Anthropology Commons^™

Guest Editor’S Introduction, Caroline S. Hau

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

Editor's Introduction, Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr.

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

Editor's Introduction, Filomeno V. Aguilar

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

Editor's Introduction, Jr. Aguilar

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

Editor's Introduction, Jr. Aguilar

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

Editor's Introduction, Jr. Aguilar

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

Editor’S Introduction, Jr. Aguilar

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

Editor’S Introduction, Jr. Aguilar

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

Integrating Rural Livelihoods And Community Interaction Into Migration And Enviroment Research: A Conceptual Framework Of Rural Out-Migration And Environment In Developing Countries, Hua Qin, Courtney G. Flint

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

This article presents a conceptual framework linking perspectives from migration and environment with rural livelihoods and interactional community research in the context of rural out-migration and environmental changes in developing countries. Household livelihoods and community interaction comprise two core mediating factors between rural out-migration and rural environmental outcomes. Developing an interdisciplinary conceptual framework is an important way to advance migration and environment research that is built on knowledge from a variety of disciplines. By building linkages across different research fields, our conceptual framework provides an overall picture of the relevant mechanisms through which out-migration affects the rural environment. The framework …

Oral Health Disparities Across Racial/Ethnic Groups., Jacqueline Brown

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Oral health disparities persist across various sociodemographic groups in the United States. Data were obtained from the 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey(NHANES)to investigate differences in tooth count, self-rated condition of teeth, decay in at least one tooth, and ownership of dentures across racial/ethnic groups.

Remarkable Resilience Of Teeth (How Are Teeth So Brittle Yet So Resilient), Paul J. Constantino

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Tooth enamel is inherently weak, with fracture toughness comparable with glass, yet it is remarkably resilient, surviving millions of functional contacts over a lifetime. We propose a microstructural mechanism of damage resistance, based on observations from ex situ loading of human and sea otter molars (teeth with strikingly similar structural features). Section views of the enamel implicate tufts, hypomineralized crack-like defects at the enamel–dentin junction, as primary fracture sources. We report a stabilization in the evolution of these defects, by ‘‘stress shielding’’ from neighbors, by inhibition of ensuing crack extension from prism interweaving (decussation), and by self-healing. These factors, coupled …

Idea, Energy, And Power: Sayers’S Creative Process Model And The Storytelling Of Jay O’Callahan, Rebecca K. Reynolds

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research uses an adaptation of Dorothy L. Sayers's 3-step theory of creativity to analyze the self-described creation process of contemporary storyteller Jay O'Callahan. Sayers wrote that Idea, Energy, and Power are foundational elements of the creative process. Idea is the invisible image that provides vision and unity throughout a project. The Energy is the working out of art into a medium. The Power is the connective force that binds artist to art and both to audience. (Sayers, 1987). This hermeneutical study develops subcategories within each of those 3 primary elements of creativity, then uses qualitative methods to explore connectivity …

Political Globalization And Civil War In Former British Colonies, Luke O. Feltz

Student Publications

The purpose of this paper to determine why civil war onset reduces political globalization in former British colonies. I set out by testing the relationship between being a former British colony and civil war presence, demonstrating a positive, though not statistically significant, relationship. I also examine the history of British colonialism. Through setting up specific system of indirect rule, British colonizers created conditions that contributed to intra-state conflict. Furthermore, through constructing a unique institutional system and maintaining ties to its former colonies, the British have created an atmosphere conducive to international political engagement after the onset of civil war. Yet, …

The Antecedents, Process, And Consequences Of Female Sterilization For Low-Income Women In Mumbai, Marie A. Brault

Master's Theses

Surgical sterilization is the primary method of family planning among low-income women in India; the result of limited knowledge and poor access to family planning alternatives. To understand the dynamics of sterilization, 37 in-depth interviews were conducted with sterilized women from the study community, as well as key informant interviews with community men, providers and government officials. The results indicate that sterilization decisions are made after exceeding ideal family size, that the procedures for sterilization frequently do not follow official protocol, but that for the most part women are highly positive about being free of the risk of unwanted conception.

"Women With No One": Community And Christianity In A Secular South Indian Homeless Shelter, Connie Etter

Anthropology - Dissertations

This dissertation examines daily life and social service practices in a secular homeless shelter for women in Tamil Nadu, south India. The residents of the shelter have diverse backgrounds but local staff members and volunteers describe them collectively as "women with no one": unwed mothers, orphans, widows, women abandoned or abused by husbands and lovers, former sex workers, prisoners' wives, and women deemed mentally or physically unfit for marriage. Daily negotiations of belonging take place among this transient and diverse group of marginalized women and equally diverse and transnational care providers. The closed shelter campus provides an opportunity to query …

Double Engagements: The Transnational Experiences Of Ethiopian Immigrants In The Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area, Kassahun Haile Kebede

Anthropology - Dissertations

This dissertation explores the transnational experiences of Ethiopian immigrants in the Washington metropolitan area across generational units. Much of the recent research on transnationalism has focused on the ties immigrants maintain in the sending country. This dissertation adds to this analysis by looking at how the actions of Ethiopian immigrants contribute to nation building in the United States as well as in Ethiopia. The double engagements of Ethiopians challenge either/or views of immigrants and demonstrates how transnationality works in both directions.

My research, based on 12 months of fieldwork in the metropolitan area of Washington, D.C., used participant observation, interviews, …

Suicide Rates Among Young, Married Women In Nepal, Kirra L. Hughes

Capstone Collection

In 2009, a Maternal Mortality and Morbidity (MMM) report carried out in Nepal by the Family Health Division of the Department of Health Services accidently stumbled upon a surprising leading cause of death in Nepali women of reproductive age (15 - 49). The result: suicide. And the numbers are still on the rise. There have since been no comprehensive follow-up studies and none, to my knowledge, that are currently ongoing. This leaves an urgent need for research to be done on the causes of these suicides (Benson and Shakya, 2011; Bertolote et al, 2005; Pradhan et al, 2009).

Globally, there …

Passing The Salt: How Eating Together Creates Community, Rebecca Katz

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Sharing a meal is a simple, yet sacred occasion. It is a universal act that is important to building relationships within people groups. Intentionally eating together creates time and space to engage in the spiritual and intellectual levels that are unique to human beings. Sharing food cultivates community because the implications of the meal extend beyond the time of eating together. While there are other places people meet, gathering around a meal is the most accessible because if nothing else, everyone must eat. Through participant observation and personal interviews, this CE/T project explores four meals to determine how eating together …

Dental Microwear Texture Analysis Of Pliocene Bovids From Four Early Hominin Sites In Eastern Africa: Implications For Paleoenvironmental Dynamics And Human Evolution, Jessica Renee Scott

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many researchers have suggested that Plio-Pleistocene climate change was a motive force for human evolution. The basic idea was that a shift toward drier, more open settings, led to adaptations for bipedality and the consumption of savanna resources, including large grazing mammals. However, more recent paleoenvironmental reconstructions suggest that Pliocene hominins occupied variable or mosaic habitats including both open and closed settings. Many techniques have been used to refine our understanding of the paleoenvironments of eastern Africa; however these have not led to consensus reconstructions. At Kanapoi, ecological diversity analysis indicates that at least part of the site was composed …

Influences Of Disclosure Among Child Sexual Abuse Victims, Michelle Jones

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Child forensic interviews are essential in eliciting disclosures in child abuse cases. Due to the nature of abuse and the child victims, barriers are inevitable to obtaining a full disclosure. This research describes the barriers as well as the factors that increase the likelihood of eliciting a disclosure during child forensic interviews. Previous research has found that factors more likely to induce a disclosure are having a supportive primary caregiver, an investigation which was instigated by the child victim, and if the victim is an older female. Barriers preventing disclosure include threats made by the perpetrator, fear, lack of opportunity …

Haunts Of The Hill: Western Kentucky University Ghostlore, Arthur Gordon Van Ness Iv

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky, like all colleges and universities, has some interesting history. In this case, for my thesis project, I looked at specific tales regarding several buildings on campus that one hears upon arrival to campus. The buildings I included are Potter Hall, Barnes Campbell, Rodes- Harlin, Van Meter, Florence Schneider, McLean Hall, and Pearce-Ford Tower. I explored the details of the traditional oral narratives and compared those details from personal or close to personal experience. Next, I analyzed the details that have stayed the same over time or changed.

To accomplish my project I went …

Tribes, States, And Landscapes: The Ecological Impacts Of Changing Land Use During The Islamic Period In Southern Portugal, F. Scott Worman

Anthropology ETDs

This dissertation concerns human-environment interactions in southeastern Portugal during the centuries following the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire. In contrast to the feudal systems that developed across Western Europe outside Iberia, the Islamic polities that controlled the study area from 711 to 1248 C.E. allowed agrarian producers a great deal of political and economic independence. As a result, rural areas were more densely populated and the residents were wealthier than in earlier or later periods or contemporary feudal Christian kingdoms. The archaeological, geological, and historical investigations reported in this volume illuminate the timing, nature, and causes of past ecological …

Landscape History In The G.K. Warren Missouri River Maps, Graham Alan Callaway

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 1855 and 1856, military surveyor Gouverneur K. Warren and his assistants produced what was at the time the most accurate map ever made of the Missouri River. This series of highly detailed sketch maps records numerous cultural features and an extraordinary level of environmental detail, making it an invaluable resource for research on the history of the region. This paper represents the first attempt to comprehensively interpret the content of these maps, identifying the features recorded where possible and assessing the probability of archaeological preservation of those not previously known. A subset of the recorded environmental data, from roughly …

How Environmentalists And Skeptics Can Discover The Same Goals: Making Eco-Friendly More People-Friendly, Caroline Craig

Honors College Theses

Oftentimes, environmental activists treat and pose issues with a sense of emergency. Unfortunately, to a population who does not feel it has the energy to care, such panic has a negative effect. Worse still is when people do not agree that there is a problem. The difference in risk perception greatly divides environmentalists from regular Americans. On the one hand, it is crucial for environmentalists to continue changing the political and economic paradigms. However, policy-making and the development of solutions become greater hurdles when there is a lack of support from the general public. The very nature of environmental problems …

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (Tek) And Modern Natural Resource Policy In China: Pathways For Integration, Lauren Elizabeth Nyman

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Excavation Of Transect 4 At The Eleanor Betty Site, A Submerged Classic Maya Salt Work, Belize, Taylor Aucoin

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Truth Between The Teeth: An Analysis Of Interproximal Tooth Wear At The Ables Creek Cemetery, Amy Reynolds Warren

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Current archaeological knowledge suggests that, by the Late Mississippian period, inhabitants of the southeastern United States had adopted maize agriculture and that maize was a key component of the normal diet. However, in some regions where wild food resources were easily attainable, there is evidence that the transition to agriculture was delayed or did not occur at all. This thesis examines Late Mississippian skeletal collections from two sites in eastern Arkansas, Ables Creek and Upper Nodena. Analysis of differences in interproximal tooth wear facet size and caries rates between the two populations reveals that the diets at these roughly contemporary …

Trauma At Akhetaten (Tell El-Amarna): Interpersonal Violence Or Occupational Hazard, Rebecca Marie Hodgin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The New Kingdom individuals excavated from the site of Akhetaten, modern day Tell el-Amarna in Middle Egypt, exhibit traumatic injuries relating to construction of the new city. This site is important for Egyptological and bioarchaeological interpretations because the city was only occupied for approximately 15 years. The cemetery provides an archaeological instant in history providing information on the individuals who lived, worked, and died at Akhetaten. A total of 233 individuals have been excavated and analyzed to date. The incidence of forearm fractures as chronic ulnae stress fractures instead of parry fractures are indicated by the presence of Schmorl's nodes, …

The Liminality Of Zimmedari And Its Consequences On The Water Quality And Health Of Meena Communities In Rajasthan, Firdaus Arastu

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Water is an essential need for people everywhere, yet its security is increasingly becoming endangered around the world. The escalating global water crisis has profound ramifications for health and livelihood particularly in developing countries like India. India faces enormous development challenges in addressing the needs of a rapidly growing population. The world’s largest democracy, India needs to improve its delivery of public services, especially to the poor and those living in rural areas.

The present study investigates the current public health situation in Rajasthan and the challenges India faces in providing water and health services. Fieldwork was conducted in rural …

Socio-Politics Of Smuttynose Island: A Look Into The Glass Importation Industry Of Early New England Fishing Sites, Lauren Silverstein

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Smuttynose Island of the Isles of Shoals is a well preserved archaeological site that documents approximately 400 years of human activity. Four years of excavation has recovered a significant amount of material related to the intensely occupied, seasonally utilized fishing stations on Smuttynose. This project examined a concentrated sample of approximately 2,000 pieces of glass vessels related to two periods of fishing activity on Smuttynose Island (1640-1720 and 1760-1830). By determining the date and type of manufacture present in the concentration of fishing period glass and comparing the two specific time periods of the fishing industry, the project highlights how …