Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

Lo Nuestro: Turismo Y La Revalorización De La Cultura Kichwa Karanki En La Parroquia De Angochagua, Daltin Danser

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Utkalla yuyaykuna

Angochagua ayllu llaktapi, chiri suyu, Ecuador mama llaktamanta, kichwa Karanki runa kawsayka asha llaki kan, wakinka llukshishka ayllaktamanta hatun markakunaman yachana wasiman rinkapak, wakinka llamkakapak.

Chayra kay watakunapi shuk mushuk muyukuna wiñarikun Angochaguapi chikan mashikunata ñanta paskankapak.

Angochagua ayllu llaktaka kimichin chikan mashikunata, sumak allpata rikuchinkapak, shinallata runa kawsayta malichinkapak. 2022 watapi, Angochaguata riksichinkuna sumak llakta kashkamanta, 32 ayllu llaktakuna akllashka ashka hatun pachapi, Organización Mundial del Turismo tantanakuypi. Kay llamkayta rurankapakka achka mashikunata kay hawa tapurkani, kawsarkanipash kimsa hunkaykunata pakta pakta Potosi Chuquin ayllukunawan, Angochagua ayllu llaktapi.

Paykunawan allpapi llamkashpa, paykunawan mikushpa, maykunashina muskushpa. Kay llamkayka tantachin …

‘Unbelievable’: Perspectives On The Digital World In Manang, Alex Halaby

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Manang lies one hundred miles northwest of Kathmandu in a valley called Nyeshang. Until a major road was constructed in 2014, the challenge of importing goods in and out of the town slowed the development of digital infrastructures supporting internet use. Consequently, the widespread use of the internet and digital communication is a relatively new phenomenon. Already, its effects are visible in classrooms, health clinics, hotels, and social structures. This paper investigates how Manangis learn about themselves, each other, and the world outside the valley in this new digital space. Emphasis is not placed on quantifications, but rather on the …

Coming Out In South Africa: What’S Beyond The Closet?, Sophia Ludt

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For many queer individuals, coming out is a significant moment in their lives. In South Africa, this process is made even more difficult due to prevalent homophobia, discrimination, and anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes. The colonial influence of Dutch and British colonization has perpetuated the notion that homosexuality is "un-African," adding to the challenges faced by queer individuals as they navigate their racial and cultural identities. Coming out can be dangerous for them, as it challenges expectations of the patriarchy, marriage, and childbirth. The response to a queer person's coming out greatly impacts their sense of self, safety, and acceptance. This study …

Programa De La Conferencia Segundo Congreso Internacional De Iconografía Precolombina

Segundo congreso internacional de iconografía precolombina. Barcelona, 2023. Actas.

Barcelona, 2023.

Victòria Solanilla, organizador

17 al 20 de octubre de 2023.

En el Museu de Cultures del Món de Barcelona. Calle Montcada, nº12-14, 08003, Barcelona.

Y en el Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Calle del Carme, nº 47, 08001, Barcelona.

Organizado por el GRUP d'ESTUDIS PRECOLOMBINS· con el apoyo del MUSEU ETNOLÒGIC I DE CULTURES DEL MÓN· INSTITUT D'ESTUDIS CATALANS· SOCIETAT CATALANA D'ESTUDIS HISTÒRICS

Managing Fires And Ecosystems Indigenous Fire Ecologies Session_Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Wildland Fires Workshop, Cynthia Twyford Fowler

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

De Pingüinos Y Personas: La Red Alimentaria Antártica En La Época Antropoceno, Clare A. Sammells

Faculty Conference Papers and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Of Penguins And People: The Antarctic Food Web In The Anthropocene, Clare A. Sammells

Faculty Conference Papers and Presentations

Author’s Translation of: Sammells, Clare A. 2023. “De pingüinos y personas: la red alimentaria antártica en la época Antropoceno.” Proceedings of the SLACA Biennial Conference / Memorias de la Conferencia Bienal de SLACA. Cartagena, Colombia March 15-17, 2023. Clare A. Sammells and Natalia Quiceno Toro, eds., 34-39.

Anth201: Cross-Cultural Perspectives (Fall 2023), James Tolleson

Open Educational Resources

Cultural anthropology emerged to study the differences among human beings (and between human and non-human beings). This course will cover the foundations of the discipline, including a critical perspective on anthropology’s ties to European colonialism and the rise of global capitalism. Students will come away with an understanding of how cultural anthropologists study culture, defined as “a set of beliefs, practices, and symbols that are learned and shared. Together, they form an all-encompassing, integrated whole that binds people together and shapes their worldview and lifeways” (Brown, McIlwraith & Tubelle de González 2020, 6). We will also pay close attention to …

Metapopulation Dynamics Of Sars-Cov-2 Transmission In A Small-Scale Amazonian Society, Thomas Kraft, Edmond Seabright, Sarah Alami, Samuel M. Jenness, Paul L. Hooper, Bret Beheim, Helen Davis, Daniel K. Cummings, Daniel Eid Rodriguez, Maguin Gutierrez Cayuba, Emily J. Miner, Xavier De Lamballerie, Lucia Inchauste, Stéphane Priet, Benjamin Trumble, Jonathan Stieglitz, Hillard Kaplan, Michael Gurven

ESI Publications

The severity of infectious disease outbreaks is governed by patterns of human contact, which vary by geography, social organization, mobility, access to technology and healthcare, economic development, and culture. Whereas globalized societies and urban centers exhibit characteristics that can heighten vulnerability to pandemics, small-scale subsistence societies occupying remote, rural areas may be buffered. Accordingly, voluntary collective isolation has been proposed as one strategy to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 and other pandemics on small-scale Indigenous populations with minimal access to healthcare infrastructure. To assess the vulnerability of such populations and the viability of interventions such as voluntary collective isolation, we …

Fantasy Escapism: Using Role-Playing Games To Explore Mental Health And Gender Identity, Aidan Cipolla

English Summer Fellows

This project analyzes how escapism through the use of role-playing games can be used as a coping mechanism for those struggling with a variety of topics, including gender dysphoria and mental health issues. The project takes an ethnographic approach to data gathering, consisting of interviews with a small group of Dungeons and Dragons / video game players, and personal anecdotes regarding the author’s experience with escapism.

Current Developmental Challenges In Nepal: How Can The Diaspora Help?, Ambika P. Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

Nepal now enjoys a unique opportunity to positively transform the country’s economy and society. The economic activities fueled by remittance, supported by foreign aid, and aided by domestic economic activities such as tourism, trade, and services, including start-ups, are helping increase individual incomes. However, the earnings from remittances, which measure to about 25% of Nepal’s GDP, are spent on consumer goods and not on investments that can generate employment and raise the standards of living. The foreign aid is often donor driven and also not always well managed and wisely spent on national priorities. Further, it is frequently marred by …

Locating A Shadowy State In Queer, Feminist Politics, Atreyee Majumder

Articles

In this commentary, part of a book forum on Srila Roy’s (2022) book ”Changing the Subject: Feminist and Queer Politics in Neoliberal India”, I argue that the feminist and queer movement, in response to the neoliberal turn in India, is not totally separate from the Indian state formations. In fact, a shadowy state emerges in the affective life of citizens as an expression of what Timothy Mitchell would have called “state effect”.

Book Review Of The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables For A Planet In Crisis By Amitav Ghosh, Cynthia Twyford Fowler

Faculty Scholarship

Amitav Ghosh, a celebrated author of fiction and nonfiction, earned a doctorate in social anthropology from Oxford. In this iteration of his nonfiction oeuvre, Ghosh’s mapping of the historical entanglement of human rights abuses and environmental exploitation is framed upon the pillars of postcolonialism and posthumanism. Many of the processes he writes about in his acclaimed book The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis overlap with the interests of Human Ecology readers. Chapters 4 “Terraforming,” 5 “We Shall be Gone Shortly,” and 6 “Bonds of Earth” may feel familiar to students of environmental histories and aficionados of Alfred …

Archivo Y Memoria: Una Mirada A Tres Historias De Mujeres Esclavizadas En El Virreinato De La Nueva Granada De Finales Del Siglo Xviii, Luisa Carolina Julio Gomez

Department of Modern Languages and Literatures: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Colonial documents preserve information that allows us to know the local Andean history of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. These manuscripts reveal forms of violence that shaped the subjectivities of the time and the resistance of oppressed women. This dissertation examines the effects of slavery and the response of three enslaved women to that colonial violence. This analysis seeks to better understand and make visible how the intersection between racism and patriarchy impacted the lives of three racialized women in the colonial context.

This dissertation focuses on the experiences, struggles, and resistance of three women present in the manuscripts consigned …

Reproductive Inequality In Humans And Other Mammals, Cody T. Ross, Paul L. Hooper, Jennifer E. Smith, Adrian V. Jaeggi, Eric Alden Smith, Sergey Gavrilets, Fatema Tuz Zohora, John Ziker, Dimitris Xygalatas, Emily E. Wroblewski, Brian Wood, Bruce Winterhalder, Kai P. Willführ, Aiyana K. Willard, Kara Walker, Christopher Von Rueden, Eckart Voland, Claudia Valeggia, Bapu Vaitla, Samuel Urlacher, Mary Towner, Chun-Yi Sum, Lawrence S. Sugiyama, Karen B. Strier, Kathrine Starkweather, Daniel Major-Smith, Mary Shenk, Rebecca Sear, Edmond Seabright, Ryan Schacht, Brooke Scelza, Shane Scaggs, Jonathan Salerno, Caissa Revilla-Minaya, Daniel Redhead, Anne Pusey, Benjamin Grant Purzycki, Eleanor A. Power, Anne Pisor, Jenni Pettay, Susan Perry, Abigail E. Page, Luis Pacheco-Cobos, Kathryn Oths, Seung-Yun Oh, David Nolin, Daniel Nettle, Cristina Moya, Andrea Bamberg Migliano, Karl J. Mertens, Rita A. Mcnamara, Richard Mcelreath, Siobhan Mattison, Eric Massengill, Frank Marlowe, Felicia Madimenos, Shane Macfarlan, Virpi Lummaa, Roberto Lizarralde, Ruizhe Liu, Melissa A. Liebert, Sheina Lew-Levy, Paul Leslie, Joseph Lanning, Karen Kramer, Jeremy Koster, Hillard S. Kaplan, Bayarsaikhan Jamsranjav, A. Magdalena Hurttado, Kim Hill, Barry Hewlett, Samili Helle, Thomas Headland, Janet Headland, Michael Gurven, Gianluca Grimalda, Russell Greaves, Christopher D. Golden, Irene Godoy, Mhairi Gibson, Claire El Mouden, Mark Dyble, Patricia Draper, Sean Downey, Angelina L. Demarco, Helen Elizabeth Davis, Stefani Crabtree, Carmen Cortez, Heidi Colleran, Emma Cohen, Gregory Clark, Julia Clark, Mark A. Caudell, Chelsea E. Carminito, John Bunce, Adam Boyette, Samuel Bowles, Tami Blumenfield, Bret Beheim, Stephen Beckerman, Quentin Atkinson, Coren Apicella, Nurul Alam, Monique Borgerhoff Mulder

ESI Publications

To address claims of human exceptionalism, we determine where humans fit within the greater mammalian distribution of reproductive inequality. We show that humans exhibit lower reproductive skew (i.e., inequality in the number of surviving offspring) among males and smaller sex differences in reproductive skew than most other mammals, while nevertheless falling within the mammalian range. Additionally, female reproductive skew is higher in polygynous human populations than in polygynous nonhumans mammals on average. This patterning of skew can be attributed in part to the prevalence of monogamy in humans compared to the predominance of polygyny in nonhuman mammals, to the limited …

Bura Ura, Kendu Waiyo (Rain Falls, Water Rises): The Tyranny Of Water Insecurity And An Agenda For Abolition In Kodi (Sumba Island, Indonesia), Cynthia Twyford Fowler

Faculty Scholarship

This article explores the dynamic links between transformations in freshwater ecosystems and social changes in the Kodi region of Sumba (Indonesia). Insights into the politics surrounding changing hydrosocial systems are generated by using a feminist anthropology approach together with critical development studies and intersectionality theory. In aligning with fellow feminists whose advocacy sometimes takes the form of scholarship, I lay out a five-prong strategy for collecting empirical evidence from persons who are vulnerable when hydrological systems change and offer eight principles for future development interventions. The argument related to the five-prong toolkit is that by conducting intensive, extensive, opportunistic, and …

Developing Qualitative Research Questions For Illinois Post-Release Prison Analysis, Kiera Eckhardt

Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development—Student Research

The Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council (SPAC) partnered with Dr. Kathryn Bocanegra of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) to conduct a two part research study examining the impact of long term prison sentences in Illinois state facilities. This study is unique, in that it incorporates both quantitative and qualitative methodologies in its data collection and analysis. The purpose of this report is to exemplify the process used to develop the qualitative research interview questions for the UIC study. Components of this process, including relational meetings, and recommendations provided by stakeholders in the criminal legal system for conducting post-release …

Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 26: Confessions Of A 'Wallace Enthusiast', Charles H. Smith

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

The author’s longstanding interest in the life and thought of Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) is profiled in three ways, through: (1) a brief factual review of its history (2) a discussion of some problems with the way Wallace has been treated over the years, and (3) a consideration of the author’s personal experience with the paranormal, and how this has made him, if not always a full believer, more patient with divergent explanations of the type Wallace was famous for.

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.

Real-Time Mapping With Global Positioning Systems Devices In A Mixed Methods Toolkit For Studying Social And Environmental Change, Cynthia Twyford Fowler

Faculty Scholarship

To explore the process through which people develop knowledge about socioecological change, this article describes a mixed-methods toolkit containing a technique for making maps in real time while moving through landscapes. The quantitative component of the toolkit is grounded in ethnobiologists’ embeddedness in place-based communities and harnesses the power of global positioning systems (GPS). As GPS-wielding ethnobiologists engage in participatory mapping by moving through landscapes with their research collaborators, we can use handheld devices and simultaneously communicate with satellites in outer space to produce maps in real time. Within the existing, large inventory of ethnobiological methods, using handheld GPS devices …

Environmental And Social Factors Associated With High Chronic Kidney Disease Mortality Rates In Municipalities Of Guatemala: An Ecological Study Of Municipal-Level Mortality Data, Alejandro Cerón

Anthropology: Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of this study was to determine the association between social and environmental indicators and high mortality rates from chronic kidney disease (CKD) in municipalities of Guatemala. An ecological study of municipal-level factors associated with CKD mortality in Guatemala was conducted. Crude mortality rates were calculated for the 2009–2019 period for each of the country’s 340 municipalities, by gender and age groups. Municipal-level social and environmental indicators were used as independent variables. Linear regression was used for bivariate and multivariate analysis. A total of 28,723 deaths from CKD were documented for the 2009–2019 period. Average crude mortality rate for …

Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Parkland College Students, Yashvardhan Ahlawat, Michael Bellamy Iii, Ethan Derringer, Sheena Shane

Ethnographies of Parkland Student Life

Parkland College is home to roughly 10,000 students, coming from various backgrounds and cultures. This diversity in the student body, led us to focus this study on the types of resources offered to Parkland students. We believe that the college answers to the needs of its students and that looking at these resources in terms of academics and mental health can help identify the challenges that students deal with in their lived experiences.

Habitus in cultural anthropology is defined as the “dispositions, attitudes, or preferences” that a community uses to create an identity (Griffith and Marion 2020). By observing the …

Parkland Pathways Impact On The Student Body, Chase Belt, Blessing Omoniyi, Margaret Daniels, Taylor Blackwell

Ethnographies of Parkland Student Life

The goal of our group’s study was to find differences between Parkland Pathway students to Illinois and non Pathway students. We gathered information from students and faculty to observe and analyze the culture of the Pathway program from many perspectives.

An Ethnography Of Factors Leading Students To Choose Parkland, Dwayne Hubbard, Jaimee Hudson, David Schroeder, Jazmine Smith

Ethnographies of Parkland Student Life

Our research question was focused on why students choose Parkland, a community college, and not a 4-year institution where they can get a bachelors degree if their goal is the college degree. Looking at Parkland’s website and at studies on community colleges (Chen 2021) we found that most outsiders looking in would say that the flexibility of a two-year college is one of the most significant advantages. You can enroll in classes that fit into your schedule and you can also generally transfer your credits to a four-year university later if you decide to earn a bachelors degree. We wanted …

College Misconceptions, Craig Ondevilla, Thalia Gonzalez, Aaron Saucedo, Alam Martinez

Ethnographies of Parkland Student Life

Researching a topic can never take the place of actually experiencing something, but you can find out a lot about a topic by looking at information online. You can’t research every aspect of college to be completely prepared, but you could still learn a lot so why isn’t the difficulty of adjusting to college a thing of the past? Our group chose to focus on college misconceptions because with so much information readily available online, we want to know what areas students still end up struggling with. We wanted to gain insights on how college students’ expectations of college compared …

An Ethnographic Study Of Student Eating Habits At Parkland, Jordan Goodhart, Aaron Triplett, Tyler Thomas, Logan Haake, Prechethan Kesireddy

Ethnographies of Parkland Student Life

Our research question was broad as we chose to examine the eating habits of Parkland students and how it may affect their performance in the classroom. We also chose to focus on how Parkland students’ eating/snacking habits have changed since being at Parkland compared to high school or wherever they snacked before becoming college students. From our cultural anthropology course, we understand that food and eating habits are part of the “everyday actions that reflect cultural ideas” and can be studied to define the identity of a group (Miller Griffith and Marion 2020). Our research will reflect part of the …

Wakara's Waterscapes: Storytelling, Cartography, And Rhetorical Sovereignty On The Shores Of The Green River, Abbey O'Brien

Honors Theses

In the mid nineteenth-century, Wakara, a prominent Ute leader, witnessed the invasion of his homeland by Mormon settlers and mountain-men. He met the scouts and explorers who were sent out to examine the land and waterscapes, and who drew maps along their way. It was those same maps which were eventually used as tools to justify colonial expansion all across the Utah territories, Wakara’s home. But Wakara resisted. Employing his understandings of the roles that cartography and the written word played in Mormon and settler discourse, Wakara created his own maps in order to assert his Indigenous authority over the …

Belonging And Identity In Mustang: Lived Experiences, Social Identities, And Mobility Patterns Among Himalayan Peoples Of Nepal, Lauren Carter

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper delves into an immersive exploration and contemplation of a pivotal transformation unfolding in the heartland of Lower Mustang, Nepal. What began as an endeavor to channel my creative expression and unearth the diminishing world of yak herding soon necessitated a broader, more nuanced analysis of the profound changes sweeping across the region. This paper, mainly drawing upon the narratives of the inhabitants, seeks to portray the contemporary cultural and capital significance of yaks, as well as the various factors— climate change, outmigration, national policy discrepancies, conservation initiatives, and shifting cultural paradigms— that render specific patterns of movement increasingly …

The Headbangers Of The Himalaya: An Investigation Of Nepal’S Rock And Metal Scene, Samuel White

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The goal of this research endeavor was to generate findings which unveil information about the culture, the bands, and the lives of the musicians and fans who make up the Nepali rock and metal scene. The community is rather esoteric and information regarding certain bands and their musicians’ background is limited to broad, outdated articles published online. Thus, most of the information regarding the scene can only be obtained if one truly immerses themselves within it. I was fortunate enough to make friends which granted me a firsthand look into the Nepali rock and metal scene. The general questions which …

Grabbing The Paycheck: A Glimpse Into The Modern Economic Livelihoods Of Xe Máy Grab Drivers In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Maddie Davis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Woven into the very fabric of urban life in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam is commuting via motorcycle (Vietnamese: xe máy). The versatility of xe máy can be witnessed in the surge of rush hour traffic, the shipment of a great variety and quantity of goods, and the crunch of people in order to get the whole family atop a single bike. Due to xe máy as the primary way much of the population gets around, Ho Chi Minh City’s transportation infrastructure and traffic patterns are highly conducive to this method of transit. Resulting from these favorable conditions, a multitude …