Anthropology Commons^™

The Psychological Importance Of Forensic Identification To Families Of Victims Of Human Rights Violations, Emma S. Thoms

Student Publications

No one knows how many people are missing in the world. Among cases involving kidnapping, human trafficking, and armed conflicts, even the most scrutinous efforts can never verify the sheer number of missing persons. This mystery is especially true for armed conflicts and human rights abuses as “the reluctance of most states to deal honestly and effectively with this issue” keeps the number unknown (“Missing”). Sadly, a great deal of missing persons are not only missing, but dead and unidentified, often as a result of armed conflicts like genocide, which uses mass graves. Once the mass graves are unearthed, specially …

Relational Identities And Other-Than-Human Agency In Archaeology, Eleanor Harrison-Buck, Julia A. Hendon

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

Relational Identities and Other-than-Human Agency in Archaeology explores the benefits and consequences of archaeological theorizing on and interpretation of the social agency of nonhumans as relational beings capable of producing change in the world. The volume cross-examines traditional understanding of agency and personhood, presenting a globally diverse set of case studies that cover a range of cultural, geographical, and historical contexts.

Agency (the ability to act) and personhood (the reciprocal qualities of relational beings) have traditionally been strictly assigned to humans. In case studies from Ghana to Australia to the British Isles and Mesoamerica, contributors to this volume demonstrate that …

Wealth In The Pre-Roman Western Mediterranean: Pontós, Alorda Park, And Lattara, Colleen M. Maher

Student Publications

This paper focuses on discussing whether there were varying levels of wealth in three individual pre-Roman settlements in the western Mediterranean. The goal of this paper is to answer the question of if the different indigenous settlements of Pontós, Alorda Park, and Lattara in the Western Mediterranean experienced variable levels of wealth detectable via the archaeological remains of their prestige goods and houses in the last age or period of their occupation.

Unmasking Hybridity In Popular Performance, Hannah M. Harder

Student Publications

This paper explores cultural hybridization in popular music and the eroticization of the exotic eastern aesthetic. Using musicology and anthropology as tools, the paper examines varying perspectives of the artists, audience and marginalized groups. Although cultural appropriation has been used recently as a blanket buzzword in mainstream dialogue, it does provide a platform to discuss complex issues on gender, race and sexuality that has been muddled by colonial mentalities.

Understanding Violence Against Foreigners In Cape Town: Conceptions Of Autochthony And Xenophobia In Post-Apartheid South Africa, Mary L. Casey

Student Publications

Examining the correlation between the history of colonialism and structures of Apartheid in South Africa and the current xenophobic violence experienced by Black African immigrants settling in Cape Town. This thesis explores theories of autochthony and belonging in the context of Cape Town, Black South African relationships and ownership of land, access to resources and opportunities for employment, and the continued disenfranchisement of Black South Africans in the wake of Apartheid. These components of the issue of xenophobia in Cape Town are factored into an analysis of how and why violence persists against immigrants in the city.

Early Fieldwork At The Beijing Farmers’ Market, Amy Y. Evrard

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Now that I’ve passed tenure review, published a book, cemented my teaching skills, and learned how to be a productive member of a college committee, I feel confident, self-assured, and filled with certainty about every aspect of my career as a professor. The same certainty extends to research and fieldwork. From choosing a topic to developing research questions to getting a good start in the field—it’s all a piece of cake.

Ha! I wish I felt this confidence. The truth is that passing the tenure phase two years ago, as wonderful as it was, opened up a whole new set …

Ancient China And Its Eurasian Neighbors: Artifacts, Identity, And Death In The Frontier, 3000-700 Bce, Katheryn M. Linduff, Yan Sun, Wei Cao, Yuanqing Liu

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

This volume examines the role of objects in the region north of early dynastic state centers, at the intersection of Ancient China and Eurasia, a large area that stretches from Xinjiang to the China Sea, from c.3000 BCE to the mid-eighth century BCE. This area was a frontier, an ambiguous space that lay at the margins of direct political control by the metropolitan states, where local and colonial ideas and practices were reconstructed transculturally. These identities were often merged and displayed in material culture. Types of objects, styles, and iconography were often hybrids or new to the region, as were …