Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

Pedagogy, Partnership, And Practice: Challenges And Opportunities Through Service-Learning, Matthew Aaron Pajunen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Service-learning has been prominently featured as a best or high impact practice for education. Yet throughout its existence, this pedagogy has been troubled with questions regarding its effectiveness, controversy in its impact on communities, and even confusion surrounding what its definition is. Within the Anthropology Department at Minnesota State University, Mankato, the impact of service-learning has often been uncertain, with exemplary stories coming out as much as negative ones. This mixed success of service-learning's application throughout the years motivated Dr. Susan Schalge to commission a student research project in 2012 to interview service-learning stakeholders to obtain a more certain grasp …

Panorama Of Popular Haitian Music And Folklore, Jean Wilner S. St Jean

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Haitian music has been influenced by the people who lived on the island from the native before the Columbus discovered Haiti to the United States occupation. This country is rich in culture which has impacted by the Creole identity. The overview of the different kind of Haitian music by categories and subcategories from the beginning to now. The government, the religion, the social class, and population play an important role in the popularity and acceptance of certain music.

Major Fallacies Surrounding Stone Artifacts And Assemblages, Harold Dibble, Simon J. Holdaway, Sam C. Lin, David R. Braun, Matthew J. Douglass, Radu Iovita, Shannon P. Mcpherron, Deborah I. Olszewski, Dennis Sandgathe

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

While lithic objects can potentially inform us about past adaptations and behaviors, it is important to develop a comprehensive understanding of all of the various processes that influence what we recover from the archaeological record. We argue here that many assumptions used by archaeologists to derive behavioral inferences through the definition, conceptualization, and interpretation of both individual stone artifact forms and groups of artifacts identified as assemblages do not fit squarely with what we have learned from both ethnographic sources and analyses of archaeological materials. We discuss this in terms of two fallacies. The first is the fallacy of the …

Toward The Anthropology Of White Nationalist Postracialism: Comments Inspired By Hall, Goldstein, And Ingram’S “The Hands Of Donald Trump”, Jeff Maskovsky

Publications and Research

This article explains Donald Trump’s brutal political effectiveness in terms of his white nationalist appeal. It locates the intellectual, popular, and policy imperatives of Trumpism in a new form of racial politics that I am calling white nationalist postracialism. This is a paradoxical politics of twenty-first-century white racial resentment whose proponents seek to do two contradictory things: to reclaim the nation for white Americans while also denying an ideological investment in white supremacy. The article shows how Trump’s excoriation of political correctness, his nostalgia for the post–WWII industrial economy, his use of hand gestures, and his public speaking about race …

Healthy Aging In The North: Sociocultural Influences On Diet And Physical Activity Among Older Adults In Anchorage, Alaska, Britteny M. Howell

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

Increasing rates of overweight, obesity, and related cardiovascular diseases among older adults in the United States present unique public health challenges. Cross-cultural research has shown marked variation in health across the world’s elder populations because aging is a biological process rooted in sociocultural context. The sociocultural environment contributes to complex negotiations of food and physical activity patterns for older adults. It is well established in the literature that urban residents report low levels of physical activity and have easy access to fast food outlets, which tend to be concentrated in lower-income neighborhoods. I utilize a biocultural framework, integrating nutritional anthropology …

Ancient Maya Commerce: Multidisciplinary Research At Chunchucmil, Scott R. Hutson

Anthropology Faculty Book Gallery

Ancient Maya Commerce presents nearly two decades of multidisciplinary research at Chunchucmil, Yucatan, Mexico—a thriving Classic period Maya center organized around commercial exchange rather than agriculture. An urban center without a king and unable to sustain agrarian independence, Chunchucmil is a rare example of a Maya city in which economics, not political rituals, served as the engine of growth. Trade was the raison d’être of the city itself.

Using a variety of evidence—archaeological, botanical, geomorphological, and soil-based—contributors show how the city was a major center for both short- and long-distance trade, integrating the Guatemalan highlands, the Gulf of Mexico, and …

Political Ecology Of Medicinal Plant Use In Rural Nepal: Globalization, Environmental Degradation, And Cultural Transformation, Emily Dovydaitis

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Prior to the advent of biomedicine, rural communities in Nepal relied on phytochemically active compounds in medicinal plants as their primary source of medicine; however, ethnobotanical practices have shifted over time due to economic, environmental, and sociocultural stimuli. Findings from 2016 fieldwork conducted in Dumrikharka, Nepal and Tutung, Nepal are compared to existing literature to describe the political ecology of medicinal plants in rural Nepal.

Anthropogenic climate change threatens individual plant species and ecosystem biodiversity. Globalized markets unabated by weak conservation programs place increasing demands on medicinal plants. As indigenous plants become overharvested and more difficult to access, Nepalis incorporate …

Cognitive And Emotional Processes Involved In The Experience Of Objects As Holy Or Transcendent, Lotte J. Pummerer

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, attitudes about religion/spirituality have become more pluralistic (Pew Research Center, 2015a). At the same time, the number of individuals who identify themselves as nonreligious, atheist or agnostic are growing (Pew Research Center, 2015b), yet we are lacking words and research to describe their attributions of transcendence in language not bound to religious concepts. This study aims at examining both concepts – holiness and transcendence – in their similarities and differences through assessing cognitive and emotional processes involved in experiences of objects.

The study consisted of two parts with a total of 206 Christian and 52 nonreligious/atheistic/agnostic participants. …

Listening To The Mattole: Lessons In Bioregionalism, Cannabis, And Capitalism From A Northern California Community, Nicola R. Walters

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In the United States, from the 1960s through the 1970s, nearly a million Americans left urban areas to establish themselves in rural environments; this exodus is now known as the back-to-the-land movement. Nestled in the mountains of Northern California, along a capricious river, and surrounded by natural beauty, the Mattole Valley became home to many of these back-to-the-land immigrants. Seasoned in the social and cultural movements of Berkeley and San Francisco during the 1960s, the “new settlers” transformed the social and environmental landscape of southern Humboldt County as they integrated into rural communities. The Mattole Valley offers a unique look …

Equal Access, Knowledge, And Empowerment: Promoting Inclusion In Sex Education And Reproductive Health Care For Humboldt County's Spanish Speaking Population, Corinna Irwin

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Humboldt County which was a white, working class economy, has recently seen a growing Latino migrant population, doubling from 6% in the year 2000, to nearly 12% in 2016. [Census 2016] Many of these migrants are undocumented and their command of and comfort with using English ranges from fluent to nearly nothing. Women and children from this population may especially be affected by local policy and systems, due to gender and age disparities. The barriers towards health care services extend when considering sexual and reproductive health, which has wavering support and funding in the current political climate. This ethnography examines …

Carrying The Seeds: Adaptations And Transitions Of Hmong American Food Producers In Missoula County, Montana, Rachel Cramer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Forty years after the initial resettlement of Hmong refugees in Missoula County, Montana, the Hmong American community has undergone significant agricultural and cultural adaptations. Today, there are about 200 Hmong Americans in the county, less than 2% of the population (US Census Bureau 2010), but they make up around 40% of the farmers’ market produce vendors. The thesis demonstrates that, while agriculture has played a central role in helping Hmong refugees adapt, its role is becoming more symbolic as the second generation develops an identity less connected to growing and selling food. Through a qualitative research approach using 19 in-depth …

Viewing Sacred Lands Through The Federal Lens, Nicholas Shankle

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Shankle, Nicholas Lloyd, M.A., Spring 2016 Anthropology Viewing Sacred Lands Through the Federal Lens Chairperson: Gregory Campbell Traditional cultural properties have become one of the few avenues Indian Nations have to protect off-reservation lands. This thesis examines how the Federal Government, Indian Nations, and academia interact with one another given the creation and management of cultural heritage sites. Decolonizing methodologies are paramount to understanding the depth to which this relationship has gone within the federal preservation framework. Three case studies were used to explore how the Federal Government, Indian Nations, and academia interact with one another. The first looks at …

Visions Of Sovereignty: Tribal Sovereignty Through The Lenses Of Postcolonialism, Indigenous Film, And Visual Anthropology, Martin I. Lopez

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Tribal sovereignty has been a topic of discussion since the beginning of colonization in America. Anthropological thought, especially postcolonialism theory, addresses how colonialism can be analyzed to gain a better understanding of Indigenous perspectives on sovereignty. Visual sovereignty, an example of Indigenous Film, is an interdisciplinary approach that can contextualize in specific histories and social interactions all while serving individual tribes, depending on which tribe the filmmaker represents. A film, for instance, can be edited in a way to convey Indigenous ideas of time and space and staged presentations of oral histories that are nearly impossible to display through written …

Violence, Catastrophe, And Agency In Nepal: A Deeper Understanding Of The 2015 Earthquakes And Border Blockade, Kassandra D. Viers

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 2015, Nepal was struck by two catastrophes. First, on April 25, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, struck in Gorkha. Then, in September, a blockade was formed that prevented goods from passing through trade checkpoints between India and Nepal. Both of these events highlight social suffering, a form of suffering that refers to the systems of oppression, unequal distribution of resources, and broad social structures that serve to keep certain people impoverished and subjugate. The earthquake caused the most damage to vulnerable people, people already suffering the effects of structural violence. The blockade was created by …

Moving Toward A Holistic Menstrual Hygiene Management: An Anthropological Analysis Of Menstruation And Practices In Western And Non-Western Societies, Sophia A. Bay

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Educating girls is not only their human right, but also proposed as one of the best investments for improving quality of life in developing countries (Montgomery et al. 2016, 2). Although menstruation is a universal, biological process, it is fraught with cultural stigmas and taboos throughout Western and non-Western societies. Menstrual-related absenteeism is believed to be a primary cause of missed attendance and early dropout rates, so the developing field of menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is seeking to understand and evaluate what factors are contributing to these findings. After the analyzation of the current literature, a more holistic, nine-pronged approach …

Do Muslim Village Girl’S Need Saving?: Critical Reflections On Gender And The Suffering Child In International Aid, Rania Kassab Sweis

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

In her chapter, "Do Muslim Village Girl’s Need Saving?: Critical Reflections on Gender and the Suffering Child in International Aid," Dr. Rania Sweis poses the following questions: What does it mean when powerful actors in western based international NGOs recognize the Muslim village girl as the ultimate savable victim'? What gendered and racialized logics arc at play in this category's strategic deployment, and what arc their tangible effects for both NGOs and village girls who receive aid'? She argues that large-scale international aid projects that aim to speak for, uplift and save Muslim village girls in Egypt and other countries …

Dear Reader, How Do We Go On? Letters Of Reflection On Community Care In Climate Activism In Maine, Ester Topolarova

Honors Theses

Climate activist groups in Maine often see their members become too tired to continue organizing. Thus, I decided to explore how these activists enact community care. I conducted my fieldwork with 350 Maine and its local nodes. I explore community care as a practice and as an aspiration. Community care is practiced through the acts of people taking care of each other. Aspiration, therefore, is a way of living and seeing the self as striving to replicate the world activists are fighting for. I conceptualize care as racialized, gendered, classed, and embedded in neoliberal capitalism. In activist meetings, care is …

It’S Not You, It’S— Hookup Culture And Sexual Subjectivity, Anne Vetter

Honors Theses

A semi-fictionalized ethnography that interrogates how students at Colby College use hookup culture as a way to make sense of themselves and others. This thesis is about systems, about social power and norms, and the very real ways that they are experienced in and enacted by the bodies of individual students. In other words, this thesis is a naming of what many students on this campus already know without words, a linking of story to story to story, a marking of patterns that underlie the forms of sexual subjectivity driving participation in hookup culture. Ultimately, by making visible the systems …

Relationships Between White Privilege, Organizational Belongingness, Racial Stereotypes, And Motivation To Lead, Scott Alexander Vaughan-Bonterre

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite changes in the law and efforts by organizational diversity practitioners to expand leadership opportunities for people of color, there is still a sharp contrast in the ratio of white leaders to leaders of color. While much research exists regarding the diversity disparity in leadership, there is little research on factors that influence the motivation to lead. The purpose of this correlational study was to test critical race and leader categorization theories by comparing how the independent variables of white privilege, organizational belongingness, and racial stereotypes affected the dependent variable of motivation to lead of black American versus white American …

“Culture Shock”: An Ethnographic Account Of A Small Business In The Face Of Change, Alexia Maggos

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

This ethnography follows a small business in Indianapolis that was founded on a small business philosophy that embodied family-oriented, close-knit employee relationships. Aside from the small firm finding success in its established company culture, this small business found great financial success within a niche market. However, as part of new expansion plans, management began imposing a more traditional, hierarchical management styles. While this shift is predicted by contemporary management theory, the human effects and cultural costs of this process are worthy of study. This ethnography follows employees’ perceptions and reactions to the change in business philosophy and analyzes the instability …

Maracucha, Lorvelis A. Madueño

5.Two Homes

Lorvelis Madueño immigrated from Venezuela to New Orleans with her sister and her sister’s wife seeking stability after the 2014 Venezuelan protests. Madueño describes the sociopolitical climate of Venezuela, different race and ethnic understandings in the United States, gender and sexuality, and the gaita style of Venezuelan folk music. In conversations with her sister Loraine, Madueño reveals the similarities and differences in their upbringing and immigration experiences. Through these observations Madueño hopes to highlight the importance of immigrants sharing their stories.

Drowning In Rising Seas: Navigating Multiple Knowledge Systems And Responding To Climate Change In The Maldives, Rachel Hannah Spiegel

Pitzer Senior Theses

The threat of global climate change increasingly influences the actions of human society. As world leaders have negotiated adaptation strategies over the past couple of decades, a certain discourse has emerged that privileges Western conceptions of environmental degradation. I argue that this framing of climate change inhibits the successful implementation of adaptation strategies. This thesis focuses on a case study of the Maldives, an island nation deemed one of the most vulnerable locations to the impacts of rising sea levels. I apply a postcolonial theoretical framework to examine how differing knowledge systems can both complement and contradict one another. By …

A Template For Education And Tourism: Highlights From The Ateneo Cultural Laboratory, 2010-2013, Olivia Anne Habana

History Department Faculty Publications

Borne from a need for a more culturally sensitive manner of packaging tourism in the Philippines, the Ateneo Cultural Laboratory, conducted jointly by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Department of History and the Program of Fine Arts of the Ateneo de Manila University, brings together academic research, education and tourism. University students, professors, cultural professionals and local communities work together to increase the tourism potential of selected areas in a way that recognizes local history, culture and traditions. The brainchild of anthropologist, writer and cultural heritage advocate Dr. Fernando Zialcita of the Ateneo De Manila’s Department of Sociology andAnthropology, …

Late Precontact Settlement On The Northern Seward Peninsula Coast: Results Of Recent Fieldwork, Shelby L. Anderson, Justin Andrew Junge

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Changing Arctic settlement patterns are associated with shifts in socioeconomic organization and interaction at both the inter- and intraregional levels; analysis of Arctic settlement patterns can inform research on the emergence and spread of Arctic maritime adaptations. Changes in late precontact settlement patterns in Northwest Alaska suggest significant shifts in subsistence and/or social organization, but the patterns themselves are not well understood. Prior research around Kotzebue Sound suggests three possible scenarios: (1) population decrease and dispersion from settlement centers after 550 cal bp, (2) population stability and dispersion after 550 cal bp, and (3) different settlement patterns in the northern …

Accessibility To Food Intolerance And Food Allergy Resources In Mclean County, Illinois: An Interdisciplinary Pilot Study, Raelynn Parmely

Honors Projects

Food intolerances and food allergies are evolving and diagnoses of such conditions are rapidly increasing. Yet our ancient bodies and social resources are not adapting to this dynamic environment. Accessing healthcare and allergen-free foods is necessary for all people with food allergies and intolerances, but gaps in social resources complicate acquiring these resources, especially for low-income individuals. This interdisciplinary pilot study utilizes a mixed method approach, including sociologically and anthropologically-based surveys and participant observation, respectively, and is guided by the action research approach. Data analysis illustrates major gaps in access to healthcare, specifically to dietitians, and in food acquisition from …

Loss And Renewal: My Sicilian Roots In New Orleans, Lyndsey Nuebel

4.Inheritances

Lyndsey Neubel reflects on her upbringing in Slidell, Louisiana and her Sicilian family’s roots in the New Orleans area. Using frameworks of critical whiteness, she examines how the suburban environment of Slidell shaped her sense of self and heritage. Neubel’s grandfather tells her about their family’s immigration story, his Sicilian-American identity, and family life in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans. Nuebel explores how racism, segregation, and white flight shaped urban space and the suburbanization of the North Shore. She then analyzes how these sociocultural dynamics affected her preconceptions about New Orleans when she began attending the New Orleans Center …

Upfront: A Way Of Life On Barataria Boulevard, Shelbey Leco

4.Inheritances

Leco examines the culture of the West Bank of New Orleans and her Sicilian, Filipino, and Cajun French heritage. Opening with a detailed ethnographic description of a typical scene in the West Bank Walmart parking lot, Leco frames her thoughts about her hometown of Marrero, Louisiana. In conversations with her parents, Leco learns about her family’s immigration stories, occupations, and foodways. Leco’s paternal great-grandfather was a first generation Filipino-American who lived and worked in Manila Village, a Filipino fishing community on an island in Barataria Bay. Leco then describes her religious upbringing, the Immaculate Conception Parish community, and the cultural …

“To Nurture Something That Nurtures You”: Care, Creativity, Class, And The Production Of Urban Environments In Deindustrial Michigan, Megan L. Maurer

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

In this dissertation I investigate how gardeners and beekeepers in a small, deindustrial city in Michigan used their activities to produce their environments. Drawing on fourteen months of ethnographic fieldwork, I consider what kind of labor gardening is. For residents of Elmwood, gardening was a way to care for households, communities, and ecosystems. Furthermore, this care was performed through a type of creative, material labor that served to address forms of alienation experienced by these individuals. While all sorts of Elmwoodites gardened, they did so in ways that were specific to their experiences of race and class. These experiences, in …

You Can’T Walk Where There Is No Ground, Paul Stoller

Anthropology & Sociology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Archaeological Gis Analysis Of Raised Field Agriculture In The Bolivian Amazon, Thomas W. Lee

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Modern agricultural systems have been criticized for their detrimental effects on the environment and a general emphasis on crop yield rather than long-term sustainability. Traditional forms of agriculture may provide case-specific examples of sustainable alternatives for contemporary societies. In the seasonally inundated savannas of the Llanos de Mojos, pre-Columbian Indians piled earth into ‘large raised field platforms’ elevated high enough above the floodplain to allow crops to grow. Archaeological evidence indicates that raised field agriculture supported much larger populations than those found in the Beni today. The examination of satellite imagery has revealed more than 40,000 individual fields spread across …