Anthropology Commons^™

Darwin, Freud, And Dawkins Sit Down For A Cup Of Tea, Natalie Spanos

Gateway Prize for Excellent Writing

No abstract provided.

A Moral Argument For Veganism, Dan Hooley, Nathan Nobis

Human Health Collection

In this essay, we argue for dietary veganism. Our case has two steps. First, we argue that, in most circumstances, it is morally wrong to raise animals to produce meat, dairy products, most eggs (a possible exception we discuss is eggs from pet chickens) and most other animal food products. Turning animals into food, and using them for their byproducts, causes serious harms to animals that are morally unjustified: that is, the reasons given to justify causing these kinds of harms – goods or alleged goods that result from animal farming and slaughter – are inadequate to justify the bad …

Attitudes And Perceptions Of Pet Owners’ Understanding Of And Satisfaction With The Pet Memorialization Industry, Donna Lipari

HSU STUDENT THESES AND CAPSTONE PROJECTS

This thesis explores the bond between owners and their pets and the grief that is experienced upon the death of a companion animal. The goal of this study was to investigate the attitudes and perceptions of pet owners who have lost a pet in the last 5 years, focusing specifically on the pet owner’s understanding of and satisfaction with the pet memorialization/aftercare industry. Veterinarians have had the responsibility of supporting a pet owner through the death of a pet as well as providing assistance regarding final arrangements for memorialization. Increasingly, much needed support from pet cemetery and crematory service professionals …

Hunting As A Management Tool? Cougar-Human Conflict Is Positively Related To Trophy Hunting, Kristine J. Teichman, Bogdan Cristescu, Chris T. Darimont

Big-Game and Trophy Hunting Collection

Background: Overexploitation and persecution of large carnivores resulting from conflict with humans comprise major causes of declines worldwide. Although little is known about the interplay between these mortality types, hunting of predators remains a common management strategy aimed at reducing predator-human conflict. Emerging theory and data, however, caution that such policy can alter the age structure of populations, triggering increased conflict in which conflict-prone juveniles are involved.

Results: Using a 30-year dataset on human-caused cougar (Puma concolor) kills in British Columbia (BC), Canada, we examined relationships between hunter-caused and conflict-associated mortality. Individuals that were killed via conflict with humans were …

The Value Of Pets To Public And Private Health And Well-Being, Leslie Irvine, Laurent Cilia

Human-Companion Animal Relationships Collection

This analysis reviews empirical studies of the health benefits of pet ownership published between 1980 and 2016 and collected in the database of the Human-Animal Bond Research Initiative, or HABRI. The analysis began with 373 titles and eventually encompassed a dataset of 151 full-text documents. Along with analysis of substantive content, each study received a score for methodological rigor. The number of studies has steadily increased, particularly since 2000, and methodological rigor has improved. The literature encompasses four topics, including cardiovascular, general, and psychosocial health, and physical activity. Overall, the research finds that pets benefit human health, although the available …

The Aids House: Orphan Care And The Changing Household In Lesotho, Ellen Block

Sociology Faculty Publications

HIV/AIDS has brought the connections between care and relatedness into sharp relief. In the midst of social change driven largely by the AIDS epidemic, the house has emerged as the most stable element connecting kin in Lesotho. Houses provide spaces that frame human actions, transform relationships, and reflect the social order. The house is a key crossroads for human movement. It is also the site where physical connections, emotional bonds, and feelings of love and affection are nurtured. Most significantly, it is the site where physical acts of caring take place. Based on extensive ethnographic research, I demonstrate that the …

Paternity Matters: Premarital Childbearing And Belonging In Nyanga East And Mokhotlong, Nolwazi Mkhwanazi, Ellen Block

Sociology Faculty Publications

In this article we discuss the role that fathers and paternal families play in acknowledging and caring for children born outside of a recognised union in two southern African communities – Nyanga East, South Africa and Mokhotlong, Lesotho. While these communities are geographically and culturally close, there are important differences in the responses to the care of children born outside of a recognised union. In Nyanga East, despite not paying damages, the genitor and the paternal family are increasingly becoming involved in the care of children, even when they are no longer in a relationship with the mother; whereas in …

Book Review: Crimes Of Peace: Mediterranean Migrations At The World’S Deadliest Border. By Maurizio Albahari. Philadelphia, Pa: University Of Pennsylvania Press, 2015. 272 Pages. $65.00., Sabina Perrino

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

6: Military Presence At Fort St. Joseph, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

From 1691 the 1698 and from 1717 to 1761, French military personnel occupied Fort St. Joseph to defend the site's strategic position on a major trade route near the portage between the St. Joseph and Kankakee rivers, while maintaining alliances with friendly Native American groups to facilitate the trade in furs.

5: Project History, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Investigations at the long lost fort were begun in 1998 by WMU archaeologists.

4: Commercial Activities At Fort St. Joseph, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph was an important link in the chain of frontier outposts that marked the far reaches of New France and facilitated the fur trade between the French and Native Americans in the Western Great Lakes region.

3: Change And Continuity At Fort St. Joseph, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph was a multi-ethnic community.

2: Fort History, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

The French established Fort St. Joseph in the 1691 in present day Niles.

1: What Is Archaeology?, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Panel 1, Archaeology is the study of past peoples through the items that they have left behind.

Teaching: Natural Or Cultural?, David F. Lancy

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

An important part of the common lore of anthropology is that “other people have culture.” That is, most people fail to recognize or appreciate how much of their lives are governed by habits, values, and expectations that are largely the product of history and culture. They fail to acknowledge that their own way of doing things is not necessarily universal or even widely shared. This ethnocentrism can have enormous consequences for the construction of child development theory and education.

Playing With Knives: The Socialization Of Self-Initiated Learners, David F. Lancy

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Since Margaret Mead’s field studies in the South Pacific a century ago, there has been the tacit understanding that as culture varies, so too must the socialization of children to become competent culture users and bearers. More recently, the work of anthropologists has been mined to find broader patterns that may be common to childhood across a range of societies. One improbable commonality has been the tolerance, even encouragement, of toddler behavior that is patently risky, such as playing with or attempting to use a sharp-edged tool. This laissez faire approach to socialization follows from a reliance on children as …

Early Horizon Camelid Management Practices In The Nepeña Valley, North-Central Coast Of Peru, Paul Szpak, David Chicone, Jean-François Millaire, Christine D. White, Rebecca Parry, Fred Longstaffe

Earth Sciences Publications

South American camelids (llamas and alpacas) were of great economic, social and ritual significance in the pre-Hispanic Andes. Although these animals are largely limited to high-altitude (>3500 masl) pastures, it has been hypothesised that camelids were also raised at lower altitudes in the arid coastal river valleys. Previous isotopic studies of Early Intermediate Period (c. 200 BC - AD 600) and Middle Horizon (c. AD 600 - 1100) camelids support this argument. Here, we utilise carbon and nitrogen isotopic analyses of camelid bone collagen from the Early Horizon (c. 800 - 200 BC) sites of Caylán and Huambacho on …

Stable Isotopes And Selective Forces: Examples In Biocultural And Environmental Anthropology, Christine D. White, Fred J. Longstaffe

Earth Sciences Publications

No abstract provided.

Isotopic Anthropology Of Rural German Medieval Diet: Intra- And Inter-Population Variability, Karyn C. Olsen, Christine D. White, Fred J. Longstaffe, Frank J. Rühli, Christina Warinner, Domingo S. Salazar-Garcia

Earth Sciences Publications

This study investigates the diet of an 11th century CE parish community located in northwestern Germany. We assessed the isotopic compositions of human (n = 24) and faunal (n = 17) bone collagen (δ¹³C_col, δ¹⁵N_col) and human structural carbonate (δ¹³C_sc) using skeletal material recovered from the Dalheim cemetery. Traditional interpretation of the isotopic data indicates that Dalheim residents likely relied on a C₃ plant-based diet and consumed some terrestrial animal products without evidence of marine resource input in the diet. Bivariate and multivariate models used as an additional …

Maize Provisioning Of Ontario Late Woodland Turkeys: Isotopic Evidence Of Seasonal, Cultural, Spatial And Temporal Variation, Zoe Morris, Christine D. White, Lisa Hodgetts, Fred J. Longstaffe

Earth Sciences Publications

The isotopic composition (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N) of bone collagen from Ontario Late Woodland archaeological turkeys was compared with that of modern Ontario wild turkeys, and archaeological turkeys from American Southwestern, Mexican and other Woodland sites to determine whether Late Woodland Ontario peoples managed wild turkeys by provisioning them with maize, the only isotopically distinct horticultural plant at that time. Despite the fact that humans from Late Woodland Western Basin and Iroquoian traditions consumed equal amounts of maize, wild turkeys utilized by the two groups exhibit different diets. Western Basin turkeys reflect a C₃-only diet, …

A Sediment-Based Reconstruction Of Caribbean Effective Precipitation During The ‘Little Ice Age’ From Freshwater Pond, Barbuda, Michael J. Burn, Jonathan Holmes, Lisa M. Kennedy, Allison Bain, Jim D. Marshall, Sophia Perdikaris

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

Contemporary climate dynamics of the circum-Caribbean Region are characterized by significant precipitation variability on interannual and interdecadal timescales controlled primarily by El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). However, our understanding of pre-industrial climate variability in the region is hampered by the sparse geographic distribution of paleoclimate archives. Here, we present a high-resolution reconstruction of effective precipitation for Barbuda since the mid-16th Century, based on biostratigraphic and stable isotope analyses of fossil ostracods and gastropods recovered from lake sediment cores from Freshwater Pond, the only freshwater lake on the island. We interpret episodic fluctuations in shell …

“I Can See My Values In Places”: Relationships, Place, And Growing Old In Detroit Neighborhoods, Wendy Daniel Bartlo

Wayne State University Dissertations

The central focus of this dissertation is to examine the inextricable link between persons, their social worlds, and their environments. I do this through an ethnographic study of senior members of non-biologically based kinship groups with an affiliation to place. Critical to this examination is the city of Detroit itself, as members of these groups ultimately collectively identify as Detroiters through space and time. It is this collective identity, strengthened mostly through their defense of an outsider deemed unsuccessful city that renders Detroit a good place for the older person to maintain connections, participate socially and civically, and to organize …

Energy And Economy: Recognizing High-Energy Modernity As A Historical Period, Thomas Love, Cindy Isenhour

Faculty Publications

This introduction to Economic Anthropology’s special issue on “Energy and Economy” argues that we might find inspiration for a much more engaged and public anthropology in an unlikely place—19th century evolutionist thought. In addition to studying the particularities of energy transitions, which anthropology does so well, a more engaged anthropology might also broaden its temporal horizons to consider the nature of the future “stage” into which humanity is hurtling in an era of resource depletion and climate change. Net energy (EROEI), or the energy “surplus” on which we build and maintain our complex societal arrangements, is a key tool …

Attitudes Of Mothers And Daughters Towards Menstrual Suppression, Jacqueline M. Devaney

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Recent biomedical advancements, cultural practices, and individual preferences have altered the ways in which biological process such as menstruation are perceived and managed. Increasingly, women are interested in suppressing menstruation to alleviate its negative symptoms, including bloating, menstrual cramps, fatigue, and irritability. This topic is especially relevant for adolescent girls, as mothers and daughters might have to negotiate attitudes towards daughters’ menstrual suppression. Therefore this study aims to examine how this topic is discussed and understood within the mother-daughter dyad. It is also important to consider how these attitudes are shaped by cultural background, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, and religion. Through …

Homo Heidelbergensis: The Tool To Our Success, Alexander Burkard

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Homo heidelbergensis, a physiological variant of the species Homo sapien, is an extinct species that existed in both Europe and parts of Asia from 700,000 years ago to roughly 300,000 years ago (carbon dating). This “subspecies” of Homo sapiens, as it is formally classified, is a direct ancestor of anatomically modern humans, and is understood to have many of the same physiological characteristics as those of anatomically modern humans while still expressing many of the same physiological attributes of Homo erectus, an earlier human ancestor. Since Homo heidelbergensis represents attributes of both species, it has therefore earned the classification as …

Fluorine Dating Of Human Bone At The Pre-Columbian Maya Cemetery Of Caves Branch Rockshelter, Belize, Morgan Isaacs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis tests the ion-selective electrode fluorine dating method on the remains from the Maya mortuary site Caves Branch Rockshelter (CBR) in Belize. CBR is a cemetery containing at least 400 burials from the late Preclassic to the Postclassic periods. The intensive use and reuse of the site has disturbed the burial matrices, making it difficult to seriate the burials. Fluorine dating analyzes the amount of fluorine that has accumulated in bone over time. In principle, an older burial will contain more fluorine from groundwater than a more recently buried bone; however, this principle must be tested at each site …

Estudios Agrarios Críticos: Tierras, Semillas, Soberanía Alimentaria Y Los Derechos De Las Y Los Campesinos, Marc Edelman

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Organization Of Dissonance In Adena-Hopewell Societies Of Eastern North America, Edward R. Henry, Casey R. Barrier

Anthropology Faculty Research and Scholarship

Social complexity increased dramatically during the Middle Woodland period (ca. 200 BC-AD 500) in Eastern North America. Adena-Hopewell societies during this period built massive burial mounds, constructed complex geometric earthen enclosures, and maintained extensive trade networks in exotic craft goods. These material signatures suggest that coalition and consensus were sustained through social bonds since clear evidence for top-down leadership does not exist in Adena-Hopewell archaeology. Here, a framework grounded in new understandings of heterarchy is used to explore how coalitions were formed, organised, maintained, and/or shifted as a means to coordinate labour and ritual among Middle Woodland Period groups. Through …

Kind Girls, Evil Sisters, And Wise Women: Coded Gender Discourse In Literary Fairy Tales By German Women In The 19th Century, Julie Koehler

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation is an analysis of fairy tales by German women in late eighteenth and nineteenth century. Although hundreds of women published fairy tales in Germany in the nineteenth century, they remain absent from current scholarship. Recent work by scholars Shawn Jarvis and Jeannine Blackwell have brought these fairy tales back into print, but there remains very little critical work on them. This dissertation takes the focus of retellings of the Kind and Unkind Girls tale type, also known as “Frau Holle.” At first glance, the women’s variants depict modest, passive, and hardworking Kind Girls who are very similar to …

Table Of Contents (V. 28, 2016)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.