Other Anthropology Commons^™

“Why Can’T I Do My Homework Without Crying?” Neurodivergence And The Gendered Expectations Of Functioning, Alia Wang

Pitzer Senior Theses

The purpose of this qualitative interview study was to examine the experiences of neurodivergent women and gender-diverse individuals regarding productivity. Neurodivergence is often understood in biological and medical terms; far less attention has been given to how neurodivergent individuals experience and navigate everyday life. Meanwhile, productivity is often framed as a neutral measure of efficiency, but in practice, it is shaped by social norms that shape particular ways of thinking, working, and behaving.

Particularly for women and gender diverse people, these expectations are compounded not only by cognitive differences but also by gendered norms around behavior. This creates a mismatch …

Shrines On Asphalt Shoulders: Documenting Roadside Memorials In Western U.S. Roadscapes, Isabella R. Sullivan

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis analyses the practice of documenting and uploading roadside memorials in the Western United States as a socially transformative process facilitated between two distinct kinds of noticing. Drawing on (auto)ethnographies of roadside memorial sites in Colorado and California, interviews with photographers and cartographers working primarily in the American Southwest, and Google Street View media, this research examines how recognition of the social negotiations involving memory and mortality that are already present in the physical shrines evolves when documenters capture and transpose them online. First, these documenters have developed the “eyes to see” roadside memorials for various significant reasons in …

The Unseen River And Infrastructural Silences: The Santa Ana River And The Ontology Of Floods, Cooper Lennon Crane

Pomona Senior Theses

This article discusses the history of land development and infrastructure along the Santa Ana River in Southern California. The river plays a significant role in the landscape of many of Southern California’s cities and urban geographies but has been relatively underdiscussed in literature. This article approaches the river using a combination of historic ethnography and sociocultural theory to unpack the meanings of the infrastructure of the river and its relation to Southern Californians. From these meanings, the article places the river in context with environmental politics, urban development, and water management issues in California today. The article argues that the …

Effects Of Indonesian Cuisine On The Dutch Kitchen And Culture Post World War Ii, Anton Syril Van Schaik

Pitzer Senior Theses

As a colony of the Netherlands, the Dutch East Indies (upon independence named Indonesia) was a prodigious source of economic revenue -- first due to the spice trade and then coffee -- for the Netherlands from around 1610 to 1949. But, despite the long history of Dutch colonization in Southeast Asia, Indonesian cuisine failed to make a large impact on Dutch culture and cuisine until the 1940s. Before World War II, despite the Netherlands primarily deriving its revenue from global trade, both economically, and especially culturally, all areas, except for the economically engaged, Western cities, were extremely insulated. However, due …

The Sharing Economy: Exploring The Intersection Of Collaborative Consumption And Capitalism, Ellyn E. Erving

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores how the sharing economy in America combines Collaborative Consumption ideas and social values with capitalist business models to make a profit. I discuss definitions of terms associated with the sharing economy, economic anthropological theories and case studies, as well as company and consumer motivations in sharing economy companies.

A Paradoxical Paradise: The Marquesas As A Degenerate And Regenerative Space In The Western Imagination, Christine A. Zenel

Scripps Senior Theses

The Western imagination has ascribed histories and identities of the Marquesas Islands throughout centuries of evolving discourses and representations as a paradoxical paradise, bolstering colonialist ideologies of social evolutionary theory. The islands have either been represented as backwards on a social scale to justify Western dominance, or have been represented as being in a state of authentic human nature out of colonial guilt and imperialist nostalgia. These representations reveal a paradox in which the Marquesas is ascribed in the Western imagination as a degenerate space, yet also as a space where the regeneration of human nature is made …

Conversion Theory Through The Cognitive Science Of Religion Lense In A Christian-Muslim Context, Jennifer A. Garcia

Scripps Senior Theses

The Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR) in recent years is beginning to become more popular. This project evolves around the development of the field as well as critiques of the field. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of CSR, it lends an interesting way to understand religion as well as religious experiences. One of those religious experiences, conversion, is examined and explored through the use of conversion narratives from western women who were formally Christian but converted to Islam. Many themes arise out of this research that paves the way for trying to understand religious experiences. Overall, the project focuses on …

Implications Of Land Development On Nomadic Pastoralism: Ecological Relaxation And Biosocial Diversity In Human Populations, Hannah R. Bradley

Scripps Senior Theses

Nomadic pastoralism is an ancient subsistence strategy, historically balanced and in continuity with sedentary societies. Sedentarization of nomads occurs normally because of ecological disasters, economic opportunities, urbanization, and government policy. In this paper, I examine the effect of changing land use patterns on nomadic pastoral populations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, using biogeographic methodology to further explore the contemporary relationship between humans and their environments. Nomadic population information gleaned from diverse ethnographic studies, and GIS data on anthropogenic biome distributions, were used to calculate changes in nomadic population, area of developed land, and nomadic/sedentary population density over the …

Binding Ochre To Theory, Simone E. Nibbs

Pomona Senior Theses

Widely found throughout the archaeological and artistic records in capacities ranging from burial contexts to early evidence of artistic expression, red ochre has been studied in archaeological and art conservationist communities for decades. Despite this, literature discussing binders is disparate and often absent from accessible arenas. Red ochre is important historically because its use can be used to help further the understanding of early humans, their predecessors, and their cognitive capabilities. However, there is not much written speculation on the processes involved in binder selection, collection, and processing. Based on the idea of these three activities associated with binders, I …