Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

Covid-19’S Effects On Mortality Salience, Death Anxiety, And Worldview Defense, Sahvannah K. Shavers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since late-2019, the world has been trying to overcome an invisible killer: COVID-19. With near constant reminders of the virus the knowledge that a tiny viral particle has potential to harm or even kill has become overwhelming for many. Terror Management Theory (TMT) suggests that when individuals are reminded of their own death people take part in culturally appropriate activities and defend their own culture as ways to alleviate this increased death anxiety. The current study aims to identify whether 1) reminders of COVID-19 prime death thoughts, 2) reminders of COVID-19 increase death anxiety, and 3) increased death anxiety from …

Worrying In Cato Manor: A Case Study Analysis On The Influence Of Context, Samantha Garbus

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Social Causation theory states that social and economic circumstances cause people to be at a higher risk of mental illness (Lund 2011, p.1). South Africa has high inequality, with racial disparities prevalent in multiple indicators of socioeconomic status. Moreover, mental health in South Africa has often not been prioritized. This project aimed to assess how context impacts relevant aspects of mental health, such as worrying and the mind/body stress-response in Cato Manor. An additional theme of community beliefs on stress emerged from the interviews which is also presented.

For this project, I used a Mixed Methods-Case Study research design. I …

Duelos Incompletos: La Situación Actual Del Acceso A Servicios De Salud Mental Para Los Sobrevivientes Del Conflicto Armado En Ayacucho, Olivia Frison De Angelis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La salud mental es un asunto relativamente nuevo en el Perú. En la ciudad andina de Ayacucho en la provincia de Huamanga, el gobierno solamente empezó a financiar proyectos de salud mental accesibles a las comunidades campesinas en los últimos seis años, desde 2016. Considerando que la región de Ayacucho ha sufrido el número más alto de muertes y desaparecidos durante el conflicto armado interno de 1980 hasta 2000, es atroz que estas medidas han empezado tan tarde. Entretanto, mientras que las conversaciones avanzan sobre cómo seguir haciendo reparaciones de salud mental a los sobrevivientes del conflicto, ellos siguen con …

The Maps Of Us: Generational Trauma, Community Building, And Creative Resistance In Amman, Jordan, Neha Malik

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research study focuses on the intersections of generational trauma, community-building, and creative resistance to observe the impacts of intergenerational trauma on social-political processes, including the role of community spaces and creativity in building social movements in Amman, Jordan. Understanding the implications of generational trauma can help bring an understanding of its prevalence, what populations need to thrive in the face of generational trauma, organizing successful social movements, and the political implications of generational trauma in Jordanian society. By conducting interviews with local Palestinian families, psychologists, activists, community leaders, and creatives, the research study found that generational trauma plays a …

Vedantic Basis And Praxis Of The Integral Advaita Of Sri Aurobindo, Debashish Banerji

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The integral nondualism of Sri Aurobindo can be traced to the great pronouncements (mahāvākya) of the Upanishads and later commentaries. This study examines teachings on the Supermind (vijñāna) and the other four kinds of consciousness that define human reality: Matter (annaṃ), Life (prāṇaḥ), Mind (manaḥ), and Bliss (ānanda). Through Yoga and Tantra, one learns and embodies the pathway to the divine.

Digital And Spatial Humanities Mapping: Eurasia-Pacific Early Trade And Belief Linkages, Igor Sitnikov, David Blundell

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The Eurasia-Pacific is a dynamic region of rapid economic growth, cultural awareness, natural resource exploration, and military buildup. The concept of the region is relatively new, featuring contested vast areas of geo-resource space of numerous cultures and languages. The current findings in anthropology and archaeology and even its more specific subfields such as folklore are important contribution to the understanding of periodic environmental changes and technical innovations were the main forces of transformations in social structures that have determined the mechanisms and levels of cross-cultural trade activity across the region. We have traced early trade and belief linkages across Eurasia-Pacific …

Tusha Hiti: The Origin And Significance Of The Name, Deepak Shimkhada

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

In this article, the author examines the royal bath called Tushā Hiti located in Sūndari Chowk (Beautiful Courtyard) of Pātan Durbar Square, using six different methods of investigation. The question: What is in a name? started the ball of investigation rolling and along the way were added more supporting blocks such as history, iconography, function and purpose, notion of purity and impurity, and finally the hiti in popular culture to get a complete picture of the subject in question.

Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion: Perspectives From Contemporary India And 6th Century Jain Yoga, Christopher Key Chapple

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

Times New Roman

Ganges In Indian Sculpture And Literature: Mythology And Personification, Nalini Rao

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The river Ganges is a symbol of wealth, purity and eternity, and its sacred waters have inspired sages, philosophers, and artists in India who have immortalized its divine imagery. However, it has rarely been understood from a historical point of view, as to how it became so sacred and to view it from a multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary perspective with an accumulation of layers of historical thought and practices, provides a rationale for the living practices around the river. The paper explores the evolution of the concept of sacredness and eternity of River Ganges through art- historical and archaeological evidence. It …

Racial Discrimination In Life Insurance, William G. Gale, Kyle D. Logue, Nora Cahill, Rachel Gu, Swati Joshi

Law & Economics Working Papers

We examine the historical and statistical relationship between race and life insurance. Life insurance can play a central role in households’ financial security. Race has played an important and changing role in the provision of life insurance in the U.S. from slave insurance before the Civil War, to “Scientific Racism” continuing into the 20th century, to policies that do not explicitly mention race in recent decades. In empirical work using new data, we confirm earlier work showing that Black individuals have higher life insurance coverage rates than white individuals, controlling for observable characteristics. We find no difference in the likelihood …

Visionary Art As Evolving Consciousness, Azul Delgrasso

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Visionary art is art that is not confined by form, it argues that the artist who creates spiritual art allows the spirit to guide them, rather than relying on traditional form or technique. This can result in art that is incredibly unique and expressive, as it comes from a place of pure creativity and intuition. It also examines the visionary art of Alex Grey whose works offer a gateway into a different state of consciousness, where the viewer can access new insights and perspectives. In in a world that is becoming increasingly disconnected from the creative body, visionary art can …

Comparison Of Chinese And Western Arts Mirroring The Evolvement Of Consciousness, Rui Peng

Journal of Conscious Evolution

A few researchers of consciousness in the West demonstrate that the development of western art mirrors the evolvement of human Consciousness since human civilization emerged. This paper explores the differences in art development between China and the West by comparing the artworks in the same era. Furthermore, discussing why the Chinese scholar art over two thousand years does not reflect the same structures of Consciousness that western researchers defined.

A Grounded Approach To Integral Art Therapy: Initial Reflections On Art Materials, Natalia Gómez-Carlier

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Art therapy has the power to bring healing and wholeness as it expands globally, an awareness of the integral structure of consciousness can benefit an adaptation of this profession that is both integrative and respectful of multiple perspectives and cultural views. The art-making process in art therapy can ground experience, and art materials can serve as vehicles through which different structures on consciousness are elicited, experienced, documented, and integrated. Integral art therapy can study the use of art materials to activate an integral structure of consciousness. Integrality is defined by its ability to play simultaneously from all structures of …

Aesthetic Altruism: Consciousness Of Street Artists, Melanie Cheng

Journal of Conscious Evolution

In the past few decades, many street artists have gained international recognition and now straddle the worlds of actual street art – art in the streets, art in the public domain – and fine art – art that is perceived to be of a particular quality, shown in galleries or museums. Despite perhaps “transcending” the streets, most successful street artists choose to continue creating artwork in public spaces, both legally with permission, or illegally without. Street art is different from public art, which is categorically created through a public process; while some street art, if not created aesthetically or …

The Syndemic Landscape: A New Paradigm For Montana Suicide Prevention Grounded In Agricultural Renewal, Emory Chandler Padgett

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Montana has had one of the highest suicide rates in the nation for half a century, and since 2000, it has risen almost 50%. Despite suicide’s alarming persistence in the state, there has been minimal academic study of suicide or mental health specifically in Montana, so this thesis attempts to answer a few questions: Why does Montana have such a high suicide rate? Is there something culturally, historically, or socially unique about Montana that contributes to suicide? Are current prevention efforts helpful, harmful, or lacking? Could a consideration of culture and land benefit an understanding of suicide in Montana? What …

The Nature Of Anti-Asian American Xenophobia During The Coronavirus Pandemic: A Preliminary Exploration Into Envy As A Key Motivator Of Hate, Daisuke Akiba

Publications and Research

Background. The current Coronavirus pandemic has been linked to a dramatic increase in anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) hate incidents in the United States. At the time of writing, there does not appear to be any published empirical research examining the mechanisms underlying Asiaphobia during the current pandemic. Based on the stereotype content model, we investigated the idea that ambivalent attitudes toward AAPIs, marked primarily with envy, may be contributing to anti-AAPI xenophobia. Methods. Study 1 (N = 140) explored, through a survey, the link between envious stereotypes toward AAPIs and Asiaphobia. Study 2 (N = 167), …

Narrativas De La Autoconstrucción: Posicionalidades E Identidades En Migrantes Venezolanos En Quito, Ecuador, Vicente Bickel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this project is to explore the identities of the Venezuelan population in Quito, Ecuador. The country itself has received more than a million people from Venezuela, some who have continued their journey and around 500,000 who have stayed in Ecuador. Most migrants left to the unstable political situation in Venezuela which reached its breaking point around 2015, the year in which this population began to enter Ecuador en masse. The central question of this study is: "What is the self-constructed identity of Venezuelan migrants and refugees in the city of Quito, Ecuador and how has their migratory …

La Autenticidad Y El Yo: Un Análisis Sobre La Experiencia Urbana De Las Mujeres Indígenas En Ecuador, Madison L. Mcclellan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As research on the urban indigenous experience continues to expand, considerations of how indigenous populations understand, express and introspect upon their being indigenous in the city still proves an underexplored topic. The generalizing notion that indigenous persons are staticーin temporal, migratory and identity termsーcategorically conflicts with the growing trends of rural to urban migration patterns. Even more, deep-rooted indigenous-rural associations engender identity disorientations among indigenous women living in the city. The city becomes a space of self-confrontation and re-construction as indigenous women encounter questions of authenticity and shame.

Based in literature on identity, performance, authenticity and shame, this research considers …

A Hidden Emergency: Transgenerational Inheritance In The Next Generation Of Rwandans, Neila Gross

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Cases of physiological and psychological health disorders in the generation succeeding generation of the 1994 genocide are rising at an alarming pace. The presented work herein details a qualitative and quantitative approach to understanding the transmission of trauma from the surviving population of the 1994 Genocide Against Tutsi in their offspring using the APA PTSD System Scale-Interview (PSS-I). Several variables including age, gender and background were employed in this study. The results indicate that offspring born of targeted survivors of the 1994 Genocide Against Tutsi show increased trends of experiencing PTSD symptoms with children born in 1994 exhibiting the greatest …

Comparación Entre Las Percepciones Médicas Y Psicológicas De La Diabetes Tipo 2 Y La Tuberculosis En El Ecuador, Héctor Ortiz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Research Question: What are the differences and similarities between the perceptions of the medical and psychological management of both type 2 diabetes and tuberculosis? Objectives: The principal objective of this study is to understand the perceptions behind DM2 and TB as well as how these perceptions affect the care of these diseases. Secondary objectives are to define the epidemiological transition, describe the medical and psychological management and care of DM2 and TB, analyze how the people perceive the management and psychological care of DM2 and TB, and analyze the comparison of the perceptions of both diseases. Background: The epidemiological transition …

“My Daughter Was Sacrificed By My Mother”: Women’S Involvement In Ritually Motivated Violence And Murder In Contemporary Africa, Chima Agazue

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Ritually motivated crimes are grave crimes that continue to plague contemporary Africa. Occasionally, victims abducted for ritual purposes are discovered and set free. Fresh or decomposing bodies are spotted somewhere, often with missing parts taken by the ritual killers who killed the victims. Some missing persons in the continent are presumed to have been abducted or killed by ritually motivated criminals. Although ritually motivated crimes take different forms, most of them involve brutal acts of violence and murder. The barbaric manner in which these criminals attack or slaughter their victims creates fear and panic. Traditionally, men commit serious crimes involving …

Lgbt Inclusivity In Transpersonal Psychology: A Case For Incorporating Lgbt Spiritual Experiences In Transpersonal Education, Daniel A. Seda, Phd

Journal of Conscious Evolution

After conducting three qualitative interviews on the somatic experiences of transgender individuals and finding relatively few resources with which to draw significant conclusions in the field, it is clear that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) scholarship is severely lacking in transpersonal psychology.

Method: This research revealed that an understanding and appreciation for the lived experiences of gay people––specifically that of gay men––are also limited and are not appropriately represented through the use of feminist or queer models. Therefore, an alarming number of issues affecting the transgender and gay male populations are not being adequately addressed within the discipline of …

Book Review: Mythic Imagination Today: The Interpretation Of Mythology And Science By Terry Marks-Tarlow, Ivana Gligoric

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Terry Marks-Tarlow interprets mythology and science as endless curiosity about the workings of the Universe, combing with humans’ creative urges to transform inner and outer worlds. The author perceives mythology as a universal product of the human imagination in interaction with the physical and social world, driven by the urge to communicate with others symbolically and make meaning out of life experiences. Moreover, Marks-Tarlow studied the origins of a human story within the social brain, mythmakers, and myths from multiple cultures. At the same time, she explored how contemporary sciences of chaos, complexity theories, and fractal geometry unite with ancient …

Book Review: If Women Rose Rooted: A Life Changing Journey To Authenticity And Healing By Sharon Blackie, Katherine T. Ziemke

Journal of Conscious Evolution

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Mythic Imagination Today: The Interpenetration Of Mythology And Science, Alexandra Sedgwick

Journal of Conscious Evolution

No abstract provided.

Relative And Absolute: States Of Consciousness And Turiya, Jenna Mcdonald

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This paper aims to explore the phenomena of dreaming, waking, sleeping and the witness-consciousness that is exists in and through all three states. It draws from current and past literature about consciousness, helping to build a framework for both psychological and spiritual development. It correlates the pause between the inhale and exhale to the self-evident junction between dreaming, sleep and waking states.

Nondual Writing: A Perspective On Who Owns Ideas, And A Way To Write With Greater Ease, Andrew Erdman

Journal of Conscious Evolution

The act of writing can cause great anxiety, stoking flames of perfectionism and fears of criticism, narcissistic injury, or indifference. While Buddhist teachings provide liberation from such egoic loneliness, it is not often recognized that postmodern and post-structural thought may also put the “author” and their “writing” in a less-individualized context—one in which a written work is understood to be in fact an ongoing process taking shape in interactions among writer, reader, critic, fan, and the world of literature at large. Keeping such a model in mind can help return joy to the act of writing as it poses the …

Assessing Latinx Colorism And Skin Tone Dating Preferences In Adults, Yessica M. Berumen Martinez

Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado

Colorism is favoring by individuals of lighter skin over darker skin. This differs from racism because racism is discrimination directed towards racial or ethnic minorities, while colorism typically refers to within-group prejudice. The purpose of this study is to find out whether and how Latinx individuals’ self-perceived skin color, family, and friends influence their dating skin color preference. 145 respondents ages 18 and over completed the In-group Colorism Scale by Harvey, Banks, and Tennial (2017) and answered additional questions on skin tone perceptions on dating, and parent and friend influences. There was no significant connection between self-perceived skin color and …

Identity Transformation Through Substance Use Disorder Recovery: Introducing The Six Stage Model, Naomi Watkins, Austin Mcneill Brown, Kayce Courson

The Qualitative Report

Narratives of substance use disorder recovery experience can provide useful qualitative conceptual categories and novel theories about the way in which recovery is experienced by individuals. This information can better inform definitions, concepts, and supports for recovery processes. The current study reviewed 30 written personal recovery biographies which were contained within student applications to the collegiate recovery program housed in the Center for Young Adult Addiction and Recovery at Kennesaw State University. Using grounded theory methodology, common benchmarks, or topographic recovery features were revealed involving the evolution of identity as an inter-negotiated process throughout the addiction and recovery biographies (Charmaz, …

Language As The Medium: A Literature Review. Harnessing The Prolific Power Of Dramatic Language As A Therapeutic Tool In Drama Therapy, Edward Freeman

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Language in and of the theatre, with its palate of variegated writing styles and playwrights from throughout time, has the potential to be harnessed, focused, and systematized for use as a therapeutic tool within drama therapy – the field’s artistic medium. Drama therapy could benefit from having a specific medium germane to its artform which has the potential to provide practitioners with a common resource and means of communication, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning, as well as align the field with other creative arts therapies. Language encompasses all forms of human communication – speaking, writing, signing, gesturing, expressing facially – …