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Full-Text Articles in Anthropology

The Bearing Earth: Colonization, Conservation, And Political Ecology In Costa Rica (Coto Brus 1948 - Present), Pablo Alonso Arias-Benavides Jul 2023

The Bearing Earth: Colonization, Conservation, And Political Ecology In Costa Rica (Coto Brus 1948 - Present), Pablo Alonso Arias-Benavides

Latin American Studies ETDs

This thesis presents two questions: How are relationships between people in Coto Brus and the land – specifically, forest – mediated by social, political, and economic forces? How are personal and collective identities expressed through relationship with the landscape? I chose Coto Brus because it is a forested region of Costa Rica which was populated with state support in the 1950s, and because it is my father’s hometown. In order to understand the subjective experiences of Costa Ricans involved in deforestation and reforestation, I performed interviews in the canton, visited conservation sites, and analyzed historical sources. This study combines multiscale …


“We Practice Lakota Way, But We Are Not An Indian Church”: The Diverse Ways Lakota Christians Articulate, Perform And Translate Ethnicity In Congregational Life, Kristin A. Fitzgerald Jul 2019

“We Practice Lakota Way, But We Are Not An Indian Church”: The Diverse Ways Lakota Christians Articulate, Perform And Translate Ethnicity In Congregational Life, Kristin A. Fitzgerald

Anthropology ETDs

This study looks at articulations, performances and translations of ethnicity among urban Lakota Christians at St. Matthew’s and St. Isaac Jogues in Rapid City, South Dakota. Within the context of increased ethnic revitalization and recognition, Native American Christians are negotiating new models of ethnicity in typically Western arenas, often manifesting through actions and discourse that are ostensibly traditional. Yet even in this era of recognition, the public performance of cultural authenticity is not the only thing on people’s minds. Native people mark various practices, symbols, and persons as traditional or modern at different points in history or within different contexts …


Ambivalent Subjects In Neoliberal Times: Non-Governmental Organizations And Binational Same Sex Couples In The United States, Jara M. Carrington Dec 2016

Ambivalent Subjects In Neoliberal Times: Non-Governmental Organizations And Binational Same Sex Couples In The United States, Jara M. Carrington

Anthropology ETDs

This dissertation is a critical examination of the increasingly intimate relationship between the neoliberal state, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and their constituents through the lens of NGO-produced advocacy for “binational same sex couples” in the United States. I analyze how neoliberal political and economic ideologies are reconfiguring the role of NGOs, entities traditionally understood as outside state power, as well as the aspirations of their constituencies, within the United States. In particular, I interrogate how NGOs are an increasingly important site in the (re)production of normative gay and lesbian subjects, and illustrate how LGBTQ-identified individuals negotiate these conditions as they seek …


Variable Education Exposure And Cognitive Task Performance Among The Tsimane, Forager-Horticulturalists., Helen Elizabeth Davis Dec 2014

Variable Education Exposure And Cognitive Task Performance Among The Tsimane, Forager-Horticulturalists., Helen Elizabeth Davis

Anthropology ETDs

At present, we know very little about the transition from traditional learning skills to models of standardized learning, and how it can influence the way one understands and solves problems. This research will examine cognitive performance and the factors affecting variation across communities and between individuals as it changes with age. The objective of this dissertation is to measure cognitive performance among children between 8 and 18 years of age exposed to variable levels of formal schooling in order to investigate three main research questions: (1) Whether exposure to schooling and increased performance in school-based abilities, such as math and …


Indigenous Philosophy In The Valley Of Mexico, John F. Newcomer Jun 1951

Indigenous Philosophy In The Valley Of Mexico, John F. Newcomer

Philosophy ETDs

This study has been undertaken in the hope of helping to open new avenues of research in both philosophy and anthropology, avenues that have heretofore been largely overlooked. It has used as an example the pre-Conquest culture-complex of the Valley of Mexico. It is not intended to be an exhaustive exposition of every aspect of that complex, for that would take it out of the realm of philosophy and too far into that of anthropology. It is rather an examination of the salient features of Aztec culture in a philosophical light. It begins with a discussion of primitive philosophy in …