Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

Fire On The Prisoners: An Autoethnographic Study Of Ethics In Historical Storytelling, A. Trae Mcmaken

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During field experience as a storyteller constructing a performance based on the Battle of Kings Mountain on behalf of the Overmountain Victory Trail Association and the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, I encountered ethical and philosophical dilemmas. This challenge centered on ethical and spiritual convictions that put me in potential conflict with the task of creating a performance about war. This experience forms the basis of an autoethnographic approach to the art form, revealing the critical role played by personal ethics and a functioning engagement with historiography and narrative theory in producing effective performance stories. Historical performance storytelling has little …

"As Our Elders Taught Us To Speak It": Chinuk Wawa And The Process Of Creating Authenticity, Kylie N. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chinuk Wawa (also called Chinook Jargon) began as a trading language of the Pacific Northwest in the late eighteenth century. As it developed, it became the major heritage language of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, an intertribal nation located in Oregon. Now, as older speakers of the language pass on, there is an effort by the Grand Ronde to revitalize this language not only on the Grand Ronde Reservation, but also in nearby Portland, Oregon. However, revitalization can be a complicated process, as tribal leaders attempt to define Chinuk to maintain its traditions while adapting its vocabulary for …

Last (Un)Fair Deal Goin' Down: A Case Study On The Racial Ideologies And Projects Advanced By The Blues Tourism Industry In Clarksdale, Mississippi, Kathryn Anne Radishofski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Considerations regarding the mechanisms through which cultural commodification may be woven into the fabric of racial inequity are indispensible when conducting research on African American music tourism in the United States, as white consumers and producers may attach invidious racial mythologies to such heritage, while the industries themselves often take root in communities inhabited by multiple racial groups possessing disparate social and economic power. With these bearings in mind, this thesis assesses the impact of blues tourism development on the experiences of, and between, blacks and whites in Clarksdale, Mississippi, an endemically impoverished Delta city populated by a sizable African …

A Joining Of Hands: Form, Function, And Diversity At A Buddhist Monastery In Batesville, Mississippi, Tanna Tan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Buddhism is a religious tradition that spans the globe, and has erupted in popularity in the United States since the 1960s. This is a study of Thã­ch Nhat Hanh's "mindfulness" practice center, Magnolia Grove Monastery, in Batesville, Mississippi. Participant observation and interviews are implemented to understand the local concerns of its practitioners, and how they deal with these concerns. "Mindfulness" practice is made locally relevant to its practitioners through what I term "localization processes." these processes enable members at the site to negotiate different meanings of this tradition amongst themselves. An individual's "localization process" consists of several "boundaries" or elements …

Redefining, Crafting, And Re/Presenting Contemporary Ethnicities: Honduran National Identity, 1994–2006, Cordelia A. Frewen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the last quarter of the twentieth century, Fourth World populations, including those in Honduras, have been steadily gaining partial recognition of cultural rights; yet often official discourses of national identity continue to subsume cultural traditions of indigenous and Afro-descendant communities. Honduras's heterogeneous ethnic pluralism has historically been combined to promote a more cohesive national identity of a homogenized, mayanized, indo-Hispanic mestizaje. Exclusion and mis- or under-representation of indigenous groups is reinforced by popular imagination, particularly in the cultural heritage and tourism sectors. Firmly situated within regional Latin American and global trends, over the past two decades, official discourse on …

Mais Bonito Da Região: The Cacao-Producing Region Of Cachoeira Alta, Bahia, And The Transition From Wage Labor To Small Farming, Rodney D. Parker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The support needed for upward social mobility within the field of agriculture, from a laborer to a self-sufficient, small farmer, requires an agricultural and market-based knowledge to which few wage laborers are privy. Small-scale farmers suffer shortcomings within regional and global markets because of their inability to respond to increased demand due to a lack of access to assets and capital. Despite such difficulties, in some agricultural sectors wage laborers have successfully made the transition to small landholders. In this thesis I seek to answer what factors led to the emergence of a smallholding cacao-producing population from a wage-laboring class …

The Art Of Going Beyond In Hossana, Ethiopia, Megan Elizabeth Flowers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examine what education as development means for the men and women who live in Hossana town, Ethiopia. The ethnographic focus of this study is on understanding how education as development evokes different meanings for socio-political participation by rural students at a teacher training college and townspeople respectively. I discuss these conceptual differentiations in relation to the changes in beliefs and strategies that have occurred in Hossana and greater Ethiopia elsewhere over the course of several decades of local and global changes in the social order. I use the emic category of yilhunnta, as the social recognition …

Cracker Barrel's Culture: Exporting The South On America's Interstate Exits, Susan Nicola Penman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® is a chain restaurant and gift shop with its origins in the South. Formed in 1969 in Lebanon, Tennessee, its success story is one that has much to do with how the company has decided to market and advertise itself along regional lines. This thesis explores the regional elements in Cracker Barrel's language, products, and reputation. It focuses on the company's geographic origins, its history and company lore, and the impact of imitating a historically segregated space (the "old country store"). In addition to that, an integral part of this thesis is the role of …

Balancing Two Worlds: Female Indo-Fijian Immigrant Youth In Their Public And Private Domains And The Emergence Of The New Hybridity, Nitasha Ali

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the last 20 years immigration in Canada has increased due to the relaxed immigration laws. With such an increase it is vital to understand immigrant youth experiences in terms of how they express their national and cultural identity, how they negotiate different expectations of their host and homeland cultures, and how they identify themselves at a personal level. Many immigrant youths are faced with conflict, deriving from pressures of living in a new society and culture as well as pressure from their family and the homeland culture. These conflicts and expectations also have a gendered layer in that female …

Navigating The Paradox Of Fear: Collaborative Research Exploring Resettlement And Vulnerability With Displaced Women In Colombia, Emily E. R. Braucher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In April of 2008, the Colombian Constitutional Court issued a report based on women's testimonials that identified gender-specific risks associated with forced displacement as result of armed conflict. This study explores the coping strategies employed by Colombian women to address socio-economic vulnerability and improve living conditions during resettlement in Bogotá. Specifically, the research tracks the process of adaptation during the struggle to achieve economic stability. The findings suggest that a prevailing culture of fear influences multiple aspects of adjusting to the city and constricts the participants' access to new social networks. Lessons gathered from the participants using collaborative anthropological methods …

Rescued, Rehabilitated, Returned: Institutional Approaches To The Rehabilitation Of Survivors Of Sex Trafficking In India And Nepal, Robynne A. Locke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite participating in rehabilitation programs, many survivors of sex trafficking in India and Nepal are re-trafficked, ‘voluntarily’ re-enter the sex industry, or become traffickers or brothel managers themselves. This thesis discusses the challenges of institutional rehabilitation from a critical theory perspective. Drawing from three months of participant observation, interviews, and focus groups with rehabilitation professionals, this thesis will show that there has been a recent, positive shift in the discourse of survivor rehabilitation at the institutional level. However, a focus on individual rather than holistic change, the structure of the rehabilitation process, and a lack of assessment tools has made …

Where Have All The Utopias Gone? Ritual, Solidarity, And Longevity In A Multifaith Commune In New Mexico, Linda Prueitt Hansen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Utopian experiments creating new forms of community have dotted the globe throughout human history. Despite grandiose visions, a majority of communal experiments have faded quickly into oblivion. A wealth of scholarship has focused on reasons why communes typically fail. My research of an ecumenical commune in northern New Mexico examines what has facilitated its perpetuation for over 42 years. I participated in this community for different periods of time for over three years. With the assistance of a resident oral historian, I was able to expand my study into a diachronic view that spanned decades. I conclude that there are …

"In My Heart I Had A Feeling Of Doing It": A Case Study Of The Lost Boys Of Sudan And Christianity, Kathryn Snyder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While members of the southern Sudanese Dinka tribe converted to Christianity in large numbers in the early 1990s, the Lost Boys, a largely Dinka group of young men who were separated from their families during the Sudanese civil war in the late 1980s, had a distinct conversion experience in refugees camps. Using first-person interviews and participant observation with a group of Lost Boys resettled in Denver, and historical and ethnographic data, this research seeks to explain why the Lost Boys converted to Christianity and the role that it played in their identity in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, and …

Perceptions On The Social Status Of Papiamentu In Contrast To Its Offical Significance In Aruba And Curacao, Keisha Wiel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many creole languages have been studied by linguists and anthropologists alike in order to gain a better understanding as to their formations and social status within their respective cultures. Theories such as the Language Bioprogram hypothesis created by Derek Bickerton researched explicitly the genesis of creoles, primarily the creoles in Guyana and Hawaii. Although many creole languages are the main vernaculars of many cultures, they are often seen as having a lower status than the official language, usually a European language. Papiamentu, a language spoken in Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire, has carried a prestige that many other creoles do not …

Understanding The Female Conceptualization Of Sexual Addiction And The Role Of Addiction Treatment, Megan Douglass

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Beginning with the diagnosis of nymphomania in the 19th Century, there has been widespread and continued interest across the mental health and bio-medical realm of what constitutes normality of female sexual behavior, and of the boundary at which sexual desire is deemed to be excessive, and thus abnormal. However, research questions that specifically investigate the subjective female voice and perspective in considerations of so-called hypersexuality or sex addiction remain understudied. This research project proposes to examine the cultural pathways and systemic foundations which have historically in the West problematized female sexuality by investigating women's own perceptions of sexual addiction and …

A Kachina By Any Other Name: Linguistically Contextualizing Native American Collections, Rachel Elizabeth Maxson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Museums collect and care for material culture, and, increasingly, intangible culture. This relatively new term for the folklore, music, dance, traditional practices, and language belonging to a group of people is gaining importance in international heritage management discourse. As one aspect of intangible cultural heritage, language is more relevant in museums than one might realize. Incorporating native languages into museum collections provides context and acts as appropriate museology, preserving indigenous descriptions of objects. Hopi katsina tihu are outstanding examples of objects that museums can re-contextualize with native terminology. Their deep connection to Hopi belief and ritual as well as their …

A Clash Of Worldviews: The Impact Of Modern Western Notion Of Progress On Indigenous Naga Culture, Tezenlo Thong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The term "progress" is a modern Western notion that life is always improving and advancing toward an ideal state. It is a vital modern concept which underlies geographic explorations and scientific and technological inventions as well as the desire to harness nature in order to increase human beings' ease and comfort. With the advent of Western colonization and to the great detriment of the colonized, the notion of progress began to perniciously and pervasively permeate across cultures.

During the classical colonial period, Western anthropologists, sociologists and others had hypothesized, or at least ardently bought into the notion, that human beings, …

Indigenous Sovereignty In State-Native Conflicts: A Comparative Study Of Process And Outcomes, Christina Farnsworth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, this study was designed to understand how indigenous groups assert their sovereign rights in conflict situations, and how they can be most successful in doing so.

Two instances of indigenous-state conflict were analyzed and compared both to each other and to a baseline of what sovereignty in conflict is, based on the United Nations Declaration. Data to be analyzed and compared was gathered through extensive archival research and interviews with tribal members and other interested parties.

The results documented the interaction between indigenous groups and state/provincial and federal governments …

Burial Practices In Southern Appalachia., Donna W. Stansberry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted in an attempt to determine whether certain burial practices are unique to the people of Southern Appalachia. Eight individuals were interviewed, including a minister and a funeral director. As a result of the research, it was found that, although a strong sense of community and religion still prevails, making certain burial rituals distinctive to the people of Southern Appalachia, they are slowly eroding due to the growing presence of the modern American funeral industry.

Qualitative research methods were used to analyze a segment of the Southern Appalachian population, with literature reviews of related material and in-depth …

Food And Drink Of Elizabethan England As Reflected In The Literature Of The Age., Elizabeth Frederick Baggerly 1901-1988

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.