Anthropology Commons^™

Transforming Through Power: Teachers And The Negotiation Of Authority In Schools, Madhu Narayanan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Schools are unique institutions where structural and cultural dynamics shape the actions of humans. Teachers work within structures of power to establish themselves as legitimate figures of authority worthy of the right to command respect. Such efforts are complicated by the multi-faceted and swirling relationships of power that exist everywhere in schools, defining and guiding individuals. In this study, I interview and observe the practice of seven secondary teachers working in New York City public schools. All in their third year of teaching, they were at an interesting time in their development, not novice teachers and not quite veteran. Using …

Identity And Sense-Making Through Narrative Processes On Social Media Platforms, Brenda Mandel

Anthropology

This paper provides an overview of existing research into narrative processes, sense-and identity-making, and digital social medias for the purpose of analyzing how social media platforms facilitate individual production of self under the framework of narrative. General aspects of narrative and how individual producers consciously and unconsciously adhere to those frameworks when representing themselves on virtual spaces are a central focus. This discussion further examines specifically how virtual and non-virtual spaces relate in terms of how social media platforms enforce and reinforce existing social structures in positive and negative ways. I also aim to stimulate further discussion on the implications …

The Effects Of Student Identities On Stressors And College Satisfaction, Isabella Heimke

Senior Theses

Undergraduate college students are faced with numerous stressors in their day to day life, many of which are affected by their individual identities. Research shows college is a time when students explore different facets of their identity, which can influence a student’s school performance and overall well-being. The main research of this study asks: How do various identities of University of South Carolina undergraduate students—such as race, gender, and sexual orientation—affect stressors and college satisfaction? This study was a secondary data analysis of the 2016 Campus Climate Undergraduate Survey, administered to all University of South Carolina undergraduates. Each respondent was …

An Investigation Of Perspectives On Mental Illness Across Race And Ethnicity, Emily Stark

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

"Previous research done on mental illness stigma and race and ethnicity has failed to properly recognize the complexity of identity and cultural influences and how these factors impact people’s perceptions of mental illness. These studies tend to insinuate that any differences of beliefs found between groups are due to race or ethnicity, when in fact this is an imprudent conclusion. In this thesis, a critical analysis of the literature on mental illness stigma and race and ethnicity determines that categorizing people into large homogenous groups based on race or ethnicity results in an inaccurate picture of what people believe about …

“Your Picture Looks The Same As My Picture”: An Examination Of Passing In Transgender Communities, Alecia D. Anderson, Jay A. Irwin, Angela M. Brown, Chris L. Grala

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Transgender people remain one of the groups most susceptible to discrimination in the U.S. Previous studies have examined the discrimination and stress transgender people face, but few studies have examined trans identities using existing sociological theories of marginalized groups and identity formation. Using the theories of Dubois and Cooley, this study explores identity formation in conjunction with the phenomenon of passing among transgender people residing in Nebraska. Results suggest that while trans people do pass as a mechanism for subverting discrimination, there are other factors that influence an individual’s choice and strategy to pass or not. The current investigation lends …

Whose Community Museum Is It? Collaboration Strategies And Identity Affirmation In The Amache Museum, Ting-Chun (Regina) Huang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Amache Museum is a preservation project that has multiple communities involved in preserving Amache history. It represents Japanese American as well as American history and is owned and maintained by the Amache Preservation Society (APS), which is comprised of local Granada High School students. By approaching the Amache Museum as a community museum and noticing its distinct collaborative strategy, this thesis investigates the community collaborations and the identity affirmations within the museum, and addresses the question of whose community museum the Amache Museum represents. My research explores the overlapping conceptual models of the Amache Museum: community museum and ecomuseum, …

Migrasi Orang Biak Dan Identitas Orang Asli Papua Di Sausapor, Papua Barat, Irin Oktafiani, Herry Jogaswara

Antropologi Indonesia

This paper discusses the migration process and the recognition of identity of Biak people in Sausapor along with the impact of it. Dichotomy of local and outsider is still a clear barrier separating Biak and Abun people in Miossu islands and Sausapor, the capital district of Tambrauw, West Papua. Biak people are considered as outsider with regards to the land ownership issue in Sausapor. On the other side, they are also considered as insider in Kampung Werur which is located in the same region with Sausapor. There are two different identity layers related to the problem of land ownership and …

Imagining Intersectional Anti-Rape Messaging At An Organization In Cape Town, South Africa: Visible And Invisible Subjects, Maslen Bode Ward

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Less than one month ago, South Africa held the first ever Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide to assess the most effective ways to approach solving the country’s high rates of gender-based violence. My study aims to consider anti-rape messaging and advocacy under an intersectional framework, using one organization in Cape Town as a case study. I examine how anti-rape messaging in South Africa has failed to consider intersectional identities in their imagined conceptions of survivors and perpetrators. I explore the potential for intersectional anti-rape messaging and the role of race, class, gender, culture, and language in the distribution, audience, …

Sociocultural Diversity In The Prehispanic Southwest: Learning, Weaving, And Identity In The Chaco Regional System, A.D. 850-1140, Edward Alexander Jolie

Anthropology ETDs

Between about A.D. 850 and 1140, the archaeology of Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico reveals the rapid construction of large communal structures where smaller settlements had existed previously and shows that the locality became the core of an extensive regional system in the Four Corners region of the northern Southwest integrated by formal trails, the circulation of nonlocal goods, and the sharing of ritual items. Researchers vigorously debate the role of increased sociopolitical complexity in this development, but less attention has been given to questions of sociocultural diversity and its impacts.

Guided by previous research suggesting the existence of …

Koreans, Americans, Or Korean-Americans: Transnational Adoptees As Invisible Asians, A Book Review, Tairan Qiu

The Qualitative Report

The book, Invisible Asians: Korean American Adoptees, Asian American Experiences, and Racial Exceptionalism, explores the personal narratives and histories of adult adoptees who were born between 1949 and 1983 and who were adopted from Korea by White parents. Using oral history ethnography, Nelson (2016) seeks to correct, complicate, and contribute to current discussions about transnational adoptions. In this book review, the author provides an overview, a personal reflection, and recommendations for potential audiences of this book.

From Invisibility To Liminality: The Imposition Of Identity Among Non-Federally Recognized Tribes Within The Federal Acknowledgment Process, Christopher M. Drake

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the imposition of a “liminal” identity among non-federally recognized American Indian tribes pursuing federal recognition through the Federal Acknowledgment Process. By requiring a tribe to simultaneously appear as both intelligible/similar to and distinctive/different from American society, the “liminal” identity fails to be maintained, barring a tribe’s recognition.

Ancient China And Its Eurasian Neighbors: Artifacts, Identity, And Death In The Frontier, 3000-700 Bce, Katheryn M. Linduff, Yan Sun, Wei Cao, Yuanqing Liu

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

This volume examines the role of objects in the region north of early dynastic state centers, at the intersection of Ancient China and Eurasia, a large area that stretches from Xinjiang to the China Sea, from c.3000 BCE to the mid-eighth century BCE. This area was a frontier, an ambiguous space that lay at the margins of direct political control by the metropolitan states, where local and colonial ideas and practices were reconstructed transculturally. These identities were often merged and displayed in material culture. Types of objects, styles, and iconography were often hybrids or new to the region, as were …

Exemplary Welshness : The Role Of The Transnational Welsh Heritage Network And Being Welsh In Patagonia, Kimberly Anne Berg

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In recent years, the Welsh Diaspora community in Chubut has gained significant visibility in Welsh and other media in light of the 150th anniversary of the settlement’s establishment. In addition to the commemorative sesquicentenary celebrations taking place in July of 2015, the performance of Welshness has become increasingly congruent with homeland displays of the familiar aspects of Welsh national identity. In large parts, Welsh Patagonian language and heritage revitalization efforts have been facilitated by the transnational Welsh heritage network, composed of Welsh national institutions and Welsh Patagonian heritage associations collaborating with the expressed goal of maintaining a distinct Welsh identity …

"Crooked" Language: Moroccan Heritage Identity And Belonging On Youtube, Radia Lyna Lahlou

Honors Papers

With the advent of user-generated social media, people are able to assert their ideas, opinions and positionality through online multi-way communication and participation. One such website is YouTube, a video platform where language production and identity negotiation are common. This thesis looks at a series of videos published on YouTube, entitled the "Moroccan Tag" to examine the ways five second-generation French-Moroccan YouTubers assert their national identities online. Using methods of guerrilla ethnography, I glean discourse from video content and comments to outline three key scaler processes through which identity performance manifests: through semiotic ideologies surrounding authenticity, language and imagined community. …

From Parilla To Pa' Amb Tomaquet: Argentine Migrant Identity In Barcelona, Spain, Vera Armus

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis explores Argentine migratory experiences in Barcelona, Spain. Paying specific attention to the cultural adjustments migrants have made upon arrival, it considers food choices, habits, and social tastes in order to gain insight into how identity is impacted upon migration. Given that Argentines form one of the biggest migrant communities in Barcelona, and that they hold various cultural and ethnic similarities to their Spanish counterparts, their experiences upon arrival present a particularly interesting topic of inquiry. Based on first-hand accounts, participatory observation, fieldwork, and media research, I argue that the nature of Argentine identity in Barcelona is fluid and …

Embodying The Hyphen: An Ethnography On Korean Adoptees, Barbara Hammersberg

All Master's Theses

An estimated 150, 000 Korean children have grown up in culturally and racially different homes in the United States and other countries since the increase of transnational adoption in 1953. Due to the large number of Korean adoptees living in the U.S. the potential for ethnographic research is profound. Past studies have favored adoptive parents’ perspectives over that of Korean adoptees. This study aims to address that limitation in hopes of contributing to the growing trend of Korean- adoption ethnographic research led by Korean adoptees. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with six Korean-American adoptees living in the Seattle metropolitan area in …

Lowcountry Identities, Labor, And Material Culture: An Archaeological Survey Of 38ja1138, Zachary W. Dirnberger

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Archaeologists have long struggled with understanding the relationship between material culture and actual, emic identity. Early practitioners assumed that there was a one-to-one correspondence between the two and that a suite of artifacts recovered archaeologically could be matched with a specific ethnic affiliation or peoples that produced and utilized those artifacts. Later generations of archaeologists challenged this view by demonstrating how mutable and historically situated identity is, and how often material culture crosscuts ethnic boundaries. Historical archaeologists have played a central role in this debate. In this thesis, I examine 38JA1138, a largely undocumented late eighteenth-century site in Jasper County, …

Oralité Et Création : Les Modalités D’Insertion Des Genres Urbains Dans La Production Orale Bobo, Alain Sanou

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

The new genres of the literature pose to researchers the challenge to constantly adjust their analytical tool to understand not only their function, but also how the social body integrate these new elements. The objective searched in this study is to see how an urban creature, the Jɛkulu, has been gradually integrated in the Bobo creature. This study is the continuation of a research conducted since some years on the new oral genres in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso and how they contribute to the consolidation of an urban identity.

Setting The Childless Free: An Ethnographic Study Of The Practice Of The Childfree Identity, Shelly Volsche

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Heeding Sherry Ortner’s call to turn anthropological analysis inward, toward one’s own culture, the following dissertation seeks to understand the identity and practice of the voluntarily childless (hereafter “childfree”) movement in the United States. How do these individuals practice their identity, and how does the identity of “childfree” interact with other roles in their lives? How do they build meaning in a society that emphasizes children as a hallmark of adulthood? What other outlets do childfree individuals have for the “nurturing” tendencies of our species?

Combining sociohistoric analysis with identity and feminist theories, I embarked on nearly two years of …

Trump Veganism: A Political Survey Of American Vegans In The Era Of Identity Politics, Corey Lee Wrenn

Dietary Choice and Foods of Animal Origin Collection

Often stereotyped as being apathetic to the human suffering, the American vegan movement has historically failed to build alliances with other social justice movements. As intersectional feminism gains a foothold in the movement and external political crises challenge the movement’s frame of reference, the role that identity plays in movement progress has become a serious concern. Using the 2016 election as a flashpoint, this article considers if the identity backlash characterized by the Trump campaign finds parallels in the American vegan movement. A survey of 287 American vegans finds limited evidence of Trump veganism, defined here as a single-issue focus …

I’M Going To Tell You A Little About Myself: Illness Centrality, Self-Image And Identity In Cystic Fibrosis, Susan Horky Lcsw, Laura Sherman Licsw, Julie K. Polvinen Ba, Medhavi Saxena Md, Michael Rich Md

Patient Experience Journal

This study assessed the illness centrality of adolescents with CF and the specific ways that CF may affect adolescents’ identities, through the qualitative analysis of video narratives. Adolescents with CF were loaned video cameras and asked to “show us your life outside the hospital” and to “teach your healthcare team about your CF.” Four major themes were identified related to illness centrality: CF is Central, CF is Compartmentalized, CF is Integrated into Self Image, CF is Denied. Integration and compartmentalization often co-existed. Four themes emerged related to the role of CF in self-image and identity: (1) Valence (positive or negative); …

Cultivating Leaders Of Indiana: Global Collaborations And Local Impacts, Jennifer Sdunzik, Annagul Yaryyeva

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

“Cultivating Leaders of Indiana” was developed to establish connections between the Purdue student body and the Frankfort, Indiana, community. By engaging high school students in workshops that focused on local, national, and global identities, the goal of the project was to encourage students to appreciate their individuality and to motivate them to translate their skills into a global perspective. Moreover, workshops centering on themes such as culture, citizenship, media, and education were designed to empower project participants to embrace their sense of social value and responsibility, not only in their immediate communities, but also globally.

All In - And More! Gambling In The James Bond Films, Pauliina Raento

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Scholarly analysis of gambling in the James Bond films is rare, despite the multitude of topics in Bondology and the fictional agent’s global fame. The odd commentary in gambling scholarship criticizes the franchise from the perspective of harm prevention. This article counters both groups of scholars with a qualitative interpretation of Bond’s gambling habits and the role of gambling and risk taking in the film series. A basic toolkit of visual methodologies is applied to the 24 EON-produced Bond films released in 1962–2015. The examination shows the critical importance of gambling to character identity, power hierarchies and communication, atmosphere, and …

Food And Negotiation Of Identity Among The Russian Immigrant Community Of Brighton Beach, Elena Starkova

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the construction of ethnic identity among Russian immigrants in New York, by examining how it has been negotiated and articulated through foods, including traditional and non-native foods as a vehicle for their shifting identities and for reaffirming their position and participation in mainstream American society.

Contextualizing Palestinian Hybridity: How Pragmatic Citizenship Influences Diasporic Identities, Nicholas E. Bascuñan-Wiley

Sociology Honors Projects

Palestinians are one of the largest diaspora populations in the world, with members in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. How are the individual diasporic experiences of nationalism similar and different to one another? This research examines the creation and maintenance of Palestinian identity in diasporic contexts through ethnographic analysis and a series of interviews conducted in Chile, Jordan, and The United States. The results show that despite Palestinians maintaining Palestinianness as a dominant characteristic of identity in all three settings, there are contextual influences on how people integrate that identity into their lives. Within Jordan, Palestinians experience …

Self, Soul Loss, And Motorbikes In Modern Bali, Lucia Alexandrin

Award Winning Anthropology Papers

In this paper I argue that modernity has paradoxically led to a reinforcement of traditional Balinese ritual practices instead of its demise. Modernity in Bali has resulted in increased numbers of motorbikes on the roads and other factors which create dangerous driving conditions. Motorbike accidents, which can cause soul loss, are thus more likely to occur, causing Balinese people to more frequently seek out traditional practices as a way to remedy soul loss. Traditional rituals are also used to prevent motorbike accidents. Therefore, certain consequences of modernity reinforce traditional ritual and solidify Balinese conceptions of self.

Claiming The Indomitable Wave: Masculinities, Sexualities, And The Realm Of Surfing In Costa Rica, Joseph C. Recupero

Student Publications

Examining the relationship between masculinity, sexuality, and the sport of surfing in the context of Costa Rica. Questions the nature of emergent counter identities in the hyper-masculine realm of the surfing subculture and the ways in which the emergence of counter identities changes the nature of the subculture. Focuses on the anthropology of sport, the anthropology of sexuality, and theories of territoriality.

Can You See Me? Ethnography Of Women's Experiences With Homelessness In Denver, Colorado, Taylor L. Morrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Following the economic crisis in 2008, the United States, and Denver in particular, saw a considerable rise in the number of people considered homeless. Despite an increase in the population, little anthropological research has been done to understand the experiences of street-embodied individuals and the services available to them. Through participant-observation, life-history interviews, and photovoice, I closely studied the lives of two women experiencing homelessness and used interpretive phenomenological analysis to analyze the data. Analyzed through Foucault's biopolitics, technologies of the self, and panopticism, as well as Goffman's presentation of the self, I make the case that the homeless experience …

The Dynamics Of Community Museums And Their Communities: Museo De Las Americas' Spanish Happy Hour Fostering Social Inclusion For The Latino And Denver Metro Area Communities, Maritza Hernandez-Bravo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many museums are now aspiring to collaborate and engage with Latino communities and the community as a whole. Due to Museo de las Americas status as a community museum, I predicted that I would find a collaborative effort already occurring between the institution and their community, which can aid in creating a sense of social inclusion by being committed to including diverse voices by having clarity of purpose that makes sense both within the context of the community and the institution itself. I used staff, volunteer and visitor interviews and observations of the program to evaluate the degree of collaboration …

Carrying The Seeds: Adaptations And Transitions Of Hmong American Food Producers In Missoula County, Montana, Rachel Cramer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Forty years after the initial resettlement of Hmong refugees in Missoula County, Montana, the Hmong American community has undergone significant agricultural and cultural adaptations. Today, there are about 200 Hmong Americans in the county, less than 2% of the population (US Census Bureau 2010), but they make up around 40% of the farmers’ market produce vendors. The thesis demonstrates that, while agriculture has played a central role in helping Hmong refugees adapt, its role is becoming more symbolic as the second generation develops an identity less connected to growing and selling food. Through a qualitative research approach using 19 in-depth …