Anthropology Commons^™

Land Rematriation: Utilizing The National Register Of Historic Places And Developing Tribal Homeland Territories For The Restoration Of Historic Landscapes And Sovereignty, Robert E. Hazen

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Land rematriation and cultural revitalization are crucial to addressing the ongoing impacts of settler colonialism on Indigenous communities, particularly for the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The National Register of Historic Places and federal recognition processes have traditionally marginalized Indigenous practices and land claims, yet, as I argue in this thesis, they hold potential for reappropriation in support of sovereignty and heritage. This thesis argues that integrating Indigenous methodologies, geospatial research, and archival analyses can forge a path toward effective land rematriation efforts. My findings reveal culturally significant sites connected to the historic village of Getegitigaaning, helping …

Indigenous-Industrial Heritage: Centering Indigenous Voices In Minnesota's Iron Range, Larissa A. Juip

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Industrial heritage refers to the material remains, sites, landscapes, and practices associated with industrial and extractive activities. As a field, it has historically been concerned with the conservation, management, and interpretation of industrial sites and activities and forms a central narrative within Minnesota's museums. Yet such accounts often privilege object-centered narratives while silencing the presence, knowledge, and contributions of Indigenous and Descendant communities, obscuring their enduring relationships to extractive landscapes. In recent decades, critiques of traditional industrial heritage approaches have identified gaps in the discipline related to the exclusion of marginalized populations, including Indigenous Peoples. Minnesota is home to eleven …

Comparative Semiotic Analysis Of Non-Verbal Communication: Apis Mellifera Waggle Dance And Human Kinesic Signaling Systems, Nishtha Tikalal

Honors Undergraduate Theses

There are many parallels between two seemingly disparate forms of non-verbal communication: the waggle dance of Apis mellifera (honeybees) and human kinesic signaling systems. Through a comparative semiotic analysis, this research aims to conduct a comparative semiotic analysis, investigating structural and functional similarities between these communication methods, challenging anthropocentric assumptions about meaning making in the natural world. This research employs a meta-synthesis approach, drawn from a methodological literature review to examine historical representations of bee-human relationships, semiotics of non-verbal communication, and the specific mechanisms of the waggle dance and human kinesics. This methodology involves systematic categorization and analysis of extracted …

A Systematic Review Of Dietary Trends, Influencing Factors, And Their Impacts On Cardiovascular Health In Turkish Populations, Pelin L. Özoğlu

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death globally, including in Türkiye. One key factor influencing CVD prevention is dietary patterns, which directly impacts cardiovascular health. Türkiye traditionally follows the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet), which is acclaimed for its cardiovascular benefits. Despite this, Türkiye continues to experience high rates of CVD, with projections indicating that CVD mortality will double for both men and women by 2030. It is crucial to address diet-related factors, including potential nutritional deficiencies, to reduce cardiovascular health risks.

This research aims to analyze the Turkish community's adherence to the Mediterranean diet to understand why CVD prevalence …

Audit Culture And A Nonprofit In Northern Illinois, Onyenum Ruth Udoh

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Audit culture has become a defining feature of nonprofit life, shaping how organizations balance accountability to donors with responsibility to their communities. While existing scholarship often highlights large or international NGOs, less is known about how small and mid-sized nonprofits in the United States experience these pressures. This study focused on nonprofit in DeKalb County, Illinois, to examine how audits, donor restrictions, and accountability demands influence nonprofit practices, priorities, and relationships with their communities. Grounded in ethnographic fieldwork and organizational anthropology, I conducted eight weeks of participant observation and semi-structured interviews with seven staff across leadership, finance, program, and administrative …

Tackling Paradoxes And Double Binds For A Healthier Workplace: Insights From The Early Covid-19 Responses In Quebec And Ontario, Daniel Côté, Amelia León, Ai-Thuy Huynh, Jessica Dubé, Ellen Maceachen, Pamela Hopwood, Marie Laberge, Samantha Meyer, Meghan K. Crouch, Joyceline Amoako

Études primaires

The urgency of managing the COVID-19 health crisis in workplaces led to tensions, work overload, and confusion about preventive measures. This study presents a secondary analysis of qualitative data on paradoxes and double binds (PDBs) experienced by precarious essential workers in Canada who interacted with the public and their supervisors. Based on 13 interviews from a larger qualitative dataset, we examine how workers navigated public health recommendations and organisational demands during the pandemic. Findings reveal multiple organisational and managerial PDBs—both COVID-19-related and pre-existing—that contributed to psychological distress and compromised well-being. We argue that PDBs represent a significant occupational health hazard …

Organizational And Structural Factors In Building The Therapeutic Alliance In A Work Rehabilitation Program With Injured Immigrant Workers In Quebec, Daniel Côté, Maude Arsenault, Jessica Dubé

Études primaires

Abstract

The therapeutic alliance is central to occupational rehabilitation, particularly for immigrant workers who face unique challenges of migration and of social and occupational integration. This study explores the development and maintenance of this alliance between immigrant workers with compensated work injuries and their care providers during work rehabilitation. Using ethnography, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups, the qualitative case study involved 7 injured immigrant workers and their interdisciplinary clinical team. The study identified several factors that weakened the alliance, including administrative complexity, conflicting views on pain and disability, cultural stereotypes, and interorganizational communication issues. Many of these challenges were systemic …

Cultural Model Of Indigenous Custom Marriage, Maria G. Stapleton

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines and documents the tradition of Indigenous Custom Marriage (ICM) practiced in a semi-rural community in central Mexico. The arrival of Spaniards to Mesoamerica during the sixteenth century brought new forms of marriage to the region, those of the Christian religion and of the Spanish crown’s laws. While these new forms slowly gained acceptance, the traditional pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican form of getting married has endured over the intervening centuries up through the present. This traditional form of marriage is not monolithic, but shows variation across the diverse ethnic groups, communities, and geographic regions of Mesoamerica. The community studied, Tlanalapa, …

It's Not The Fault Of The Parrot, But Of The One Who Teaches Him To Talk: Understanding Identities And Relationships Of An Educational Ngo In Guatemala, Brittany Rebecca Blomquist

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Guatemala is an economically poor country, with a rich culture that makes it a destination for foreign assistance through non-governmental agencies (NGOs) and tourism. The history of conflict and foreign economic development within the country has created a dichotomy of identities, divided across economic wealth, ethnicity, and urban/rural landscapes. NGOs, their presence as transnational actors, and their organizational identities augment the identities present within the spaces in which NGOs work. Additionally, these identities are fluid and relational. I argue that the identities and relationships that form within the NGO space are reflective of NGO work and development structures. The identities …

Crypto Stamps And Cultural Heritage Representation: A Case Study Of Ghana's Asantehene Commemorative Stamp, Henrietta Otoo

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study examined Ghana's Asantehene commemorative crypto stamp as a case of how emerging technologies intersect with cultural heritage preservation in Africa. Through qualitative textual and visual analysis, the research explores how the stamp, issued by Ghana Post to honor the 25th anniversary of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II's reign, blends traditional philatelic practices with blockchain-enabled non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The analysis uncovered how the stamp's visual rhetoric, royal iconography, and blockchain authentication collectively serve to reinforce national identity, institutional memory, and elite narrative power. The analysis uncovered how royal iconography and visual rhetoric serve nation-building and institutional memory while blockchain introduces …

Workable Seams, Jackson Mills Smith

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In Jackson Mills Smith’s Workable Seams, readers encounter the stories, landscapes, and lives of rural Knox County, Indiana, from the oscillating vantage of a Hoosier boy raised with a Cajun sensibility. After relocating from Louisiana to the river bottoms of the crossroad state at a young age, the speaker gradually uncovers a local history only previously understood in fragmentary shards and fading glimpses.

Alternating between semi-lyrical embodied experiences and memories, documentary pieces in conversation with the state’s historical archive, and the retelling of exaggerated local yarns, poetry is a means of inquiry in Workable Seams. Topics range from …

40 Years Passing By In (A) “Heartbeat”, Christopher Janney

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

This article outlines the forty-year history go Christopher Janney’s iconic performance work “HeartBeat.” Trained as an architect and jazz musician, Janney combines these two disciplines to create large interactive light/sound installations and performances. On the one hand, he attempts to make architecture more like music, more “alive” using real-time sensing devices as on his “Harmonic Convergence” installation on the Miami International Airport. On the other hand, he attempts to make music more like architecture, more physical more visual. In his “HeartBeat” performance, a dancer wears a heartbeat device that amplifies his/her heartbeat in “real time.” Over this pulse, live musicians …

Yoga Sūtra Book Four And The Yogabindu, Christopher Key Chapple

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

Four themes from the fourth pāda of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra are examined here: karma (IV:2-13), individuality (IV:16), humility (IV:20-22), and freedom (IV:29-34). Affirmations and variant interpretations of these four are provided from Haribhadra Virahāṅka’s Yogabindu, most likely composed a century or two later.

Collective Karma: From The Yogasūtra To Taylor Swift, Zoë Slatoff

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The Indian knowledge traditions speak at length about karma, which is divided into three categories—accumulated (saṃcita), ripe (prārabdha), and future (kriyamāṇa). While much is said about our individual karma and how it affects our repeated reincarnation in cyclic existence, how does this affect others and how do others affect us? In other words, as this paper explores, what is our reciprocal and collective karma?

Painting Liberation: A Visual Ontology Of The Interplay Of Mind And Consciousness In Book Four Of The Yoga Sūtras, Melissa Townsend

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

This presentation explores how artistic practice can illuminate philosophical questions about the nature of mind, consciousness, and liberation as articulated in Book Four of the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. Through a series of paintings that visually translate these sūtras, I propose that art offers a unique, experiential means of engaging with the complex relationship between citta (mind) and puruṣa (consciousness).

The paintings function as a form of “visual ontology,” inviting viewers to engage with abstract philosophical concepts in a sensory, tangible way. By depicting the interplay between the mutable processes of the mind and the unchanging awareness of consciousness, these …

Multi-Criteria Gis Suitability Analysis For Sustainable Agricultural Tourism Site Selection In Peru, Jessica J. Mccord

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Agricultural tourism offers a mechanism to strengthen rural economies while preserving traditional practices and unique cultural identities. In the Peruvian Andes, rural communities confront increasing challenges in the face of a changing climate and reliance on industrialized agriculture. Rural communities attempt to strike a delicate balance between economic development and heritage preservation. This research utilizes a Geographic Information System (GIS)- based analysis to identify areas best positioned for the development of agritourism initiatives. The suitability analysis integrates both local and global sustainability priorities by incorporating a set of defined criteria that together identify areas that are the most appropriate for …

Free Food And The Fabric Of Need: Moralized And Institutionalized Care Within Kentucky Charitable Food Programs, Alisha D. Mays

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

This dissertation offers a critical ethnographic examination of hunger and charitable food programs (CFPs) in rural Eastern Kentucky, situated within the broader political economy of welfare retrenchment and neoliberal governance in the United States. Through multi-sited fieldwork spanning food pantries, mutual aid networks, state and federal partner agencies, and the regional food bank system, I analyze how hunger is experienced, managed, and framed by clients, volunteers, and organizational staff.

This work uses qualitative methods to weave the lived experiences across intersecting charitable food systems; this dissertation contributes to economic anthropology by illuminating the relational and political dimensions of hunger in …

Teacher Perception On The Implementation Of A Culturally Responsive Ela Curriculum, Erica Tate Dial

Theses and Dissertations

While the principles of culturally responsive and culturally relevant teaching hold transformative potential, they can only be fully realized if educators are genuinely equipped and empowered to implement them. This qualitative study examined teacher perceptions of an English Language Arts curriculum through the lens of culturally relevant and culturally responsive teaching. A diverse group of teachers, varying in experience, age, gender, and race, were interviewed to gather a range of perspectives on the implementation of this curriculum. The study focused on addressing the following research questions: 1. What are teachers’ perceptions of culturally responsive and culturally relevant instruction and academic …

Transformation Of Buddhist Musical Practices From The 7th-13th Centuries As A Response To Political And Social Disorder In Medieval India, Stephan Duran

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

This article gives an account of the development of Buddhist musical practices on the Indian subcontinent from their earliest, datable instances, to the disappearance of Buddhist institutions from India proper, demonstrating the persistence of descendant traditions of Sanskrit Buddhist chant and song in contemporary Japanese, Tibetan, and Newar esoteric Buddhist communities. It is argued that the Buddhist musical theory and praxis of these three cultural spheres both preserve features of ancient and medieval Indian Buddhist music and sonically illustrate the transition from political and social order to de-centralized social organization, a shift that took place between the 7^th and …

Symbols Of Sovereignty And How They Speak To Us: Reading Contemporary Wampum Artwork In New York State Museums, Marie Peterson

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Contemporary Haudenosaunee artworks in exhibit spaces across New York State are bringing cultural information and counter-historical narratives to the public that they might not encounter otherwise. Artwork that includes wampum depictions or materials has heuristic qualities that can engage viewers with Haudenosaunee ways of knowing and relating. Wampum heuristics and Haudenosaunee scholarship are employed to interrogate how wampum materials were collected, categorized, and researched by the New York State Museum during the salvage anthropology era. The narratives embedded in wampum artworks are traced from this salvage era history, throughout the century between the salvage era that began at the end …

Reproductive Justice: People Matter! History Matters! Places Matter!, Jazmin L. High

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Research has established that racial disparities in contraceptive use exist in the United States with African American women being more likely than white women to report using a contraceptive method associated with lower efficacy or no contraception at all. Several factors have been suggested to explain low uptake of highly effective forms of contraception and disparities including cost, systemic racism, negative attitudes, and cultural mistrust stemming from the history of medical racism. However, the lived experiences of rural African American Southern women are underrepresented in contraceptive research. Utilizing mixed methods, this study explores the contraceptive experiences of 14 rural African …

Y’All Means All: Pro-Choice Abortion Activism In West Texas Post-Dobbs, Hannah S. Noblewolf

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

In the spring of 2021, a six-week abortion ban passed by popular vote in the city of Westerburg, Texas. It had a civil enforcement mechanism, allowing someone to collect a reward of $2,000 if they successfully sued someone they reported for “aiding and abetting” abortion. The ban, called the Westerburg Sanctuary City ordinance, was referred to as “bounty hunting.” When the ban passed it became the template for the state-level Texas Heartbeat Act, which provides a greater financial reward for a successful civil suit, with a minimum of $10,000 plus legal fees. In the face of this ban, pro-choice activists …

Laudate Deum: A Framework For Environmental Stewardship And Social Justice In The Philippines And Southeast Asia, Antonio Levy S. Ingles Jr.

CSID Journal of Infrastructure Development

This study explores the intersection of environmental initiatives and social justice movements in the Philippines, a nation rich in biodiversity but acutely vulnerable to climate change and ecological degradation. Using Laudate Deum as a guiding framework, the research examines how the principles of Immediate Action, Collective Responsibility, and Social Justice can inform collaborative strategies to address these challenges. Through an analysis of case studies, this paper highlights the socio-economic impacts of environmental crises, such as deforestation and pollution, and evaluates initiatives like mangrove reforestation and community-based waste management for their ecological and social benefits. The findings reveal that integrating Laudate …

Neuropunk: A Discursive Ethnographic Study Of The Do-It-Yourself Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Community, Erick Guzman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to understand the sociocultural contexts surrounding the do-it-yourself (DIY) use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) devices. TDCS is a non-invasive method of brain stimulation which has a history of use in (1) human brain mapping for basic neuroscience studies, (2) neuropsychological rehabilitation and the treatment of psychological disorders in clinical populations, and (3) cognitive enhancement in healthy people. However, its validity and effectiveness across these uses remain open to debate. Since the early 2010’s, tDCS has attracted a number of lay individuals interested in using it outside of formal scientific and medical contexts. These DIY tDCS …

A Narrative Inquiry On The Parent-Child Relationships Of Higher-Weight Late Adolescents, Hien Anh Miguel G. Dang, David Rigel Dela Cruz Panes, Belle Beatriex' M. Alemania

Sinaya: A Philippine Journal for Senior High School Teachers and Students

Late adolescence is a crucial developmental phase marked by significant psychological and emotional changes as individuals transition from childhood to adulthood. However, the specific impact of parental influence on the body image of higher-weight adolescents remains underexplored. This narrative study aimed to examine the parent-child relationship of higher-weight Filipino adolescents, delving more into how parental opinions influence late adolescents' well-being and perception of their bodies. To answer the objective, a qualitative method through semi-structured interview was employed where four participants were chosen by conducting purposive and snowball sampling. Various themes emerged, mainly struggles with body weight acceptance and insecurities, internalizing …

Origins Of Art: Demystifying The Scheuring Icon Collection, Mikayla Klemp

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Is Sexyy Red Minstrelsy, Or Are We Overreacting?, Malik Brizan-Reed

Capstones

This criticism piece explores the controversial female rapper Sexyy Red. It challenges negative perspectives about her persona, primarily based on respectability politics. It highlights Sexyy Red's ability to capitalize on a moment and business savviness. The article has themes of racial double standards and classism. Sexyy Red is more than the "ghetto Black girl," aesthetic. She's a mother and entrepreneur who is authentic to herself.

The Role Of Sufi Shrines In Local Politics: A Case Study Of Mitthan Kot Rajanpur, Pakistan, Sarfraz Ahmad

CBER Conference

This study investigates the role of Sufi shrines in the local community and in local politics. This study follows a qualitative research strategy and employs in-depth interviews to collect data from different stakeholders such as visitors of the Shrine, local politicians and Sajjada Nasheen. Thematic analysis has been used to analyze data. The findings of this study showed that the Koreja family in Mitthan Kot uses the shrine for their benefit as they are only the caretakers of the Shrine. They are not functioning for the shrine's development or for spreading the teachings of Khwaja Ghulam Farid. The results found …

The Challenge Of Regulating Pharmaceutical Clinical Trials In The 21st Century With A Focus On Guatemala, Alejandro Cerón, Antonio Ricafort, Carter Saccocio, Maria Delmonte, Jordan Vasquez, Amarri Bishop, Julia Atwood, Addison Bucsko, Jordan Lewis, Alexandra Welch, Itzael Garcia, Ella Wald, Selena Johnson, Crystal Jin, Talya Riciputi, Lindsey Speer, Vanessa Udo-Obong, Soren Engberg, Tessa Lindstrom

Anthropology: Undergraduate Student Scholarship

This report was prepared by the students and instructor of the "Right to Health in Theory and Practice" class taught in the fall of 2024 at the University of Denver. The report was prepared for the Vice Ministry of Health Regulation, Surveillance and Control of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance of Guatemala. The work used the following guiding question: What can a country like Guatemala do to regulate international pharmaceutical clinical trials in the context of research commercialization? In other words, the work was guided by three important elements. First, the regulatory aspect of clinical trials. Second, …

William Holmes Interviewing Rosetta Holmes Unm Oral History 300, William Holmes

Oral Histories HIST 300, Fall 2024

William Holmes interviews his grandmother Rosetta Holmes, a member of the Choctaw Nation, on her upbringing, life, and various stories from her childhood. She goes through how her family ended up in Hugo, Oklahoma. Her small town upbringing, how she met her husband, starting her family, and her education and the various jobs she has worked in her life. This was a project for oral history 300 at the University of New Mexico in which William used this opportunity to hear about his family and learn about his ancestors.