Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Demographic Change In The North Atlanta Metro Area, Zachary Lloyd

Symposium of Student Scholars

The northern Atlanta suburbs are perhaps the premiere destination for migrants, both domestic and international, into the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. Filled with activities, good schools, and endless dining options, these communities are not only relatively safe to raise a family in, but also offer plenty to do for married couples and retirees. The counties of Gwinnett and Cobb, along with the northern portion of Fulton County (known as North Fulton) are the traditional northside suburban destinations, but growth there has slowed because much of the land is now densely developed. Predictably, the suburbs have extended northward through the counties of …

A Technological Analysis Of Ancient Maya Shell Beads From Pacbitun, Belize, Kimberly A. Kiddoo

Symposium of Student Scholars

Ancient Maya had one of the most complex societies in the New World. Their society was driven by the production of goods, including items made from stone, bone and shell. to shell objects were made into various shapes including pendants, bracelets and beads, possibly used for jewelry or as currency. At Pacbitun, located in west central Belize, 1,000’s of shell items in the form of beads have been found in and around homes that date to the Middle Preclassic period. Beads as well as marine detritus and chert drills have been found together indicating they were produced on site. This …

Immigration And Food Security: Assessing Levels Of Food Security Among Cabo Verdean Immigrant Households And Their Use Of Public Food Assistance Programs, Alexandria Seigler

Symposium of Student Scholars

On February 24, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security implemented the new public charge rule, which impacts new immigrants to the United States. An immigration officer must decide whether the person applying for a green card or visa will become a “public charge,” meaning that they will likely become dependent on government benefits. This project is part of a Diplomacy Lab team of KSU faculty and students sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. We are researching the experiences of new Cabo Verdean immigrants to the United States. My specific research focuses on food security and the use of public …

An Archival Study Of The Walnut Grove Plantation And The Young Family, Jennifer Billingsley

Symposium of Student Scholars

An Archival Study of the Walnut Grove Plantation and the Young Family

By Jennifer Billingsley

The Walnut Grove Plantation is situated near the confluence of the Etowah River and Pettit Creek in Cartersville, an area rich with history. The history of Walnut Grove is far-reaching into the past, beginning in the 1800s with the arrival of the family of Robert Maxwell Young from Spartanburg, South Carolina. As a location for the Kennesaw State University Archaeology Field School taught by Dr. Terry Powis, some basic knowledge about the property and family has previously been compiled with a focus on the Civil …

A Look Into The History Of Racial Diversity In The Congregation Of The Cathedral Of Christ The King, Devlin Mcelrone

Symposium of Student Scholars

This paper aims to assess the history of the Cathedral of Christ the King, a Catholic church in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, in terms of diversity. The main goal of this paper is to investigate the diversity of the church congregation in terms of race, while also focusing to a lesser extent on socioeconomic background and age. The area the church is in is primarily composed of upper-middle-class white families and it was through this observation that I came upon this topic. To investigate this issue, the first method used was spot sampling and constant monitoring of the congregation …

Haves Versus Have Nots: Analyzing Swift Creek Ceramic Distribution Within The Middle Woodland Etowah River Valley, Isabella Rosinko, Morgan Bendzinski

Symposium of Student Scholars

Swift Creek Culture refers to prehistoric Native American peoples of Florida and Georgia who produced a distinctive type of pottery, called Swift Creek Complicated Stamped, dating from 20 BC to AD 805. This Middle Woodland pottery type can be identified by curved geometric decorations stamped onto clay with a wooden paddle. Swift Creek Complicated Stamped pottery was widely traded across the Eastern Woodlands among high-status individuals and is therefore regarded as a prestige item. The preeminent Swift Creek site of the Etowah River Valley during the Middle Woodland is the Leake site. At the Leake site, there were three conical …

Kill Zones And Their Use During The American Civil War: An Archaeological Review Of The Battle Of Pickett’S Mill, Jeremy Wolfe

Symposium of Student Scholars

While not well known in the list of battles during the Atlanta Campaign late in the American Civil War, it is marked as an overwhelming Confederate victory in the face of looming defeat in the war itself. With the Union suffering nearly two thousand casualties, the tactics and strategies used by the Confederate army no doubt aided in their victory. During the battle, Union soldiers were drawn into a ravine where Confederate soldiers could easily fire down on them. The Union men followed the ravine up into a flat area where they were then fired on again with accurate rifle …

Student Loan Debt Impacts On Choosing A Field Of Study, Lance Mcgonigle

Symposium of Student Scholars

Student Loan Debt Impacts on Choosing a Field of Study

Abstract

Lance McGonigle – Email: lmcgonig@students.kennesaw.edu

Student loan debt has been steadily rising over the last handful of decades, and many students who take these loans have little to no knowledge about the financial challenges that these loans can bring. This research is aimed to understand how student loan debt impacts a students’ field of study choice during their time as a college student, or if this has any affect at all. In doing a qualitative, humanistic study; exploratory research was conducted using inductive reasoning along with the use of …

Laryngeal Vocals In Old World Locals: Air Sacs Usage In Bonobos, Chelsea Trenbeath

Symposium of Student Scholars

Except for humans, extant great apes have evolutionarily conserved lateral ventricular air sacs extending from laryngeal saccules. Humans are the only species of Hominidae that lack this anatomical feature attached to the primary vocal apparatus. As we are the only species that produces spoken language, this association has led to hypothesis that the loss of lateral ventricular air sacs was necessary for the evolution of spoken language. However, why these sacs are conserved in all other hominids remains unclear. Computer modeling has indicated that air sacs may increase resonance properties, but there are no data from great apes indicating which …

Indigenous Youth Storywork: A Spiritual Awakening Of A Maya Adoptee Living In Kkkanada, Ana Celeste Macleod

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Indigenous adoptee scholars understand their identity through community connection, culture, education and practice. In this Storywork, through engagement with current literature and ten research questions, I explored what it meant to be an adoptee in West Coast (KKKanadian) Indigenous communities. An Indigenous Youth Storywork methodology was applied to bring meaning to relationships I have with diverse Indigenous Old Ones, mentors and Knowledge Keepers and their influence on my journey as a Maya adoptee returning to my culture. My personal story was developed and analyzed using an Indigenous decolonial framework and Indigenous Arts-based methods. The intention of this Youth Storywork research …

A Maya Migrant: A Journey Of No Return, Gaspar Pedro González

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

After years of listening to Maya migrants in the United states and listening to migrants forced back to Guatemala, the novella’s author Gaspar Pedro González created the story of Palas and Malkal, man and wife. The story begins with a discussion of the causes behind migration, and then proceeds to Palas while he arranges his trip with the coyote, makes his goodbyes to his family and community, makes the overland passage through Mexico, and when finally in the United States finds some hopes and plans unobtainable. Palas, and his family left behind in Guatemala, will encounter challenges to their cultural …

Introductory Note, Alan Lebaron

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

A note from the editor, Alan LeBaron, reviewing the contents and structure of Maya America Vol. 3 Iss. 2.

The Stamp Of The Swift Creek Culture: An Analysis Of Middle Woodland Pottery At The Traversent Site In Georgia, Juliana Damico

Symposium of Student Scholars

The Woodland period (1000 BC – AD 1000) in the Southeastern US is characterized by sedentary horticulturalists living in villages located along major rivers. The Middle Woodland subperiod (300 BC – AD 600) is further defined by the appearance of distinctively decorated pottery. Specifically, Swift Creek pottery (ca. AD 100- 600/850) is known for its elaborate curvilinear designs that were stamped onto pre-fired vessels using carved wooden paddles. The pottery is said to be unique in that no two designs were exactly the same. It has been argued that this pottery was traded exclusively among elites at larger Swift Creek …

Understanding Early 20th Century Tenant Farming In Bartow County, Georgia, Joshua Reed

Symposium of Student Scholars

Tenant farming is an agricultural system in which farmers cultivate crops or raise livestock on rented land. Tenant farming became prominent directly following the American Civil war due to the bad economy former slaves and poor whites faced. Tenant farmers oftentimes owned equipment and supplies and were provided with food and other necessities from the landowners. The Adams family house is a historic building situated in Cartersville, Georgia located only a few miles northwest of the Etowah Indian Mounds. The house was constructed on the Walnut Grove Plantation, owned by the Young family since the early 1830s. Abandoned for a …

Home Sweet Home: An Architectural Analysis Of Houses During The Middle Mississippian Period In The Etowah River Valley, Jordan Farkas

Symposium of Student Scholars

The Mississippian period lasted from AD 1000 to AD 1550. It is divided into three different subperiods, Early (AD 1100-1200), Middle (AD 1200-1375), and Late (AD 1375-1550). Mississippian life, in general, is characterized by a ranked society, large villages located on floodplains near major rivers, a subsistence base centered on maize agriculture, as well as the use of triangular-shaped projectile points in hunting and new forms and decorative motifs on pottery for cooking and storage. One of the biggest developments in the Mississippian period revolves around house architecture and construction practices. After AD 1200, house design shifts away from rectangular …

Detecting Bacterial Species From Ancient Human Skeletal Samples, Ariel Owens, Daisy Mcgrath, Tsai-Tien Tseng

Symposium of Student Scholars

This paleopathological study aims to identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) and other Mycobacterium species in silico from skeletal samples that belonged to 28 Polish individuals in the Neolithic period under PRJNA422903 from the Sequence Read Archive (SRA). After next-generation sequencing (NGS), bioinformatics methods are heavily relied upon for identification of pathogens from complex samples. We implemented a bioinformatics pipeline, with custom-built databases, utilizing the following software tools: Trim Galore! and Kraken2. After adapter trimming, Kraken2 was used for taxonomic classifications. We have found that Mycobacterium is present in all 28 individuals. The average percentage of MAC …

Ironing Out The Data: A Review Of Chronometric Hygiene For Iron Age Sites In Southern India, Kady Yeomans

Symposium of Student Scholars

In southern India the Iron Age is usually dated to about 1500-200 BC using carbon-14 dating. However, since the early advent of C14 dating in the late 1940s, our knowledge of how carbon decays over time has changed thanks to advancements in science. Some of the earlier archaeological dates have the potential to be less useful than others due to older collection practices and processing methods. This paper presents results from a chronometric hygiene process that was applied to the current data. Chronometric hygiene is vital to continually assess the viability and accuracy of C14 dates. Dates that cannot be …