Anthropology Commons^™

Discourses Of Menstruation: Public And Private Formations Of Female Identity, Emily G. Matteson

Scripps Senior Theses

Menstruation is a biological process, but it is also laden with cultrual meanings that produce society's understandings of both the body and "womanhood." The experiences of those who menstruate both reveal and inform the ways that culture mediates the relationships between biology, the body, sex, and gender. This study examines the ways that students at Scripps College, a women's college in Claremont, CA, understand and experience menstruation as part of living in an environment where the majority of students identify as female. Through ethnographic interviews, I demonstrate the ways that students use menstruation to re-envision distinctions between public and private …

Superstitious Precebo Illusion : Does Luck Charm Really Gives You Luck? It's Mere Possession Does!, Pik Ying Chan

Bachelor of Social Sciences – Senior Theses

Superstition is quite common in the modern society, people still hold superstitious beliefs and often engage in superstitious rituals that bring good luck. For example, Feng shui is the most popular superstition among Chinese and carrying a Feng shui luck charm such as mystic knot and red envelopes was believed to bring good luck. Likewise, in Western superstition, similar astrological talismans are believed to strengthen different qualities of the possessor. When one believes that certain object carried mystical power, having possession of it would grant the owner access to those powers. Nonetheless, the mystic power of these talismans is questionable …

Childhood Growth In An Oneota Community: Examining Long Bone Growth Differences In The The Juveniles At Norris Farms 36, Whitney Broughton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Oneota migration into the central Illinois River valley around ad 1300 resulted in a number of different interactions with Mississippian groups. Milner and colleagues (1991) identified significant numbers of perimortem injuries at the Norris farms 36 cemetery, along with biological markers for poor health, such as cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis. They suggested that the threat of violence may have forced the Oneonta at Morton village to limit subsistence activities to circumscribed areas close to the settlement, thereby reducing the resource base and negatively impacting the health of the community. However, recent research (Bengtson et al. 2012; Bengtson and O'Gorman …

Cohonina Social Organization And The Role Of Forts In Integration And Interaction: A View From The Pittsberg Community., Travis Brent Cureton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the role of "forts" in the sociopolitical organization of a prehistoric people known as the Cohonina through the application of settlement systems analysis and functional studies. The primary objective of this thesis is to test ideas of Cohonina sociopolitical organization through an examination of the functional characteristics of forts and their positions on the landscape using a combination of theory derived from settlement and landscape archaeology, deployed in a geographic information system work environment. A Cohonina fort site known as the Pittsberg Fort Complex, was placed in its community context through broad scale survey. Artifact, architectural, and …

Transnational Marriage: Modern Imaginings, Relational Realignments, And Persistent Inequalities, Coralynn V. Davis

Faculty Journal Articles

In the context of shifting cultural anchors as well as unstable global economic conditions, new practices of intimacy and sexuality may become tactics in an individual’s negotiation of conflicting desires and potentials. This article offers reflection on the interface between global forces, powerful transcultural narratives, and state policies, on the one hand, and local, even individual, constructions and tactics in regard to sexuality, marriage, migration, and work, on the other. The article focuses on the life trajectory of Gudiya, an ambitious young Hindu woman who started out life with little social capital and few economic resources in a dusty corner …

Self-Reliance Beyond Neoliberalism: Rethinking Autonomy At The Edges Of Empire, Karen Hébert, Diana Mincyte

Publications and Research

Across scholarly and popular accounts, self-reliance is often interpreted as either the embodiment of individual entrepreneurialism, as celebrated by neoliberal designs, or the basis for communitarian localism, increasingly imagined as central to environmental and social sustainability. In both cases, self-reliance is framed as an antidote to the failures of larger state institutions or market economies. This paper offers a different framework for understanding self-reliance by linking insights drawn from agrarian studies to current debates on alternative economies. Through an examination of the social worlds of semisubsistence producers in peripheral zones in the Global North, we show how everyday forms of …

A Paradoxical Paradise: The Marquesas As A Degenerate And Regenerative Space In The Western Imagination, Christine A. Zenel

Scripps Senior Theses

The Western imagination has ascribed histories and identities of the Marquesas Islands throughout centuries of evolving discourses and representations as a paradoxical paradise, bolstering colonialist ideologies of social evolutionary theory. The islands have either been represented as backwards on a social scale to justify Western dominance, or have been represented as being in a state of authentic human nature out of colonial guilt and imperialist nostalgia. These representations reveal a paradox in which the Marquesas is ascribed in the Western imagination as a degenerate space, yet also as a space where the regeneration of human nature is made …

America The Yogiful: Insights Into American Yoga Culture Today, Carolina Castaneda

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Originally a spiritual technology, yoga has been practiced in India and surrounding areas for thousands of years. In the late nineteenth century the practice of yoga gained popularity as a physical, mental and spiritual commodity among the masses in America and the world. Yoga is now a globally recognized fitness routine, part of the everyday lives of men and women seeking relaxation, stretching and mental sanity. In today’s fast paced world it is easy to understand yoga is appealing to the masses, however, as a yoga practitioner myself I often wondered if Americans are gaining all the benefits of the …

Crafting, Community, And Collaboration: Reflections On The Ethnographic Sala Project At The Pukara Lithic Museum, Peru, Elizabeth A. Klarich

Anthropology: Faculty Publications

The Museo Lítico Pukara (Pukara Lithic Museum) is an archaeological site museum in the small highland town of Pucará in the northwestern Lake Titicaca Basin of Peru. Recently, an ethnographic sala (exhibition space) was developed and installed within the museum that focuses on local craft production and its role within the agro-pasto- ral economy, regional exchange systems, and other house- hold-level and community activities. The sala is the culmination of a decade-long effort by national and foreign archaeologists, anthropologists from the regional univer- sity and their students, the Peruvian Ministry of Culture, and the townspeople of Pucará. This article presents …

Late Classic Maya Provisioning And Distinction In Northwestern Belize, David J. Goldstein, Jon B. Hageman

Anthropology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Perspectives On The Nature Of Science From A Group Of Students Attending Predominantly Hispanic West Texas High School, Cameron King Wilson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The United States is falling far behind the rest of the world in its ability to fulfill its needs for qualified workers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The Hispanic population is now the largest minority in the United States but is proportionally underrepresented in the STEM fields today. It is shown that students who have a good understanding of the Nature of Science (NOS) are far more likely to be interested in science which may lead to an interest in careers in STEM fields. There is very little if any research identifying Hispanic high school students' view …

Heterogeneous Immunological Landscapes And Medieval Plague : An Invitation To A New Dialogue Between Historians And Immunologists., Fabian Crespo, Matthew B. Lawrenz

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Efforts to understand the differential mortality caused by plague must account for many factors, including human immune responses. In this essay we are particularly interested in those people who were exposed to the Yersinia pestis pathogen during the Black Death, but who had differing fates—survival or death—that could depend on which individuals (once infected) were able to mount an appropriate immune response as a result of biological, environmental, and social factors. The proposed model suggests that historians of the medieval world could make a significant contribution to the study of human health, and especially the role of human immunology in …

Quantitative, Qualitative, And Collaborative Methods: Approaching Indigenous Ecological Knowledge Heterogeneity, Jeremy Spoon

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

I discuss the use of quantitative, qualitative, and collaborative methods to document and operationalize Indigenous ecological knowledge, using case studies from the Nepalese Himalaya and Great Basin. Both case studies applied results to natural and cultural resource management and interpretation for the public. These approaches attempt to reposition the interview subjects to serve as active contributors to the research and its outcomes. I argue that the study of any body of Indigenous knowledge requires a context-specific methodology and mutually agreed upon processes and outcomes. In the Nepalese Himalaya, I utilized linked quantitative and qualitative methods to understand how tourism influenced …

Older Adults’ Contributions To The Tsimane Forager-Farmer Economy, Eric Schniter

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Portfolio of original photographs and an accompanying essay about the role of elders among the Tsimane, an indigenous group living in the Bolivian Amazon.

Folkloric Musicians Among The Bugakhwe, Robert Veith

Masters Theses

Increased access to global media by traditional culture in remote parts of Africa has, in many cases, seen indigenous music marginalized in favor of imported forms. In some places, a folkloric tradition thrives, though this music may face extinction if those who practice it do not document their art in a way which can be passed down to future generations. For this project, I recorded seven musician/composers of the Bugakhwe, a Khoisan people group living in the Okavango Delta region of Botswana. Two were given enough studio time to create a complete CD-length set, so as to show off the …

An Archaeological Investigation Into The Cluskey Embankment Stores, Andrew B. Ayala

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Between November 2012 and June 2013 Georgia Southern University conducted an archaeological investigation into the Cluskey Embankment Stores (9CH1352) on behalf of the City of Savannah, Georgia. The project was first initiated by the Earl T. Shinhoster Youth Leadership Institute over a concern of how the vaults were being used. Members of the Shinhoster organization went before City Council and proposed an archaeological investigation of the Vaults. The City Council supported to the proposal and the City’s Research Library & Municipal Archives contacted Dr. Sue Moore of Georgia Southern University to conduct an archaeological investigation of the site. The Cluskey …

Expensive Errors Or Rational Choices: The Pioneer Fringe In Late Viking Age Iceland, Orri Vesteinsson, Mike Church, Andrew Dugmore, Thomas Mcgovern, Anthony Newton

Publications and Research

Just as the colonies established on the North Atlantic islands in the Viking Age were peripheral to Europe, so these islands had their own peripheral areas. In Iceland the highland margins have long been a focus of archaeological research and the prevailing view has been that highland settlement failed because people had made unrealistic assessments of carrying capacity. This paper presents a case study of the northern highland valley of Krókdalur and argues that the dating and pattern of settlement in that valley indicates that its settlers were keenly aware of its limitations. It also suggests explanatory frameworks that can …

Sustainability Policy’S Inherent Dilemmas – Exemplified Via Critical Examination Of The Las Vegas Metropolitan Sustainability Campaign, Kathryn A. Zimmerman

All Master's Theses

In response to a dual problem of critical water scarcity and rapid population growth, leaders of metropolitan Las Vegas implemented a region-wide, internationally marketed sustainability campaign. Preliminary studies found that, while sustainability policy attains its rhetorical goals, solutions initiated not only perpetuate but also purposefully expand the original dual problem to justify continuous water resource acquisitions. To examine this sustainability conundrum constructed by leadership—problem-perpetuation rather than problem-resolution—a critical examination in resource management asked two basic questions: what is being sustained and by what means? Via this inquiry, specific processes by which leaders perpetuate problems can be identified; and, so-informed, new …

Interdisciplinary Perspectives On Corruption, David Jancsics

Publications and Research

Corruption has become one of the most popular topics in the social scientific disciplines. However, there is a lack of interdisciplinary communication about corruption. Models developed by different academic disciplines are often isolated from each other. The purpose of this paper is to review several major approaches to corruption and draw them closer to each other. Most studies of corruption fall into three major categories: (i) rational-actor models where corruption is viewed as resulting from cost/benefit analysis of individual actors; (ii) structural models that focus on external forces that determine corruption; and (iii) relational models that emphasize social interactions and …

Strategic Deployments Of ‘Sisterhood’ And Questions Of Solidarity At A Women’S Development Project In Janakpur, Nepal, Coralynn V. Davis

Faculty Journal Articles

Linguistic uses of ‘sisterhood’ provide a window into disparate understandings of relationality among virtual and actual interlocutors in women’s development across vectors of caste, class, ethnicity and nationality. In this essay, I examine the trope of ‘sisterhood’ as it was employed at a women’s development project in Janakpur, Nepal, in the 1990s. I demonstrate that the use of this common signifier of kinship with culturally disparate ‘signifieds’ created a confusion of meaning, and differential readings of the politics of relationality. In my view, ‘sister,’ as used at this project, was a multivalent, strategically deployed, and divergently interpreted term. In particular, …

Manjako Literacy And Issues In Language Of Instruction, Miles Avery Pearson

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Students in Caio, Guinea-Bissau cannot read. This is due largely to the mismatch between the language at home and the language of instruction in schools. Students in Caio speak Manjako, but classes are taught in Portuguese, the official language, which students do not understand. This makes it more difficult for students to develop literacy skills and succeed in school. Literature shows that literacy is achieved best when it is taught to students in their mother tongue. This project involved creating and testing Manjako literacy materials and concludes with recommendations for implementing a Manjako literacy program. The materials included flashcards, sample …

Historical Archaeology: Methods, Meanings And Ambiguities, Christopher R. Decorse

Anthropology - All Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of National And Organizational Cultural Differences On International Joint Venture Performance, Rizwan Tahir

Business Review

The purpose of this study is to theoretically explore how national cultural differences, organizational cultural differences and trust between partners can influence IJV performance. Findings from previous studies have been mixed, and this study attempts to address the relationship and performance issues by theoretically advancing a model to explain the inconclusive results found to date. Based on previous research, the findings of this study are as follows. Firstly, in terms of the relationship between national cultural differences and IJV performance, differences in the national cultures of IJV partners adversely influence IJV performance. Secondly, in the case of the relationship between …

Book Review Of: The African Genius: An Introduction To African Cultural And Social History, Basil Davidson, Tufail A. Qureshi

Business Review

Book review, Africa, Culture, Social history

Sorting Sheep And Goats In Medieval Iceland And Greenland Local Subsistence, Climate Change, Or World System Impacts?, Thomas Mcgovern, Ramona Harrison, Konrad Smiarowski

Publications and Research

Large archaeofaunal collections recovered from Viking Age and Medieval sites in Iceland and Greenland during intensive collaborative fieldwork over the past decade have demonstrated a diverging pattern in sheep and goat (caprine) management after ca. 1200 CE in the two Norse communities. Since Landnám (first settlement), flocks in both places contained a mixture of sheep and goats and survivorship profiles suggest a very mixed milk-meat-wool production strategy. By the late 13^th century Icelandic herds were nearly all sheep, and zooarchaeological evidence suggests an increasing focus on wool production. Greenlandic archaeofauna indicate that farmers maintained the old Viking Age pattern …

Review Of 'How We Die Now: Intimacy And The Work Of Dying,' By Karla Erickson, Jennifer Davis-Berman

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

How We Die Now: Intimacy and the Work of Dying takes the reader on an engaging journey through the terrain of aging in America, with an emphasis on how our ideas about aging itself have changed the way we view death in the United States and even the way we actually die. This book has an authenticity to it, as Erickson admits that her own experience with aging and death compelled her to enter this world and study from the perspective of insiders, those who care for older adults and the actual elders themselves. Based on hundreds of hours of …

Indigenous Engagement And Resistance In The 21st Century: Empowering Indigenous Identity With Indigenous Film, Heather A. Hafer Cole

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Indigenous people of the United States have historically been and continue to be objectified and misrepresented in art, history, science, literature, and mass media. This continued colonization contributes to loss of respect for culture, identity crisis among indigenous youth, health disparities of epidemic proportions, poor performance in education, substance abuse, violence and poverty. This qualitative study expands upon existing scholarship in media anthropology (Dilworth, 1996; Ginsberg, 1991 & 2008; and Prins, 2002) and indigenous studies (Rader, 2011; Singer, 2001; and Tuhiwai Smith, 2012) by analyzing the indigenous voice expressed through media practice, storytelling as a tool for empowering indigenous identity …

The Benefits And Detriments Of Non-Profit Organization Work In Underdeveloped Countries Across Africa, Collyn Mccarty

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Cultural Factors Associated With Utilization Of Antenatal Care Services In Rural India, Anjali Om

Undergraduate Research Posters

Despite vast economic growth in developing countries in the past few years, infant mortality continues to plague underdeveloped regions, particularly rural regions of India. Many of these deaths are caused by a lack of education and motivation in regard to utilization of antenatal and neonatal care services to prevent and treat consequences of unhygienic umbilical cord care.

For years, high incidences of neonatal tetanus have plagued rural areas of India as a result of cultural practices that encourage topical applications of cow dung to cut umbilical stumps either directly or by using ghee heated with cow dung to warm umbilical …

Traversing The Terrain: A Least Cost Analysis On Intersite Causeways In The Maya Region, Alexander Rivas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study of ancient Maya causeways is crucial for understanding Maya social and spatial organization. Archaeologists have been interested in Maya causeways for decades, specifically documenting their locations. More recently, the use of Geographic Information Systems, or GIS, has been used for understanding the spatial organization of archaeological sites. GIS analyses on ancient Maya causeways however have been very limited. This thesis aims to evaluate ancient Maya causeways through GIS analysis. Specifically, five intersite causeway systems are looked at: the Mirador Basin, Yaxuna-Coba-Ixil, Uxmal-Nohpat-Kabah, Ake-Izamal-Kantunil, and Uci-Kancab-Ukana- Cansahcab. These causeway systems were evaluated using least-cost paths based on the terrain. …