Anthropology Commons^™

Raising Children The American Way: Court-Mandated Parenting Education In Alameda, California, Nicole D. Laborde

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Based on ethnographic research in Alameda County, California, this dissertation examines the parenting practices and knowledge that are taught in court-mandated parenting classes along with those of parents enrolled in these classes. In California, two of the primary reasons that parents would be mandated to take classes are because of involvement with Child and Family Services (CFS) or in a custody dispute that reaches the courts. I argue that the different forms of knowledge and the practices advanced in the classes, at times consistent with, at times in conflict with those of the parents, reflect the demands and social responsibility …

Breach Of Trust: Customary/Commercial Documents And Practices Of Private Law In An Egyptian Port, Christine Hegel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is an ethnography of private law in contemporary Port Said, Egypt. Based on extensive fieldwork in 2005 and 2007, it considers how Port Saidians come to possess economic and social entitlements vis-à-vis one another and how concomitant obligations get construed and actualized. As an analysis of quotidian practices of private law and surety, this dissertation is intended to contribute to broader scholarly debates about legal subjectivity and legal consciousness, and to reconsider the intersections between law, custom and morality.

The analysis of contemporary transactional and surety practices is rooted in a discussion of both Egyptian legal reform and …

The Expansion Of Class Concepts And The Colorado Coal Field War Project, David M. Amrine

Nebraska Anthropologist

The Colorado Coal Field War Project was an attempt by McGuire, Reckner, and others to develop a 'working-class' archaeology that served the public as well as the archaeologists performing excavations and research. The attempt was successful, promoting and supporting ideas that had been discussed in archaeology about gender, class, and the treatment of archaeology as a craft. Their example of using archaeology to benefit communities as well as academic interests can and should be tested in other regions of the United States as well as the rest of the world.

The Fourth Level Of Social Structure In A Multi-Level Society: Ecological & Social Functions Of Clans In Hamadryas Baboons, Amy Schreier, Larissa Swedell

Publications and Research

Hamadryas baboons are known for their complex, multi-level social structure consisting of troops, bands, and one-male units (OMUs) [Kummer, 1968]. Abegglen [1984] observed a 4^th level of social structure comprising several OMUs that rested near one another on sleeping cliffs, traveled most closely together during daily foraging, and sometimes traveled as subgroups independently from the rest of the band. Abegglen called these associations “clans” and suggested that they consisted of related males. Here we confirm the existence of clans in a second wild hamadryas population, a band of about 200 baboons at the Filoha site in lowland Ethiopia. During …

Male Aggression Towards Females In Hamadryas Baboons: Conditioning, Coercion And Control, Larissa Swedell, Amy Schreier

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Determining Personality In Sanctuary Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes), Rebecca S.A. Brittain, Judith A. Corr

Student Summer Scholars Manuscripts

No abstract provided.

The Great Condom Adventure: Analyzing College Students’ Narratives Of Buying Condoms, Leslie H. Picca, Kristin E. Joos

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

This project analyzes college students’ narratives buying condoms. Research suggests young persons do not consistently use condoms, and this study will provide an in-depth analysis to students affect toward condoms. We analyzed narratives written by 115 undergraduate students of their condom buying experiences. The vast majority of the students’ narratives about their condom buying experience fit a common framework, with elements including: preplanning, walking in the store, looking inconspicuous while wandering, finding the “hidden” condom location, making their selection, carrying and hiding the condoms, selecting a cashier and rushing through checkout, anticipating ridicule, and walking out of the store. Research …

Pubs, Punters, And Pints: Anthropological Reflections On Pub Life In Ireland, Jason Cucchiara

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ireland is a country with a rich and unique cultural heritage. It is difficult to imagine that certain facets of Irish culture (e.g. Saint Patrick's Day, the Blarney Stone, or the Ring of Kerry) can ever be taken for granted since they are so widely recognized internationally. One common feature of Irish life that possibly warrants more scholarly attention is the public house or pub. Much has been written about pubs as quaint institutions in popular literature and fiction. Curiously, they remain largely overlooked as vital aspects of Irish culture by anthropologists and others in the social sciences. In many …

Detecting Buried Metallic Weapons In A Controlled Setting Using A Conductivity Meter And A Ground-Penetrating Radar, Charles Dionne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Searching for buried metallic evidence at crime scenes or at potential disposal sites can be a daunting task for forensic personnel. In particular, it is common to search for a small firearm that was discarded or buried by the perpetrator. When performing forensic searches, it is recommended to first use non-invasive methods such as geophysical instruments to minimize damage to evidence and to the crime scene. Geophysical tools are used to pinpoint small areas of interest across a scene that will be invasively tested later. Prior to this project, there was no published research that tested the utility of the …

Determining Sex And Ancestry Of The Hyoid From The Robert J. Terry Anatomical Collection, Sarah Kindschuh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One of the basic goals of the physical anthropologist is to create a biological profile, consisting of sex, ancestry, age, and stature, from the skeletal material that they are presented with. This thesis seeks to explore size and shape differences related to sex and ancestry from the hyoid bones of the Robert J. Terry Anatomical Collection in order to gauge its usefulness in the process of developing a biological profile. A series of measurements were taken from 398 hyoids and analysis was conducted using a number of statistical methods. Independent samples t-tests were used to examine size differences between sexes …

Controlled Research Utilizing Geophysical Technologies In The Search For Buried Firearms And Miscellaneous Weapons, Mary Rezos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Incorporating geophysical technologies into forensic investigations has become a growing practice. Oftentimes, forensic professionals rely on basic metal detectors to assist their efforts during buried weapons searches, perhaps being used by someone with negligible or limited training, in turn slowing down investigation time and destroying the scene. This has created a need for research in the area of weapons searches, specifically to formulate guidelines for advanced geophysical methods that may be appropriate for locating weapons that have been discarded or buried by criminals attempting to conceal their involvement in a crime. This research project was the first to demonstrate the …

Ballcourt Iconography At Caracol, Belize, Patsy Holden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One of the more commonly known aspects of the ancient Maya culture is the ballgame. This ancient ballgame was played by most Mesoamerican cultures on a constructed ballcourt and many major Mesoamerican sites have at least one, if not more than one. Contemporary Mesoamericans still play versions of this ballgame today, but without the use of the ballcourts, questioning the importance and purpose of the ballcourt that is no longer the case today. After over a century of research, scholars have yet to unravel all the cosmological and mythological mysteries of the ballcourt and its purpose to the ancient Maya. …

Geophysical Survey Of Greenwood Cemetery, Orlando, Florida, Dennis Wardlaw

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Advances in geophysical and remote sensing technology, specifically with ground penetrating radar (GPR) and geographic information systems (GIS), have led to increased use for archaeological research within cemeteries. Because of its non-invasive manner and high resolution of subsurface anomalies, GPR is ideal for surveying areas with marked or unmarked graves within cemeteries. Using a GIS assists cemetery research by facilitating integration of datasets and projection of spatial data. What has not been attempted to this point is systematic attempting to correlate detection rates of marked graves using a GPR with the time frame of the grave while incorporating the data …

Arctic Network Builders : The Arctic Coal Company's Operations On Spitsbergen And Its Relationship With The Environment, Cameron C. Hartnell

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

In 1906, two American industrialists, John Munroe Longyear and Frederick Ayer, formed the Arctic Coal Company to make the first large scale attempt at mining in the high-Arctic location of Spitsbergen, north of the Norwegian mainland. In doing so, they encountered numerous obstacles and built an organization that attempted to overcome them. The Americans sold out in 1916 but others followed, eventually culminating in the transformation of a largely underdeveloped landscape into a mining region.

This work uses John Law’s network approach of the Actor Network Theory (ANT) framework to explain how the Arctic Coal Company built a mining network …

Reflection, Refraction, And Rejection : Copper Smelting Heritage And The Execution Of Environmental Policy, Bode J. Morin

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This dissertation examines the global technological and environmental history of copper smelting and the conflict that developed between historic preservation and environmental remediation at major copper smelting sites in the United States after their productive periods ended. Part I of the dissertation is a synthetic overview of the history of copper smelting and its environmental impact. After reviewing the basic metallurgy of copper ores, the dissertation contains successive chapters on the history of copper smelting to 1640, culminating in the so-called German, or Continental, processing system; on the emergence of the rival Welsh system during the British industrial revolution; and …

The Influence Of Fallback Foods On Great Ape Tooth Enamel, Paul J. Constantino, Peter W. Lucas, James J.-W. Lee, Brian R. Lawn

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Lucas and colleagues recently proposed a model based on fracture and deformation concepts to describe how mammalian tooth enamel may be adapted to the mechanical demands of diet (Lucas et al.: Bioessays 30[2008] 374-385). Here we review the applicability of that model by examining existing data on the food mechanical properties and enamel morphology of great apes (Pan, Pongo, and Gorilla). Particular attention is paid to whether the consumption of fallback foods is likely to play a key role in influencing great ape enamel morphology. Our results suggest that this is indeed the case. We also consider the implications of …

Natural Medicine: Personal Responsibility And Self-Empowerment, Kimber Lopez

Pomona Senior Theses

Although most “alternative” medical practices have existed far longer than conventional healthcare, modern allopathic continues to be the dominant system of medicine used in the United States. Herbal medicine is one of the oldest healing practices known to humankind and continues to be practiced today despite the numerous challenges modern society poses. As Julie Stone and Joan Mathews illuminate in Complimentary Medicine and the Law, “Plant-based remedies have been the principal source of medicines in healing traditions around the world and, as the World health Organization is at pains to remind us, 80 percent of the world’s population still depends …

Intergenerational Wealth Transmission And The Dynamics Of Inequality In Small-Scale Societies, Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, Samuel Bowles, Tom Hertz, Adrian Bell, Jan Beise, Greg Clark, Ila Fazzio, Michael Gurven, Kim Hill, Paul L. Hooper, William Irons, Hillard Kaplan, Donna Leonetti, Bobbi Low, Frank Marlowe, Richard Mcelreath, Suresh Naidu, David Nolan, Patrizio Piraino, Robert Quinlan, Eric Schniter, Rebecca Sear, Mary Shenk, Eric Alden Smith, Christopher Von Reuden, Polly Wiessner

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Small-scale human societies range from foraging bands with a strong egalitarian ethos to more economically stratified agrarian and pastoral societies. We explain this variation in inequality using a dynamic model in which a population’s long-run steady-state level of inequality depends on the extent to which its most important forms of wealth are transmitted within families across generations. We estimate the degree of intergenerational transmission of three different types of wealth (material, embodied, and relational), as well as the extent of wealth inequality in 21 historical and contemporary populations. We show that intergenerational transmission of wealth and wealth inequality are substantial …

What Does Islamic Finance Want To Be When It Grows Up?, Karen Ahmed

College of Business Faculty and Staff Works

No abstract provided.

"Islamic Banking And Finance: Moral Beliefs And Business Practices At Work", Karen Ahmed

College of Business Faculty and Staff Works

The religion of Islam has existed for 1400 years but Islamic economic theory and its financial institutions emerged as an industry only in the 1970s. Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) are designed to help Muslims conduct business internationally while simultaneously upholding traditional Islamic values related to trade finance and currency movement. The basis for their existence is the Islamic moral prohibition on charging interest—interest is a central component of capitalist banking—yet IFIs conduct billions of dollars of business annually in the world economy and the de facto Islamic banking transaction is—in most cases—virtually identical to a capitalist banking transaction. Business practices …

Forsaken Generation: Stress, Social Suffering And Strategies Among Working-Class Pensioners In Post-Socialist Moldova, Romania, Gerard A. Weber

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the lives of working-class pensioners in post-socialist, Galati, Romania. Its central thesis is that the transformation of Romania from socialism to capitalism beginning in 1989 has led to an "epidemic of stress" among retired, working-class people in the city. Marginalized by their age, class and location in the relatively economically underdeveloped region of Moldova, they have been among the hardest hit by the changes brought about with the introduction of neoliberal capitalism. Long familiar with life in a relatively stable economy, they have faced dramatic changes in this area since the revolution, including massive price instability and …

Percy Grainger And Ralph Vaughan Williams: A Comparative Study Of English Folk-Song Settings For Wind Band, Shawna Meggan Holtz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis provides a comparison and study of English folk music collected by composers Percy Grainger and Ralph Vaughan Williams in the early twentieth century. Individuals who played a key role in beginning the folk music collecting movement are discussed, as well as the Folk Song Society's position in regulating and organizing folk-song collecting. A brief biography on Grainger is provided, along with his methods of collecting and setting folk-songs, and his ideas and processes on "free music." Chapters on Ralph Vaughan Williams follow, exploring his folk-song collecting and settings for the church. Grainger and Vaughan Williams' most well-known band …

Elisabeth King On Genocide: Truth, Memory And Representation Edited By A. L. Hinton & K. L. O'Neill. Durham, Nc: Duke University Press, 2009. 352pp., Elisabeth King

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Genocide: Truth, Memory and Representation edited by A. L. Hinton & K. L. O'Neill. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2009. 352pp.

Puebloan Plain-Weave Pointed/Rounded-Toe Sandals, David Toy Yoder

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An assemblage of 226 Puebloan pointed/rounded-toe sandals from sites throughout the northern Southwest was examined to answer the following questions: how were these sandals constructed, when where they used, and where were they distributed. The answers to these questions were then used to investigate cultural boundaries, communities of practice, and interaction among the Anasazi. Methods of analysis included a technical analysis, soft X-ray radiography, microscopic fiber identification, spatial analysis, AMS radiocarbon dating, and experimental reconstruction.

Based on these analyses it appears that pointed/rounded-toe sandals were used as early as A.D. 631 to as late as A.D. 1178. Spatially, this sandal …

Domestication And Significance Of Persea Americana, The Avocado, In Mesoamerica, Amanda J. Landon

Nebraska Anthropologist

The avocado (persea americana) is grown all over the modern world in tropical and subtropical climates for food and cosmetics (Humani 1987). In antiquity, the avocado was important to the Ancient Maya not only for food but also as a part of their mythology. Avocados were grown in sacred gardens, and important ancestors were thought to become reborn through fruit trees, including the avocado. Here, I examine the cultural context of the avocado and the issues related to understanding the domestication of the avocado and other tropical fruit trees. I discuss archaeological and molecular evidence, and offer direction …

A Preliminary Survey Of Lesser-Known Polyandrous Societies, Katie Starkweather

Nebraska Anthropologist

To challenge the common misconception that there are only four societies in the world that allow polyandry, this paper uses types of polyandry, suggested by Levine and Sangree (1980), to identify polyandrous societies from India, Africa, South America, and North America. Basic issues of these societies are examined within the context of four commonly cited attempts to explain the existence of polyandry. The goal of the paper is a preliminary look at the existence of polyandry around the world and an initial exploration of issues that mayor may not be associated with this form of marriage.

[Introduction To] Legalizing Identities: Becoming Black Or Indian In Brazil's Northeast, Jan Hoffman French

Bookshelf

Anthropologists widely agree that identities--even ethnic and racial ones--are socially constructed. Less understood are the processes by which social identities are conceived and developed. Legalizing Identities shows how law can successfully serve as the impetus for the transformation of cultural practices and collective identity. Through ethnographic, historical, and legal analysis of successful claims to land by two neighboring black communities in the backlands of northeastern Brazil, Jan Hoffman French demonstrates how these two communities have come to distinguish themselves from each other while revising and retelling their histories and present-day stories.

French argues that the invocation of laws by these …

Assessing Factors Influencing Participation And Dissemination In Community-Based Public Health Coalitions: An Exploration Of Social Change, Chad Tyler Morris

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The community-based public health coalition has proliferated in public health practice since the 1970‘s as a favored means of achieving community participation in public health promotion. There is concern, however, that many contemporary coalitions are not particularly inclusive, and that population health indicators fail to demonstrate significant improvement in health outcomes resultant from coalition practice. This dissertation research was designed to critically examine participation and dissemination of coalition-derived ideas through ethnographic study of five community-based participatory public health coalitions in the United States. The research answers calls from public health scholars to improve upon the coalition theory base and to …

Painting The Mountains: An Investigation Of Tourist Art In North America, Kristin Mary Agnes Helen Kant

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the use of regional cultural icons, like hillbillies, nineteenth century pioneer caricatures, and rural/wilderness landscapes, in paintings from an Appalachian tourist center. These icons, produced by the public media’s portrayal of the Appalachian region over several generations, contribute to a sense of cultural difference associated with people of Appalachia. The research question driving this project is: would cultural distinctiveness exist if cultural stereotypes were not a part of the tourist center’s local economics, politics, and social life? Building on ideas from consumption studies, this project explores consumption practices of artists and tourists as they interact with icons …

Voluntary Simplicity And Its Effects On Personal Identity, Family Life, And Relationships, Julie Ann Fox

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

With the seemingly endless advance of technology and the resulting cheaper material goods, consumption levels have risen to record highs. Over-consumption is having devastating effects on the environment, as well as on families and societies. We are encouraged by the advertising industry to consume at every turn, and buying things has become a substitute source of self-worth for many people. But an abundance of material items has not brought personal fulfillment for most Americans. A growing number of people have begun to question the hollow promises of consumerism, searching instead for alternative ways to find contentment, meaning, and purpose in …