or Gypsies. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, many initially greeted the radical reconfiguration of hegemonic governmental structures with nationalist zeal, and the democratization of socialist regimes was universally hailed as a victory for all. But for the Roma, a historically persecuted pariah group continually surrounded by misconceptions and Orientalist stereotypes, the radical transformation to "Western" capitalism and democracy must not be viewed in such a positive light. As an ethnic group the Roma exhibit a wide-ranging …

A Narrative Epistemology Of Sacred Frame Constructedness And Deconstruction: Exploratory Analyses Of Ways Of Knowing Sacred Interpretation And Understanding Through Context, Symbol/Concept, And Role, Joshua M. Aerie

Honors Papers

The purpose of this Anthropology Honors Thesis is to understand sacred construction through narrative epistemology. That is, with the help of an analytical model of framework, frame, and strip, I analyze narratives regarding incidents of disruption and incongruity within the sacred framework as a way of knowing the sacred as a social realm, constructed as dialectically different from the domain of "conventional" social cognition. Specifically, I will examine how the stories embody ideas about how the sacred framework constructs fragile interpretive frames susceptible to incidents which challenge its structural rigidity and inflexibility. These stories expose the constructedness of the sacred.

Phylogenetic Inference And Neanderthal Mitochondrial Dna: Comparison Of Parsimony And Distance Models, Menahem Baguio Doura

Honors Papers

Recently, mtDNA was successfully extracted and sequenced from the Neanderthal type specimen (Krings et al, 1997, 1999). Researches attempted to determine the genetic relationship between the Neanderthal specimen and modem human populations using phylogenetic analysis and concluded that the variation existing between the Neanderthal specimen and the modem lineages falls outside the range of variation of modem human populations. Using molecular mutation rate assumptions, it has been concluded that the Neanderthal line diverged from the line leading to modem humans hundreds of thousands of years previous to earlier estimates. This suggests that Neanderthals went extinct without contributing genes to the …

The Place Of The Answering Machine In Institutional Interaction, Julia Neikirk

Honors Papers

Telephone conversations are unusual in several ways: messages must travel a distance, communication is based only in sound (where face to face encounters draw on visual clues), generally conversations occur only in dyads (caller-answerer), the only means of entry to these encounters is a summons-answer sequence (an unusual way for a face to face encounter to begin), and talking is the primary and often the only activity taking place in such an encounter. Telephony splits sounds from other senses, splits the dyad from society, and splits communication from other activities (Hopper 1992:41). McLuban refers to the telephone as the irresistible …

Mother Ireland: Women, The State And The Abortion Referendum In The Republic Of Ireland, Jennifer K. Dewan

Honors Papers

In this paper, I examine the relationship between women and the Irish state, particularly how the nationalist state has defined and controlled women through their reproductive capabilities. I outline the factors that have contributed to the construction of women's identity and how women have resisted the limitations of this construction in a variety of ways. The issue of abortion is an excellent point on which to base the discussion of women in Ireland because of it extraordinary impact on Irish society. To outline the methodology of this examination, this thesis is theoretically grounded in feminist anthropology, in which the category …

Amazight Identity In The Post Colonial Moroccan State: A Case Study In Ethnicity, Morag E. Boyd

Honors Papers

This study will demonstrate that the Amazight are a distinct ethnic group in Morocco, despite the common interpretation in scholarly and everyday discourse that they are merely groups of people speaking one of the Amazight language and not representing a distinct cultural entity. The study will go on to examine the ramifications of this ethnic identity and the heritage of the historical and tribal roots of the Amazight in light of nationalism, state building, ethnicity, and cultural marginalization.

Meat And Potatoes: Recipes For A Range Of Egalitarianism In Three Hunter-Gatherer Societies, Amy Vlassia Margaris

Honors Papers

Throughout most of human history our ancestors lived by hunting and gathering. Only within the last ten to fifteen thousand years have alternative forms of social organization developed, duly labeled by anthropologists and archaeologists: agricultural, pastoral, and complex state societies, lineal tribes, and a host of other terms which pass in and out of favor in our ongoing (and inescapably human) attempts to categorize our own kind.

Classification lies at the heart of science, and anthropology is certainly no exception. However, categorization of any degree (which requires generalization) runs the risk of obscuring important differences between cultural groups. The trick …

"Nyatiti Is My People": Music And The Reconstruction Of Culture Among The Luo Of Western Kenya, Ian Eagleson

Honors Papers

In this thesis I contend that experiencing music is a fundamental activity in the realization of cultural identity. Music reinforces cultural identity by enacting significant forms and practices that embody meaning, meaning particular to the identity of a culture. When people hear music that is significant in their culture it excites certain feelings in them which reinforce and regenerate their identity with that culture. Participation in music is a condition that evokes a vivid impression in the participant like no other activity in social life. Functionally, this impression may reinforce themes impressed on actors in other ways; however, the way …

Flow And Fantasy: An Exploration Of Role-Playing Games, Andrew Roy

Honors Papers

This chapter lays out the conceptual foundation that one must possess in order to examine the role-playing game phenomenon. First. I will present what has been done in the scholarly community on rpgs . This section will also serve as a justification for this study. In the second section, I will examine the games themselves , explaining their form and history to the reader.

Considering the massive popular impact that roleplaying games have had over the last two decades , there is remarkably little scholarship on them . Scanning across anthropological and sociological literature, one can find almost nothing that …

The Sinagua And Aggregation: An Interdisciplinary Approach To Cultural Development, Joshua Aaron Piker

Honors Papers

Archaeology is, like any good sub-field of anthropology, concerned with the descriptions of, and comparisons between, cultural systems. The evidence used by archaeologists is, however, often of a very different nature than that used by ethnographers or linguists. Language is, of course, not preserved in the archaeological record, and many of the everyday behaviors that ethnographers are able to take for granted are invisible at a distance of two thousand years. This paper will be concerned with the study of social organization and group dynamics. However, determining the "structure" of a prehistoric society is notoriously difficult. Benson has stated that …

Oberlin Local Legend, Laura Naomi Albert

Honors Papers

This thesis concerns Oberlin local legend, its forms and functions. It focuses on one of the vital legends in Oberlin, the local/historic legend of the Oberlin Wellington Rescue, about the town's efforts to send a recaptured slave to freedom. The event occurred in 1858, twenty-five years after Oberlin's founding. This incident was instrumental in "putting Oberlin on the map," it helped to precipitate the abolition of the Fugitive Slave Act. The legend has been associated with the better known story of the John Brown Rebellion, a contemporary historical tale that also has Oberlin origin.

The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue has been popular …