Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

Collaborative Research To Assess Visitor Impacts On Alaska Native Practices Along Alagnak Wild River, Douglas Deur, Karen Evanoff, Adelheid Hermann, Alexanna Salmon

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

As one of the region’s famously productive salmon rivers, the Alagnak’s banks historically were lined with villages of both Yup’ik and Alutiiq residents, and archaeological data document millennia of human occupation.

People Of Snowy Mountain, People Of The River: A Multi-Agency Ethnographic Overview And Compendium Relating To Tribes Associated With Clark County, Nevada, Douglas Deur, Deborah Confer

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The current document has been undertaken to assist agencies in meeting their obligations for federally mandated compliance and consultation with Indian tribes that have historical associations with Clark County. The document has been designed in part to provide an overview of the territorial associations of various tribes with ties to this area. This is accomplished using ethnohistorical documentation as well key legal documents, such as treaty language and Indian Claims Commission findings, that establish parameters for agency consultation responsibilities. Managers of Clark County’s federal lands have been eager to identify those tribes that are tied to the area in various …

Book Review Of, Pushing For Midwives: Homebirth Mothers And The Reproductive Rights Movement, Jennifer Aengst

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reviews the book "Pushing for Midwives: Homebirth Mothers and the Reproductive Rights Movement" by Christa Craven

Book Review Of, Paul Shankman. The Trashing Of Margaret Mead: Anatomy Of An Anthropological Controversy, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reviews the book "The Trashing of Margaret Mead: Anatomy of an Anthropological Controversy," by Paul Shankman.

Tourism, Persistence, And Change: Sherpa Spirituality And Place In Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) National Park And Buffer Zone, Nepal, Jeremy Spoon

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Ecotourism and cultural tourism are emerging as vehicles for many of the world’s indigenous peoples to integrate into the global market economy. The ecological knowledge and understanding of these societies may in turn be affected by these nascent industries. As part of shifting human-environment relationships, tourism can influence place-based spirituality. In this manuscript, I describe research on how tourism affected Khumbu Sherpa place-based spiritual values in Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park and Buffer Zone, Nepal. As Tibetan Buddhists, the Sherpa embodied dual overlapping conceptions of sacred landscape that connected people to place in some environmentally sustainable ways. Since the 1960s, …

A New Perspective On Late Holocene Social Interaction In Northwest Alaska: Results Of A Preliminary Ceramic Sourcing Study, Shelby L. Anderson, Matthew T. Boulanger, Michael D. Glascock

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research examines the evidence for prehistoric ceramic exchange networks over the last 2000 years in northwest Alaska through the use of neutron activation analysis of ceramic artifacts. Results from ceramic analysis on eight coastal and inland archaeological sites identified three source macrogroups and three associated subgroups. Clay source diversity and shared source macrogroups between geographically distant sites suggest the use of multiple sources and/or the movement of pots between production locales, mirroring related patterns in pottery stylistic data. Although additional analytical work is needed to fully understand the changing character of clay procurement and ceramic distribution across this time …

Sri Lankan Migration To The Gulf: Female Breadwinners - Domestic Workers, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Several waves of Sri Lankan migration have taken place since the country gained independence in 1948. Beginning in the mid-1950s, wealthy, educated, English-speaking elites have migrated to Commonwealth countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom. In addition, since the upsurge in ethnic hostilities in the early 1980s, Tamil-speaking Hindu migrants have left the country, with many settling in Canada. In contrast with these permanent migrants, since 1976 a growing number of Sri Lankans have become migrant workers. The leading destination for this migrant labor force — the majority of whom are women — has been the Gulf.

Comments On The Emergence And Persistence Of Inequality In Premodern Societies, Kenneth M. Ames

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The author discusses the development and persistence of permanent inequality in human societies. He comments on an article which undertakes inequality in premodern societies and proposed that intergenerational wealth transmission is the reason for the evolution and persistence of inequality, mentioning the three categories of wealth including material, relational, and embodied.

Local And Traditional Knowledge And The Historical Ecology Of Pacific Herring In Alaska, Thomas F. Thornton, Madonna L. Moss, Virginia L. Butler, Jamie Hebert, Fritz Funk

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The article focuses on the historical ecology of the Pacific herring, a marine food web resource, in the Gulf of Alaska. It states the hearing conducted by the Alaska Legislature's House special committee on fisheries on the status and management of herring in Southeast Alaska during which Tlingit fisherman Clarence Jackson of Kake notes the disappearance of herring in his lifetime. Information on herring ecology based from Native and non-Native individuals from Southeast communities and archaeological site reports reveal that non-Natives in Southeast Alaska have exploited herring with the development of a herring reduction plant. It underscores the need for …

Sri Lanka’S Post-Tsunami Recovery: Cultural Traditions, Social Structures And Power Struggles, Michele Ruth Gamburd, Dennis B. Mcgilvray

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 26, 2004 killed over 220,000 people and affected two million more in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and other Indian Ocean nations. As the world reels under the impact of more recent disasters in Haiti, Peru and Pakistan, we consider lessons learned about postdisaster relief and recovery from the aftermath of the tsunami in Sri Lanka.

The tsunami waves caused by an undersea subduction earthquake off the coast of Sumatra devastated 70% of Sri Lanka’s coastline and killed 35,000 people. Days after the disaster, Dennis McGilvray joined forces with Michele Gamburd to organize an …

Book Review Of, Pei-Chia Lan. Global Cinderellas: Migrant Domestics And Newly Rich Employers In Taiwan, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reviews the book "Global Cinderellas: Migrant Domestics and Newly Rich Employers in Taiwan," by Pei-Chia Lan.

Advocating For Sri Lankan Migrant Workers: Obstacles And Challenges, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nearly a million Sri Lankan women labor as migrant workers, the vast majority in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in West Asia. They are poorly paid and vulnerable to a wide variety of exploitative labor practices at home and abroad. Despite the importance of worker remittances to the national economy, and in spite of Sri Lanka’s history of organized labor and active political participation, migrants have received only anemic support from the state, labor unions, feminist organizations, and migrant-oriented nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The article contextualizes Sri Lankan migration within larger-scale economic dynamics (such as global capitalist policies and processes) …

Book Review Of, Diane P. Mines. Fierce Gods: Inequality, Ritual, And The Politics Of Dignity In A South Indian Village, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reviews the book "Fierce Gods: Inequality, Ritual, and the Politics of Dignity in a South Indian Village," by Diane P. Mines.

Alagnak Wild River Visitor Use Project: Alagnak Wild River Resident User Study, Douglas Deur

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report represents a thematic summary of findings from the Alagnak Wild River Resident Users Study, the final project in a larger series of studies conducted for the National Park Service (NPS) as part of the Alagnak Wild River Visitor Use Project. The National Park service administers the 56 miles of designated Wild River along the Alagnak in collaboration with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which manages fish and wildlife populations along the river. The NPS is charged with managing the river’s natural and cultural resources, as well as preserving the river’s lands and resources for current and …

Milk Teeth And Jet Planes: Kin Relations In Families Of Sri Lanka’S Transnational Domestic Servants, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This essay examines the confluence of local and global dynamics, exploring how transnational migration affects and is affected by gender roles, kinship relations, intergenerational obligations, and ideologies of parenthood. Journeying to the Middle East repeated on two-year labor contracts, many of Sri Lanka’s migrant housemaids leave behind their husbands and children. Women’s long-term absences reorganize and disrupt widely accepted gendered attributions of parenting roles, with fathers and female relatives taking over household tasks. Migrants say that economic difficulties prompt migration, and assess commitment to kin in financial terms. The government also benefits from remittances. Nevertheless, stakeholders (villagers, politicians, and the …

Book Review Of, Caitrin Lynch. Juki Girls, Good Girls: Gender And Cultural Politics In Sri Lanka’S Global Garment Industry, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reviews the book "Juki Girls, Good Girls: Gender and Cultural Politics in Sri Lanka’s Global Garment Industry," by Caitrin Lynch

Book Review Of, Mark Whitaker. Learning Politics From Sivaram: The Life And Death Of A Revolutionary Tamil Journalist In Sri Lanka, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reviews the book "Learning Politics from Sivaram: The Life and Death of a Revolutionary Tamil Journalist in Sri Lanka," by Mark Whitaker.

The "Visions Of Pele" Competition And Exhibit At Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Jeremy Spoon

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The article provides an overview of the "Visions of Pele" competition and exhibit at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.

Money That Burns Like Oil: A Sri Lankan Cultural Logic Of Morality And Agency, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

New labor opportunities have drawn Sri Lankan women to work as domestic servants in the Middle East. Many migrants complain that their remittances "burn like oil," disappearing without a trace. The gendered discourse on burning remittances both draws on and contradicts an older cultural system that fetishizes money. The emerging logic provides symbolic resources for women to spend their remittances on advancements for the nuclear family, distancing themselves from other kin. (Migration, remittances, fetishism, Sri Lanka, Middle East)

Book Review Of, Plants Of Haida Gwaii, Douglas Deur

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reviews the book "Plants of Haida Gwaii" by Nancy J. Turner.

Book Review Of, Women In Post-Independence Sri Lanka, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reviews the book "Women in Post-Independence Sri Lanka," by Swarna Jayaweera

In The Wake Of The Gulf War: Assessing Family Spending Of Compensation Money In Sri Lanka, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Between 1997 and 2000, the United Nations Compensation Commission delivered US$ 4000 apiece to roughly 87,000 Sri Lankan citizens who suffered displacement and loss of employment due to Iraq’s military actions in Kuwait during the Gulf War. Using qualitative ethnographic data, this essay examines eleven case studies of Kuwait returnees in the village of Naeaegama, in southern Sri Lanka. Like the majority of Sri Lankans caught in the Gulf War, these returnees are women from poor rural families who worked as domestic servants in Kuwait. The essay compares how the eleven households have spent compensation money and migrants’ remittances. Spending …

Rethinking Precolonial Plant Cultivation On The Northwest Coast Of North America, Douglas Deur

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast of North America are widely believed to have been true “hunter-fisher-gatherers,” lacking plant cultivation of any kind. This depiction of the region's indigenous inhabitants emerged within early colonial accounts and was perpetuated within the literatures of geography, anthropology, and archaeology. Still, there is ample evidence of plant cultivation available from archival, archaeological, and ethnographic sources. In particular, the peoples of coastal British Columbia created large gardens of edible estuarine plants, using sophisticated indigenous technologies. The oversight of these practices in written representations of the region reveals consistent patterns of bias, emanating from the …

Contested Lands, Contested Identities: Revisiting The Historical Geographies Of North America's Indigenous Peoples, Douglas Deur

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In my work with the tribes and First Nations of western North America, I am told the same stories again and again. In intricate and sometimes gruesome detail, I am told how the white world, in its efforts to occupy and claim the western half of the continent over the last two centuries, employed myriad strategies—strategies of conquest—to separate indigenous peoples from their lands. And in these stories, tribal members, no matter their levels of education or backgrounds, recognize that the military conflicts, genocide, territorial dispossession and displacement, and enforced marginalization that has characterized Indian-white relations over this period cannot …

Recent Geographical Research On Indians And Inuit In The United States And Canada, Robert Rundstrom, Douglas Deur, Kate Berry, Richard Winchell

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

A geographical survey on Indians and Inuit in the United States and Canada..

Strategies Of Indian Burning In The Willamette Valley, Robert T. Boyd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This chapter, included in Indians, Fire and the Land in the Pacific Northwest, published by the Oregon State University Press in 1999, explores fires set by the aboriginal inhabitants of the Willamette valley.

In 1971, geographer Carl Johannessen and colleagues at the University of Oregon published an article, "The Vegetation of the Willamette Valley," which proposed that, prior to European contact, the Willamette Valley, though surrounded by dense forests of Douglas-fir, was an open oak.savanna grassland. They also presented historical evidence to show that these prairie grasslands were maintained by annual fires set by the aboriginal inhabitants of the …

Class Identity And The International Division Of Labor: Sri Lanka's Migrant Housemaids, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In 1996, 408,000 Sri Lankan women, nearly 10% of the country’s working-age women, worked abroad, many of them in the oil producing countries of the Persian Gulf. In this paper I compare the influence of international migration on local hierarchies of class and gender in two villages in southern Sri Lanka: a Sinhala-speaking Buddhist village where I did my doctoral dissertation research in 1992-4, and a Tamil-speaking Muslim village where I spent some time during the summer of 1997. I discuss the challenges of using ‘class’ as a unit of analysis in a non-Western setting where gender identities, family ties, …

Wearing A Dead Man's Jacket: State Symbols In Troubled Places, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

A village rumor concerning the attempted theft of a uniform from the corpse of a Sri Lankan army soldier supplies the subject matter for this paper. In May 1993, soon after the assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa, a spectacular local funeral for a Low Country Sinhalese soldier killed in the civil war near Trincomalee provided a space for the display of state symbols, the voicing of patriotic rhetoric, and the exhibition of the precision and discipline of the national army. Military pageantry legitimated the use of force by the government, while the funeral ritual as a whole produced a catharsis …

Sri Lanka's "Army Of Housemaids": Control Of Remittances And Gender Transformations, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

When the mass labor migration of women to the Middle East began in the early 1980's, many Sri Lankan social scientists predicted a revolution in gender equality and a greater participation by women in political and economic decision-making as a result of employment abroad. Noting that gender rarely correlates in predictable ways with social change, and questioning the dominant teleological ideology that change always happens for the better, this paper looks at relations between female migrants in a coastal village in the Southwest and the people responsible for spending and saving the money they remit to the village. Several case …