Anthropology Commons^™

Engaging Communities In Archaeology On Private Property In An Urban Neighborhood: The Search For The First (1825-1829) Fort Vancouver, Vancouver, Washington, Amy Carolyn Clearman

Dissertations and Theses

Current archaeological literature calls for archaeology to become increasingly relevant in the modern world. Involvement in archaeological research can enhance the relevancy of archaeology for participants of public archaeology projects by strengthening personal connections with heritage and history. To investigate the impact of direct involvement in archaeological research on residents in Vancouver, Washington, I recruited members of two neighborhoods associated with Fort Vancouver National Historic Site to participate in the archaeological search for material remains of the first (1825-1829) Fort Vancouver. I asked the question: How does involvement in a public archaeology project affect participants' feelings about heritage, archaeology, and …

Not Everyone Is Lovin' It: Work, Class And The Everyday In Al Sahel, Salam Ebeid

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores work in one of the “Big” fast food chains in Al Sahel. In this space I study how multinational ideologies/language are manifested within a local context through notions of control, discipline and power. Throughout the various thesis chapters, I try to understand how work functions with/through a specific social apparatus that is linked to work and class. How the relationships between workers unfold within this restaurant. Unpacking notion of Al Sahel Time Zone that studies different perceptions of time through Al Sahel's space. How work is felt on the body, perceived, tricked and understood by the workers …

“The Gifts Of Enemies”: The Acteal Massacre, Sociedad Civil Las Abejas And Mexico’S Ejército Zapatista De Liberación Nacional And Humanitarian And Development Aid During The Low-Intensity War, 1997–1999, Maria R. Hart

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is about a faction of the Sociedad Civil Las Abejas who, as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), were housed at the INI IDP camp in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, in 1997-99 after the Acteal massacre on December 22, 1997. This faction is of interest because they protested the remaining members of Sociedad Civil Las Abejas (Civil Society The Bees) social movement at Acteal and the EZLN (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, often better-known as the Zapatistas), because the movement required them to reject governmental humanitarian aid and development programs or lose their membership in the social …

Many Forms Of Black Death: Coal Extraction, Transnational Activism And The Value Of Life In Colombia, Oscar H. Pedraza Vargas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

After the murder of the president and vice president of the coal union by paramilitaries in the department of Cesár, Colombia, the union is left adrift. Its fragility is only heightened when the person who decides to take over, is killed six months later. The union has been vocal on their critique of environmental destruction produced by coal and argues that their criticism is part of the reasons why they were targeted. Not far from there, in the department of Guajira, the conglomerate in charge of Cerrejón, the largest open-pit coal mine of South America, wants to divert a creek …

¿Cómo Traducimos "Ni Una Más" Al Inglés?: Latin American Manifestation Of The Phenomenology Of Femicide, And The United States’ Subsequent Internal Neglect, Suemi Mendez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper aims to tackle two components in analyzing the phenomenological concept of femicide, most simply known as the killing of women because they are women through structural violence and oppression. First, it will develop its deployment within the Latin American framework as it has been adapted to function within the regional lexicon, both socially and legislatively. This assessment will serve to address the successes and failures thus far in tackling femicide as the location with the highest statistics globally. Through this foregrounding, it will lead into how this revised deployment of femicide fits into the context of Global North …

Dietary Development And Nutritional Ontogeny In Gorilla Beringei : A Multi-Layered, -Omics Approach, Emma C. Cancelliere

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In species who consume folivorous diets, immature individuals must contend with the challenges of extracting nutrients from fibrous foods before dietary adaptations and strategies are fully developed. Additionally, immatures have distinct nutritional needs to support their stage-specific metabolic and biophysiological requirements. To meet these stage-specific needs, while constrained by underdeveloped feeding strategies and digestive capacities, immatures may adopt distinct diets better suited to their specific developmental context. However, where dietary modification is constrained by low dietary diversity or landscape homogeneity, it is unclear how immature individuals compensate through alternative strategies. In turn, little is known about the nutritional and life …

Archaeologists, The Public, And Collectors: Establishing A Regional Database Of Archaeological Sites On Private Land And Collections With A Process For Professional-Public Archaeological Research In The Portland, Oregon Area, Katherine Louise Tipton

Dissertations and Theses

Over the course of daily life, people engage with archaeology in various ways, including experiences with archaeology on their own land and as part of family collections of archaeological material. As a result, members of the public often hold considerable archaeological knowledge that professionals have historically overlooked. Recent scholarship focuses on the issue of incorporating the public and collectors into archaeological research and ways for capturing that information. Professional-public collaboration is particularly important in the Portland, Oregon area, where many archaeological sites are located on private land and there is a long history of collecting.

The goal of this thesis …

Conversations With The Oregon Trail And The Silent Generation, Jose A. Camacho Quiroz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this thesis is to explain the reason behind my art practise and process as it stands in August 2020, its context and relation to my life and experience as an outsider in the American culture. This process culminates in the documentation of experiences through the use and preparation of displays of personal artifacts as physical evidence and mechanisms of my transformation to my american persona through a continuing acculturation process and drift from the american generational archetype.

It is important to outline my current work state diverges from my past work since it no longer serves a …

Computed Tomography In Medicolegal Death Investigation: A Critical Review, Trenton Eames

University Honors Theses

The use of computed tomography (CT) scanning in medicolegal death investigations has increased in frequency in recent years. It can be used by investigators to help identify a victim, find a cause of death, or otherwise reveal legally relevant case details. This meta-analysis aimed to examine the research surrounding the use of CT scanning in medicolegal death investigation, focusing in particular on researchers’ scrutiny of the accuracy and precision of this technique within forensic contexts. Thirty-nine research papers were reviewed, with specific attributes and findings examined together in an effort to contextualize CT scanning in medicolegal death investigations. CT scanning …

Schisms And Boundaries: Islamic Organizations And Sectarianism Between South Asia And Spain, Guillermo Martín-Sáiz

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the September 11 attacks, numerous researchers—from security experts and political scientists to sociologists and anthropologists—have discussed how Islamic organizations establish within mosques across Europe and spread sectarianism among Muslims in the region. While these researchers have provided valuable insights, the dynamics that characterize the relationship between these mosques and organizations and the resulting sectarianism seem far from self-explanatory and remain rather unclear.

This dissertation focuses on how the intersections between global and local phenomena—the so-called War on Terror and Clash of Civilizations on the one hand, and urban transformations and gentrification on the other—shape support for—and opposition to—Islamic organizations …

Identity In The Late Woodland Northeast: Interpreting Communities Of Practice From Paste Composition At The Thomas/Luckey And The Losey 3 Sites, Douglas S. Riethmuller

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Thomas/Luckey’s 13th -15th and Losey 3’s 14th-17th century occupations in the Late Woodland Northeast contain assemblages with incongruous regional pottery types; Kelso Corded and an assumed non-local Shenks Ferry. I argue the presence of Shenks Ferry vessels at these two sites indicates the movement of people who reproduced their natal designs upon arrival, rather than trade. The question of whether identity and communities of practice can be discerned from pottery decorations and paste was answered by analyzing sherds with pXRF. While pottery types are based on visual attributes, pXRF looks at elemental composition. Decoration is mimicable, but paste is not; …

Fanning The Flames Of Disaster: The Role Colonialism Plays In The Impact Of Wildfire On Indigenous People In Northern Alberta, Alana K. Kehoe

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research contributes to the anthropology of disaster, offering an ethnographic account of the impact of wildfire on Indigenous people in northern Alberta. The vulnerability created by remote environmental locations is increased by social, historical, and economic circumstances. Based on ethnographic data including participant observation and interviews collected over 3 months of fieldwork in the summer of 2019, I argue that colonialism, assimilation policies, racism and structural violence increase vulnerability of Indigenous people and communities to the impacts of wildfire. By looking at wildfire situations holistically this study supports arguments for decolonization and other policy changes that would reduce the …

Civic Engagement Amid Civil Unrest: Haitian Social Scientists Working At Home, Nadège Nau

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Unlike many of the autoethnographic accounts in world anthropologies discourse, this study employs critical educational ethnography to both address the geopolitics of Haitian anthropology while also spotlighting an understudied group: university faculty. This study addresses: What are the conditions of academic labor for anthropology professors working in Haiti? Moreover, what is the price of being an anthropology professor at the School of Ethnology at the State University of Haiti (UEH), and how do professors add meaningful value to their labor through sacrifice, ingenuity, and civic engagement? Despite professors’ work-related challenges and Haiti’s severe “brain drain” levels, for many professors, their …

Yaupon Drink: A Medicine Bundle In The Atlantic World, Steven P. Carriger Jr

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines yaupon drink, a tea made from yaupon holly along with other ingredients, as a medicine bundle in the Atlantic World. Originally a medicinal drink used by Native Americans across the what is today the American South, over time the tea became a trade good demanded by the Spanish and a medicinal herb sought by European botanists and medical practitioners. Chapter One traces yaupon’s origins across the southeast and bundles the drink into the many cosmic and social connections it held. Chapter Two shows how the Spanish colonial presence offered an alternative to yaupon in Florida, through Christianity …

Relationship Of Posterior Intracranial Venous Structures In Homo Sapiens And Handedness, Brianne Finley

Theses and Dissertations

The transverse sinus spans the endocranial surface of the occipital bone and ultimately transmits deoxygenated blood to the sigmoid sinus and jugular vein en route to the heart. This paired sinus tends to be more defined on either the left or right side in human crania. Left and right dominance, or the use of one side of the body more than the other, leaves traces on the human skeleton. Methods to determine handedness upon examination of various elements of the human skeleton mostly focus on the use of the extremities, while little research exists examining the skull for evidence of …

Isotopic Analysis Of Human Migration Among The Ancient Maya Of Ambergris Caye, Belize, Rachel L. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses the isotopic composition of tooth enamel from two Maya sites on Ambergris Caye Belize, to identify basic patterns of population movement among the Classic period Maya. Three individuals from San Juan and ten individuals from Chac Balam will shed light on the origin of individuals buried at the sites, including those with nonlocal grave goods. Strontium and oxygen isotope values provide new information on Maya coastal populations and suggest that at least one individual with a distinct body position had a nonlocal origin. Carbon isotope values reveal a childhood diet related to, but not the same as, …

The Sacred Circle: Ostension In Native American Hoop Dancing, Emma George

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This thesis examines the role of the semiotic concept ostension in folk dance, specifically in Native American hoop dance. Although the discipline of folklore is well-versed in ostension, folk dance has not been examined through this lens. I argue that dance is a form of ostension, of demonstrating a narrative, and this is especially apparent within Native American hoop dancing. I begin with a brief history of Native Americans in North America before discussing the origins of powwows, intertribal culture, and hoop dance. I then look at both the sacred nature and material culture of the modern hoop dance before …

Creative Expression Through The Gift Of God: The Intertwining Of Creativity And Religion Of The Poor Clares In New Orleans, Louisiana, Maureen Tierney

Master's Theses

This thesis looks at the relationship of art and creativity among the Poor Clares in New Orleans, Louisiana. Through the six sisters, the project addresses the way that religion influences the art that each sister produces. While each sister has had a different experience that drew them to religious life and their artwork, they all agree that their creativity is a gift from God, and this shapes how they engage with their art.

The literature gives an understanding to the role of the artist, and how to understand the nuance in an artist’s choice, when “why” something is produced is …

Maya Bone Tool Technologies At Ucanal, Guatemala, Jacob Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A key part of understanding Maya bone tool production is studying the rare assemblages containing bone tools and bone tool debitage. The Late Classic J-2 assemblage is a distinct composition of lithic, charcoal, human and animal bone at the site of Ucanal, Guatemala. The number of sites with high concentrations of fauna remains are well, and sites with high concentrations of worked bone is even rarer. This thesis is an analysis of the worked and unworked faunal elements excavated in 2019 from Operation 1B of the J-2 assemblage. The primary purpose of this thesis is to further understand Maya bone …

Archaeology Or Crime Scene? Teeth Micro And Macro Structure Analysis As Dating Variable, Jessica A. Vincenty

Student Theses

Simple methods to aid in the determination of forensic or archaeologic relevancy of skeletonized remains have been researched since the 1950s. With advances in microscopic imaging techniques and machine learning computer data analysis methods the relevancy of decontextualized, comingled remains has room for improvement. This thesis is a study done to pioneer a new approach to analyzing dental skeletal remains to determine forensic relevancy.

Archaeological dental samples collected from the ancient city of Ur in modern day southern Iraq in addition to modern dental extractions were processed for scanning electron microscopy imaging. Archaeological and modern samples displayed different surface and …

Form, Function, And Context: Lithic Analysis Of Flaked Stone Artifacts At A 17th-Century Rural Spanish Estancia (La 20,000), Santa Fe County, New Mexico, Clint S. Lindsay

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis examines the flaked stone artifact assemblage recovered from LA 20,000, a 17th-century (ca. 1630-1680 AD) rural Spanish colonial estancia located near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Settlements like LA 20,000 were important locations of cultural interaction between Spanish colonists and local Indigenous peoples who often worked and lived together in multi-cultural households. By analyzing the procurement, production, and use of flaked stone artifacts to identify choices and activities performed at the site by the people who lived and labored there this study helps to fill gaps in the knowledge and understanding of 17th-century flaked stone artifact production and use …

Useful Materials: Pxrf Analysis Of 17th-Century Flat Glass From Plymouth Colony, Grace E. Bello

Graduate Masters Theses

This master’s thesis uses a portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometer to date and identify flat green glass fragments from English colonial sites in New England. Three sites from the 17th-century Plymouth Colony produced flat glass tested in this thesis. These sites include the Burial Hill site (164 samples), the Alden site (764 samples), and the Standish site (21 samples). Based on the pXRF testing conducted, it was determined that 17th-century flat glass samples can be identified and dated using elemental and physical characteristics. Green window glass produced between 1567 and 1700 can be identified by the presence of a relative …

“We May Have Profitable Commerce And Trade Together”: An Analysis Of 17th-Century Ceramics In Plymouth Colony, Elizabeth G. Tarulis

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis analyzes the formation of early English colonial trade networks through an examination of three Plymouth Colony sites. This research compares the 17th-century ceramics from Burial Hill (a recently discovered section of the core of the initial settlement, 1620-c. 1660) to two homesteads established later by Plymouth colonists, the Alden First Home Site (c. 1627- c. 1697) and the Allerton/Prence/Cushman Site (1631-c. 1691). A minimum number of vessels was established for each site and the country of origin was established for each vessel to determine the origin of consumer goods, specifically ceramics, in Plymouth Colony. These vessels were then …

Small Towns And Mining Camps: An Analysis Of Chinese Diasporic Communities In 19th-Century Oregon, Jocelyn Lee

Graduate Masters Theses

Chinese Diaspora archaeology has focused historically on urban contexts or in-depth case studies, with minimal comparative studies. To expand such research, this thesis is a multisited analysis in Oregon using archaeological assemblages from the Jacksonville Chinese Quarter and four remote Chinese mining camps, museum material collection from a Chinese store in John Day, and store ledgers written in Chinese and English dating to the late-19th century. By situating the research in the framework of race, this thesis seeks to understand the ways that race and racialization impacted market access and affected consumption choices for Chinese immigrants in different classes. Chinese …

Seeing The Invisible: An Integrated Remote Sensing Approach To Mapping Buried Architecture At Las Colmenas, Virú Valley, Peru, Kayla C. Golay Lausanne

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis reports on the results of a survey project conducted in 2018 and 2019, intending to address two main research questions: (1) What remote sensing technique(s) worked best to identify buried features at Las Colmenas? (2) What combinations of techniques proved to be optimal for identifying buried features, and what are the benefits and limitations of the use of an integrated approach? This project incorporated two scales of analysis: macroscale optical and thermal Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) surveys and microscale Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR), magnetic susceptibility, and magnetometry surveys. A side-by-side comparison proved the thermal UAV, GPR, and magnetic susceptibility …

Taking Ethics Seriously: Navigating The Ethics Approval Process At A Canadian University, Marie-Pier Cantin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Based on interviews with key stakeholders in the ethics approval process at the University of Western Ontario, this thesis explores what it means to take ethics seriously in the context of formal, regulatory ethics policy and procedures. This study identifies several key tensions at play throughout the course of the ethics approval process, many stemming from often incommensurable understandings of ethical responsibility, ethical behaviour and ethics in research more generally. By centering key stakeholders and their relationships to one another and to the system that maintains and supports the ethics approval process, we can track many of these tensions to …

The People Who “Burn”: “Communication,” Unity, And Change In Belarusian Discourse On Public Creativity, Anton Dinerstein

Doctoral Dissertations

The main intellectual problem I address in this study is how everyday communication activates the relationship between creativity, conflict, and change. More specifically, I look at how the communication of creativity becomes a process of transformation, innovation, and change and how people are propelled to create through everyday communication practices in the face of conflict and opposition. To approach this problem, I use the case of communication in modern-day Belarus to show how creativity becomes a vehicle for and a source of new social and cultural routines among the independent grassroots communities and initiatives in Minsk. On one level, I …

Kofifi/Covfefe: How The Costumes Of "Sophiatown" Bring 1950s South Africa To Western Massachusetts In 2020, Emma Hollows

Masters Theses

This thesis paper reflects upon the costume design process taken by Emma Hollows to produce a realist production of the Junction Avenue Theatre Company’s musical Sophiatown at the Augusta Savage Gallery at the University of Massachusetts in May 2020. Sophiatown follows a household forcibly removed from their homes by the Native Resettlement Act of 1954 amid apartheid in South Africa. The paper discusses her attempts as a costume designer to strike a balance between replicating history and making artistic changes for theatre, while always striving to create believable characters.

Sex Differences In Age-Related Disease, Matthew R. Schwartz

Anthropology ETDs

Life history theory posits the evolution of sex-biased traits through asymmetries in the costs of reproduction. The research presented here evaluated the downstream effects of sex-biases in two age-related disease profiles: tooth loss, in which females exhibit a higher disease burden, and melanoma, in which females have a survival advantage.

Among the Tsimane, a natural fertility population of forager-horticulturalists with a high lifetime fertility and no access to oral healthcare, females lose more than males and around half a tooth per child. Parity accounts for 1.2\% of variation in tooth loss within females, but no variation in tooth loss in …

Epigenetics A Decolonizing Science, Wade Paul

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Epigenetics is the study of gene expression that does not entail alterations to the actual DNA. Decolonization is a theoretical and political movement that seeks to deconstruct colonial institutions and ideologies and reconstruct new and balanced approaches that accept and respect Indigenous worldviews. This project studies the decolonizing potential of epigenetics. Using genealogy as the method, the study establishes a long history of reductionist and deterministic thought that shaped the study of genetic science. Particular instances like thrift gene theory are explored to highlight how genetic explanations have been detrimental to the health and wellbeing of Indigenous people and illustrate …