Anthropology Commons^™

Participant/Observer Vol. 1. No. 1 Winter 2007, Anthropology Department

Participant/Observer

A Newsletter for Friends of the Western Michigan University Department of Anthropology

Table of Contents:

• Violence in Kenya is topic of Anthropologist’s Research
• Letter from the Chair
• Meet the Newest Member of the Anthropology Department: Kristina Wirtz
• WMU Archaeology Students Excavate at Fort St. Joseph During Field School
• Questions for a Faculty Member. . . Dr. Robert Anemone
• Archaeology Grad Student Works in Bolivia
• Anthropology Students Make Energy Headlines
• The Development of a Web-Based, Role-Playing Simulation
• In The Spotlight: Vin Lyon-Callo
• Anthropologist is Fulbright Scholar
• Department News

Incisal Dental Microwear Of The Prehistoric Point Hope Communities: A Dietary And Cultural Synthesis, Kristin L. Krueger

Masters Theses

The prehistoric coastal communities of Point Hope, Alaska have been considered important Arctic archaeological sites since their initial excavations in 1939. The majority of the archaeological artifacts are grouped into two temporally distinct cultural components, the Ipiutak (2100-1500BP) and the Tigara (800-300BP). Although debated, Arctic archaeologists have suggested that the Ipiutak depended heavily on land mammals with only seasonal reliance on sea mammals, whereas the Tigara relied primarily on sea mammals including whales. While both groups clearly utilized foraging subsistence economies, the contrasts in their food acquisition strategies would have placed different demands on the males and females, particularly with …

The Analysis Of Ceramic Symbolism From The First Street Site In Barbados, Aya Hashimoto

Masters Theses

The expression of race and racism in material culture is of increasing interest in historical archaeology ( e.g., Epperson 1990, 1999, 2000; Mullins 1996, 1999). This study investigates 6 ceramic sherds from one vessel associated with a white urban domestic site on First Street, in Holetown Barbados. This vessel conveys a racist message. A black slave in a loincloth serving tea to a white person is transfer printed on the ceramic. The ceramic seems to be an annular designed pearlware from England in the first half of the 19^th century.

By interpreting the meanings of the ceramic decoration, this …

Linear Enamel Hypoplasia And Dental Disease: Implications Of Health And Lifestyle Behaviors Of The Urban Enslaved From Two Burial Grounds In Bridgetown, Barbados, Jennifer Yamazaki

Masters Theses

This project investigates aspects of diet, health, and lifestyles of enslaved Africans of Bridgetown, Barbados during the 17th-19th centuries. The dentition of 10 Pierhead and Fontabelle individuals was examined to provide evidence of stress and coping capacities experienced within the urban context of slavery. Linear enamel hypoplasias (LEH), dental disease, and cultural modifications were noted. The frequencies of the pathologies were calculated and the peak age of stress occurrence for LEH were timed and compared with other New World enslaved populations in order to determine if differences existed in overall health and lifestyle experiences between those enslaved in cities and …

Vertebral Age Estimation: An Examination Of The Seventh Cervical, Seventh Thoracic, And Fourth Lumbar Vertebrae, Holly Hernandez

Masters Theses

This project examines the utility of vertebral osteophyte development to estimate age at death. Skeletal joint degeneration is a common method for estimating individuals' age at death, however studies regarding vertebral degeneration and age estimation are lacking. My study follows the work of Stewart (1958) in comparing stages of osteophytic lipping of vertebral bodies to age at death.

I examined the seventh cervical (C7), seventh thoracic (T7), and fourth lumbar (L4) vertebrae in 100 individuals of known ancestry, sex, and age at death from the Hamann-Todd skeletal collection. Degenerative stages and composite scores were analyzed through descriptive statistics and chi …

Neoliberalism, Hegemony And Community Imaginings, Boone W. Shear

Masters Theses

The idea of "community" evokes many long held, positive imaginings. Community implies neighborliness, togetherness, helping each other, tolerance and understanding. Community is set against modem society and is commonly understood to be a solution to the deleterious impacts of capitalism and the state. Although community can be a site of resistance, I am also interested in the ways in which the ideology of community assists in facilitating capitalist inequalities.

The latter part of the twentieth-century saw a significant restructuring of capital in the United States as privatization and deregulation were accompanied by a decline in the welfare state. These efforts …

A “Southern Tradition?”: Stockcar Racing As Contextual Tradition, Patrick A. Lindsay

Masters Theses

A large number of academics who have examined stockcar racing have concluded that stockcar racing is a “Southern tradition.” While the implicit definitions of tradition may vary, many generally agree that there is a clear historical relationship between stock car racing and the South. It is my contention that the idea that stockcar racing is a “Southern” tradition does not represent the reality of stockcar racing fandom for many people outside of the South. I assert that stock car racing is instead a “contextual tradition”, a practice that became labeled a tradition through specific historical and cultural circumstances. By examining …

Occupational Stress And Slavery: Evidence From Bridgetown, Barbados, Sarah Muno

Masters Theses

In 1996 and 2000, construction workers uncovered unmarked burial grounds in the Pierhead and Fontabelle sections of Bridgetown, Barbados. The human remains were removed in salvage excavation and are now housed at the University of the West Indies and the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. The associated grave goods, documentary record, and initial osteological analysis indicate these individuals were part of the enslaved workforce during the early to mid- eighteenth century. This thesis will explore the presence of vertebral osteophytosis, vertebral anterior wedge compression fractures, vertebral apophyseal facet remodeling and musculoskeletal stress markers among the human remains from Pierhead and …

The Trials And Tribulations Of Eliciting American Indian Voice, Amber Madoll

Masters Theses

In this thesis I explored the application of oral history in the collection, preservation and interpretation of American Indian cultural history. Through the analysis of written ethnographies, published works, oral histories and case studies, this research addresses some of the major debates hindering oral history's admittance as a viable ethnographic and historical resource. The overall intention of this research was to elicit the major methodological issues anthropologists face when employing oral history techniques in American Indian studies so that solid, comprehensive strategies can be created and implemented to strengthen the acceptance and practice of oral history in modem cultural studies. …

People Without Voice: Perceptions Of Social Bias Against Muslims In The United States, Dhiren Patel

Masters Theses

This paper is an ethnographic investigation of Muslim American perceptions of social marginalization in the United States as a by-product of various governmental and media forces, with the Kalamazoo, MI community being the regional focus. The existence of the violence-crazed zealot Muslim stereotype has had social repercussions for Muslims living in America. The first part of this research looks at the development of Muslim stereotypes before 9/11. The second half of this paper discuses the results from interviews with local Muslims Americans who have given me their perspective on prejudice against Islam in the United States.

The oral accounts provided …

A Bioarchaeological Investigation Of Two Unmarked Graveyards In Bridgetown, Barbados, Christopher Crain

Masters Theses

In 1996 and 1999 two previously unknown graveyards were discovered in separate sections of Bridgetown, Barbados. Emergency excavations of the sites recovered the skeletal material of at least thirty-two (MNI=32) individuals as well as a number of grave goods. While the artifacts were from the historical period there was continuing speculation as to the ancestry of the individuals interred within these graveyards. During the summer of 2004 the first preliminary osteological analysis of the skeletal material was conducted to identify the biological characteristics, including the ancestral affiliation, of these individuals. The analysis determined that the individuals interred at these sites …

A New Early Eocene Mammalian Fauna From The Great Divide Basin, Southwestern Wyoming: Vertebrate Paleontology, Paleoclimatology, And Biostratigraphy, Edward M. Johnson

Masters Theses

A new early Eocene mammalian fauna from a series of localities in the Great Divide Basin of southwestern Wyoming is described in this Masters Thesis. Seven localities in the vicinity of Tipton Buttes have yielded 1627 fossil specimens that have been identified, catalogued, and analyzed. The goal of this thesis is to develop a biostratigraphic framework for dating this fossil assemblage based on comparisons with well-dated assemblages from other localities in the American West. Field crews from Western Michigan University have collected fossil vertebrates from Tipton Buttes during most summer field seasons between 1995 and 2003. The analyses indicate that …

Patterns Of Cortical Growth As Indicators Of Population Health: An Exploratory Analysis Of Subadult Remains From The Tell Abraq Site, Uae, Jessica L. Rhodes

Masters Theses

The analysis of children in archaeological contexts is a relatively new field of study that emerged largely as a result of feminist and gender studies in the social sciences. Thus, methodologies that are typically employed in bioarchaeological analyses of children have yet to be refined and standardized. The commingling of subadult remains in archaeological contexts further confounds this issue by eliminating the ability of the researcher to establish reasonable age-at-death distributions.

This study seeks to explore the utility of analyzing patterns of cortical growth-for-diaphyseal length in commingled subadult remains. Specifically, commingled subadult remains excavated from the Tell Abraq site (UAE, …

Bone Density Testing As An Early Detection Devise For Anorexia Nervosa And Osteoporosis In Pre-Adolescent And Adolescent Girls, Kelle L. Brooks

Masters Theses

Osteoporosis has become one of the leading health problems for postmenopausal women in the United States, however, it has been shown that preadolescent and adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa are at an unusually high risk for early on-set osteoporosis and bone fractures.

Bone density testing has already proving itself as an accurate form of detection in post-menopausal women and the elderly and is widely used at medical institutions, clinics, and pharmacies throughout the United States as an inexpensive, non-invasive, and accurate technique for detecting low bone mass.

This research aims to examine anorexia nervosa and its long-term effects on the …

Crafting Culture At Fort St. Joseph: An Archaeological Investigation Of Labor Organization On The Colonial Frontier, Brock A. Giordano

Masters Theses

The study of labor organization through the examination of craft production in complex societies has been a topic of intense scholarly interest (Blackman et al. 1993; Costin and Hagstrom 1995; Shafer and Hester 1991). A number of scholars have hypothesized that goods produced in mass quantities by particular specialists can be recognized by their high degree of standardization or homogeneity (Blackman et al. 1993:61; Schiffer and Skibo 1997). As such, this study employs the theoretical framework that in an archaeological context it is possible to differentiate centralized production from noncentralized production by identifying any standardization or variation within the manufacturing …

An Analysis Of Service-Learning And Applied Anthropology, Danielle Nordbrock

Honors Theses

People think of others in comparison to themselves, and what they know. Anthropologists study a wide variety of things, this includes all different societies: simple and complex, ancient and modern, and in different locales. The perspective of an anthropologist tends to take on a unique cross-cultural nature, with comparisons oftentimes being central to the research. When anthropologists become engaged in a project and begin their fieldwork they experience a unique sense of understanding from living in such close proximity to another culture.

Athletic Amenorrhea: Prevalence And Awareness Among Female Athletes At Western Michigan University, Michele R. Chupurdia

Masters Theses

Women who participate in competitive sports are under enormous pressure to maintain an extremely low body weight through diet and exercise. While exercise is viewed as widely beneficial to women of all ages, the pressure to succeed in sports by achieving or maintaining an unrealistically low body weight through food restriction and high intensity training may lead some women to develop eating disorders, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis.

The research conducted for this thesis and presented here investigates female college athletes (18-24 years) from Western Michigan University, a Division I school, who are undergoing strenuous training. The goal of this study is …

Eating Ethnicity: Examining 18th Century French Colonial Identity Through Selective Consumption Of Animal Resources In The North American Interior, Rory J. Becker

Masters Theses

Cultural identities can be created and maintained through daily practice and food consum.ption is one such practice. People need food in order to survive, but the types of food they eat are largely determined by the interaction of culture and their environment. By approaching the topic of subsistence practices as being culturally constituted, the study of foodways provides an avenue to examine issues of cultural identity through selective consumption. Eating certain foods to the exclusion of others is one method for establishing social distance between peoples and is simultaneously a reflection of this relationship and the types of interactions that …

Who Are "The Japanese"?: Negotiation Of Identity Among Nikkei In Brazil, Chihiro Nagasue

Masters Theses

When Japanese immigrants arrived in Brazil in the beginning of the 20th century, they recognized, for the first time, that they were "Japanese" and different from other ethnic people since it was rare for them to meet ethnically foreign people in Japan. In the ethnically and linguistically foreign country of Brazil, the Nikkei have had to constantly redefine their identity by resisting and accommodating dominant pressures and ideologies such as the Brazilian assimilation policies before and during the Second World War as well as the essentialist ideology of Nihonjinron (what it means to be Japanese). As a result of globalization, …

A Comparison Of Human Femoral Neck Cortical Bone: Walkers Vs. Non-Walkers, Meghan M. Moran

Masters Theses

This empirical project examines human inferior femoral neck cortical bone and the response in this region to mechanical loading in association with bipedalism. It is suggested that habitual activity induces cortical bone hypertrophy. A radiographic analysis of femoral neck cortical bone was completed using two samples of individuals. One group following a normal developmental trajectory of walking was compared to another who has never walked as a result of cerebral palsy (CP) or spina bifida (SB). Two research questions were addressed: (1) Is the amount of femoral neck inferior cortical bone equal to or different from that seen in the …

Understanding Ethno-Nationalism: Sikh Diasporic Imaginings In Southwest Michigan, Rory G. Mccarthy

Masters Theses

Diaspora as a category is both useful and troublesome for researchers in the discipline of anthropology. It is useful, for it allows anthropologists to approach cultural studies from a position that recognizes flaws in the conception of culture as geographically bounded. Studying diasporic populations, therefore, enables anthropologists to apply new theoretical approaches to culture, without reifying and essentializing social practices. Conversely, using diaspora as a category can homogenize groups by glossing over differences in ethnicity, religion, and migratory expenence.

This study aims at bettering the understanding of diversity within a diasporic population by examining the role that religion plays in …

An Intensive Surface Collection And Intrasite Spatial Analysis Of The Archaeological Materials From The Coy Mound Site (3ln20), Central Arkansas, William Glenn Hill

Masters Theses

Surface collected materials from the Coy Mound site (3LN20), Lonoke County, Arkansas, are utilized in order to address questions regarding site temporal occupations, resource utilization, internal site configuration, and the socio-political organization of the Baytown-Coles Creek period Plum Bayou culture. Artifact distribution plots revealed the presence of a mound and plaza site configuration in addition to potential domestic and off-mound midden deposits. While the site organizational plan has implications for a hierarchical socio-political organization, the absence of inter- and intrasite variability in ceramic types and lithic materials support the hypothesis that limited social differentiation was present in Plum Bayou culture …

The Steamboat Industry In Brownsville, Pennsylvania: An Ethnohistorical Perspective On The Economic Change In The Monongahela Valley, Marc Nicholas Henshaw

Masters Theses

This thesis is a detailed ethnohistorical study examining landscape changes in Brownsville Pennsylvania from 1759 to 1925. The changes that occurred in the town were heavily influenced by the flatboat and steamboat industries and the later introduction of the railroad. The catalyst for the shifts in landscape use was derived from the economical transition from a frontier economy and core producer, to mining satellite of the Pittsburgh region.

This study employs the use of period town directories, diaries, maps, photographs, and oral histories to recreate the town and to flesh out gender roles, racial diversity, and class structures both on …

Evicting A Neighbor: Health, Power And Discourse In Vieques, Puerto Rico, Nelson Class-Meléndez

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the two years that followed the death of a civilian, David Sanes on April 1999, when a Marine Corps F-18 pilot accidentally dropped two 500- pound bombs on an observation post on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. Following the death of Sanes and for the first time in contemporary history, all competing political parties, the Viequenses, and religious leaders apparently reached an initial consensus that resulted in a series of efforts to evict the Navy from Vieques.

Importantly, this coalition adopted an environmental discourse that is essentially anti-Navy. This thesis draws upon this anti-Navy discourse to …

The Avifauna Of Bawwab Al-Ghazal: A Zooarchaeological Analysis, Elissa A. Kinzelman

Masters Theses

In 1998 the Neolithic archaeological site of Bawwab al-Ghazal (ca. 11,500- 7,500 BP) was excavated by a team of researchers from the University of California, Riverside and Whitman College. Among the many artifacts recovered from the site, ranging from stone and shell beads to stone tools and related debitage, were an abundant sample of bird bones. Excavators shipped the sample, consisting of some 407 specimens, to the Anthropology Department of Western Michigan University for a faunal analysis.

This study seeks to illustrate the importance of bird remains in the archaeological record. The avifaunal analysis of Bawwab al-Ghazal began with identifying …

The Making Of Jordanian American National Identity In Michigan, David C. Chaudoir

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the making of Jordanian American national identity in Michigan. Moreover, it examines the notion of national identity in transnational spaces in relation to what Brian Schiff has metaphorically referred to as "cultural currents," comprised of values, symbols, political philosophies, habits, etc. of social actors. How do various cultural currents influence the way in which people talk and think about themselves in national terms? Why is national identity a meaningful concept, and how is it influenced by culture and ethnicity? To what degree do entities such as the state hold influence over national identity, especially in the case …

Can Status Be Revealed? Dichotomous Cultural And Physiological Markers Of Social Differentiation In Two Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Sites In The Levant, Monika L. Trahe

Masters Theses

Bioarchaeological studies utilize linear enamel hypoplasias (LEH) to discuss and interpret the health among peoples of the past. This research explores the bioarchaeology from two Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (9,000-8,500 BP) sites in south-central Levant, Kfar HaHoresh and Yiftahel, to uncover a record of health and social status in order to understand these sites in the context of the greater Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic period.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the Kfar HaHoresh site served as a mortuary complex in which the elite from surrounding communities, such as Yiftahel, are buried (Goring-Morris 2000). This research examines the biological remains alongside the archaeological evidence …

Social Agency And Dieffenderfer Ware: A Multiscalar Analysis Investigating Current Archaeological Perspectives Concerning Style, Social Dynamics, Chaine Operatoire And Practice Theory, Timothy L. Bober

Masters Theses

Dieffenderfer Ware is a recently defined ceramic type found exclusively at the Dieffenderfer site (20SJ179) in southwest Michigan. This Late Woodland (ca. A.D. 1000-1400) pottery exhibits Iroquoian traits which are atypical in this region, but beyond that, very little is known about this ceramic type and the people that produced it. Research assessing the social agency of the producers of Dieffenderfer Ware was carried out by employing the chaine operatoire model, which examines the life history of artifacts. Dieffenderfer Ware was compared to the locally produced Allegan Ware. Social groups will procure, construct, use, and discard ceramics differently. Significant differences …

Style, Ethnicity, Technology, And Practice: Analysis Of A Material Culture Assemblage From The Paleoindian-Archaic Cultural Transition In The Northwestern Great Lakes, Matthew R. Laidler

Masters Theses

This study examines issues concerning the theoretical basis of style and ethnicity in archaeology through analysis of a material culture (lithic) assemblage from the Late Paleoindian-Archaic cultural transition period In the Northwestern Great Lakes region of the United States. A theoretical framework utilizing practice theory as expounded by Pierre Bourdieu is applied to an interpretation of both the theoretical and concrete issues involved in this analysis. Using the context of an interpreted ritual/mortuary site, a social archaeology concerned with the social, political, and organizational context of production, use, and deposition of technological objects is developed to address style and ethnicity …

Negotiated Families: Lesbians And Institutions In Southwest Michigan, Cynthia E. Foor

Masters Theses

In this thesis, I look at the practices of certain lesbians and locate them within a particular historical and cultural context. I argue that the resources, the capital, both material and social, as well as the internalized orientations and expectations each woman brings to the crafting of her family, accounts for the particular family each has negotiated. It is within the particular historical constraints and opportunities that we can understand each family's experiences. The uniqueness of family experience is predicated on differences in the women's ages linked to the particular historical trajectory of sociopolitical changes in the U. S. Yet …