Anthropology Commons^™

Up In Smoke: Conservation And Gender On Mount Kilimanjaro, Garret Nash, Greg Thompson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Initially, this project aimed to examine cultural factors influencing fuel sourcing habits around Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. In 2008, a study conducted by Prof. Jeffery Durrant of the BYU Geography Department found that the Chagga (an ethnic group which lives on the lower slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro) hold a negative opinion towards the National Park and its staff. Specifically, I wanted to know if giving locals an opportunity to experience the park as tourists would change these perceptions and behavior when it came to conservation. However, as research progressed, it became clear that there were deeply seeded issues related to gender …

Evaluating Fall-Of Curves With Straight-Line Or Least Cost Path Distance, Robert J. Bischoff

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

A fundamental part of interaction is distance. Interaction can be modeled by plotting distance against the frequency of an object. My purpose it to evaluate whether straight-line distance is an acceptable proxy for actual distance or whether using more realistic distance measures is required. In this poster, I use the distribution of San Juan Red Ware in a portion of the southwestern United States to examine the differences between straight-line distance, the length of least cost paths (LCP), and the time to travel the LCP between points. San Juan Red Ware was produced in southeastern Utah between approximately A.D. 750 …

Transnationalism And Civic Engagement: An Ethnographic Study Of The Hmong Diaspora In France, Jacob Hickman

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Hmong are an ethnic minority group from southeast Asia who were displaced as refugees after the Second Indochina War. Before the war, Hmong lived in kinship-based, highland, semi-nomadic, subsistence-based farming communities. In these traditional villages, Hmong developed various means of social mediation and problem solving based on hierarchies of kinship and village or clan leadership. As they have been displaced to locations like the United States and France, however, legal structures of these new communities have challenged traditional structures of authority.

Collision Or Cohesion? Hmong Shamanism And Ontological Holism In France, Madison Harmer, Telisha Pantelakis

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

The Hmong are an ethnic group from Southeast Asia who’ve lived as forced migrants and political refugees for the past several hundred years. Current U.S. literature has attributed Hmong difficulties adapting to Western culture, specifically health care from shamanic practices. They claim that traditional and western healing practices are incompatible. (Franzen-Castle & Smith 2013, Fadiman 1997). While living in a small town in central France, we conducted an ethnographic study observing Hmong refugees and their interactions and beliefs between traditional healing practices and Western medicine to explore this claim.

Cerebral Lateralization Of Second Language, Emily Peterson, Gregory A. Thompson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

It has been generally accepted that language shows left-hemisphere dominance in right-handed monolinguals. In contrast, current models of L2 lateralization reveal no such consensus. Some studies (Galloway and Scarcella 1982; Gordon and Zatorre 1981; Paradis 1992) have either found no evidence supporting increased right hemisphere involvement in L2 processing or indicated that bilinguals’ L2 is not any more bilaterally organized than their L1. Other studies (Ke 1992; Hoosain and Shiu 1989; Jia et. al. 2013) have shown the opposite, finding that the L2 is significantly less left-lateralized. Still other studies have suggested that there is simply too much inter-individual variation …

Between Citizens And Strangers: On Laïcité And Group Rights Among Hmong In France, Austin Gillett

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

As the school year began in 1989, three Muslim girls, Samira S. and Fatima and Leïla A., started the ninth and tenth grades, insistent upon wearing their Islamic veils (Cardoso 2000). Problems arose when the girls refused to attend class at the beginning of the school year and on Saturdays, citing religious reasons. The girls were suspended from school, and eventually appealed the decision, prompting major upsets across schools in France. Schools began to act independently, issuing bans on the veils. In 1990, Jean-Juarés High School specified that “the wearing of all distinctive symbols, clothing or otherwise, religious, political, or …

Burial Plots: Finding Theatre In The Thanatology Of Colonial North Coast Peru, Connie Ericksen

Theses and Dissertations

Spain's invasion of the Andes initiated a social drama unprecedented in the experience of the Andean natives. Spanish and Spanish-conscripted native chroniclers wrote extensively about Inca pageantry, spectacle, and ritual, and hastily attributed pagan belief to performances they witnessed or heard about. With equal haste, the Spanish appropriated performance as means of introducing and enforcing Christianity. In this thesis, I treat performance as the central feature of Andean Colonial transition. Performance may be viewed as an ephemeral feature of the Andean transition but fortunately, in mortuary performances (dealing with death and treatment of the body); there are many theatrical elements …

Nabataean Subadult Mortuary Practices, Courtney Dotson Ewert

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides the beginnings of further research on the correlation between Nabataean mortuary practices and specific biological age ranges. It seeks to answer the question of whether Nabataean infants were absent from, or under-represented, in Nabataean cemeteries. Several quantitative analyses and descriptive statistics were performed, comparing Nabataean adult and subadult burials from fourteen sites. Nabataean cemetery populations were also compared with Walter Scheidel's model life table. These analyses demonstrate that Nabataean burials typically consisted of either a single adult or multiple individuals of various age ranges. Subadults, individuals under the age of 20 years, were rarely found buried by …

Kinship And The Self-Organization Of Exchange In Small-Scale Societies, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

Circulation of material goods is common in small-scale societies. Even where exchange is not coordinated above the level of the household, goods produced in one area are consistently conveyed to distant settlements. Numerous ethnographic studies demonstrate that exchange transactions are common among kin, and that the circulation of goods in small-scale societies is structured by kinship ties. From an individual’s point of view, the number of kinfolk available to exchange with and where they live strongly affect access to nonlocal goods. This paper explores the interrelationships among kin networks, settlement organization, and exchange using agent-based modeling, ethnographic studies, and archaeological …

Chiapa De Corzo Mound 3 Revisited: Burials, Caches, And Architecture, Michaela Ann Ostler

Theses and Dissertations

Chiapa de Corzo Mound 3 was excavated by Tim Tucker under the direction of the New World Archaeological Foundation in July 1965. Mound 3 is located in the ritual center of Chiapa de Corzo, the southwest quadrant. Significant Preclassic and Protoclassic architecture, burials, and caches were discovered there but were never fully analyzed or published. A complete analysis of this mound is necessary to better understand the role of Chiapa de Corzo as a whole and as a regional power. This thesis completes the analysis and accomplishes the following goals: (1) completes the ceramic analysis and classification started by Tucker, …

Agent-Based Modelling Of The Relationships Among Kinship, Residence, And Exchange, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

In the North American Southwest, archaeological research has documented ceramic exchange networks in which spatially proximate households in consumer communities have greatly varying amounts of imported pottery. This paper uses agent-based modelling to gain insight into the processes responsible for these distributions. The agent-based model used here tracks kinship ties among agents representing individuals who give birth, marry, co-reside with spouses, and exchange things in a virtual landscape filled with small settlements of up to a few hundred individuals. Exchange of goods in the model flows through the kinship networks. The results suggest that the differential distribution of goods among …

Sourcing Basalt From The Santiago Quarry In Chihuahua, Mexico Using Xrf, Michael T. Searcy, Todd Pitezel, Eric Christiansen

Faculty Publications

During survey in 2013, we identified the only known vesicular basalt quarry in the Casas Grandes region in northwestern Chihuahua, Mexico. Using XRF, we analyzed basalt from the Santiago Quarry and compared the results to the chemical characterization of formal tools (mostly mano and metate fragments) recovered at the site of Paquimé in order to determine if this quarry was one of the sources exploited by prehistoric stoneworkers during the Medio period (AD 1200–1450).

An Investigation Of The Manufacture And Use Of Bone Awls At Wolf Village (42ut273), Joseph A. Bryce

Theses and Dissertations

Wolf Village is a Fremont farming village located at the southern end of Utah Valley where Brigham Young University has conducted six field schools there and recovered 135 awl and awl fragments. The Wolf Village awls, like the awls from many Fremont sites, represent a large range of morphological variability. Because of the ubiquity and diversity of Fremont bone awls, many different approaches have been taken to organize and understand them; focusing more on morphological characteristics than interpretation. In order to better understand the life use of bone awls, experiments were conducted to replicate the manufacture and use of these …

Reconstructing Prehistoric Human/Plant Relationships At Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico Through A Microfossil Analysis Of Dental Calculus, Daniel James King

Theses and Dissertations

As part of a multinational project and with the help of other professionals, I gathered and analyzed 110 samples of dental calculus (fossilized plaque) from human remains discovered at Paquimé and the Convento site in the Casas Grandes River valley to identify various microfossils still present in the silica matrix. Once identified, I used the results to reconstruct human/plant relationships present during the Viejo (700-1250 CE) and Medio (1250-1450 CE) periods in and around Paquimé. My data suggest that maize was used throughout both time periods, supplemented by wild plants, and possible marine resources. Further, evidence for cultural food modification …

Dead Men Speak: What Fremont Burials Say About Fremont Society, Rachel Hansen

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

This project examined Fremont burials to determine whether the Fremont were a rank society. Because the data show that there are not elaborate burials with many grave goods the Fremont did not have rank differences in social status. It appears that the Fremont did have specialized ritual leaders (shamans).

Reconstructing Prehistoric Diets Of Desert People Through Dental Calculus, Michael T. Searcy

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In 2014 I was awarded a Mentoring Environment Grant by ORCA to examine microfossils embedded in the dental calculus (tartar) of individuals who were found during excavations in and around the site of Paquimé, which dates to the thirteenth century A.D. This ancient city is located in the Chihuahuan desert in modern-day Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico. Over the last two years, I have been able to involve students in the extraction, processing, publishing, and presentation of the results of this analysis. While the research is ongoing, preliminary results have positively identified several fascinating foods that were consumed by the ancient …

Somos Machistas: Paraguayan Perceptions On Machismo, Rachel Schwartz, Greg Thompson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Throughout this paper I will argue that the actual real lives and behaviors of Paraguayan men are in contradiction to the discourse of Paraguayans about Paraguayan men. Paraguayans, through their discourse of machismo, have created an ideal type of machismo with carefully constructed categories which defines and describes men’s perceived behaviors. However, throughout the course of my study I found that there was not one Paraguayan man in Asunción who fully inhabited the categories of the ideal machista in Paraguayan society. This paper describes what machismo is in actual Paraguayan society and what the current perceptions of machismo are.

From Master To Pastor: Conversion, Continuity, And Change In Hills Of Vietnam:, Danny Cardoza, Jacob Hickman

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The deceased was damned to hell and there was nothing to be done about it. Of this, Fong was quite sure. It was surprising to hear such a simple pronouncement, which rendered the typically complicated set of Hmong funerary rites—whether ‘traditional’ or Christian—effectively useless.

We met Fong¹ in the summer of 2015 in a small Hmong hamlet not far Sapa, a town in the mountains of the northern reaches of Vietnam. Fong was the pastor of his small village, a group of Christians that converted through the missionary efforts of covert foreign missionaries about ten years ago. Fong took …

Research And Conservation Of Peruvian Textiles, Taralea Forster, Paul Stavast

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In 2014, a collection of pre-Columbian Andean textiles was acquired by BYU’s Museum of Peoples and Cultures. Prior to their arrival at the museum, the textiles had been held in poor storage conditions. They had been stored with acidic packing materials in a building with no temperature or humidity control, and as a result had begun to deteriorate.

Transforming Marginality: Redefining Hmong Ethnic Identity Through Development In Sapa, Vietnam, Mary Cook, Jacob Hickman

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In addition to a booming tourist industry, Sapa, Vietnam is home to a number of development organizations seeking to improve the livelihoods of ethnic minorities in the region. One Hmong woman, whom I will call Maiv, started one of the first indigenous educational development programs in Sapa- ‘by Hmong people for Hmong people,’ as she describes it. In short, the organization boards ethnic minority youths (mostly Hmong) closer to a local school so they can receive an education. Maiv’s organization also provides jobs for women by running a trekking business, a café, and a handicraft shop.

Additive Schooling: Understanding Latino Education In A South Provo Elementary School, Hailey Leavitt, Gregory Thompson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My research was a case study of an elementary school in South Provo – Franklin Elementary, which focuses on two, second grade classrooms and the homes of six Latino second grade students. It focused on the similarities and differences found between home and school environments and how they shaped the educational experience of these six students. To do this, I examined what specific Latino additive schooling practices are being implemented in Franklin Elementary.

Morality Among The Hmog, Eric Austin Gillett, Jacob Hickman

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I have presented my findings at three conferences: Hmong Studies Consortium in Madison, Wisconsin (April 6, 2015), Society for the Anthropology of Religion in San Diego, California (April 12, 2015), and the American Anthropological Association in Denver, Colorado (November 18-22, 2015). I am preparing a journal article to submit for publication in the Journal of Vietnamese Studies. I will also be using research data to complete my senior thesis, honors thesis, and applications for graduate school.

Mexican American Families, Nicole Rose, Dr. Greg Thompson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Researchers define familismo as a “strong identification with the family” (Triandis, Marin, Betancourt, Lisansky, & Chang, 1982). Sabogal et al. said that “perceived support from family,” “family obligations,” and third, using family as cultural “referents” are important parts of familismo(Sabogal, Marín, Otero-Sabogal, Marín, & Perez-Stable, 1987). All researchers seem to have an underlying assumption that familismo-style relationships are phenomena that occur between blood-relation (Sabogal et al., 1987)(Steidel & Contreras, 2003)(Triandis et al., 1982)(Davila, Reifsnider, & Pecina, 2011). I argue that Mexican kinship is not defined simply by blood relations and that a kin group can be formed through reciprocal relationships. …

Cultural Compromises: Effects And Perceptions Of Formal Education Among The Himba Of Namibia, Jessica Andrus, Greg Thompson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Himba of Namibia have only recently been introduced to formal education within the past 20 years. Previously, formal education was not as readily available to them. This has led to a major cultural shift among the Himba. Traditionally, the Himba do not count, read, or speak English, but formal education is changing that. Through an ethnographic study in Otutati, Namibia, I found that the reasons the Himba are more positive towards education is because they have found ways to reconcile the traditional culture and formal education, enjoying the benefits of both lifestyles.

Plant Microfossils Recovered From Dental Calculus At Casas Grandes, Mexico, Daniel King, Michael T. Searcy, Kyle Waller

Faculty Publications

Microfossil analysis is a technique used to better understand prehistoric diets. As part of a larger multinational project, we gathered and analyzed 112 samples of dental calculus (fossilized plaque) from human remains discovered at Paquimé and other sites in the Casas Grandes river valley to identify various microfossils still present in the silica matrix. With this information, we are able to better understand the flora present during ancient times and how it was used (food, processing, etc.).

Dietary Patterns Of Paquimé: New Evidence From Dental Calculus And Microfossils, Daniel King, Michael T. Searcy, Kyle Waller

Faculty Publications

As part of a larger multinational project, we gathered and analyzed 112 samples of dental calculus (fossilized plaque) from human remains discovered at Paquimé and other sites in the Casas Grandes river valley to identify various microfossils still present in the silica matrix. Once identified, we used the prehistoric plant remains to reconstruct human/plant relationships present during the Viejo and Medio periods in and around Paquimé. Our data suggest that maize was used throughout both time periods, which supports current theories regarding Paquimean diet. Various types of grasses were also found, as were unspecified types of algae. Using our data, …

Rethinking Fremont Chronology, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

The dating of Fremont sites is based almost entirely on radiocarbon dates. A large number of dates exist from the region as a whole, but many of the largest Fremont sites are poorly dated. Most of the important sites excavated prior to the 1980s have at best a few dates, and many of the dates that do exist are on charcoal from structural wood. In some cases the only available dates are clearly centuries too early for the sites and structures they purport to date. In addition to problems with the data, some reports and publications about Fremont archaeology make …

Landscapes Of Interaction: Understanding Social Landscapes Through Quantitative Models Of Artifact Distributions, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

Exchange of material goods is one of the most basic forms of human interactions. By tracing the distribution of ceramics, stone tools, and other materials archaeologists are often able to make inferences about the nature of interactions, and about the economic and social relationships of the people involved. These artefact distributions are a fundamental feature of social landscapes, with the potential to reveal much about the structure of social life. But artefact distributions are often complex and difficult to describe, especially at large spatial scales, and they often require some form of abstraction to make them comprehensible. Archaeologists have therefore …

Chronology, Climate, And Fremont Maize Farming In The Great Salt Lake Region, Christopher J. Allison, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

Archaeologists usually say that Fremont maize farming in the Great Salt Lake region began at about AD 400, and that a mid-1100s drought caused the ancient inhabitants of the region to give up farming. But radiocarbon dates from the region do not support these dates. The earliest dated maize and the earliest dated human skeletal remains with bone chemistry suggesting maize consumption both suggest that maize was not grown in the region until after AD 600. Also, recently obtained dates on maize from Fremont villages indicate that farming in the region continued into the AD 1200s. If the end of …

The Viejo Period, Michael T. Searcy, Jane H. Kelley

Faculty Publications

Farming peoples thrived in the mountains, basins, and river valleys of northwestern Chihuahua for hundreds of years prior to the construction of platform mounds and ball courts at Paquime. Their small pithouse villages dotted the landscape near the rich floodplain of the Casas Grandes River, where they farmed maize, beans, and other goods. It was during this time (AD. 400-1200), known as the Viejo Period, that the foundations of the Chihuahuan culture were formed. While recognized as forming the roots of a more complex society, Viejo Period sites lack the monumental architecture and ornate pottery of the Medio Period (AD. …