Anthropology Commons^™

"I Don't Speak My Own Language": Ethnicity Among The Malayalees Of Singapore, David L. Moore

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is an ethnographic examination of the significance of Malayalee ethnicity in Singapore. Ethnic identity is important in the daily lives of Singaporeans, due in part to the government-directed public focus in Singapore on the ideal of multiculturalism through which it is asserted that to be Singaporean, one must be, in the main, Chinese, Malay, or Indian. But other identities, such as Malayalee, a subset of the larger category "Indian", have not decreased in importance. They, in fact, remain important in identifying what kind of Chinese, Malay, or Indian a person is, as Chinese, Malay, or Indian identifies what …

Technological Organization And Sedentism: Expedient Core Reduction, Stockpiling, And Tool Curation At The Meier Site (35co5), Stephen Coursault Hamilton

Dissertations and Theses

The Meier site fine-grained lithic assemblage was used to test the hypothesis that a sedentary group will rely heavily on expedient lithic technologies because they stockpile raw material at the residence. At Meier, expedient core reduction provided blanks for a significant number of curated and expedient tools. I propose that sedentism (stockpiling) minimizes energy investments in raw material procurement and blank production while maintaining the ability to efficiently make both curated and expedient tools. Investment in curation is limited to a few tool classes with specialized functions, not transportable design variables.

Smallpox In The Pacific Northwest: The First Epidemics, Robert T. Boyd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The article examines the first epidemics of small pox in the Pacific Northwest.

Pacific Northwest Measles Epidemic Of 1847-1848, Robert T. Boyd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Most students of Pacific Northwest history are familiar with the 1847-48 measles epidemic because of its association with the killing of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman by Cayuse Indians, on November 29, 1847, at a missionary site some four miles west of present-day Walla Walla, Washington. It is also generally known that, prior to the violence, the epidemic had ravaged the Cayuse who then lived near the Whitmans' Waiilatpu Mission. And, finally, it has been widely thought that the disease was brought to the region by American migrants traveling over the Oregon Trail. This relatively well-known story about what has come …

The Spatial Distribution Of Ground Stone Tools As A Marker Of Status Differentials In A Chinookan Plank House On The Lower Columbia River, John William Wolf

Dissertations and Theses

Social status was an integral part of the social structure of Northwest Coast societies. The presence of ranked social structures and household space based on rank is reported in the ethnographic literature. Archaeologists have long searched for independent and verifiable means to infer social structure from archaeological deposits. Burial goods have been used to identify status differences. Do other items of material culture also reflect such differences?

The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether or not the distribution of certain tools recovered from a Chinookan plank house on the lower Columbia River paralleled the household residence location that …

Ethnic Identity Changes Among Hong Kong Chinese Americans, Pui-Lam Lo

Dissertations and Theses

During the last ten years, the number of Hong Kong Chinese migrating to the U.S. has increased. These new immigrants, with knowledge and life experiences shaped by the urban metropolis of Hong Kong, have begun to influence different aspects of Chinese communities in U.S. cities. A study of this group of Hong Kong Chinese provides a better understanding of how they have adapted to their new environment and how they have come to recognize themselves as Hong Kong Chinese Americans. In reviewing the available literature, very few studies have dealt with the identity changes of this group of people. Hence, …

This Looks Like An Old Point: Time And Projectile Points In The Tualatin Valley, Oregon, Linda Lani Freidenburg

Dissertations and Theses

Little is known about the time depth of human occupation in the Tualatin Valley. Archaeological investigations have produced no absolute dates for the few sites tested. Projectile points collected from the Ibach and Heynderickx farms in the Tualatin Valley show similarities to early point styles from sites in the Pacific Northwest dating from 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. To determine how old the Ibach and Heynderickx sites are, the undated collections of 107 Ibach points and 119 Heynderickx points are compared to two established chronological projectile point sequences, which had been constructed using the relative dating technique of frequency seriation. …

The Burnett Site: A Cascade Phase Camp On The Lower Willamette River, Robert M. Burnett

Dissertations and Theses

Artifacts recovered from archaeological excavations near the Willamette River in Lake Oswego, Oregon indicate the presence there of a Late Windust-Early Cascade Phase site possibly dating to 9,000 B.P. The assemblage includes 137 projectile points, bifaces or point fragments, nearly all of the Cascade-type. Two stem fragments and one complete point which are similar to those of the Windust Phase which dates 10,000-8,000 B.P. in the southern Columbia Plateau also were found. Stone knives, choppers, scrapers, hammerstones, cores and microblades also are included in the assemblage. No later type notched or stemmed points have been recovered from the site. If …

Waitperson/Customer Interaction As An Example Of Community, Patricia Louise Macaodha

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis draws from research done in a particular urban setting, and illustrates the foundations of a type of social structure called "respite community". "Respite community" is a specifically urban phenomenon which can be defined as temporal, ad hoc, face to face, an aggregate of people who seek temporary relief from social stresses and support through socialized interaction.

Sedentism: A Temporal Shift Or A Transitional Change In Hunter-Gatherer Mobility Patterns?, Kenneth M. Ames

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Archaeologists widely perceive sedentism as a necessary precondition for social elaboration and complexity among hunter-gatherers. The origins and causes of sedentism are major archaeological research problems, and researchers concern themselves with the transition between nomadism and sedentism. In this paper I argue that there is only variation in residential patterns, which may include sedentism; that sedentism, however it is defined, is not a stable residential pattern among hunter-gatherers; and that, rather than explain the causes of sedentism, one must explain shifts in residential mobility patterns. The case study illustrating these points is drawn from the dry interior region of the …

The Archaeology Of The Longue Durée: Temporal And Spatial Scale In The Evolution Of Social Complexity On The Southern Northwest Coast, Kenneth M. Ames

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The emphasis on temporal and geographic scale of the French Annales school of history (cf. Braudel 1980; Baker 1984; Lewthwaite 1988) is the inspiration for this paper. Braudel (1980) divides time into three durations: short term events (days, weeks, months, a few years), medium length conjunctures (years, decades, even major portions of centuries), and long term structures (which may last centuries, even millennia). This last duration is the longue durée. Basic to Annales' thought - and the longue durée - is the idea that to understand historical developments, to explain their causes and dynamics, one must know their temporal and …

Immunology And Archaeology: Blood Residue Analysis Of Three Sites, Shirley Jo Barr Williams

Dissertations and Theses

Cross-over electrophoresis, an immunological method for analyzing blood residues on archaeological artifacts, is tested. Artifacts from three sites were utilized in the testing of this methodology. The sites are the Dietz site in south-central Oregon (282 artifacts), Konemehu in northern California (48 artifacts tested for Winthrop Associates), and Chimney Shelter in southwestern Oregon (3 artifacts from the Umpqua National Forest).

A brief description of each site and its known significance is included. Particular attention is paid to the background of the Clovis component of the Dietz site, due to its age (11,000 - 12,000 B.P.), and the fact that it …

An Exploratory Study Of Female Networking In A Mormon Fundamentalist Polygynous Society, Janet Bennion Cannon

Dissertations and Theses

The present study is comprised of two parts: 1) an exploratory ethnography of a contemporary polygynous community governed by a strong patriarchal ideology in Pinesdale Montana with emphasis on social relationships, and 2) an analysis of the factors which have allowed women's groups to develop in Mormon fundamentalism. The ethnographic account of the community contextualizes the occurrence of female groups in Pinesdale. A model of the formation of female groups designed by Nancy Leis (1974) in her study of the West African Ijaw is used to provide a better understanding of how female groups are formed, and is applied to …

The Orchestration Of Nature's Writing Surfaces, Laurie M. O'Reilly

Anthós Journal (1990-1996)

This articles stretches Derrida’s notion of writing by positing that writing itself might be thought of as "that which can be read or interpreted." This breaks the absolute bond between writing and human handicraft and suggests new ways of understanding the way we interpret natural phenomena. This paper traces this concept through numerous natural phenomena and suggests that perhaps the limits of meaning might have more to do with the interpreter’s range of understanding when it comes to natural gestures and "writings." In the end writing comes to be understood as durative, or has having duration. In this interpretation comes …

Designing An Instructor's Manual For Introducing Cultural Concepts In The Medical School Curriculum, Barbara C. Nicodemus

Dissertations and Theses

Medical educators recognize the need for including cultural insights into the training of future physicians. This instructor's manual suggests selected journal articles and guidelines for their use in each of the clinical courses to illustrate the relevance of culture, inter- and intraethnic differences, an attitude of cultural relativity, and the importance of language use and communications skills for medical practice. The articles are found in journals typically available to medical students. This manual provides a baseline integrative approach applicable to other specialized training programs. A recommendation is made for evaluation and revision of history-taking interview forms to elicit additional culture-specific …

An Estimation Of Relatedness Within Two Oregon Populations Using Isonymy Analysis, Maria Michalczyk

Dissertations and Theses

The study of human relatedness has long interested the population geneticist. One technique for the estimation of population relatedness is the use of isonymy analysis. The isonymy inbreeding coefficient is analogous to Wright's inbreeding coefficient F. Isonomy analysis can yield comparable results to population studies done by other means such as pedigree analysis, serological studies, and anthropometric analysis.

The data used for this study was obtained from marriage records and telephone directories. Same last name marriages were observed for legitimacy and recorded when verified. A pool of last names were drawn from the marriage records. This list was used to …

Structure And Dynamics Of Household Hazardous Wastes, Douglas C. Wilson, William L. Rathje

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Municipal Solid wastes--the majority of which are household refuse--have, increasingly been implicated as a source of hazardous materials in landfill leachate discharges (U.S. EPA 1988). Data collected on the components of these wastes are critical for solid wastes systems planning--especially landfill design, hazardous materials collection systems, and resource recovery. A number of recent studies by the University of Arizona's Garbage Project have identified household products as a possible source of hazardous materials in landfills (Wilson 1985, Rathje et al. 1987a, 1987b). Studies have addressed (1) the definition of these "household hazardous wastes" (HHW), (2) the characteristics of HHW from hands-on …

Bone Tool Assemblages As An Aid To Shell Mound Site Typologies On The Northwest Coast, Doria Lee Fingerhut Raetz

Dissertations and Theses

Fifteen bone tool assemblages from shell midden sites were compared. Three of these are unpublished sites from Prince Rupert Harbor. They were grouped using cluster analysis. Inter and intragroup variation in bone tool assemblage structure was analyzed. One of the objectives of this study was to generate hypotheses about the function of the unpublished sites by comparing their bone tool assemblages with those from sites which are better understood by looking for underlying patterns in the bone tool assemblages. Other objectives were to test the utility of using bone tool assemblages as a diagnostic tool in analyzing sites and to …

A Multivariate Test Of Evolutionary Stasis In Homo Sapiens, Jon Geoffrey Kleckner

Dissertations and Theses

In the past, efforts to prove or disprove stasis in hominids have relied upon univariate tests such as Students's t-test. Severe methodological and interpretive problems arise from the misapplication of univariate statistics to questions concerning variation in shape through time. These are questions best addressed using the multivariate approach of morphometrics. Eighteen cranial dimensions drawn from 33 mid and late Pleistocene Homo sapiens were examined using principal component analysis (PCA). PCA divided the sample into two distinct morphologies. Archaic Homo sapiens of the mid Pleistocene clustered with Wurm I neanderthals and apart from post Gottweig early anatomically modern Homo sapiens. …

Something Old, Something New : Marriage Customs Among The Druze In The Shouf Mountains Of Lebanon, Nancy Scarlette Beaini

Dissertations and Theses

The focus of this research was to obtain, specifically, data on the marriage customs of the Druze in the Shouf Mountains of southeastern Lebanon. Ten Druze informants were selected and classified according to sex, age, marital status and religious status (sheik/sheika). A detailed questionnaire was designed to use during the interviews with these informants. However, after two interviews, it became apparent that a variable questionnaire was necessary to take advantage of the new, richly-detailed, cultural information that emerged with each informant. New questions were developed, in the field, to reflect and gather this new ethnographic data on Druze marriage customs.

Subsistence Variability On The Columbia Plateau, Ricky Gilmer Atwell

Dissertations and Theses

Long-term human dietary change is a poorly understood aspect of Columbia Plateau prehistory. Faunal assemblages from thirty-four archaeological sites on the Plateau are organized into fifteen aggregate assemblages that are defined spatially and temporally. These assemblages are examined in terms of a focal-diffuse model using ecological measures of diversity, richness and evenness. Variability and patterning in the prehistoric subsistence record is indicated. Major trends in human diet and shifts in subsistence economies are documented and the relationship between subsistence and some initial semi-sedentary adaptations on the Plateau is clarified.

Die Rolle Der Hexe In Den MäRchen Der BrüDer Grimm Und Ludwig Bechsteins, Karin Ulrike Herrmann

Dissertations and Theses

Fairy Tales have been an important part of peoples' cultural heritage since time immemorial. From a very early age on, children hear stories about witches, giants, dwarf's, and magicians which make up their first entry into the literary world. Only recently have scholars begun to research just how much influence these stories have on children and how they might have a different impact on girls than on boys. This thesis will investigate the world of fairy tales in relation to their historical context and their differing relevance for male and female readers. I will examine the fairy tales of the …

After The Sixties: Anthropology In Sixth Grade Social Studies Textbooks, Christine Skei Rossi

Dissertations and Theses

During the 1960s, anthropology was an important part of the social studies curriculum. This study explores the question of whether twenty years later, anthropology is still an important part of primary and secondary school curricula and textbooks. To answer that question, the author used content analysis to analyze 13 sixth grade social studies textbooks for their anthropological content. Results of the research indicate that there is very little anthropology in the texts, the same topics and concepts are covered in most of them, and that most of the anthropological material is narrative or descriptive in form rather than theoretical. The …

Neutron Activation Analysis And Chemical Inference For The Identification Of Buena Vista Ceramics, Daniel D. Sullivan

Dissertations and Theses

Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis was used for this study of stonewares collected from the site of the Buena Vista/Oregon Pottery Company (1866-1890).

The results show significant chemical signatures in the samples tested. Thorium/ytterbium and thorium/chromium ratios within their respective ranges of variation demonstrate a relative conformity among all samples of Buena Vista ceramics.

Archeological Implications Of Traditional House Construction Among The Nchumuru Of Northern Ghana, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Ethnographic data from the Nchumuru settlement of Wiae, Kete-Krachi District, northern Volta Region, Ghana, are used to examine the manner in which earth-walled houses in Nchumuru traditional settlements are transferred from the systemic to the archeological record. Archeological survey and excavation of two early Nchumuru sites were conducted to establish the extent to which the observed cultural and natural processes of house and settlement development could help identify the location and distribution of prehistoric structural features. The result was the almost complete reconstruction of the location and distribution of structural features at one of these sites. Knowledge of the mechanisms …

Incest: A Study In Networking In Multnomah County, Oregon, Joanne Mcclarty

Dissertations and Theses

Reported cases of incest in Multnomah County, Oregon, as in the rest of the country, are increasing yearly. Effective networking between agencies is important in order to successfully work with the problem. The research problem of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the present network of agencies working with incest in Multnomah County. In order to evaluate network effectiveness the following objectives were established: to provide a "cultural" description of the major components of the Multnomah County network; to determine whether a common definition of incest among practitioners exists and to compare the networking system in this county …

You Don't Have To Have A High School Education To Work Here : An Ethnography Of A Chainstore, Caroline Yvonne Princehouse

Dissertations and Theses

This ethnography is a study of the cultural scene at one store of a chain of twenty-eight retail "discount department stores"--the Bi Mart Company, a subsidiary of the Pay 'n Save Corporation. It is an exercise of an ethnographic method developed by James Spradley that is used to uncover and describe the cultural grammar of acquired knowledge which Bi Mart employees use to define and interpret their situation and to generate and understand their work. The method is based on the assumption that culture is best learned and best described (as much as possible) from the "native" point of view.

The Introduction Of European And Asian Cultural Materials On The Alaskan And Northwest Coasts Before 1800, Herbert Kyle Beals

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis concerns the introduction of exogenous cultural materials among the native inhabitants of the Alaskan and Northwest coasts prior to the and of the 18th century. It is an investigation of the sources of these materials and the manner and chronology of their introduction. The research is based primarily on data drawn from accounts of native life by explorers and fur traders who visited the coasts of northwestern North America in the 18th century. These accounts are supplemented by ethnologic and archaeologic data collected by anthropologists in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Relationship Between Romanes And English As Spoken By The Portland Gypsies, Margaret Anne Sharp

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines the relationship between English and Romanes as spoken by the Portland Kalderash Rom (Gypsies). Examples, taken from natural conversations which were taped, translated, and analyzed, show that the intermixing follows rules which guard the linguistic integrity of both languages. Code changing, code mixing, linguistic natural setting. A lexicon of Romanes words, elicited from members of the Gypsy community, is also included. The findings of this study support the thesis that this intermixing of Romanes and English is adaptive in that it insures that all members of the community can speak both languages from an early age.

Tillamook Indian Basketry : Continuity And Change As Seen In The Adams Collection, Ailsa Elizabeth Crawford

Dissertations and Theses

In the Adams Collection at the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum, Tillamook, Oregon, there are 29 baskets that were probably made between 1880 and 1940. They are mostly of raffia, are somewhat faded from their original, bright, commercial colors, and are generally quite small. Despite the fact that these baskets are well-documented and were made by Tillamook women, they are the sort that have been overlooked by anthropologists and by collectors because of their non-"traditional" appearance. In order to determine what relationship these baskets have to Tillamook basketry made earlier, I analyzed them and 39 Tillamook baskets from four other museum …