Anthropology Commons^™

Closer To Nature: Exploring Environmental Summer Camp Experience Through Ethnographic Fiction, Courtney Morgan Schofield

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the experiences of counselors and campers at environmentally-themed summer camps through the medium of ethnographic fiction. Research was conducted by examining the experiences and influences of two separate summer camps, the Midwest Nature Center Camp and Midwest Zoo Camp. Drawing on traditional ethnographic research methods, I explore the environmental messages emphasized during camp, the myriad of relationships individuals have with nature, and the impact of gender on the summer camp experience. Yet, while this thesis is based on ethnographic research, an emphasis is placed on the presentation of the information. By examining the way anthropology has been …

A Discursive Analysis Of A Pregnancy Center: How Pregnant Women Are Encouraged To Develop A Sense Of Self-Worth And Emotional Wellbeing Through The Use Of Rhetoric And Imagery, Jessica Postma

Masters Theses

This study presents and alternative approach to how pregnancy is interpreted in western society and how settings such as a pregnancy center both challenges and reinforces these social standards. The promotion of abstinence, the aversion to abortion, notions of truth and morality, religious narratives, and the standard of care are all integral components to this analysis of pregnancy, language, and culture.

Kachin Sound Instruments Within The Context Of The Kachin Baptist Convention Of Northern Burma: History, Classification, And Uses, Walter Brath

Masters Theses

This organology identifies and describes the Kachin's sound instruments, classifies them according to the Hornbostel-Sachs' system, and considers evidence of an indigenous classification scheme. Very little research exists to date on the music of the Kachin peoples of Northern Burma. This paper cites the only known indigenous organology and is the first English language study to extrapolate evidence into an emergent classification system. This qualitative study is based on ethnographic interviews, the minimal literature available on the topic, and participant observation drawn from fieldwork conducted in the Kachin State of Northern Burma (modern day Myanmar) during the months of May …

A Nation In Its Prime: A Pentadic Study Of Walt Disney World's Main Street, U.S.A., Casey Guise

Masters Theses

The purpose of this paper is to consider the entrance to Walt Disney World, Main Street, U.S.A., as a rhetorical text and apply Kenneth Burke's dramatistic pentad. Background is provided on rhetorical theory and The Disney Company. Meanings are derived from messages interpreted using semiotics and symbolic interaction within the location. The significance of Main Street, U.S.A., as a replica of historic architecture and an illustration of revival architecture in creating emotive messages is discussed. Further discussion includes the implications of this study on corporations and the field of rhetorical studies in addition to suggestions for further research.

The Age Of Consumption: A Study Of Consumer (And Producer) Behavior And The Household, Stephen A. Damm

Masters Theses

While anthropologists have often emphasized the importance of factors such as the household's age, lifecycle, and kinship within the context of the wider community, archaeologists have paid less attention to these factors. Using data from the excavations of eighteen farms in the Finger Lakes National Forest, occupied from the 19th century into the 1930s, I examine how household age influenced the consumer choices made by a sample of households and how aspects of production and consumption were prioritized within this context. By examining broad patterns in the archaeological and historic data, an age-based analysis as a young/old categorization is juxtaposed …

American Beisbol: How Cultural Differences Help Explain Different Approaches To Game Playing, Derek Jackson

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis project is to examine the effect of culturally derived game strategies on the success level of players in the game of baseball. Specifically, I look at both the influence of how various Latin American cultures teach the game in order to better ensure success of players at the MLB level versus how the game is taught in the United States and Japan. In this way I develop a feedback model in which these game strategies perpetuate a cycle of enculturation that further reinforces cultural/ethnic identities. In order to accomplish this goal I look at the …

Anthropological Apologetics: A Proposal Of An Anthropological Compendium As Evidence For The Imago Dei, Jeffrey R. Dickson

Masters Theses

Evangelical scholarship has shown great admiration for the work of Gary Habermas and others in their contribution to Christian apologetics by validating the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ with a list of minimal facts generally agreed to by historical and biblical scholars. This thesis will explore the methodology of the minimal facts approach and appropriate it as a tool to explore the data within the field of anthropology which offers evidence for the biblical concept of the Imago Dei. This study will focus on Wolfhart Pannenberg in his critically acclaimed work demonstrating the importance of the theological perspective …

An Analysis Of Personal Adornment At Fort St. Joseph (20be23), An Eighteenth-Century French Trading Post In Southwest Michigan, Ian B. Kerr

Masters Theses

Since 1998 Western Michigan University archaeologists have investigated Fort St. Joseph (20BE23), an 18th century mission, garrison and trading post located in present day Niles, Michigan. The project’s research directive focuses on exploring notions of identity formation and its material expression in light of the prolonged and persistent cultural contact between Native Americans and Europeans at the site.

This thesis seeks to further this directive by exploring how personal adornment materiality both structures and broadcasts individuals’ social identities. By employing an intrasite spatial analysis of the assemblage of adornment artifacts from recognized domestic contexts at Fort St. Joseph this thesis …

Archaeological Investigations Of Control And Autonomy At The Colony Farm Of The Michigan State Asylum, 1880-1950, Alison Thornton

Masters Theses

This project is designed to look into mechanisms of control and patient autonomy in institutional confinement, using Colony Farm in Kalamazoo, Michigan as a case study. I have chosen to specifically examine landscape, architecture, foodways, and personal goods/dress as avenues in which to parse out information regarding control and autonomy. The main themes throughout this paper are work as a cure, patient labor, and the blurring of roles between patients, staff members, and paid hired workers. These themes are intertwined with landscape, architecture, foodways, and personal goods/dress and highlight the contradictions inherent in institutional confinement, especially in the context of …

Orientalism And Three British Dames: De-Essentialization Of The Other In The Work Of Gertrude Bell, Freya Stark, And E.S. Drower, Lynn Sawyer

Masters Theses

Although postcolonial criticism has run its course for thirty years, a fresh look at Edward Said's Orientalism offers insight into how Orientalism functions in the writings of three British dames. Gertrude Bell in The Desert and the Sown, Freya Stark in The Southern Gates of Arabia, and E.S. Drower in The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, however, challenge Said's theory. Their writing raises questions about how gender alters the discourse about the Other, and whether Said essentializes the Occident. Bell, Stark, and Drower serve as case studies in which to analyze the politically and rhetorically complex interactions between the West …

Nutrition And Stature: The Residents Of The Island Of Gotland, Sweden Killed In The Battle Of Wisby, 1361, Michelle A. Miller

Masters Theses

This research examines stature in order to assess the socio-economic status of Gotland, an island (and municipality) off the coast of Sweden, before the 1360's. Gotland was known as a wealthy and autonomous peasant republic although it was loosely ruled by the Swedish Crown. In 1361, the Danish Army laid siege on the seaport city of Wisby to obtain its riches. Three days after the battle, the approximately 1800 dead Gotlanders were tossed haphazardly into five common graves. Archaeological excavations took place from 1905-1930 by Bendt Thordeman, among others. The human remains were analyzed in 1937. Osteological analysis in the …

Perils On The High Seas: The Effects Of Submersion And Containment On Human Decomposition In Saltwater, Celene Aundrea Sotkowy

Masters Theses

Forensic analysis of decomposing human remains in a submerged and contained aquatic environment is an area of research that lacks systematic evaluation and hinders the ability to accurately determine time since death/submersion. Expanding our understanding of how submersion and containment affects the known taphonomic agents pursuant to aquatic environments will contribute to the knowledge base on human decomposition in a multitude of environments.

In response to this limited knowledge base, this thesis reviews ten marine and air incidents occurring along the coast of British Columbia, Canada in which the bodies of eighteen individuals were recovered from inside the submerged wreckage …

Single Muslim Young Adults: Negotiating Identities, Religion And Desire, Zarinah El-Amin Naeem

Masters Theses

This ethnographic thesis is an empirically rich, critical analysis of the singlehood of Muslim young adults. Based on interviews with 21 single Muslims aged 18-36, and participant observation of Muslim spaces, I demonstrate that while Islam and Muslim communities present "ideal" behaviors, Islam is not alone. Instead, like identity, the singlehood of American Muslims is created and recreated through dialectical relationships with several cultural "wombs" including religion, popular culture, family, and ethnicity. As Muslim young adults encounter these often contradictory ideologies, they accept and reject parts, and negotiate their identities, religion and desires - all while struggling to maintain a …

A Geophysical Survey Of Fort St. Joseph (20be23), Niles, Michigan, Daniel P. Lynch

Masters Theses

Fort St. Joseph is a 17th-18th century French (and later English) mission-garrison-trading post complex located in southwest Michigan. A geophysical survey was performed and the results of the survey were tested through archaeological excavation. The geophysical methods included ground penetrating radar, electromagnetic induction, electrical resistivity, magnetic gradiometry, and magnetic susceptibility. The results of the archaeological excavations demonstrate that magnetic gradiometry was the preferred geophysical method at this particular site. The magnetic gradiometer survey included both terrestrial and possible submerged portions the site. Laboratory analysis of the magnetic susceptibility and magnetic viscosity of soils and rocks demonstrated that the archaeological features …

Ferro Ingenio: An Archaeological And Ethnohistorical View Of Labor And Empire In Colonial Porco And Potosi, Brendan J. M. Weaver

Masters Theses

Porco, Bolivia, is known as the source of silver which ornamented the Inca temple of Coricancha, and as the seat of the earliest Spanish mining operations in the Andes. The colonial silver processing site of Ferro Ingenio, on the outskirts of Porco, is comprised of domestic and industrial structures, constructed and used over multiple occupations. Ferro Ingenio is the best preserved and most complete site of its kind in the Porco region and the first Andean stamp-mill ever to be excavated. This investigation uses ethnohistorical and archaeological evidence to examine the organization and the changing social roles of colonial labor. …

Black Women, Beauty, And Labor: Towards An Archaeology Of African-American Women In Indianapolis, Indiana, Genesis M. Snyder

Masters Theses

For two consecutive summers (2002 and 2003), I conducted fieldwork in the Ransom Place Archaeology neighborhood on the near Westside of Indianapolis, Indiana. I found myself increasingly drawn to the material culture left behind by the African-American women who had lived in the area roughly 100 years ago. Such material culture begs many questions: What social and political forces influenced the construction of African-American women's understandings of self in the early twentieth century? Who was responsible for the construction and dissemination of beauty ideals, notions about women's work, and how did those ideals differ across the color line? Using as …

An Investigation Of Kavilorai: A Hero Stone Site In The Nilgiri Mountains Of South India, Jacob Landon Bach

Masters Theses

This study explores the hero stones of the Nilgiri Mountains of South India. This project has focused on the site of Kavilorai for developing a stylistic base to compare other sites of the region with. After analysis it was determined that Kavilorai contained four separate, but connected stylistic expressions carved on the hero stones. The findings when compared with other upper elevation sites corresponded to a high quality/low quality theme, often incorporating the ritual suicide sati. When comparing the stylistic representation of the carved figures to the Badaga Lingayat temple of Seminatum there surfaced strong thematic and stylistic connections. The …

Living And Dying On The Margins: A Journey Into The Culture Of Pink And Black Women’S Narrative Accounts Of Breast Cancer, Cleothia Gill

Masters Theses

This thesis examines black women's understandings of and experiences with breast cancer through the use of narratives. These narratives offer different positions from which to critically analyze the dominate conceptualization of breast cancer in American society, which is primarily associated with white, middle class, heterosexual women. There is a focus on issues such as breast cancer 'risk', increased mortality rates among black women, dominate discourses and media representations of breast cancer, and mastectomy and body image. African American women's stories are used to 'deconstruct' and reveal how this disease is socially constructed in ways that has profound impact on their …

Breaking The Be Nice Rule: Direct Action Community Organizing, Adriana Rosas

Masters Theses

Focusing on the Kalamazoo Homeless Action Network (KHAN), this thesis explores the dynamics of transformation in community organizing, and the crucial and often complicated role of anger in that process. Current Anthropological literature on the topic of resistance and poverty leaves unexamined the micropolitics of individuals' transformation as they become civically engaged as well as the laborious organizing techniques culminating in such events that lead to social change and individual empowerment. I will contribute to the literature on poverty and resistance by examining the 'behind-the-scenes' dimensions of direct action community organizing that influence individual and social transformation. Through this examination …

An Analysis Of The Woodland Ceramics From Galum Crossing (Site 21c4-29): An Early Late Woodland Occupation In The Southern Illinois Interior, Gabrielle Aberle

Masters Theses

Situated on upper Galum Creek at the northwest margin of the Big Muddy River drainage basin, the primary occupation at Gal um Crossing consisted of an early Late Woodland habitation dating from approximately A.D. 450 to the early A.D. 700s. The cultural-historical affiliation of the Woodland occupation and the relationship of Galum Crossing to local and regional contemporaneous sites were assessed using radiocarbon dating and an attribute-based analysis of the Woodland ceramic assemblage. This provided data for examining the designation of the proposed Jamestown phase (Moffat 1991, 1992) as a transitional unit between the Middle Woodland Crab Orchard Tradition and …

An Unequal Consumption? Sex And Gender Differences In Tuberculosis, Sarah K. W. Avink

Masters Theses

In the developing world today, tuberculosis (TB) accounts for 26% of avoidable deaths (Holmes et al 1998). Poverty is considered to be a main risk factor for TB, and since some estimates show that women make up 70% of the world's poor (Thorson and Diwan 1998:11), one might conclude that the incidence of TB worldwide would be much higher for women than men. However, reports reviewed in this thesis show the reverse to be true, with an adult annual male notification ratio for TB at 1.5 to 2.1 times higher than that of females. Both biological reasons and social factors …

The Gyftakis Site: A Reevalutation Of A Middle Woodland Site After 30 Years, Michael R. Fournier

Masters Theses

This research is the catalogue and study of the Gyftakis Site (20MK51) excavated in 1973 by Dr. James Fitting. The first part of this study involves the cataloguing and description of the artifacts excavated by Dr. James Fitting at the Gyftakis site located on the Marquette Mission block in St. Ignace, MI.

The second part of the research involves using SPSS to analyze the decorative techniques used on the Gyftakis pottery. A chi-square test was performed first to see if the ceramic decorations were not just defined by a random distribution. After that the ceramic decorations were analyzed in both …

Building A Predictive Model For Paleo Indian Archaeological Site Location Using Geographic Information Systems, Zachary Jaime

Masters Theses

This research is a multi step method to predict unknown Paleoindian archaeological site locations within Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, situated in the southeastern corner of the state, using a Geographic Information System (GIS). The GIS technology is being used to predict Paleoindian archaeological site locations and will help demonstrate the geographic similarities and differences between already known Paleoindian archaeological sites and random non-site locations in the Pine Bluffs region. Using GIS, one can note the similarities and differences between the Paleoindian sites and the surrounding landscape and, with help of logistic regression analysis, one can predict the location of unknown Paleoindian …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …