Anthropology Commons^™

Hands-On History: Applying A Strong Like Two People Approach To Archaeology Education, Kaylee Woldum

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis explores Indigenization in the context of archaeology and Western education at the Tundra Science and Culture Camp (TSCC), a government-run summer camp in the Northwest Territories, Canada. By collaborating with Indigenous knowledge holders, it begins the process of re-designing the Human History session—a program within the TSCC that focuses on archaeology and the cultural sites around the camp—to incorporate more Indigenous pedagogies and knowledge. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and participant observation, this thesis outlines an attempt to Indigenize the Human History session at the 2022 TSCC, its successes and challenges, and diverse conceptions of what it would mean …

Stable Carbon And Nitrogen Isotope Analysis Of Infant Feeding Practices And Stress In 18th-19th Century Pointe-Aux-Trembles, Québec, Sydney Holland

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis is a bioarchaeological study of infant feeding practices and early life stress in 18th -19th century Pointe-aux-Trembles, a rural community near Montréal, Québec that was known to practice wet nursing. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of 62 incremental dentine samples were used to reconstruct the feeding histories of 10 infants (age) interred between 1709-1843. At least 6 of 10 infants display evidence of breastfeeding, with weaning foods (e.g., porridge, bread) typically introduced between ~1.5-5.5 months of age and weaning completion around 10.5-13.5 months. Isotopic and/or dental evidence of stress (e.g., enamel hypoplasia) was identified in 8 of …

The Embodied Rhetoric Of Cognitive Labour, Shubhayan Chakrabarti

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation traces the roots of neoliberal selfhood to the rationalist ontology of modernity in the 1600s. The historical tension between materialism and immaterialism is expressed in the historicisation of work into Fordism and post-Fordism where embodied factory toil is apparently replaced by immaterial work, recalling Descartes’ mind-body split. If post-Fordist work addresses the Marxist critique of alienation in its emphasis on entrepreneurial inner selves, it does not explain the post-Fordist preoccupation to efficiently “Taylorise” the body through obsessive productivity. I argue that the factory prevails in the entrepreneur’s adoption of factory efficiency as a learnt behaviour from the Fordist …

Teachers’ Work: Communicating On Difficult Knowledge In Ontario Schools, Zsofia Agoston Villalba

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examines how K-12 teachers in Ontario navigate the complexities of teaching "difficult knowledge"—topics such as racial and ethnic injustices, Indigenous perspectives, immigration experiences, and gender issues—within the parameters of the school and the curriculum. Utilizing an institutional ethnography approach, the study examines the curriculum as an institutional text that coordinates and shapes teachers’ practices. Working with and against the curriculum, teachers find innovative ways to engage their students on difficult knowledge topics. Based on interviews with 12 K-12 teachers, this research explores teachers’ work and pedagogical approaches. They employ diverse teaching methods like storytelling, open dialogues, and collaborative …

The Forgetting Of Fire: An Archaeology Of Technics, Thomas A. Doerksen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation applies the methods of Bachelard and Foucault to key moments in the development of science. By analyzing the attitudes of four figures from four different centuries, it shows how epistemic attitudes have shifted from a participation in non-human, natural realities to a construction of human-centred technologies. The idea of an epistemic attitude is situated in reference to Foucault’s concept of the episteme and his method of archaeology; an attitude is the institutionally-situated and personally-enacted comportment of an epistemic agent toward an object of knowledge. This line of thought is pursued under the theme of elemental fire, which begins …

Head Shapes And Toothaches: A Study Of Cranial Modification And Dental Pathology At Muna, A Late Pre-Hispanic Cemetery From The Archaeological Sanctuary Of Pachacamac (Lima, Perú)., T Naomi Nakahodo Moromizato

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis is a bioarchaeological analysis of cranial modification and dental pathology in a sample of human remains excavated from the pre-Hispanic MUNA cemetery. This cemetery was on the outskirts of the Archaeological Sanctuary of Pachacamac in the Lurín Valley. The cemetery was comprised of disturbed skeletal remains and relatively well preserved fardos funerarios (funerary bundles) from the Late Intermediate Period (1100-1470 CE) and early Late Horizon (1470-1532 CE). The results of this thesis show that the skeletal remains and fardos likely belonged to a single community, and the analyzed sample showed intra-site variation of the fronto-occipital cranial modification. The …

Applying 3d Structured Light Scanning To Roman Leather Insoles From Vindolanda: A Novel Approach To Podiatric Data Collection, Maria Lorene Glanfield

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis research introduces a novel 3D structured light scanning and digital, post-processing enhancement methodology influenced by digital approaches used in anthropological archaeology, ichnology, and forensic podiatry to the analysis of Roman leather insoles from Vindolanda. The primary objective was to capture 2D and 3D footprint impression evidence on the surface of 81 insoles for enhanced visualization and analysis in order to refine the quality of podiatric data that can be extracted from Roman footwear. I conducted three case studies (pointed toe, sandal, and children’s insoles) based on a set of distinct, but related research questions concerning the refinement of …

Shoe Modifications And Foot Health: A Case Study From Roman Britain, Casey Elizabeth Kay Boettinger

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this thesis, I undertake an examination of foot care practices in Antiquity. The majority of the discussion surrounding foot care comes from evidence of shoe modifications at Vindolanda, a Roman auxiliary fort located in northern Britain. I provide a general discussion about herbal and non-herbal remedies for foot conditions, as recorded by medical authors. This discussion precedes a case study of selected shoes from Vindolanda, where I write about five modification types that demonstrate the sort of knowledge that existed at Vindolanda. The findings from this thesis suggest that podiatric knowledge and foot care existed as early as the …

Exploring The Woodland Period Within The Lake Wawanosh Region Through Two Archaeological Sites: Aghn-12 And Aghn-14, Matthew Severn

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis focuses on two archaeological sites from the Woodland Period, Blackwell One (AgHn-12) and Blackwell Two (AgHn-14), which lie roughly 8 km northeast of Sarnia, Ontario. Specifically, the sites are situated near the historic Lake Wawanosh, which was drained in the late 1800s, and roughly 400 m south of the Lake Huron shore. Blackwell One has evidence of an Early Woodland Meadowood occupation in its West Locus and Late Woodland, Younge to Springwells phase occupations, within its East Locus. Blackwell Two falls within the Middle Woodland period and is a component of the archaeologically defined Saugeen cultural complex. The …

Variation In Habitual Activity And Body Composition: A Segmental Body Comparison Of Runners And Swimmers, Madelyn Hertz

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

There is considerable evidence that differences in patterns of habitual activity influence the distribution of skeletal tissue within the human skeleton, but little is known about variation in soft tissue. This thesis examines body composition and surface scan data from runners, swimmers, and a ‘recreational control’ population to investigate differences in the properties of limb segment surface areas and volumes, muscle mass, and fat mass. It also explores the relationship between activity and aging through the examination of body composition and volumetric measurements in older-adult habitual swimmers. The findings show that resulting limb segment properties support assumptions of running as …

Surveying The Industry: A Professional Profile Of Cultural Resource Management In Canada, Sydney Rowinski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Cultural Resource Management (CRM) has transformed the practice of archaeology; however, little is known regarding general make-up and demographics for this dominant form of archaeological practice. Even less is understood concerning the views and sentiments of its practitioners. In Canada, no jurisdiction maintains practitioner profiles; subsequently, their training or understanding of the roles they play in mediating heritage resource compliance requirements for clients, Descendant communities, or heritage stakeholders like the wider archaeological community, is relatively unknown. Despite recent discourse focused on the operational side of CRM (e.g., nature, output, and consequences) insight on the values, ideals, and level expertise of …

Stable Isotope Analysis Of Breastfeeding And Weaning Practices In 19th Century Montreal, Jess Sadlowski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A plethora of changes occurred in nineteenth century Montreal including industrialization, population growth, urbanization, and women in the workforce. These changes likely affected how infants and children were cared for, including breastfeeding and weaning practices. Using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of serial dentine sections of 21 teeth from a French-Canadian population interred at Saint Antoine (AD 1799-1854), this study reconstructs infant feeding practices from a low-middle socioeconomic status population. Adult female diet emphasized C₃ foods with variable terrestrial and aquatic protein. Lack of isotope results limited information about the diets of subadults. In one individual, weaning was …

From Micro To Macro: Examining Potential Microbiome Mediated Influences On Human Growth And Health Outcomes Through Breastfeeding And Antibiotic Exposures, Nicole K. Phillips

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Human microbiome research has rapidly developed over the past two decades yet absent from most research is the composition and dynamics of microbiomes within human populations. Given the limitations in longitudinal studies which requires decades of repeated microbe taxonomic testing of a population sample, an alternative option is to examine microbiomes and their influences via proxies using pre-existing health datasets. This research demonstrates preliminary associations between presumed disrupted and supportive microbiomes dynamics proxied by antibiotic and breastmilk exposure respectively. Using health record data across the life span from approximately 500,000 U.K. participants, this research demonstrates variable altered growth and health …

Discourses Of Tension In A Rainbow Nation: Transcultural Identity Formations Among Hakka Mauritians, Federica Guccini

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Identity formation happens at a crossroads of that which people believe they are and are not. Acknowledgment, reification, or subversion of identity frictions form powerful communicative patterns that I call ‘discourses of tension’. I argue in this dissertation that discourses of tension are foundational to the formation of transcultural identities—positionalities that emerge between or beyond perceived cultural boundaries—because they enable people to identify and express cultural complexities and expectations.

Based on ten months of ethnographic fieldwork and research in other relevant sites, this argument is supported by my analysis of how Hakka Chinese Mauritians express agency and identity within …

Autoethnography Of A Pregnant Doula: An Anthropological Investigation Of Birth Experiences During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Ontario And Quebec, Fattimah A. Hamam

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed weaknesses in the existing systems and institutions people depend on in all areas of life. Birth is no exception. This research shows that COVID-19 replicated dominant North American cultural scripts treating birth as a risky and stressful medical event. It goes further to explore how birthers themselves described their experiences. Drawing on autoethnographic reflections, ethnographic interviews and a WhatsApp group chat, this thesis documents the nuance in predominantly middle class, cis-gendered women’s experiences giving birth in Ontario and Quebec during the pandemic. It uncovers the overarching non-birther centric nature of local birth culture and argues …

Legs And Hills, Aidan Attema

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Relatively longer leg length is a feature of the genus Homo that is often argued to have evolved due to selective pressures from a greater reliance on endurance running. Within the genus Homo, however, Neanderthals had relatively short legs with shorter tibiae – a characteristic that has been hypothesized to be a hindrance for running yet advantageous for locomoting on sloped terrains. This thesis tests three hypotheses relating to lower limb proportions and running performance: does morphological variability correspond with a) speed on flat and uphill terrain during a workout completed by cross-country athletes, or b) athletic performance during …

Localized Activism In The Bangladeshi Garments Industry: Mobilizing The Labour Movement From The Ground Up, Raisa Masud

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis is based on research conducted between the summer and fall of 2021, and it investigates the global garments industry from the perspective of local labour organizers and activists in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is the second-largest producer of fast fashion and textile in the world, employing millions of garments workers across the country. Moreover, the long history of industrial disasters, such as the infamous case of the Rana Plaza collapse, make Bangladesh a valuable site for unravelling the layers of exploitation and vulnerability associated with wage labour in the global assembly line. The 2013 Rana Plaza collapse killed over a …

Colombian Women’S Experiences Of The Canadian Refugee And Asylum Adjudication Process, Camila N. Parra Carrillo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present thesis “Colombian women’s experiences of the Canadian refugee and asylum adjudication process” is an ethnographic description and analysis of the experiences of Colombian refugee women as they move through the refugee and asylum adjudication system in Ontario, Canada. Using concepts such as liminality, politics of waiting, hermeneutics of suspicion and arbitrariness, the refugee and asylum adjudication system is shown to be a site of power and domination that creates negative emotions in the people who face it, especially in the oral hearing as a central event in the process. Centering Colombian refugee women’s voices, their experiences and emotions …

Assumed Identities And The Construction Of Self Among The West Indian Diaspora In The Greater Toronto Area (Gta), Badarinarayan A. Maharaj

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this thesis I explore the (re) construction of identity and sense of self among members of the West Indian diaspora in the Greater Toronto Area. The research took place between October 2021 and March 2022, taking the form of semi-structured interviews with people who identify as West Indian and participant observation at various West Indian establishments. My objective is to show how the cultural elements of sport, food, and music are experienced and engaged with by the members of the West Indian diaspora, and the ways in which it allows for the development and expression of a West Indian …

Transforming The Dead: The Taphonomy And Ritual Economy Of Funerary Bundles On The Pre-Hispanic Central Coast Of Peru (1000-1532 Ce), Joanna Motley

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Death is not only the cessation of life; it is a social transformation. This dissertation investigates funerary practices that facilitated that transformation on the pre-Hispanic central coast of Peru from ca. 1000 - 1532 CE, a time of local consolidation of power after the dissolution of the Wari Empire (600-1100 CE), through to the expansion of the Inca Empire (1450 – 1532 CE). This work focuses on the practices of two archaeological cultures on the central coast of Peru: the Ychsma and the Chancay. Ritual economy, with its integration of agency and political economy, is used as a theoretical framework …

Inuvialuit Living Art: Co-Creating Local Community Archaeology And Cultural Heritage Research, Jason Yf Lau

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis explores Inuvialuit cultural heritage through the lens of Inuvialuit Pitqusiat Inuusimitkun or living art, a term coined by Iñupiaq/Inuvialuk Elder Pauline Saturgina Tardiff and translated to Sallirmiutun by Inuvialuit Elders Albert and Shirley Elias. Using semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and ethnography, it brings together the knowledge of 11 Inuvialuit artists to discuss Inuvialuit living art through: its ability to tell stories through time and space; its role in surviving and thriving on the land; and its connection to inner “heartwork”. Using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework, it outlines the 2019 Inuvialuit Living History Culture Camp at Ivvavik …

Dental Health In The Aqllakuna From Farfán (Peru): A New Perspective On An Inca Female Institution (Ca. 1470-1532 A.D.) Using Micro-Ct And Histological Analysis, Émy Roberge

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research aims to explore the lifeways of an underrepresented subgroup of females while reducing the use of destructive methods in bioarchaeology. The excavation of Farfán on the North Coast of Peru revealed a rare aqlla cemetery from the Late Horizon (1470-1532 A.D.). The aqlla was an Inca religious institution where young females were sequestered to brew chicha and weave in their aqllawasi. According to ethnohistorical sources, these “Chosen Women” were expected to represent a homogenous and advantaged subset of the population. This hypothesis is assessed by comparing their dental lesions to the general population using macroscopy, micro-CT, and …

Women And Western Mission: A Case Study On The Christian Khasi And Garo Tribal Women, Rosemary Philip

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Western mission justified a mission to the Global South that was ingrained with the dominance of its culture and values. Women’s mission, as a tool of this mission, patronized themselves as the ‘care-taker’ of the ‘subjugated’ women of the Global South. This mission promulgated new ways of thinking and prescribed new gender roles and values to the Global South. In doing so, it framed the traditional roles and cultural values of the non-Western world as oppressive and replaceable. Subsequently, Women’s mission along with Western feminism and Feminist theology as a broad idea has been challenged by feminists from the Global …

3d Morphometric Analysis Of Late Paleoindigenous Projectile Points From The Mackenzie I Site, Northwestern Ontario, And Surrounding Regions, Dave Norris

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Despite decades of archaeological investigations into the presence of people in northwestern Ontario during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene there is still a tenuous understanding of the timing and origins of those past groups that moved across the region. This is mainly a result of small sample sizes, acidic soils (that degrade organic materials) and low recoveries of diagnostic tools such as projectile points. The discovery of an uncharacteristically large Paleoindigenous site, the Mackenzie I site, east of Thunder Bay, yielded recoveries of artifacts in numbers never seen in the region. The exceptionally large number of projectile points recovered …

The Impact Of Energetic Trade-Offs On The Developmental Trajectory And Life History Strategy Of Homo Sapiens: The Modern Human Female Phenotype, Laura Ann Hope Atkinson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study interrogates the relationship between early life environmental variability (measured through birth weight and age at menarche), and adult phenotypic outcomes in female athletes and non-athletes from the United Kingdom. Using anthropometric, and 3D body surface scan analysis, patterns of phenotypic variation were interpreted in a life history context. Significant correlations between birth weight, stature, and bi-iliac breadth were observed. Age at menarche had significant correlations with linear growth and body composition measures in both Pearson and Canonical Correlation analyses. Crural index was found to be negatively correlated with limb segment SA:Vol in opposition to the expectations of Allen’s …

Life In Between: Prehispanic Settlement Patterns Of The Carabamba Valley, Northern Peru, Amedeo Sghinolfi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation is an archaeological study of the Carabamba Valley (ca. 150 - 3,500 m.a.s.l.) in Northern Peru, which aims to reconstruct settlement patterns through the longue durée (ca. 1800 B.C. - A.D. 1532). This study also documents the relations occupants of this frontier zone maintained with neighboring polities on the Peruvian North Coast (Virú Valley) and in the Northern Highlands. The valley features the resource-rich ecological niche called chaupiyunga, fed by rainwater that flows towards the Pacific Ocean and by a number of springs, where crops like coca, fruits, and vegetables can be easily grown. The Carabamba Valley also …

Ridge Pine 3: A Late Archaic Site In The Southern Lake Huron Basin, Jessica Russell

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Ridge Pine 3 site is about 1.3 km inland from Lake Huron on the eastern edge of the Grand Bend community in the Ausable Valley. The site was originally dated to the Late Archaic Small Point complex (ca. 4100 cal BP [3800 RCYBP] to 3200 cal BP [3000 RCYBP]), but a reassessment of the projectile point typology and radiocarbon dating have led to a different conclusion. The primary occupation of Ridge Pine 3 occurred during the Late Archaic Narrow Point complex (ca. 5000 cal BP [4500 RCYBP] to 4100 cal BP [3800 RCYBP]), but there is evidence of multiple …

Evaluating Cranial Nonmetric Traits In Mummies From Pachacamac, Peru: The Utility Of Semi-Automated Image Segmentation In Paleoradiology, Cameron J. Beason

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Anthropologists employ biodistance analysis to understand past population interactions and relatedness. The objectives of this thesis are twofold: to determine whether a sample of five mummies from the pilgrimage centre, Pachacamac, on the Central Coast of Peru comprised local or non-local individuals through an analysis of cranial nonmetric traits using comparative samples from the North and Central Coasts of Peru and Chile; and to test the utility of machine-learning-based image segmentation in the image analysis software, Dragonfly, to automatically segment CT scans of the mummies such that the cranial nonmetric traits are visible. Results show that while fully automated segmentation …

Quebec’S Uninhabitable Community: Identity And Community Among Anglo-Quebecer Out-Migrants, Evan A. Mardell

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

How do Anglo-Quebecers who have migrated to Ontario in the past 45 years perceive and negotiate their identity in relation to Quebec? Since 1971, 600 000 anglophones have left Quebec for other parts of Canada. This out-migration coincided with political tensions that influenced a complete economic and linguistic shift in power from English to French. The symbolic and literal reclamation of Quebec as a French province set the conditions for the partial erasure of the Quebec anglophone (Anglo-Quebecer) community and sense of identity. From a series of semi-structured interviews with anglophones who left Quebec within the past 45 years, I …

Indigenous Language Revitalization Efforts In Canada During Covid-19: Facilitating And Maintaining Connections Using Digital Technologies, Laura Gallant

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis explores how people involved in Indigenous language revitalization efforts in Canada have responded and adapted to the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic from March to November 2020. Through virtual interviews, an online survey, an analysis of tweets about Indigenous language revitalization in Canada, and observations of webinars among people involved in language work, this research focuses on how people have adjusted and accelerated their Indigenous language activities during a prolonged period of social isolation. Genocidal policies and practices continue to reproduce inequities for Indigenous peoples and are affecting those involved in Indigenous language work during COVID. This thesis …