Anthropology Commons^™

Traversing Paradigms: An Environmental Journey To Body And Mind, Martin Ceja Mejia

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Traumatic life experiences altered the way I perceive the world. As a result, I embark on a journey to reshape my relationship to self, the built and natural world; to environment. In this thesis I ask: How do I want to relate to the environment? Considering I am a doubly colonized agent, I also aim to decolonize my relationship to environment along the process. Therefore, this work aims to formulate a new, personal, relationship to environment through academic literature, history, psychology, Indigenous knowledge and science, and literary studies, among other fields of knowledge. This work is interdisciplinary in nature; life …

Sons Of Disobedience And Their Machines: How Sin And Anthropology Can Inform Evangelical Thought About Ai, Gregory S. Mckenzie

Liberty Theological Review

The purpose of this paper is to further discussion about artificial intelligence by examining AI from the perspective of the doctrine of sin. As such, philosophy of mind and theological anthropology, specifically, what it means to be human, the effects of sin, and the consequent social ramifications of AI drive the analysis of this paper. Accordingly, the conclusions of the analysis are that the depravity of fallen humanity is cause for concern in the very programming of AI and serves as a corrupted foundation for artificial machine cognition. Given the fallen nature of human thought, and therefore, fallen AI thought, …

Philosophical Anthropology And Biblical Interpretation In John Paul Ii’S Theology Of The Body, Shawn Conoboy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the Theology of the Body, through a series of Wednesday Catecheses, John Paul II presents a magisterial understanding of the sacrament of marriage and of marriage and family ethics. At the same time, John Paul II presents a theological anthropology, which forms a basis for the magisterial teaching. His theological anthropology is developed through an exegesis of selected biblical texts, especially Genesis 1-3 and Ephesians 5, and through an application of a philosophical anthropology articulated by Karol Wojtyła. This dissertation draws the connection between the philosophical anthropology of Wojtyła, especially as it is articulated in his major works, …

Indicadores De Desigualdad Y Mortalidad Por Enfermedades Cardiometabólicas En Guatemala / Inequality Indicators And Cardiometabolic Diseases Mortality In Guatemala, Alejandro Cerón, Gila Y. Goldstein

Anthropology: Faculty Scholarship

La medición de las desigualdades en salud al interior de los países de ingresos bajos y medios es necesaria para la planificación, monitoreo y evaluación de intervenciones de salud pública, especialmente para problemas que contribuyen altamente a la carga de enfermedad, como las enfermedades cardiometabólicas. El objetivo de este estudio fue caracterizar los patrones de desigualdad de las tasas de mortalidad para las principales causas cardiometabólicas en Guatemala. Se usó datos del Censo Nacional de Población, y estadísticas oficiales de defunción de 2018 para calcular tasas crudas de mortalidad para diabetes (DM), infarto agudo de miocardio (IAM), y accidente cerebrovascular …

Legacy - December 2021, South Carolina Institute Of Archaeology And Anthropology--University Of South Carolina

SCIAA Magazine - Legacy & PastWatch

Contents:

Tommy Charles (January 3, 1932-July 30, 2021) Tribute

Director's Notes

Spanish Halberds in South Carolina?

The Mica House Revisited

Santa Elena Research Trip to the Warren Lasch Conservation Center

The Civil War at Santa Elena

Update on the Southeastern Paleoamerican Survey 2021

Maritime Research Division: A Year of Fieldwork in Review

A Legacy of Land: From Dynasty to Death: The Redistribution of Land and Wealth Explored Through the Lens of Genealogy

A Cosmic Impact Demolshed an Ancient Middle Eastern City and Everyone in It

Historic Archaeology: The St. Patrick's Day Flood

Annual Report 2021

ART/SCIAA Donors August 2020-January 2022

The Economic Rationality Of Consumption In The Mycenaean Political Economy And Its Role In The Reproduction Of Social Personae: Modeling Prestige Networks., Devin Alexander Stephens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a theoretical examination of the economic rationality of consumption as it existed within the Mycenaean political economy. Using a modified paradigm of social network analysis, a semiotic approach is used in the study of identity expression and economic stratification present at three Late Helladic cemeteries. In doing so, the claim that exchange strategies which existed outside of palatial redistribution were present in the Late Helladic was substantiated as a similar logic of mortuary stratification which existed during the palatial era was also found to have existed after the shift to the post-palatial era and the collapse of …

Doing Ethnography, Joanna M. Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

New Research Suggests Cat And Dog ‘Moms’ And ‘Dads’ Really Are Parenting Their Pets: Here’S The Evolutionary Explanation Why, Shelly Volsche

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Have you noticed more cats riding in strollers lately? Or bumper stickers that read, “I love my granddogs”? You’re not imagining it. More people are investing serious time, money and attention in their pets.

It looks an awful lot like parenting, but of pets, not people.

Can this kind of caregiving toward animals really be considered parenting? Or is something else going on here?

Understanding Religious Tolerance In Yongchang, China, Liming Gao

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The formation of China is a process of national integration and a fusion of different beliefs. However, under Chairman Mao (1949-1976) and specifically during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), people were reeducated to focus on Communism and expel remnants of traditional Chinese culture including the various religions. Although, after the Cultural Revolution, China reinstated its policy of religious freedom, there were still strict laws against religion. Despite such circumstances, Chinese people still practice their religious beliefs. The Yongchang area, located in Gansu Province in the northwest of China is a typical region of Chinese culture. At the same time, compared to …

Fundamentals Of Anthropology As Effective Experiential Learning Strategy To Promote Social Justice, Chelsea G. Abbas

Experiential Learning & Teaching in Higher Education

Experiential learning (EL) as it relates to the social sciences, involves going out into the community to conduct field studies or work with different groups who provide new approaches and collaborative perspectives to student learning. EL relies on the fact that students can communicate with distinct populations and oftentimes bridge cultural, linguistic, racial, generational, or geographical divides. As we emerge from a pandemic-induced social isolation into an increasingly siloed and divided political world, creating generative dialogue and skill sets to promote social activism and empathy for the common good is of utmost importance, especially for college students. Two EL experiences, …

Texas Hospitality: Pro-Refugee Activism, Volunteerism, And Coalition-Building In Xenophobic Times, Sara Mosher

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

This project employs ethnographic methods to explore the experiences of forty ordinary Texans of different social and religious backgrounds who were active in pro-refugee volunteer and advocacy work during the four chaotic years of the Trump administration. The goal of this research is to better understand people’s reasons for volunteering and advocating on behalf of refugees during a time of political upheaval, when prominent public figures in positions of leadership around the country have repeatedly framed refugees as a threat to American security and cultural identity. Despite the crucial roles that local volunteers typically play in the process of refugee …

Making Yourself At Al-Dar: On Islamic Education, Social Imaginations, And Affective Possibilities, Alia Amr Amin Shaddad

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the Dar as an alternative space of knowledge, and unravels how its different contexts and rhythms allow us to imagine what that alternative means in the everyday. In order to do so, this thesis unpacks questions of space, time, subjectivity, and potential. I look at the ways in which this Dar is constituted as a space through its relations with other spaces and by engaging questions of temporality. By doing so, this thesis maps this space to make clear what and how it is, and highlights the historical and geographical context it exists in. This also includes …

Teaching Archival Research Methods Through Projects In Ethnohistory, Veronica L. Denison, Alyssa Willett, Alexandra Taitt, Medeia Csoba Dehass

Journal of Western Archives

During the spring semester of 2015 and the fall semester of 2016, two cohorts of students at the University of Alaska Anchorage learned archival research skills as part of their methodological training in the course, Ethnohistory of Alaska Natives, which subsequently led to the development of further individual research projects. As part of the course, students provided metadata to folders within an archival collection. This article explores the semester long projects, including the hardships of finding and using culturally appropriate metadata, lessons learned, and the impact the project had on students, the archivist, and instructor.

The Zooarchaeological Dimension Of Preceramic Human-Environment Dynamics In The Highlands Of Southwestern Honduras, Alejandro J. Figueroa

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I evaluate different hypotheses regarding human-environment dynamics in the Mesoamerican neotropics during the Preceramic period (ca. 11000-7400 cal B.P.) by examining the largest extant faunal assemblage dated to this time. The Preceramic was characterized by major climatic and ecological changes following the end of the Pleistocene, including the extinction of megafauna and the expansion of tropical forests. This period ended with a series of behavioral adaptations suited to this transformed landscape such as increased territoriality, sedentism, agriculture, and domestication. Three hypotheses have been proposed to explain these dynamics: the Broad-Spectrum Revolution hypothesis suggests post-Pleistocene resource uncertainty and …

Witchcraft, Magic, Religion: Anth 1102 Oer Syllabus, Lisa Pope Fischer

Open Educational Resources

People rely on religion and various belief systems to bring meaning and understanding to everyday life. This course will show how anthropologists unravel and interpret cultural belief systems to gain insight into the cultural environment. Cross-cultural ethnographic examples will illustrate the various ways in which Anthropologists analyze belief systems as a way to understand a culture. Topics include religion, worldview, symbolism, taboo, myth, ritual, witchcraft, shamanism, religious practitioners, magic, healing, and spirits. Students must be prepared to look at both literate and pre-literate ritual systems. Non-Western belief systems are contrasted with religions of the Western world.

Making Scents: Multispecies Partnership, Security, And Affect Among Canine Search And Rescue Teams, Kara Griffin

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the qualitative experiences of dogs and handlers working on canine search and rescue teams as they strive to develop a successful relationship through working, training, and living together. In order to work effectively, these teams form affective partnerships characterized by mutual advocacy, correspondence, and trust, which highlight the co-constructed nature of more than human worlds and allow members of both species to contest certain framings of their partners in their social worlds. Each chapter will further explore how handlers grapple with contemporary controversies in their field which are often framed as questions of effectiveness and personal choice …

Food Security In Ancestral Tewa Coalescent Communities: The Zooarchaeology Of Sapa'owingeh In The Northern Rio Grande, New Mexico, Rachel Burger

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

Food security, the measure of access to safe and sufficient food, is a critical global issue, not just because of its effects on health, but also because of the potentially negative consequences that food insecurity can have on mental and social well-being. Archaeology is uniquely situated to inform and articulate with global food security studies by focusing on past lived experiences of social and environmental conditions and events. The experiences of and responses to those conditions, in turn, inform present day policy and humanitarian efforts.

This study examines how residents of Sapa’owingeh, a Classic Period (A.D. 1350-1600) Tewa pueblo in …

Embracing Entrepreneurship, Naomy Sengebwila, Naomy Nyendwa Sengebwila

Doctor of Ministry Projects and Theses

Embracing Entrepreneurship

How Christian Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship can Lead to Sustainable Communities in Zambia and Globally

Embracing Entrepreneurship

A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Perkins School of Theology Southern Methodist University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry by

Name of Student

Naomy Nyendwa Sengebwila

Name of Student: Naomy Nyendwa Sengebwila

Date: 03/31/2021

How Christian Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Can Lead to Sustainable Communities in Zambia and globally

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …

Contextualizing The Health Of U.S. Farmworkers, Gabrielle Hyde

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Farmworkers often exist in vulnerable social and occupational positions that make accessing health care a challenge. This literature review seeks to outline the health of U.S. farmworkers in the context of these vulnerabilities through a review of the existing literature. It provides a short background to understand how we have become reliant on immigration to feed our nation and to give a snapshot of where these farmworkers come from and what their health concerns are. A key topic in this literature review is the social context of these health burdens including the attitudes of providers, farmworker’s perceptions of their own …

How Racialization Shapes Work Conditions For H2a Migrant Farmworkers: Literature Review, Zoi Johns

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Scholars have argued that an existing gap between the idealization of American prosperity and actualization of American exploitation occurs on account of racialization. Racialization refers to the process in which subsets of people are reduced to a set of occupational practices, beliefs, or narratives that work to define their low position within societal hierarchy (Garcia 2014). This concept distinguishes itself from racism as it focuses on the conditions that exist in order for the reproduction of racism and oppression to occur (Gonzalez-Sobrino and Goss 2019). Thus, it will be argued that the reproduction of these tenants occurs capitalistically and perpetually. …

Mortalidad Por Accidente Cerebrovascular En Guatemala 2018: Patrones E Inequidades, Alejandro Cerón, Gila Goldstein

Anthropology: Faculty Scholarship

El presente estudio busca analizar la mortalidad por accidente cerebrovascular (ACV) en Guatemala con el propósito de identificar posibles criterios epidemiológicos que orienten la priorización de acciones de salud pública. El riesgo de morir de ACV en Guatemala muestra marcadas desigualdades por departamento, las que son aún más marcadas al comparar por municipio. El riesgo de morir es también más alto en personas mestizas o ladinas, en niveles educativos bajos, y en personas que se dedican a ocupaciones elementales. Deberían implementarse medidas de salud pública orientadas a los municipios y grupos en mayor riesgo de morir de ACV. Este estudio …

Fire Otherwise: Lifeways Enhancing Fire Management In A Changing World, Cynthia Twyford Fowler, Cynthia Fowler

Faculty Scholarship

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Fire Otherwise: Lifeways Enhancing Fire Management In A Changing World, Cynthia Twyford Fowler, Cynthia Fowler

Faculty Scholarship

Fire is a daunting human ecological challenge and a major subject in science and policy debates about global trends in land conversion, climate change, and human health. Persistent environmental orthodoxies reduce complex burning traditions to overly simplistic representations of environmental destruction, degradation, and loss while reinforcing existing social inequities involving smallholders. What would a more inclusive and pluralistic fire ecology look like? How and why might we embrace diverse anthropogenic fire regimes and broader understandings of the ways humans interact with fire? Fire otherwise is the support of proactive local and regional efforts to adapt amidst continually changing social and …

Blood At The Root, Jarrett Martin Drake

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

What is the sound of silence and what is the sight of absence? The following essay situates itself along those two questions by devoting close ethnographic attention to the lives and afterlives of seven people—Delia, Renty, Jem, Alfred, Fassena, Drana, and Jack—whose reflections resonate and resound throughout the world of archives. I argue that a theory of archival power must consider the role of process and place in the shaping of modern memory practices. The article begins by narrating the story of how these seven people came to occupy the center of the archival universe. Next, it traces a tale …

Embodied Injustices: Covid-19, Race, And Epigenetics, Maria Encinosa

Showcase of Osprey Advancements in Research and Scholarship (SOARS)

Digital Projects Showcase Exhibitor Award Although historical and even modern accounts of race assume significant biological differences between racial groups, race has little biological meaning. Nonetheless, the social construct of race has real consequences. Racial identity defines boundaries of community and impacts the experiences of individuals, including how people live and die during a pandemic. COVID-19 has disproportionately affected minority communities in the United States, triggering many explanations for racial disparities in health. Through an analysis of sources spanning from popular media to traditional academic journals, I analyze the potential for epigenetic research to serve as a missing link that …

Dental Disparities: A Quantitative & Regional Analysis Of Male Oral Health In The United States, Hannah Merritt, Gordon Rakita

Showcase of Osprey Advancements in Research and Scholarship (SOARS)

Project of Merit Winner

Multiple factors contribute to the oral health of male individuals in the United States, including economic, regional, and gender disparities. My study compares health care coverage and poverty rates to indicators of oral health status and dental care access such as percentage of tooth lost, number of dental visits, and oral health services at federally qualified health centers. This oral health data is drawn from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention across all fifty states in the year 2018 and from the United States Census. By examining this data, I will be able to answer …

Mourning Practices On Facebook: Facebook Shrines And Other Rituals Of Grieving In The Digital Age, Sydney Yeager

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

Death is a universal, and for humans so is the experience of grief that follows. This dissertation exams how Facebook users utilize the social media platform as they mourn their loved ones, process their grief, and support the grief of others. It explores how the experience of death and loss shapes the religious beliefs and actions of grievers and how social media impacts the grief experience of its users. It looks at the community that arises organically from mourning on the deceased’s Facebook Timeline and interrogates the social pressure to perform grief in such a public space. Finally, it asks …

Global Perspectives, Cecilia Salvi

Open Educational Resources

A syllabus for an introductory course in global studies.

"The Face Of The Agency": Interviews With Death Investigators In South Louisiana, Natalie H. King

LSU Master's Theses

According to the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators, “the role of the medicolegal death investigator is to investigate any death that falls under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner or coroner, including all suspicious, violent, unexplained and unexpected deaths” (American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators [ABMDI], n.d.). As such, a death investigator has a job that is highly intense and stressful at a level similar to that of doctors, nurses, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and firefighters. The majority of the literature written about death investigators focuses on procedural issues, while there seemingly is a lack of literature focused on …

Sea-Level Rise And Settlement At Ta’Ab Nuk Na, Belize: Analyses Of Marine Sediment From The I-Line, 4m Transect, Conner B. Flynt

LSU Master's Theses

The ancient Maya of Mesoamerica created a culture with writing, religion, and vast trade networks. These trade networks are evident on the southern coast of Belize, where archaeologists have found sites dedicated to salt making. One of these sites, Ta’ab Nuk Na, was the subject of this thesis. Sediment and charcoal samples were collected from this site by the Underwater Maya Research Group led by Heather McKillop and E. Cory Sills. For my thesis research, I subjected these samples and components within them to loss-on ignition, radiometric dating, and microscopic analysis. Loss-on ignition was used to ascertain organic material percentage …