Digital Commons Network^™

Dynamical Structure Of A Traditional Amazonian Social Network, Paul L. Hooper, Simon Dedeo, Ann E. Caldwell Hooper, Michael Gurven, Hillard Kaplan

ESI Publications

Reciprocity is a vital feature of social networks, but relatively little is known about its temporal structure or the mechanisms underlying its persistence in real world behavior. In pursuit of these two questions, we study the stationary and dynamical signals of reciprocity in a network of manioc beer (Spanish: chicha; Tsimane’: shocdye’) drinking events in a Tsimane’ village in lowland Bolivia. At the stationary level, our analysis reveals that social exchange within the community is heterogeneously patterned according to kinship and spatial proximity. A positive relationship between the frequencies at which two families host each other, controlling for kinship and …

Book Reviews, Owen Sichone, Elizabeth Haines

Zambia Social Science Journal

Reviews of:

Death, Belief and Politics in Central African History. By Walima T. Kalusa and Megan Vaughan

Looking For Mrs Livingstone. By Julie Davidson

Trends In Poverty Rates Among Latinos In New York City And The United States, 1990 - 2011, Justine Calcagno

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines demographic and socioeconomic factors regarding Latinos in New York City and the United States between 1990 and 2011 – particularly poverty rates.

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 analyzed data indicate that the poverty rate among the national population over the last two decades increased. However, there were nuanced and complex trends within both New York City …

Introduction: Religion And Place: Landscape, Politics, And Piety, Elizabeth Olson, Peter Hopkins, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In 2010, a 14-year-old boy was brutally murdered in a suburb outside of Rio de Janeiro when a group of skinheads observed him at a party and suspected that he might be gay (McLoughlin 2011). This scale of horrific homophobia is not uncommon in Brazil, where rates of violence against gays, lesbians, and transgendered people are reported to be amongst the highest in the world. A study conducted with the support of Grupo Gay da Bahia offers the conservative estimate of 260 gays killed in the country in 2010, indicating that rates doubled in only 5 years. The statistic sits …

Ann Miles, Jerry Malec

International Faculty Researchers

Touching saltwater marks at the waterline of a cargo ship in Lake Michigan when she was just nine years old planted the question in the mind of Dr. Ann Miles: Where has this ship been?

From Pokhara To Kandahar: The Two Hundred Year Journey Of The Force That Made Nepal Famous, Elijah Wohl

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Gurkhas are renown throughout the world for their fighting skills, their bravery, and their loyalty to the British Crown. Much has been written on their distinguished history, but traditional literature on the Gurkhas leaves several questions unanswered. How did the Gurkhas come to be as a fighting force for the British Empire when the British never occupied Nepal? How have they survived the independence of India and the subsequent dismantling of the British Empire? And what will the future of the Gurkhas be? Will they continue their two centuries of service to the British Crown? Or will they become …

La Voz Fall 2013, El Instituto: Institute Of Latina/O, Caribbean, And Latin American Studies

La Voz

In this issue:

• Lewis Gordon
• TAULA Pablo Lapegna
• Working Groups
• Migrant Farm Workers

Is Multiculturalism Good For Children? The Rights Of The Child And Multiculturalist Policies In Sweden, Pernilla Ouis, Göran Adamson, Aje Carlbom

International Dialogue

In the present paper, the objective is to investigate if multiculturalism is good for children. The method is to use secondary sources, as well as current examples from Swedish society, to show how multiculturalist policies have negative consequences for minority children's rights. The paper, as well as previous research, reveals that parents of immigrant origin often forbid children to attend school activities such as camps, gymnastics, swimming, and lessons in music and religion. Parents motivate their actions with reference to their traditions and religion, and a fear that their children might learn sexual immorality. The wishes of parents are accepted …

The Transgressive Allure Of White Gold In Peruvian Amazonia: Towards A Genealogy Of Coca Capitalisms And Social Dread: Andean Cocaine: The Making Of A Global Drug; Coca's Gone: Of Might And Right In The Huallaga Post-Boom, Bartholomew Dean

International Dialogue

“I have tested this effect of coca, which wards off hunger, sleep, and fatigue and steels one to intellectual effort, some dozen times on myself; I had no opportunity to engage in physical work.”—Sigmund Freud, from ‘Über Coca’, Centralblatt für die ges. Therapie, 2, 1884.

Circulating through multiple regimes of value, the transgressive allure of coca has gripped the Occidental imagination for more than a century and a half, shaping the contours of modernity; first as a magical elixir, then to a demonized underground drug, and eventually being transformed into a lucrative global commodity with grievous effects. Coca and cocaine …

Queer Activism In India: A Story In The Anthropology Of Ethics, Rahul Rao

International Dialogue

The queer movement in India has been adept at documenting itself. A succession of anthologies compiled by leading voices from within the movement has made available to a wider reading public the lives and longings of many of its diverse participants (Sukthankar 1999; Bhattacharyya and Bose 2005; Narrain and Bhan 2006; Narrain and Gupta 2011). Naisargi Dave’s book on queer activism in India offers something new and valuable. A book-length account of the queer political landscape with a focus on lesbian activism, this study is distinctive both for its longer temporal view and for the productively ambivalent positionality of its …

U.S. Cultural Diplomacy And Archeology: Soft Power, Hard Heritage, Nicholas J. Cull

International Dialogue

The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 generated a maelstrom of images. There were cities lit by the “shock and awe” bombardment, the falling statues, the traumatized civilians and scene after scene of coalition forces vainly searching for weapons of mass destruction. But among the most peculiarly troubling were the images of the looting of Iraq’s national museum. The human suffering was sadly familiar to the TV audience around the world but the looting broke new ground. The images of looting spoke of the depth of the anarchy into which Iraq was tumbling. They represented the destruction of something greater …

Hopi Oral Tradition And The Archaeology Of Identity, Brady Desanti

International Dialogue

Native American activists of the civil rights era leveled heavy critiques at archaeology and anthropology for their prior support of colonial legislation and lack of sensitivity towards Native viewpoints. Archaeology in particular was taken to task for the destruction of numerous burial sites and the theft of thousands of Native American bodily remains and cultural items for over a century. The decades-long efforts by Native Americans and their non-Indian allies (which included some archaeologists) to secure the return of these remains and objects paid off in 1990. The passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) mandates …

Table Of Contents, Rory J. Conces

International Dialogue

Table of Contents for Volume 3

Insurgent Encounters: Transnational Activism, Ethnography, And The Political, Julie A. Pelton

International Dialogue

nsurgent Encounters: Transnational Activism, Ethnography, and the Political, edited by Jeffrey Juris and Alex Khasnabish, opens with a vignette describing an encounter between international activists and Zapatista base communities in 2006–7. The moment, and the thick description of it in the introduction, serves as an exemplar of the ethnographic approach to studying social movements advocated in this book: at once romantic, mysterious, and radical, while also rife with contradictions, struggles, and tensions. Juris and Khasnabish have gathered together a diverse collection of work on transnational activism that highlights the importance of ethnography as a set of methods largely neglected in …

Islam In Denmark: The Challenge Of Diversity, Aje Carlbom

International Dialogue

In public debates contemporary Denmark stands out as an extraordinary nationalist and racist country. This is particularly so on issues concerned with Islam and Muslim immigration. The growth of the nationalist political party Dansk folkeparti, the Muhammad caricatures and harsh laws regulating family reunion are often used as examples by outside observers trying to describe political transformations in the country. These, and some other themes, are discussed in the anthology Islam in Denmark: The Challenge of Diversity (2012), edited by Jørgen S. Nielsen, professor and director of The Centre for European Islamic Thought at the University of Copenhagen. What kind …

The Egyptian Islamic Group’S Critique Of Al-Qaeda’S Interpretation Of Jihad, Paul Kamolnick

ETSU Faculty Works

A specific branch of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh al-jihad) regulates the waging of the jihad of the sword (jihad bis saif). In this article, a detailed exposition is presented of the Egyptian Islamic Group’s (IG; Al-Gama’a Al-Islamiyya) use of fiqh al jihad against Al-Qaeda. The present author’s ‘jihad-realist’ approach is first briefly described; the IG’s critique of AQ systematically outlined; and in conclusion, implications are derived for counter-radicalisation strategies.

Trends In Median Household Income Among New York City Latinos In Comparative Perspective, 1990 - 2011, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report examines trends in median household incomes among New York City’s Latino population between 1990 and 2011, and considers these in comparative perspective with the City’s other major race/ethnic groups as well as with Latinos across the United States.

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: Between 1990 and 2011 median household incomes among the City’s entire population fell by -4.7%. …

Livelihood Security Among Refugees In Uganda: Opportunities, Obstacles, And Physical Security Implications, Karen J. Norris

Student Publications

This research project was designed to investigate the challenges refugees face in securing a livelihood, to understand the extent to which the United Nations, the government of Uganda, and various aid groups are able to assist refugees in achieving self-reliance, and the capacity that refugees have to empower themselves. It also endeavors to expose any disparities between nationality groups, and the impact of these differences. Furthermore, this project aims to explore the impact of refugee livelihood security on regional physical security and community stability.

The study found that despite international and national policies, and efforts by both non-governmental organizations and …

Merdjanova's "Rediscovering The Umma: Muslims In The Balkans Between Nationalism And Transnationalism" - Book Review, Paul Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Oxen And Elephants: An Examination Of Approaches To Enlightenment And Dialogue Between Zen And Tibetan Buddhism, Alexander Macmillan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Exchange between Tibetan Buddhism and Zen1 Buddhism in the United States has proven fruitful and mutually beneficial to each form as practiced in the American context. The relationship between the two began famously with the intimate relationship between Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and Chogyam Trungpa, arguably the two most influential Buddhist teachers in the West during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Although short lived, this relationship led Trungpa, from the Kagyu Tibetan lineage, to reach out to other Zen teachers in America and adopt zen art forms and meditation style in his teaching. On the side of Zen practitioners in America, Trungpa …

Tibetan Women Tailors: Sewing A Community Of Tibetan Women Tailors, Charlotte Fleming

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper examines the effects of a handicraft promoting company and sewing training workshop, the Shangri La Tangtong Handicraft Development Center, on the lives of its participant group of 28 women tailors. Explained is the history of the organization, justifications for formation, and description of the current workspace and products as located in Shangri La Old Town, Yunnan Province. From a series of 19 interviews (13 of which conducted with the tailors) and personal observations comes the conclusion that beyond the organization’s specified goals of cultural heritage preservation and poverty alleviations, the workshop effectively provides the tailors with a strong …

New Matriarchs: Louisville, Kentucky (Fa 768), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and representative photographs for Folklife Archives Project 768. The collection details the lives of seven women from around the globe (India, Syria, Mexico, Uganda, Russia, Argentina, and Somalia),all recent immigrants to Louisville, Kentucky.

Patterns Of Senescence In Human Cardiovascular Fitness: Vo2 Max In Subsistence And Industrialized Populations, Anne C. Pisor, Michael Gurven, Aaron D. Blackwell, Hillard Kaplan, Gandhi Yetish

ESI Publications

Objectives—This study explores whether cardiovascular fitness levels and senescent decline are similar in the Tsimane of Bolivia and Canadians, as well as other subsistence and industrialized populations. Among Tsimane, we examine whether morbidity predicts lower levels and faster decline of cardiovascular fitness, or whether their lifestyle (e.g., high physical activity) promotes high levels and slow decline. Alternatively, high activity levels and morbidity might counterbalance such that Tsimane fitness levels and decline are similar to those in industrialized populations.

Methods—Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) was estimated using a step test heart rate method for 701 participants. We compared these estimates …

Gauging The Gender Divide In The Middle East’S Educational System: Causes, Concerns, And The Impetus For Change, Nadia B. Ahmad

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Demographic, Economic And Social Transformations In The Mexican-Origin Population Of The New York City Metropolitan Area, 1990 - 2010, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report examines demographic and socioeconomic factors concerning the Mexican population of New York City Metro Area between 1990 and 2010.

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 demographic structure of the region’s Mexican community (over 600,000 in 2010) was in large part determined by the arrival of over 250,000 foreign-born Mexicans between 1990 and 2010. These migrants were generally working …

Latinos In New York City: K-12 Public Schools, 1990-2009, Haiwen Chu

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines demographic and socioeconomic factors of racial/ethnic groups in New York City between 1990 and 2009 – particularly Latino educational attainment in public school.

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: Several trends emerge about the school-aged population overall in terms of absolute numbers and relative proportions. The school-aged Latino and non-Hispanic Black populations increased greatly between 1990 and 2000, …

The Mexican-Origin Population In Metropolitan Statistical Areas Across The United States, 1990-2010, Haiwen Chu

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines demographic and socioeconomic factors of racial/ethnic groups in the United States between 1990 and 20010 – particularly the Mexican origin population.

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: This section focuses on the growth of the Mexican population in different Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). The top three MSAs in terms of total Mexican population in 2010 were Los Angeles, …

The Rates Of Overweight And Obesity Across Racial/Ethnic Group: Focus On Latinos And Latino Subgroups, Sou Hyung Jang

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines demographic and socioeconomic factors of racial/ethnic groups in the United States – particularly the obesity rate of Latinos.

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: Americans on average are increasingly becoming more overweight and the problems associated with higher levels of obesity are growing. In the U.S. the Latino population has higher rates of overweight and obesity compared to …

Age-Independent Increases In Male Salivary Testosterone During Horticultural Activity Among Tsimane Forager-Farmers, Benjamin C. Trumble, Daniel K. Cummings, Kathleen A. O'Connor, Darryl J. Holman, Eric A. Smith, Hillard Kaplan, Michael D. Gurven

ESI Publications

Testosterone plays an important role in mediating male reproductive trade-offs in many vertebrate species, augmenting muscle and influencing behavior necessary for male-male competition and mating-effort. Among humans, testosterone may also play a key role in facilitating male provisioning of offspring as muscular and neuromuscular performance are deeply influenced by acute changes in testosterone. This study examines acute changes in salivary testosterone among 63 Tsimane men ranging in age from 16–80 (mean 38.2) years during one-hour bouts of treechopping while clearing horticultural plots. The Tsimane forager-horticulturalists living in the Bolivian Amazon experience high energy expenditure associated with food production, have high …

The Children Of Amarna: Disease And Famine In The Time Of Akhenaten, Kathleen Kuckens

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

What is now known as Amarna, Egypt there once stood a grand city. Hastily built and quickly abandoned, this once capital city of Egypt was the brainchild of the Pharaoh Akhenaten. In 2002 the final resting place of the inhabitants who populated this ancient city were discovered. Since excavations began at the South Tombs Cemetery an unusual high number of individuals aged 3-25 have been excavated. Out of the 278 individuals excavated thus far, 45% of them fall to the adolescent and sub-adult category. Under normal circumstances this portion of the population tends to be the most robust and resilient, …