Digital Commons Network^™

A Choice To Engage: Selective Marginality And Dynamic Households On The 18th-19th Century Irish Coast, Meagan Conway

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the nature of marginality on the peripheries of empire in 18th and 19th century rural Ireland. These shifting imperial borders, both cultural and geographic, are historically fluid spaces that have potential to impact individual decision-making, spark cultural change, and alter social dynamics under the pressures of foreign rule. This project focuses on individual rural households off the coast of western Ireland to understand the selective engagement (choices to accept or reject externally generated ideologies) of households in transnational systems, and the ways islanders generated a material reaction to prescribed narratives of marginality from the imperial epicenter. Expressions …

African American Hair And Beauty: Examining Afrocentricity And Identity Through The Reemergence And Expression Of Natural Hair In The 21st Century, Tiffany Nicole Peacock

Theses and Dissertations

In the 21st century, African American women are challenging the stereotypes and limitations of who or what defines beauty. More African American women are cutting off their relaxed tresses and starting anew with the natural roots that was inherited from their African ancestors. The recent transition challenges post-colonial ideas of what it means to have good or bad hair through the empowerment of Black men and women. Rooted within the Black Power and Black is Beautiful movements of the 1970s, African American women are no longer accepting or tolerating how someone else will define their hair. By altering their kinky, …

Investigación Arqueológica: Sitio Buen Suceso, Comuna Dos Mangas, Provincia De Santa Elena. Informe Suplemental., Sarah M. Rowe, Guy S. Duke

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Supplemental report on radiocarbon dates from the 2017 excavation season at Bun Suceso, a Valdivia site located on the coast of Ecuador. Report submitted to the Region 5 Office of the Instituto Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural, Guayaquil, Ecuador.

The Search For Fort Lisa In The Vicinity Of Omaha, Nebraska: A Gis Site Location Model, Brian C. Goodrich

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Fort Lisa was one of several important Euro-American fur trade sites in the vicinity of what is today Omaha, Nebraska. It, along with the other sites on that stretch of the Missouri River, were key locations both for trade with local tribes and as waypoints for those travelling to northern tribes in the early 19^th Century. With the decline of the fur trade era, most of the sites that were once so central to life on the Missouri were abandoned and lost to memory. Archaeologists have rediscovered many of the sites along the Missouri River, including Fort Clark and …

Lithic Analysis Of An Early Archaic Assemblage On The Great Plains: The Spring Creek Site (25ft31), Andrea Elizabeth Kruse

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Early Archaic sites on the Great Plains are few in number and often little studied and poorly reported, as they are almost always found via salvage or compliance archaeology. Of those Early Archaic sites that have been studied, rarely has the recovered debitage been analyzed in detail nor have tools been fully evaluated for use-wear. This thesis describes the lithic assemblage from the Spring Creek (25FT31) site located in southwestern Nebraska. As one of two important early sites in the state, detailed lithic analysis will complement the thorough analysis of faunal remains conducted in the 2000s. This thesis presents the …

"La Llorona": Evolución, Ideología Y Uso En El Mundo Hispano, Raquel Sáenz-Llano

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis studies the evolution, ideology and use of the myth of La Llorona through time in the Hispanic World. Considering this myth as one of the most known traditional narratives of the American continent, I begin by providing visual, ethnohistorical and ethnographical insights of weeping in Mesoamerica and South America and the specific mention of a weeping woman in some Spanish chronicles to say how western values were stablished in “the new continent” through this legend. I suggest that during the postcolonialism the legend did not tell anymore about a mother that cries and search a place for their …

Nature, Identity, And Pastoralism: Changing Landscapes And Shifting Paradigms In The Mongolian Taiga, Jessica Vinson

Theses and Dissertations

The traditional environment of pastoralism is under assault from land degradation, rangeland conservation, and development paradigms that alter the everyday lives of Tsataan Dukha reindeer herders in the Mongolian taiga. This paper seeks to analyze the ways in which identity is shaped through experiences of or relationships with particular nonhuman places and beings, and how the Tsataan Dukha renegotiate their individual and collective identities with changing local landscapes that exert considerable pressures upon the social, political, and economic organization of Dukha life. Senses of place and of space are intimately tied to a sense of self, so disruption in environmental …

Stewart, Karen (Fa 1273), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1273. Student paper titled “Negro Gospel Music at Barnes Chapel Methodist Church” in which Karen Stewart describes a singular all-day “singing” held at the church in Beaver Dam, Kentucky, in February 1971. Stewart offers a brief description of her fieldwork methods including research and recording and provides an abbreviated background on each of her musical informants. Stewart also recounts the songs that were sung and notes recurrent themes throughout the music. The paper also includes the words to each hymn, a black and white photograph of the performers, and two reel-to-reel audiotapes.

Bemiss, Roger (Fa 1274), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1274. Student paper titled “Barb Wire” in which Roger Bemiss includes black and white photographs of an assortment of barb wire designs. Bemiss includes the official name of each type of wire as well as the date that it was patented.

Fulkerson, Brenda (Fa 1272), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1272. Student folk studies project titled “[Rhymes, Legends, Beliefs and Proverbs of Ohio County],” which includes descriptions of local folk legends and beliefs in Ohio County, Kentucky. Descriptions may include title of the legend, date collected, and informant’s name and address. Note cards include rhyme, belief or proverb, date collected, and informant’s name.

Chilled To The Bone: An Analysis On The Effects Of Cold Temperatures And Weather Conditions Altering The Decomposition Process In Pig ( Sus Scrofa ) Remains, Katharine C. Woollen

Theses and Dissertations

Temperature is one of the most crucial variables affecting the decomposition process, significantly increasing or decreasing the rate at which decomposition occurs. Few studies have been conducted to show how the effects of cold temperatures and weather conditions influence the postmortem interval (PMI). The PMI is defined as the amount of time that has passed since death. The purpose of this study was to evaluate estimations for the PMI when remains are exposed to cold temperatures and weather conditions. Secondly, this study seeks to explain whether variables (i.e., coverings, burial depth, soil pH) can affect the decomposition process during colder …

"Sir, I Cannot Entertain You": Tour Guides As Agents Of Truth And Transformation At The Whitney Plantation, Sarah Latham

LSU Master's Theses

According to the Louisiana office of tourism, one out of every nine workers in Louisiana relies on the state’s tourism industry for their wages, of which plantation tourism is a growing part (2016). This research examines the experiences of tour guides at the Whitney Plantation. How do tourists’ expectations and concepts of heritage affect the way tour guides do their jobs? What are tour guides’ experiences of being objectified by visitors? How are tour guides’ experiences shaped by race and racialized expectation? Specifically, I examined tour guides at The Whitney Plantation Museum in Wallace, Louisiana. This project drew on participant-observation …

A Retrospective Analysis And Method Validation Of Postmortem Interval Estimation In Louisiana, Sophia Reck

LSU Master's Theses

Forensic anthropologists are often called upon to assess the postmortem interval (PMI; i.e. time since death) of remains in varying states of decomposition and skeletonization. These assessments rely on familiarity with general taphonomic sequences and processes, in addition to experience with how these processes present in local environments and conditions. Assessment using such qualitative methods is a subjective process. Therefore, some researchers have developed formulae whose purpose is to estimate PMI in an objective format. In these instances, the resultant PMI estimation formulae were developed using local data and therefore have the potential for local applicability. Additionally, for some regions, …

Lidar Predictive Modeling Of Kalapuya Mound Sites In The Calapooia Watershed, Oregon, Tia Rachelle Cody

Dissertations and Theses

Archaeologists grapple with the problematic nature of archaeological discovery. Certain types of sites are difficult to see even in the best environmental conditions (e.g., low-density lithic scatters) and performing traditional archaeological survey is challenging in some environments, such as the dense temperate rain forests of the Pacific Northwest. Archaeologists need another method of survey to assess large areas and overcome environmental and archaeological barriers to site discovery in regions like the Pacific Northwest. LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology, a method for digitally clearing away swaths of vegetation and surveying the landscape, is one possible solution to some of these …

Estimating Sex Using The Human Mandibular Canine, Brittney Blevins

LSU Master's Theses

Sexual dimorphism can be quantified in human mandibular canines; therefore, these teeth can be used to estimate sex of skeletonized individuals. This study complements and expands previous research by comparing mesiodistal diameter (MD), buccolingual diameter (BL), and crown area of human mandibular canines. Measurements were taken from a sample of skeletal individuals from the Terry Collection (n=677), the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology Skeletal Collection (n=86), and a random sample of dental casts from the James K. Economides Orthodontic Case File (JKE, n=624), for a total study sample of 741 males and 677 females. Both left and right canines were measured, …

Using Entheseal Length To Infer Locomotor Type, Antonio R. Otero

LSU Master's Theses

An enthesis is a marking (tuberosity or impression) on bone where a muscle or tendon attaches and it can be influenced by age, sex, physical activity, and muscle size. This study ascertains whether entheses, long bones, and their respective ratios can be used as an indicator for mode of locomotion in four primate species: Ateles geoffroyi (Geoffroy’s spider monkey), Colobus guereza (mantled guereza), Hylobates lar (lar gibbon), and Macaca mulatta (rhesus monkey). Seven entheses on four long bones were chosen based on importance of the muscle in relation to specific locomotor types, use in other studies, and …

Monumental Discourse: Elite And Grassroots Disputes Over White Supremacist Monuments In New Orleans, Jude Bumgardner

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis explores elite and grassroots discourse concerning disputes over monument removal in New Orleans, Louisiana. By means of participant observation, narrative ethnography, and critical discourse analysis, I ground this study of political and academic arguments about Confederate monuments in the context of grassroots concerns regarding white supremacist symbols to inquire about how these divergent discourses relate to inequality in New Orleans. Ultimately, I argue that what is most at stake in each case studied here is speakers’ control over the “public mind” via their control over dominant narratives (van Dijk 1993a, 44-45). In order to preserve their power, each …

Van Dijk, Poell, And De Wall, The Platform Society: Public Values In A Connective World (2018), Batuhan Keskin

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

Virtual Avatars: Trans Experiences Of Ideal Selves Through Gaming, Kai Baldwin

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

This article aims to explore the experiences transgender gamers have with avatars. Building on a foundation of identity construction theories from both media studies and queer studies, this study theorizes that these gamers will use their virtual world avatars to experiment with gender performance and ideal selves. These theories of identity construction are explored and examined through digital ethnography, by using the participant observation method, in which trans gamers are interviewed about their experiences with avatar creation and use. Based on the evidence gathered from those interviews, this study concludes that trans gamers in general tend to create avatars who …

The Unfree Space Of Play: Emergence And Control In The Videogame And The Platform, Logan Brown

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

This article attempts to understand the economic and informatic ramifications of the convergence between increasingly connective games and massive online platforms by considering recent trends in both that center around designing for emergence. Scholarship on emergence as a property of games overwhelmingly treats emergent design as a liberating force that privileges player agency in a virtual space. Yet, as games fuse with surrounding platform ecosystems like Steam, Facebook, and Google, those emergent behaviors are subject to vast systems of inscription that analyze user behavior in order to reshape the free space of emergence and extract greater social and financial capital. …

[Cntrl] + [Alt] + [Esc] ? Virtual Platforms As Spaces Of Control And Contestation, Aras Ozgun

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

Shuffett, Carolyn (Fa 1271), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1271. Student folk studies project titled “Green County Tales,” which includes titles of local folk legends and songs in Green County, Kentucky. Descriptions may include title of the legend or song, lyrics, informant’s name and address.

Use Of A Behavioral Health Framework To Assess Perceptions Of Hurricane Evacuation Support Services In New Orleans, Louisiana, Aubry Kyle

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents research conducted during the hurricane seasons of 2017 and 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The research’s purpose was to assess citizen perceptions of evacuation support services offered during mandatory evacuation events. A prospective quantitative survey and qualitative, open-ended, semi-structured interview assessed perceptions. Both research methods were designed and assessed using the constructs of the Health Belief Model, a public health model created to assess perceived barriers, benefits, risks, severity, self-efficacy, and cues to action regarding health programming. Quantitative research yielded 211 surveys, representing opinions of New Orleans residents within 1-km Euclidian distance of an evacuation pick-up marker. …

The Child Ethnographer In The Field: Examples From English, Spanish, And French Caribbean Literature, Emily Ann O'Dell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation I consider the child to be an ethnographer in works of fiction and autofiction from the Caribbean islands. Through their liminality as culturally and developmentally betwixt or between, their cultural malleability, their linguistic fluidity, and their curiosity, the child becomes a "native" ethnographer who is capable of translating the culture (both linguistically and culturally) for the reader in order to establish understandings of Caribbean cultures. This is accomplished through the creation of hybridized or creolized texts that have many of the same characteristics as postmodern ethnographies.

In the English Caribbean Xuela provides an ethnographic perspective of Dominican …

Games And Social Organization Among Korean Students, Jordan Jones

Undergraduate Honors Theses

South Korean culture has always negotiated between hierarchy and egalitarianism, and never more so than in the last seventy years after regaining independence. This thesis examines how a class of first grade students navigate between these two seeming opposites through an analysis of the games they played and how they played them. The competition between the students provides insight into how the games between both friends and non-friends create peer groups of shared interests and values in the class. The varied influences of different games are examined, and two specific cases of games creating organizational change are analyzed. This analysis …

Parker, Sandra (Fa 1269), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1269. Student paper titled “Dormitory Stories” in which Sandra Parker collects variants and subtypes of a popular urban legend regarding a student’s death on Western Kentucky University’s campus. Parker provides a brief historic background on the tale and addresses common motifs present in a majority of the narratives. Parker gathered stories from two other WKU students.

Williams, Pat (Fa 1270), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1270. Student paper titled “Jump Rope Rhymes” in which Pat Williams gathers together an assortment of grade-school rhymes and chants. Williams collected material from friends and family members, and the paper includes a brief biography of each informant.

“What I Hadn’T Realized Is How Difficult It Is, You Know?”: Examining The Protective Factors And Barriers To Breastfeeding In The Uk, Cheyenne R. Wagi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The international recommendation for breastfeeding is that a baby should be exclusively breastfed for six months. Breastfeeding should be continued for up to two years and beyond with complementary foods (WHO, 2016). The United Kingdom exhibits some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world (HSCIC, 2012). The percentage of mothers who breastfed in the United Kingdom falls below 34% at six months, with only 1% of mothers breastfeeding exclusively at this point (HSCIC, 2012:31). This study sought to examine the protective factors and barriers for breastfeeding in the UK. Mums (n=28), their partners (n=6), and facilitators at breastfeeding support …

Dailey, Jan (Fa 1268), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1268. Student paper titled “The Dorm Death: An Analysis of a Tale” in which Jan Dailey collects variants and subtypes of a popular urban legend regarding a student’s death on WKU’s campus. Dailey provides a brief historic background on the tale and addresses common motifs present in a majority of the narratives. Dailey gathered stories from multiple students living on WKU’s campus.

George, John R. (Fa 1267), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1267. Student paper titled “Buried Alive” in which John George collects variants of a popular urban legend regarding a young woman who was buried alive with a valuable piece of jewelry, most often alarge diamond ring. George gathered stories from residents who lived in several counties throughout Kentucky.