Anthropology Commons^™

Human Diversity In Molecular Sexual Dimorphism And Gender Disparities In Health, Adam Z. Reynolds

Anthropology ETDs

Although males and females exhibit an extraordinary range of diversity in sexual dimorphism across populations, prior work on the evolution of sexual dimorphism in human physiology and health has focused on ostensibly universal differences that owe to sex chromosomes and steroid hormones. This dissertation argues that sexual dimorphism in humans is not adequately captured by species-wide sex differences in mean trait values, but instead varies greatly as a result of: (i) our ability to adapt physiologically to a broad range of social and physical environments, and (ii) molecular diversity acquired by different populations over the course of their unique evolutionary …

The Lithium Economy: Bolivia's "New" Resource And Its Role In Revolutionary Politics, Zsofia J. Szoke

Anthropology ETDs

Through an ethnographic analysis of the lithium industry this dissertation recounts the complex way lithium industrialization has interacted with Bolivia’s democratic and cultural revolution, officially known as the proceso de cambio, and with localized social forms and structures, which the national-level revolution seeks to reconstitute. I will argue that it is important to examine the implications of lithium industrialization’s intersection with local experiences of revolutionary politics. The dissertation’s main contention is that the industrialization of lithium in Bolivia has been conceptualized as an insurgent tool of political change and social transformation by the Morales-Linera regime and as such it has …

The Manito Topos Project: Place Naming And Toponymic Silencing In The Sierras Of Northern Nuevo México And Southern Colorado, Len N. Beké

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

This dissertation reports on documentary research on vernacular toponymies in Manito communities in Nuevo México and Colorado. These toponymies are erased, obscured and delegitimized in official maps. Within the study area, vernacular antecedents for 49.5% of official names for natural features were documented, along with 280 previously unmapped names. These data were compared to the state-sanctioned toponymy to determine a typology of linguistic mechanisms of toponymic silencing. While a majority of official toponyms are based on Manito oral tradition, only 15.4% of the labels for natural features represent unaltered versions of names in that tradition. This dissertation theorizes the conceptual …

Mental Health In Transnational Contexts: Reconsidering Conceptualizations, Coping Strategies, And Racism Through The Narratives Of Refugees Resettled In The United States, Ryeora Choe, Ryeora Choe

Sociology ETDs

This dissertation examines refugees’ mental health conceptualizations in their resettled contexts, their views on Western mental health services, and their perspectives on how changing experiences related to discrimination affect their mental health. Despite refugees’ social and cultural contexts changing multiple times, little is known about their views on and interactions with the dominant biomedical model of mental health in their country of resettlement and how their hybrid identities and experiences embedded in multiple locations affect their understanding of mental health and healing practices. A transnational framework emphasizing continuity between various locations and “in-between the designations of identity” across borders, and …

Folsom Activity, Mobility, And Flaked Stone Technological Organization At The Rio Rancho Folsom Site, New Mexico Locus 4147 And As-2, William A. Skidmore-Farren

Anthropology Graduate Student Publications

What are the similarities and differences within locus 4147/AS-2 technological organization? Determining the function of the site may reveal new adaptive strategies used by Paleoindian groups and perhaps tell us more about their social and technological organization. By measuring, identifying, analyzing, and comparing the lithic components of the locus 4147/AS-2, I hope to further our understanding of the Rio Rancho site’s function and technological organization. A study of the spatial distribution of various artifact types within the locus will also help determine the function. Chemical (XRF) and physical analysis of the variety of lithic materials from the sites will also …

Behavioral Strategies Of Social Relationship Formation And Competition Among Adolescent And Adult Male Chimpanzees At Kanyawara, Kibale National Park, Uganda, Drew K. Enigk

Anthropology ETDs

Adolescence is a unique life stage in which individuals are reproductively mature but have not yet attained their full adult body size. In chimpanzees, which live in multimale-multifemale groups, this age period presents a challenge for males. Namely, adolescent males lack the physical strength to compete effectively with adult males for mating opportunities. In the following chapters, we seek to answer whether adolescent male chimpanzees exhibit behavior typical of highly competitive adults but with less success, or whether they pursue alternative behavioral tactics to largely avoid competition until they are fully grown. We utilize both long-term data spanning over two …

Ngawbe: Tradición Y Cambio Entre Los Guaymí Del Occidente De Panamá, Milton R.A. Machuca-Gálvez, Phil D. Young Phd

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Esta es la traducción al castellano del libro Ngawbe: Tradition and Change among the Western Guaymi of Panama. de Phil D. Young (1936-2013), publicado en 1971 por University of Illinois Press, Chicago (No. 7 de la serie Estudios en antropología).

Consta de un prefacio, nueve capítulos, un apéndice, un glosario y una bibliografía. En el planteamiento del problema el autor escribió: “Este estudio pretende ser principalmente una descripción de mucho de lo que es tradicional en la sociedad guaymí, especialmente en el ámbito de la organización social y económica. Se intenta explicar las complejas interrelaciones entre la economía y la …

Summary Report Of Discussions At The Forum “Nepali Diaspora Organizations In North America: Achievements, Opportunities, And Challenges”, Coppell, Texas, Usa July 2022, Ambika P. Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

The forum “Nepali Diaspora Organizations in North America: Achievements, Opportunities and Challenges” was held at the annual convention of the Association of Nepalis in the Americas (ANA) in Coppell, TX, USA on July 2, 2022. Nepalese Society of Texas (NST) hosted the convention and forum. As studies related to diaspora have become important topics in the fields of development, community culture, sociology and anthropology, ANA decided to include this topic in the forums organized at the national convention.

The global Nepali diaspora population in 2022 is estimated at 800,000. Although no authoritative statistics is available, the Nepali diaspora in North …

Relational Peace In Colombia: An Ethnography Of Multi-Scalar Affective Relations Among Peace Practitioners, María Del Pilar File-Muriel

Anthropology ETDs

Following the 2016 National Peace Accords in Colombia, violence targeting human rights activists and community leaders increased. Thus, it is essential to study peacemaking beyond the state’s implementation of the peace accords. I look at the process of relationship making among the assemblage of peace practitioners that constitute peace work in Colombia. The data comes from ethnographic fieldwork during 2016- 2018. I provide three chapter-length ethnographies of spatializations of peace: Humanitarian and biodiversity zones/spaces (Buenaventura), indigenous territorial practices of peace (Cauca), and a transnational alliance between the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó (Antioquia) and a group of Syrian …

An Empirical And Theoretical Analysis Of Leadership In Two Egalitarian Horticultural Societies, Edmond Seabright

Anthropology ETDs

Leadership is a central subject of interest in anthropology and the evolutionary social sciences more generally because of its ubiquity in human societies as well as its role in the evolution of cooperation, social complexity, and social hierarchy. Explaining the variation in the form and functions of leadership across different societies and settings remains a major challenge for social scientists. Although it is often associated with social hierarchy, here I argue that leadership can and does evolve even in egalitarian settings where leaders cannot hope to fully make up the burdens and expenses associated with their service. I further show …

Brazil's Orthodox Church Rising: Living Authentic Tradition In Brazil's Middle Class, Anastasia M. Theodoropoulos

Anthropology ETDs

This dissertation examines middle-class religiosity in Brazil through an analysis of the birth of a new religious organization, the Brazilian Orthodox Church. I investigate how the performance of “authentic tradition” (tradição verdadeira) orients and authenticates new middle-class subjectivities. In considering the unprecedented recent boom of middle classes worldwide, I explore how and why members of the growing Brazilian middle class, whose livelihoods are increasingly oriented around international finance capital and foreign corporate marketing, locate sources of the authentic beyond given, national boundaries. Through participant observation and interviews with middle-class congregants, I analyze how aligning with the “authentic tradition” …

"When The Tide Is Out, The Table Is Set": Shellfish Harvesting Throughout The Holocene At Labouchere Bay, Southeast Alaska, Mark R. Williams

Anthropology ETDs

“When the tide is out, the table is set” is a familiar saying among Native communities on the Northwest Coast of North America. This phrase encapsulates traditional ecological knowledge passed down for generations concerning intertidal marine resources. Recent archaeological excavations of shellfish gathering camps at Labouchere Bay confirm that ancient people may have followed similar principles throughout the Holocene (c.9,500 -2,500 years ago). For millennia, shellfish have been a highly reliable food source that helped support sedentary fisher-hunter-gatherer settlements. Although shellfish habitats represent highly predictable foraging opportunities, optimal foraging strategies must be carefully managed to avoid overharvesting. Collecting just enough …

Innovadores Guaymíes: Un Estudio De Caso De Emprendedores En Una Sociedad De Menor Complejidad Socioeconómica., Milton R.A. Machuca-Gálvez Phd, Mlis, John R. Bort Phd

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Traducción al castellano de la disertación doctoral Guaymí Innovators: A Case Study of Entrepreneurs in a Small Scale Society de John R. Bort, presentada al Departamento de Antropología y la Escuela de Postgrado de la Universidad de Oregón, junio de 1976. Traducción de Milton Machuca-Gálvez, PhD, MLIS.

Se enfoca en el cambio socioeconómico en los indígenas guaymí del occidente de Panamá. Principalmente en cómo los guaymíes reaccionan a las cambiantes circunstancias económicas de su entorno. La mayor parte de los datos utilizados se obtuvieron mediante observación participante junto con materiales del censo que sirvieron para complementar el trabajo de campo. …

The Role Of Coastal Resource Stability In The Transition To Agriculture, Soconusco, Mexico, Asia Alsgaard

Anthropology ETDs

Around the world, the transition to agriculture happens at different times and under different conditions, sometimes failing to occur at all. I address how risk management strategies, such as Niche Construction tactics, influence human subsistence decision making, both within the context of climate or habitat changes and its converse, stability. I focus on how coastal resource reliance in the Soconusco region, Mexico, may have allowed the Archaic period Chantuto society to continue to rely on aquatic resources even as other groups in the region began relying on maize agriculture. To address this question within the context of stability, I focus …

Buying Goodwill: Local And Regional Consumer Relationships In Nineteenth Century New Mexico, Erin Nicole Hegberg

Anthropology ETDs

This dissertation uses comparative analysis of four nineteenth century Hispanic sites to examine the daily practices by Hispanic residents of acquiring and consuming material goods (1821–1912). Through the practice of consumption, Hispanics created and reinforced social relationships with the groups who bartered or sold them goods. In frontier New Mexico consumer relationships reflected important networks that may have played a role in the creation and maintenance of modern Hispanic identity after U.S. annexation. The nineteenth century was a key moment in the developing racialization of Hispanic identity in New Mexico, which makes it a vital period of study for archaeologists …

3d Library From Body Size From Unconventional Specimens: A 3d Geometric Morphometrics Approach To Fishes From Ancestral Pueblo Contexts, Jonathan Dombrosky, Thomas F. Turner, Alexandra Harris, Emily Lena Jones

Anthropology Faculty & Staff Publications

Animal body size estimation from zooarchaeological specimens often relies on specific, one-dimensional (i.e., conventional) measures from skeletal elements. Here, we introduce an animal body size estimation technique for archaeological fishes that relies on 3D reference scans and the calculation of centroid size, a standard 3D geometric morphometric proxy measure for organism size. Centroid size-based estimations on whole caudal vertebrae are strongly correlated with a widely accepted measure (i.e., centrum width), but the scalability and flexibility of the centroid size-based approach allows for use on a wide variety of fragmented remains. We use zooarchaeological fish remains (subfamily Ictiobinae) from late pre-Hispanic …

A Review Of Nepali Diaspora And Their Role In Nepal’S Development And Lessons For Developing Countries, Ambika P. Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

United Nations data shows that the size of global diaspora had reached 281 million in 2020, and it continues to grow. Diasporas have contributed significantly to the development of their native lands through remittance, technology and knowledge transfer, philanthropy, and diplomacy. Many countries have designed policies to engage the diaspora more deeply by providing concessional citizenship and visa regimes, and attractive investment opportunities. Yet, there is room for improvement in policies and programs to enhance these prospects.

Since the 2010s, the size and expanse of Nepali diaspora has grown dramatically, the numbers perhaps reaching 800,000 in 2022 in the more …

Bajo Condiciones Impuestas: Los Indios Guaymíes Y Las Multinacionales Mineras En Panamá, Chris N. Gjording, Milton Machuca-Galvez

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Esta es la traducción al castellano del libro “Conditions Not of Their Choosing: The Guaymí Indians and Mining Multinationals in Panama” de Chris N. Gjording, publicado en 1991 por Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. Traductor: Milton Machuca-Galvez.

A finales de la década de los 70 y principios de los 80, Gjording (1932-1993), antropólogo y sacerdote jesuita estadounidense, hizo trabajo de campo con el pueblo guaymí del oeste de Panamá. Este trabajo fue el tema de su tesis doctoral, que luego se transformaría en libro.

El volumen trata los conflictos en torno al proyecto minero de cobre Cerro Colorado en Panamá …

Energetic Tradeoffs, Infection, And Immunity In Wild Chimpanzees Of Uganda And Tanzania, Sarah Renee Phillips

Anthropology ETDs

Infectious disease is a primary source of mortality for most mammal species, but scientists have little understanding of factors driving variation in infection and immunity between individuals, populations, and species in the wild. Life history theory provides an evolutionary framework for delineating distribution of available energy to competing physiological demands, including growth, reproduction, and maintenance. Early life reproduction should be favored over late life survival, but, in long-lived species, reproductive success is strongly tied to survival to old age. Slower pace of reproduction could allow investment in immunity, reducing risk of morbidity and mortality to infectious disease. Additionally, several host …

Paleoindian Response To Climate Change In The Northern Jornada Del Muerto, Christopher Wayne Merriman

Anthropology ETDs

Human-environment interaction is a long-standing and productive line of inquiry that includes the study of cultural responses to climate change. However, demonstrating a causal relationship between climate change and the consequent culture change is rarely straightforward for numerous reasons. In this dissertation I develop an optimality model to predict how Paleoindians should have responded to changes in precipitation across the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene. The water supply model (WSM) ranks water supplies much like the diet breadth model ranks food resources. To adjust the WSM for climate change, paleoclimate records from playas in the northern Jornada del Muerto were used in …

Lwd Belize: A Case Study For A Rapid Growth Community During The Terminal Classic Period In The Maya Lowlands, Rafael Alfredo Guerra

Anthropology ETDs

This dissertation examines the rise of Lower Dover (LWD) a Late Classic Polity in the middle Belize River Valley (BRV)in the Central Maya Lowlands, Belize. LWD was advantageously situated at the confluence of three important waters ways in the middle BRV to control riverine trade from the coast to the interior Maya heartland. Most large Maya centers developed over many centuries from Preclassic (ca. 400 BC) farming villages to polity capitals. LWD emerged in the Late Classic (ca. 600 AD) as many polities in the BRV were in decline. LWD was rapidly built by local elites and filled a power …

Conversations About Utopia And Anti-Utopia In Latin America: Co-Authored Writing, Felix Manuel Burgos, Les W. Field, Lara Gunderson

LAII Events

During the markedly strange time for research and writing engendered by the pandemic, I came to realize that for many years I had noticed with alarm that utopian narratives and imaginaries, in written and visual media, had almost completely disappeared, whereas dystopian and anti-utopian imaginaries had everywhere proliferated. I initiated conversations with former and current students to co-theorize this historical moment in the ways alternative futures are conjured and represented. Out of those conversations the two projects presented here developed: on the one hand, a conversation with Lara Gunderson, (PhD in Anthropology 2018) about the utopian imaginary in Nicaragua was …

Trade-Offs In Growth And Development: A Life History Approach, Anna Medendorp Rautman

Anthropology ETDs

Life history theory (LHT) is the conceptualization of tradeoffs in resources allocation. Plasticity, the ability of phenotypes to vary in response to environmental cues, is integral to LHT. Prior to completed maturation, resources are distributed towards maintenance or somatic maturation, a combination of growth and development (G&D). This dissertation presents an examination of intragroup variation in the G&D of the dental and skeletal systems within a sample of 20th century White females to consider whether they provide evidence for tradeoffs within the subadult interval. In a series of individual research chapters, I consider the following: 1) how does the relative …

Unique Genomic Architecture In The Descendants Of The Beringian Migrant Population: Founder Effects, Natural Selection, And Adaptation, Sara D. Niedbalski

Anthropology ETDs

The last great migration of our species saw humans traverse the Bering landmass from Siberia into the American continents in what has proven to be one of the most profound evolutionary events in modern human history. During the Last Glacial Maximum, a small band of Siberians entered the Beringian corridor, where they persisted, isolated from gene flow, for several thousand years before expansion into the Americas. The particular ecological features of the Beringian environment, coupled with an extended period of isolation at small population size, would have provided evolutionary opportunity for novel genetic variation to arise as both rare standing …

Q’Iij Metaphysics: Vico’S Theologia Indorum And The Gods, Ancestors, And Idols Of The 16th Century K’Ichee’ Mayas, Phillip Salazar

Latin American Studies ETDs

Domingo de Vico completed the Theologia Indorum, a K’iche’ Christian manuscript, in Guatemala in 1554. In the manuscript, Vico distinguishes between the idols, ancestors, and gods of the K’iche’s. This paper shows that Vico believed the idols to be inanimate objects, ancestors to be the older generations that have passed away, and gods to be demons. This paper then develops a theory of animist ontology for the K’iche’s. Using that ontological theory, this paper argues that, for the K’iche’s, their idols and gods were indistinguishable and that their ancestors were still alive, present, and active among them.

Hand Of The Potter, Hand Of The State: Pottery Production And Control In Tawantinsuyu, James A. Davenport

Anthropology ETDs

In empires, material culture plays an important role in creating and maintaining state power and legitimizing imperial rule. Through their form and decoration in imperial styles, these objects convey messages about state power, yet their production is often decentralized and carried out by subjects. This dissertation asks the question, how do imperial authorities organize the production of material culture? This question is addressed through a study of one category of material culture—Inka imperial pottery—from the site of Pachacamac, in Peru.

The Inka empire, called Tawantinsuyu, was a territorial empire spanning over 2 million km² in Andean South America …

Effects Of Environmental Change On Ancestral Pueblo Fishing In The Middle Rio Grande, Jonathan William Dombrosky

Anthropology ETDs

It has long been assumed that fishes were unimportant in the diet of past Pueblo people in the U.S. Southwest. Yet, small numbers of fish remains are consistently recovered from Late pre-Hispanic/Early Historic archaeological sites in the Middle Rio Grande of New Mexico. The end of drought conditions may have impacted food choice and fishing decisions during this time. I use behavioral ecology to understand how fishing could have been an optimal food-getting strategy for Ancestral Pueblo farmers. Stable isotope analysis offers a way to account for environmental change. I provide a refined ¹³C Suess correction model to support …

Games People Played: The Social Role Of Gambling In The Prehispanic U.S. Southwest, Marilyn B. Riggs

Anthropology ETDs

This study examines the social role of gambling in the prehispanic U.S. Southwest. Many of the games recorded by ethnographers in the Southwest involved gambling, and game pieces resembling these examples have been found in archaeological sites. Settlement strategies in the Ancestral Puebloan Southwest changed through time, with periods of increasing aggregation and inter-cultural contact, two conditions that required mechanisms to facilitate successful interactions among multiple kin groups and between multiple culture groups.

Two Models explore the possibility that gambling served an integrative role in large, aggregated pueblos, and in pueblos located on the eastern frontier of the Pueblo region. …

Cultivating The Future: Globalized Competition And Environmental Interactions In The New Mexico Chile Industry, Holly Patricia Brause

Anthropology ETDs

Despite the importance of chile to New Mexico, the future of the chile industry in the state is uncertain. Since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, chile producers in New Mexico have struggled to compete in a globalized marketplace. Additionally, predicted environmental problems, like impending water shortages and climate change, cast further doubt about the industry’s future. In this dissertation, I show how the New Mexico chile industry has become a binational endeavor. I examine the multiple future-making projects that are being undertaken by individuals and groups involved in the chile industry as they …

Functional Changes In Fortified Places: Strategy And Defensive Architecture In The Medieval And Early Modern Eras, Scott Kirk

Anthropology ETDs

Castles – defined as the fortified residences of a militarized elite class – are a global, cross-cultural phenomenon rather than a historically particular development in medieval Europe. Pairing Niche Construction Theory (NCT) with the Lévi-Straussian concept of the House, this research combines architectural, statistical, and geospatial analyses for a sample of castles from medieval European, western colonial, and nonwestern societies to show: (1) castle building is a recurring feature of competition in stratified pre-industrial societies, (2) geography and topography constrain castle location and function, and (3) changes in castle placement, design and elaboration reflect the changing nature of social, economic …