Anthropology Commons^™

Street Culture Of Mombasa: Are The Survivors Really Surviving?, Danny Low

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Street children of Mombasa, Kenya were ethnographically studied in order to determine the effects of Swahili culture and structural violence on the children’s culture and place within greater society. It was discovered that Mombasa magnetizes street children as a result of the generosity of Swahili culture. Drug use was inextricably linked to street culture, yet children nonetheless held strong dreams of education. Since street children were also discovered to be significantly stratified, future policy and programming must account for these divisions to appropriately address the education and health problems facing Mombasa street children.

Creating A Category V: Conservation Perceptions And Cultural Changes In The Anjozorobe-Angavo Forest Corridor, Kate Wright

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Local communities have long played an integral role in the realization of conservation goals and the success of protected areas in Madagascar. Since the appearance of human civilizations approximately 2,000 years ago (Brown 1995), the physical landscape of the island has undergone processes of adaptation to the practices of Malagasy people, while Malagasy cultures have in turn molded to fit their surroundings. The coevolution of nature and culture has produced a delicate environmental situation where human practices exploit but also conserve important natural resources, a situation that has been historically misinterpreted as intentional environmental destruction on the part of local …

Shifting Focus: Redefining The Goals Of Sea Turtle Consumption And Protection In Bali, Audrey Jensen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Many would say that the environment and human culture consists of an evolutionary process, complete with necessary adaptations to current situations and the availability of resources. However, religion is usually thought to be a constant, an entity that grounds the individual believer in a “truth” that transcends time. Ultimately, the boundary between culture and religion is especially hard to decipher, particularly in the daily rituals of the Balinese. While religious beliefs are often rooted in history, they too transform through inevitable reinterpretation. The following paper describes the tremendous environmental and cultural impact of the controversial turtle trade in Bali, specifically …

Forever Home: Funeral, Burial And The Life After This Life In Hue, Vietnam, Molly Bennett

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Hue, Vietnam is home to some of the most elaborate funeral and burial practices in the country. These practices ground and reinforce a plethora of beliefs and customs surrounding ancestor veneration and the communion of spirits. This paper will explore the effects of modernization, increased household incomes, and lack of burial space due to urban growth on the process and corresponding spirituality of the funeral and burial. A series of structured and semi-structured personal interviews with interested citizens and religious leaders alike comprise the majority of the data. Ultimately, this paper will show that while traditional funerals and burials are …

Grey To Green: The Wolf As Culture And Profit In Mongolia And The Importance Of Its Survival, Samuel Legrys

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

“The king of this place could be Bear; it can capture and eat anything, even roe deer and moose. But I think sometimes Bear is eaten by Wolf, working as a pack. It means that Wolf is the king of the king” – Joogdernamjil, Dadal Hunter The grey wolf is a key figure in Mongolian culture, representing not only the male ancestor behind the bloodline of Chinggis Khaan, but also the messenger of heaven, sent to punish those who disrespect the spirit masters of the land. Countryside herders and UB businessmen alike honor the wolf as a spiritually powerful animal, …

Weaving And Scheming: Adventures On Planet Mosuo, Melissa Judson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This past month, not only did I learn to weave fabric, but also I learned to weave lies about why I couldn’t eat any more chicken feet, weave tales about American culture and weave clouds of smoke to mask my inability to drink copious amounts of alcohol, though nearly all of my handiwork was shoddily crafted. I studied weaving in a small Mosuo village about an hour outside of Yongning, on the borders of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. Although the Chinese government classifies the Mosuo as a part of the Naxi minority people, they have many of their own distinctly …

Early-Life Rituals And Mother Identities: Ways In Which Hindu Women Are Viewed In The Context Of Traditional Ritual Practices, Kidecia King

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

On April 27, 2009, the Saryu Parin Brahmin Parishad (SPBP) Society, through the help of member donations as well as the participation of 53 young men, carried out a mass yagyopaveet, or upanayana ceremony, to initiate young men into the Brahmin caste. This ceremony is what the society’s president Chandza Bhushan Dhar Dwivedi, as well as numerous other scholars of Vedic texts calls the second birth of the Brahmin—boy. The ceremony, according to Mr. Dwivedi, marks the Brahmin’s first step toward becoming a divine being, before this ceremony “he is no different from an animal,” and it is only through …

“Samoanizing” Human Rights: A Generational Comparative Of Views On Human Rights In Contemporary Samoa, Margaret R. Smith

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This report consists of a generational comparative of views on human rights in contemporary Samoa. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations in 1948, and is now compulsorily for all member nations. Samoa’s independence in 1962, with the implementation of a liberal democracy, meant an inescapable adoption of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Though Samoa’s constitution is unique with its incorporation of tradition and custom within a democratic system, the universal human rights bill is generic, allowing that it should mesh will all counties and cultures – an outcome that does not …

Constructions Of Disease In Mayo Village, Rachel Eades

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Understanding how individuals and institutions negotiate illness and construct ideas about disease is important to public health efforts across the globe. Countries in sub-Saharan Africa suffer from a variety of health problems that many regions of the world have long since eradicated. Economic hardship, combined with high rates of communicable diseases, food poverty, lack of sanitation, and poor water quality make countries in sub-Saharan Africa some of the poorest and sickest in the world. Tanzania is a prime example. The purpose of this study was to explore how people in one rural, Tanzanian village construct ideas about disease – its …

The Modernization Of Fiji ’S Food System And The Resulting Implications On Fijian Society: A Synthesis, Brian Schultz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Beginning in the early 19th century, Fiji’s contact with several industrialized nations of Europe and the west contributed to rapid changes in its food system– changes that have had massive effects on Fiji’s economy and politics, on both local and global scales, as well as on the health and identity of the people who call Fiji home. Using a longitudinal model, the author traces the modernization of the Fiji food system from before European contact, through the period of colonial rule, the introduction of the cash economy, and the beginnings of urbanization to its status in the spring of 2009. …

Changing Dress And Changing Perceptions: A Look At Traditional Muslim Dress In A Small Coastal Town, Maggie Gilligan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study took place in the Kenyan costal town of Lamu. It focused on the cultural clothing of the Muslim women found on the East African coast, clothing known specifically as the buibui, hijab, and the ninja. Through interviews and observation it was found that the women use the buibui to express their individual and group identity in the community, including their degree of modernity, their social status, age group, and religiousness. The fashion of the buibui reaches all the residence of Lamu and is an area of tension between the conservative and liberal peoples.

Herbs, Qur’An, And Mashetani: Practice, Use, Perception, And Integration Of Traditional Medicine In Bodo, Elan Ebeling

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examines the practice, use and perception of traditional medicine in the rural village of Bodo, on the south coast of Kenya. This paper surveys the different types, treatments, and education of traditional medical practitioners, as well as assesses the accessibility of both traditional and conventional medicine facilities. Secondly, it addresses the perceptions of different community members of illness and healthcare, and, in the light of recent attempts to integrate traditional medicine into the national healthcare system, examines how these perceptions work in conjunction with accessibility to influence the use of healthcare.

Mental Health In Mali: An Analysis Of The Expression Of Major Depressive Disorder Across Different Cultures, Ashley Morris

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Introduction (excerpt) What other differences exist between illnesses across different cultures? Are the differences only found in the manifestation of symptoms or are there also biological differences? How does one conceptualize mental health issues, such as depression, here in Mali? Is there a stigma against mental health patients in Mali? What facilities, treatments, and medicines are available in Mali to treat mental disorder? After a little more background research I found that the topic of mental health in the developing world has been largely ignored until very recently. As cross-cultural studies in every academic discipline become increasingly more prevalent, anthropology …

The Perseverance Of Aboriginal Australian Time Philosophy And Its Impact On Integration Into The Mainstream Labor Force, Kelly Adams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study demonstrates that Aboriginal Australian time philosophy has survived the impact of European colonization through applying anthropological inquiry into time perception to functional attitudes towards work ethic. By doing so I highlight time perception as one of the “root causes” of Aboriginal socio-economic disadvantage in the barrier it poses to Aboriginal labor force participation. The Native Title Act put pressure on the mining industry to set high targets for Indigenous employment and in the process has given Aboriginal communities the opportunity to become “active initiators” of their relationship to time by forcing industrial compromise through resistance to adopt the …

Remembering The Roots: Political Consciousness In The Quilombo Pitanga De Palmares In A Modernizing Society, Matthew Glenn

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Without a doubt, history affects greatly our modern realities. Yet, modernity proposes that we forget those things that make us different in order to be part of a society that is falsely seen as more advanced. One would expect that no one would understand better the need to remember history than quilombolas, people that live in communities with strong ties to their African ancestry. Whereas Brazilian culture makes it easy for the majority of citizens to forget their past by denying their racial background, an idea identified by academics and activists as “racial democracy”, quilombolas live in a reality that …

O Último Peixe Ideas About The Future In Coastal Trairí, Marycate R. Brower

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper uses ethnographic methods, including semi-formal, semi-structured interviews, but especially participant observation and informal conversation, to attempt to understand the realities of the coastal population of the Municipality of Trairí, Ceará, Brazil, as the traditional fishing communities of Guajiru, Fleixeiras, and Emboacca react to international and national economic policies, tourism, and land speculation that are enacted through the lens of neoliberalism. This study corroborates the statements of community members as they relate their ideas about the present conditions of pescadors artesanais as they deal with increasing and ever-changing government policies that regulate and limit their craft, a lobster population …

Shake It: A Study Of Traditional Dance And Drumming In Tanzania With The African Traditional Dance Group, Megan Browning

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study was conducted from April 11th 2009 to May 1st 2009 about Tanzanian traditional dance and drumming focusing specifically on the African Traditional Dance Group, ATDG, a well-established group in Arusha, Tanzania. The study aimed to gain perspectives on the role of traditional dance and drumming in Tanzania and how it is changing today in the face of westernization and globalization, and additionally to learn more about the personal histories of the artists in ATDG. Methods included participant observation, in the form of dance and drumming lessons and participation in group rehearsals, a semi-structured key informant interview, and semi-structured …

The Traditional Wolof Voice: Lessons From A Griot In Pout, Senegal, Lucy French

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This alternative project comprised of a three-week long, intensive study of traditional Wolof singing. I took twenty hours of voice lessons from a griot teacher in Pout, Senegal, with the intention of acquiring a rich knowledge of Wolof vocal music and the skills to perform for an audience. My Wolof teacher, Nar Diop, taught me seven songs by ear throughout our six classes together. In addition to perfecting, memorizing, and preparing for a final performance piece, I translated the lyrics of each song into English and French in order to analyze their content and investigate their origins and significance to …

Ceeb Ak Jën: Deconstructing Senegal’S National Plate In Search Of Cultural Values, Megan Duffy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Ceebu jën, Senegal’s national plate of rice and fish, is an integral part of diet among the Senegalese despite differences in religious, ethnic, and geographic identity. Due to the plate’s democratic nature in Senegalese culture this study deconstructs the significance of the plate in relation to Senegalese values placed tradition, personal pride, community, and national identity. This study argues that ceebu jën’s widespread presence and cultural reflexivity finds its source in the universal accessibility of the meal.

The Material Remains Of World War Ii On Viti Levu: A Historical Archaeological Inventory, Allison Young

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

World War II was a global conflict that dramatically changed many aspects of society in the late 1940’s. It transformed the landscape of many locations, leaving behind a vast and diverse material record. Although the battles of the conflict never reached Fiji, a British colony in the South Pacific, the war greatly impacted the island group. Fiji was under threat of Japanese invasion for the majority of 1942 and part of 1943, which resulted in a build up of military forces and defensive installations. In the later years, Fiji was used as a forward base for the Allied forces, which …

L’Identité Dans La Musique Occitane : La Conservation De L’Art Pour Exprimer La Culture = Identity In Occitan Music : Expressions Of Culture Through The Preservation Of Art, Christina Lambert

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project focused on how identity is expressed and preserved through Occitan music, and what exactly that identity means to whom that identity belongs. The researcher studied and listened to many different bands and artists, all of who had unique styles and sounds. While conducting research on the history of Occitania and of its music, the researcher interviewed several musicians and others who worked with the Occitan culture. These interviews and research led to a greater understanding of Occitania, and of the people who are fighting to keep it alive. By attending traditional dances, concerts, and book readings, the researcher …

An Oriental Christ: A Perfect Condition After The State Was God, Thomas Nathaniel Eaves

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Where do we begin with our understanding of the human composition of God, with humanity’s embracement of the existential? Humanity has rendered faith volatile and constant, a consequence, not flaw, merely of developed sentience. Yet, whether God or evolution has burdened humanity with this responsibility, faith and belief continue their inexplicable and unwearied existence. People, whether atheistic, agnostic, or faith bound, have proven the existence of an utterly human liability for irrationality, or certainly rational subscription. Emile Durkheim wrote of religion as purely existent within shared life, unsusceptible to segregation and compartmental comprehension. Max Weber considered religion as providing prescientific …

Un Juego De Identidad Y Percepción: Un Estudio De Caso De “Visuales,” Una Tribu Urbana En Viña Del Mar, Chile, Anya Bergman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper is a case study of an urban tribe in Chile called “Visual,” and specifically members of the tribe who live and/or attend events in Viña del Mar. Urban tribes have different connotations for different people, but for Visuales, the term signifies adherence, in whatever capacity desired, to certain codes and styles and a bond with a small group of tribe members. This particular urban tribe adapted its style from Japan, where a similar movement gained popularity in the 1990s. The members, like those in Chile, did not have a particular ideology but focused on music and extravagant aesthetic …

Faith And Freedom: A Profile Of The Religious Environment In Mongolia’S Emerging Democracy, Jeffrey Sinick

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mongolia is a rapidly globalizing nation that became both democratic and capitalistic after their 1990 revolution. In its history Mongolia has always had a strong religious influence coming mainly from Buddhism, which prevailed throughout Mongolia before the 70-year long socialist period that preceded the democratic revolution. The socialist period destroyed much of the traditional religion in Mongolia and left a spiritual and political vacuum in Mongolia after 1990. Economic hardships and religious tolerance brought forth numerous Christian religious groups and social organization that have profoundly affected the new religious environment in Mongolia, while Buddhism struggled to rebuild and retain a …

Factors Related To The Marital Satisfaction Of Malian Women In Polygamous Marriages, Lauren E. Troy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In anthropological research, polygamy is typically defined as “a marital relationship involving multiple wives” (Kottak, 1978 cited in Low, 1988, p. 189). The term polygamy, however, includes three different types of relationships. The first, polygynandry, is characterized by a group marriage in which multiple wives are married to multiple husbands, while the second, polyandry, refers to a wife married to two or more husbands. The third form, and that which is explored in this study, is polygyny. Hereafter referred to as polygamy, it is the marriage of one husband to two or more wives and is the most common form …

Reviving Ancient Traditions: A New Approach To The Emancipation Of Malian Women, Claire Crowley

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Being immersed in a Malian family for over three months has given me an opportunity to observe and experience certain dynamics of the culture not afforded to the average traveller. It was this very experience which served to inspire this project, a diversion from my original research topic of polygamy. While the textbooks focused on the compliance and submission of Malian women, each day spent immersed in the culture and my family hinted at something more. My family’s lifeline and backbone are the women who manage the household; particularly my Maman and sister. While many acknowledge that Malian women carry …

A Portrait Of Perseverance: A Glimpse Into The Life Of One Family In Edehara, Tunisia, Kathryn Graves Tindell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Excerpt from Introduction:

What follows is a short story providing a glimpse into the life of Naïma and her family. The entire story is based on fact, each person is real in every detail and each event described occurred; however, the sequence of events is fictionalized. For example, I did not see the pottery made from beginning to end, but rather saw different steps of the process throughout the course of my seven days. In total, I did view every step except for retrieving the clay from the mountains, but as they told many stories about this, I have a …

Samoa: A Truly Religious Place? Views Toward Religion In Samoa, Angelica Saada

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The goal of this study was to explore the ‘religiosity’ of Samoa. Specifically, this study attempted to understand how ‘religious’ the average Samoan is, as well as examine the implications of being ‘religious’ in Samoa. It also sought to investigate the plurality of religions in Samoa, the existence of individuals moving between churches, and attitudes towards religious plurality. In addition, this study explored differences between the religiosities of younger and older generations and attitudes toward Samoan youth. Based on the results from interviews and surveys, it was concluded that Samoans view themselves and their country as ‘very religious.’ Being ‘religious’ …

Traditions In Transition: A Musical Perspective In A Changing, Developing Samoa, Colin Kiley

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper was compiled during November 2008. It was a research project that sought out the perspectives of various diverse musicians in Samoa at that time. These musicians included music school instructors, Peace Corps volunteers, Samoan orchestra composers and conductors, traditional Samoan composers, traveled Samoan musicians as well as contemporary Samoan artists. The paper examines how the purposes of music in Samoan society have shifted, altered or changed from traditional times to current-day Samoa in the face of development, a growing economy and increased contact with outside influences. Although the music of Samoa, its purposes, values, uses and aesthetics have …

Mivumba In Kampala: Tracking The History, Trade, And Perceptions Of A Global Commodity In Local Culture, Claire Walsh

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

One surprisingly unstudied and little documented aspect of the present-day African market system– almost impossible to ignore when one is walking the streets of Kampala and bombarded by its presence– is second-hand clothing. This study investigates the history, systems, and perceptions of the second-hand clothing market in Kampala, Uganda. Combining an ethnographic analysis with historical research, this paper details how a western commodity is changed, both in meaning and form, and interacted with on a local level– adding to anthropological literature that analyzes how local cultures interact, and not passively react, to globalization.

The emergence of the large second-hand clothing …