Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

How Muslims Help : An Ethnography Of Muslim Voluntary Assistance For Syrian Refugees In Louisville, Ky., Irene Levy Yates

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Islamic faith-based organizations’ involvement in Syrian refugee resettlement in Louisville, KY with special attention to the impact of an Islamic Relief USA community engagement grant awarded to Kentucky Refugee Ministries in 2014. A description of local Muslim community support for newly arrived refugees was constructed via participant observation and semi-structured interviews with former and current resettlement agency employees, a diverse set of Muslim community volunteers, and refugees who participate in and/or are supported by Islamic faith-based organizations. Muslim communities in Louisville approach refugee resettlement in ways that are significantly different from both resettlement agency staff and past …

Who Are The Apistoi? Symbolic Boundaries And Anthropological Language In 2 Cor 6:14-7:1, Nii Addo Kobina Abrahams

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Joseph A. Fitzmyer’s “Qumran and the Interpolated Paragraph in 2 Cor 6:14-7:1,” originally published in 1961, argued that 2 Cor 6:14-7:1 was an interpolation from an undiscovered Qumran text. Fitzmyer’s thesis was the prevailing scholarly opinion for over a decade, and while several counter-arguments have convincingly challenged Fitzmyer’s theory, scholars are still hard-pressed to explain how the passage fits into its context. Not only does 6:14-7:1 seem to lack any organic connection to the verses immediately prior or following, but it also contains unique vocabulary and what seems to be uncharacteristic use of standard Pauline terms. However, all of these …

Animate Planet: Making Visceral Sense Of Living In A High-Tech Ecologically Damaged World By Kath Weston, Kelly Shepherd

The Goose

Review of Kath Weston's Animate Planet: Making Visceral Sense of Living in a High-Tech Ecologically Damaged World.

Music, Politics, And Sociality: Ethnic Tensions And The Performance Of Gikuyu Nationalism, Peter Njagi Mwangi

Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

This thesis examines how some selected Gikuyu popular music propagates ethnic tensions in Kenya by promoting Gikuyu nationalism at the expense of Kenyan nationalism. This music derives its themes from the historical period of the Mau Mau armed struggle against British colonists and connects this struggle with everyday experiences of the Gikuyu people. Memory and the performance of everyday life in this music solidifies the Gikuyu community as tied to a common destiny and distances other Kenyan communities from this destiny. The music consolidates Gikuyu ethnic nationalism and authenticates the position of the community as superior and a dominant force …

The Adaptive Value Of Complex Socio-Communicative Behavior, Sara A. Skiba

Master of Science in Integrative Biology Theses

Human spoken language represents the most elaborate communication system, however the selection pressures leading to its emergence are still uncertain. Unlike humans, bonobos and chimpanzees do not have language. However, bonobos may have been subjected to similar selection pressures as early hominins, subsequent to their phylogenetic split from chimpanzees roughly 1.5 million years ago. The current study investigated the similarities and differences in sociality and communicative production between bonobos and chimpanzees in captive settings, using 9, 10-minute focal follows for each individual. Analyses revealed a significant positive correlation between social proximity score and total communicative signals produced, as well as …

Problematic Participation And Educational Dilemmas: Ethnography Of The Educational Experiences Of Black Male Youth In Hillsborough County, Florida, Deneia Y. Fairweather

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the social sciences, research on black male youth (BMY) experiences in traditional academic settings has been limited to their failure to achieve due to their perceived dysfunctional family structure, gender and ethnic identity, social class, and social structural constraints. Characterized by the anthropological investigation into youth cultural, Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP) framework, a theory of practice that includes an alternative framework of learning, and a mixed method approach with an emphasis on capturing the youth perspective through a PhotoVoice process, this research captures a dimension of BMY educational experiences by describing how exclusion from traditional academic settings is produced. …

Rehabilitation And Reintegration Of Genocide Ex-Prisoners: Understanding The Correctional Role Of Prisons In Rwanda, Lulu Abdun

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

After the Genocide Against the Tutsi in 1994, over 120,000 people were imprisoned in Rwanda for the perpetration of genocide. Twenty-three years after the Genocide, numerous genocide ex-prisoners have been released. Throughout their prison time and after their release, rehabilitation and reintegration programming has been available. This paper looks at the rehabilitation and reintegration programming available to genocide ex-prisoners, the success and challenges they currently face or have previously faced, and recommendations for reforms for the future prison/rehabilitation/reintegration process. This paper also examines the correctional role of prisons in Rwanda and how that contributes to successful reintegration. From interviewing genocide …

Innovation Through Large-Scale Integration Of Legacy Records: Assessing The “Value Added” In Cultural Heritage Resources, Carrie Heitman, Worthy Martin, Stephen Plog

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Using the Chaco Research Archive (CRA) as a case study, in this article, we discuss the spectrum of intellectual decisions: conceptualization, design, and development, required to make legacy records (accumulated over many years through numerous archaeological expeditions) publicly accessible. Intellectual and operational choices permeated the design and implementation of the digital architecture to provide internet access to the vast information structures inherent in legacy records for the cultural heritage of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. We explore how an expansive but focused repository can enable opportunities for research and foster communities of co-creation. We also use the CRA as a case …

Americans’ Willingness To Communicate With Mexican Immigrants: Effects Of Ethnocentrism And Immigration Status, Stephanie Leanne Harris

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

Prompted by the 2016 United States (US) Presidential election, the topic of Mexican immigration has come to figure prominently in contemporary societal discourse. This study explores the willingness of US citizens to communicate with Mexicans as a function of US citizens’ ethnocentrism and Mexicans’ immigration documentation status. Specifically, this study measured ethnocentrism (Neuliep & McCroskey, 1997) and general willingness to communicate (McCroskey, 1992) of US citizens and then considered the relationship of these variables to their willingness to communicate with documented and undocumented Mexican immigrants. The study also explored the potential role that various lifespan variables, such as early communication …

“El Negro Sin La Oreja”: A Dialectical Approach To The Blackness In Dominican Identity, Kevin E. Nicholes

Institute for the Humanities Theses

This master’s thesis examines ideologies of whiteness through the erasure and denial of blackness in the Dominican Republic and explores the manner in which racial identity has been reinforced and contested. A dialectical approach is utilized to analyze the discourse around the history of the Dominican Republic and a textual analysis is also employed to assist in supporting the findings. The rationale for this study is to access how whiteness became synonymous with Dominicanness and to resuscitate the blackness of Dominican identity which has been relegated to the classification of the “other”. Therefore, drawing conclusions as to how Dominicans

negotiate …

Interpersonal Conflict Among Caribbean Couples In Jamaica, Guyana And The United States, Krim K. Lacey, Letroy O. Cummings, Karen Powell Sears, Niki Matusko, Rohan D. Jeremiah, James S. Jackson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Moving Significances (Within 52 Days), Plinio Ribeiro Jr

Artl@s Bulletin

This proposition was composed from a reconstitution of elements that integrated the project “Paris – Tokyo by train,” third part of the Japan trilogy, realized by the artist in 2009. More than illustrate or reveal the background of this project, the texts and images that are reproduced here intend to open new perspectives on how the echoes of the past can be articulated with the personal narrative. This approach allows as well as to resignify the dynamics implied in this quest of new senses.

The Menstrual Taboo And Modern Indian Identity, Jessie Norris

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Throughout the 20th century India underwent several political and cultural changes, including their independence from Britain in the 1940s and their declaration as a secularized nation. However, even secular India has been unable to remove itself from a religious practice that functions within it, the menstrual taboo. The Hindu menstrual taboo has survived for thousands of years, which begs the question: Are Hindu beliefs and values fundamentally Indian? The practice and history of Hinduism in India has informed the mistreatment and negative stigmas associated with women and menstruation. Restrictions are placed on menstruating women in India, including exclusion from religious …

New Design Principles For Mobile History Games, Owen Gottlieb

Presentations and other scholarship

This study draws on design-based research on an ARIS–based mobile augmented reality game for teaching early 20th century history. New design principles derived from the study include the use of supra-reveals, and bias mirroring. Supra-reveals are a kind of foreshadowing event in order to ground historical happenings in the wider enduring historical understanding. Bias mirroring refers to a nonplayer character echoing back a player’s biased behavior, in order to open the player to listening to alternative perspectives. Supra-reveals engendered discussion of historical themes early in the game experience. The results showed that use of a cluster of NPC bias mirroring …

Over The Ropes: Boundary Play In Professional Wrestling, Ethan Ingram

Theses and Dissertations

Within the anthropology of performance, scholars have traditionally considered theater, spectacle, sport, and ritual performances in terms of the discrete boundaries of space and time that separate these events from daily life and in terms of the disparate roles that demarcate performers from audience members. Professional wrestling, a popular performance genre in the American Midwest, exhibits features that challenge these boundaries through the collaborative construction of the event by performers and audience members. Audience interaction is an essential part of wrestling performances, characterized by routine and contextually understood behaviors that performers can process as evaluative feedback. Moreover, during wrestling matches, …

Understanding Appointment Breaking: Dissecting Structural Violence And Barriers To Healthcare Access At A Central Florida Community Health Center, Paula Mead

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Access to healthcare is an important topic within medical anthropology, in part because access is denied or complicated through structural forces for many populations in the United States. Anthropological research explores the impact of lack of access to healthcare on the lives of at-risk populations, as well as the differing and unexpected ways that access is denied or limited (Adler and Newman 2002; Becker 2004; Becker 2007; Horton 2004; Horton, McCloskey, Todd, and Henricksen 2001; O'Daniel 2008). For low-income, rural and minority populations, research shows that access to healthcare is further complicated by a higher propensity to break appointments (Bean …

The Lives Of Suburban Peasants: Agricultural Change And Mobility In Haiti, Rachel M. Grabner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation develops a political ecology of suburban peasants to describe the lives of Haitian farmers residing in a neighborhood on the margins of Port-au-Prince. The category of suburban peasants has been well described for Chinese small-scale farmers but has yet to be applied elsewhere as an analytic category. Using participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and in-depth, key informant interviews, an ethnographic account is provided of changes in agricultural practices made by Haitian peasants as a result of environmental changes that impact their ability to make a living in contemporary Haiti. Farmers’ primary concerns are related to an increased need for …

The Origins Of Morality, Paulina Sanchez

Dialogue & Nexus

In modern society, there exists a standard for moral conduct that seems to reign universal over many societies of people. Pinpointing the origins of morality, however, can become problematic because of how one approaches what morality is and what its purpose is in society. Psychologists may point out the social constructs and norms that allow for morality to unfold. Evolutionary biologists may give evidence of human-related species that have developed similar behavioral standards. A Christian theologian may look to scripture in explaining a Creator who ordained that all abide by the standards of conduct most pleasing to this deity. Which …

A New Taxonomy Of Altruism In Terms Of Prosocial Behaviors, Kristin Kaiser

Dialogue & Nexus

The definition of altruism has been studied, explained, and even confused by many scholars in various fields. The term itself has been inappropriately used to describe prosocial behaviors that do not fall within the definition of altruism. An evaluation of Grant Ramsey’s taxonomy of altruism, which includes biological altruism, psychological altruism, and helping altruism, proves that it is not adequate in categorizing organism’s behaviors. A new taxonomy, with the branches of kin selection, reciprocity, and aesthetic altruism, is presented and explained to clarify the definition of altruism and alleviate confusion about how to describe prosocial behaviors. Both naming systems are …

Conversations In The Rainforest: Culture, Values, And The Environment In Central Africa, Richard B. Peterson

Environmental Studies Faculty Books

This book examines the environmental perceptions, values, and practices of inhabitants of Central Africa’s rainforests in order to help build a more firm foundation for ecological and social sustainability at the local level, while also making contributions to global environmental ethics from underrepresented African cultural traditions. It focuses on two case studies in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), one an integrated health and sustainable development project in the Ubangi region, and the other a large wildlife reserve in the Ituri Forest. Through in-depth interviews, focus groups, and participant observation conducted with local farmers and foragers, project staff, and local …

I Was Taught To Yell Fire, Marina Gutierrez

Honors Theses

From a very young age my mother always told me to yell, “Fire,” if I was ever in a situation where I needed help from a potential attacker, but I never understood why I couldn’t just yell, “Help.” Her reasoning was that many people will run towards a fire to help put it out or save potential victims, but when someone yells for help others will shy away because they don’t want to get involved. I would just nod and promise to yell fire not really understanding the underlying meaning she had just explained to me.

It wasn’t until I …

From Womb To Tomb: Learning To Live With Documents, Frederick W. Guyette

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Official records are ubiquitous in American life. Even before a birth certificate is issued for a child, medical professionals create an ultrasound image. The family regards that image as sublime, but the doctor scutinizes it in a different way. When a child is older, the birth certificate is what the school wants to see. Later in life, many other documents will be generated: a driver's license and car insurance, employment and tax records, financial documents associated with buying a home, passports for travel, and then a last will and testament, followed by a death certificate. Coping with documents throughout the …

Editorial, Tim Gorichanaz

Proceedings from the Document Academy

In response to the changing landscape of academic publishing, this special issue called for poetic engagements with questions of scholarly interest. In putting together this issue, we sought to showcase without evisceration the complex roles that documents play in human life.

Monks As Model Men: Gender Anomalies Or Heroic Ideal?, Aaron Raverty Osb

Saint John’s Abbey Publications

The movie The Mask You Live In portrays gender socialization for men in the United States today as dominated by a trajectory emphasizing ruthless competition, a never-ending search for prestige in material wealth, and a largely self-serving quest to overcome and control women. The movie graphically depicts all the accompanying psychological dysfunction, legal difficulties, and emotional distress experienced by boys and young men desperately trying to conform to such a scripted model of masculinity. Anthropological research invites alternate ways of thinking about the relationship between sex and gender. This is especially true among those who claim a close relationship with …

Amazonia In The Anthropocene: Peoples, Soils, Plants, Forests, John Ben Soileau

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

A Few Days With Bill Vickers: Quietly Advancing Indigenous Rights, Ted Macdonald

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

The Political Man As A Sick Animal: On The “Ideology Of Kisêdjê Political Leadership”, André Drago

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Eloquent, wise, generous; in short, “exemplary,” Kisêdjê political leaders are also said to be “animal-like” dangerous beings. For Anthony Seeger, this “ideological ambivalence” expresses the contradiction which constitutes the leader’s position-function, whose “political power” working at the center of the village derives from peripheral kinship affiliations. Moreover, supposed to withhold the group’s “norms”, he is surprisingly entitled to violate them–primarily, he is exempted from uxorilocality. I try to demonstrate that the inflections the leader subjects patterns of kinship-making process alter his body and agency, rendering him more or less human and, therefore, capable of mediating between the Kisêdjê and their …

Sex Roles And Social Change In Amazonian Ecuador, William T. Vickers

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

“Don Guillermo” Or William Vickers Among The Secoya, María Susana Cipolletti

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

Upper Perené Arawak Narratives Of History, Landscape, And Ritual, Fernando Santos-Granero

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.