Anthropology Commons^™

Native American Ceramic Pipe Fragments From Great Tinicum Island (36de3) In The Delaware River Below Philadelphia: With A Brief Review Of Related Regional Literature, Marshall Joseph Becker

Anthropology & Sociology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Fish Weirs Et Alia: A Gis Based Use-Analysis Of Artificial, Pre-Columbian Earthworks In West Central Llanos De Mojos, Bolivia, Charlotte A. Robinson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study employed a GIS-based use-analysis on a network of recently mapped pre-Columbian earthworks lying on the west side of a Bolivian floodplain. This wetland region, called Llanos de Mojos, is home to many different types of artificial mounds that served different roles for the ancient communities who constructed them thousands of years ago. This new set of features, which was mapped by volunteers of the Proyecto Sistemas Informaticas Geograficas y Arqueologicas del Beni (ProSIGAB) was purported to be a network of fish weirs, linear earthworks built in rivers or floodplains that are designed to trap fish by exploiting seasonal …

The Mobilizer And The Mobilized: An Exploration Of "Latinx", Marisa E. Norzagaray

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In this project, I endeavor to bridge the gap between these two by analyzing "Latinx" as a symbol that functions distinctly when employed as a personal or group identity. My argument for this thesis can be broken into two main parts: its significance as an identity, and its tangibility. As a group identity, I argue "Latinx" represents a social movement for liberation, visibility, and minority allyship. While this is not unconnected to its personal meaning, individual embodiment of the term involves the performance and realization of the intersectional. In other words, it gives those with overlapping queer and Latina/o identities …

Traditional Healing Beyond The Homeland: Yezidi Shamanic Healing In The Diaspora, Sophia G. Griemert

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The goal of this qualitative study is to evaluate whether shamanism, practiced by koçeks and faqrya (the Yezidi terms for traditional shamanic practitioners), continues as a practice among diasporic Yezidis, and, if so, in what manner. I accomplish this through a series of oral, remote interviews with Yezidis living in Germany. The interview subjects comprise a cross-sectional sample that includes men and women from the three Yezidi castes (Sheikh, Pir, Murid). Through the multiple testimonies these interviews garnered regarding shamanic praxis in the context of Germany, I determine that, in spite of the disruptions of forced migration and geographical distance, …

Paleoethnobotanical Analysis Of Maya Ceramic Residues From Holtun, Guatemala, Kimberly Batres

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

To the Maya, plant-based foods were not just important for sustenance but also had ritual meaning that was especially emphasized when placed in graves and caches. Food offered during ritual performances created a reciprocal relationship between living individuals, their ancestors, and the gods. The following thesis examines seven ceramic sherds associated with burial and cache offerings of individuals from the lowland Maya site of Holtun, Guatemala, that were found to have contained food offerings. Starch analysis, a method used to determine plant taxa on a microscopic level was performed on the ceramic vessels along with various experimental molecular spectroscopic procedures. …

A Qualitative Examination Of The Agency Of Women In Their 30s And 40s Who Use Dating Applications, Tera Buerkle

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The use of dating applications (apps) to find romantic and sexual partners is widespread across age groups, however, there is a paucity of research on dating apps with those in middle adulthood. Sexual script theory suggests that women’s agency (i.e. the ability to act in one’s own best interest) may be impacted by expectations from an inherently sexualized context, such as dating apps. Feminist theory contends that women’s agency is complicated by gender socialization due to the imbalance of power in society that greatly favors men. In this study seventeen women aged 30 to 49 completed in-depth semi-structured interviews, and …

Living Together In Precarious Times: Covid-19 In The Philippines, Gideon Lasco

Development Studies Faculty Publications

The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the necessity—for social scientists and the rest of the public alike—of an ecological; non-anthropocentric view of the world as humans grapple with microbes; surround themselves with plants; and engage with non-human animals in ways that range from abuse to affection. This chapter uses this multispecies perspective to reflect on the Philippine experience of COVID-19; offering illustrative examples; sketching tentative insights; and concluding with a research agenda for future work.

The Kiwanis Site: A Multi-Method Geophysical Approach To Investigating Mound Features, Luke Burds

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Subtle mound-like landforms can be genetically ambiguous features within a landscape. A variety of geomorphological and anthropological processes can result in these equifinal forms being difficult to interpret. Being able to reliably and noninvasively differentiate them is important for legal as well as cultural and spiritual reasons. A suite of non-invasive geophysical methods were thus used on mounds at the Kiwanis site in western Wisconsin in order to determine if culturally diagnostic indicators could be recorded in geophysical data. Genesis of these mounds is ambiguous given the presence of aeolian landforms in immediate proximity. As a control, the same geophysical …

Real Rap, Does Authenticity Even Matter In Hip Hop?, Amin Allam

Capstone Showcase

Rap and Hip hop has evolved tremendously since its inception. The collective genre has been catapulted to global influence, where in the United States it represents the largest genre based on market share. After reviewing the history of rap music there is a perceived relationship between hip hop and authenticity. To which the question arose of whether hip hop could maintain authenticity in a commercial sphere. To explore this relationship, after reviewing the literature on authenticity, a model of analysis created by Newman and Smith was used to explore 5years worth of data dealing with the Billboard top 100 list. …

The Rise And Fall Of Wiñaymarka: Rethinking Cultural And Environmental Interactions In The Southern Basin Of Lake Titicaca, Maria C. Bruno, José M. Capriles, Christine A. Hastorf, Sherilyn C. Fritz, D. Marie Weide, Alejandra I. Domic, Paul A. Baker

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Investigations of how past human societies managed during times of major climate change can inform our understanding of potential human responses to ongoing environmental change. In this study, we evaluate the impact of environmental variation on human communities over the last four millennia in the southern Lake Titicaca basin of the Andes, known as Lake Wiñaymarka. Refined paleoenvironmental reconstructions from new diatom-based reconstructions of lake level together with archaeological evidence of animal and plant resource use from sites on the Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia, reveal frequent climate and lake-level changes within major cultural phases. We posit that climate fluctuations alone do …

Assessing Foucault's Legacy In Environmental Anthropology, Colin Hoag

Anthropology: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ecological Repentance, Emmanuel Salem

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In an age ripe with discovery and analysis regarding anthropogenic pollution and the resultant climate change, a causal ideological explanation is naturally sought. This paper seeks to delve deep into the Christian religion and its relationship to the current climate crisis, as well as discuss whether or not predictions and speculative assertions professed in the famous essay by Lynn White, Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis, hold up when surveyed with a more critical and thorough evaluative lens. This conversation is undertaken under three core considerations: biblical cosmology, what has happened in the world of Christian bioethics since White’s time, …

Nonsovereign Racecraft: How Colonialism, Debt, And Disaster Are Transforming Puerto Rican Racial Subjectivities, Isar Godreau, Yarimar Bonilla

Publications and Research

Using the concept of “racecraft” to describe the state production of racial subjectivities, we argue that this process has been increasingly compromised in Puerto Rico by a lack of sovereignty and by the current socioeconomic crisis. We argue that the state-sponsored idea that Puerto Rican white and mixed-race identities operate separately from the US racial framework is receding. Based on the unconventional use of an open-ended question for racial identification in a survey administered to over one thousand Puerto Ricans, we found: a reluctance to identify racially, an awareness of a normative “whiteness” that excludes Puerto Ricans, and a tendency …

Detangling Black Hair: Hair Journeys, Discrimination, And Reconciliations Of Cultural Appropriation Among Claremont College Students, Amalia Raquel Barrett

Scripps Senior Theses

This ethnography details the experiences of discrimination and reconciliations of cultural appropriation among Black women and those perceived as Black women at the Claremont Colleges. 26 semi-structured ethnographic interviews were conducted over Zoom video conferencing to collect responses to questions including: How do my participants wear and describe their hair, and what experiences in their life do they relate to their hair? What challenges related to hair do my interviewees perceive in life outside college? How do my participants actively reconcile and critically rationalize the dynamic between Black hair being worn by Black women and by non-Black women? What patterns …

Challenging Narratives: Kurdish Young Adults In Istanbul And Chicago, Lydia Shanklin Roll

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

In this dissertation, I explore the interplay between youthful agency and state imposition. Specifically, drawing on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Istanbul, Turkey and Chicago, Illinois, I investigate how young adults who have migrated within one state and to another are navigating the states and bureaucratic systems in which they live. My interlocutors hail from a state that is quintessentially twentieth century, by which I mean the state was established as a nation-state, promoted as existing for members of a particular ethno-linguistic identity, with a charismatic leader who inspired a cult of personality. This narrative of the state has …

Captivating State: Youthful Dreams And Uncertain Futures In Kurdistan, Diana Hatchett

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

This dissertation examines how Kurdistani young people experience contests of values in a state shaped by sectarian political cultures during a time of trial and transition for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). The dissertation is based on approximately 20 months of ethnographic fieldwork (September 2015 - June 2017) spent among Kurdistani youth, broadly defined as 12 to 30 years old, in secondary schools and fitness centers. The ethnography presents interlocutors as co-theorists in conceptualizing the society and state in which they live, incorporating descriptive vignettes, transcripts of discussions, and lengthy interview quotes. Kurdistani interlocutors describe the push and pull …

Ant-3700 - Introduction To Anthropology, Igor Pashkovskiy

Open Educational Resources

Movement away from the textbook model has potential to foster equitable access to course materials as well as reduce textbook costs for students. As such, transition to a zero cost/OER classroom included the curation of open access scholarly literature to cover the four-field approach presently taught in introductory anthropology courses.

Private Struggles In Public Spaces: Documenting Covid-19 Material Culture And Landscapes, Kelly Britt

Publications and Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted nearly every facet of our world, including some of the most fundamental forms of human behavior and our conception of the social. Everyday activities now pose a risk to individuals and to society as a whole. This radical shift in how we live has produced a wide array of material responses across the globe. This photo essay seeks to open up dialogue and ask questions about the numerous forms of COVID-19 materiality and altered landscapes that the authors have chronicled, witnessed, documented and cataloged in their communities, using archaeological and ethnographic methods. This materiality includes …

The Ghost Town: An Autoethnographic Study On The Effects Of Loss And Trauma On A Saudi Arabian International Student’S Well-Being, Salman J. Alzowibi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We all have fought on grief’s battleground; some of us started at early ages, while others during their developmental age, teen’s years, or later in their adulthood. All of them are valuable resources and sites of knowledge that need to be explored. Yet, recent studies reduced grief into clinical psychological well-being. However, as I lived these experiences, trauma, loss, and grief impact all well-being dimensions. Grief intersects with large structures (e.g., social, economic, cultural, locations, etc.); all these components impact our way of grief how socially displayed (mourning). This dissertation encapsulates my personal experience elevating it to an academic work …

Devastation And Displacement: The Destruction Of Native Communities As A Result Of Specifically The Garrison Dam On The Missouri River In North Dakota And The Dalles Dams On The Columbia River In Oregon, Farryl Elisa Hunt

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

ABSTRACT MASTER’S THESIS

Devastation and Displacement: The Destruction of Native Communities as a Result of the Garrison Dam on the Missouri River in North Dakota and the Dams on the Columbia River in Oregon

By Farryl Elisa "Lisa" Hunt

This master's thesis in anthropology is a cross-cultural analysis that explores two intersecting yet distinct discourses of destruction and displacement for two groups of Native people in Oregon and North Dakota. The building of The Dalles Dam in Oregon and The Garrison Dam in North Dakota damaged thriving livelihoods due to the loss of irreplaceable flooded areas.

This thesis will utilize …

Colobinae Evolution: Using Gis To Map The Distribution Of Leaf Monkeys Across Southeast Asia Over Time, Marie Vergamini, Christina Mcgrath, Lisa M. Day

Graduate Research Posters

The Colobinae, or leaf monkeys, are distributed geographically across Africa and Asia. Colobinae are specialized arborealists and leaf eaters with sacculated stomachs, sheering teeth, reduced thumbs, and very mobile shoulders. Colobinae diverged ~10.9 million year ago (Ma) from the Cercopithecidae in Africa, and Asian colobines appear in the fossil record in the late Miocene ~8.5 Ma. However, an incomplete fossil record means little is known about the evolutionary pressures that led to Asian colobine migration and diversification. Here, we use recent fossil discoveries and geospatial information to develop hypotheses about how geographic barriers played direct roles in Asian colobine evolution. …

Gaming And Culture: How Videogames Can Affect Global Players' Preception And Understanding Of Japan's History And Culture, Garrett Davies

Capstone Showcase

Video game developers have the ability to create synthetic worlds. These are places where players have the ability to immerse themselves within a culture presented to them by the creators. This allows a global audience to participate in the expression and learning of culture but that may come at a cost. Focusing on Japan, I want to dive into how culture is presenting within video games, why it is presented in such ways, and what that means for players' perception of the country through play.

Summer Treatment Programs: Counselors And Care Practices, Christina X. You

Scripps Senior Theses

Employing a mixed psychosocial and pharmacological approach, STPs offer six to nine weeks of intensive treatment for children deemed to have social and behavioral difficulties. One major asset STPs claim is their natural, fun setting—a true summer camp space for activities and open peer interaction—in which children learn positive behaviors that they can generalize into external social settings. Yet STPs are also highly structured. Staff, who are often undergraduate and graduate students, are trained in operant learning strategies to promote “positive” and suppress “maladaptive” behaviors, strict activity guidelines, and evaluations for procedural adherence. The program was developed based on the …

Biocultural Evidence Of Precise Manual Activities In An Early Holocene Individual Of The High-Altitude Peruvian Andes, Fotios Alexandros Karakostis, Hugo Reyes-Centeno, Michael Franken, Gerhard Hotz, Kurt Rademaker, Katerina Harvati

Anthropology Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVES: Cuncaicha, a rockshelter site in the southern Peruvian Andes, has yielded archaeological evidence for human occupation at high elevation (4,480 masl) during the Terminal Pleistocene (12,500–11,200 cal BP), Early Holocene (9,500–9,000 cal BP), and later periods. One of the excavated human burials (Feature 15‐06), corresponding to a middle‐aged female dated to ~8,500 cal BP, exhibits skeletal osteoarthritic lesions previously proposed to reflect habitual loading and specialized crafting labor. Three small tools found in association with this burial are hypothesized to be associated with precise manual dexterity.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Here, we tested this functional hypothesis through the application of …

Ancient Maya Rural Settlement Patterns, Household Cooperation, And Regional Subsistence Interdependency In The Río Bec Area: Contributions From G-Liht, Scott R. Hutson, Nicholas P. Dunning, Bruce Cook, Thomas Ruhl, Nicolas C. Barth, Daniel Conley

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Research on intensive agricultural features contributes to the social relations of farming, including the means by which farmers mobilize labor and the possible destination of surplus. Lidar provides high-resolution data on ancient houses and agricultural features at a regional scale. This paper uses lidar data from NASA’s G-LiHT airborne imager to derive insights about rural demography, interhousehold cooperation, and subsistence interdependency among the ancient Maya. We assess the differences in intensity of agricultural investment in rural and urban areas of the Río Bec region of southern Campeche and Quintana Roo, Mexico, leading to inferences about regional food exchange and complex …

The Human—Long-Tailed Macaque (Macaca Fascicularis) Interface At Don Chao Poo Forest, Phana, Thailand, Ashton M. Asbury

All Master's Theses

When provisioned food is available, human-macaque coexistence may result in altered macaque behaviors and the possibility of bidirectional disease transmission through interspecies contact. Don Chao Poo forest in Thailand is a conservation site where ~ 1,000 long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) live and interact with people, which includes being provisioned by volunteers and visitors. Phana macaques are habituated to human presence as a result of their frequent interactions with people. I tested whether 1) men and women are equally likely to have contact interactions with macaques, 2) adult and immature macaques are equally likely to have contact interactions with …

Evaluating Compassion Satisfaction And The Risk Of Compassion Fatigue Among Those Working At Non-Human Primate Sanctuaries And Wildlife Centers, Madalyn Rantala

All Master's Theses

Compassion fatigue, an occupational risk commonly associated with caregiving professions, can have adverse effects for individual employee wellbeing, organizational productivity, and the quality of care that patients receive. Within animal-care worker samples, previous research suggests that around 25 percent of employees are at a high risk of developing compassion fatigue (i.e., experiencing burnout and secondary traumatic stress concurrently). To my knowledge, this thesis is the first study to explore compassion fatigue within the primate sanctuary field. Thirty-nine eligible participants completed an online survey that probed professional quality of life via the ProQOL 5, perceived workplace support via the Trauma-Informed Organizational …

Playing With Relatives: Genetic Kinship And Play Behavior In Juvenile Tibetan Macaques, Riley Derby

All Master's Theses

This thesis is composed of a journal-ready article and an accompanying appendix containing data and figures. In this thesis, I statistically analyzed the relationship between player age, player sex, genetic kinship and social play duration in juvenile Tibetan macaques.

Chapter I provides a general introduction and addresses current and past literature on the behavior, ecology and play among macaque genera and Tibetan macaques within this study. I review the fitness benefits of play behavior and the influence of kin selection on macaque social life. Additionally, I review the existing literature on Tibetan macaque play and how the current study will …

Ecological And Anthropogenic Influences On A Sentinel Species' Gut Microbiome, Carson E. Black

All Master's Theses

Central and South American primates face augmented challenges due to increased rates of forest fragmentation. Among these challenges are implications on the nonhuman primate gut microbiome. Wild Argentine black and gold howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya) are listed as “least concern” with a population that is decreasing. Despite their propensity to occupy habitats with varying degrees of degradation and disturbance, they are not immune from the stressors that forest fragmentation places on them. Their increased exposure to humans and livestock leaves them vulnerable to cross-species transmission of emerging infectious diseases and pathogens. Therefore, their role as sentinels of ecosystems, …

An Analysis Of Tachylyte And Other Volcanic Glasses In Washington Archaeology, Mallory M. Triplett

All Master's Theses

Within archaeological literature, a discussion of volcanic toolstones from Washington State is uncommon. Washington’s volcanic glass landscape is relatively sparse, with low-quality sources scattered within and on the east side of the Cascades, including tachylyte, obsidian, and vitrophyric obsidian. Tachylyte is a volcanic glass that forms within low-silica, basalt flows while obsidian comes from high-silica, usually rhyolitic, eruptions. Vitrophyric is a textural term used to describe an igneous rock that has a glassy groundmass with conspicuously large crystals. The low-quality and dispersed nature of these toolstones are reflected in Washington’s archaeological record by the more common occurrence of out-of-state volcanic …