Anthropology Commons^™

Good Morning, Africa! (Dreams And Identity In Morocco), Chantal James

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This is an exploration of identity using dreams in the Moroccan context. I formally spoke to around twenty-five Moroccans for my research and spoke briefly or casually about the subject of dreams with many more, almost everyone I became friendly with. I give no personal information about the people who spoke to me without their consent, and I give all credit where it’s due, I hope. I set out from Rabat on the 10:30 train to Marrakesh, to spend my three weeks there. I kept a copy of Dreams, a collected works of Jung, by my side. I kept copious …

Concientious Cinema: Senegalese Cineastes As Preservers Of Cultural Identity And Promoters Of Social Change, Paula Fortner

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Senegalese cinema was born with a conscience. From its earliest days, Senegalese films have been marked by tendencies to preserve cultural identity and promote social change. Using background research, film screenings, discussions, and interviews, this study categories these trends into a movement of “Conscientious Cinema,” and identifies the development of both of these objectives. This study first traces the trend of cultural identity preservation from the films of the founding generation to their evolution in the projects of young filmmakers today, and similarly explores the development of the trend of social-change promotion from between these generations. In the analysis, I …

De Maíz Vivo” La Siembra De Maíz En La Sierra Norte De Oaxaca, Holly Kingsbury

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Cuando uno se acerca al pueblo de Guelatao de Juárez en la Sierra Norte de Oaxaca, México, al pasar el Río Grande se puede ver donde el huracán Stan destruyó muchas milpas. No obstante, es probable que esas milpas, y otras que se ve en el camino, estuvieran abandonadas mucho antes de que el huracán las tocó. En la Sierra Norte y en todo México, esas milpas representaron y todavía representan la vida y alimentación básica de los mexicanos: el maíz. El estadounidense común piensa que el maíz existe en una forma: lo que vemos sembrado en miles de hectáreas …

K’Oando: La Mesa Urbana En Cochabamba, Erin Hatheway

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La K’oa (o Q’oa, Q’owa, Wira q’uwa), en realidad, es una hierba aromática, nativa del altiplano (Fernández 1995: 233). Hoy en las ciudades andinas, es común llamar a todas las clases de ofrendas quemadas, k’oas. Sin embargo, la presencia de esta hierba otorga el significado clave a una mesa ritual; es decir, que sin esta planta, el ritual no puede ser conocido como k’oa. Esta generalización, realizada por residentes de los centros urbanos refleja su desconocimiento de las raíces del rito. Además, indica los cambios que se han logrado en estas ofrendas dentro del ambiente de la ciudad. Por otro …

El Árbol De La Vida: El Mito De Wuanámei De La Comunidad Nativa Huachipaeri De Queros, Emily Fisher

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Los seres humanos siempre han empleado mitos para explicar fenómenos naturales y sobrenaturales. El género Mito es uno de los más romantizados por su identificación con lo “antiguo” u “ancestral”. El Mito es ambos, reverenciado y también puesto en el reino de la “fantasía”. A pesar de esto, las dimensiones de la literatura oral, específicamente el mito, incluyendo la voz, el lenguaje, su carácter fundamentalmente dinámica y viva de literatura oral crea una forma sumamente complejo. El mito cuenta lo que es esencial a su gente — explicaciones de su naturaleza, costumbres y su moda de vida. El mito de …

The Bond And The Beautiful!, Nicole Rearick

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My Independent Study Project (ISP) research was conducted in Mombasa, Kenya. I initial intention was to focus on Swahili beauty alone and then it led me to a more in depth study. I came upon the idea of women, beauty, and how they come together for beauty processes and how it creates a bond between them. I was aiming to focus on ways females pull together and help each other in order to become beautiful. I also wanted to discover the many traditions which Swahili women use to beautify themselves and what they consider to be beautiful.

Communalism To Consumerism: Consumer Culture In Samoa, Amelia Neptune

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Communalism is a system of living where the good of a total group is prioritized over individual wealth or wellbeing. Consumerism is a fascination with the act of purchasing and acquiring goods. This paper attempts to find out how consumer culture might clash or coincide with a tradition of communalism within the Pacific island nation of Samoa. It looks at the history of communalism within Samoa, and how communalism has been interpreted in Samoa’s modern society, manifesting in the form of remittances and formal gift exchanges.

With the introduction of a cash economy from the West, the paper looks at …

Just Behind The Mountain: Refugee Children Imagine Tibet, Emma Tobin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Since the Tibetan diaspora began in 1959, when His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama fled Tibet for India, many Tibetans have settled and started families in exile. Today, a large percentage of Tibetan refugees have been born in exile, and have therefore never seen their country. Within Tibetan exile communities, however, the importance of Tibetan identity is strongly emphasized and people are still very much invested in the plight of Tibet. As a result, there exist strong ideas about the reality of life in Tibet within the exile community. According Jamyang Norbu, “Though the Shangri-la stereotype is a Western creation, …

La Cultura Del Agua En Al-Andalus = The Culture Of Water In Al-Andalus, Natalie Lacy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

I jump in the lake, moving through crisp liquid, opening my eyes to the clarity of sunrays dancing on the sandy bottom that expands itself to an indefinite line between shore and water; my hair flows softly behind me as I glide away from the surface of reality, releasing all tension within and absorbing the surrounding purity. I float towards the surface, leaving the silent world beneath, taking a breath: I am renewed. It is this sensation, swimming on the shores of Lake Superior, that inpsired my utter infatuation with water. Having grown up on an island, I have lived …

The Effects Of Modernization On The Bedouin Populations Of Jordan, Peter Dicampo

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

An Integrated Approach To Acculturation: A Personal Journey, Douglas C. Stone

MA TESOL Collection

The intention of this professional paper is to propose a new, integrated model for acculturation which brings psychological understanding to this process. The first section of this paper gives a brief introduction and several necessary definitions. The second section introduces several existing acculturation models which I found applied to aspects of my experience, but which were inadequate in important areas. In the third diction I outlined a number of psychological models which I used to cope with acculturation and understand my experience before having contact with the acculturation material from the second section. In the fourth section I give an …

Transcending Cultural Definitions: A Sense Of Peace, Susan Sanae Sakayori

MA TESOL Collection

Who am I? What am I? This paper is an attempt to tell a personal story of my struggle to answer these questions about my racial and cultural identity. As a Japanese American who has lived the first half of my life in the U.S. and the latter half in Japan, I found it increasingly difficult to find my place in either culture. I was faced with issues of ethnicity, cultural background and personal values that I didn’t realize were so important in understanding who I was. I have traveled down a road of discovery where I was given a …