Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

A United, Not A Divider: Community, Identity, Performance & The Tomato Krewe Parading Group Of East Nashville's Tomato Art Festival, Allison Cate

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis is an ethnographic study of the “Tomato Krewe,” a social group that participates in the parade of East Nashville’s annual Tomato Art Festival. Drawing on participant-observation, interviews, and my own experiences as a member of the krewe and resident of East Nashville, I examine krewe members’ narratives about the festival, the material culture that they create for the parade, and the levels of performance that they engage in while parading. Central to my analysis is how krewe members understand the Tomato Art Festival as an expression of East Nashville identity.

On Being Trans: Narrative, Identity, Performance, And Community, Chloe Jo Brown

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis focuses on various topics related to transgender identity and culture. Through a combination of ethnographic and secondary research, I studied transgender coming out narratives, trans media representation, transgender performance and identity, and conceptualizations of group and chosen family in a community of trans students, the WKU Transgender and Non-Binary Student Group.

The three chapters of my thesis address some of the traditional milestones of a trans person’s acculturation: coming out, constructing one’s newly discovered trans identity, and finding community. Chapter 1 explores coming out as transgender, and the way in in which coming out is valued and discussed …

Inexhaustible Magic: Folklore As World Building In Harry Potter, Samantha G. Castleman

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The practice of secondary world building, the creation of a fantasy realm with its own unique laws and systems has long been a tradition within the genre of fantasy writing. In many notable cases, such as those publications by J.R.R. Tolkien and H.P. Lovecraft, folklore exhibited in the world of the reader has been specifically used not only to construct these fantasy realms, but to add depth and believability to their presentation. The universe of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series demonstrates this same practice of folklore-as-world-building, yet her construction does much more than just create a fantasy realm. By using …

Nightmares In The Kitchen: Personal Experience Narratives About Cooking And Food, Sarah T. Shultz

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis explores personal experience narratives about making mistakes in the preparation and serving of food. In order to understand when these narratives, referred to in the text as “kitchen nightmares,” are told, to whom, in what form, and why, one-onone and group ethnographic interviews were conducted. In total, 13 interviews were conducted with 25 individuals (men and women) ranging in age from 19 to 70. Six major themes of kitchen nightmare narratives are identified in Chapter One. Chapter Two explores one of these themes, resistance, in the context of the kitchen nightmare stories of heterosexual married women. Chapter Three …

The Healing Power Of Music And Chants Amongst The Ahl-E Haqq People, Azadeh Vatanpour

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis examines current practices of music and prayers in the context of Jam ritual among the Ahl-e Haqq, a vernacular religion group in Iranian Kurdistan. I examine the construction and sacralization of the sacred instrument of the Ahl-e Haqq, tanbūr. I also explore the sacred prayer, kalām, and the association of prayer and music. Through the ethnographic method, participant observations, and interviewing religious figures and master musicians during the fieldwork in Sahneh, Iran, I investigate the relation of the Ahl-e Haqq prayers and music, and their effect on healing during their sacred ritual performance. Drawing primarily on scholarship from …

The Past Is Open To The Future: Lithuanian Folk Pottery 1861 - Present, Anthony E. Stellaccio

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In 2011, following several years of in-country research, I published a book on Lithuanian folk pottery. I enrolled in the Folk Studies master’s program at Western Kentucky University (WKU) in 2014, well after my research and book had been completed. In the present study, I use my newly acquired knowledge of folklore In my previous work to revisit Lithuanian folk pottery.

In my previous work, I had sought to create a picture of “authentic” Lithuanian folk pottery that was confined to the narrow temporal borders of 1861-1918. Here I deconstruct conventional ideas about authenticity, as well as culture and heritage, …

Our Master’S Legacy: Belief And Ritual In Mission De L’Esprit Saint, Dale Joseph Rose

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis is a folkloristic examination of the religious beliefs and rituals associated with members of a religious movement known as Mission De L’Ésprit Saint. Mission De L’Ésprit Saint is a Quebecois religious denomination which believes that their founder was the physical incarnation of the Holy Spirit, and the movement strives to continue the teachings which were laid down during his lifetime. The major components of Mission theology and history, as well as an introductory consideration of their cosmology and worldview will be the major focus of this document, as well as a consideration of the role that Folklore has …

Neither (Fully) Here Nor There: Negotiation Narratives Of Nashville's Kurdish Youth, Stephen Ross Goddard

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Nashville, Tennessee, is home to nearly fifteen thousand ethnic Kurds. They have come in four distinct groups over the course of two decades to escape the hardship and horror of brutal central government policies, some directed toward their extinction. Many of that number are young people who were infants or toddlers when they were whisked away to the safety of temporary way stations prior to their arrival in the United States. What that means is that these youth have spent the majority of their formative years within the context of the American culture. This thesis is a study of how …

Making The Scene: An Investigation Of The Rock And Roll Scenes Of Nashville, Tennessee, And Athens, Georgia, Kevin Jones Murphy

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Making the Scene: An Investigation of the Rock and Roll Scenes of Nashville, Tennessee, and Athens, Georgia, takes a look at the ways in which both the identities of a music scene and the individuals taking part in that scene are created and maintained. Issues of identity are addressed by examining the roles performed by various members of the scene (musicians, soundmen, club owners, etc . . .), by focusing on the influence of landscape, and looking at the ways a scene’s members identify with the cultural region that surrounds their particular scene (in this case both scenes are located …

Festivals, Function And Context: An Ethnographic Study Of Three Festivals At Holden Village, Andrea Mericle

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this thesis is to explore how three festivals function together to meet the Mission Statement goals of Holden Village, an isolated Lutheran renewal center located in the Cascade mountains in Washington State. The Holden Village Mission Statement states that Holden Village is organized to provide a community for healing, renewal, and refreshment of people through worship, intercession, study, humor, work, recreation, and conversation in a climate of mutual acceptance under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The purpose of this community is to participate in the renewal for the church and the world by proclaiming the gospel of …

Country Music In The Northeast: Two Careers, Joseph Ruff

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Although country music and its antecedents have received attention primarily as cultural phenomena of the South, the past twenty years have witnessed a growing scholarly interest in the interplay between commercial country music, vernacular components. and performers within a regional context. The commercial product which has now attained worldwide appeal undoubtedly sustains a significant relationship to the folkways and regional identity of the South; nonetheless, performers and vernacular styles from other areas of the country have contributed to the development of country music. Most important. many areas outside of the South maintain local traditions of country music entertainment. In this …

The Altered Mobile Home: A Stationary Image Of Work And Value, Gregory Kendall Jenkins

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

As the medium cost of conventional housing rises, many people unable to incur such an expense look for alternative forms of adequate housing. In rural areas surrounding Bowling Green, Kentucky, several families have utilized the mobile home as a base to expand, embellish, and personalize, creating a larger more conventional-looking home. Many of these altered homes possess gabled roofs, rock exterior walls, and expansive interior space. Of primary concern is: why have these families undertaken a project of this nature?

As material culture scholars and folklorists examine our built environment, they find relationship between construction and the builders. What can …

Vadie Williams, Folk Artist: Drawnwork As A Reflection Of Personal Identity In Rural Kentucky, Elizabeth Hester

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study focuses on Vadie Conner Williams, an individual folk artist, and the drawnwork she has created throughout her lifetime. Included is a description of her rural farm background, her needlework skills and her creative process. The study also examines the significance of drawnwork to Williams and determines how she has adapted her work to satisfy her personal needs as well as the needs of her customers. Based on tape recorded interviews and a close examination of her work, the study concludes that drawnwork is an integral part of Williams's everyday life; it is an indicator of her beliefs and …

Folk Custom As A Barometer Of Social Change In A Tennessee Community, Chad Berry

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Using the techniques of oral history, residents of the Cypress Creeks area of southwestern middle Tennessee were questioned about their perceptions of the social change since 1940. In that year, the National Park Service hired men in the area to help snake out logs for the Natchez Trace Parkway's right-of-way. For most men in the area, the temporary positions on the Trace were the first "public" jobs they ever had. After these positions were no longer needed, outmigration brought residents north to factory-cities; thus, the building of the parkway remains a watershed in residents' memories as the benchmark when change …

At The Spiritual Grassroots: An Analysis Of Visionary Art & Artists, Ann Taft

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In this thesis I focus on an art form alternately described as "naive," "visionary," "environmental," "singular," "individual," or "grassroots." Not easily placed within established academic or popular art categories, such art usually lands by default in the folk art pile and is quickly cast to the peripheries of that genre. In this thesis, I am not concerned with inventing another label for these artists and their work. Instead, I explore the possibility that visionary art may be a separate genre, but one to which folklore analysis may usefully be brought to bear.

Chapter One is a historical and bibliographical analysis …

Singing Schools In Southcentral Kentucky, Donald Beisswenger

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Singing school teachers, who teach rural church congregations to sing from shape-note gospel songbooks, are still working in southcentral Kentucky, but the demand for them is smaller than it was in the first half of the twentieth century. The interdependence network in which singing school teachers, songbook publishers, and community singing events were key parts began to weaken in the 1940s as a result of the growth in popularity of professional gospel quartet concerts and gospel record albums. Many gospel music enthusiasts who once looked to songbooks as a major source for new material and for developing singing skills turned …

Expressions Of Grief In South Central Kentucky, 1870-1910, Sue Lynn Arnold

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Through the ages, survivors have experienced loss due to the deaths of their contemporaries. Between 1870 and 1910, the people of south central Kentucky (Allen, Barren, Butler, Edmonson, Logan, Monroe, Simpson and Warren counties) used significant expressions of grief. Combining oral history with primary correspondence, journals, scrapbooks and mementos, this study determines the importance that area residents placed on deathbed accounts, the care given the deceased's body, the funeral service, obituaries, resolutions of respect, memorial poetry, condolence letters, photography, memorial cards and pictures, hair wreaths, mourning attire and jewelry, the gravesite, and the tombstone. In almost every instance, south central …

A History Of The Bowling Green Fire Department: A Look At Two Traditional Methodologies, Edward Mccurley

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The history of the Bowling Green, Kentucky, Fire Department is presented through the use of two methodologies. Traditional historical methodology has been applied to compile the first ninety years of history while traditional folklore fieldwork--the collection of personal narratives through interviews--has been applied to compile the last fifty-six years, concluding with 1970. Six years, from 1914 to 1920, reflect the blending of the two methodologies.

The personal narratives used in this study are those of Assistant Chief Harold Hazelip, who joined the fire department in 1952. Recognized informally as the department's historian, Hazelip's recollections include his own personal experiences as …

The Folklife Expressions Of Three Isle Royale Fishermen: A Sense Of Place Examination, Timothy Cochrane

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Selected forms of three Isle Royale fishermen’s folklife expressions – material folk culture, social folk custom and narrative folklore – were documented and analyzed. The informants are representative of the group of Scandinavian fishermen who operated commercial fisheries on Isle Royale from the 1880s to date. Documentary and analytical emphasis centered on occupational aspects of their folklife expressions and the fishermen’s perception of the island archipelago. Accordingly, special interest was focused on the fishermen’s interplay with the Lake Superior and Isle Royale environs. Selected folklife expressions were analyzed to uncover fishermen’s cognitive and affective responses to their insular environment. Analysis …

Fiddle Songs And Banjo Songs: A Description Index, Gilbert Wayne Howard

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

English-language texts associated with fiddle and banjo in the southern United States are described and then indexed for comparative reference. The fiddle songs are typically humorous, very brief, highly variable and disunified. The same is true of many banjo songs associated with the banjo. Ballads in the fiddle and the banjo repertory are not indexed if previously catalogued by Child or Laws.

Fiddle and banjo songs are defined as texts associated with fiddle or banjo playing, either through instrumental accompaniment or because informants mentally associate them with the fiddle or banjo. Various ways of performing the songs are enumerated, with …

Folklore, Folklife & Still Photography: A Synergetic Approach, Debbie Gibson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In 1973 folklorist Jan Brunvand presented a definition of modern folkloristics that challenged folklorists to take an eclectic approach to the study of traditional culture by employing theoretical and methodological approaches from a variety of disciplines including communications. This thesis represents one effort at addressing part of this challenge by discussing specific folklore and folklife objectives and how still photography can be incorporated in the research process.

Chapter one includes a brief overview of how still photography has been used in social science research, emphasizing use of the camera for examination and communication. Chapter two examines the photographic "moment" and …

Home, Loved Ones & Heaven: Folk Expressin In The Songs Of Katherine O'Neill Peters Sturgill, George Reynolds

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Formation, expression, and function of world view were examined in the life and compositions of folk musician, Katherine O'Neill Peters Sturgill. It was seen that the institutions of home, loved ones, and heaven were dominant themes in the formation of her world view. When twenty-two of Kate's gospel and sentimental song compositions were examined for thematic content, they were found to reflect the predominant formative influences in Kate's life. An interpretive model was developed showing home, loved ones, and heaven to be unified themes in a concept of sacred order--a concept which stood to oppose and defend against the banal …

Tinsley Bottom Tennessee: An Historical Reconstruction Utilizing Oral Narrative Traditions, Rebecca Morse

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Tinsley Bottom lies adjacent to the Cumberland River in Jackson and Clay Counties in north central Tennessee. The rich rolling bottomland totaling approximately two thousand acres on the south bank of the Cumberland River lured several families to purchase land and take residence there in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

The history of Tinsley Bottom is not found in written records or annals of Tennessee history. No person of reknown sprang from the cultural context of this community. Yet tales are told of how Daniel Boone hunted in the Bottom and slept in a cave overlooking the River, and …

They Like To Sing The Old Songs: The A.L. Phipps Family & Its Music, David Taylor

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

An ethnographic study of the musical traditions of the A. L. Phipps Family, of Barbourville, Kentucky, reveals various social forces which have affected the family's repertoire and performance career. A life history of the family, compiled from extensive fieldwork, is presented along with analyses of the Phippses' secular music, sacred songs, and their performance career. The family is clearly representative of the musical traditions of the upland South, drawing its music from sources common to most white Appalachian singers. A discography of the Phipps Family's recordings is included along with a selection of photographs highlighting their life and performance career.

“They Made Us Dance In The Pig Trough!” Mrs. Blanche Story’S Oral Accounts Of Dating, Courtship, Marriage And Sexual Attitudes In Northcentral Nebraska, 1885-1910, Gayle Waggoner

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Oral recollections concerning dating, courtship, marriage and related attitudes were collected from a single informant, Mrs. Blanche Story of Butte, Nebraska. Through in-depth questioning during twelve tape-recorded interview sessions, value- and attitude-oriented accounts were secured for the years 1885 to 1910, the late frontier period in northcentral Nebraska. These detailed reminiscences focus on common life experiences related to interpersonal relationships and the institutions related to them, resulting in a personal or folk history. The single greatest problem in research was the lack of documentation for the attitudinal content of the texts. Corroboration of both specific information and broad patterns of …

The Price Of Folk: The Progression Of Two Decoy Makers’ Work From Folk To Non-Folk, Benjamin Vincent

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Applying the standards for delineating folkcraft developed by Japanese scholar Soetsu Yanagi to the work of two Maryland decoy makers, Lem and Steve Ward, revealed that the Wards’ work followed a progression from folk to non-folk. A Hearst newspaper chain article on the two carvers plus winning first place at the New York Decoy Show brought publicity far beyond that usually encountered by the average folk craftsman. These events also exposed the two brothers to a range of wealthy collectors. When the Wards began to experiment with ornately carved birds, they had a waiting, and financially capable market. The extremely …

Fandom Is A Way Of Life: A Folkloristic Ethnography Of Science Fiction Fandom, David Axler

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A science fiction (“sf”) fan is an individual whose interest in this literary genre has extended past reading into involvement in such things as local science fiction clubs, fan magazines (“fanzines”), and sf conventions (“cons”). Science fiction fandom is the loosely-structured, geographically-dispersed organization of these fans. Drawing on both written sources and field interviews with eight informants, the history, composition and structure of sf fandom is examined from a folkloristic viewpoint. The forms of folklore which serve to bind the individual fan to the larger social entity of fandom are detailed.

Despite its literary orientation, fandom is primarily a social …

The Paper Repertoire Of The Students In One Elementary School, Ruby Rufty

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This collection project is concerned with traditional paper objects made by students in fifteen classes in one elementary school in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Chapter I describes the school and classroom environments and the procedures followed during the collection project. Chapter II differentiates between the play and ornamental items collected, describes the different items and their variants made by the students, and attempts to show what persons (relatives, teachers, other children) or other factors (mass media, the students' environment) affected the paper items made by students. Chapter III statistically evaluates the collected paper items according to the sex, race, and grade …

I Love Ta Plow: The Role Of Traditional Farm Women In Peytonsburg, Kentucky, Linda White

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study is a development of the work roles of traditional farm women in Peytonsburg, Kentucky. Peytonsburg is a relatively isolated area along the western border of the Appalachians. Traditional processes such as broom-making, chair-making, quilting, spinning and traditional farming are still practiced there.

Taped interviews were conducted with seven women ranging from sixty-five to eighty-eight years old. The women were questioned concerning their house and field cores as well as their philosophies and attitudes toward their life styles. It was revealed in this study that the traditional farm women of this area work throughout the year to keep the …

An Interpretation Of The Florida Ex-Slaves' Memories Of Slavery & The Civil War, Dianna Zacharias

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study is an analysis and interpretation of oral folk history preserved in the Florida Narratives, one state collection of ex-slave narratives from the larger Federal Writers' Project collection compiled in the 1930s. Fifty-four tales were extracted from this state collection and used as a basis for this study. These personal reminiscences, called memorates by folklorists, fell into two categories: slavery and the Civil war. The tales about slavery were compared to the theses and conclusions regarding slavery held by sociologists and The tales about the Civil War and emancipation were gathered by historians.

The comparison revealed that there …