Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

A Review Of Museum Literature And A Personal Critique. Museology: The Evolution Of A Socially Conscious Institution, Mckenna N. Friend

Social Sciences

This paper explores the relatively recent critical literature published on the history, theory, culture, and politics of museums. The report shall focus on comparing and contrasting curatorial methods as well as the before-and-after effect of the so-called “paradigm shift”—the shift from museums that are object-centered to visitor-centered [1]. This project emphasizes museums of Natural History and Anthropology, either by selecting literature that already references them or by applying the valid information in other articles. This emphasis allows for close evaluation of the exhibition of human evolution, cultural material, and Native Americans. How and why would a museum emphasize science over …

Illuminating Distinction: Rural Modernization And The Invention Of The Countryside In Cajamarca, Perú, Jade Severson

Senior Theses

The district of La Encañada, located deep within the Andean sierra north of the city of Cajamarca, is in a state of transition. As the beneficiary of a 2006 collaborative project between ITDG-Soluciones Prácticas and the European Union, nine of the district’s communities received a solar panel stipulated for placement on each community’s local centro educativo, a school serving students at both the primary and secondary grade levels. Investment in solar panels was intended to complement a much more integral project designed to harness the resources available in the district and to thus empower peasant men and women and their …

Waking Up To The Present: Vipassana Meditation And The Body, Craig Geffre

Senior Theses

Using ethnographic methods I examine the process of learning vipassana meditation, a form of meditation in which the practitioner focuses on their bodily sensations, and the ways in which learning this form of meditation affects the practitioner's daily life. I employ reflexivity alongside an ethnography of the particular to capture my experiences as the student of a Thai Theravada Buddhist monk who teaches at a temple in Portland, Oregon. Through this process I have found that learning vipassana meditation pervades numerous aspects of daily life, extending beyond direct instruction and meditation practice, bringing about perceptual changes in reality as learned …

Inflammatory Gene Variants In The Tsimane, An Indigenous Bolivian Population With A High Infectious Load, Sarinnapha Vasunilashorn, Caleb E. Finch, Eileen M. Crimmins, Suvi A. Vikman, Jonathan Stieglitz, Michael Gurven, Hillard Kaplan, Hooman Allayee

ESI Publications

The Tsimane of lowland Bolivia are an indigenous forager-farmer population living under conditions resembling pre-industrial European populations, with high infectious morbidity, high infection and inflammation, and shortened life expectancy. Analysis of 917 persons ages 5 to 60+ showed that allele frequencies of 9 SNPs examined in the apolipoprotein E (apoE), C-reactive protein (CRP), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) genes differed from some European, African, and north Asian-derived populations. The apoE2 allele was absent, whereas four SNPs related to CRP and IL-6 were monomorphic: CRP (rs1800947, rs3093061, and rs3093062) and IL-6 (rs1800795). No significant differences in apoE, CRP, and IL-6 variants across age …

Mercer, Fannie (Guy), 1855-1940 - Collector (Sc 176), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) Manuscripts Small Collection 176. Printed invitation, 15 June 1932, to Miss Sarah Leat for a July 4th ball at B. Vance's Hotel, Bowling Green, Kentucky, and newspaper clipping, 1929, concerning the invitation. Also holographic copy of lyrics of "Old Folks at Home."

The Technocratic Birthing Model As Seen In Reality Television And Its Impact On Young Women Age 18-24, Michelle Elizabeth Farber

Honors Scholar Theses

In the Western ethnomedical tradition, childbirth follows the technocratic model, a concept developed by Davis-Floyd (1992). Within such a system, the woman’s body produces a fetus, much like a machine produces and product, and is delivered unto society by the physician (mechanic) in the proper manner and time. This cultural conception of birth has lead to a society in which maternal and child health has suffered, as many of the practices employed by a physician during a managed labor and delivery are not backed by evidence-based medicine. This thesis argues that reality television shows, specifically A Baby Story enable the …

A New Paradigm: Brazilian Catholic Eco-Justice Activism In The Neoliberal Age, Lena R. Connor

Environmental Analysis Program Mellon Student Summer Research Reports

This paper analyzes how traditional liberation theology in Brazil has been adapted in the neoliberal age to encompass ecological goals and rhetoric. In this research report, I first examine the work of prominent Brazilian ecotheologians, Ivone Gebara and Leonardo Boff. I then look into the applications of such ecological liberation theology in Catholic activism in Brazil, focusing on the role of religious advocacy in dam controversies, land reform, and mining.

Democratic Nationalistic Privilege And The Exclusion Of Europe's "Gypsy", Eli E. Roth

Senior Honors Projects

Europe is the world’s best example of a group of countries offering similar levels of political freedom, tolerance, and economic prosperity and security. Following the fall of Communism, Europe began to outpace the rest of the planet on aggregated indicators of development, and, according to Freedomhouse.org, only two of the world’s forty seven “not free” countries, Belarus and Russia, can be found on this continent. The Roma, frequently mislabeled as “Gypsies,” are among the few troubled populations residing in Europe. In the comprehensive 2006 Final Report on the Human Rights Situation of the Roma in Europe, one Romani man describes …

The Transformation Of A Shire: Local Negotiation In The Society For Creative Anachronism, Suzanne Barber

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In this thesis, I am examining how a small branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Loch an Fhraoich, whose values and identity center around camaraderie and narrative and aesthetic coherence, attempts to balance these two often contradictory principles. To better illustrate the negotiations taking place, I have used ethnographic fieldwork to focus on the areas of material culture, ethno-kinetics, persona, knowledge, and events. These areas are tightly interwoven, and almost never operate independently, but the exercise of isolating them is useful in seeing the complexities of choices that members must make to navigate the social world of the Society …

The Implications Of Merleau-Ponty For The Human Sciences, Ryan Marcotte

Senior Honors Projects

The Implications of Merleau-Ponty for the Human Sciences Ryan Marcotte Cobb Faculty Sponsor: Galen Johnson, Philosophy The American Anthropology Association (AAA) made headlines in November 2010 due to a controversial change in their 'Long-Range Plan.' The revised AAA mission statement omits all mention of the word 'science' and this omission has sparked a fierce debate within the anthropology community. The debate reveals that the study of social phenomena can be approached from two competing points of view – a scientific and a non-scientific perspective.  This project is concerned with the historical and intellectual developments that led to this competition between …

Renegotiating Gender And Class In The Berry Fields Of Michoacán, Mexico, Donna Chollett

Anthropology Publications

This article examines the renegotiation of gender and class in a rural Mexican community where economic crisis in the sugar industry led foreign agribusinesses to promote blackberry and raspberry production for export and hire primarily women as berry pickers. Analysis focuses on the transition from a sugar economy where mostly men worked in the cane fields to non-traditional agricultural exports when women entered agricultural waged labor in unprecedented numbers. This restructuring of the regional economy raises important questions regarding the marginalization of differentiated subaltern groups and the nature of new sets of power relations between transnational agribusinesses, berry growers, and …

Social Memory And Landscape: A Cross-Cultural Examination, Joshua L. Stewart

Student Publications

The study of social memory and landscape in archaeological contexts is a recent trend in social archaeological theory. As such, and despite the flexibility, applicability, and usefulness of this approach, not many sites or societies have been studied from this perspective. The purpose of this examination is to demonstrate the flexibility, applicability and usefulness of the interpretive frameworks by applying it to three disparate sites and societies which are vastly different culturally, spatially and temporally. Research at these sites has not focused on issues of social memory and landscape, despite their perfect suitability.

The Symbolic Creation Of Cultural Performance At The Walnut Valley Festival, Maggie Colleen Cobb

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Through two years of ethnographic fieldwork and 19 interviews, I synthesize symbolic interaction and a sociological framework of culture to examine the ways in which the Walnut Valley Festival is created and experienced as a unique form of cultural performance, one that is always shifting in response to the emergent cultural creation and reception of attendees. No work to date combines the dimensions of both production and reception of music festivals as a unique form of cultural performance. In bringing back the oftentimes ignored affective dimension in cultural studies, I use Griswold's (2004) metaphor of a cultural diamond, examining the …

Between Structural Violence And Resistance: The Everyday Resistance Of Karen Migrants In Thailand, John Giammatteo

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper details the lives of eight Karen-Burmese migrants living in Mae Sot, Thailand, a city on the Thai-Burma border and one of the main legal crossing points between the two countries. The study demonstrates the important relationship between structural violence and everyday resistance. It documents how individuals in a legally liminal state can increase their security and it describes just how these linkages occur – that migrants utilize their liminality and “in-between” status and attempt to increase their security to avoid oppression and harassment in daily life. By linking these concepts – resistance and liminality posed against structural violence …

Modern Day Utopia: An Examination Of Internal Social Control Among "Rainbow Family", Ashleigh Elain Mckinzie

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis employs ethnographic fieldwork and interviews to examine internal Social control, ideological embeddedness, and resistance to mainstream culture and ideology in a utopian, counter-cultural group called The Rainbow Family of Living Light. Combining theoretical perspectives on emotions and re-integrative and dis-integrative shaming with symbolic interaction, I examine the experiences of Rainbow during a national Gathering in the summer of 2010. Through interviews and observations, I illustrate the rituals, organization of camp, stratification based on work, and solidarity building activities, that Rainbow Gatherers create to resist mainstream ideology and culture. Further, I show that they Rainbow Gatherers redefine deviance in …

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (Pcos) In Urban India, Heidi A. Manlove

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis research focuses on urban women in India diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). PCOS is a complex metabolic, endocrine and reproductive disorder affecting approximately 5-10% of the female population in developed countries. The prevalence of PCOS is on the rise in developing nations like India, which are undergoing rapid nutritional transitions due to Westernized diets and lifestyle. However, less appreciated in the literature are the developmental psychosocial impacts for women diagnosed with PCOS, especially in developing countries. Thus, the goal of my thesis research was to contribute to the small but growing literature by investigating psychosocial dimensions of …

Tigers, Coyotes And Cats: Precariousness And Masculinity Among Mexican Migrant Workers In Canada, Tanya Basok, Eloy Rivas

Western Migration Conference Series

Bio:

Tanya Basok is a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology, and the Director of the Centre for Studies in Social Justice, University of Windsor. She specializes in migration studies from a social justice perspective. Over a span of 25 years, she has studied Salvadorean refugees in Costa Rica, Soviet Jewish immigrants in Canada, the Canadian refugee policy, Mexican seasonal workers in Canada, and migrant rights activism in Canada, USA, Latin America and the Caribbean. The author of Tortillas and Tomatoes (McGill-Queen’s Press), she has also published in such journals as International Migration, …

Trends And Inconsistencies In Immigration And Refugee Board Case Decisions, Julianna Beaudoin

Western Migration Conference Series

The last fifteen years have included dramatic policy changes to the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). These changes are reflected through IRB year-end statistics/graphs and an anthropologically focused discussion that illustrates the need for reform to correct current inconsistencies in the IRB decision-making process.

A Web Of Connections: The Role Of Social Capital And Trust In The Formation Of Virtual Organizations, Paige Erin E. Maynard

Honors Projects

Many community based agencies engage in collaboration in order to solve community problems no one organization can accomplish on its own. One such form of collaboration is the virtual organization. A virtual organization is an organization that relies on multi-party, co-operative agreements between structural, temporal, and sometimes geographic boundaries. Looking narrowly at virtual organizations on the community level is one approach which allows for better understanding of why and how community based collaboration takes place. The objective of this research is to examine the extent to which virtual organizations are utilized by community agencies while simultaneously understanding the role both …

Oral Presentation: Depictions Of Sexuality And Gender Construction In Japanese Manga And Anime, Sarah Huerta

Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)

This presentation will explore research into gender and sexuality in anime and manga as compared to popular U.S. displays of gender and sexuality using a brief historical and cultural contextual background on manga and anime. I will discuss a comparison between U.S. and Japanese gender and sexual depictions in anime/manga and popular American media. Lastly, I discuss the potential for anime and manga in exploring gender and sexuality in U.S. studies, as well as my current, ongoing research with individuals in anime/manga groups

Tourism Research As "Global Ethnography", Michael A. Di Giovine

Anthropology & Sociology Faculty Publications

Tourism is a topic that has traditionally been treated with great ambivalence in anthropology, particularly compared to related issues such mobility and globalization. This is certainly curious considering that tourism continues to be the largest and fastest-growing industry in the world, even in the post-9/11 environment of terrorism fears and economic recession. This may explain why business schools, hospitality departments and management programs—particularly those outside of the United States—have embraced tourism studies, but it does not explain its relative neglect by, for example, economic anthropologists and others who are concerned with global flows of money, peoples, or information. (To be …

Form And Function Of The Colonial Plantation: Recreating The Cultural Landscape Of Nomini Hall, Meghan E. Banton

Theses & Honors Papers

This thesis combines primary sources about the Nomini Hall plantation and archaeological research of the land to create an interpretation that consolidates and evaluates what is currently known about Nomini Hall’s colonial cultural landscape and how it was utilized. Using Nomini Hall artifacts, knowledge of its cultural landscape, and background information on other colonial plantations and their demographics, this thesis seeks to create a cohesive picture of Nomini Hall’s past.

Issue 58, Spring 2011, Society Of Bead Researchers

The Bead Forum: Newsletter of the Society of Bead Researchers

Looking Back on 30 Years of the Society of Bead Researchers, by Karlis Karklins.

The Identity Of The Chinese In Belgrade: A National Question, Wan (Sabrina) Tsai

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Chinese community is an unknown population to the general Serbian society. Since most of the Chinese function within their own established spaces, it is difficult for outsiders to fully understand the dynamics of Chinese identity. This study aims to explore the layers of identity formation in the Chinese transmigrant community in Belgrade, Serbia. By taken into account different daily-life factors that impact identity formation, this study examines the extent to which Chinese identities are influenced by living and working in Serbia.

The methods used in this study are four semi-structured interviews and thirty-two informal conversations with the Chinese in …

Experiencing Samoa Through Stories: Myths And Legends Of A People And Place, Samantha Lichtenberg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research will explore oral tradition, indigenous beliefs prior to Christianity, and the significance of place through the study of Samoan myths and legends. The researcher will investigate the tradition of storytelling by hearing the stories from Samoan elders themselves. These stories will be supplemented with details from secondary written resources in order to compile comprehensive versions of the myths and legends. The research will consider the affect that Christianity has on the meaning of the stories and examine whether traces of indigenous belief/religion are preserved today through storytelling and the remembrance of myths. The researcher will spend a significant …

“It’S Just Not That Simple:” Territory And Politics At Girdwood Park, Kyra Fallon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This report is the outcome of a month long study of space and territory in North Belfast. Data was obtained by way of qualitative methods using focused interviews and mapping, within theoretical frameworks from sociology and human geography. Segregation, space, and demographic change are explored as factors of localized territorial conflict. This theory is applied to the Crumlin Road Gaol and Girdwood Barracks regeneration project in North Belfast, where the contentious issue of housing on the site has stalled other development. The research finds that these factors do play a role in the project and also seeks to explore the …

Cordage, Textiles, And The Late Pleistocene Peopling Of The Andes, Edward A. Jolie, Thomas F. Lynch, Phil R. Geib, J. M. Adovasio

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Harsh high-altitude environments were among the last landscapes to be settled by humans during the Late Pleistocene between ∼15,000 and 11,000 calendar years before present (cal yr BP). Successful colonization required physiological adaptations to hypoxia and cultural adaptations to limited resources and cold temperatures. How and when humans colonized Andean South America has been poorly understood owing to controversial early archaeological sites and questions about the impact of environmental factors, including the presence of glaciers. Here we report the reexamination and direct dating of six finely woven textiles and cords from Guitarrero Cave, Peru, that identify South America’s earliest textiles …

Review Of Kiowa Military Societies: Ethnohistory And Ritual. By William C. Meadows, Gregory R. Campbell

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Drawing on over a decade of research, in combination with archival and published anthropological and historical literature, William C. Meadows provides a detailed ethnographic account of Kiowa military societies and their historical development. Employing a perspective spanning from the prereservation era to the present, Meadows describes each military society'S origins, structures, rituals, ceremonies, functions, and associated music, dances, songs, and material culture within the context of the Kiowa military society system. Beginning with Rabbits Society in the first chapter, he graphically portrays the Mountain Sheep Society, Horse Headdress Society, the Black Legs Society, Unafraid of Death or Skunkberry Society, Scout …

W[H]Ater You Afraid Of? Fears, Myths And Barriers To Swahili Aquatic Culture, Charlotte Jacqueline Mailly

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Swahili coast is a section of coastline stretching over 3000 kilometers from Somalia in the north to Mozambique in the south. The region was first occupied by groups of hunter-gather-fisherman but the Bantu migration in 500 B.C. of pastoralists from Northern Cameroon caused an influx of immigrants from the African interior to settle along the Indian Ocean. Upon the arrival of Islam to East Africa through trade with the Arab world in the ninth century, there was a cultural shift and Muslim traditions began to penetrate into the coastal region, starting in the north and moving down to the …

Ecuadorians In The United States, 1980—2008, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report examines demographic and socioeconomic factors concerning Ecuadorians in the United States between 1990 and 2008.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: The Ecuadorian population of the U.S. increased dramatically between 1980 and 2008 from about 70,000 to over 550,000 people. Migration increased in each decade and there is no reason to believe that migration from Ecuador will decrease in …