Folklore Commons^™

Bill Vickers: A Pioneer In Engaged And Dialogic Anthropology, E. Jean Langdon

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

Remembrances Of Bill Vickers: Early And Late Career Activities, Norman E. Whitten Jr.

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Remembering William T. Vickers (1942–2016), Robert Wasserstrom

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

“Being Flexible”: Reflections On How An Anthropological Theory Spills Into The Contemporary Political Life Of An Amazonian People, Stine Krøijer

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This article examines the work of William T. Vickers and describes how his theory about the flexible adaptation of the Siona-Secoya to their forested environment has spilled into their contemporary political life. Based on recurring fieldwork among the Secoya in Northeastern Ecuador, the article shows that “being flexible” has become a particular way of talking about and managing relations to powerful outsiders such as representatives of oil companies and government officials. The article brings together ethnography on the Secoya’s relationship to Occidental Petroleum Company in 1999–2001 and their turn to oil palm cultivation as subcontractors to a plantation company after …

The Old Deery Inn & Museum: An Ethnographic Case Study, Rebecca J. Proffitt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses qualitative ethnographic research methods to present a case study that explores the multiplicity of meanings and representations that are attached to the Old Deery Inn & Museum in Blountville, Tennessee. Within the community, the Inn functions as a center for cultural memory, with the physical structure itself acting as an artifact that holds community identity. This community narrative contrasts with the official narrative used by tourism entities that markets the Inn as a part of the Appalachian region, situating the Inn within a complex and intricately constructed identity of place that is shaped by lived experiences as …

Drowning In Rising Seas: Navigating Multiple Knowledge Systems And Responding To Climate Change In The Maldives, Rachel Hannah Spiegel

Pitzer Senior Theses

The threat of global climate change increasingly influences the actions of human society. As world leaders have negotiated adaptation strategies over the past couple of decades, a certain discourse has emerged that privileges Western conceptions of environmental degradation. I argue that this framing of climate change inhibits the successful implementation of adaptation strategies. This thesis focuses on a case study of the Maldives, an island nation deemed one of the most vulnerable locations to the impacts of rising sea levels. I apply a postcolonial theoretical framework to examine how differing knowledge systems can both complement and contradict one another. By …

Molden, Roy (Fa 963), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 963. Project titled: “The Chestnut Farmstead.” Includes survey sheets with brief descriptions ofbuildings and implements on the Chestnut family farm in Pulaski County, Kentucky. Sheets include a brief description and photo.

Watson, Betty Lou (Fa 959), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 959. Paper titled: “Under the Waves.” Includes survey sheets with brief descriptions of the valley and its farm life to be flooded by the Green River Reservoir in the Pennyroyal Region of Kentucky. Sheets include a brief description, informant’s name, illustrations, and photos of the area.

Montell, William Lynwood, 1931-2023 (Fa 962), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 962. Project titled: [Student Collections: Dinner Bells] Includes survey sheets from student collections with brief descriptions of dinner bells in the Pennyroyal Region of Kentucky. Sheets include a brief description, terms, and a photo of the dinner bell.

Humanity Balancing On A Turtle’S Back: Perceptions And Values Of Sea Turtle Conservation Among Different Demographics At Four Sites In The Bocas Del Toro Archipelago Bocas Del Toro, Panama, Roxanne Hoorn

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Being the ancient, world traveling, iconic mega-fauna they are, sea turtles have found their way into cultures and traditions around the world, often holding great prestige. Along with their mystical qualities, sea turtles have also been intricately intertwined in the livelihoods of cultures around the globe, utilized for food, jewelry, income, and more recently, scientific research. The ways in which humans around the world perceive the value of this species varies greatly, often causing conflict between those who wish to protect and conserve sea turtles, and those looking to continue using turtles as either a source of income or food. …

Halgash, Rhonda (Fa 907), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 907 titled: "Wedding Beliefs." Project includes note cards with brief descriptions of beliefs about weddings from Kentucky. Sheets include a brief description, informant's name, and the informant classification.

Contributors To Indian Catholicism: Interventions And Imaginings, Mathew Schmalz

Journal of Global Catholicism

Contributors to Indian Catholicism: Interventions and Imaginings, the inaugural issue of the Journal of Global Catholicism.

The Tying Of The Ceremonial Wedding Thread: A Feminist Analysis Of “Ritual” And “Tradition” Among Syro-Malabar Catholics In India, Sonja Thomas

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article presents a feminist analysis of patriarchy persisting in Catholicism of the Syro-Malabar rite in Kerala. The article specifically considers the impact of charismatic Catholicism on women of the Syro-Malabar rite and argues that it is important to interrogate this new face of religiosity in order to fully understand how certain rituals are allowed to change and be fluid, while others, especially concerning female sexuality, are enshrined as “tradition” which often restricts the parameters for women’s empowerment and may reinforce caste and patriarchal hegemonies preventing feminist solidarity across different religious- and caste-based groups.

Dalit Catholic Home Shrines In A North Indian Village, Mathew Schmalz

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article examines three Catholic home shrines in a Dalit community in North Indian and argues that it is misleading to think that home shrines and other collections of material objects are somehow static conveyors of meaning. “Meaning” can mean many things or nothing at all, depending upon the terms we are using and the scholarly methods we deploy. The crucial aspect of Dalit Catholic home shrines is that they are literally open to interpretation and reinterpretation, to touching and being touched. Their significance—their meaning—depends not on decoding their structure or symbolic logic, but interacting with them as part of …

In Continuity With The Past: Indigenous Environmentalism And Indian Christian Visions Of Flora, James Ponniah

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article considers whether Indian Christianity can be said to have a distinctive ecological vision. The first two parts of the article examine Christian environmentalism in two native forms of Indian Christianity: Tamil Christianity and Tribal Christianity. Continuing with the theme of conformity to the local culture—though of the elite—the third part of the article investigates how Christian Ashrams function as dynamic centers for ecological praxis. The last part of the article considers how contemporary Indian Christian communities can respond to the ecological challenges confronting them.

Antoniyar Kōvil: Hindu-Catholic Identity At The St. Anthony Shrine In St. Mary’S Co-Cathedral, Chennai, Pj Johnston

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article combines ethnographic description of the practices of Hindu and Christian visitors of the St. Antony Shrine in Chennai with the observation that this material cannot be understood using the standard world religions paradigm that essentializes Christianity as exclusivistic. Drawing upon the visual and material culture of the shrine in light of premodern and Vatican II templates for inculturation and the negotiation of religious difference, the article highlights overlap between Tamil Hinduism and the Tamil Popular Catholicism of the site to argue that the beliefs and practices documented should inform descriptive and normative accounts of Catholic Christianity. Because Tamil …

Walker, Joyce (Fa 868), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 868. Paper titled: “Possum Hunters: A Vigilance Committee.” Project includes a short interpretive paper and interviews with one former member (unidentified) and several people who remembered the Possum Hunters in Muhlenburg County, Kentucky. Sheets include transcribed interviews and informant’s name. The Possum Hunters was a common name given to vigilante groups in the Green River valley.

Walker, Edith (Fa 870), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 870. Project titled: "Joe Coleman: A Local Legend." Includes typescripts of interviews and survey sheets collected by Edith Walker about Joe Coleman, an accused murderer in Cumberland County, Kentucky. Survey sheets includes lines of a ballad about Coleman and various informant's memories of the ballad or the veracity of the incident in Adair County, Kentucky.

The Future Of Arabic Music: No Sound Without Silence, Nesma Magdy Khodier Vcuq

Theses and Dissertations

For centuries, Arabic music has been intrinsically linked to Arab culture and by extension bonded to the environmental landscape of the region, reflecting their emotions, moods, and behaviors. Numerous technological advancements in the latter half of the twentieth century, have greatly affected the rich legacy of Arabic music, significantly impacting the natural progression of traditional Arabic musical genres, scales, and instrumentation.

This thesis serves as an introduction to generative methods of music production, specifically music generated through gestures. Through generative music, and its unique ability to map gestures to different musical parameters, music can be produced using computer algorithms.

The …

Culture And Cognition: The Role Culture Plays In Cognitive Development In Rural Tanzania, Eileen Seissen

Capstone Collection

This capstone paper examines the perceived difference of cognition in a Tanzanian classroom. It also examines the effects culture has on cognition. It aims to answer the questions: What role does Tanzanian culture play in shaping the cognitive skills of its children? And, from an American trainers perspective, within an experiential learning environment, what cognitive differences are perceived in abstract thinking, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving? Nine American trainers, one Tanzanian trainer, and one Tanzanian student participated in my study. Each participant filled out a questionnaire geared toward understanding their training methods and perceptions of participant's skills and abilities. After …

Kentucky Folklife Program - County Files (Fa 748), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Collection FA 748. This collection contains material relating to 29 of Kentucky's 120 counties that was collected by Kentucky Folklife Program director Bob Gates. Collection materials includes items such as tourist brochures, newspaper articles, and county maps.

How European Folk Stories Have Misrepresented Indigenous Women, Jacqueline S. Marotto

Student Publications

An examination of Rayna Green's "The Pocahontas Perplex" in reflection of course material about the role of indigenous women in North America.

Dainty Festival - Louisville, Kentucky (Fa 616), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 616. This collection includes information about the annual Dainty Festival of Louisville, Kentucky hosted by the Schnitzelburg German-American community.

New Matriarchs: Louisville, Kentucky (Fa 768), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and representative photographs for Folklife Archives Project 768. The collection details the lives of seven women from around the globe (India, Syria, Mexico, Uganda, Russia, Argentina, and Somalia),all recent immigrants to Louisville, Kentucky.

Kuklinski, Whitney, B. 1987 (Fa 765), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text of paper (click on "Additional Files") for Folklife Archives Project 765. Paper titled “Understanding Servers as a Folk Group” written by Whitney Kuklinski for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University. The paper focuses on Mariah’s Restaurant in downtown Bowling Green, Kentucky and the role that servers play within the food industry.

Warren County Kentucky Homemakers Project (Fa 82), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 82. These interviews examine the lives of rural women through their membership in the Warren County Homemakers Extension Program. Former extension agents and members recall their experiences in the organization and the significance of the education programs in preparing them to adapt to new technologies and to move from farm life to public work.

Interview With Troy Davis Regarding Ccc (Fa 81), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcription of an oral history interview done with Troy Davis related to his work in a Civilian Conservation Corps camp at Mammoth Cave in the 1930s.

Interview With Henry Scott Regarding Ccc (Fa 81), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcription of an oral history interview done with Henry Scott related to his work in a Civilian Conservation Corps camp at Mammoth Cave in the 1930s.

Browning, Jimmy D. (Fa 157), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 157. This collection includes cassette tapes of interviews with eight women used as research for Jimmy D. Browning’s paper “A Tie That Binds: Contemporary Funeral Foodways In A Rural, Central Kentucky Community.” Two copies of the paper are also included in the collection.

Browning, Jimmy D. (Fa 155), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 155. This collection includes cassette tapes containing interviews with six homosexual men used as research for Jimmy D. Browning’s paper “Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are: A Collection of the Coming-Out Narratives of Six Gay Men.” A copy of the paper is also included in the collection.