Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Method For Investigating Tv Effect On Passivity-Activity Of Crees, Gary Granzberg

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

With the recent rise to prominence of materialistic emphasis in anthropology, there has been a corresponding development of new methodology. An example is presented here of how new methodology can be applied to the study of a Cree Indian community in Canada. This study examined the effect of television on the passivity-activity dimension in development of children.

Naming Practices In South America, John Bregenzer

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

On the basis of previous investigation of modes of address and social structure, this study attempts to show that certain naming practices in South America are related to indicators of a postulated individualism-communalism continuum of the societies. The results suggest a relationship between some naming practices and a continuum based on mean size of the local community.

The German Paradox (A Problem In National Character), Robert F. Spencer

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

ABSTRACT - There has been considerable argument since World War II over whether the concept of a national character, such as might distinguish the Germans, the Japanese, the Russians, or any other contemporary national group, has any reality in fact. The present paper, operating on the assumption that there is a distinctive German character, one essentially different from that of the English, the Italians, the French, or the Russians, seeks to show, in terms of the processes of culture defined by anthropology, where German uniqueness lies. This, it is contended, rests not so much in factors of native psychology and …

Modern Pottery-Making In San Anton, Mexico, Gordon J. Hadden

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

The principal contemporary pottery-making techniques which are recognized for the Mexican area are; handmodeling, building, molding with convex molds, molding with concave molds, molding with concave "vertical halves" molds, modeling with revolving "moldes," and wheel-throwing (Foster 1955: 3) . We can attribute this diversity of pottery-making techniques to the blending of pre-Conquest native practices with those of the postConquest Spanish.

Pueblo Indian Religion, Medicine, And The Good Life, Mary Elizabeth Hamlin

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

While a public health education trainee with the Division of Indian Health, United States Public Health Service, I became interested in the socio-religious structure of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. During the nine month field training period spent in the Albuquerque area I investigated the existing ethnological literature concerning the Pueblo Indians. Research investigation in the area of the relationship between religion and medicine was accomplished by study of literature and field observation and inquiry. My concern was not so much the epidemiological determinants of disease and its prevalence. Rather it was with the "behavior of the people in …

Preference For Male Children In Japanese And American Society, Joyce Aschenbrenner

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Is a preference for children of a given sex in a society primarily a result of cultural values, of social requirements or of individual needs? Although it is impossible completely to separate these types of influence, since social change may modify cultural traditions, and social interaction and cultural values influence individual needs. perhaps some assessment of the relative importance of various social and cultural phenomena involved in sex preference in a society can be attempted.

The present study is an exploratory treatment of the nature and degree of sex preference in two societies - Japanese and American - and a …

The Ethnological Use Of A Health Questionnaire, Nancy Way Lienke

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

In the summer of 1962 the population of Grand Portage Chippewa Indian Reservation was brought under review to determine the possible utility of the Cornell Medical Index Health Questionnaire (CMI) in the examination of psychosocial patterns. The use of the questionnaire was part of an investigation of the cultural concepts of health and disease in Grand Portage community. The CMI, therefore, was administered in the context of an ethnological study, and it should be considered in this inquiry as an instrument for studying the socio-cultural dimensions of disease rather than as a method of gathering traditional epidemiological data.

This paper …

A Cross-Cultural Evaluation Of Festinger's Theory Of Cognitive Dissonance, Harold E. Nelson

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

The purpose of this paper is to attempt an evaluation, in cross-cultural terms, of Leon Festinger's Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, as a research tool. The specific problem to be treated is a consideration of the extent to which dissonance theory can be made applicable in varying situations in diverse cultural settings. Prior to an exposition of methodology, a short abstract of the hypothesis and some of its ramifications is appropriate.

Some Problems In Minnesota Chippewa Acculturation, Jerome S. Stromberg

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

The "Indian Problem" is a term frequently used without precise definition. It serves, perhaps, to bring to the mind of the general public conditions of poverty, backwardness, drunkenness, disrespect for the law, and lack of education and community organization among the Indians. An objection to this approach is that it does not provide adequate or systematic understanding of the basic nature of this "problem," but refers rather to the easily observable external manifestations. The "Indian Problem" approach also seems to attribute to all Indians an inherent tendency toward socially unacceptable behavior. A more profitable approach is to identify some of …

Economy And Protein Malnutrition Among The Digo, Luther P. Gerlach

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

In short, even where protein malnutrition is primarily a result of poor environment, economy, and technology, other, often less obvious, traditional cultural patterns must be taken into account in any development and improvement program. If kwashiorkor is to be eliminated satisfactorily, and if contingent problems are to be kept to a minimum, these other patterns must often also be modified.

The importance of traditional cultural patterns is perhaps best illustrated by an example of a people who suffer from protein malnutrition primarily because of them. The Digo tribe of coastal Kenya and Tanganyika, among whom this writer conducted anthropological field …

Carl Bodmer's Paintings As Ethnographic Documents, Joan Rupp

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.