Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

Ua77/2/4 Wku College Ring Ceremony, Wku Alumni Relations

WKU Archives Records

Program for the WKU college ring ceremony held in December 2005.

Introducing Discipline: Anthropology And Human Rights Administrations, Iris Jean-Klein, Annelise Riles

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Anthropologists engage human rights administrations with an implicit promise that our discipline has something unique to offer. The articles in this special issue turn questions about relevance and care so often heard in the context of debates about human rights outside in. They focus not on how anthropology can contribute to human rights activities, but on what anthropological encounters with human rights contribute to the development of our discipline. They ask, how exactly do we render the subject relevant to anthropology? Reflecting on some ways anthropologists in this field have dispensed care for their subjects, the authors highlight two modalities …

Of, By, And For Seniors: Japanese Seniors Co-Operatives, Robert C. Marshall

Anthropology Faculty and Staff Publications

Koreikyo, or Seniors Co-operative, is a hybrid consumer and worker co-operative of, by, and for seniors. Its mission is to help seniors remain in their homes as long as possible. The co-op gets frail seniors the help they need to stay independent and helps able seniors—who often face age discrimination—find work that pays, keeps them active, and adds meaning to their lives. Members can both provide services and receive them.

De Maíz Vivo” La Siembra De Maíz En La Sierra Norte De Oaxaca, Holly Kingsbury

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Cuando uno se acerca al pueblo de Guelatao de Juárez en la Sierra Norte de Oaxaca, México, al pasar el Río Grande se puede ver donde el huracán Stan destruyó muchas milpas. No obstante, es probable que esas milpas, y otras que se ve en el camino, estuvieran abandonadas mucho antes de que el huracán las tocó. En la Sierra Norte y en todo México, esas milpas representaron y todavía representan la vida y alimentación básica de los mexicanos: el maíz. El estadounidense común piensa que el maíz existe en una forma: lo que vemos sembrado en miles de hectáreas …

Good Morning, Africa! (Dreams And Identity In Morocco), Chantal James

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This is an exploration of identity using dreams in the Moroccan context. I formally spoke to around twenty-five Moroccans for my research and spoke briefly or casually about the subject of dreams with many more, almost everyone I became friendly with. I give no personal information about the people who spoke to me without their consent, and I give all credit where it’s due, I hope. I set out from Rabat on the 10:30 train to Marrakesh, to spend my three weeks there. I kept a copy of Dreams, a collected works of Jung, by my side. I kept copious …

Agroecology Of The Naso-Teribe: The Management And Conservation Of Traditional Agroecological Systems, Maisie Ganz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The term “agroecology” is used to describe the sustainable design and management of agricultural systems by the application of ecological concepts and principles. The resulting agroecosystems, often practiced by indigenous or poor farmers in marginal environments without access to external technologies, are systems of food production that integrate cultivated crops into surrounding ecosystems. The Naso-Teribe, an indigenous community of approximately 3,800 individuals living in the forests of western Panama, practice a complex agroecological system. The Naso farmers’ agricultural practices contribute to, and are dependent on, the biodiversity of resources available. The ways in which Naso farmers manage, maintain, and preserve …

Concientious Cinema: Senegalese Cineastes As Preservers Of Cultural Identity And Promoters Of Social Change, Paula Fortner

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Senegalese cinema was born with a conscience. From its earliest days, Senegalese films have been marked by tendencies to preserve cultural identity and promote social change. Using background research, film screenings, discussions, and interviews, this study categories these trends into a movement of “Conscientious Cinema,” and identifies the development of both of these objectives. This study first traces the trend of cultural identity preservation from the films of the founding generation to their evolution in the projects of young filmmakers today, and similarly explores the development of the trend of social-change promotion from between these generations. In the analysis, I …

Remember Ruben? L’Histoire De Ruben Um Nyobé À Travers La Société Camerounaise, Katelyn Knox

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Aujourd’hui la société camerounaise est caractérisée par un sentiment de tribalisme que l’on peut voir dans plusieurs domaines. Pour combattre ce sentiment tribal (voire fraternel) l’on doit cultiver une mentalité plutôt nationaliste dans la société plus élargie. Pour créer cette mentalité, quelques intellectuels ont suggéré qu’il faut regardé le passé de ce pays, surtout chercher à cultiver cette mentalité en utilisant l’esprit des « grands nationalistes », ceux qui ont combattu pour l’indépendance avant les années 1960 et au-delà. Cette étude se focalise sur le père du nationalisme au Cameroun : Ruben Um Nyobé. Elle montre son taux de connaissance …

The Effects Of Light Exposure And Heat-Aging On Selected Quilting Products Containing Adhesives , Janet Evenson, Patricia Cox Crews

International Quilt Museum: Resources

No abstract provided.

A New Agenda For The Cultural Study Of Law: Taking On The Technicalities, Annelise Riles

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This article urges humanistic legal studies to take the technical dimensions of law as a central focus of inquiry. Using archival and ethnographic investigations into developments in American Conflict of Laws doctrines as an example, and building on insights in the anthropology of knowledge and in science and technology studies that focus on technical practices in scientific and engineering domains, it aims to show that the technologies of law - an ideology that law is a tool and an accompanying technical aesthetic of legal knowledge - are far more central and far more interesting dimensions of legal practice than humanists …

Anthropology In The Real World: Communities & Transformations, Paul Bryant, Meagan Quinn, Alyshia Galvez Dr.

Petersheim Academic Exposition

2005 Petersheim Academic Exposition

Regional Geographic Influence On Two Khmer Polities, Chad Raymond

Faculty and Staff - Articles & Papers

This paper examines the effects of Cambodian geography in two Khmer polities: Funan, an empire that occupied the southeastern portions of modern-day Cambodia and Vietnam during the early centuries A.D., and Democratic Kampuchea, a Cambodian state that existed from April 17, 1975, until the Vietnamese invasion of December 25, 1978. In the construction of a national identity, a community must possess a tradition of a territory that the community regards as its ancestral home. The tradition of a territory provides a chronological anchor for the supposed authentic and pristine origins of the nation. As demonstrated by myth, propaganda, and policies, …

The Bond And The Beautiful!, Nicole Rearick

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My Independent Study Project (ISP) research was conducted in Mombasa, Kenya. I initial intention was to focus on Swahili beauty alone and then it led me to a more in depth study. I came upon the idea of women, beauty, and how they come together for beauty processes and how it creates a bond between them. I was aiming to focus on ways females pull together and help each other in order to become beautiful. I also wanted to discover the many traditions which Swahili women use to beautify themselves and what they consider to be beautiful.

K’Oando: La Mesa Urbana En Cochabamba, Erin Hatheway

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La K’oa (o Q’oa, Q’owa, Wira q’uwa), en realidad, es una hierba aromática, nativa del altiplano (Fernández 1995: 233). Hoy en las ciudades andinas, es común llamar a todas las clases de ofrendas quemadas, k’oas. Sin embargo, la presencia de esta hierba otorga el significado clave a una mesa ritual; es decir, que sin esta planta, el ritual no puede ser conocido como k’oa. Esta generalización, realizada por residentes de los centros urbanos refleja su desconocimiento de las raíces del rito. Además, indica los cambios que se han logrado en estas ofrendas dentro del ambiente de la ciudad. Por otro …

Why Is Maize A Sacred Plant? Social History And Agrarian Change On Sumba, Cynthia Twyford Fowler

Faculty Scholarship

Why has maize, a plant with origins in the New World, become ritually important in an indigenous Southeast Asian religion? While environmental conditions and agricultural economics are key determinants of everyday resource management practices in insular Southeast Asia, it is necessary to consider ethnic identity, political economy, and social structure in order to understand the religious significance of natural resources in contemporary society. Linguistic, cosmological, and horticultural data are combined with an analysis of local perceptions of culture and environment. This information is used to explain the transformation of an introduced plant into an indigenous sacrament. Ethnographic data, including a …

Collectors, Collecting, & Collections: A Symposium Sponsored By The International Quilt Study Center

International Quilt Museum: Resources

Welcome… to the 2005 Biennial Symposium of the International Quilt Study Center. Like all of the IQSC undertakings, the goal of this gathering is to celebrate quilts and quiltmaking. The focus of this Symposium is “Collectors, Collecting, & Collections.” Selection of this theme made good sense, since the IQSC is built around a wonderful collection. At the same time, selecting this theme was something of a risk since quilts and collecting go together in ways that are undeniable, but not always comfortable. Collecting and quilting are activities that people can find satisfying, even fun. They involve routines and exploration. They …

Ua12/2/1 Token Of My Love, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

Valentine's Day magazine of the College Heights Herald:

Token of My Love – Valentine’s Day History

• Caudle, Leah. Arranged Marriage Is Still a Reality for Some
• Mullins, Mandy. Putting a Platonic Touch on Valentine’s Day
• Ross, Lisa. Being Single on Valentine’s Isn’t as Sad as the Day Itself
• North, Amber. Valentine-less? Enter This Sweepstakes to Get Chance of a Lifetime
• Wilberding, Beth. Every Holiday Should be Spent with Friends & Loved Ones
• Toone, Stephanie. Boundaries Continue to be Crossed for Interracial Couples
• Maines, Ashley. Long Distances Can Ruin Valentine’s Day for Many

'Wild Capitalism’ And ‘Ecocolonialism’: A Tale Of Two Rivers, Krista Harper

Anthropology Department Faculty Publication Series

The development and pollution of two rivers, the Danube and Tisza, have been the site and subject of environmental protests and projects in Hungary since the late 1980s. Protests against the damming of the Danube rallied opposition to the state socialist government, drawing on discourses of national sovereignty and international environmentalism. The Tisza suffered a major environmental disaster in 2000, when a globally financed gold mine in Romania spilled thousands of tons of cyanide and other heavy metals into the river, sending a plume of pollution downriver into neighboring countries. In this article, I examine the symbolic ecologies that emerged …

The Roots Causes Of Maasai Predicament, Navaya Ole Ndaskoi

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Making Identity: Law, Memory, And Race In Comparative Perspective, Jan Hoffman French

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

In this essay, I would like to focus on identity formation with respect to one of these groups-the Xoco community-especially the relationship between law, identity, and race. I hope to bring to light, if only in a tentative and suggestive way, the broader significance of such an inquiry by narrating the story of the Xoco in dialogue with some discussions of similar issues in the United States. In particular, I will compare the successful struggle for recognition of the Xoco with similar struggles for recognition in the U.S. by the Lumbee and Mashpee Indians, who have not achieved full legal …

Mestizaje And Law Making As Interrelated Processes In Indigenous Identity Formation In Northeastern Brazil: “After The Conflict Came The History”, Jan Hoffman French

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

This article explores issues of authenticity, legal discourse, and local requirements of belonging by considering the recent surge of indigenous recognitions in northeastern Brazil. It investigates how race and ethnicity are implicated in the recognition process in Brazil, based on a successful struggle for indigenous identity and access to land by a group of African-descended rural workers. This article argues that the relationship between two processes – law making and indigenous identity formation – is crucial to understanding how the notion of mixed heritage is both reinforced and disentangled. It illustrates how these two processes interact over time and how …

Co-Wife Conflict And Cooperation, William R. Jankowiak, Monika Sudakov, Benjamin C. Wilreker

Anthropology Faculty Research

Conventional wisdom holds that the polygynous family system is as sexually and emotionally satisfying as a monogamous one. Ethnographic accounts of 69 polygynous systems, however, provide compelling evidence that the majority of co-wives in a polygynous family prefer pragmatic co-operation with one another while maintaining a respectful distance. Moreover, there often is a deep-seated feeling of angst that arises over competing for access to their mutual husband. Co-wife conflict in the early years of marriage is pervasive, and often marked by outbursts of verbal or physical violence. Co-wife conflict may be mitigated by social institutions, such as sororal polygyny and …

Images Of God: The Effect Of Personal Theologies On Moral Attitudes, Political Affiliation, And Religious Behavior, Christoper Bader, Paul Froese

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Social scientists often explain religious effects in terms of religious group affiliations. Typically, researchers identify religious groups by denomination or some broader popular categorization, such as “fundamentalist” or “evangelical.” To capture religious differences more effectively, Steensland et al. (2000) propose an intricate classification of American denominations that takes into account the theology and historical development of various American religious traditions to predict individual attitudes and behaviors. We believe that equal care and attention should be devoted to the development of key measures of belief that may cross denominational lines. In this article, we propose one such measure: personal conceptions or …

The Diary Of A District Officer: Alastair Morrison's 1953 Trip To The Kelabit Highlands, Matthew H. Amster

Anthropology Faculty Publications

In 1953, Alastair Morrison, then acting District Officer for the Bara, traveled to the Kelabit Highlands along with his wife, photographer Hedda Morrison, and ever changing entourage of 'coolie" porters and guides. This journey was part of his regular responsibilities as a District Officer. During such tours, Morrison surveyed longhouse communities and collected information about the local population and spoke to people about government policies, school fees, taxes, the registering of guns, and often sought to resolve local disputes. Such journeys were summarized in formal reports. However, Morrison also kept travel notebooks, which he later used to write his memoir, …

Changes In Income Distribution Patterns, Wealth, And Poverty Among New York City’S Racial/Ethnic Groups Between 1999 And 2004, Laird Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines demographic and socioeconomic aspects of the Latino population of the New York City area between 1999 and 2004.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: The most striking differential when household income patters are examined is that among Latino households there was almost no increase in median household income between 1999 and 2004. Among whites, African Americans, and Asians …

Matchcoats: Cultural Conservatism And Change, Marshall Joseph Becker

Anthropology & Sociology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Rewriting Fair Use And The Future Of Copyright Reform, Michael J. Madison

Articles

This Essay describes a social practices approach to the production of creative expression, as a construct to guide reform of copyright law. Specifically, it reimagines copyright's fair use doctrine by basing its statutory text explicitly on social practices. It argues that the social practices approach is consistent with the historical development of the fair use doctrine and with the policy goals of copyright law, and that the approach should be recognized in the text of the statute as well as in judicial applications of fair use.

Minority Rights, Minority Wrongs, Elena Baylis

Articles

Many of the new democracies established in the last twenty years are severely ethnically divided, with numerous minority groups, languages, and religions. As part of the process of democratization, there has also been an explosion of “national human rights institutions,” that is, independent government agencies whose purpose is to promote enforcement of human rights. But despite the significance of minority concerns to the stability and success of these new democracies, and despite the relevance of minority rights to the mandates of national human rights institutions, a surprisingly limited number of national human rights institutions have directed programs and resources to …

'Listen, Rama’S Wife!’: Maithil Women’S Perspectives And Practices In The Festival Of Sāmā-Cakevā, Coralynn V. Davis

Faculty Journal Articles

As a female-only festival in a significantly gender-segregated society, sāmā cakevā provides a window into Maithil women’s understandings of their society and the sacred, cultural subjectivities, moral frameworks, and projects of self-construction. The festival reminds us that to read male-female relations under patriarchal social formations as a dichotomy between the empowered and the disempowered ignores the porous boundaries between the two in which negotiations and tradeoffs create a symbiotic reliance. Specifically, the festival names two oppositional camps—the male world of law and the female world of relationships—and then creates a male character, the brother, who moves between the two, loyal …