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Experimentation In Sling Weaponry: Effectiveness Of And Archaeological Implications For A World-Wide Primitive Technology, Eric T. Skov

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

The sling is a simple, cheap and effective weapon that was widely distributed among prehistoric and historic populations. Well-known archaeological and textual evidence attests to its widespread military usage in Europe, South America, andCentral America. However, ethnographic and archaeological evidence also suggest that the sling was widely distributed among Native American populations. Experimentation presented herein suggests that previous scholarship and experimental efforts have significantly underestimated potential velocity, range and potential damage to target organisms. Given the world-wide distribution of sling technology, revision of basic assumptions of weapon capability can have a profound effect on interpretation of archaeological problems internationally and …

To Be (Or Not To Be) Matses Belonging, Trials Of Assimilation And Changing Morality In The Peruvian Amazon, Lorna Hadlock

Theses & ETDs

This thesis is based on seven months of ethnographic fieldwork in two annexes of the Communidad Nativa Matsés (CONAMA) in the Peruvian Amazon. Focusing on narratives and observations of encounters between Matsés and non-Matsés, I dissect belonging, processes of assimilation, and changing morality. I begin with historical information about rubber-boom era altercations, stolen women, and ambiguous relations with non-Matsés prior to "pacified contact" in 1969. Then, I examine glorified stories of the moment of "contact" and relations with Christian missionaries who initiated "contact." Continuing into the present day, I present observations and interviews to document modern interactions and intermarriages between …

The Clothing Culture Of Parkland College, Abigail Brooks

A with Honors Projects

An ethnography of the clothing choices of students at Parkland College, a community college in Central Illinois.

Hear Me Sign: An Ethnography Of The Deaf Culture Of Sarasota, Florida, Jessica Ploss

Theses & ETDs

My thesis focuses on understanding why people who identify as either hearing or deaf become members of Deaf culture. This cultural group includes those who were born deaf, were late-deafened, and those who still have the ability to hear; people with all levels of hearing or deafness are able to join the Deaf community if they learn to use American Sign Language (ASL). In Sarasota, Florida, I found that the Deaf community will welcome anyone who is able to use ASL. Through participant observation and interviews with members of the Sarasota Deaf community, my research examines the self-identifying factors among …

Gardening As Ethnographic Research: Volunteering As A Means For Community Access, Andrew Flachs

Journal of Ecological Anthropology

This paper shows the ways that ethnographers can develop a more effective qualitative understanding of community gardens by volunteering as gardeners. It explains how volunteering helps gain access to different facets of the garden community. Ultimately, it shows that volunteering can provide an anthropological perspective on the idea, prevalent in the literature, that many people join community gardens only for the economic benefits.

Reaching New Audiences: An Ethnographic Study Of Youth Engagement At Historymiami Museum And The Ringling Museum Of Art, Jehan Sinclair

Theses & ETDs

In this thesis I argue that programs for young adults stimulate innovation within museum institutions and assist them in reaching a wider audience. These programs keep museums relevant in addition to helping them better meet the needs of the communities where they reside. Using ethnographic data from two museums that recently implemented programs to attract younger audiences, Miami's HistoryMiami and the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, I examine how the presence of these programs serves a pivotal role in rectifying a problematic historical legacy of classism that continues to influence contemporary conceptions of museums.

The Culture Of Financial Institutions: The Institution Of Political Economy, David A. Westbrook

Contributions to Books

Published as Chapter 1 in Integrity, Risk and Accountability in Capital Markets: Regulating Culture, Justin O'Brien & George Gilligan, eds.

The 19th century legal historian Henry Maine famously defined progress, and by extension, liberal modernity, as the substitution of relations based on status (especially family and title), to relations based on contract, especially trade and employment. The article suggests that Maine's assertion, however comforting as a political matter, simply does not hold with regard to the credit relations central to contemporary society. Credit transactions, even retail transactions, are based on trust and interlocking webs of obligation across agents (until recently …

More Than Duffle Bag Medicine: An Ethnographic Analysis Of A Student Movement For Global Health, Julie A. Christensen

Honors Papers

Student activism around global health is occurring with visibility and fervor in the United States collegiate setting. Over the past two years, I have traveled across the US and Vietnam to immerse myself in the life of a nonprofit organization called GlobeMed. A largely student-led organization, GlobeMed partners each chapter with its own unique community health organization. My thesis is an ethnographic study that draws from narratives of young people, analyzes the organizational structure, and provides a broad contextualization of GlobeMed. First, I explore the history and development of GlobeMed. I then present life histories of young people involved in …

The Brave Heart Society: An Oral History Of An Indigenous Women's Society, Brook Spotted Eagle

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study examines the Brave Heart Society and the ways in which Brave Heart women collectively approaches trauma-healing outside of the programmatic structures of federally funded tribal systems. National statistics speak to the contemporary struggles impacting most US Indigenous populations in the present-day. Such struggles are residual symptoms rooted in a long history of domination and US imperialism. These data indicate that most tribes have not fully recovered from federally imposed systems of deprivation. Within the context of the Ihanktonwan Dakota community in southeastern South Dakota, the nuanced ways in which trauma impedes development and community wellness is both realized …

I Can Be Silent And Be Saying A Lot: Teachers' Racial Literacy In A Southern Elementary School, Kimberly J. Howard

Theses and Dissertations

In order to better understand how teachers make sense of race in schools today, this ethnographic study explores the following research question: How do teachers in this school make sense of race, and how does the spatiality of the school inform this process? The study was conducted over a 14-month period in a southern elementary school and is presented as a poetic, narrative, and thematic analysis of the connections between the geographic location of this particular school and the teachers' practices, pedagogies, and conversations about race both inside their classrooms and in other school spaces. This study demonstrates how teachers' …

Reclaiming “Anthropology: The Forgotten Behavioral Science In Management History” – Commentaries, Fred Luthans, Ivana Milosevic, Beth A. Bechky, Edgar H. Schein, Susan Wright, Davydd J. Greenwood

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Purpose – This collection of commentaries on the reprinted 1987 article by Nancy C. Morey and Fred Luthans, “Anthropology: the forgotten behavioral science in management history”, aims to reflect on the treatment of the history of anthropological work in organizational studies presented in the original article.

Design/methodology/approach – The essays are invited and peer-reviewed contributions from scholars in organizational studies and anthropology.

Findings – The scholars invited to comment on the original article have seen its value, and their contributions ground its content in contemporary issues and debates.

Originality/value – The original article was deemed “original” for its time (1987), …

The Gamer Tribes: An Ethnography, Sonoma Bryan

A with Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

The Faculty/Staff Communication Divide: An Ethnographic Look Inside A Community College, Jodi Lynn Weber

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This study examines the communication divides that exist between faculty and staff at a rural community college in Texas. Through the use of survey data, personal interviews and ethnographic observation, the researcher gained significant insight into the communication culture of one institution. The theoretical framework for this study is built largely upon the group communication concepts of Bormann (1983) and Taylor and Altman (1975). Specifically, the study looks for evidence of Bormann’s (1983) symbolic convergence theory and Taylor and Altman’s (1975) social penetration theory. The philosophical framework for this thesis is grounded in Benhabib’s (1993) idea of the generalized versus …

Uphams Corner And "Other" Spaces: Racialized Youth Identities In Boston's Cape Verdean Community, Jessica F. Pires

Honors Theses

While embarking on this thesis project I have begun by viewing Cape Verdean-Americanness and Uphams Corner as linked; to study contemporary Cape Verdean-American lived realities means consulting this neighborhood space, and the area is mutually dependent on its Cape Verdean residents. In the particularly unpredictable world of ethnographic field research, as I focused on the collection of narratives, a new and surprising actor emerged: the neighborhood space, around which crucial tensions revolve. It is vital to understand how neighborhood provides not merely the scenery behind actions but more importantly how, as a conceptual framework, it can also be constitutive of …

Through The Viewfinder: Reflecting On The Collection And Analysis Of Classroom Video Data, Angela Fitzgerald, Mark Hackling, Vaille Dawson

Research outputs 2013

The possibilities inherent in the collection and use of video footage point to an important innovation for classroom research. Unfortunately, researchers often experience uncertainty about incorporating video into their methodological approach as it can present a potential minefield of operational, technical, and ethical issues that require consideration and negotiation. Nevertheless, with the increased emphasis on the use of digital technologies, the timing is right to engage in more in-depth discussions about the role of video data in education research. In contributing to this discussion, this article unpacks several issues connected to the use of video technology as a tool for …

Desert In The Springs: Ethnography Of A Food Desert, Margeaux Alana Chavez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

"Food desert" commonly describes food insecure areas with few fresh food outlets. Though used in a number of sources, the definition of "food desert" remains largely undeveloped and research is often deficit oriented, failing to account for community assets that may exist within food deserts but are underutilized or under-supported. Using an assets-based, ethnographic approach, this study combines GIS and survey methodology with participant observation and qualitative interviews to assess the potential positive effect of urban agriculture on food accessibility in Sulphur Springs, a USDA identified urban food desert in Tampa, Florida.

Ethnographic data suggest that within this neighborhood, residents …

Review Of Instituting Nature: Authority, Expertise, And Power In Mexican Forests By Andrew S. Mathews, Jeremy M. Campbell

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Accessories Of Modern Mayan Grinding Stones, Michael T. Searcy

Faculty Publications

The mano and metate are seen as natural companion pieces in the archaeological record. Ethnographic resources suggest there may have been other tools associated with daily grinding activities including biconically drilled (donut) stones and wooden boards. This paper presents evidence for these findings and explores their archaeological implications. It also demonstrates the valuable information that can be gleaned from the modern Mayan groups living in Highland Guatemala today.

All-Women's Flat Track Roller Derby : Gender, Psychoanalysis, And Meaning, Matthew Newsom

LSU Master's Theses

For over a decade, women’s flat track roller derby has grown to reach thousands of women in various countries around the world. Through roller derby, these women are engaging in a full-contact sport that has no comparable male counterpart, making this rapidly-growing sport an interesting arena for gender and cultural research. This thesis uses ethnographic information collected from two U.S. derby teams in order to demonstrate the dynamic interplay of culture and psychology in the making of cultural and personal meaning. In so doing, this research validates the role that psychology—and specifically, psychoanalysis—can play in cultural anthropology, and demonstrates a …

The Professionalization And Practice Of Lactation Consulting: Medicalized Knowledge, Humanistic Care, Aimee R. Eden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Breastfeeding support for mothers and their babies historically was the informal work of family and community members. In the United States today, breastfeeding support is embedded in the biomedical system, and is provided by a new allied health professional: the International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). This dissertation explores this professionalization of breastfeeding support and the origins of this new profession. It studies how IBCLCs working in the U.S. cultural context perceive and practice the profession and examines the relationship between the profession of lactation consulting and the medicalization of breastfeeding. Oral history interviews with 17 founders of the profession, …

Zumba® Fitness As A Cultural Mediator, Cole E. Durain

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This ethnography describes local experience as it pertains to aspects of music, dance, and fitness which are compiled into Zumba® Fitness classes of the Rio Grande Valley. While Zumba is not unique to this region, it is locally interpreted based on geo-cultural factors of the Texas-Mexico border region. A large part of Zumba’s success in the Valley can be attributed to the way music is used to identify with regional popular culture and becomes a catalyst for changing the way locals think about health. Research gathered through participant-observation shows that Zumba has become a cultural expression where participants perform both …

Honoring Elders: Aging, Authority, And Ojibwe Religion. Book Review., Carlos Odria

Journal of Contemporary Anthropology

No abstract provided.

The Performance Cult Of The Room: Embodied Audiencing And Movie Riffing As Shared Sense-Making, Matt Foy

Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research

This ethnographic study explores everyday cultural performance and embodied audiencing practices at a performance-centered midnight screening of the 2003 cult film The Room.

Prior to attending and co-performing the film’s group audiencing ritual, the author explores fan appropriation of the previously obscure film and fan-generated and circulated performance scripts. Drawing on thick description and bodily knowledge gained from attending and performing The Room’s audiencing ritual, the author explores how the ritual’s scripts are embraced, embellished, and deviated from while critiquing problematic aspects of the ritual.

Within these intersections, the author discusses ways in which cultural performance and embodied …

The Colonial Official As Ethnographer; Voc Documents As Resources For Social History In Eastern Indonesia, Hans Hägerdal

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

The present article departs from the inherent problems of grasping the voice of the subaltern other in a colonial context. While postcolonial theoreticians have occasionally spoken pessimistically about the possibilities of reconstructing the agency of dominated categories of non-Westerners, recent research on early Southeast Asia has on the contrary envisaged new lines of inquiry through an ingenious use of the extant sources, preferably through interdisciplinary communication. But can we use the colonial archive in order to highlight social history in non-literate societies such as those of eastern Indonesia where the colonial texts do not resonate with the indigenous ones? This …

What’S Right About The Medical Model In Human Subjects Research Regulation, Heidi Li Feldman

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Critics of Institutional Review Board (IRB) practices often base their charges on the claim that IRB review began with and is premised upon a "medical model" of research, and hence a "medical model" of risk. Based on this claim, they charge that IRB review, especially in the social and behavioral sciences, has experienced "mission creep". This paper argues that this line of critique is fundamentally misguided. While it remains unclear what critics mean by "medical model", the point of contemporary human research subjects regulation remains the same across all domains of research. That point is to protect the autonomy of …

Faculty In The Mist: Ethnographic Study Of Faculty Research Practices, Marilyn R. Pukkila, Ellen L. Freeman

Faculty Scholarship

A report on ethnographic research on college faculty research and teaching methods, with their use of information resources, library services, technology, and academic IT support.

Building Bridges Between Literary Journalism And Alternative Ethnographic Forms: Opportunities And Challenges, Bruce Gillespie

Journalism

Literary journalism bears much in common with autoethnography and public ethnography, thus offering opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.

Practicing The Four Seasons Of Ethnography Methodology While Searching For Identity In Mexico, Margaret Jane Pitts

The Qualitative Report

This narrative is an account of my field experiences and challenges practicing González’s (2000) Four Seasons of Ethnography methodology in Mexico City. I describe the complexities and tensions inherent in managing two scientific paradigms: Western scientific logic vs. a more organic ontology. The experiential knowledge produced in this text is useful to ethnographers who face questions of identity and ethics in the field. To evoke a sense of experience, I represent the ethnography for the reader in the way it unfolded for me—sometimes painful, other times insightful, oftentimes both. This dual text exposes my struggles as emergent ethnographer grappling with …

An Ethnographic Study Of The Moth Detroit Storyslam, Catherine Jo Janssen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Moth Detroit StorySLAM is one of many storytelling events staged in urban bar environments. Unlike the increasingly aged audiences attending the National Storytelling Festival and similar story festivals, the Detroit StorySLAM consistently yields at capacity crowds of college students and young professionals.

Participants were informally interviewed during the September, October, and November slams of 2010 and the January 2011 slam. In addition to conducting these interviews, the researcher was a participant observer—throwing her name into the hat and being twice called to the stage. Data are presented as a thick description organized according to Richard Bauman's 6 situational factors …

Wayfaring Strangers: A Case Study Of Rural Developmental Writers In The Missouri Ozarks, Robert Andrew Griffith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes a year-long ethnographic study of rural basic writers in the Missouri Ozarks. Using Richard Hofstadter's concept of "anti-intellectualism" as a theoretical lens, I explored the attitudes of students towards writing and academic culture. This exploration was conducted by means of questionnaires, interviews, writing samples, and several experimental courses.

Using all these data-collection mechanisms, I was able to identify three characteristics of these students. They were likely to demonstrate a dualistic ("right/wrong") epistemology. Accordingly, they expected their academic reading to make matter-of-fact truth claims. Finally, students were unlikely to understand the transformative nature of any educational enterprise, hoping …