Digital Commons Network^™

Cultural Standing In Expression Of Opinion, Claudia Strauss

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

This article explores an underappreciated pragmatic constraint on the expression of opinions: When expressing an opinion on a topic that has been previously discussed, a speaker should correctly indicate the cultural standing of that view in the relevant opinion community. This Bakhtinian approach to discourse analysis is contrasted with conversation analysis, politeness theory (Brown & Levinson, 1987), and analysis of epistemic modality. Finally, indicators of four points on the cultural standing continuum (highly controversial, debatable, common opinion, and taken for granted) are illustrated with examples from American English usage.

Understanding Ethno-Nationalism: Sikh Diasporic Imaginings In Southwest Michigan, Rory G. Mccarthy

Masters Theses

Diaspora as a category is both useful and troublesome for researchers in the discipline of anthropology. It is useful, for it allows anthropologists to approach cultural studies from a position that recognizes flaws in the conception of culture as geographically bounded. Studying diasporic populations, therefore, enables anthropologists to apply new theoretical approaches to culture, without reifying and essentializing social practices. Conversely, using diaspora as a category can homogenize groups by glossing over differences in ethnicity, religion, and migratory expenence.

This study aims at bettering the understanding of diversity within a diasporic population by examining the role that religion plays in …

Money That Burns Like Oil: A Sri Lankan Cultural Logic Of Morality And Agency, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

New labor opportunities have drawn Sri Lankan women to work as domestic servants in the Middle East. Many migrants complain that their remittances "burn like oil," disappearing without a trace. The gendered discourse on burning remittances both draws on and contradicts an older cultural system that fetishizes money. The emerging logic provides symbolic resources for women to spend their remittances on advancements for the nuclear family, distancing themselves from other kin. (Migration, remittances, fetishism, Sri Lanka, Middle East)

Cross Burning, Cockfighting, And Symbolic Meaning: Toward A First Amendment Ethnography, Timothy Zick

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Pueblitos Of Palluche Canyon: An Examination Of The Ethnic Affiliation Of The Pueblito Inhabitants And Results Of Archaeological Survey At La 9073, La 10732 And La 86895, New Mexico, Leslie-Lynne Sinkey

Theses and Dissertations

The small, above-ground masonry structures of northwestern New Mexico called "pueblitos" first came to the attention of anthropologists in over a century ago. In 1920, the noted archaeologist A.V. Kidder hypothesized that these masonry structures might have been built by Puebloan refugees fleeing Spanish reprisals in the wake of the Spanish reconquest of New Mexico after the Pueblo Revolt, and he proposed that this hypothesis be tested. Over the next several decades, however, the hypothesis remained untested, but it became both accepted as established fact and the basis for most anthropological, archaeological, and historical reconstructions of Navajo history and cultural …

Books Noted: Recent Pacific Islands Publications: Selected Acquisitions, May 2002 To March 2003, Riley M. Moffat

Pacific Studies

THIS LIST of significant publications relating to the Pacific Islands was selected from new acquisitions lists received from Brigham Young University-Hawai'i, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, University of Auckland, East-West Center, University of the South Pacific, National Library of Australia, Melanesian Studies Resource Center of the University of California-San Diego, Radboud University of Nijmegen's Centre for Pacific Asian Studies, and Secretariat of the Pacific Community Library. Other libraries are invited to send contributions to the Books Noted Editor for future issues. Listings reflect the extent of information provided by each institution.

Gods, Heroes, & Kings: The Battle For Mythic Britain, Christopher R. Fee, David A. Leeming

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

The islands of Britain have been a crossroads of gods, heroes, and kings-those of flesh as well as those of myth-for thousands of years. Successive waves of invasion brought distinctive legends, rites, and beliefs. The ancient Celts displaced earlier indigenous peoples, only to find themselves displaced in turn by the Romans, who then abandoned the islands to Germanic tribes, a people themselves nearly overcome in time by an influx of Scandinavians. With each wave of invaders came a battle for the mythic mind of the Isles as the newcomer's belief system met with the existing systems of gods, legends, and …

Patterns Of Mtdna Diversity In Northwestern North America, Ripan S. Malhi, Katherine E. Breece, Beth A. Schultz Shook, Frederika A. Kaestle, James C. Chatters, Steven Hackenberger, David Glenn Smith

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups of 54 full-blooded modern and 64 ancient Native Americans from northwestern North America were determined. The control regions of 10 modern and 30 ancient individuals were sequenced and compared. Within the Northwest, the frequency distribution for haplogroup A is geographically structured, with haplogroup A decreasing with distance from the Pacific Coast. The haplogroup A distribution suggests that a prehistoric population intrusion from the subarctic and coastal region occurred on the Columbia Plateau in prehistoric times. Overall, the mtDNA pattern in the Northwest suggests significant amounts of gene flow among Northwest Coast, Columbia Plateau, and Great …

The Lineage Model And Archaeological Data In Late Classic Northwestern Belize, Jon B. Hageman

Anthropology Faculty Publications

As central topics of anthropological study from the 1940s through the 1970s, kinship and lineage became largely discredited during the 1980s. Recent scholarship, however, has indicated that kinship and lineage, when considered as the products of social activity, can make important contributions to studies of living and past populations. This paper explores the lineage as a model of social organization distinguished by specific activities practiced by members of Late Classic Maya social groups. This model is derived from cross-cultural literature on lineages, but practices associated with lineage organization are historically and culturally specific. A suite of archaeological correlates, based on …

Rites Of Production: Technopoles And The Theater Of Work, Jan English-Lueck

Faculty Publications, Anthropology

No abstract provided.

Once Upon A Virus: Aids Legends And Vernacular Risk Perception, Diane E. Goldstein

All USU Press Publications

Once Upon a Virus explores how contemporary, or "urban," legends are indicators of culturally complex attitudes toward health and illness. Tracing the rich tradition of AIDS legends in relation to current scholarship on belief, Diane Goldstein shows how such stories not only articulate widespread perceptions of risk, health care, and health policy, they also influence official and scientific approaches to the disease and its management. Notions that appear in narratives of who gets AIDS, how and why, are indicators of broad issues involving health beliefs, concerns, and needs.

What Goes Around Comes Around: The Circulation Of Proverbs In Contemporary Life, Kimberly J. Lau, Peter Tokofsky, Stephen D. Winick

All USU Press Publications

In this collection of essays, prominent folklorists look at varied modern uses and contexts of proverbs and proverbial speech, some traditional and conventional, others new and unexpected. After the editors' introduction discussing the history and status of attempts to define proverbs, describing their contemporary circulation, and acknowledging the especially important work of paremiologist Wolfgang Meider, the contributions examine the continuing pervasiveness and idiomatic relevance of proverbs in modern culture.

Folklore In Utah: A History And Guide To Resources, David Stanley

All USU Press Publications

Over thirty scholars examine the development of folklore studies through the lens of over one hundred years of significant activity in a state that has provided grist for the mills of many prominent folklorists. In the past the Folklore Society of Utah has examined the work of such scholars in biographical and other essays published in its newsletters. This book incorporates those essays and goes well beyond them to include many other topices, offering a thorough history of folklore studies and a guide to resources for those pursuing research in Utah now and in the future. The essays survey the …

Listening For A Life, Patricia Sawin

All USU Press Publications

In one sense a folklorist's portrayal of a notable folk artist's life and art, Listening for a Life is equally a rethinking of the processes involved in such work, not only in how the folklorist conveys her subject but in how her subject constitutes and performs herself into being through dialogue with others: those present, those once present, those imagined and anticipated.

Drawing on Bahktinian and feminist theory, Sawin pushes forward our understanding of the interactive roles of ethnographer and subject and in the process gives us a deeper understanding of folk singer and storyteller Bessie Eldreth and her greatest …

Native American Survival In A Colonial United States, Charles Marr

Nebraska Anthropologist

The persecution of Native Americans in the United States has not yet come to an end. There are many policies still in place that lead to the reduction of the unique culture of the Native Americans. This can have disastrous impacts for their own survival and well being. These policies reduce their language, culture, selfdetermination, their knowledge of the environment, and increases their poverty. The United States government can help to solve these problems by eliminating the Bureau of Indian Affairs and forming a think-tank that would be composed of Tribal leaders, lawyers who specialize in Native American Law, and …

Women’S Work, Child Care, And Helpers-At-The-Nest In A Hunter-Gatherer Society, Raymond Hames, Patricia Draper

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Considerable research on helpers-at-the-nest demonstrates the positive effects of firstborn daughters on a mother’s reproductive success and the survival of her children compared with women who have firstborn sons. This research is largely restricted to agricultural settings. In the present study we ask: “Does ‘daughter first’ improve mothers’ reproductive success in a hunting and gathering context?” Through an analysis of 84 postreproductive women in this population we find that the sex of the first- or second-born child has no effect on a mother’s fertility or the survival of her offspring. We conclude that specific environmental and economic factors underlay the …

Archaeological Site Examination, North Yard Of The Loring-Greenough House, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, J.N. Leith Smith, Katherine Howlett

Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research Publications

A phased program of stabilization and restoration for the Loring-Greenough House and property located in Jamaica Plain, a suburb of Boston, MA, called for reconstruction of porches, construction of an entrance walk and new foundations for the carriage house. This program also included landscaping and rehabilitation of garden plantings in the north yard. Archaeological testing was conducted to identify cultural resources that would be impacted by the proposed project and to search for evidence of early garden features that could be used to guide landscape restoration. The first phase of research focused on house porches, walkway installation and foundation work …

Department Of Anthropology And Geography Self-Study Report To The Academic Planning Committee, Department Of Anthropology And Geography

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

In January of 2001 the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Geography became the Department of Anthropology and Geography. This merger was not requested by members of either unit: it was imposed administratively. Under ideal circumstance, such mergers evolve organically through a history of collaborations from the bottom up. Nevertheless, faculty of each unit had collaborated in a variety of contexts so there was some basis for integration. As one may imagine, one of the first things we set out to accomplish as a newly formed unit was the establishment of a common set of by-laws. After about six …

A Fresh Look At Amazon Indians: Karl Von Den Steinen And Curt Nimuendajú, Giants Of Brazilian Anthropology, John Hemming

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This essay examines two German anthropologists who changed the style of Brazilian anthropology.   Karl von den Steinen made first contact with eight peoples of the upper Xingu in the 1880s.  His anthropological observations were accurate and valuable, and he was the first to describe indigenous people as individual human beings.   Curt Nimuendajú also had no formal training, but was on an anthropological or archaeological expedition every year between 1905–1945, produced a prodigious volume of writing, studied shattered tribal remnants as well as newly contacted peoples, and was a pioneer in championing indigenous rights.   Both were seminal figures in the study …

The Brazilian People: The Formation And Meaning Of Brazil, William Balee

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Book review of The Brazilian People: The Formation and Meaning of Brazil. Darcy Ribeiro. Gregory Rabassa (transl.). Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida,2000. xviii + 332 pp., bibliography. $34.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-8130-1777-7.

La Voz De Kultrun En La Modernidad: Tradición Y Cambio En La Terapéutica De Siete Machi Mapuche (The Kultrun’S Voice In Modernity: Tradition And Change In The Therapeutics Of Seven Mapuche Machi), Marcelo Fiorini

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Book review of La Voz de Kultrun en la Modernidad: Tradición y Cambio en la Terapéutica de Siete Machi Mapuche (The Kultrun’s Voice in Modernity: Tradition and Change in the Therapeutics of Seven Mapuche Machi). Ana Mariella Bacigalupo. Santiago, Chile: Ediciones Universidad Catolica de Chile, 2001. 271 pp. ISBN 956-14-0623-2

Refiguring Palmares, Richard Price

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

In this methodological/poetical exercise, the author attempts a mind-game in which he reads through the primary and secondary sources on the great seventeenth-century Brazilian quilombo of Palmares, drawing on his knowledge of Maroon societies elsewhere in the Americas, in order to imagine the institutions of that quilombo from their own, rather than outside observers’, perspectives. Using oral testimonies from the descendants of Maroons in Suriname, and comparing them to outsiders’ views of those societies as recorded in archives, he tries to better evoke the cultural institutions that would have existed in Palmares.

Dans cet essai, à la fois méthodolgique et …

Trekking Through History: The Huaorani Of Amazonia, Norman E. Whitten Jr

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Book review of, Trekking Through History: The Huaorani of Amazonia. Laura M. Rival.

New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. xx + 246 pp., plates, maps,

tables, figures, notes, references, index. ISBN 0-231-11844-9.

"Where Will You Sleep Tonight?" The Samo Longhouse, A Metaphor Of Spatial And Social Structure, R. Daniel Shaw

Pacific Studies

The juxtaposition of physical space and social interaction among the precontact Samo people of Papua New Guinea's east Strickland Plain is analyzed through a rich cultural metaphor reflecting on where people habitually sleep. Where a person sleeps establishes individual status within the collectivity of a household, which is identified as both a dwelling and an interactive group of family-oriented people. A longhouse was typically built on a ridgetop amid gardens, sago-lined swamp, and surrounding forest, together creating an economic environment that, in effect, fed the community. Similarly, social space was created through the reciprocal exchange of female siblings that enabled …

The Church As Embodiment And Expression Of Community On Ujelang And Enewetak, Marshall Islands, Laurence Marshall Carucci

Pacific Studies

The church as a culturally constructed location is constantly "unmade and remade" on Ujelang and Enewetak Atolls (Marshall Islands) with semantic values tied to wider social and historical changes. Stories about the original church represent it as a sacred site forming the physical, moral, and cosmogenic center of the Enewetak community. During World War II, Japanese military rule transformed the church into a location of resistance. During postwar exile to Ujelang Atoll, the village-centered church became a site where solidarity-enhancing practices allowed the community to confront isolation and suffering. A new church, built in 1978 as a symbol of reinvigorated …

Books Noted: Recent Pacific Islands Publications: Selected Acquisitions, May 2002-March 2003, Riley M. Moffat

Pacific Studies

THIS LIST of significant publications relating to the Pacific Islands was selected from new acquisitions lists received from Brigham Young University-Hawai'i, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, University of Auckland, East-West Center, University of the South Pacific, National Library of Australia, Melanesian Studies Resource Center of the University of California-San Diego, Radboud University of Nijmegen's Centre for Pacific Asian Studies, and Secretariat of the Pacific Community Library. Other libraries are invited to send contributions to the Books Noted Editor for future issues. Listings reflect the extent of information provided by each institution.

Kula And The Trobriand Islands: The Meaning And Power Of Objects, Becky Tomlinson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Just as a word in a foreign language must be interpreted for one who does not speak the language, a cultural artifact alone holds no significance or meaning for an outsider. Thus, for an object to be understood it cannot stand alone, but must be placed in context though time and space, and various layers of cultural meaning must be expounded. The word lagim, from the Kiriwina language, may be roughly translated as meaning "the splashboard of a Kula canoe". This translation may give the proper words from English that denote the object, but it still leaves much to …

Regionalism And Cultural Identity In Western Amazonia, Donald Pollock

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

In this I article examine some of the processes by which new representational strategies are being developed by indigenous communities in western Brazil. While language has long been a marker of identity among indigenous groups, more recent political and economic forces have led to the emergence of forms of identity that transcend traditional language differences. Regionality, for example, has become a potent conceptual field for new forms of identity in western Brazil, but it subtly incorporates the concept of land, linking indigenous identity struggles in this area to the broader problem of land in Brazil.

Este artigo examina os processos …

Review: Jack A. Tobin, Stories From The Marshall Islands: Bwebwenato Jān Aelōn̄ Kein., Phillip Mcarthur

Pacific Studies

Jack A. Tobin, Stories from the Marshall Islands: Bwebwenato Jān Aelōn̄ Kein. PALI Language Texts. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2002. Pp. xvi, 405, maps, notes, references, appendixes, index. US$55 cloth; $19.95 paper.

Reviewed by Phillip McArthur, Brigham Young University-Hawai'i

The Beautiful And The Common: Inequalities Of Value And Revolving Hierarchy Among The Kayapó, Terence Turner

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This paper addresses the nature of hierarchy in indigenous Amazonian and Central Brazilian societies. It takes as its point of departure an analysis of the production and distribution of social value among the Kayapó, considered as representative of the Gê and similar societies like the Mundurucú, Tapirapé, Karajá, and Bororo. This analysis proceeds from the proposition that “production” in such societies is primarily organized as the process of forming social persons and the values associated with their attributes. It proceeds to show how these values are unequally distributed through an exploitative institutional structure based on matri-uxorilocal residence and the subordination …