Digital Commons Network^™

Plantation Museums, Public Memory, And Historical Narratives: A Comparative Analysis Of Slavery Interpretation At Oak Alley And Lakeport, Gabrielle M. Stockand

ATU Scholars Symposium

Plantation museum sites are important in the public's understanding of the complex sociopolitical labor systems that dominated antebellum lifeways. This study examines modern museums' dilemmas when exploring expansive site narratives at plantation museum sites, using Oak Alley and Lakeport Plantations as case studies. Plantation Museum sites construct historical narratives using comparative exhibit analysis, critical discourse analysis of labor narratives, and landscape archaeology. Specific analysis of interpretive language, narrative construction, and site structure demonstrates a stark contrast: while one site marginalizes slavery in its guided tour with non-inclusive language and a self-guided slavery exhibit, the other integrates extensive research on enslaved …

Honors Students’ Perceptions Of The Strength And Growth Areas Of Liberty’S Honors Program: An Ethnography, Nyah V. Gray

Senior Honors Theses

In her pursuit of both exploring and documenting Liberty University’s Honors culture, the author takes an ethnographic research approach; surveying existing literature on the history and development of Liberty’s Honors Program, expounding upon the concept of honors culture, surveying the effects of the new Honors College track’s implementation, and identifying honors students’ perceptions of the strengths and growth areas of the Honors Program. This study includes a literature review, the collection of 12 formal interviews, and use of the participant observation research method to analyze Liberty honors students’ perceptions of the program; ultimately ascertaining what they believe to be the …

Addressing Violent Extremism And Implicit Bias: Mindbridge’S Neuroscientific And Psychological Approach, Adriana Lovric, Sarah Lockridge

Thinking Matters Symposium

Violence has long been embedded in American culture and history, often linked to ideological struggles, racial oppression, and religious conflicts (Mayer et al.,2024). In recent years, violent extremism—characterized by the use or threat of violence to advance ideological, political, or social agendas—has surged, particularly in attacks on government institutions, infrastructure, and marginalized communities (Mayer et al.,2024). At the same time, implicit biases—unconscious prejudices—continue to reinforce societal inequalities across race, gender, and class, often manifesting as micro-inequities that have a cumulative impact (Brennan,2014). According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program (2020), 138 law enforcement agencies reported 8,263 hate crime …

Colonial Waste And Liminal Space: A Look Behind The Muhlenberg General Store, Ciara S. Chagnon

Anthropology Honors Papers

The following project includes both a comprehensive site report on the archaeological field school hosted by Ursinus College and Historic Trappe in the summer of 2024, as well as spatial representations and analysis of colonial window glass distribution over the excavation units. Descriptions of the results of this archaeological investigation aim to expand on the body of knowledge concerning the Muhlenberg general store and the Speaker’s House property where the field school was conducted. An exploration of liminality and archaeological boundaries provides a lens into the structural nature of the general store zone as well as its colonial-era functions. In-depth …

The Way Of The Woods: Interview With Greg Weiss, Greg Weiss

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

Mr. Weiss shares invaluable experience and wisdom of bushcraft and his sense of place in the northern Wisconsin woodlands. His local experiences are also informed by years of travels to the Amazonian forest and many other locations. Mr. Weiss heads and co-runs an outdoor adventure business in the Northwoods and organizes and leads primitive skills workshops off Lake Superior (Cornucopia, WI). He has been an extremely valuable member of the Northland College community for more than twenty years.

American Letters: Loren Eiseley

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

Except from: The Bird and the Machine, The Immense Journey (1957)

Living And Dying With Rats (Essay), Trent Mcfury

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

It is unlikely that a dystopian work would begin with, “Rats have not been seen for centuries, even in Venice.” [...]

Although many species disturb our peace, destroy our crops, and/or are outright dangerous, the eco-existential scaling of a rat (and mice), broonie or pixie-like, makes it a convenient analogical and projective emblem of invasion and subsequent extermination. That which abundantly reproduces, keenly clusters, transforms our bodies, challenges our wits, follows and then remains, travels and then stays, is also a psyche-mirror.

Everything But Wrestling: How Women Wrestlers Perform Dominance, Lauren Gherman

Anthropology Honors Papers

Women’s wrestling continues to grow at the high school level, with more young girls joining the sport each year. Yet, as more women join wrestling, a heavily masculine sport, questions about gender preintimation on women’s teams arise. This study asks three questions about the role of gender on women’s teams: 1) Does an individual’s gender identity, in a heavily gendered sport like wrestling, factor into the development of team culture? 2) What, if any, forms of gendered socialization emerge as women enter wrestling? 3) In what way are women socialized because of their gender? Data was gathered via interviews, in …

Castles, Lands, And Locks: Exploring The Social Capital Of Heritage Sites, Loren Carter

Research Symposium

This Honors thesis aims to analyze the social roles of heritage sites as modes of cultural communication and connection. Through combined ethnographic and archaeological research methods, I argue that while the museumification and industrialization of heritage does provide useful information for populations with little knowledge of cultural processes, the communities most closely related to the heritage sites lose both tangible and intangible cultural connections when their backyards turn to tourist destinations. Studies of heritage have long argued that heritage processes take place not just through tangible heritage artifacts but also through everyday intangible heritage activities (Smith 2006). Throughout this work …

Unearthing Silence: Deaf Archaeology As A Pathway To Social Justice And Accessibility, Abigail H. Steiner

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

Deaf archaeology is an emerging field exploring the material culture, spaces, and histories of Deaf communities to understand their social lives and identities. This paper examines Deaf archaeology as a framework for uncovering the historical presence of Deaf individuals and promoting social justice. It begins by defining deafness, contrasting medical and cultural perspectives, then traces the field’s roots in sign language evolution, marginalization, and Deaf education. Through a timeline of findings, the study reveals how Deaf individuals have been recognized or overlooked historically. Engaging with the Southern Tier Deaf community, I explore accessible archaeology and the role of Deaf archaeology …

April 24, 2025 Nagpra And Tribal Relations Committee Meeting Minutes, Bryan Morey

University NAGPRA and Tribal Relations Committee

April 24, 2025 minutes for the WKU NAGPRA and Tribal Relations Committee meeting. Meeting conducted via Zoom.

Towards A Pedagogy Of Unruly Bodyminds, Muhammad Ali Imran, Jane L. Saffitz

Feminist Pedagogy

This commentary underscores critical practices from Jane’s “Unruly Bodies” seminar that Ali, a student in the course and Jane’s advisee, has since mobilized towards anti-colonial organizing. Purposely experimental, the seminar attempted to rethink embodiment as intercorporeal and thus as capable of generating new ways to think about agency and solidarity in contexts marred by forms of militarization, medical violence, and histories of domination. Thinking through our bodyminds as both terrains of contestation and weapons in broader struggles for liberation required us to cultivate a classroom space of radical openness and vulnerability. We describe these efforts, as well as our broader …

Volume 16, Maggie Duncan, Madeline Little, Alicia Hoffman, Megan Livesay, Gabrielle Quaresma, Serenity Allen, Laina Pfountz, Ainslie Allred, Sabrina Robles, Nicholas J. Duellman, Trinity L. Deguzman, Melissa H. Savage, Margaret Dudley, Jocelyn Escobar, Olivia Hildreth, Olivia Hopkins, Benjamin Gettier, Lee Kassay, Jade Riddle, Ashley Seiders

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Introduction Dr. Amorette Barber, Director, Office of Student Research

From the Editor Dr. Hannah Dudley-Shotwell

Artist’s Statement Maggie Duncan

On Mentoring Dr. Lee Millar Bidwell

The Hujum Campaign in Uzbekistan and its Consequences by Madeline Little

Wet Cupping Compared to Dry Needling for Treatment of Patients with Low Back Pain: A Critically Appraised Topic by Alicia Hoffman and Megan Livesay

Optimization of eDNA Air Sampling Via 3D Printed Fan by Gabrielle Quaresma

Beyond the Classroom: A Qualitative Study of Teacher Attrition and Retention by Serenity Allen and Laina Pfountz

The Treatment of Subacromial Impingement Syndrome with Platelet-Rich plasma Injections Verses …

Demography Of Bluff View Cemetery Vermillion, Sd, Ellie E. Schwartz

Honors Thesis

Cemeteries offer accessible, rich data for research on demographic reconstruction of past populations. Gravestones can give vital information such as date of birth, date of death, sex/gender, occupation, religious affiliation, and, implicitly, social and cultural values of the community at large (Dethlefsen and Deetz, 1966; Sattenspiel and Stoops, 2010). One of the drawbacks of cemetery data are that they more often than not do not provide details of the cause of death for an individual or in some rare occasions cause of death is on the gravestones (e.g., colonial graves during the tuberculosis outbreak in New England would often list …

Sex Differences In Adult Frailty At The Late-Terminal Classic (C. 750-1000 Ce) Maya Site Of Lower Dover, Rose Rioux

Honors Thesis

While it has been suggested that the compounded effects of population growth and climatic pressures over the Classic period (c. 300-1000 CE) led to a health crisis among the Maya, there is no current knowledge of whether there were significant sex differences in risks of mortality and frailty associated with metabolic stressors. This research assesses sex differences in frailty and mortality of adults (n=52) from the medium-sized Maya polity of Lower Dover in the upper Belize River Valley from the Late Preclassic (c. 300 BCE-150 CE) to Terminal Classic (c. 750-1000 CE). Osteological methods of estimating age and sex were …

The Middle-(Un)Man Of Desire: A Girardian Reading Of Perelandra, Clinton Manley

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

The French polymath René Girard presents a compelling argument that all desire is mimetic. According to Girard, we don’t actually know what we want; instead, we imitate the desires of others. These models of desire act as mediators, indicating what objects or ways of being are worth pursuing. For Girard, desire exists in this middle place between a subject, a model, and an object. He famously argues that all great literature leverages an awareness of mimetic dynamics; the greater the work, the more mimetically perspicacious the author.

Given Girard’s theory, we would expect the greatest fantasy authors to erect their …

Translation And Migration, Utopia And Dystopia: Representations Of The Labor Of Cultural Mediation In Fictional Eastern Europe And The Real Us-Mexico Border, James L. Richie Iv

Vernacular: New Connections in Language, Literature, & Culture

With the publication of Moira Inghilleri’s book, Translation and Migration (2017), the linguistic act of translation and the social phenomenon of migration have been linked in the world of interdisciplinary studies, yet this linkage may obscure the relevance of works in which only one phenomenon (translation or migration) is presented. A case study in which a work exploring migration can be contrasted with a work exploring the function of translation may reveal in one another the social forces that condition both practices. In Lucas Pope’s independently created video game Papers Please (2014), the player embodies a border patrol agent in …

The Anthropology Of Citizenship And Its Importance In Educational Studies, Jagad Aditya Dewantara

Jurnal Civics: Media Kajian Kewarganegaraan

No abstract provided.

Between The Land And The Sea: Belizean Voices In Environmental Governance, Kris-An K. Hinds

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coastal communities around the world are at the epicenter of dynamic socio-environmental transformations driven by the impacts of climate change, shifting human–more-than-human environmental relationships, and the decisions made in response to these challenges. As environmental concerns intensify, the governance decisions made to address these impacts will determine the severity of the impacts and the future of affected coastal areas. In regions such as the Caribbean, Central America, and Latin America, environmental governance is complicated by uneven power dynamics, historical legacies of racialized environmental spaces, and the ongoing challenge of balancing national economic growth with environmental preservation. These transformations are not …

After The Economic Downfall At The Coastal Frontier: A Portrait Of Women Persisting Amidst Sea Abrasion In Northern Bekasi, Muhammad R. A. Ghifari, Gilang Mahadika

Antropologi Indonesia

This article explores the socio-environmental transformations in Muara Gembong, a coastal frontier in northern Bekasi, Indonesia, that once thrived as a hub for shrimp and milkfish farming but is now grappling with environmental degradation and economic decline. By drawing on feminist political ecology (FPE), the study examines how women in the region have adapted to the deteriorating environment, driven by coastal erosion, mangrove loss, and the collapse of fish pond businesses. While men traditionally dominated the local economy as aquaculturists, women have assumed critical roles in sustaining household livelihoods through creative economic activities, such as weaving wlingi laut (Cyperus malaccensis) …

Photo Essay: Japan’S Demographic Changes And Opportunities: A Tale Of Two Cities, Ryoko Yamamoto

Asia Pacific Perspectives

Japan is in the midst of a population implosion. Schools struggle to fill classrooms, and vacant houses are a common sight in smaller towns. While the demographic shift makes it difficult to sustain traditional ways of life, it also brings opportunities for new possibilities. This essay highlights the challenges and opportunities of demographic change through the stories of two communities: Tsushima City in Aichi Prefecture and Ikuno Ward in Osaka City. In Tsushima, residents have embraced a more inclusive approach to their autumn festival, inviting women and non-residents to perform roles previously reserved for male residents. In Ikuno, a closed …

Gendered Rehabilitation: Male And Female Offenders' Experiences In Reintegration, Ellie Hansen

Student Research Symposium

• Gender: Socially constructed roles, behaviors, and expectations assigned to women, men, girls, and boys (World Health Organization).
• Gender specific (responsive) programing: Tailored interventions addressing distinct learning styles, relationship dynamics, and life circumstances of men and women (The Oregon Intermediate Sanctions for Female Offenders Policy Group 1995).
• Recidivism: Relapse into criminal behavior after sanctions or interventions (NIJ).
• Reentry: The inevitable consequence of incarceration (Visher 2015).
• Rehabilitation: Programs reducing crime by addressing root causes and improving reintegration outcomes (NIJ).
• Reintegration: Reconnecting individuals with societal institutions as both a process and goal (Visher 2015).

Lubiya (El-Khirbeh): A Late Hellenistic, Roman And Early Byzantine Village In Lower Galilee, Yardenna Alexandre, Michal Oren-Paskal, Gil Tsioni

Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel

A small archaeological excavation carried out in 2005–2007 on a hilltop in the Lavi Forest in Lower Galilee uncovered a small area of the village of Lubiya that was settled in the Late Hellenistic to early Byzantine periods. The earliest exposed building complex was constructed on the bedrock and comprised parts of two residential units with a shared long wall, an internal courtyard and several rooms. An underground complex beneath the units comprised individual basement storage elements that were subsequently joined to form an underground hiding complex, dated by the associated finds to the time of the First Jewish Revolt …

Freedom Lyrics, Lily Allan

The Civil Rights Movement (HIS/BLS 347) Zine Project

No abstract provided.

Painting Stories And Filming Change, Coralynn V. Davis

Faculty Contributions to Books

Mithila Art has helped illuminate various aspects of the relationship between gendered Maithil social roles and Maithil women’s narratives in connection with a feminist participatory action research project conducted primarily in 2016-2017 in and around the northern Bihari town of Madhubani. While participatory action research philosophically and methodologically attends to process as much as product, Mithila Art played a role in the process and product of making a documentary film and in our capacity to understand and communicate with varied audiences about shifting Maithil gender norms. The research and filmic project provided insight into the complex relationship among the stories …

Primates From Senèze, Eric Delson

Publications and Research

Senèze has yielded two primate fossils, neither from the recent field work. A partial ulna can be identified as cf. Macaca sylvanus. A nearly complete female skull is the holotype of Dolichopithecus arvernensis Depéret, 1928, now included in Paradolichopithecus. Emended and differential diagnoses are provided for this genus and species for the first time, and the Senèze skull is described and briefly compared to those of other species of the genus. Dental and cranial measurements are provided, along with comparative data. The macaque and Paradolichopithecus are moderately to highly terrestrial, respectively, and they suggest a woodland to more open …

Law In Bloom: The Roots Of Legal Consciousness And Negotiation In Philadelphia Community Gardens, Vanessa Amsinger , '25

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

This thesis examines how legal consciousness, self-governance, and social networks shape power, participation, and belonging in the Southwark Queen Village Community Garden in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I draw on theories of legal pluralism and network theory to analyze archival documents, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews with garden members and leadership. I show that gardeners navigate overlapping formal rules and informal hierarchies, appearing in the form of bylaws, land trust agreements, social ties, and embodied practices, that together produce a complex web of legal consciousness inside the space. Mechanisms of self-governance, like plot assignments and leadership elections, often reinforce social hierarchies …

Disease And Deprivation: Care, Medical Pluralism, And Healthcare Experiences Of Diabetes Patients In Liberia, Prince U.D. Tardeh , '25

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

Equal access to healthcare continues to be a problem across the globe, with people from colonized nations suffering at an even higher rate. Infrastructures and healthcare resources’ limitations in developing nations like Liberia continue to limit how much care citizens, especially low income people can receive for their illnesses. This thesis combines ethnographic fieldwork, history, and quantitative data analysis to describe the issues of access to healthcare in Liberia and the circumstances that have shaped Liberia’s inability to provide adequate care for its citizens. The analysis in this thesis is rooted in weeks long in-depth interviews with healthcare professionals, herbalists, …

“To Ponder And Dream”: Gettysburg’S Conflict Heritage And Cultural Constructions Of History In Its Museums, Camryn Counsil

Student Publications

After providing brief historical context and a review of relevant literature, this paper analyzes four overarching concerns that inform the work of Gettysburg’s museums and historical organizations: ensuring commercial success, including underrepresented stories without alienating visitors, balancing scholarly and emotional approaches, and acknowledging the larger political implications of their choices. Using an anthropological approach, this work shows how these larger economic, social, and political concerns influence the construction of history and memory in a conflict heritage site like Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Res Historica, Volume 4, Lynneth Miller Renberg Phd, Alpha Rho Epsilon Phi Alpha Theta

Res Historica

The 2025 journal of historical research by Anderson University students, Res Historica.

The editorial team for this edition of Res Historica was Dr. Lynneth Miller Renberg, Samuel Sanders, and Julia Ackerman. The cover art for this volume is an open access image.