Other Anthropology Commons^™

Neuropunk: A Discursive Ethnographic Study Of The Do-It-Yourself Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Community, Erick Guzman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to understand the sociocultural contexts surrounding the do-it-yourself (DIY) use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) devices. TDCS is a non-invasive method of brain stimulation which has a history of use in (1) human brain mapping for basic neuroscience studies, (2) neuropsychological rehabilitation and the treatment of psychological disorders in clinical populations, and (3) cognitive enhancement in healthy people. However, its validity and effectiveness across these uses remain open to debate. Since the early 2010’s, tDCS has attracted a number of lay individuals interested in using it outside of formal scientific and medical contexts. These DIY tDCS …

Understanding The Transitional Needs Of Servicemembers To Veterans: A Focus On Mental, Social, And Behavioral Health, Marieann C. Raguso

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to fill the gaps on the transitional American veterans’ lived experience using their own voice. The reconstruction of an American Veteran’s identity after transitioning back into civilian life is a process with many challenges. Transitional practices often fail to help veterans to acculturate back into the civilian world. This includes the formulation of identities and associations. There is a lack of consistency in military transitional practices leading to identity loss and the formulation of mental and behavioral disorders. The aim of this study is to examine the lived experiences of veterans who have transitioned back …

The Role Of Christianity In Shaping Agrarian Policies And Environmental Interactions: A Comparative Analysis Of The Uk And The Netherlands, Grace N. Brimble

University Honors Theses

This thesis explores the enduring influence of Protestant Christianity on agrarian practices and environmental policies in the UK and the Netherlands, focusing on how historical religious values shape modern ecological and political landscapes. Despite increasing secularism, Protestant ethics--emphasising stewardship, diligence, and moral responsibility--persist culturally, influencing debates on sustainability, rural identity, and land use. Using case studies such as nitrogen policy protests in the Netherlands and post-Brexit agricultural transitions in the UK, this analysis highlights the symbolic role of Christian values in framing resistance and adaptation to contemporary challenges. The research combines discourse analysis and ethnographic perspectives to uncover the interplay …

(Un)Worlding With Karipuna’S Shadowy Alliances: The Mirangã And The Isolados, Hanmin Kin

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

This ethnographically inspired article investigates the ways in which the Karipuna Indigenous people in Rondônia defend their land in the Western Brazilian Amazon against forces of deforestation and dispossession. I focus on the Karipuna’s plurivalent and collective forest spirits called the mirangã, through life experience accounts of two survivors from the “pre-contact” era who embody the Karipuna-mirangã connection. Through an analysis of the onto-epistemological entanglements in which the mirangã and my interlocutors are situated, I articulate another front of the Karipuna’s multi-faceted resistance: the struggle of worlding vis-à-vis the non-indigenous world. This process also reveals the association (from …

¡Viva Puerto Rico! How Puerto Rico's Political And Economic Status Has Affected Its Vulnerability To Natural Hazards, Mystique Quintana

University Honors Theses

Using Hurricane Maria as a case study, this thesis examines Puerto Rico's vulnerability to natural disasters and explores the intersections between colonial history, political status, and socioeconomic inequalities. Undertaking the island's susceptibility to environmental crises based on centuries of colonial exploitation and dependence, along with restrictive U.S. policies. It is argued that policies like the Jones Act, Operation Bootstrap, and PROMESA perpetuate systemic neglect and undermine disaster preparedness. Due to these structural vulnerabilities, intensified by climate change, Puerto Rico is ill-equipped to recover from hurricanes. During Hurricane Maria, systemic governance failures, inadequate infrastructure, and insufficient federal aid exposed these deep-rooted …

Gait Measurement Descriptions Of Human Tracks, Robert Speiden

International Journal of Missing Persons

Search and rescue missions use a variety of tools to find missing persons, one of which can be visual tracking. Trackers detect, interpret and document information about human contact with the ground. Humans typically move on two feet at various speeds. Movement as an obligate biped leaves a series of footprints that alternates from one side to the other. This pattern of footfalls is rather simple, and the footfalls can be easily divided into descriptive dimensions.

This work summarized published measurements of bipedal gait ground contact points in 70 resources. Four resource types were surveyed including 33 biomechanical gait analysis …

The Identity Of A Gymnast: How Health, Wellbeing, And Injury Become Embodied In The Identity Of Collegiate Gymnasts, Skyler M. Yakes

LSU Master's Theses

Gymnastics scholarship has traditionally focused on the physicality of the sport and what the body can and cannot do. This research expands upon gymnastics scholarship by exploring the individual experiences and histories of college gymnasts in the United States through a series of interviews. The goals of this research are to better understand the gymnastics experience and to explore health and wellbeing in gymnastics as it pertains to the formation of a gymnast’s identity. A combined approach using medical anthropology and anthropology of sport serves as a guiding framework for analyzing interview data. Definitions of health and wellbeing change between …

Usa Archaeology Museum Newsletter - October 2024, Archaeology Museum

Archaeology Museum Newsletters

In this edition of the museum's newsletter:

• Fall Semester Exhibitions
• Alabama Archaeological Society, Southwest Chapter Presents
• Alabama Archaeology Day
• Arkhaios Film Festival and Movie Cosplay Contest
• USA By the Bay: Archaeological Studies on the Gulf Coast
• Project Archaeology Educator's Conference
• Legacies of Slavery & the Shared History of the South
• Museum Fall Semester Closures
• Giving to the Archaeology Museum

Orígenes Sociales De Las Enfermedades Culturales Entre Los Ngawbere Del Norte De La Península Valiente: El Caso De Chakore Y Ha Ko Botika, Keith V. Bletzer, Milton Machuca-Galvez

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Esta tesis doctoral se centra en los orígenes sociales de dos enfermedades de origen cultural en la comunidad indígena ngawbere, que ha experimentado y sigue experimentando marginalización en comparación con otros habitantes de Panamá. Los ngawbere consideran que son una sociedad separada dentro del Estado-nación de Panamá, y como principal población indígena que sobrevivió a la pacificación española en la época colonial, todavía residen en sus tierras ancestrales en el oeste del país.

Un aspecto clave de la sociedad ngawbere es su énfasis en la cooperación mutua para las actividades de subsistencia, priorizando la ayuda entre parientes de sangre sobre …

The Application Of Multi-Isotope Analysis To Assist In Geoprofiling Unidentified Decedents Within Florida, Liotta D. Noche-Dowdy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The biochemistry of human tissues can provide information for geoprofiling (geographic birthplace or migration patterns) of an unidentified decedent. Utilizing isotope analyses (both stable and radiogenic) from teeth, bone, nails, and/or hair reveals specific isotopic information that correlates to diverse geographic regions reflecting an individual’s birthplace and migration patterns. Isotope analysis of enamel and bone has been employed in bioarchaeology for decades to reconstruct the diet, health, and migration patterns of past populations. Isotope ratios measured from enamel can then be compared to isotope ratios measured from bone of the individual to track patterns of migration. The enamel from the …

An Analysis Of (Hu)Manid Using The Usf Donated Skeletal Collection: Estimating Sex And Ancestry For Edentulous Individuals, Natalie S. Wise

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Human Mandible Identification program, (hu)MANid©, enables anthropologists to estimate the sex and ancestry of unidentified skeletal remains from metric and morphoscopic variables from the mandible. The program is suitable for a variety of anthropological contexts, including forensic casework and bioarchaeological or paleoanthropological analyses. The purpose of this research project is to test the accuracy and applicability of the (hu)MANid program on edentulous mandibles. While the authors of (hu)MANid warn against data collection for edentulous mandibles, there are many circumstances in applied forensic casework where the unidentified person is edentulous. Edentulous individuals experience alveolar resorption, which is the loss of …

Small Island Risks: Research Reflections For Disaster Anthropologists And Climate Ethnographers, Crystal A. Felima

UK CARES Faculty Publications

Disasters and climate-related events, including tropical storms, droughts, coastal erosion, and ocean acidification, threaten small island nations. Given the urgency of reducing disaster risks and the effects of climate change on vulnerable populations, this reflection essay pursues three objectives. First, it highlights the role of anthropology, ethnography, and multi-sited research in exploring disaster impacts, climate crises, and public policy in island communities. It then highlights national planning and inter-regional activities to build awareness of various risk reduction efforts by island nations and multi-governmental organizations. This article concludes with discussion prompts to engage researchers, scholars, students, and practitioners studying and working …

Repair Rolodex: Exchanges, Changes, And Patchwork Parables, Ethan Howard

Masters Theses

This book is an index of nine exchanges with strangers whom I met online through email Listservs or by word of mouth. In these transactions, I offered to repair broken things for a trade-in-kind payment. Through the brief relationship between owner and designer, each interaction suggests that an object is almost never entirely obsolete despite its perceived obsolescence.

At the core of these trades is a grassroots protest of the landfill and a critique of our global capitalist commerce system. The apparent desire for and nature of these trades demonstrates that stories make our objects meaningful. Each interplay studies peoples’ …

Sedimented For The Future: Can Technology Sustain Tradition?, Nihal Bursa

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

Turkish coffee is unique in its brewing technique and deeply rooted in the culture developed throughout the Ottoman geography since the sixteenth century. The knowledge, skills and rituals of Turkish coffee are transmitted to new generations through observation, participation and practicing. Be it an elaborate ritual at the Ottoman court or a modest peasant pleasure, Turkish coffee requires dedicated time, manual skills and decorum. The pace of industrialization and urbanization in the twenty-first century forced people to acquire new lifestyles. This has put Turkish coffee service in jeopardy especially in public spaces. Owing to the Turkish coffee machine designed by …

The Little Black Book: When Recipes Tell Stories, Cordula C. Peters

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

In post-war Germany in the 1950s my grandmother used to collect recipes from magazines, newspapers, and the backs of food packaging that she neatly cut out and saved. Other recipes were carefully copied with pen and ink. At some point, when my mother was still a child and my grandmother still alive, she and her sister compiled all these recipes and tidily pasted them into a black notebook for safekeeping. Growing up many of the recipes from this book became much-loved dishes prepared by my mother and expected by my siblings and I almost religiously for important holidays such as …

No Time For Tea: Hidden Figures Of The Dutch Tea Industry, Annette Kappert, Lysbeth Vink

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

This paper explores the historical role women played in promoting, distributing, and establishing tea consumption in The Netherlands. Despite being the first nation to introduce tea to the Western world, and the abundance of literature and images documenting women as sapless tea drinkers, languishing their afternoons away, entertaining and sipping the amber brew in their tea houses, the latter is far from reality. Preliminary research indicates Dutch women were instrumental in establishing an elite tea industry in The Netherlands and beyond. Aptly the authors utilized the archives to explore visual and narrative data dating from 1610 to present, to find …

An Abundance Of Cakes: How A National Trauma Created A Unique Culinary Practice In Southern Jutland, Nina Bauer

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

The southern part of Jutland has its very own distinct food culture and traditions. Its history differs from other parts of Denmark because this region was under German rule from 1864 until the Reunification in 1920. Special laws were imposed to curtail the population’s political and cultural ties to Denmark. Any political gatherings or sentiments were strictly forbidden. However, cooking was free of restrictions and cooking thus became one of the primary ways to hold onto a Danish identity. This led to a conservation of recipes and traditions that were disappearing in other Danish regions. The farm wives became the …

The Legacy Of The Humoral Theory In Modern Culinary Tradition, Andrzej Kuropatnicki

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

The humoral theory, an ancient medical doctrine originating in Greece and championed by eminent physicians like Hippocrates and Galen, served as the cornerstone of medical understanding for millennia, preceding the emergence of modern medicine. This enduring theory postulated that an individual's health was intricately linked to the delicate balance of four bodily fluids or humours. Over the course of nearly two thousand years, it not only shaped medical practices but also profoundly influenced the choices people made regarding their diets and overall well-being. Its reach extended far beyond the realm of medicine, leaving an indelible mark on our culture and …

The Subconscious Of Traditional Practices: Turkish Cuisine, Serife Umay Cicik

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

Turkey stands out among the leading countries, particularly in the consumption of meat, milk, and dairy products. In terms of climate and physical conditions, it has the capacity to produce these commodities domestically. Additionally, it is situated in a geographically advantageous position rich in seafood resources. Turkish cuisine is further enriched by dishes and desserts prepared with dough. However, food preparation and cooking methods, equipment, storage conditions, presentation styles, consumption habits, spices, and sauces bear traces of various culinary cultures. Wars, natural disasters, political events, trade routes, and religious structures are among the factors that most significantly influence these differences. …

Lost But Not Found: Southern Appalachia, Migration Patterns, And Culinary Tourism, Ashli Q. Stokes, Wendy Atkins-Sayre

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

Despite growing acknowledgement of the variety of cultures that developed Southern Appalachia’s cuisine, some popular food writing continues to highlight the so-called insular nature of its food, drink, and culinary festivals. Regional tourists, especially those visiting its Blue Ridge or Smoky mountains, also remain likely to experience a delimited, often problematic Scots-Irish or white-European pioneer past, including when they eat and drink. Billboards advertise the outlaw Hatfield and McCoy Dinner Show, visitors choose from moonshine tastings in dilapidated looking but new distilleries, and diners enjoy gourmet biscuits alongside gravy “flights” at trendy restaurants in Asheville, North Carolina. Appalachian Studies and …

“Ptasie Mleczko,” “Schabowy” Or “Pierogi”? Polish Foods And Dishes In Ireland, Marzena Keating

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

Following the accession of ten Central and Eastern European countries to the European Union in 2004, Ireland witnessed the influx of migrants, the largest group coming from Poland. To cater for their culinary needs specialized shops and dining establishments started to emerge in cities and towns across Ireland. Well-established supermarket chains, such as, for example, Supervalu, Tesco and Lidl, began selling typical Polish food products that would appeal to this community. Various events celebrating Polish traditions, including culinary ones, have been organized throughout Ireland. Additionally, Polish recipes have often occurred in Irish local and national newspapers. This research, based on …

The Women Eat Last: Traditions, Table Manners, And Gender Narratives At The Romanian Dining Table, Alexandra Constantinescu

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

Rooted in a rich history, with decades of oppressive politics and patriarchal displays of power, Romanian culture is shaped by complex narratives of resistance, endurance, adaptation, and transformation. Gender discourses in traditional Romanian culture portray women as the ideal frontline worker, heroic mother, outstanding housewife and an active member of the community. Expected to sacrifice personal aspirations and lifestyle for the well-being of others, they would almost exclusively be tasked with sourcing, preparing, and serving food for the family. They would be the last to sit at the family dining table - and the last to eat. In contrast, the …

To The Taste Of Ghurba: Diasporic Food And Oral Memories Of Tunisia In Europe, Gabriele Proglio

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

During an oral history research on the larger European open-air market in Turin, called “Porta Palazzo,” Tunisian people replied to my questions using the Tunisian-Arab word ghurba in order to define their condition of being in diaspora. Ghurba is a specific emotion about the condition of separation and estrangement. It is used for describing the situation of being a foreigner, migrant, illegal, invisible in a land away from home. For this reason, it evokes a state of abandonment, loneliness, isolation but also it is used for yearning a reconnection and socialization with an idea of community based on memories of …

“Praying And Eating”: The Preservation Of Jewish Food Traditions In The Wake Of Brexit Trauma, Angela Hanratty

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

This research examines the impact that Brexit, the Northern Ireland Protocol, and the Windsor Framework have had on the food traditions of the Jewish population of Ireland, through focusing on the lived experience of the Jewish communities of Belfast and Dublin and their collective memory. While there has been much debate on the lasting effect of the UK leaving the EU on industry and agriculture, the deleterious impact on the kosher observant in Ireland has been less documented, with specific challenges for the preservation of food traditions in a community with a history “full of praying and eating” (Maurice Cohen, …

An Urban Vegetable Garden: A Blooming For The Food Memory Of The Future, Cynthia Luderer

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

This work concerns an urban vegetable garden beyond 200 plots in Famalicão (northern Portugal) and aims to check out mnemic narratives circulating there linked to gastronomy and technical agricultural resources that have been used in the past. This research has been developed since last December/2022 and will check this environment for four seasons of the year. Its methodology is based on an ethnographic exercise, using flanerie dynamics and the application of interviews with open-ended questions. This analysis is supported by the Anthropology of Food, the concept of Collective Memory, by Halbwachs, and the Semiotics of Culture, by Iuri Lotman, approaching …

The Limitations And Future Of Isotope Analysis In Forensic Anthropology, Kris Weller

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

This research paper will discuss the applications of isotope analysis in forensic anthropology, focusing on the limitations of this technique and its potential future uses. Isotope analysis is based on the principle that isotope ratios vary across geographic regions and that humans incorporate those unique isotope ratios into their bodies when they eat and drink. Forensic anthropology uses isotope analysis to determine a decedent’s approximate region of origin or residence. It is especially in cases where the remains are partially or highly decomposed, and when other avenues of investigation have been exhausted. In its current form, the applications of isotope …

Human Experience In The Immersive Experience Economy, Beliz Yuksel Inal

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the growing trend of immersive experiences, examining how they are designed and experienced. It compares the artistic Machine Hallucination and the commercial Van Gogh Immersive Experience examples. Analyzing audience engagement and social contexts, the research aims to understand the impact of immersive experiences on individuals and society.

Evaluating The Integration Of Traditional And Western Medicine In Rural Ghana: The Role Of Healers And The Government, Teresa Nicole Lemon

Poster Presentations

A question of pressing importance for the healthcare system in Ghana is the integration between biomedicine, which is unreachable for many rural citizens, and traditional medicine, which fills in the gaps in access for rural and non-rural citizens seeking care and is utilized by 70% of the population. The WHO promotes integrated health systems and created strategies to assist governments in their efforts.

The Ghanaian government did create policies to aid in integration, but their attempt to integrate was unsuccessful. This, along with other factors, has led some scholars to consider the government’s efforts as “tokenistic”; however, they do not …

Constructing Trust Among Large-Scale Organizations: An Archaeological Case Of Collective Action From Tlaxcallan, Mexico, Marc Daniel Marino

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Within nation-states, agencies, cooperatives, and other groups seeking to coordinate in the management of resources, conflicting interests can hinder cooperation and preclude joint action. Increasing transparency in resource management policies and facilitating communication among groups can reduce cooperative dilemmas by building trust. Developments in collective action research have demonstrated that increased communication and transparency among participants can build trust because future outcomes and behaviors can be predicted based on observations of past actions. Archaeology provides case studies to explore some of the earliest attempts by nation-states to reduce tensions caused by competing factions. This dissertation explores one such case study …

How Gender Affirming Care Affects The Current Sex Estimation Standards In Forensic Anthropology: A Preliminary Study, Dakota Taylor

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Current sex estimation standards in forensic anthropology are based on individuals whose gender matches their biological/osteological sex, also known as Cisgendered individuals. Recently, transgender individuals have started to become more common in the forensic context due to the increase in hate crimes and violence. This research builds upon past research done on how facial feminization surgery can affect both visual and metric methods, where it was found that forensic anthropologists should rely on the visual methods if they suspect someone to be transgender due to it being more accurate and being able to clearly state the scars left on the …