Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

A Place Like This: An Environmental Justice History Of The Owens Valley - Water In Indigenous, Colonial, And Manzanar Stories, Monica Embrey

Pomona Senior Theses

This text provides an environmental justice analysis of the stories of the people who lived in the Owens Valley, who watered its land and cultivated its crops—pine trees, apple trees, and kabocha alike. Telling the personal stories of challenge and resistance that manifested alongside the oppressive forces of military and state domination provides the opportunity to align forcibly relocated, exploited and incarcerated people’s struggles throughout time. This text starts with The Nü’ma Peoples who were the first humans to live in the Owens Valley and continues with the struggle for empire between rival colonial empires of agriculture and distant urban …

Indo-Portuguese Quilting Tradition: The Cross-Cultural Context, Patrick J. Finn

4th Biennial Symposium of the International Quilt Museum: Proceedings

The arrival of the Portuguese in India at the end of 15th century marks the beginning of a significant period of bilateral cultural exchange of quilting concepts, designs and techniques. As early as the 4th century BCE, India had developed a rich and varied textile tradition recognized internationally. Subsequent to the Portuguese opening the trade route around the Cape of Good Hope in 1498, many Europeans voyaged to India in search of trade opportunities. However, it was the Portuguese who initially explored the potential of Indian embroidered textiles, including quilts. “It was their familiarity with Islamic and Judaic culture which …

A Bioeconomic Approach To Marriage And The Sexual Division Of Labor, Michael Gurven, Jeffrey Winking, Hillard Kaplan, Christopher Von Rueden, Lisa Mcallister

ESI Publications

Children may be viewed as public goods whereby both parents receive equal genetic benefits yet one parent often invests more heavily than the other.We introduce a microeconomic framework for understanding household investment decisions to address questions concerning conflicts of interest over types and amount of work effort among married men and women. Although gains and costs of marriage may not be spread equally among marriage partners, marriage is still a favorable, efficient outcome under a wide range of conditions. This bioeconomic framework subsumes both cooperative and conflictive views on the sexual division of labor. We test hypotheses concerning marriage markets, …

13th Annual Petersheim Academic Exposition, Seton Hall University

Petersheim Academic Exposition

No abstract provided.

Swedish Quilts In The Context Of The Hemslöjd Movement, Laurel Horton

4th Biennial Symposium of the International Quilt Museum: Proceedings

During the late nineteenth century, when Swedes determined which textile arts would be promoted through their hemslöjd, or handicraft movement, they selected weaving and embroidery as representative of the indigenous textile expressions of their national heritage. In the twenty-first century, Swedes and tourists alike purchase kits to reproduce traditional embroidered items. Many modern Swedes order their own folkdräkt (folk dress) outfit representing their ancestral village, which are woven and sewn by artisans and worn for weddings and other ceremonial occasions. In all the ways that indigenous Swedish crafts are presented to the public, quilts are absent.

And yet, during a …

Mathematical Classroom Quilts, Elaine Krajenke Ellison

4th Biennial Symposium of the International Quilt Museum: Proceedings

In an effort to create a visual and historical basis to my classroom instruction, I began quilting high school mathematics topics in the early 1980's. The visual approach to teaching a lesson was successful in that the quilts engaged the students immediately. Students' motivation and enjoyment of mathematics were evident in their enthusiasm for the topic being studied. Cultural and historical connections evolved with the story of each quilt.

Quilting As A Mode Of Self-Expression Among Irish Women, Emer Fahy

4th Biennial Symposium of the International Quilt Museum: Proceedings

This paper arises from the research work of my M.A. in Women’s Studies at UCC in 2005, which addresses the motivations for women’s involvement in quilting. This work is supported by a scholarship from the Irish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences. In this paper I will focus on the importance of disidentification for women accessing quilting as a form of artistic self-expression.

My research shows that for many women, it is the cultural invisibility of quilts and quilting, supported by the myths of frugality and functionality surrounding them, that enables women to comfortably access this medium …

The Global Quilt: Cultural Contexts International Quilt Study Center & Museum 4th Biennial Symposium (Registration Brochure)

4th Biennial Symposium of the International Quilt Museum: Proceedings

Thursday, April 2
1:30–3:30 pm Guided tours of Quilt Museum exhibitions offered every hour on the half hour; last tour begins at 3:30 pm. Shuttle service from Holiday Inn–Downtown provided: 1–4 pm.
1:00–5:00 pm Registration & Information at Holiday Inn–Downtown
6:00–7:00 pm Registration & Information at International Quilt Study Center & Museum
7:00 pm Keynote Presentation by Jennifer Harris, Deputy Director of the Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester (Manchester, UK) Reception to follow. Shuttle service from Holiday Inn–Downtown provided.

Friday, April 3
8:00 am–4:30 pm Registration & Information at Holiday Inn–Downtown
8:30–10:30 am Concurrent Sessions
10:30–11:00 am Break
11:00 …

Ciis Today, Spring 2009 Issue, Ciis

CIIS Today

This volume is the Spring 2009 issue of CIIS Today, the Magazine of the California Institute of Integral Studies.

Early-Life Rituals And Mother Identities: Ways In Which Hindu Women Are Viewed In The Context Of Traditional Ritual Practices, Kidecia King

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

On April 27, 2009, the Saryu Parin Brahmin Parishad (SPBP) Society, through the help of member donations as well as the participation of 53 young men, carried out a mass yagyopaveet, or upanayana ceremony, to initiate young men into the Brahmin caste. This ceremony is what the society’s president Chandza Bhushan Dhar Dwivedi, as well as numerous other scholars of Vedic texts calls the second birth of the Brahmin—boy. The ceremony, according to Mr. Dwivedi, marks the Brahmin’s first step toward becoming a divine being, before this ceremony “he is no different from an animal,” and it is only through …

Un Juego De Identidad Y Percepción: Un Estudio De Caso De “Visuales,” Una Tribu Urbana En Viña Del Mar, Chile, Anya Bergman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper is a case study of an urban tribe in Chile called “Visual,” and specifically members of the tribe who live and/or attend events in Viña del Mar. Urban tribes have different connotations for different people, but for Visuales, the term signifies adherence, in whatever capacity desired, to certain codes and styles and a bond with a small group of tribe members. This particular urban tribe adapted its style from Japan, where a similar movement gained popularity in the 1990s. The members, like those in Chile, did not have a particular ideology but focused on music and extravagant aesthetic …

Anthropological Study Of Shain Library: Uses, Perceptions, And Recommendations, Ingrid Brudvig, Casey Corn, Reed Harris, Brendan Kempf, Sophie Marx, Nick Mercer, Lauren Moran, Erich Roberts

Anthropology Department Student Projects

In the spring of 2009 professor Benoit’s Applied Anthropology class conducted a comprehensive study on Connecticut College’s Shain Library. The class met with the library staff multiple times before deciding how to tackle the project. The research question posed was, how do students use and perceive the library? Does the library satisfy student’s needs, and if not what changes could be implemented to better the student body?

The class began by submitting a proposal of our project to the Institutional Review Board, and then proceeded with the investigation. Though the topic as a whole is an examination of Shain Library …

“Samoanizing” Human Rights: A Generational Comparative Of Views On Human Rights In Contemporary Samoa, Margaret R. Smith

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This report consists of a generational comparative of views on human rights in contemporary Samoa. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations in 1948, and is now compulsorily for all member nations. Samoa’s independence in 1962, with the implementation of a liberal democracy, meant an inescapable adoption of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Though Samoa’s constitution is unique with its incorporation of tradition and custom within a democratic system, the universal human rights bill is generic, allowing that it should mesh will all counties and cultures – an outcome that does not …

Shake It: A Study Of Traditional Dance And Drumming In Tanzania With The African Traditional Dance Group, Megan Browning

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study was conducted from April 11th 2009 to May 1st 2009 about Tanzanian traditional dance and drumming focusing specifically on the African Traditional Dance Group, ATDG, a well-established group in Arusha, Tanzania. The study aimed to gain perspectives on the role of traditional dance and drumming in Tanzania and how it is changing today in the face of westernization and globalization, and additionally to learn more about the personal histories of the artists in ATDG. Methods included participant observation, in the form of dance and drumming lessons and participation in group rehearsals, a semi-structured key informant interview, and semi-structured …

The Traditional Wolof Voice: Lessons From A Griot In Pout, Senegal, Lucy French

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This alternative project comprised of a three-week long, intensive study of traditional Wolof singing. I took twenty hours of voice lessons from a griot teacher in Pout, Senegal, with the intention of acquiring a rich knowledge of Wolof vocal music and the skills to perform for an audience. My Wolof teacher, Nar Diop, taught me seven songs by ear throughout our six classes together. In addition to perfecting, memorizing, and preparing for a final performance piece, I translated the lyrics of each song into English and French in order to analyze their content and investigate their origins and significance to …

Ceeb Ak Jën: Deconstructing Senegal’S National Plate In Search Of Cultural Values, Megan Duffy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Ceebu jën, Senegal’s national plate of rice and fish, is an integral part of diet among the Senegalese despite differences in religious, ethnic, and geographic identity. Due to the plate’s democratic nature in Senegalese culture this study deconstructs the significance of the plate in relation to Senegalese values placed tradition, personal pride, community, and national identity. This study argues that ceebu jën’s widespread presence and cultural reflexivity finds its source in the universal accessibility of the meal.

Constructions Of Disease In Mayo Village, Rachel Eades

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Understanding how individuals and institutions negotiate illness and construct ideas about disease is important to public health efforts across the globe. Countries in sub-Saharan Africa suffer from a variety of health problems that many regions of the world have long since eradicated. Economic hardship, combined with high rates of communicable diseases, food poverty, lack of sanitation, and poor water quality make countries in sub-Saharan Africa some of the poorest and sickest in the world. Tanzania is a prime example. The purpose of this study was to explore how people in one rural, Tanzanian village construct ideas about disease – its …

2009 Symposium Speakers, Program & Schedule / The Global Quilt: Cultural Contexts / International Quilt Study Center & Museum 4th Biennial Symposium, International Quilt Study Center & Museum

4th Biennial Symposium of the International Quilt Museum: Proceedings

The Global Quilt: Cultural Contexts will feature invited speakers, juried papers, thematic sessions, and panel discussions. Two days of presentations will be supplemented by pre-conference and post-conference tours, including a behind-the-scenes tour of the International Quilt Study Center's new museum, its state-of-the-art storage facility, guided tours of exhibitions, and special exhibitions at other venues in the Lincoln area. Keynote speakers for the symposium are Jacqueline Atkins, the Kate Fowler Merle-Smith Curator of Textiles at the Allentown Art Museum (Allentown, PA) and Jennifer Harris, Deputy Director of the Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester (Manchester, UK).

Ethnic Quilting Traditions In Magazine Articles 1900–1980, Colleen Hall-Patton

4th Biennial Symposium of the International Quilt Museum: Proceedings

Quilting, while often seen as a quintessentially American art form, has a long history throughout the world. Americans’ exposure to other traditions has been intermittent, but reflects other trends in the study of ethnic arts. In the 1950s, interest in folk art overlapped with interest in ethnic art as both create an exotic “other” to readers. Before 1960, that “other” was primarily Hawaiian and European. The 1960s added Cuna molas, and the 1970s saw an explosion of interest in worldwide quilt traditions from Tibetan to Amish.

This paper is a content analysis of quilting traditions referenced in magazine articles from …

Religion And Norwegian-American Quilts, Laurann Gilbertson

4th Biennial Symposium of the International Quilt Museum: Proceedings

Quilts and quiltmaking have been closely connected to the religious identities of Norwegian-American women and to churches in the Midwest in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Lutheran Church was an important institution, socially as well as religiously, for many Norwegian-American families. Through Kvindeforening, or Ladies Aid, women learned to make quilts, practiced English, built and maintained social relationships, and sold quilts and textiles to fund local, national, and global projects. Immigrant women followed the churches’ teachings to avoid ostentatiousness by making quilts that, in the early years, were more modestly beautiful. Some quilts made by devout Norwegian …

Issue 54, Spring 2009, Society Of Bead Researchers

The Bead Forum: Newsletter of the Society of Bead Researchers

Glass Beads from the Colonel George Davenport Trading Post and Residence, Illinois, by William T. Billeck.

An Oriental Christ: A Perfect Condition After The State Was God, Thomas Nathaniel Eaves

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Where do we begin with our understanding of the human composition of God, with humanity’s embracement of the existential? Humanity has rendered faith volatile and constant, a consequence, not flaw, merely of developed sentience. Yet, whether God or evolution has burdened humanity with this responsibility, faith and belief continue their inexplicable and unwearied existence. People, whether atheistic, agnostic, or faith bound, have proven the existence of an utterly human liability for irrationality, or certainly rational subscription. Emile Durkheim wrote of religion as purely existent within shared life, unsusceptible to segregation and compartmental comprehension. Max Weber considered religion as providing prescientific …

The Modernization Of Fiji ’S Food System And The Resulting Implications On Fijian Society: A Synthesis, Brian Schultz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Beginning in the early 19th century, Fiji’s contact with several industrialized nations of Europe and the west contributed to rapid changes in its food system– changes that have had massive effects on Fiji’s economy and politics, on both local and global scales, as well as on the health and identity of the people who call Fiji home. Using a longitudinal model, the author traces the modernization of the Fiji food system from before European contact, through the period of colonial rule, the introduction of the cash economy, and the beginnings of urbanization to its status in the spring of 2009. …

L’Identité Dans La Musique Occitane : La Conservation De L’Art Pour Exprimer La Culture = Identity In Occitan Music : Expressions Of Culture Through The Preservation Of Art, Christina Lambert

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project focused on how identity is expressed and preserved through Occitan music, and what exactly that identity means to whom that identity belongs. The researcher studied and listened to many different bands and artists, all of who had unique styles and sounds. While conducting research on the history of Occitania and of its music, the researcher interviewed several musicians and others who worked with the Occitan culture. These interviews and research led to a greater understanding of Occitania, and of the people who are fighting to keep it alive. By attending traditional dances, concerts, and book readings, the researcher …

Changing Dress And Changing Perceptions: A Look At Traditional Muslim Dress In A Small Coastal Town, Maggie Gilligan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study took place in the Kenyan costal town of Lamu. It focused on the cultural clothing of the Muslim women found on the East African coast, clothing known specifically as the buibui, hijab, and the ninja. Through interviews and observation it was found that the women use the buibui to express their individual and group identity in the community, including their degree of modernity, their social status, age group, and religiousness. The fashion of the buibui reaches all the residence of Lamu and is an area of tension between the conservative and liberal peoples.

Herbs, Qur’An, And Mashetani: Practice, Use, Perception, And Integration Of Traditional Medicine In Bodo, Elan Ebeling

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examines the practice, use and perception of traditional medicine in the rural village of Bodo, on the south coast of Kenya. This paper surveys the different types, treatments, and education of traditional medical practitioners, as well as assesses the accessibility of both traditional and conventional medicine facilities. Secondly, it addresses the perceptions of different community members of illness and healthcare, and, in the light of recent attempts to integrate traditional medicine into the national healthcare system, examines how these perceptions work in conjunction with accessibility to influence the use of healthcare.

The Perseverance Of Aboriginal Australian Time Philosophy And Its Impact On Integration Into The Mainstream Labor Force, Kelly Adams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study demonstrates that Aboriginal Australian time philosophy has survived the impact of European colonization through applying anthropological inquiry into time perception to functional attitudes towards work ethic. By doing so I highlight time perception as one of the “root causes” of Aboriginal socio-economic disadvantage in the barrier it poses to Aboriginal labor force participation. The Native Title Act put pressure on the mining industry to set high targets for Indigenous employment and in the process has given Aboriginal communities the opportunity to become “active initiators” of their relationship to time by forcing industrial compromise through resistance to adopt the …

Remembering The Roots: Political Consciousness In The Quilombo Pitanga De Palmares In A Modernizing Society, Matthew Glenn

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Without a doubt, history affects greatly our modern realities. Yet, modernity proposes that we forget those things that make us different in order to be part of a society that is falsely seen as more advanced. One would expect that no one would understand better the need to remember history than quilombolas, people that live in communities with strong ties to their African ancestry. Whereas Brazilian culture makes it easy for the majority of citizens to forget their past by denying their racial background, an idea identified by academics and activists as “racial democracy”, quilombolas live in a reality that …

O Último Peixe Ideas About The Future In Coastal Trairí, Marycate R. Brower

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper uses ethnographic methods, including semi-formal, semi-structured interviews, but especially participant observation and informal conversation, to attempt to understand the realities of the coastal population of the Municipality of Trairí, Ceará, Brazil, as the traditional fishing communities of Guajiru, Fleixeiras, and Emboacca react to international and national economic policies, tourism, and land speculation that are enacted through the lens of neoliberalism. This study corroborates the statements of community members as they relate their ideas about the present conditions of pescadors artesanais as they deal with increasing and ever-changing government policies that regulate and limit their craft, a lobster population …

Mental Health In Mali: An Analysis Of The Expression Of Major Depressive Disorder Across Different Cultures, Ashley Morris

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Introduction (excerpt) What other differences exist between illnesses across different cultures? Are the differences only found in the manifestation of symptoms or are there also biological differences? How does one conceptualize mental health issues, such as depression, here in Mali? Is there a stigma against mental health patients in Mali? What facilities, treatments, and medicines are available in Mali to treat mental disorder? After a little more background research I found that the topic of mental health in the developing world has been largely ignored until very recently. As cross-cultural studies in every academic discipline become increasingly more prevalent, anthropology …