Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Flavors Of Change: Redefining Meat, Masculinity, And Mongolian, Khaliun Enkhbayar , '24

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

There is a saying among Mongolians that Mongolia was built on the four hoofs of livestock. Following this sentiment, Mongolians take pride in being raised on "meat and milk." My thesis explores the multifaceted role of meat in Mongolia, tracing its significance at the intersection of social connections, gender dynamics, and national identity against the backdrop of rapid socio-economic transformations over the past century.

In my research project, I followed a thread of changes that Mongolians have come to accept as their everyday reality. The past 100 years have been characterized by a widespread shift from a nomadic to a …

The Blurry Line Between Corporation And Cult: A Retrospective Autoethnographic Study, Ernst Graamans

The Qualitative Report

In popular management literature corporations are sometimes loosely compared to cults. The comparison is a severe allegation as it implies the transgression of subordinate employees’ integrity. This paper explores to what extent such comparisons with cults are warranted as well as the implications this has for the practice of corporate culture management. On grounds of the author’s unique, first-hand experience in both corporate and cultic environments a retrospective autoethnographic (RAE) approach was chosen to further explore the supposed resemblance. The comparison is structured along Lifton’s eight criteria of thought reform and reveals that although akin to cults in all aspects …

Bhalo Lagena! What Well-Being Means To Young Immigrant South Asian Women, Fatima Jahra , '24

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

No abstract provided.

Between Here And There: Vietnamese Identity Formation In The United States, Nancy Vu , '24

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

My thesis looks at the processes of identity formation within the Vietnamese diasporic community, who sought refuge in the United States shortly after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. It draws on semi-structured interviews with Vietnamese community members from Arizona and California, textual analysis of Vietnamese magazines and written work by Vietnamese writers, and auto-ethnography informed by my family history and personal experiences in the Vietnamese community. My analysis brings together insights from different scholarly traditions that explore identity, memory, materiality, and migration. After an overview of the histories of Vietnamese migration and integration to the United States, …

Philadelphia’S Urban Community Gardens: Decolonization, Green Space, And Food Security, Freddie Lin , '24

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

No abstract provided.

#Dusomething! A Qualitative Exploratory Study To Identify Challenges And Opportunities For Improvement In Du's Response To Sexual Harassment And Assault, Alejandro Cerón, Amanda Cali, Briana Cox, Camille Cruz, Camryn Evans, Cyndal Groskopf, Ashley Joplin, Clayton Kempf, Kēhaulani Lagunero, Jayvyn Jakai Lewis, Aili Limstrom, Gray Messersmith, Cal Quayle, Yadira Quintero, Michael Sze, Aaron Toussaint, Sami Zepponi

Anthropology: Undergraduate Student Scholarship

The purpose of this course-based research project was to identify where DU has made progress in its response to sexual harassment, identifying challenges and opportunities for improvement, with the hope that the results will support the DU community’s efforts to prevent, address, and eradicate sexual harassment.

17O-Excess In Tropical Cyclones Reflects Local Rain Re-Evaporation More Than Moisture Source Conditions, Chijun Sun, Timothy Shanahan, Shaoneng He, Adriana Bailey, Jesse Nusbaumer, Jun Hu, Aubrey Hillman, Erika Ornouski, Jacob Warner, Kristine Delong

Faculty Publications

17O-excess is a relatively new water isotope parameter that could potentially provide useful information about the hydrological cycle. Previous works focusing on 17O-excess in polar regions suggest that it primarily tracks moisture source relative humidity, but little is known about how to interpret 17O-excess data in lower latitudes. Here we present quasi-hourly triple oxygen isotope data of precipitation collected from two tropical cyclones in Texas and Louisiana in 2020 to understand the impacts of environmental and meteorological processes on the 17O-excess of low-to mid-latitude precipitation. We find that at both hourly timescales and the event scale, 17O-excess is strongly correlated …

Editor's Introduction, Marc R. Loustau Ph.D.

Journal of Global Catholicism

Introduction by Managing Editor Marc Roscoe Loustau to Towards an Economic Anthropology of Catholicism in the Age of Pope Francis

Hesitation Towards The Covid-19 Vaccine In The United States: A Digital Ethnographic Study [Vacilación Ante La Vacuna Contra El Covid-19 En Estados Unidos De América: Un Estudio Etnográfico Digital], Rosalynn A. Vega

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Following the authorization of the use of COVID-19 vaccines in babies age 6 months through children 4 years old in the United States, some individuals (parents, pediatricians, and communicators) framed COVID-19 vac-cination as an issue of access, while many others expressed hesitancy, and some resisted recommendations from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In this context, this study aimed to explore: 1) divergent reactions to the authorization of COVID-19 vaccine use in children aged 6 months to 4 years; and 2) opposing logics underlying attitudes towards pro-vaccination, anti-vaccination, and vaccine hesitancy regarding COVID-19 vaccines. To achieve this, a …

Reframing Disaster Justice: Conceptual Provocations, Practical Insights, And Research Directions, Redento B.; Recio, Kaira Zoe; Alburo-Cañete, Pamela Gloria; Cajilig

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

As we articulated in the introduction to the first installment of this two-part special issue, our aim is to offer a space that provokes a reflection and articulation of disaster justice praxis to generate conceptual, empirical, and practical insights across various Philippine contexts. In this second installment, we present several thematic threads emerging from the three researcharticles and the reflective conversations with disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) practitioners. These themes include (1) enriching disaster justice praxis and tackling issues around “justice gaps”; (2) interrogating initiatives to “shift the power” and localize DRRM interventions; and (3) revisiting the role of …

Feminization Of Responsibility In Community Recovery: Rethinking Disaster Justice Through The Lens Of Care, Kaira Zoe; Alburo-Cañete

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

In the Philippines women are increasingly recognized for their crucial roles in disaster recovery. While not against participation per se, thisarticle troubles assumptions tied to women’s participation, which are based on constructions of women’s altruism and care responsibilities. Drawing from a qualitative case study in post-Yolanda Tacloban, it contends that instrumentalizing women’s care-based practices in disasters may inadvertently worsen gender inequalities. To achieve gender justice in recovery, thearticle advocates addressing the confinement of care to women and emphasizes integrating an ethics of care into disaster justice frameworks to combat pervasive injustices that contribute to gendered vulnerabilities during disasters.KEYWORDS: DISASTER JUSTICE …

Knyaw/Karen Womanhood, Generational Healing And The Interplay Of Faith, Genocide, Gender Roles, And Education In The Face Of Health Diagnosis, Moo Law Eh Soe

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

During the fall semester of 2023, my honors project aimed to provide representation and shed light on the challenges Knyaw/Karen women encounter as part of their womanhood in traditional and Western communities. The issues are emphasized when these women receive life-altering health diagnosis that not only alters their identities but also requires them to step beyond the invisible parameters of what it means to be a Knyaw/Karen woman. It's worth noting that all the women I interviewed were immigrants from the Thai-Burma Border refugee Camps where Indigenous Knyaw people have been facing at least 70 years of genocide. The project …

An Investigation Of The Validity Of A Framework Constructed To Predict And Facilitate Upward-Stability, Timothy Streett

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

This study is an investigation of the validity of the theoretical assumptions of a programming model which posits that it is not income but rather a collection of personality and dispositional constructs which provide the foundation of an economically stable life, and that empowering those in poverty to improve their economic situation must begin with these constructs or will be a failed effort. The author provides a review of significant literature supporting the idea that these constructs are associated with better outcomes in many aspects of life. The author then provides original investigative research utilizing a self-administered, 40 item agree/disagree …

Usa Archaeology Museum Newsletter - March 2024, Archaeology Museum

Archaeology Museum Newsletters

In this edition of the museum's newsletter:

• Upcoming Free Public Talks:

1. "The Cosmos Revealed: Precontact Mississippian Rock Art at Painted Bluff" Jan Simek, Ph.D.
2. "Documenting the Africatown Cemetery," Alexandria Jones, Ph.D.
3. Alliance Française, "A Thorn in Spain's Side: The Rise & Fall of 16th Century Huguenot Corsairs," Jen Knutson
4. "Down the Bay: Archaeology & Oral History," Philip Carr, Ph.D., Rachel Hines, and Ryan Morini, Ph.D.
5. "Where is the Parity: Exploring the Gap Between Health Disparities and Health Equities," Franklin Trimm, M.D. and Tiquera Hall

• On Exhibit at the Archaeology Museum: "Unwritten: Archaeology & Oral History of Jim Crow Mobile"

• Upcoming …

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American Association For Anatomy Recommendations For The Management Of Legacy Anatomical Collections, Jon Cornwall, Thomas H. Champney, Carlina De La Cova, Dominic Hall, Sabine Hildebrandt, Jason C. Mussell, Andreas Winkelmann, Valerie B. Deleon

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Collections of human remains in scientific and private institutions have a long tradition, though throughout history there has often been variable regard for the respect and dignity that these tissues demand. Recent public scandals around the use of human remains, coupled with an increasing community awareness around accountability in such instances, forces scholars to confront the ethical and moral concerns associated with these collections. This includes specific focus on the acquisition, storage, use, and disposition of these remains, which were often collected with no consent and with little knowledge, or concern, about the individual or their respective culture and practices …

Anthropomorphism In Aesop's Fables, Nasih Alam

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

Generally, Aesop’s The Complete Fables is considered didactic for children. In my paper, I discuss how Aesop represents nonhumans in his fables and how they could negatively affect the psychology of children aged 7-12 if we as parents, teachers and legal guardians do not become conscious of its problematic didactic function. I show that most of the anthropomorphized animals in The Complete Fables have anthropocentric and provide environmentally harmful rhetorics. In order to keep the required length of paper in mind, I have limited myself to five tales from Aesop’s The Complete Fables, to show how and where the rhetoric …

Challenges To Reindeer, Reciprocity, And Indigenous Sami Sovereignty Amidst The Impact Of Green Energy Developments, Lisa Heikka-Huber

IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Cal Poly Humboldt

The Indigenous people of Europe known as the Sami, (also spelled Saami) many of whom live throughout the world, have continued to maintain active nomadic communities today as their ancestors did. A wide spanning region of Northern Europe’s Arctic Zone or Sampi often referred to as Fennoscandia, encompasses four countries, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia’s Kola Peninsula (Roland & Löffler, 2012). The nomadic Sami people follow the migration pathways of their reindeer herds through the wilderness bi-annually. This paper will discuss many perspectives, including the battle Sami people and other Indigenous communities have endured while combating green energy development from …

Pal-Bert: An Improved Question Answering Model, Wenfeng Zheng, Siyu Lu, Zhuohang Cai, Ruiyang Wang, Lei Wang, Lirong Yin

Faculty Publications

In the field of natural language processing (NLP), there have been various pre-training language models in recent years, with question answering systems gaining significant attention. However, as algorithms, data, and computing power advance, the issue of increasingly larger models and a growing number of parameters has surfaced. Consequently, model training has become more costly and less efficient. To enhance the efficiency and accuracy of the training process while reducing the model volume, this paper proposes a first-order pruning model PAL-BERT based on the ALBERT model according to the characteristics of question-answering (QA) system and language model. Firstly, a first-order network …

Usa Archaeology Museum Newsletter - March 2024, Archaeology Museum

Archaeology Museum Newsletters

In this edition of the museum's newsletter:

• Upcoming Free Public Talks: Alabama Archaeological Society Southwest Chapter Meeting and Public Talk; "Unwritten: Archaeology & Oral History of Jim Crow Mobile" Speaker Series

• On Exhibit at the Archaeology Museum: "Unwritten: Archaeology & Oral History of Jim Crow Mobile"

• Upcoming Local Archaeology Conferences

• Who's Ready For Field Trips?

• Project Archaeology Investigating Rock Art Professional Development Workshop

• Giving to the Archaeology Museum

Forging Identity: Learning About Craft Production And Identity Through The Analysis Of Hand-Made Nails, Linda Zuniga

Anthropology and Sociology Student Research

Nails may not seem exciting. After all, their function is self-evident: nails hold things together. On closer examination, however, nails are quite useful. They can help to determine a site’s chronology, reveal variability in commodity consumption, and reflect the economic activities that occurred in an historic village. Here, I present the analysis of nails from Stoddartsville, a 19th century milling village in northeast Pennsylvania. Different blacksmiths introduce subtle variability into the finished form of a nail, yielding differences in attributes such as nail head length, nail head thickness, and number of head facets. I used these attributes to determine the …

Gaining Insight Into Lithic Technology In Eastern Pennsylvania Through The Study Of An Amateur Collection, Khori Newlander, Linda Zuniga

Anthropology and Sociology Faculty Research

The farm fields of east-central Pennsylvania contain an abundance of artifacts that span much of regional prehistory. Not surprisingly, many of these artifacts have been collected by local amateurs. Here, we analyze an assemblage of projectile points collected from the Kramer Farm in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. We explore how morphometric attributes (e.g., size, shape), indices of retouch, and raw material vary in relation to projectile point type. Our analysis provides insight into projectile point design, lithic resource preferences, technological organization, and land use. Despite the imperfections that often characterize amateur collections and the controversy that surrounds their study, our analysis demonstrates …

Not Just Playing With Toys: Enculturation And Identity In A Historic Village In Northeast Pennsylvania, Amarah Karlick

Anthropology and Sociology Student Research

The archaeology of early industrial communities can yield material evidence of the pervasive, interrelated impacts of industrialization on work and domestic life. Archaeologists and historians investigating industrial communities have increasingly pivoted from a focus on great men and firsts in technological development to the local sociocultural contexts and consequences of industrialization. Here, I use the study of toys from Stoddartsville, a milling village in northeast Pennsylvania, to examine the lived experiences of children during the mid-nineteenth century. I suggest that children learned powerful lessons about identity, especially gender, as they played with toys at Stoddartsville. These lessons cemented the social …

“It’S Always An Admixture Of So Many Identities”: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Indigenous Kalasha Cultural Identity, Fahad Riaz Choudhry Dr, Karen Jennifer Golden, Miriam Sang-Ah Park

The Qualitative Report

This case study examined how an Indigenous Kalasha participant in northern Pakistan makes sense of his multi-faceted identity. The interpretative phenomenological analysis method was used to analyze data from an in-depth, single person case study. Our selected participant was a 36-year-old male postgraduate student from an Indigenous marginalized tribe, which is an ethnic and religious minority group in the northern Hindukush mountain region of Pakistan. Results are presented in four superordinate themes: (1) Identity: admixture of a number of identities, (2) Changing culture and its psychological impact, (3) Cultural protective factors against psychological problems and (4) Mental health perspective. …

A Revisited History Of Cacao Domestication In Pre-Columbian Times Revealed By Archaeogenomic Approaches, Claire Lanaud, Hélène Vignes, José Utge, Gilles Valette, Bénédicte Rhoné, Mariella Garcia Caputi, Natalia Sofía Angarita Nieto, Olivier Fouet, Sarah M. Rowe, Guy S. Duke

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Humans have a long history of transporting and trading plants, contributing to the evolution of domesticated plants. Theobroma cacao originated in the Neotropics from South America. However, little is known about its domestication and use in these regions. In this study, ceramic residues from a large sample of pre-Columbian cultures from South and Central America were analyzed using archaeogenomic and biochemical approaches. Here we show, for the first time, the widespread use of cacao in South America out of its native Amazonian area of origin, extending back 5000 years, likely supported by cultural interactions between the Amazon and the Pacific …

Linear Enamel Hypoplasia In Homo Naledi Reappraised In Light Of New Retzius Periodicities, Mark Fretson Skinner, Lukas Kyle Delezene, Matthew M. Skinner, Patrick Mahoney

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objectives

Among low-latitude apes, developmental defects of enamel often recur twice yearly, linkable to environmental cycles. Surprisingly, teeth of Homo naledi from Rising Star in South Africa (241–335 kya), a higher latitude site with today a single rainy season, also exhibit bimodally distributed hypoplastic enamel defects, but with uncertain timing and etiology. Newly determined Retzius periodicities for enamel formation in this taxon enable a reconstruction of the temporal patterning of childhood stress.

Methods

Using high resolution casts of 31 isolated anterior teeth from H. naledi, 82 enamel defects (linear enamel hypoplasia [LEH]) were identified. Seventeen teeth are assigned …

Queer Rural Youth Online: A Digital Ethnography, Joseph Robert Burns

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is based on digital ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2023 within Queer subcommunities on the social media sites Reddit and Twitter (now known as X) and data collected from interviews with Queer rural youth members of these communities. The data reveal that social media use directly influences the lives and actions of Queer rural youth, who use the space to build social connections, shape their personal identities, and seek advice pertaining to their in-person lives and decisions. By using these spaces, Queer rural youth build both bonding and bridging social capital, learn to subvert restrictions to their Internet access, …

Review Of After Genocide: Memory And Reconciliation In Rwanda, Selina Gallo-Cruz

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Protecting The Beanstalk: Folklore As Traditional Cultural Expressions, Ainsley E. Marlette

The University of Cincinnati Intellectual Property and Computer Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Cross-Institutional Collaboration And Exhibit Making: “On The Gold Mountain: Chinese Mining History And Heritage Of Idaho” At The Idaho Museum Of Mining And Geology, Jordan Kathleen Bennett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Gold Rush, which brought many new immigrant communities to the American West, made a permanent impact on American culture by prompting the development of many Western towns. However, the Chinese immigrant mining population in the Boise, Idaho area has had little museum representation despite the more than 300,000 Chinese people who emigrated to the US between the 1840s and 1880. To rectify this, the Idaho Museum of Mining and Geology (IMMG), in collaboration with members of the Payette National Forest, the Asian American Comparative Collection, Boise State University/US Army Corps of Engineers, and the University of Denver, developed an …

#Getinked: An Anthropological Exploration Of Tattooing And Social Media, Delanee Taylor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to address two inquiries regarding contemporary tattooing. The first goal is to explore how social media has changed the practice of tattooing while the second goal is to examine how tattoos are used to express or explore the differing facets of a person’s identity. Identity theory, social identity theory, semiotics, and the concepts of stigma and deviancy form the theoretical framework which allows one to understand the ways in which tattoos can provide insights into the various aspects of someone’s identity as well as how social media can influence members of the tattoo community. An online survey, …