Anthropology Commons^™

An Integrated Assessment Of Archaeobotanical Recovery Methods In The Neotropical Rainforest Of Northern Belize: Flotation And Dry Screening, Jon B. Hageman, David J. Goldstein

Anthropology Faculty Publications

This report presents results of a study examining the ancient use of plants at four Late Classic (CE 600-900) Maya rural farmsteads in northwestern Belize. Our research specifically targeted residential middens for macrobotanical recovery. Samples yielded the remains of more than a dozen plant families, representing some genera that do not currently grow in the area. These plants were used in the Late Classic, countering the idea that ancient botanical remains do not survive in Neotropical archaeological contexts. We also evaluated two macrobotanical sample processing methods vis-à-vis one another: flotation and dry screening. Our results indicate that flotation recovered 58% …

Power Plants: Paleobotanical Evidence Of Rural Feasting In Late Classic Belize, Jon B. Hageman, David J. Goldstein

Anthropology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Heterarchy As Complexity: Archaeology In Yoro, Honduras, Julia A. Hendon, Rosemary A. Joyce, Russell Sheptak

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Based on archaeological evidence from the Cuyumapa Valley in Honduras, including the presence of multiple ballcourts, this paper argues that archaeologists need to pay more attention to Carole Crumley's concept of heterarchy when considering social relations, political relations, and power in ancient societies such as those of the Maya and their neighbors in Mesoamerica. We redefine complexity to include less centralized but regionally heterogeneous societies in which social and political relations are not all centralized into a single hierarchical structure. The Cuyumapa Valley falls in the zone traditionally described as the southeastern edge or periphery of Mesoamerica. Yet our research …

Local Interaction And Long Distance Connections In The Ulua Valley: The View From Cerro Palenque, Julia A. Hendon

Anthropology Faculty Publications

The site of Cerro Palenque, the largest settlement in the lower Ulua Valley (Sula Valley) in Honduras during the ninth and tenth centuries AD, was a locus of craft production of figurines and pottery, feasting, the ballgame, and other events associated with its ballcourt. Based on the analysis of imported obsidian, the evidence for ritual and craft production, and the layout of the settlement, Cerro Palenque maintained long distance trade connections with Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. It also took part in local rituals and events with its smaller neighbors in the valley.

What Benefits Do Parents Reap From Helpers At The Nest?, Kimber Haddix Mckay

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Review of "Maya Children: Helpers at the Farm."

The Mexican American Sobador, Convergent Disease Discourse, And Pain Validation In South Texas, Servando Z. Hinojosa

Anthropology Faculty Publications

This paper examines how Mexican American sobadores (folk manual therapists) provide needed health services to South Texas residents. Operating in a region with high levels of workplace injuries, chronic disease, and low levels of insuredness, sobadores offer a kind of attention that is appealing in terms of cost, accessibility, and cultural familiarity. The latter is particularly evident with respect to two factors: convergent ethnophysiological discourse and pain validation. Injured people can approach the sobador with minimal trepidation, in part, because sobadores and clients have shared ways of talking about the body and disease. Clients can also expect that sobadores will …

Mexican Justice: Codified Law, Patronage, And The Regulation Of Social Affairs In Guerrero, Mexico, Chris Kyle, William Yaworsky

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Social life in Mexico has long been regulated not by codified jural rules and the institutions of the state but by means of hierarchically structured patronage networks. This article illustrates the pervasiveness of patronage relationships by looking at the activities of a human rights advocacy organization operating in Chilapa, Guerrero. Though ostensibly committed to working through the jural rules and the institutions of the state, practical reality commonly intrudes and forces the organization to activate patronage ties in order to assist their clients. The article also explores the implications of patronage relationships for ongoing debates about the presumed irreconcilability of …

Where Spirit And Bulldozer Roam: Environment And Anxiety In Highland Borneo, Matthew H. Amster

Anthropology Faculty Publications

This paper explores changing perceptions of the natural environment among the Kelabit, an indigenous people of the Borneo interior. It considers both traditional and post-Christian conversion understandings about forest spaces. The former animistic ritual practices of the Kelabit centered on a spiritual dialogue with the natural world and this dialogue was often marked by active efforts to avoid or mitigate danger through ritual practice. One key example presented here is the former ceremony of 'calling the eagle' (nawar keniu), a ritual employed in times of crisis that exemplifies the dialogical and entwined relationship Kelabit had to the natural world. Such …

The Age, Function, And Distribution Of Keyhole Structures In The Upper Susquehanna River Valley, Douglas H. Macdonald

Anthropology Faculty Publications

This paper provides a summary of current data regarding the age, geographical distribution, and function of keyhole structures in the upper Susquehanna River Valley of north-central Pennsylvania and south-central New York. Keyhole structures have been identified at 11 sites in the West and North Branches of the Susquehanna River Valley. The feature type likely originated in the West Branch Valley from which it spread to the north, south, and east. Their main period of use was during the latter portion of the Late Woodland period, between approximately 1230 and 1670 A.D. Given the locations of the sites along major waterways, …

Fearing Islam In Uzbekistan : Islamic Tendencies, Extremist Violence, And Authoritarian Secularism, Russell Zanca

Anthropology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Economies And The Transformation Of Landscapes, Christopher A. Pool, Lisa Cliggett

Anthropology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Politics Of Vodou: Aids, Access To Health Care And The Use Of Culture In Haiti, Catherine Benoît

Anthropology Faculty Publications

During the past few years, the AIDS campaign in Haiti has been targeting Vodou officiants and organizations. These awareness and training programmes in- form officiants about the transmission and prevention of AIDS, tests for HIV and anti- retroviral drugs, or even try to encourage them to become involved in a medical referral system. These culturalist interventions are grounded in an essentialist concept of culture that can have harmful effects on the targeted groups. The concept of culture underlying such interventions is deconstructed along with the categories of tradi- tional medicine and the ‘tradipractitioner’. An approach to public health is advocated …

Lost And Found: (Re)-Placing Say Ka In The La Milpa Suburban Settlement Pattern, Jon B. Hageman, Brett A. Houk

Anthropology Faculty Publications

The site of Say Ka, less than 4 km from the major center of La Milpa, has generated a large degree of interest among researchers in northwestern Belize in part because of its elusiveness. After being recorded by archaeologists in 1990, Say Ka was "lost"; attempts to relocate it failed for nearly a decade (Figure I). It was fortuitously rediscovered in 1999, and three seasons of excavation began in 2004. This paper considers the history of Say Ka, its rediscovery, the results of initial excavations, and the possible implications of this minor center for studying the La Milpa suburban zone.

Responses To Innovation In An Insecure Environment In Rural Nepal, Kimber Haddix Mckay, Alex Zahnd, Catherine Lee Sanders, Govinda Nepali

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Humla District in Nepal is a very remote area, prone to food shortages and characterized by a harsh environment. The livelihoods of agropastoralists in this district became much more vulnerable during the recent Maoist insurgency, and this vulnerability was particularly acute in some areas. As a result, people in different villages responded quite differently to an externally funded holistic community development project-one of the only projects the Maoists allowed to proceed with in Humla during the height of the unrest. Villagers' responses to this health- and conservation-oriented development project seem to correlate most closely with socioeconomic status and ability to …

Love And Suffering In Bom Jesus: Marileia As Favela Woman And Mother, Marcia Mikulak

Anthropology Faculty Publications

This article explores the life history of Marileia, a favela woman and mother of five children, several of whom work the streets in Curvelo, Minas Gerais, Brazil, and is drawn from research carried out between 1997-2000 in Brazil. Ethnography exposes the multiple realities coexisting within and between individuals engaged in the constructionist process of fieldwork. From the anthropologists perspective, narrative is a translated and transcribed event that can magnify inequalities and barriers between researcher and subject. This article explores ethnographic representation by extending the cantankerous and complex experiences of researcher, subject, and reader into a form similar to a musical …

The Political Economy Of Everyday Life: Working Children In Curvelo, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Marcia Mikulak

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Numerous articles about working children in Brazil focus on HIV-Aids, child labor, crime, and petty thievery; however, social science literature does not analyze their positive contributions. From the perspective of working children, this article discusses the contributions that they make to their families as they navigate between home, school, and the informal labor market. Data are presented on the types of work that working children perform, time spent working, money eared, and contributions to their family household incomes. In addition, this article argues that the lack of extra-familial support networks within favelas contributes to the high numbers of children working …

The Queer Tourist In 'Straight'(?) Space: Sexual Citizenship In Provincetown, Sandra Faiman-Silva

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Provincetown, Massachusetts USA, a rural out-of-the-way coastal village at the tip of Cape Cod with a yearround population of approximately 3,500, has 'taken off' since the late 1980s as a popular GLBTQ tourist destination. Long tolerant of sexual minorities, Provincetown transitioned from a Portuguese-dominated fishing village to a popular 'queer' gay resort mecca, as the fishing industry deteriorated drastically over the twentieth century. Today Provincetowners rely mainly on tourists—both straight and gay—who enjoy the seaside charm, rustic ambiance, and a healthy dose of non-heternormative performance content, in this richly diverse tourist milieu. As Provincetown's popularity as a GLBTQ tourist destination …

Indian Gaming And Tribal Sovereignty: Vulnerable, Provisional, Contested, Sandra Faiman-Silva

Anthropology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Everyday Life In Central Asia : Past And Present, Jeff Sahadeo, Russell Zanca

Anthropology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Gendered Support Strategies Of The Elderly In The Gwembe Valley, Zambia, Lisa Cliggett

Anthropology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Maid In Servitude: Filipino Domestic Workers In The Middle East, Kathleen Nadeau

Anthropology Faculty Publications

This paper presents Filipino economic history as a way to provide a brief background to the events that precipitated one Filipino woman’s migration to the Middle East. Her story is not rare but shares in common patterns with the stories of many other female contract workers, especially domestic workers. It chronicles government policies and business practices that profit from their remittances. It is being retold here so that the invisible world of female contract workers and, more often than not, the poor conditions under which they live and labour, might be better understood.

Putting The Ninth Ward On The Map: Race, Place, And Transformation In Desire, New Orleans, Rachel Breunlin

Anthropology Faculty Publications

In this article, we consider how long-term patterns of resistance to structural violence inform citizens’ responses to displacement before and after Katrina. Drawing on Abdou Maliq Simone’s (2004) conceptualization of people as infrastructure, we recenter the discussion about the rebuilding of New Orleans around displaced residents, taking the place-making practices of members of a social club as a lens through which to examine the predicament of the city as a whole. Members have been generating alternative ways of thinking about and dwelling together in a restructuring city. Their perspectives are articulated through in-depth interviews, focus groups, and the embodied practices …

Supranational Networks: States And Firms, Alvin W. Wolfe

Anthropology Faculty Publications

The nation-state systems that seem to dominate the global landscape are not necessarily the pinnacle of evolution. A conglomeration of interacting factors spelled doom for the traditional colonialism of previous centuries while providing an ideal environment for multinational firms operating above the level of nation-states to play an important role in the generation of a new politico-socio-economic system better described by network models than by ordinary political models. Previously existing units and subunits, in the course of adjustment and adaptation to changing circumstances, change their relations with one another and are, sometimes, newly integrated in a novel manner such that …

Childhood, Marcia Mikulak

Anthropology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Place(S) Of Moldovanka In The Making Of Odessa, Tanya Richardson

Anthropology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

At The Whim Of The State: Neoliberalism And Nongovernmental Organizations In Guerrero, Mexico, William Yaworsky

Anthropology Faculty Publications

This paper examines the relationship between the Secretaría de Desarrollo Social (SEDESOL) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the Chilapa region of Guerrero, Mexico. I argue that the Mexican state via SEDESOL has effectively harnessed NGOs to perform as regional pillars of neoliberal reform initiatives. The intimacy of this relationship raises serious questions for those who see NGOs performing as vehicles for furthering local or regional "autonomy." Instead, I argue that regional NGOs are key role players in the deepening incorporation of communities into the global industrial economy.

Este artículo examina las relaciones entre la Secretaría de Desarrollo Social (SEDESOL) y …

The Diary Of A District Officer: Alastair Morrison's 1953 Trip To The Kelabit Highlands, Matthew H. Amster

Anthropology Faculty Publications

In 1953, Alastair Morrison, then acting District Officer for the Bara, traveled to the Kelabit Highlands along with his wife, photographer Hedda Morrison, and ever changing entourage of 'coolie" porters and guides. This journey was part of his regular responsibilities as a District Officer. During such tours, Morrison surveyed longhouse communities and collected information about the local population and spoke to people about government policies, school fees, taxes, the registering of guns, and often sought to resolve local disputes. Such journeys were summarized in formal reports. However, Morrison also kept travel notebooks, which he later used to write his memoir, …

Christians Against Globalization In The Philippines, Kathy Nadeau

Anthropology Faculty Publications

This paper focuses on the Basic Christian Communities in the Philippines that work to counter human and environmental rights violations resulting from macro-economic development processes. While not every activist-led and mass-based people's movement includes critical environmental issues on their agendas for social change, this paper directs its attention to the progressive Basic Christian Community movement that incorporates an environmentally concerned and team-oriented approach to problem solving at the local level. This movement is part of an international bottom-up effort to counteract some of the negative effects of global capitalism (e.g., the fragmentation of close-knit communities that were once based on …

Divination Bowls And Blood Simulacra In Colonial And Contemporary Mesoamerican Curing, Servando Z. Hinojosa

Anthropology Faculty Publications

This study discusses 17th century Nahua practices of water divination in light of contemporary types of bowl divination practiced by Kaqchikel Mayas of Guatemala. The author argues that part of the efficacy of bowl divination among Kaqchikels, and possibly among Nahuas, rests upon the transformation of the water used into a simulacrum of blood. The creation and subsequent manipulation of this simulacrum enables the ritualist to effectuate key changes to the client's state of blood and, by extension, to the client's state of spirit.

The Lineage Model And Archaeological Data In Late Classic Northwestern Belize, Jon B. Hageman

Anthropology Faculty Publications

As central topics of anthropological study from the 1940s through the 1970s, kinship and lineage became largely discredited during the 1980s. Recent scholarship, however, has indicated that kinship and lineage, when considered as the products of social activity, can make important contributions to studies of living and past populations. This paper explores the lineage as a model of social organization distinguished by specific activities practiced by members of Late Classic Maya social groups. This model is derived from cross-cultural literature on lineages, but practices associated with lineage organization are historically and culturally specific. A suite of archaeological correlates, based on …