Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Not Just Mexico’S Problem: Labor Migration From Mexico To The United States (1900 – 2000), Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz

Ruth Gomberg-Munoz

U.S. President Barack Obama has vowed to “help countries like Mexico… do a better job of creating jobs for their people” as part of his plan to curtail undocumented immigration to the United States (Organizing for America). This idea – that the root cause of undocumented migration from Mexico to the U.S. is economic underdevelopment in Mexico – has currency in both popular and political discourse. But is it accurate? In this article, I synthesize historical, theoretical, and ethnographic scholarship to provide a transnational perspective on twentieth century labor migration from Mexico to the United States. These data show that …

Domestic Masonry Architecture In 17th-Century Virginia, David Brown

David C. Brown

The focus of this study is to provide an easily accessible source of information on domestic masonry architecture in 17th-century Virginia. This includes buildings constructed entirely of brick or stone as well as framed structures, brick enders, and homes with brick-nogged walls. The few surviving examples of these buildings do not adequately represent the period and, until recently, literature pertaining to this subject has either been inaccurate or has concentrated far too heavily on a limited number of structures. Through research in the fields of history, historical archaeology, and architectural history, at least 24 structures have been found dating to …

Chicle: The Chewing Gum Of The Americas, From The Ancient Maya To William Wrigley, Jennifer Mathews, Gillian Schultz

Jennifer P Mathews

Although Juicy Fruit® gum was introduced to North Americans in 1893, Native Americans in Mesoamerica were chewing gum thousands of years earlier. And although in the last decade “biographies” have been devoted to salt, spices, chocolate, coffee, and other staples of modern life, until now there has never been a full history of chewing gum. Chicle is a history in four acts, all of them focused on the sticky white substance that seeps from the sapodilla tree when its bark is cut. First, Jennifer Mathews recounts the story of chicle and its earliest-known adherents, the Maya and Aztecs. Second, with …

Ways Of War In The Americas: Mayas And Aztecs (Ad 700-1500), Jennifer Mathews

Jennifer P Mathews

No abstract provided.

Chicle, Jennifer Mathews

Jennifer P Mathews

No abstract provided.

Response To Commentary On “Rethinking Combined Departments: An Argument For History & Anthropology” By Stephen M. Lyon/Durham University, Uk; Yasar Abu Ghosh, Pavel Himl, Tereza Stöckelová, Lucie Storchová/Charles University, Prague; Robert Gibb/University Of Glasgow; Jakob Krause-Jensen/Aarhus University, Denmark; Veerendra P. Lele/Denison University, Ageeth Sluis, Elise Edwards

Ageeth Sluis

Contains response from the authors, Ageeth Sluis and Elise Edwards.

Rethinking Combined History Departments: An Argument For History And Anthropology, Ageeth Sluis, Elise Edwards

Ageeth Sluis

Many opportunities for more integrated teaching that better capture the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary scholars' work and better achieve the aims of liberal arts education still remain untapped, particularly at smaller schools where combined departments are often necessary. The disciplinary boundaries between history and sociocultural anthropology have become increasingly blurred in recent decades, a trend reflected in scholarly work that engages with both fields, as well as dual-degree graduate programmes at top U.S. research universities. For many scholars, this interdisciplinarity makes sense, with the two disciplines offering critical theoretical tools and methods that must be used in combination to tackle …

Response To Commentary On “Rethinking Combined Departments: An Argument For History & Anthropology” By Stephen M. Lyon/Durham University, Uk; Yasar Abu Ghosh, Pavel Himl, Tereza Stöckelová, Lucie Storchová/Charles University, Prague; Robert Gibb/University Of Glasgow; Jakob Krause-Jensen/Aarhus University, Denmark; Veerendra P. Lele/Denison University, Ageeth Sluis, Elise Edwards

Elise M. Edwards

Contains response from the authors, Ageeth Sluis and Elise Edwards.

Rethinking Combined History Departments: An Argument For History And Anthropology, Ageeth Sluis, Elise Edwards

Elise M. Edwards

Many opportunities for more integrated teaching that better capture the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary scholars' work and better achieve the aims of liberal arts education still remain untapped, particularly at smaller schools where combined departments are often necessary. The disciplinary boundaries between history and sociocultural anthropology have become increasingly blurred in recent decades, a trend reflected in scholarly work that engages with both fields, as well as dual-degree graduate programmes at top U.S. research universities. For many scholars, this interdisciplinarity makes sense, with the two disciplines offering critical theoretical tools and methods that must be used in combination to tackle …

Peruvian Trajectories Of Sociocultural Transformation, Daniel Paracka, Ernesto Silva

Daniel Paracka

The story of Peru presents a continuous trajectory of sociocultural transformation where one civilization appropriates, borrows, and builds on the accomplishments of the previous often creating something new and unique. During the Year of Peru program KSU's faculty and students had the opportunity to learn in depth about Peru's rich history, culture, and modern society. They learned about a country rich in archeological discovery and human history, a story that does not simply begin with the Inca Empire, as the Inca were just one in a long line of powerful ancient civilizations (Chavin, Wari, Nazca, Moche, etc.) that previously ruled …

November Uri Community Diversity Project 2010, Joseph A. Santiago Mr, Riley Davis Ms, Richard V. Travisano Mr

Richard Travisano

November is National Novel Writing Month. For the first time at the University of Rhode Island November was a month for the URI community to share their stories, poems, art, and photos with the world. The Writing to Model Diversity project intends to connect individuals across cultural boundaries and borders by sharing the stories and experiences that challenge our everyday experiences and the dreams of the future. Built on the efforts of the World Voice series, URI presents a book that shares the stories and culture of the students, faculty, staff, and community members who embrace the idea of becoming …

Palestinian Refugees, The Nation, And The Shifting Political Landscape, Randa Farah

Randa R Farah Dr.

This article briefly examines the historical causes that led to the uprooting of the Palestinians in 1948, who today represent one of the longest and largest refugee situations in contemporary history. It then draws on field research on refugees in Jordan to trace some of the pertinent political and ideological shifts since the Palestinian Nakba. Its emphasis is on refugee camps, approached here as palimpsests refracting different historical periods, which for the purpose of this article are divided into: the Nasserite period in the 1950s and early 1960s, the heyday of the Palestinian national liberation movement, beginning in the mid-1960s, …

Tairora - From The Greenwood Encyclopedia Of World Folklore And Folklife, Terence Hays

Terence Hays

Encyclopedia entry regarding the geography, history, and culture of Tairora located in the Kainantu District of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papau New Guinea.

A Pacific Island Collection In Rhode Island, Terence Hays, Mary Conaway, Susan Yeaw

Terence Hays

Collections of artifacts and specimens from Pacific Island cultures are found throughout Rhode Island. The largest and most systematically collected is in the Museum of Natural History in Roger Williams Park, Providence. The items were acquired by Rhode Island citizens over about a 150 year period from the early 1800's to the 1950's. They are from the 3 culture areas of the Pacific: Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. All form of matter including wood, shell, fiber, bone and skin, ivory, pottery, stone, and human hair are part of the artifact assemblage. The specimens (not studied for this project) include birds, lava, …

Sacred Texts And Introductory Texts, Terence Hays

Terence Hays

A survey of 118 introductory anthropology textbooks published in the period 1929-1990 examines the ways in which Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa has been presented to college undergraduates. In contrast to Derek Freeman's claim that her conclusions about Samoan sexuality and adolescence have been reiterated (approvingly) in an "unbroken succesion of anthropological textbooks," it appears that this work has been ignored almost as often as it has been cited. Criticesms of Mead, although relatively few and almost entirely methodological, have also been incorporated into texstbooks, both before and following Freeeman's 1983 book, Margaret Mead and Samoa. Whether or …

America And Political Islam, Richard Lobban

Richard A Lobban

I received this book before 11 September 2001 and am reviewing it in the aftermath of that day. One could not imagine a more intense crucible in which to view a work on political Islam. Under the glare of the fiery collapse at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and with bombs falling on Taliban and al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, the work of an author and a reviewer requires even greater scrutiny.

War Clouds On The Horn Of Africa, Richard Lobban

Richard A Lobban

To review a book published five years ago describing a region in great turbulence is a great challenge. As one of those who has also written on aspects of the Horn of Africa it is tragically clear that the region's hostilities have brought misery and death for thousands. Resting with their remains are countless prophecies and predictions which had sought to analyze the latest events. These remarks may sound like defensive apologies of the author of this book, but I will defend him by assessing the difficulty of interpreting a dynamic and volatile region in the paroxysms of radical change.

Rewriting The Balkans: Memory, Historiography, And The Making Of A European Citizenry, Dana N. Johnson

Dana N. Johnson

This thesis explores the work of historians, history teachers, and NGO employees engaged in regional initiatives to mitigate the influence of enduring ethnocentric national histories in the Balkans. In conducting an ethnography of the development and dissemination of such initiatives, I queried how conflict and controversy are negotiated in developing alternative educational materials, how “multiperspectivity” is understood as a pedagogical approach and a tool of reconciliation, and how the interests of civil society intersect with those of the state and supranational actors. My research sought to interrogate the field of power in which such attempts to innovate history education occur, …

Symposium Program: War, Dictatorship & Memory In Spain, Jacqueline Urla

Jacqueline L. Urla

Program for the Interdisciplinary Symposium, War, Dictatorship and Memory in Spain. Organizers: Justin Crumbaugh, Sara Brenneis and Jacqueline Urla. Oct. 13015, 2011.

Ockham's Theory Of Natural Rights, Siegfried Van Duffel, Jonathan Robinson

Siegfried Van Duffel

Ockham's theory may well be the most influential medieval predecessor of contemporary theories of human rights. We suggest that it was also in a better condition than its descendants.

Palestinian Refugees And Their Oral Histories: History's Silence, Memory's Burden, Randa Farah

Randa R Farah Dr.

No abstract provided.

Hamas Controlled Televised News Media: Counter- Peace, Allen Gnanam

Allen Gnanam

The hegemonic force of Hamas censored televised news media in Gaza, can not be fully comprehended and appreciated without recognizing the role of propaganda, censorship, and the historical context of the middle east. These 3 interrelated dimensions will be analyzed using functionalism, the mass society theory, the dominant ideology framework, the critical criminology framework, and the symbolic interactionist framework. Through censorship, Hamas news media outlets were able to unilaterally inject culturally relevant propaganda, into the minds of children and citizens. The hypodermic syringe model can be applied to the state controlled news media situation in Gaza, as the people of …

Summary: Israeli- Palestinian Ethnic Conflict, Allen Gnanam

Allen Gnanam

The Israeli- Palestinian ethnic conflict will continue to escalate throughout both the short term and long term world future. The current and future animosity between both ethnic groups can be attributed to (a) history based accounts and religious tensions, (b) polarizing ideologies held by both sides, and (c) middle eastern resentment toward the Jewish state of Israel. History based accounts will refer to both biased historical accounts and factual historical events that have contributed to the Israeli- Palestinian ethnic conflict. Concepts such as ethnicity, nationalism, ideology, Palestinians, Israeli’s, Arabs, and religion will be conceptualized in the research paper.

Israeli- Palestinian Ethnic Conflict, Allen Gnanam

Allen Gnanam

This research paper discusses the historical, religious, and ideological factors linked to the Israeli- Palestinian ethnic conflict, and how these factors have contributed to middle eastern resentment toward the Jewish State of Israeli. The Modernist Theory, Perceptual Framework, and he Domestic Framework have been applied to the analysis of the Israeli- Palestinian ethnic conflict, in order to demonstrate the intensity of the above factors and their provocative role in the conflict. Other provocative issues that are discussed in this paper include territorial wars, ethnic nationalism, the competition for natural resources, the biased dissemination of historical text through educational institutions, and …

Simply History: A Review Of Recent Thought On Ethnography, Reflexivity And Auto/Ethnography, Denice J. Szafran

Denice J Szafran, Ph.D.

Since its inception as a discipline, anthropology utilized fieldwork with methodologies of participant-observation, surveys/interviews, and archival research, to record information on cultures. Traditionally the researcher disseminated this information in the form of a monograph, theoretically framed and laden with data, aimed almost exclusively at interested parties within academe. Informants spoke to researchers, who in turn "translated" what they heard into information on the varied and various traits of that culture, conflating methodology with presentation into the concept of ethnography. The debate about how best to represent ethnographic realism as a totality of cultural experience began in the discipline several decades …

Reclaiming The Concept Of Culture: A Review Of Recent Thoughts On Cultural Invention And Cultural Change, Denice J. Szafran

Denice J Szafran, Ph.D.

Defining culture as the capacity for humans to symbolically classify, codify, and communicate their common experiences, Boas' "genius of a people" (Bunzl 2004), has yielded to popular understandings of culture as a bounded entity that exists discretely in the world. These latter notions are constructs arising from the imposition of Western cultural notions on examined societies. The concept of culture, once the exclusive tool of anthropological investigations and explanations, finds itself arrogated by "everybody everywhere," facing devaluation of its meaning and rendering it ineffective as an analytical tool, (Marcus 2008) yet reclaiming the more nebulous meanings of the term culture …

Refugee Camps In The Palestinian And Sahrawi National Liberation Movements: A Comparative Perspective, Randa Farah

Randa R Farah Dr.

Drawing on ethnographic field research, this analysis compares the evolution of refugee camps as incubators of political organization and repositories of collective memory for Palestinian refugees in Jordan and Sahrawi refugees of the Western Sahara. While recognizing the significant differences between the historical and geopolitical contexts of the two groups and their national movements (the PLO and Polisario, respectively), the author examines the Palestinian and Sahrawi projects of national consciousness formation and institution-building, concluding that Palestinian camps are “mapped” in relation to the past, while political organization in Sahrawi camps evidences a forward-looking vision.

Historical Archaeology, Martin Hall, Stephen Silliman

Stephen W. Silliman

Edited by Martin Hall and Stephen W. Silliman.

This volume offers lively current debates and case studies in historical archaeology selected from around the world, including North America, Latin America, Africa, the Pacific, and Europe. Authored by 19 experts in the field -- Explores how historical archaeologists think about their work, piecing together information from both material culture and documents in an attempt to understand the lives of the people and societies they study -- Engages with current theory in an accessible manner -- Truly global in its approach but avoids subsuming local experiences of people into global patterns -- …

Evolution Of Credit Union Philosophy, Matthew Wilburn King

Matthew Wilburn King PhD

This paper explores the history and evolution of credit union philosophy. The evolution of credit union philosophy spans nearly 150 years. It’s a story that begins in the middle of 19th century Europe as it was emerging from a long history of feudal relations and tyrannical rule that created “the miserable economic conditions of the period and the realization that people would have to take action themselves if their lives were to improve.”1 The democratic ideals that were so eloquently articulated by classical liberal philosophers such as John Locke and Thomas Hobbes began to be increasingly institutionalized during this time.

A New Concept Of "History": A Dialogue Between Reinhart Koselleck And Chela Sandoval, Ruth E. Bryan

Ruth E. Bryan

This paper explore the meaning and conception of “history” as used by Chela Sandoval in her article “U.S. Third World Feminism: The Theory and Method of Oppositional Consciousness in the Postmodern World” (1991) and Reinhart Koselleck in his book of essays, Futures Past (1985). For both writers, "history” is based in the relationship of past experience to future expectations. However, for Koselleck, “history” contains the expectation of positive progress. Thus, in his conception, all people have the same general experience (a conception of the past), therefore we all conceptualize history in the same way, therefore we are all equally happy …