Out Of Africa: The Ecological Context And Constraints On Early Homo Migration, Kathryn Gwen Sokolowski

2020 Award Winners

No abstract provided.

Ecospaces Of The Iberian Peninsula At The Middle-Upper Paleolithic Transition: A View From The Archaeofaunal Record [Dataset], Emily Lena Jones, Milena M. Carvalho

Anthropology Datasets

No abstract provided.

Vecinidad And Hispanidad: Using Consumer Relationships To Understand Local And Regional Hispanic Identity In Nineteenth Century Territorial New Mexico, Erin N. Hegberg

Shared Knowledge Conference

The years 1821–1912 were politically tumultuous and may have been especially important in the development of modern Hispanic identity in New Mexico. After New Mexico was annexed by the United States, one significant impact of incoming American racial discourses was a shift in the perception of Hispanic identity from a localized community identity, to a racial or ethnic identity at a regional or national scale. However, we have little understanding of what this meant in the lives of typical rural New Mexicans. This research addresses this problem through the study the material goods that historic New Mexicans consumed on a …

"Sounding The Nile" In Nubian Musical Expression, Regan L. Homeyer

Shared Knowledge Conference

Nubians are indigenous peoples of the Nile River Valley whose ancient civilization parallels that of ancient Egypt. In 1964, 50,000 Egyptian Nubians were removed from their homeland along the Nile because of President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s initiative, the Aswan High Dam Project. With fertile lands and sacred temples doomed to inundation by the waters of what is now Lake Nassar, Nubians were resettled in government built villages that promised both preservation of culture and modern conveniences. What these riverine people received, in fact, were poorly constructed, unfinished dwellings located in the desert, more than five miles from the Nile. A …

The Spatialization Of Peace Amidst Militarization And Development In Buenaventura, Colombia., Maria Del Pilar File-Muriel

Shared Knowledge Conference

Innovative community driven spatial practices are integral to sustaining long lasting peace amidst post-peace-accords times and the continued structural genocide of Afro-Colombians and indigenous communities in Buenaventura, Colombia. This paper illuminates the case of multiple transformative spaces --the Humanitarian Space Puente Nayero and the Comunal Port Punta Icaco in the city of Buenaventura, the rural interethnic humanitarian and biodiversity space of La Esperanza and the Paro Cívico struggle in the district of Buenaventura-- as examples of the creative power of citizens and of the transformative production of spaces of peace that resist local and global violent development and urbanization processes. …

La Gota Que Colma La Caguama: How A Brewery Development Sparked Public Participation In Water Decisions, Anthony J. Meluso

Shared Knowledge Conference

Broad and diverse participation of actors is well recognized as a prerequisite for effective and equitable water management. However, scholarship in development and social movement literature in Latin America demonstrates that patterns of participation are shifting to more diverse strategies with non-traditional alliances. This project explores how an internationally owned brewery development sparked renewed participation from various urban and rural groups in the Mexicali Valley. I argue that widespread resistance from different groups was underpinned by neoliberal development tensions that have diminished local agency, but the strong symbolic nature of water, beer and politics provided the catalyst for a social …

Sociocultural Diversity In The Prehispanic Southwest: Learning, Weaving, And Identity In The Chaco Regional System, A.D. 850-1140, Edward Alexander Jolie

Anthropology ETDs

Between about A.D. 850 and 1140, the archaeology of Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico reveals the rapid construction of large communal structures where smaller settlements had existed previously and shows that the locality became the core of an extensive regional system in the Four Corners region of the northern Southwest integrated by formal trails, the circulation of nonlocal goods, and the sharing of ritual items. Researchers vigorously debate the role of increased sociopolitical complexity in this development, but less attention has been given to questions of sociocultural diversity and its impacts.

Guided by previous research suggesting the existence of …

Mainland Southeast Asia In The Longue Durée: A Zooarchaeological Test Of The "Broad Spectrum Revolution" In Northern Thailand, Cyler Norman Conrad

Anthropology ETDs

In northern Thailand, previous zooarchaeological research suggests that hunter-gatherers consumed a broad diversity of animal resources during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition and afterwards (Gorman 1971a). This is a pattern characteristic of Kent Flannery’s (1969) “broad spectrum revolution” hypothesis. Based primarily on presence and absence evidence, faunal assemblages in northern Thailand typically include species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish and shellfish, suggesting that prehistoric foragers consumed a wide range of taxa within this mainland Southeast Asian tropical environment. Although zooarchaeological analyses commonly identify this pattern within prehistoric cave and rockshelter sites, past investigations have 1) not attempted to formally test Flannery’s hypothesis, …

The Structural Violence Of Maya Sacrifice: A Case Study Of Ritualized Human Sacrifice At Midnight Terror Cave, Belize, C. L. Kieffer Nail

Anthropology ETDs

The site of Midnight Terror Cave is located in the karstic Roaring Creek Valley near the village of Springfield in the Cayo District of Belize. The site was discovered in 2006 and fieldwork was conducted by the Western Belize Regional Cave Survey Project and California State University, Los Angeles, between 2008 and 2010. This dissertation focuses on the osteological analysis of the bones of 118 individuals recovered and recorded at the site. The osteological, contextual, and demographic evidence is framed within ritual and costly signaling theory of structural violence and viewed with the ethnohistoric and ethnographic literature of the ancient …

Reconstructing Landscape Use Patterns Using Strontium Isotope Ratios, Marian Irene Hamilton

Anthropology ETDs

This dissertation uses modern habitats and fauna to model the variability and predictive power of strontium isotope ratios in identifying dispersal patterns in primates and habitat preference in primate and non-primate fauna. It concludes that there are significant isotopic differences between gallery forest and xeric grassland habitats in the same area and that these differences are reflected in fauna with habitat preferences for one or the other. It also identifies the most reliable methodological approaches for identifying the philopatric and dispersing sex in primate communities. Finally, it applies this methodological recommendation to strontium isotope data from South African hominins, concluding …

Relanzamiento Of Nicaragua’S Christian Base Communities: Forging New Models Of Church And Society For The Twenty-First Century, Lara M. Gunderson

Anthropology ETDs

How do narrative practices used by members of Christian Base Communities (in Spanish, CEBs) construct particular Catholic-political subjectivities within the Church, the nation-state, and the larger global institutions? Christian Base Communities, the vehicle by which liberation theology is put into practice, played a significant role in Nicaragua’s Sandinista revolution. Their proclaimed renewal is happening under dramatically different contexts from which they first emerged. Their religious beliefs continue to justify and place a moral thrust on their struggle for a more egalitarian society despite the reduction of social programs on the part of neoliberal governments, including the current Sandinista party administration. …

Virtuous Discourse In The Specialty Coffee Sector: How Social Responsibility Practices Fragment Pursuits For A Supply Chain, Jane H. Motsinger

Geography ETDs

A diversity of public and private initiatives strive to address the human-environment challenges confronting the global coffee industry, including certifications like Fairtrade, direct trade sourcing models, and efforts led by NGOs. Research examines the outcomes of major certification programs and the private initiatives of corporations like Starbucks. Much less is known about the business practices of the small specialty coffee businesses that increasingly advertise sustainable business practices. Yet, their collective business practices likely influence the industry-wide efforts to achieve a sustainable supply chain. This research examines how small specialty coffee roasting and importing companies represent their socially responsible business practices …

Fresa Style In Mexico: Sociolinguistic Stereotypes And The Variability Of Social Meanings, Rebeca Martinez Gomez

Linguistics ETDs

This dissertation examines the flexibility in the social meanings of sociolinguistic stereotypes and how linguistic and non-linguistic information affect these meanings. The investigation consists of four empirical studies surrounding the case of fresas in Mexico –members of the upper class that are perceived as using a unique linguistic style.

Study 1 investigates the linguistic and non-linguistic characteristics associated with the fresa stereotype. Through a qualitative analysis of 64 webpages and 3 performances of the style, it is shown that fresasare perceived as the counterpart of another construct, nacos,and that their linguistic style is linked to English due to …

Revisiting The Vasco-Cantabrian Solutrean: The Archaeofaunal Record [Dataset], Emily Lena Jones

Anthropology Datasets

No abstract provided.

Bodies Of Water: Politics, Ethics, And Relationships Along New Mexico's Acequias, Elise Trott

Anthropology ETDs

Growing public attention to global economic and environmental instability and collapse have brought new urgency to a classic activity of anthropology: looking for alternative economic and environmental models in other ways of life. This dissertation is a case study of the complex and sometimes contradictory ways in which New Mexico’s acequias (communally-managed irrigation ditches) are produced, experienced, and contested as an alternative form of living, creating community, and relating ethically to the environment. Drawing on over six years of participant observation and in-depth interviews with Nuevomexicano (Spanish- and Mexican-descendant), indigenous, and non-indigenous acequia users and organizers in North-Central New Mexico …

The Past In The Present: Federal Implementation Of The Native American Graves Protection And Repatriation Act, Erin J. Hudson

Anthropology ETDs

This dissertation examines the implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act by federal agencies. Specifically, it examines the processes that archaeologists, working in different geographic regions and for different federal agencies, use to complete NAGPRA actions and determine cultural affiliation. A total of nine case studies from two regions (US Southwest and Pacific Northwest) and three federal agencies (USDA Forest Service, National Park Service, and US Army Corps of Engineer) were used to document the complete NAGPRA process as it occurs in real situations, to identify the processes and lines of evidence used to complete those actions, …

Music, Politics, And Sociality: Ethnic Tensions And The Performance Of Gikuyu Nationalism, Peter Njagi Mwangi

Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

This thesis examines how some selected Gikuyu popular music propagates ethnic tensions in Kenya by promoting Gikuyu nationalism at the expense of Kenyan nationalism. This music derives its themes from the historical period of the Mau Mau armed struggle against British colonists and connects this struggle with everyday experiences of the Gikuyu people. Memory and the performance of everyday life in this music solidifies the Gikuyu community as tied to a common destiny and distances other Kenyan communities from this destiny. The music consolidates Gikuyu ethnic nationalism and authenticates the position of the community as superior and a dominant force …

Paradise Found? Local Cosmopolitanism, Lifestyle Migrant Emplacement, And Imaginaries Of Sustainable Development In La Manzanilla Del Mar, Mexico, Jennifer Cardinal

Anthropology ETDs

The southern Jalisco, Mexico coast is experiencing a transition as much of the beach-front land is being privatized for luxury resort development. In this dissertation I consider sustainable development in the coastal community of La Manzanilla del Mar in the context of this shifting social and material landscape. La Manzanilla is a tourism destination of approximately 1,700 residents, including an estimated 300 foreign residents. These foreign residents have been categorized as lifestyle migrants by social scientists, and lifestyle migration is distinguished from labor and forced migration as the consumption-based form of migration practiced primarily by the middle and upper classes …

Forests On The Edge: Forest Restoration And Concepts Of Nature In Northern New Mexico, Jordan W. Stone

Geography ETDs

Dozens of catastrophic forest fires have impacted New Mexican communities over the last two decades, threatening humans, property, and livelihoods. Ecologically, forest systems are stressed by historically unprecedented tree density, drought, increased temperature, and dwindling ecological diversity, further increasing fire danger. An increasingly common response to these threats is to actively manage New Mexico’s forests using mechanical tree thinning and prescribed fire, with a goal of “restoring” forests to a healthier ecological state. Restoring forests is both a scientific and cultural act. While the science is well studied, land managers often struggle to understand how human values impact forest restoration …

Changes In Middle Holocene Shellfish Harvesting Practices: Evidence From Labouchere Bay (49-Pet-476), Southeast Alaska, Mark R. Williams

Anthropology Graduate Student Publications

This paper uses zooarchaeology and community paleoecology to interpret the invertebrate assemblage from a middle Holocene shell midden in Southeast Alaska. The composition of midden 13.3 at Labouchere Bay (AHRS# 49-PET-746), which was occupied between 6,500 and 2,500 calendar years before present, reflects changes in how the human inhabitants of the site interacted with intertidal shellfish communities. The amount of shellfish from soft substrate habitats (mudflats) did not change significantly over time, while the amount of shellfish from hard substrate habitats (rocky tide pools) declined. This trend in the relative abundance of these shellfish in the midden may have been …

Rabbit Exploitation In The Middle Paleolithic At Gruta Nova Da Columbeira, Portugal, Milena M. Carvalho

Anthropology Graduate Student Publications

Differences in subsistence between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans may suggest key behavioral changes during the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition. In this paper, I present archeozoological and stable isotopic analyses of Oryctolagus cuniculus (European wild rabbit) remains from levels 6, 7, 8 and 9 of Gruta Nova da Columbeira, a Mousterian cave site located in central Portugal. I use these data to explore two alternative hypotheses: 1. Anatomically modern humans gained a competitive advantage over Neanderthals by exploiting a broader-spectrum diet including small prey items such as the rabbit and 2. Neanderthals already on occasion practiced a broad-spectrum diet …

Data For The Distribution Of Flat-Backed Canteens, Kristina L. Whitney

Anthropology Graduate Student Publications

Since water transport vessels are often a highly conservative vessel form, the appearance of a new water vessel shape—the flat-backed canteen—in the American Southwest around the time of Spanish arrival raises questions concerning its introduction. These data are the basis of a study aimed at documenting the presence of the flat-backed canteen in the American Southwest from the sixteenth through twentieth centuries and explores changes in their distribution and use through time. A total of 128 flat-backed canteens were analyzed from archaeological and ethnographic collections, while 97 additional New World canteens were documented through an extensive literature review. Its contemporary …

Historic And Modern Eastern Pacific Green Sea Turtle Stable Isotopes, Cyler Conrad, Laura Pagès Barceló, Jeffrey A. Seminoff, Calandra N. Turner Tomaszewicz, Marie J. Labonte, Brian M. Kemp, Emily Lena Jones, Michael Stoyka, Kale Bruner, Allen G. Pastron

Anthropology Datasets

Stable isotope data, specimen photographs and R script for the Gold Rush-era sea turtle specimens from San Francisco, California. The stable isotope data are saved as .csv files. R script is provided as a zip file (OQ_SeaTurtle-master.zip) created from the repository developed and hosted at https://github.com/cylerc/OQ_SeaTurtle. Note: Some stable isotope data provided during analyses are from previously published sources (see .csv files and manuscript for references). This repository dataset is described in the manuscript: Conrad, C., L. Pagès Barceló, J.A. Seminoff, C.N. Turner Tomaszewicz, M.J. Labonte, B.M. Kemp, E.L. Jones, M. Stoyka, K. Bruner and A.G. Pastron. in press. …

Belén’S Plaza Vieja And Colonial Church Site: Memory, Continuity And Recovery, Samuel E. Sisneros

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

This is my capstone project for completion of a Post MA certificate in Historic Preservation and Regionalism. I received the degree in Spring, 2019. The project involves recovering the legacy of a historic colonial church site in Belén, New Mexico. The work involves the descendant community’s sense of place and the continuity of memory and sacredness of Belen’s first church and original plaza.

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 …

Sleep As An Evolved Behavior: Ecological Opportunity Costs And Sleep Optimization, Gandhi Yetish

Anthropology ETDs

Sleep problems afflict millions world-over. Treating this has been difficult because there is no consensus definition for “normal” sleep. People can vary in their personal sleep need, but the determinants of variation in sleep duration are largely unknown, as is the criteria to determine how much variation is normal. Given that most diurnal mammals (including primates) appear to sleep from sunset to sunrise, the leading explanation for sleep pathology in the post-industrial world has been that electronics, especially light illuminating devices, substantially reduce sleep duration. This assertion has heretofore only been tested experimentally. This research aims to resolve this issue …

Questions Of Sovereignty: Pyramid Lake And The Northern Paiute Struggle For Water And Rights, Andrew W. Carey

Anthropology ETDs

The current U.S. government policy of Indian Self-Determination is determined by the principle of tribal sovereignty, which defines how issues identified in Indian Country are addressed. However, tribal sovereignty represents an ideal that has regularly been ignored or contested by private and corporate entities, as well as state and federal government agencies. My research explores this case study of the successful assertion of tribal sovereignty by the Pyramid Lake Paiute tribe as they worked to save Pyramid Lake, the spiritual and economic heart of their reservation. The Pyramid Lake Tribe employed several strategies to secure water for Pyramid Lake and …

Twenty-First Century Woodland Archaeology In The Lower Illinois River Valley: A Regional Model, Jason Louis King

Anthropology ETDs

The Lower Illinois River Valley (LIV) has been the subject of over a century of focused archaeological inquiry, resulting in robust body of data with which to investigate the lifeways of ancient indigenous peoples of midcontinental North America. Among the most visible components of this record are the Middle Woodland (50 cal BC-cal AD 400) and Late Woodland (cal 400-1000) assemblages that document an extended period of significant social and demographic transformation of the valley, marked by highly visible monumental architecture, e.g. mounds, and often complex mortuary practices culminating in the disposal of the dead with these monuments. Research reported …

Basketmaker Ii Warfare And Fending Sticks In The North American Southwest, Phil R. Geib

Anthropology ETDs

Direct physical evidence and rock art, including head skin trophies, indicate that violence linked to warfare was prevalent among the preceramic farmers of the North American Southwest known as Basketmakers. The degree of intergroup conflict indicates that Basketmakers may have needed defense against atlatl darts. In the early 1900s archaeologists suggested that distinctive wooden artifacts served this purpose. Despite resembling Puebloan rabbit sticks, the first to report these S-shaped and flattened sticks with longitudinal facial grooves thought that hunting was not their purpose. Yet the sticks appear singularly inadequate for the task of atlatl dart defense. I evaluate the suggested …

Estimating Ancestry And Genetic Diversity In Admixed Populations, Anthony Joseph Koehl

Anthropology ETDs

Admixture is a form of gene flow that occurs when long separated populations come into contact and exchange mates. Admixture has been a primary mechanism in the formation of many modern human populations. The genetic characteristics of an admixed population are intermediate to, yet distinct from, those of its ancestors. In this dissertation, I investigate biological and statistical factors that enter into the analysis of admixed populations using genetic marker data. In chapters one and two, I use genotype data from published sources that contain 618 microsatellite loci. In chapter three, I simulate genotypes of 500 microsatellite loci. In chapter …