Anthropology Commons^™

The Relationship Between Social Networks, Exchange And Kids’ Food In Children’S Peer Culture, Stephanie Tillman Melton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates children’s peer culture, social networks and the role that kids’ food plays in peer exchanges during middle childhood. During this stage children develop social competencies as they join peer groups with other children and become socialized into children’s peer culture. In order to immerse myself within children’s culture, I conducted ethnographic fieldwork at two afterschool programs providing care for elementary school children. I investigated friendships, social networks and exchanges among third through fifth grade children at the programs. The study included participant observation and participatory group interviews with a sample of the children at both sites. The …

Rib Fracture Patterns In Fatal Motor Vehicle Accidents, Cristina Lynn Kelbaugh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rib fractures are present in 25 percent of all trauma-related deaths, making the mechanism and pattern of rib fractures an important area of trauma research (Lien et al. 2009). Rib fractures are important to consider when researching trauma because they can cause serious complications contributing to an individual's mortality.

This retrospective research study focuses on rib fracture patterns in fatal motor vehicle accidents (MVAs). The sample consists of 105 MVA victims--68 males and 37 females. Data was collected at the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office in Tampa, Florida. The study investigates motor-vehicle-related deaths from 2011 to 2013 to establish rib …

"It Takes Time To Shift Historical Paradigms": Changes In Structure, Governance, Perception, And Practice During A Decade Of Child Welfare Policy Reform In Florida, Amy Catherine Vargo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explored changes in structure, governance, perception and practice within Florida's child welfare system over a ten-year period (2001-2011) inclusive of two concurrent, statewide reform efforts: the privatization of child welfare services and implementation of a Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration. Using an anthropological perspective and holistic approach, the child welfare system is presented as a type of meta-organizational culture inclusive of subsystems and subcultures which are all embedded in historical and socioeconomic context that involves alternations between child safety and family preservation approaches to care.

Guided by a grounded theory approach to qualitative data analysis, content analysis of child …

Teaching About Race In Introductory Anthropology Courses: An Ethnographic Study, Jennifer Gilroy Hunsecker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

American anthropology has focused on issues related to race from the start of the discipline. From past work designed to categorize humans into phenotype-based categories to current work to undo those categorizations, many anthropologists consider race to be one of the most important topics for students to learn. In this dissertation, I use in-depth ethnographic case studies consisting of interviews, observations, and focus groups, to learn about the way in which anthropologists at four institutions of higher education teach the topic to students in their introductory, four-field general anthropology class. I found that anthropologists are committed to sharing anthropological perspectives …

Interpreting Bronze Age Exchange In Sicily Through Trace Element Characterization Of Ceramics Utilizing Portable X-Ray Fluorescence (Pxrf), Erin Marie Mckendry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Throughout history and prehistory, Sicily has played a key role for maritime trade in the Mediterranean. Interactions with Sicily are attested to in research for various societies throughout the Mediterranean as early as the Neolithic. However, much of this research paints Sicilian societies as passive, focusing primarily on external groups of people in a given period and their influence on the island. By ignoring the importance of the indigenous population, current research lacks a balanced approach to investigations and subsequent conclusions. This is most evident in literature pertaining to Mycenaean interactions with Sicily during the Bronze Age. Ceramic evidence and …

Engaging-Up: Compromised Spaces And Potential Partners, Jennifer Necole Webb

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The anthropology of public policy critically examines policy and its processes and the myriad ways in which power is exercised. To explore these power dynamics, anthropologists studying policy often study up, or study through a particular policy field. This entails the risky work of studying powerful people, whose ability to retaliate against the researcher and others create methodological and ethical dilemmas and contradictions, as well as potentially harmful consequences. Politicians, bureaucrats, employees of powerful non-profits, and, in the public-private neoliberal reality, even the head decision makers within corporations are all prospective research participants--an intimidating prospect for most anthropologists. In contrast, …

Trash Talk: Understanding Food Waste At A Charter Elementary School In Florida, Steven A. Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Waste as a topic for anthropological investigation has enjoyed a recent resurgence in interest, mirroring burgeoning discussion among policy-makers and the general public about questions of environmental impacts, economic costs, and social detriments of contemporary waste management paradigms. While waste management in the United States has largely focused on technical and organizational solutions typically considered the domain of environmental planning and engineering (such as source reduction, recycling, and reuse), anthropology and the social sciences have become more prominently involved in efforts to inform policy-makers and researchers about the social and behavioral factors influencing waste norms and habits, particularly in educational …

Multi-Isotope Analysis To Reconstruct Dietary And Migration Patterns Of An Avar Population From Sajópetri, Hungary, Ad 568-895, Liotta Desiree Noche-Dowdy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Avar were nomadic people from Central Asia who migrated into the Carpathian Basin in Central-Eastern Europe during the mid to late Migration Period (AD 568 - 895). Archaeological evaluation of grave goods and documentation of mortuary practices have been the primary means of understanding the Avar. However, this approach has largely neglected skeletal and biochemical analysis, in particular as these approaches relate to the biological variation, ancestry, and dietary patterns of the Avar.

There remains debate as to whether disparities existed among the socially stratified Avar population of ancient Hungary. It is argued by some that these disparities existed …

Spatial Analysis Of Archaeological Assemblages From The Late Ceramic Age (Ad 400-1400) Site Of Grand Bay, Carriacou, West Indies, Kara I. Casto

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study utilizes a geographic information system (GIS) to examine the spatial relationships between the assemblages of major artifact and ecofact categories at the Late Ceramic Age (AD 400-1400) site of Grand Bay, Carriacou. In addition, the study examines how these assemblages formed through various cultural and natural formation processes and have been affected by recent episodes of coastal erosion. Previous archaeological research for this region of the Caribbean is lacking, but with the determined efforts of the Carriacou Archaeological Field Project, Grand Bay's role has been brought to the forefront of current investigations answering questions about pre-Columbian migration …

Food Insecurity And Hunger Experiences And Their Impact On Food Pantry Clients In The Tampa Bay, Nora Brickhouse Arriola

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since 1999, there has been a significant increase in the number of food insecure individuals in the United States. The Great Recession (2007-2009) and slow economic recovery has led to additional increases in rates of food insecurity and the usage of emergency food assistance programs. Thirty qualitative interviews with individuals seeking emergency food assistance at a Tampa Bay food pantry were conducted. Interviews focused on collecting the life experiences of participants, the barriers they face in having food security, their strategies to cope with limited food budgets, and how food insecurity impacts their household's overall health and wellbeing. Recommendations for …

Creating A Professional Pathway For The Women Who Care For Our Children: An Anthropological Study Of An Early Childhood Workforce Development Policy, Melissa Kay Van Dyke

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Historically, the early childhood workforce has been described as undereducated, poor, and disproportionately comprised of women of color. The EDUCATE workforce development policy was designed to advance the professional development of under-paid and under-valued child care workers. This study focuses on the history, intent, and impact of this policy at the intersection between the grantees, the State, the various organizational contexts, and the broader structural forces. More broadly, complex issues and challenges related to the early childhood workforce are surfaced. Finally, through a critical analysis of the findings, the hidden and dominating forces that maintain the current level of inequity …

Landscape Legacies Of Sugarcane Monoculture At Betty's Hope Plantation, Antigua, West Indies, Suzanna M. Pratt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sugarcane cultivation has played a key role in the development of the Caribbean since the seventeenth century A.D. The Eastern Caribbean island of Antigua in the West Indies was almost exclusively dedicated to sugarcane monoculture from the mid-1600s until its independence from Britain in 1981. This research seeks to better understand the landscape legacies left by long-term sugarcane monoculture at the site of Betty's Hope Plantation in Antigua. This study creates a 400-year simulation of crop yields using the USDA's Erosion Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC), and evaluates the simulated trajectory of landscape change using historical information about the plantation's agricultural …

Myths And Miracles In Mexico City: Treatment Seeking, Language Socialization, And Identity Among Deaf Youth And Their Families, Anne Elaine Pfister

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation research investigates the experience of deafness among deaf youth, adults, and their families in Mexico City, Mexico. Deaf children cannot fully access the spoken languages of their hearing families and mainstream society. Hence, participating families embarked upon extensive treatment-seeking pilgrimages, encountering myths about deaf lifeways and the promise of miracle cures that formed Mexico City's cultural system for coping with childhood deafness. This ethnography uncovers persistent misconceptions in medical and mainstream discourse, including strong recommendations against exposure to sign language, which directly impacted participants' access to relevant communities of practice, the social networks that proved most significant to …

The Archaeology Of The Mckinnie Site (8ja1869), Apalachicola River Valley, Northwest Florida: Four Thousand Years In The Backswamp, Eric D. Prendergast

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research describes a large, newly-recorded archaeological site in the Upper Apalachicola River valley, northwest Florida, and a private collection of artifacts from it, as well as test excavations, three-dimensional modeling, clay/pottery sourcing through chemical analysis, and direct radiocarbon dating of ceramics to relate the site with regional archaeological chronologies and settlement patterns. A University of South Florida (USF) 2013 field school conducted excavations at the multicomponent midden on the western floodplain of the Apalachicola River called the McKinnie site (8JA1869). Students collaborated with a local collector and family members to learn about the site's history. Data from the collection …

Improving Lidar Data Post-Processing Techniques For Archaeological Site Management And Analysis: A Case Study From Canaveral National Seashore Park, Christopher James Griesbach

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Methods used to process raw Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data can sometimes obscure the digital signatures indicative of an archaeological site. This thesis explains the negative effects that certain LiDAR data processing procedures can have on the preservation of an archaeological site. This thesis also presents methods for effectively integrating LiDAR with other forms of mapping data in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) environment in order to improve LiDAR archaeological signatures by examining several pre-Columbian Native American shell middens located in Canaveral National Seashore Park (CANA).

Reproductive Health Seeking Behaviors Among Female University Students: An Action Oriented Exploratory Study, Robin Emily Mowson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this research was to: 1) study the perceptions of female students attending the university Student Health Center, concerning available services, 2) learn how they describe their decisions to obtain care, and 3) identify perceived barriers to reproductive health care and contraception. This exploratory study used a mixed-methods approach that included clinic public-space observations, interviews with health care providers and staff at Student Health Services (SHS), surveys distributed to clients of the campus clinic, and in-depth interviews to contextualize emergent themes. Topics addressed included sexual health behaviors and perceptions, influence of peers and partners, the propagation of health …

Multiple Stain Histology Of Skeletal Fractures: Healing And Microtaphonomy, John Wellington Powell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The forensic examination of wounds is one of the key elements of analysis performed by forensic anthropologists and forensic pathologists. Gross examination and histological analysis can be used to determine the timing of the wound and its cause. While forensic pathologists are trained to analyze hard and soft tissue wounds, forensic anthropologists, bioarchaeologists, and paleopathologists, focus on hard tissue. Forensic anthropologists have the added benefit of potentially working with residual soft tissue and would benefit from the incorporation of microscopy techniques that take advantage of the soft tissue to better understand perimortem events. Little research has been published that examines …

Pathogenic Policy: Health-Related Consequences Of Immigrant Policing In Atlanta, Ga, Nolan Sean Kline

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Multilayered immigration enforcement regimes comprising state and federal statutes and local police practices demand research on their social and health-related consequences. This dissertation explores the multiple impacts of immigrant policing: sets of laws and police activities that make undocumented immigrants more visible to authorities and increase their risk of deportation. Examining immigrant policing through a multi-sited framework and drawing from principles of engaged anthropology, findings from this dissertation suggest how immigrant policing impacts undocumented immigrants' overall wellbeing, health providers' professional practice, and reveals troubles with safety net medical care. Interviews and participant observation experiences suggest how immigrant policing perpetuates a …

Situating Contraceptive Practices And Public Health Strategy In The Bronx: Perspectives From Female Youth, Healthcare Workers, And Reproductive Health Leaders, Hannah Louise Helmy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, concerns about adolescent childbearing and its perceived corollaries – negative health outcomes for mother and child, the disintegration of the nuclear family, and “over-dependence” on public resources – began to circulate widely in policy spheres and popular media in the 1970’s, resulting in a proliferation of policies, programs, and services designed to address its prevention. Although national birth rates among adolescents are currently at their lowest since peaking in the early 1990’s, this decline masks persistent and significant disparities between groups of young people by race, ethnicity, geography, and poverty level. The concomitant existence of social …

Southern Chivalry: Perception Of Health & Environmental Justice In A Small Southern Neighborhood, Brian S. Brijbag

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes heath risk and how it is communicated to, and understood within, a predominantly African American neighborhood in central Florida. Residents accuse the county department of public works of purposeful contamination and discrimination over a period of 30 years. I raise the questions of how risk is perceived and what roles race or class may play. I also developed a model for risk communication that includes all stakeholders. Finally, I expand the conversation of health disparities to include issues of widening gaps in perceptions of health.

This was examined by looking at the following:

1. The lack of …

Patterns Of Consumption: Ceramic Residue Analysis At Liangchengzhen, Shandong, China, Rheta E. Lanehart

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to identify the different patterns of food consumption across space and time at Liangchengzhen, a Longshan (ca. 2600-1900 B.C.) site located in Shandong Province, China. The primary hypothesis of the research contended that evidence of increasing social inequality with respect to food consumption would be found from early to late phases at Liangchengzhen. In addition, rice and meat from mammals, especially pigs, were hypothesized as the most likely types of prestigious foods for daily and ritual activities. Fish and marine foods in general were hypothesized to be foods that average households could obtain since …