Anthropology Commons^™

Female Genital Cutting, The Veil, And Democracy: Navigating Cultural Politics In Human Rights Discourse, Andrew Flachs

Honors Papers

This paper explores the perceived incompatibilities between human rights discourse and traditional values in the Middle East and North Africa. After reviewing relevant literature and concepts, it posits that this conflict is the result of social, political, and economic factors within a historical context and suggests using capabilities approach forwarded by Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen as a tool for better understanding and implementing human rights in the region. Rather than see culture as an adversary, this approach explains the potential of culture and religion in resolving ideological conflicts, especially for ambiguous human rights. This paper presents veiling, gential cutting, …

Realizing Virtuality: Tracing The Contours Of Digital Culture, Nicholas Andrew Riggs

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

People connect digitally through social media, fusing their relationships with meaning in a non-space of relational potential--a translucent and fluctuating enclave where the self becomes elastic. This thesis explores how I have formed bonds in virtual space through ritual interaction. Looking at the ways I learned to use technology through the progression of a close personal relationship, I suggest that social media use is a performance of identity--a virtuality that exposes how people negotiate the digital enclosure of contemporary society. My story is one of digital nativity and reclaiming love through virtual performance. I show how these performances have had …

Petani Dan Pedagang: Perubahan Ekonomi Dan Agama Di Buton, Blair Palmer

Antropologi Indonesia

This article examines a dispute over proper religious practice in an all-Muslim village in Buton, Southeast Sulawesi. Traditionalists and modernists disagree over whether agricultural ceremonies involving offerings for territorial spirits should be allowed to continue. Local views on this dispute are explored with reference to the historical context of religious practice in the village, and processes of social change over the past several generations. It is argued that key social, political and economic dynamics which are relevant to the current religious dispute include the decline of agriculture in the village, the eclipsing of the Butonese Sultanate and integration into the …

Agama, Kebudayaan, Dan Kekuasaan: Catatan Teoritik Dari Seorang Salafi, M. Belanawane

Antropologi Indonesia

Theoretical shifts in anthropological studies in recent decades has given way to renewed recognition of looking at issues of identity, namely that the sociall life, the arena in which the identity plays in, must be fundamentally understood as negotiating meanings. This is where Clifford Geertz’s interpretative approach becomes important yet problematic. Important because Geertz offers a humanistic approach which examines how meanings and symbols become important in the view of the community itself. Therefore, he argues, cultural interpretation requires a more in-depth analysis, also more intelligent and complex in which its purposes and those complexed cultural forms that can not …

Selo Soemardjan Sang Penerjemah: Subjektivitas Dalam Asal-Usul Cara Berpikir Sosiologis Di Indonesia, Geger Riyanto

Antropologi Indonesia

This paper was written against a background of interest to trace the formation of sociological ways of thinking that tend to legitimize power in Indonesia. During the preparation, I found problems in the perspective commonly used in researching the formation process of knowledge; knowledge is considered a form of power. Such approach is problematic because it denies subjectivity – which includes cognitive activity and experiences that are owned only by the existence of the related – absolute in the process of both producing and reproducing knowledge. Yet this criticism isn’t easy to elaborate because the question is, how do we …

Menyudahi Analogi Antropomorfisme: Mendamaikan Biologi, Sosiologi Dan Psikologi Melalui Psikogenealogi Antropologi Kedaulatan Negara, Hizkia Yosie Polimpung

Antropologi Indonesia

Death can be understood merely as a transition from one life to the next or simply as an end of life. These two conceptions are established due to our lack in knowledge about what will happen to us after we die. In order to make any sense, both conceptions require an understanding of death (and also life) as individual matter, that the only death (and life) I experienced is always my own. Nevertheless, in the first conception death does not exterminate one’s self, while in the second conception death exterminate one’s self. However, nonexistence of any access to the first-person …

Dormant Ethnobotany: A Case Study Of Decline In Regional Plant Knowledge In The Bull Run Mountains Of Virginia, Susan Rene Leopold

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation introduces and applies the concept of dormant ethnobotany, a concept that helps explain the socio-economic, cultural and ecological aspects and implications of the transition away from active use of ethnobotanical knowledge and the factors that may lead to its re-emergence. Dormant ethnobotany is the study of relationships between people and plants that are inactive, but nonetheless still alive in memories, the historic record, and folklore and thereby capable of reemergence in support of the transition to a more sustainable society. The dissertation extends the field of ethnobotany from its current roots in the dynamic ethnobotany of indigenous peoples. …

[Introduction To] Power, Culture, And Economic Change In Russia: To The Undiscovered Country Of Post-Socialism, 1988-2008, Jeffrey K. Hass

Bookshelf

Utilising cutting-edge theory and unique data, this book examines the role of power, culture, and practice in Russia’s story of post-socialist economic change, and provides a framework for addressing general economic change.

No other book places power and culture as centrally as this, and in doing so it provides new insights not only into how Russia came to its present state under Putin, but also how economies operate and change generally. In particular, the importance of remaking authority and culture -- creating and contesting new categories and narratives of meaning -- is shown as central to Russia’s story, and to …

Personal Narratives Of Women's Leadership And Community Activism In Cherkasy Oblast, Martha Kichorowska Kebalo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Ukraine's women's movement is part of a complex social field characteristic of formerly Soviet countries, but it also emerges from its own specific political history. Post-Soviet period, (neo-) nationalism, feminism and (neo-) socialism are significant forces shaping women's collective behavior. Their activism resonates with the pre-Soviet liberation struggle while it is shaped also by practices from the recent Soviet past. It also is sensitive to external pressures, including the agendas of Western aid and the Ukrainian diaspora.

This study accepts the emergence of non-state women's organizations as indicative of an incipient movement and examines this field of social activism in …

"... Rivalry, Hostility, And Romanita." An Ethnographic Study Of As Roma's Ultras, Mark Wayne Dyal

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This is an ethnographic study of Italian Ultras, the organized and ritualized fan organizations associated with professional soccer in Italy. It examines the relationship between their belief and behaviors, paying particular attention to their political behaviors. The study follows 15 months of anthropological fieldwork undertaken in Rome, Italy. Its goal is to assess the role that the Ultras' particular critical understanding of modernity plays in organizing and actualizing their behaviors inside and outside of sporting contexts. Part of my effort in this study is to examine local reactions to national and international issues of globalization and liberalization. In following this …

Ritual Effigies And Corporeality In Kaqchikel Maya Soul Healing, Servando Z. Hinojosa

Anthropology Faculty Publications

To treat some cases of soul-loss, Kaqchikel Mayas use ritual effigies of the sufferer. These effigies, called k’al k’u’x, are made by wrapping the sufferer’s clothing around a wooden armature. For the effigy to be a viable ritual surrogate, the ritualist must douse it with water, heat it, and strike it during a soul-calling ceremony. This handling instantiates corporeality in the effigy by kindling normative body states in it, states that must be stimulated in the sufferer’s own body for it to spiritually reintegrate. Such Maya ritual substitution practices are how Kaqchikels deploy ritual surrogation processes that hinge on …

Coping With Forest Fragmentation: A Comparison Of Colobus Angolensis Palliatus Dietary Diversity And Behavioral Plasticity In The East Sagara Forest, Tanzania., Noah T. Dunham

Honors Projects

Habitat destruction and forest fragmentation are perhaps the largest threats to primate species around the world. While national parks, games reserves, and primate sanctuaries are instrumental in primate conservation, research suggests that some non-governmentally protected forest fragments may also serve as viable habitats for primates. Of course not all primates respond to fragmentation in the same way, but a species’ ability to survive in a fragment relates to 1) home range size 2) degree of frugivory 3) dietary flexibility and behavioral plasticity and 4) ability to utilize matrix habitats. Here I describe these variables in relation to black and white …

Tapal Kuda Bergolak: Suatu Kajian Tentang Resistensi Terhadap Pelengseran Presiden Gus Dur 2001, Abd. Latif Bustami

Antropologi Indonesia

This article describes social resistance in Tapal Kuda community against The People Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat) who deposed President Wahid (Gus Dur) in 2001. Their resistance resulted in loss of human life as well as the destruction of religious buildings, educational institutions, and other public facilities, which are believed to have historical connections to their opponents, i.e. Muhammadiyah or its leader, Amien Rais. The Tapal Kuda community shares typical cultural characteristics such as Maduranese, Muslim, “remain traditional”, based on Ulama, and made their kiai (religious leader) as the highest role-model. Additionally, they have developed network of religious boarding schools …

Speech Patterns And Styles Of Young Malaysian Metrosexuals., Mohd Khushairi Tohiar

Student Works (2010-2019)

This case study attempts to examine the styles of language and patterns of speech among young Malaysian men between the ages of mid-twenties to late thirties who live and work in Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding urban areas. The subjects involved in this study are randomly selected using the definition of ‘metrosexual men’ by Simpson (1994). As there have been no studies on metrosexual language, particularly in the Malaysian context, it should be noted that this study is the first to be carried out in the context of Malaysian men. In order to analyse the subjects’ styles of language and …

Structure And Use Of Pronouns In Malaysia Spoken Tamil : A Sociolinguistic Study., Rathimalar Rama

Student Works (2010-2019)

The present research, Structure and Use of Pronouns in Malaysian Spoken Tamil – A Sociolinguistics Study focuses on ‘language structure, (LS) and ‘language use’ (LU) and tries to accomplish an adequate description of the pronoun system that includes different types of pronouns, their alternants, their distribution, functional importance, grammatical relationships established, occurrence of pronoun forms in phrases and sentences, etc. The research also brings out the functional importance of pronoun forms-their grammatical occurrences in larger constructions. Pronouns, apart from their role established through different structures found in language, do have socio-cultural significance when they are used in different contexts, situations, …

Language Choice And Shift Among Families Of Sino-Malay Mixed Marriages., Mohana Raju

Student Works (2010-2019)

In this study, the researcher has made an attempt to investigate the language choice of Sino-Malay mixed marriage families residing in Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. The study hopes to look for any existing patterns to indicate if these families are shifting from the native tongues existing at home, namely, Malay and Chinese, to another language due to their choice of language for selected domains and perception towards the mother tongues. In this study, participants consisted of sixteen (16) Sino-Malay mixed-marriage families of which the fathers are all Malay and mothers are all of Chinese descent. The theoretical framework of the …

Ship To Shore: Inuit, Early Europeans, And Maritime Landscapes In The Northern Gulf Of St. Lawrence, William W. Fitzhugh, Anja Herzog, Sophia Perdikaris, Brenna Mcleod

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

Recent research at Hare Harbor on the Quebec Lower North Shore in the northeastern Gulf of St. Lawrence reveals great potential for archaeological and historical research on Basque and other early European activities in the northwestern North Atlantic. Although considerable data have been retrieved from Red Bay, Labrador, and a few other sixteenth-century sites in the Strait of Belle Isle and Gulf of St. Lawrence, archaeological knowledge of the early European phase of North American history in this region is limited, and information about post-sixteenth-century Basque occupations is nearly nonexistent. This chapter reports on a multicomponent site with late sixteenth-century …

Factors Controlling Pre-Columbian And Early Historic Maize Productivity In The American Southwest, Part 1: The Southern Colorado Plateau And Rio Grande Regions, Larry V. Benson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Maize is the New World’s preeminent grain crop and it provided the economic basis for human culture in many regions within the Americas. To flourish, maize needs water, sunlight (heat), and nutrients (e.g., nitrogen). In this paper, climate and soil chemistry data are used to evaluate the potential for dryland (rain-on- field) agriculture in the semiarid southeastern Colorado Plateau and Rio Grande regions. Processes that impact maize agriculture such as nitrogen mineralization, infiltration of precipitation, bare soil evaporation, and transpiration are discussed and evaluated. Most of the study area, excepting high-elevation regions, receives sufficient solar radiation to grow maize. The …

Global Transformations, Local Activism: “New” Unionism’S Engagement With Economic And Health Care Transformation In Urban Central Appalachia, Rebecca Adkins Fletcher

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

It has long been argued that the organization of the U.S. health care system is shaped by the struggles between capital and labor, and this relationship is of increasing significance today. Transformations from an industrial to a service economy, rising insurance costs, neoliberal social policies, and decreased labor union power have increased the number of Americans with reduced access to health care, especially for service workers and women. This dissertation is an ethnographic study of how workers in two leading unions in the “new” unionism movement, the Retail, Wholesale, and Distribution Service Union (RWDSU) and the United Steelworkers (USW) in …

Power & Politics In Resettlement: A Case Study Of Bhutanese Refugees, Christie Shrestha

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

This thesis examines the complexities in the resettlement of Bhutanese refugees. Using anthropological ethnographic field methods, this thesis explores the power dynamics between the employees of a resettlement organization and the refugees and the intricate webs of power within different institutions, such as local NGOs and healthcare institutions. The study argues that humanitarian actions and interventions are often driven by bureaucratic politics and policies that contradict what humanitarianism stands for as apolitical and value-neutral. These contradictions or paradoxes in humanitarianism also are also present in refugee resettlement. Analyzing these paradoxes that characterize resettlement, this thesis illuminates structural discontinuities or gaps …

When Women Migrate: Children And Caring Labor In Puebla, Mexico, Denise Geraci

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This investigation concerns children and caregivers in Santa Ursula, a town in Puebla, Mexico from which many women have migrated to the United States in recent years. The expansion of female migration since the 1980s and children who remain behind in women's poorer nations of origin, where households, communities and governments assume their care, are salient features of global economic restructuring (Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001). This study analyzes how children's circumstances change when mothers migrate, and how family, community and state representatives understand and deal with these changes. Social reproduction in a community like Santa Ursula supports not only a source of …

Faunal Analysis Of The Early Modern Bishop's Farm At Skalholt, Arnessysla Iceland, George Hambrecht

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation presents the analysis of faunal material recovered from middens outside the main complex of the Bishop of Southern Iceland's Cathedral farm at Skáholt, Arnessysla, Iceland. Issues of diet, deposition patterns, as well as participation in larger trade and intellectual networks addressed. All of these issues are examined in order to investigate larger issues centered around the early modern Atlantic world. The Skáholt material is also compared with the larger body of existing early modern Icelandic archaeofaunal data in order to investigate issues of adaptation and resilience in the face of harsh climatic as well as social and economic …

Assessing (Multi)Culturalism Through Public Art Practices, Anru Lee, Perng-Juh Peter Shyong

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Halaf Bead, Pendant And Seal 'Workshops' At Domuztepe: Technological And Reductive Strategies., Ellen H. Belcher

Publications and Research

Almost a thousand beads, pendants and seals have been excavated from the site of Domuztepe over the past decade. This paper is based on an examination of the general typology and technology of this assemblage. Manufacturing systems based upon social networks of decentralised organisation of small production ‘workshops’ are explored. It is suggested that these networks shared a system of sequenced actions according to raw material and finished products. A group of unfinished beads in the preliminary phase of production suggests evidence of batched reduction and finishing strategies that balanced breakage risk with a high level of proficiency. At Domuztepe …

Women's Rights And The Millennium Development Goals, Caroline A. Jones

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

The Millennium Development Goals are one of the first sets of time-bound, attainable goals that directly address and attempt to reduce the number of people living in poverty. Women are disproportionately affected by poor socioeconomic conditions and the recognition of this, via the Millennium Development Goals, is a positive step forward for women’s rights. This paper will focus on the fifth Millennium Development Goal, to reduce maternal mortality. The argument will be presented that this goal is insufficient in implementing sustainable change as it does not address the underlying cultural practices such as economic disparity, violence against women, and access …

The Life-Giving Stone: Ethnoarchaeology Of Maya Metates, Michael T. Searcy

Faculty Publications

Descendants of the ancient civilizations of southern Mexico and Central America are one of the greatest sources of information of Maya life. today the modern Maya live and work in the rural villages and towns spread out over this vast region. Many Maya communities continue to thrive culturally, while others, due to colonialism and civil war, have lost many of their traditions and customs. But even those groups ravaged by the strains of globalization ad the industrial revolution have retained some thread of cultural patrimony that ties them to their prehistoric ancestors. This is manifest in many different forms of …

Decorative Renascence: Tracing Early Ceramic Designs Into The Late Prehistoric Period In The U.S. Southwest/Northwest Mexico, Michael T. Searcy

Faculty Publications

Cordell (1997) has characterized the late prehistoric period (A.D 1200-1450) in the U.S. Southwest/Northwest Mexico as one of crystallization when ―many specific forms, designs, symbols, or motifs can be traced to much earlier periods‖ but, "they came together in new ways". This paper traces the emergence of designs and motifs among earlier ceramic traditions, such as Mimbres and Ancestral Puebloan, and their later appearance on Salado and Casas Grandes pottery. I use design analysis to explore the spread of styles and symbols throughout time and space and show how these methods contribute to interpretations of interregional interaction and cultural continuity.

Disjuncture Among Classic Period Cultural Landscapes In The Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico, Wesley Durrell Stoner

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Teotihuacan was the most influential city in the Classic Mesoamerican worldsystem. Like other influential cities in the ancient world, however, Teotihuacan did not homogenously affect the various cultural landscapes that thrived in Mesoamerica during the Classic period (300-900 CE). Even where strong central Mexican influences appear outside the Basin of Mexico, the nature, extent, and strength of these influences are discontinuous over time and space. Every place within the Classic Mesoamerican landscape has a unique Teotihuacan story. In the Tuxtla Mountains of southern Veracruz, Mexico, Matacapan, located in the Catemaco Valley, drew heavily upon ideas and symbols fostered at Teotihuacan, …

Political Economy Of Exotic Trade On The Mississippian Frontier: A Case Study Of A Fourteenth Century Chiefdom In Southwestern Virginia, Maureen Elizabeth Siewert Meyers

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Although the Mississippian culture area has been studied for decades, the frontier of the Mississippian region is less understood. Various Mississippian frontiers appear to have been important for the obtainment of trade goods which were important symbols of chiefly power. Studying these frontiers will allow archaeologists to better understand the emergence and maintenance of power within Southeastern chiefdoms. This dissertation explores one frontier site, Carter Robinson (44LE10) in southwestern Virginia, and its role in Southern Appalachian chiefdom power through its control of trade at the border. This research identifies ceramic and non-utilitarian markers of trade and identifies changes at the …

Strategic Flexibility: Household Ecologies Of Ful’Be In Tanout, Niger, Karen Marie Greenough

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

(Agro)pastoralism in Sahelian Niger, as elsewhere, operates through household enterprises. Katsinen-ko’en (Fulбe) households, interconnected within kin and community networks, utilize a range of flexible strategies to manage a variety of ecological and economic risks. This dissertation argues that (agro)pastoralist households and communities maintain or improve viability in risky environments first by employing various mobility patterns, among other strategies, and relying on the tightly knit interdependence between household and herd. Secondly, households that most successfully sustain a cooperative integrity (i.e. partnerships between husband and wife, or wives, and parents and children) to negotiate decisions and strategies best withstand adversities such as …