Anthropology Commons^™

Masculinity In Musicals: A Comparison Between The 1950s And Present Day, Emily M. Eisenbrey

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This project compares and contrasts ideas of masculinity in musicals from the 1950s to those of present day. Current musicals have allowed for more expressions of masculinity while musicals from the 1950s provided a narrower definition of masculinity. This paper explores the current perception that straight men don’t enjoy musicals and breaks down why this perception exists. Multiple lines of evidence are used to examine the connection between masculinity and male audience attendance of musicals. These lines of evidence are: masculinity research, script analysis, performance analysis, reviews of musicals, and original surveys.

The Technocratic Birthing Model As Seen In Reality Television And Its Impact On Young Women Age 18-24, Michelle Elizabeth Farber

Honors Scholar Theses

In the Western ethnomedical tradition, childbirth follows the technocratic model, a concept developed by Davis-Floyd (1992). Within such a system, the woman’s body produces a fetus, much like a machine produces and product, and is delivered unto society by the physician (mechanic) in the proper manner and time. This cultural conception of birth has lead to a society in which maternal and child health has suffered, as many of the practices employed by a physician during a managed labor and delivery are not backed by evidence-based medicine. This thesis argues that reality television shows, specifically A Baby Story enable the …

Ragland, Mark S. (Fa 559), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 559.  Paper:  "Influence of Popular Culture on the Subject of Art," done by Mark S. Ragland as part of a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.  Includes an interview done by Ragland with artist and art educator Michael Taylor about the influence of popular culture on art, with particular emphasis on the pop art genre.

A New Paradigm: Brazilian Catholic Eco-Justice Activism In The Neoliberal Age, Lena R. Connor

Environmental Analysis Program Mellon Student Summer Research Reports

This paper analyzes how traditional liberation theology in Brazil has been adapted in the neoliberal age to encompass ecological goals and rhetoric. In this research report, I first examine the work of prominent Brazilian ecotheologians, Ivone Gebara and Leonardo Boff. I then look into the applications of such ecological liberation theology in Catholic activism in Brazil, focusing on the role of religious advocacy in dam controversies, land reform, and mining.

Upper Pleistocene Human Dispersals Out Of Africa: A Review Of The Current State Of The Debate, Amanuel Beyin

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Although there is a general consensus on African origin of early modern humans, there is disagreement about how and when they dispersed to Eurasia. This paper reviews genetic and Middle Stone Age/Middle Paleolithic archaeological literature from northeast Africa, Arabia, and the Levant to assess the timing and geographic backgrounds of Upper Pleistocene human colonization of Eurasia. At the center of the discussion lies the question of whether eastern Africa alone was the source of Upper Pleistocene human dispersals into Eurasia or were there other loci of human expansions outside of Africa? The reviewed literature hints at two modes of early …

Book Review Of "The Archaeology Of North American Farmsteads" By Mark Groover, Louann Wurst, Dustin Conklin

Northeast Historical Archaeology

No abstract provided.

Book Review Of "The Archaeology Of Institutional Confinement" By Eleanor Conlin Casella, Sherene Baugher

Northeast Historical Archaeology

No abstract provided.

Book Review Of "The Archaeology Of Race And Racialization In Historic America" By Charles E. Orser, Paul A. Shackel

Northeast Historical Archaeology

No abstract provided.

Book Review Of "Past Meets Present: Archaeologists Partnering With Museum Curators, Teachers, And Community Groups" Edited By John H. Jameson, Jr. And Sherene Baugher, Lynn Evans

Northeast Historical Archaeology

No abstract provided.

Health And Disease On Hiwassee Island: A Study Of Late-Mississippian Human Remains, Cassandra Pardo

Theses and Dissertations

The intensive agricultural subsistence strategy of late pre-Columbian populations of North America has long been associated with chronic nutritional and disease stress as a consequence of episodic or recurring agricultural shortfall and the compromised community health of aggregate village settlement. Social stratification, defined archaeologically by burial location and grave goods, is thought to be a primary force in shaping different health patterns within these communities.

This study is a bioarchaeological review of the Dallas phase (AD1300-1550) skeletal collection from Hiwassee Island in east Tennessee. The purpose is to gain an understanding of community health and to explore status-related differences in …

Democratic Nationalistic Privilege And The Exclusion Of Europe's "Gypsy", Eli E. Roth

Senior Honors Projects

Europe is the world’s best example of a group of countries offering similar levels of political freedom, tolerance, and economic prosperity and security. Following the fall of Communism, Europe began to outpace the rest of the planet on aggregated indicators of development, and, according to Freedomhouse.org, only two of the world’s forty seven “not free” countries, Belarus and Russia, can be found on this continent. The Roma, frequently mislabeled as “Gypsies,” are among the few troubled populations residing in Europe. In the comprehensive 2006 Final Report on the Human Rights Situation of the Roma in Europe, one Romani man describes …

The Transformation Of A Shire: Local Negotiation In The Society For Creative Anachronism, Suzanne Barber

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In this thesis, I am examining how a small branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Loch an Fhraoich, whose values and identity center around camaraderie and narrative and aesthetic coherence, attempts to balance these two often contradictory principles. To better illustrate the negotiations taking place, I have used ethnographic fieldwork to focus on the areas of material culture, ethno-kinetics, persona, knowledge, and events. These areas are tightly interwoven, and almost never operate independently, but the exercise of isolating them is useful in seeing the complexities of choices that members must make to navigate the social world of the Society …

The Aputu: An Examination And Analysis Of A War Club-Form Distinctive To The Guianas, Donald Arp Jr.

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

This work examines a type of war club unique to South America and to the area of the three Guianas. The so-called block war club of the Guianas, often noted in the memoirs of explorers and soldiers in the New World, has received little academic attention. Mining firsthand accounts and what little academic attention has been focused on the clubs, this paper examines a set of clubs from the Heye Foundation Collection now housed in the National Museum of the American Indian. This thesis seeks to classify the block type club as the flared quadrilateral club, which is a more …

Making Modernity: Ideological Pluralism And Political Process In Zinacantán, Kristen Adler

Anthropology ETDs

This dissertation examines political process and ideology in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, focusing on the Tsotsil-speaking community of Zinacantán. The complex interplay between constructions of tradition and modernity clearly indicates that Zinacantán is not the isolated, "closed corporate community" often portrayed in the anthropological literature. Rather, complexities that emerge from local narratives suggest profound ideological pluralism, e.g., liberal individualism alongside hierarchical complementarity. Through a focus on narrative and event, this work challenges received notions of tradition and modernity and demonstrates the diverse ways in which Zinacantecos are traditionalizing the modern and modernizing the traditional through reflexive communicative means. Although …

Seasonality On The Oregon Coast: Avian Faunal Remains From Whale Cove (35-Lnc-60), Jessica Watson

Senior Honors Projects

The northwest coast of the United States was one of the first regions to receive Homo sapiens immigrants in the Western hemisphere and is rich in archaeological sites.  The Whale Cove site, first excavated in 1985, was initially analyzed by Ann C. Bennett-Rogers and R. Lee Lyman.  Their findings included an introductory analysis of lithic, bone, antler, and shell artifacts and general inventory of all pieces examined.  Bennett-Rogers found preliminary evidence for changes in vegetation and shellfish taxa at the Whale Cove site over time and has hypothesized that these changes were due to a tsunami event. Robert J. Losey …

The Implications Of Merleau-Ponty For The Human Sciences, Ryan Marcotte

Senior Honors Projects

The Implications of Merleau-Ponty for the Human Sciences Ryan Marcotte Cobb Faculty Sponsor: Galen Johnson, Philosophy The American Anthropology Association (AAA) made headlines in November 2010 due to a controversial change in their 'Long-Range Plan.' The revised AAA mission statement omits all mention of the word 'science' and this omission has sparked a fierce debate within the anthropology community. The debate reveals that the study of social phenomena can be approached from two competing points of view – a scientific and a non-scientific perspective.  This project is concerned with the historical and intellectual developments that led to this competition between …

Renegotiating Gender And Class In The Berry Fields Of Michoacán, Mexico, Donna Chollett

Anthropology Publications

This article examines the renegotiation of gender and class in a rural Mexican community where economic crisis in the sugar industry led foreign agribusinesses to promote blackberry and raspberry production for export and hire primarily women as berry pickers. Analysis focuses on the transition from a sugar economy where mostly men worked in the cane fields to non-traditional agricultural exports when women entered agricultural waged labor in unprecedented numbers. This restructuring of the regional economy raises important questions regarding the marginalization of differentiated subaltern groups and the nature of new sets of power relations between transnational agribusinesses, berry growers, and …

The Medicalization Of “Homosexuality”, Kristin (Lula) Townsend

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Cross culturally and historically people who are attracted to members of their own sex ("homosexuals") have been viewed and treated in radically different ways. Some societies have exhibited tolerance or indifference, whereas others have vilified and persecuted homosexuals. Using primary sources, this project reviews the major sociological and medical theories of “homosexuality” between 1864 and 1946, evaluates their bias and political implications, and closes with a brief overview of contemporary research.

In chapter two the themes of the texts presented are: causality, diagnosis, and treatment. The primary theory between 1864 and 1908 argues the congenital nature of “homosexuality. The themes …

Liminality As A Space Of Self Reflection On El Camino De Santiago Del Norte, Amanda Redpath

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

As ancient pilgrimage across Spain, El Camino de Santiago has affected the lives of the pilgrims that travel it for centuries taking on new meanings as it passes through time. Traditionally, scholars maintain that the focus of a pilgrim’s journey lies at the final destination, or pilgrimage center in Santiago de Compostela. This project demonstrates, however, that the emphasis should lie on the journey or period of liminality which through concepts of place has created a space for self-reflection and meditation. Analysis of pilgrim interviews within the context of a wide array of scholarly literature in the disciplines of anthropology, …

Students Research The Library: Using Student-Led Ethnographic Research To Examine The Changing Role Of Campus Libraries, Gina Hunter, Dane Ward

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

In this article we discuss the benefits of student-led ethnographic research on the campus library. Although students may not be able to conduct full-blown research projects (without significant faculty/staff guidance), we suggest that even small-scale projects can provide libraries with valuable insights on student life and perspectives. Such projects provide an opportunity for collaboration between librarians, faculty, and students while providing students with hands-on, mentored research experience. We use our own experience at Illinois State University’s (ISU) Milner Library to illustrate the benefits and challenges of student-led research.

Social Memory And Landscape: A Cross-Cultural Examination, Joshua L. Stewart

Student Publications

The study of social memory and landscape in archaeological contexts is a recent trend in social archaeological theory. As such, and despite the flexibility, applicability, and usefulness of this approach, not many sites or societies have been studied from this perspective. The purpose of this examination is to demonstrate the flexibility, applicability and usefulness of the interpretive frameworks by applying it to three disparate sites and societies which are vastly different culturally, spatially and temporally. Research at these sites has not focused on issues of social memory and landscape, despite their perfect suitability.

The Deer Island Site (22hr500): Prehistoric Ceramics And Their Meaning On The Mississippi Gulf Coast, Donald Louis Craig

Master's Theses

This thesis involves the analysis of 2,364 surface-collected ceramic rim sherds from the Deer Island site (22HR500), located in the Mississippi Sound near Biloxi, Mississippi. The overall goal of this thesis is to develop a baseline of information that will add to the current knowledge of prehistoric populations on the north Gulf Coast, as well as a starting point for future investigations on Deer Island. This examination of the ceramic assemblage includes ceramic typology, as well as vessel form and usage, to gain understanding of the chronology, site function, and possible interactions with other contemporary Gulf Coast populations through trade …

Modern Day Utopia: An Examination Of Internal Social Control Among "Rainbow Family", Ashleigh Elain Mckinzie

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis employs ethnographic fieldwork and interviews to examine internal Social control, ideological embeddedness, and resistance to mainstream culture and ideology in a utopian, counter-cultural group called The Rainbow Family of Living Light. Combining theoretical perspectives on emotions and re-integrative and dis-integrative shaming with symbolic interaction, I examine the experiences of Rainbow during a national Gathering in the summer of 2010. Through interviews and observations, I illustrate the rituals, organization of camp, stratification based on work, and solidarity building activities, that Rainbow Gatherers create to resist mainstream ideology and culture. Further, I show that they Rainbow Gatherers redefine deviance in …

The Symbolic Creation Of Cultural Performance At The Walnut Valley Festival, Maggie Colleen Cobb

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Through two years of ethnographic fieldwork and 19 interviews, I synthesize symbolic interaction and a sociological framework of culture to examine the ways in which the Walnut Valley Festival is created and experienced as a unique form of cultural performance, one that is always shifting in response to the emergent cultural creation and reception of attendees. No work to date combines the dimensions of both production and reception of music festivals as a unique form of cultural performance. In bringing back the oftentimes ignored affective dimension in cultural studies, I use Griswold's (2004) metaphor of a cultural diamond, examining the …

Bioarchaeology Of Compassion: Exploring Extreme Cases Of Pathology In A Bronze Age Skeletal Population From Tell Abraq, U.A.E., Jamie D. Vilos

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Tell Abraq is a Bronze Age archaeological site located in the modern day United Arab Emirates and was occupied from the 3rd millennium BC to the 1st century AD. The coastal location provided access to both marine and agricultural resources as well as trade routes and foreign exchange. The tomb at the site was in use for 200 years (2200-2000 BC) and housed the commingled remains of a minimum of 286 adults. These individuals lived hard lives, dependent on good health to maintain a life-line of sustenance for themselves and each other. A number of individuals with severe expressions of …

An Evaluation Of The Performance Characteristics Of Olivine Temper In Pueblo Ii Virgin River Puebloan Ceramics, Sharlyn Anderson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study is to examine the technological properties of the three dominant temper types - olivine, sand, and sherd - used by the Virgin Branch Puebloan during the Pueblo II era (AD 1000-1500) to explain the high proportion of Moapa Gray Ware traded to the Moapa Valley at that time. The research is guided by the hypothesis that olivine tempered pottery - or Moapa Gray Ware - possessed superior technological qualities than locally made wares, and that these qualities fueled the demand of Moapa Gray Ware ceramics.

This thesis evaluates one possibility for explaining the transportation of …

Between Structural Violence And Resistance: The Everyday Resistance Of Karen Migrants In Thailand, John Giammatteo

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper details the lives of eight Karen-Burmese migrants living in Mae Sot, Thailand, a city on the Thai-Burma border and one of the main legal crossing points between the two countries. The study demonstrates the important relationship between structural violence and everyday resistance. It documents how individuals in a legally liminal state can increase their security and it describes just how these linkages occur – that migrants utilize their liminality and “in-between” status and attempt to increase their security to avoid oppression and harassment in daily life. By linking these concepts – resistance and liminality posed against structural violence …

Bricks And Brick Making At The Harriet Tubman Home: Archaeology, History And Neutron Activation Analysis, Alan D. Armstrong

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This archaeological study examines a brick kiln and use of brick at Harriet Tubman’s farmsteads in Auburn and Fleming, New York. The study begins by presenting evidence of a brick kiln on the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged (HTH) property and proceeds to a refined analysis of brick and clay element composition using Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) to define source from structures and features across the property. The study uses findings relating to brick use to examine and the social and economic roles of brick making on Tubman’s properties and in the local community. The brick kiln on the …

Recent Archaeological Investigations At Three Island Crossing: Insights Regarding Late Archaic Diet Breadth And Mobility, Meghan Kim Eastman

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In 1986 and 1987, an important Late Archaic period site was excavated at Three Island Crossing (10-EL-294), near Glenns Ferry, Idaho. As ethnographic reports depict extensive reliance upon salmon for winter consumption (Steward, 1938; Murphy and Murphy, 1960) the recovery of 19,000 fish remains was significant. Analysis of this assemblage demonstrated that the minimum number of individual fish recovered was around 300. Equally important were radiocarbon analyses that identified three distinct Late Archaic occupations. Of note was the recovery of a structure and storage suggesting semi-permanent residence. A subsequent excavation was undertaken at Three Island Crossing in 2008 to determine …

Fertility Symbols In Rock Art: Cupuls And Incised Grooves In The Lower Pecos, Texas, Cara D. Connolly

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Rock art at archaeological sites are often dismissed as a culturally symbolic representation that cannot be objectively or scientifically analyzed or interpreted adequately. Such dismissals are detrimental to understanding all aspects of a given culture. Although uninformed interpretations of rock art panels are counterproductive, systematic recording and the testing of different hypotheses is a valid way to begin to better understand the possible range of social functions of rock art. This research examines whether indigenous women's fertility is represented in rock art depictions, known as cupules and groove marks, in the archaeological record. Cupules are defined as a boulder or …