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More Than A Misunderstood Religion: Rediscovering Vodou As A Tool Of Survival And A Vehicle For Independence In Colonial Haiti, Eliza M. Kamerling-Brown

Young Historians Conference

The majority of Americans today closely associate the term “Voodoo” with satanism, witchcraft and barbaric sacrifice. Yet, far from these ill­-formed depictions and misconceptions— which first took root through the western dominance of 18th century colonial Haiti and have been perpetuated through mediums of popular culture ever since—a closer look at Haitian Vodou will illuminate that the spiritual practice transcends religion alone and should be better recognized as the very mechanism of unity that spurred Afro­-Caribbean independence via the Haitian Revolution of 1791. This paper explores not only the ways in which Haitian Vodou has been intentionally demonized throughout history …

Bosnia: Doomed To Failure Or A Rising Hope?, Caitlin V. Moore

Politics Honors Papers

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country that suffers from a lack of a national identity as it has three main ethnic groups, Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs, who are all fighting for power. After the Bosnian war, which lasted from 1992-1995 and involved genocide that was committed against the Bosniaks, the ethnic divisions were further entrenched. These divisions were not helped by the provisions of the Dayton Peace Accords, which was the peace settlement that brought an end to the war. Dayton created an ethnocracy within Bosnia that places more importance on ethnic groups than national identity. In order to see …

The Colonial Roots Of The Racial Fetishization Of Black Women, Caren M. Holmes

Black & Gold

In my research, I examined the history of sexual debasement and abuse of black women throughout American history and its influence of modern racial fetishization. In my paper, I explore the influence of European colonial thought on these modern realities. I argue that the conquest and feminization of the New World led to the dehumanization and conquest of African women who were perceived by colonialists to be byproducts of manifest destiny. My research reflects how the sexual debasement experienced by black women throughout American history has led to the racial fetishization prevalent today. I also consider how this history of …

North American Entomophagy, Joohi Schrader, Dennis G. A. B Oonincx, Maria Pontes Ferreira

Nutrition and Food Science Faculty Research Publications

Eating insects is not a common Northern American practice today. However, in the past a variety of insect species was consumed in Northern America (north of Mexico including Greenland). The aim of this literature review is to provide an historical overview of North American entomophagy based upon both peer and non-peer reviewed sources on this topic. Regional differences in insect consumption and reasons for being underreported are discussed. We show that North American natives, and in certain cases colonists, collected and consumed a large variety of edible insects. These are categorized per order and where available, information on how these …

Naccs 43rd Annual Conference, National Association For Chicana And Chicano Studies

NACCS Conference Programs

¡Chicana/o Power! Transforming Chicana/o Activism, Discourse and Scholarship into Power

April 6-9, 2016

DoubleTree by Hilton

The Archaeology Of Appetites, Molly S. Schonert

SEWSA 2016 Intersectionality in the New Millennium: An Assessment of Culture, Power, and Society

Through use of examining how food is produced, stored, distributed and consumed, one can take a glimpse into the past, present and even future of this planet–to better understand the complexity of human identity and the social practices or roles that define an individual, community or society. So this begins an exploration of the archaeology of food as a gendered commodity throughout our evolutionary past, emphasizing the infinite ways in which foodway practices exceeds the nutritional value of what our ancestors, family, friends and ourselves consume(d) on a daily basis. Foodways practices is an invaluable tool in any archaeologists’ tool …

Fearless Friday: Jeffrey White, Jeffrey M. White

SURGE

In today’s edition of Fearless Friday, Surge is thrilled to honor the work of the incomparable Jeffrey White ’17. Jeffrey is a junior from Baltimore, Maryland, who is majoring in Religious Studies and minoring in Music. As an incredibly active member of the campus community, he is involved in leadership roles in many facets of campus life. He works as a Resident Assistant (RA), serves as the Program Organizer for the Office of Intercultural Advancement, the Live Music Chair of the Campus Activities Board (CAB), and devotes time to being a Peer Learning Assistant for Anthropology 103 as well. [ …

Shakespeare's Blush, Or "The Animal" In Othello, Steven Swarbrick

Publications and Research

This essay examines how the rhetoric of animalization in Shakespeare’s Othello compels us to think early modern categories of race in connection with early modern discourses of “human” versus “animal.” Beginning with Shakespeare’s representation of Iago, I suggest that it is the potential for sameness conditioned by Iago’s counterfactual statement (“Were I the Moor, I would not by Iago”) that is most significant about his relation to Othello. From there I consider the overlap between the play’s representations of animality and black skin. Read in the context of Jacques Derrida’s reflections on animals, I consider the deconstructive value of linking …

Both A Borrower And A Lender Be: A Look At The Local Economy And Credit Culture In The Tarap Valley In Dolpa, Nepal, Alexa Adams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Being in such a remote location, the Tarap valley in the Dolpa district of Nepal has only recently experienced the influences of a modern, cash-based economy in full force. Historically, the economy of the Dolpo-pa in Dho Tarap was almost entirely rooted in agriculture, animal husbandry, barter, and exchange. While these themes are still incredibly important foundations of the economic practices and systems in the valley, the introduction of Yartsa gumbu, the highly valuable caterpillar fungus used in Chinese medicine, has transformed the local economy of the region and propelled it into the arms of a consumeristoriented and cash-based economy. …

La Voz, Spring 2016, El Instituto: Institute Of Latina/O, Caribbean, And Latin American Studies

La Voz

La Voz is the official newsletter of the El Instituto: Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies. The newsletter provides a sampling of graduate, undergraduate and faculty initiatives across the campus and the hemisphere.

Instead Of Silence: Chinese Nicaraguans And The Formation Of Identity Across Two Cultures, Lisa Lee

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project studies the ways in which Chinese Nicaraguans have developed their identity while living in a country that is not their motherland. It investigates the divided history and experiences between the Chinese Nicaraguans that lived in the Atlantic coast and those that lived in the Pacific side. Also, it researches how the experiences of Taiwanese immigrants differed from those of the Chinese Nicaraguans who came from mainland China. By examining interviews done with Chinese Nicaraguans today, the essay will compile the long and unknown history of the Chinese Nicaraguans, as well as their many experiences of belonging and displacement …

The Vibrant Traditions Of Masaya: El Mestizaje As A Culture, A Process, And A State Of Being, Isabelle Lee

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

“The only constant in life is change.” What this old adage leaves out is that the processes that catalyze these changes can occur in vastly different ways which impact the product. In the case of the history of Masaya, Nicaragua, today’s dominant culture of mestizaje is the result of the arrival of the Spaniards to the Americas and the process of racial and cultural blend that followed between Spanish, indigenous and African peoples. But in this mixing process, Spaniards held disproportionate power: most of the changes they imposed were made through violent and deceptive imposition. Yet indigenous and African people …

A Borrowed Language, Yvonne Osei

Graduate School of Art Theses

Art has the potency of mediation: bridging human differences, questioning voids in historical trajectories, negotiating spaces of relevance, and most importantly, being signifiers that embody the absent. I speak in a borrowed language, a multilingual visual tongue, inspired by a culmination of Western and African Art modes of practices to create charged platforms for multicultural communication.

My art presents visual portals that allow for intercultural and interracial mingling as issues of colorism, present-day colonialism, gender inequality and the politics of dress are foregrounded for collective deliberation. The essence of the work is often activated and brought to its full potential …

Reflections On Peace From Interculturality, Dora Elvira Garcia-Gonzalez

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article purpose to think about interculturality in connection with what peace means, since many of the great conflicts in the history of humankind have been provoked by the failure to settle conflicts, by the absence of genuine dialogue and the inability to listen, thus producing violence among persons and among cultures. Therefore, to overcome these situations it is necessary a deep understanding of what peace means, as well as of its relation to justice and ethics. This will make it possible to seek the development of a positive interculturality, within a framework of peace. The existence of interculturality does …

Jackie Tulee Interview, Jackie Tulee

San Jose Experiences of American Indians in the Urban Relocation Project

No abstract provided.

Arvine Pilcher Interview, Arvine Pilcher

San Jose Experiences of American Indians in the Urban Relocation Project

No abstract provided.

Combining African-Centered And Critical Media Pedagogies: A 21st-Century Approach Toward Liberating The Minds Of The Mis-Educated In The Digital Age, Shani Byard

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Since the slave trade, African Americans have been the most media-stereotyped race of people. From that time, multiple forms of media have been used to convince Blacks of their inevitable servitude and Whites of their supremacy (Burrell, 2010), as a means of transferring physical slavery to mental slavery (Akbar, 1998). Additionally, African Americans have been the victims of a Eurocentric educational system essentially designed to “mis-educate” (Woodson, 1933)—to further oppress and devalue African and African American contributions to our global history. This qualitative research study aimed to analyze an existing curricular model known as Rise Above the Noise, which combines …

Afrocentric Pedagogy As A Transformative Educational Practice, Miranda L. Ra'oof

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods study analyzed the effectiveness of the practices and attitudes of selected African American teachers who use culturally relevant and responsive Afrocentric pedagogies as the instructional foundation for improved academic outcomes with their African American students. The theory of Afrocentricity was used as the philosophical framework to study their pedagogy. Afrocentricity is a mode of thought and practice in which in African people are placed at the center of their own history and culture; engages them as subjects rather than objects; and approaches them with respect for their interests, values, and perspectives (Asante 1980, 2003). Concepts employed from this …

Tarian Perdamaian: Enacting Alternative Hindu/Christian Identity Discourses Through "Secular" Balinese Performing Arts, Dustin D. Wiebe

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

This article examines the nature of interreligious relations between Protestants of the Bali Church and Hindus as enacted through dramatic forms of Balinese music and dance. Particular attention is paid to the influence of mass tourism as a contributing factor in this process. Since the early twentieth century these arts have formed a central component of a pan-Balinese identity discourse known as" kebalian." The first Balinese converted to Christianity during the 1930s and were subsequently excommunicated from their ancestral villages for refusing to participate in local customary practices (including the ritualistic use of gamelan music). For this reason, Balinese …

Agenda: A Celebration Of The Work Of Charles Wilkinson: Served With Tasty Stories And Some Slices Of Roast, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

A Celebration of the Work of Charles Wilkinson (Martz Winter Symposium, March 10-11)

Conference held at the University of Colorado, Wolf Law Building, Wittemyer Courtroom, Thursday, March 10th and Friday, March 11th, 2016.

Conference moderators, panelists and speakers included University of Colorado Law School professors Phil Weiser, Sarah Krakoff, William Boyd, Kristen Carpenter, Britt Banks, Harold Bruff, Richard Collins, Carla Fredericks, Mark Squillace, and Charles Wilkinson

"We celebrate the work of Distinguished Professor Charles Wilkinson, a prolific and passionate writer, teacher, and advocate for the people and places of the West. Charles's influence extends beyond place, yet his work has always originated in a deep love of and commitment to particular places. We …

Remaking Selves, Repositioning Selves, Or Remaking Space: An Examination Of Asian American College Students' Processes Of "Belonging", Michelle Samura

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"Only a few studies have examined Asian American students’ sense of belonging (Hsia, 1988; Lee & Davis, 2000; Museus & Maramba, 2010). Scholars who study Asian American college students have suggested that Asian Americans are awkwardly positioned as separate from other students of color vis-à-vis the model minority stereotype (Hsia, 1988; Lee & Davis, 2000). Furthermore, Asian Americans often are viewed as overrepresented on college campuses, yet they remain under-served by campus support programs and resources and overlooked by researchers. Many Asian Americans have gained access to higher education, but the ways in which they belong on campuses is unclear. …

Chaco Landscapes: Data, Theory And Management, Ruth Van Dyke, Stephen Lekson, Carrie Heitman, Julian Thomas

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

The Colorado Plateau is a land of long horizons punctuated by dramatic buttes, mesas, and mountain ranges. The rich cultural heritage and natural beauty of this region hold meaning for the millions of tourists who visit each year to experience this iconic landscape. Many of these same places on the Plateau are still considered central to indigenous religious practices, histories, and oral traditions of descendent communities in the region. This landscape is also defined by the complex connections and histories of diverse resident communities. Ancient communities of the Plateau are the focus of ongoing major anthropological investigations into such issues …

Interview With Nermin Peimanović (Fa 1137), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcript of oral history interview with Nermin Peimanović conducted by Virginia Siegel and Brent Bjorkman on 24 February 2016 at the Pioneer Log Cabin as part of Western Kentucky University's 2017 International Year of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Click on "Additional Files" to access the audio file of the recorded interview. File may take several minutes to download.

Interview With Azmir Husić (Fa 1137), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcript of oral history interview with Azmir Husić conducted by Brent Bjorkman on 23 February 2016 at Husić's place of business as part of Western Kentucky University's 2017 International Year of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Click on "Additional Files" to access the audio file of the recorded interview. File may take several minutes to download.

Interview With Senida Husić (Fa 1137), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcript of oral history interview with Senida Husić conducted by Virginia Siegel on 22 February 2016 at the home of Husić as part of Western Kentucky University's 2017 International Year of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Click on "Additional Files" to access the audio file of the recorded interview. File may take several minutes to download.

Goddard, Stephen Ross (Fa 841), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archive Project 841. Ten interviews conducted by Stephen Ross Goddard for his graduate studies thesis at Western Kentucky University. These interviews include conversations on how the youth viewed their place within and/or apart from American culture and the Kurdish one into which they were born.

Music And The Migrant: A Transnational Account Of Cumbia, Irene L. Mekus

Audre Lorde Prize

This paper looks into the cultural synthesization and the transnational ties of cumbia between Latin America and the United States. Three case studies look at the story of migrants and their transnational ties through cumbia and are analyzed through an ethnomusicology framework.

The Fictions Of Whiteness: Transatlantic Race Science, Gender, Nationalism, And The Construction Of Race In Nineteenth-Century American Fiction (1823-1867), Philip E. Kadish

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Fictions of Whiteness argues that political beliefs preceded and determined the race science theories which nineteenth century American white novelists applied or invoked in their work, the inverse of the current critical consensus. For issues ranging from Indian removal to slavery and Reconstruction, and utilizing theories from of Condorcet, Buffon, Camper, Louis Agassiz, James Pritchard, Johannes Blumenbach, and George Borrow these authors shifted allegiances to divergent race theories between and within works, applied those theories selectively to white, black, and Indians characters, and applied the same scientific race theories to politically divergent rhetorical ends. By analyzing shifting application of different …

Interview With Sadeta Hodzic (Fa 1137), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcript of oral history interview with Sadeta Hodzic conducted by Kate Horigan on 29 January 2016 at Cravens Library as part of Western Kentucky University's 2017 International Year of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Click on "Additional Files" to access the audio file of the recorded interview. File may take several minutes to download.

Interview With Mujo Music (Fa 1137), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcript of oral history interview with Mujo Music conducted by Virginia Siegel on 29 January 2016 at the Pioneer Log Cabin as part of Western Kentucky University's 2017 International Year of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Click on "Additional Files" to access the audio file of the recorded interview. File may take several minutes to download.