Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

Reclaiming Presence: An Anthropological Study Of Digital Disconnection And Meaning-Making, Leslie De Paz

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Human attention is increasingly at risk in an unregulated digital ecosystem where overconsumption shapes neurological function, social interaction, and the ways people make meaning of everyday life. Dominant discourse around digital overuse tends to medicalize the problem, framing it as individual addiction or clinical dysfunction. In this thesis, I argue that such framing obscures what a cultural phenomenon is fundamentally, one in which people are actively questioning their relationship with technology, building awareness, and developing practices that help them slow down and reclaim agency within algorithmically mediated environments. This study draws on 22 semi-structured interviews with Gen Z and millennial …

Tooth Ablation And The Jōmon - Yayoi Transition In Japan, Laura R. Erickson

Theses and Dissertations

The Jōmon – Yayoi period transition in Japan is marked by many migrants coming through the Korean Peninsula into Kyushu, sparking changes such as the introduction of wet-rice agriculture to the native hunter-gatherer-fisher Jōmon population and decreases in tooth ablation patterns and percentages. Ritual tooth ablation, or the removal of healthy front teeth, is typically seen as a coming-of-age practice, with the Jōmon having a diverse amount of ablation patterns. In this study, I explored how the rates and variation of tooth ablation changed throughout Japan after the arrival of Yayoi migrants from the continent. After calculating ablation rates per …

Digital Truth Making, Creative Resistance, And Power Negotiation Through Social Media: A Digital Ethnography Of The 2024 Gen Z Uprising In Bangladesh, Mustafizurrrahman Rahat

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates how social media shaped political participation during the 2024 July Uprising in Bangladesh, focusing on the production and negotiation of political truth, legitimacy, and resistance through everyday digital practices. Rather than conceptualizing social media solely as a communication tool, the study analyzes digital platforms as contested spaces where activists, state-aligned actors, and other participants constructed, circulated, and challenged competing political narratives throughout the uprising.

Drawing on digital ethnography, this study integrates netnographic observation of Facebook groups, pages, hashtags, memes, and protest-related visual content with content analysis, reflexive participant observation, and semi-structured interviews with Generation Z participants. The …

Cultural Schemas Regarding Resilience And Strength In Blacks: Implications For Well-Being And Academic Success, Aniya G. Ashford

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Culturally shaped strength-based coping frameworks among Black college students, particularly the Strong Black Woman Schema and John Henry’s Active Coping, are associated with responses to racism-related stress and academic pressure, yet the ways these internalized expectations interact with emotional regulation, perceived cultural norms, and academic functioning remain unclear. Prior research has primarily examined these constructs in isolation or focused on psychological distress or physical health outcomes, often relying on single-method self-report designs that do not capture how culturally embedded coping processes are reflected in lived experiences; as a result, limited work has integrated identity-based schemas, behavioral coping strategies, and narrative …

Illusions Of Fairness And Sacrifice, Brady Schwertfeger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The American West is a shifting landscape. An incongruous expanse of isolation and urbanity, wilderness and extraction, wealth and welfare, clear water and fire. Fifteen years ago, I moved to my mother’s ancestral homeland of Montana, and have been here ever since. Before that, I was born and raised in Texas, both the West and the South (and often something else entirely), depending on who you ask. My experiences in this region have shaped me indelibly, and have inspired this collection of essays built around culture, politics, and justice in the West. “Pinedale, Wyoming” considers the musician as itinerant wanderer …

"Just Let Your Soul Glo": Humorous Music In Black American Comedy Films, Drew Brady

Music Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I inspect ways in which music has been used to create humor and meaning in black American cinema. In doing so, I address gaps in film music scholarship, as music in comedy films and in black cinema are both neglected topics. I suggest that humor in these films arises out of a particular blend of musical irony, parody, and satire, the exact combination of which is contingent on various historical, cultural, and political factors. In order to track this trend, I analyze humorous music in eight films, each representing a unique manifestation of this tradition: Watermelon Man …

The Theological Tradition Of The Orthodox Church In The Aspect Of The Formation Of Military Leadership In Ukraine, Olga Dobrodum, Andrii S. Zborchyi, Tetyana Kondratyuk-Antonova, Oleksandr L. Kolomiiets

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Analysis of the Orthodox theological tradition as a moral foundation for military leadership in the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the full-scale war. The study moves beyond pragmatic managerial models, exploring Orthodox categories such as service (diakonia), sacrifice, and spiritual warfare. Drawing on patristic heritage and modern theologians, the authors examine leadership motivation, the role of faith in professional resilience, and the integration of Orthodox anthropology into military training. Special emphasis is placed on the Orthodox Church of Ukraine's chaplaincy as a key mechanism for actualizing these values while addressing challenges like secularism and multiconfessionalism.

The Rise And Fall Of The First Atheist State: Albania’S Rediscovery Of Faith, Fatos Tarifa

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This paper explores Albania’s unprecedented experience as the only modern state to constitutionally declare itself atheist. After World War II, Enver Hoxha’s communist regime sought to reshape society through radical ideological transformation. In 1967, the regime banned all religious practice, dismantled churches, mosques, and monasteries, and persecuted clergy. Religion was criminalized, while atheism was promoted as a central component of socialist identity, enforced through education, propaganda, and cultural policy. In 1976, Albania was proclaimed by its constitution the world’s first atheist state. The paper examines the historical circumstances that produced this extreme stance and its consequences: suppression of traditions, erosion …

An Ethnographic Study Of First-Generation Alumni At Dartmouth College: Perspectives From Alumni, Faculty, Staff, And Administrators, Brittney A. Roden

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

First- generation college students (FGCS) often face challenges adapting to the academic and social environments of elite institutions like Dartmouth College. Lacking familial experience in higher education, they must decode unspoken institutional norms, contributing to stress, social isolation, and barriers to accessing institutional support. This study examines how FGCS experience academic pressure, social belonging, and engagement with campus systems, and how these shape their personal and professional trajectories. Drawing on participant-generated audio diary journals with alumni, qualitative interviews with faculty and staff, and a review of existing literature, this research highlights the interplay of academic stress, coping strategies, cultural capital, …

Le Parcours Des Travailleurs Immigrants Blessés Et Son Incidence Sur L’Alliance Thérapeutique : Une Étude De Cas Longitudinale En Contexte De Réadaptation Au Travail Au Québec, Maude Arsenault, Jessica Dubé, Daniel Côté

Études primaires

Cette étude explore l’incidence du parcours prélésionnel des travailleuses et travailleurs immigrants (TI) blessés sur l’alliance thérapeutique (AT) en réadaptation au travail. À partir d’une ethnographie longitudinale menée dans une clinique québécoise, sept trajectoires ont été analysées selon leurs dimensions migratoires, socioprofessionnelles et linguistiques. Les résultats montrent que le déclassement professionnel, la précarité de l’emploi, les barrières linguistiques et les expériences de racisme fragilisent la construction du lien de confiance et la définition partagée des objectifs de retour au travail. Lorsque l’emploi prélésionnel est perçu comme transitoire ou inadéquat, l’obligation institutionnelle d’y retourner crée une rupture symbolique qui entre en …

Pluralism And Critique In A Renewed Environmental Anthropology, Helen Kopnina

Journal of Ecological Anthropology

Environmental anthropology has evolved from early ethnographic traditions that emphasized the interplay between culture and ecology to a field increasingly influenced by ideological perspectives across the political spectrum. Traditionally, anthropologists examined how human societies adapted to their environments through cultural practices, laying the groundwork for ecological anthropology. However, in recent decades, the field has increasingly been shaped by political and theoretical shifts that prioritize critiques of capitalism, colonialism, and environmental injustice—sometimes at the cost of empirical diversity and democratic debate. There are critiques of the broader trend in academia where intellectual discourse becomes dominated by elite-driven ideological conformity. Critics warn …

Revitalizing The Application Of Pancasila Values Through Modeling The Lonto Leok Culture Of The Manggarai Community, Eastern Indonesia, Yulius R. Effendi

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

This study explores the potential for integrating Lonto Leok culture as a character education model based on Pancasila values in schools. This research employs a qualitative approach utilizing a case study methodology. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and document analysis in Manggarai communities and schools that have integrated the Lonto Leok cultural tradition into their learning processes. The data analysis confidently employed a triangulation approach to solidify the validity of the research outcomes, ensuring their credibility, dependability, transferability, and confirmability. The research results indicate that the values espoused in Lonto Leok culture, including religiosity, deliberation, unity, peace, and justice, …

Phallikong Pananagisag Sa Mga Terestriyal At Aquatikong Hayop Sa Kapaligirang Pilipino, Axle Christien J. Tugano

Social Sciences and Development Review

This research aims to explore the somatic study of the Filipino body, with particular attention to the genitalia (butò, titi, phallus, or penis), while concurrently examining the cultural perception of the Filipino environment, specifically focusing on fauna. In various societies, including Filipino culture, animals have often been symbolically associated with genitalia. Despite this, the use of such symbolism in daily communication and cultural expressions remains under explored in academic discourse. This study will examine a range of terrestrial animals, including birds, aquatic species such as fish and trepang (sea cucumber), and semi-aquatic creatures like crocodiles and snakes, which have frequently …

Book Review: Victim-Centred Peacemaking: Colombia’S Santos–Farc-Ep Peace Process, Patricia M. Rodriguez

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Arts & Literature: Impotent Witness: A Tale Of Two Genocides, And Counting, Lisa M. Simeone

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This essay draws on memory, ethnography, and theory to consider a scholar’s personal and political responsibility as witness.

Parliamentary Gridlock In Tanzania: An Examination Of The Politics Of Changing The Cashew Nut Industry Act (Cap 203), Palme Kawishe

Tanzania Journal of Sociology

The legislature plays a pivotal role in overseeing the management of public resources through the budget process, which provides a formal forum for debating how funds are mobilised, allocated, and spent. Through this process, the legislature reviews and amends the laws governing a government’s annual revenues and expenditures. However, legislative review is often shaped by underlying political dynamics. Focusing on legislative-executive relations, this article examines the political dynamics that unfolded in Tanzania’s parliament during the amendment of the Cashew Nut Industry Act (Cap. 203) and how these dynamics produced parliamentary gridlock. It further explores how the fusion of party and …

Marooned: A Western Frontier Dismal Swamp Narrative, Professor Meya E. Hargett

The Scholarship Without Borders Journal

Marooned: A Western Frontier Dismal Swamp Narrative centers the erased figure of Samuel Mars, a lost Black station master whose movements through the Great Dismal Swamp have been excluded from dominant Underground Railroad cartographies. Here, the term “Marooned” refers not to abandonment, but to the maroon geographies of Black and Indigenous resistance encoded in land, lineage, and fugitive infrastructure.

Guided by Diasporic Maroon Memory Theory, Lineage as Method, and the Maroon Geographies Framework, this research reconstructs Mars’s trajectory through oral testimony, spatial patterning, and ancestral land memory. Rather than casting the Dismal Swamp merely as a site of refuge, this …

A Play-Based Stoic Intervention: Preventive Pedagogy For Childhood Resilience, Ross William Podyma Mr

International Journal of Playwork Practice

Rates of reported childhood mental health difficulties have risen markedly in recent years, prompting a policy emphasis on early identification and rapid referral to clinical services. While such responses are vital for acute and complex presentations, there is growing concern that they may contribute to an over-pathologising of normative developmental experiences. Everyday challenges that once functioned as opportunities to build resilience are increasingly framed as early symptoms of mental disorder. This risks undermining children’s ability to cope adaptively with adversity, inadvertently fostering reliance on external intervention.

Since its inception in 2012, Sporting Communities CIC has been embedded in schools and …

Music And Sustainable Development Goals: Telling The Story, Mark Reimer

Journal of Global Awareness

Now, 10 years after the United Nations adopted its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the music profession continues to work toward being a responsible partner in the health and preservation of the planet and its inhabitants. By transcending social barriers, music promotes cultural awareness and mutual understanding, encourages creativity, and enhances emotional well-being, outcomes vital to the global goals of health, freedom, peace, education, equality, prosperity, and environmental sustainability. The article includes various examples of how music performers, educators, composers, and scholars are creating or adopting new practices that are mindful of reducing the carbon footprint, yet financially feasible in their …

Life In The Cracks: Law, Violence, And Resistance In Haiti, Marco Motta

Anthropology

A rich account of what it means to live with law amid its failures.

Life in the Cracks is a rich ethnographic portrait of law, violence, and resistance in Haiti. In a contemporary context marked by international interference, global capitalism, and state collapse, Haitians face complex challenges that are largely ignored and misunderstood. By examining the most unexpected inflections of ordinary life, Life in the Cracks offers a well-grounded account of people’s experience of law in their lives. The book describes what it means to endure violence partly engendered by the law, and thus to live up to one’s disappointment …

An Axe To The Funny Bone: Curated Instability And Horror-Comedy Intersections In American Storytelling, Samantha Box

Masters Theses

Funny. Terrifying. Subversive.

Horror-Comedy twists and bites at the intersection of two incredibly reactive genres— with both Horror and Comedy being well known for the political and social discourses they embody and reinvent through story. While prevalent in American popular culture, scholarly analysis of this hybrid space barely exists beyond a small number of Film Studies investigations. Despite this lack, Horror-Comedy works continue to be successfully produced. This thesis unpacks the vibrant relationship between fear and laughter in contemporary American storytelling through Horror-Comedy, maintaining a focus on structural dynamics and the audience-disarming results of simultaneously applying horror and humor to …

The Reception Of Neurodiversity Represented Within Netflix’S Wednesday, Anna Stevens

Graduate Theses & Dissertations

This paper explores how neurodiversity is represented through popular media - particularly Netflix's show Wednesday - and aims to discuss the effects this representation could have in regards to how it's received by the public, as well as those who are neurodiverse.

Book Review: Ecologies Of Inequity. How Disaster Response Reconstitutes Race And Class Inequality, Abel Traslaviña-Arias

Critical Disaster Studies

In Ecologies of Inequity: How Disaster Response Reconstitutes Race and Class Inequality, Sancha Doxilly Medwinter gathered diverse stories about how various migrant communities had to overcome not only disaster but also the overlapping networks established by those who were supposed to support them in 2012 in New York City. Medwinter portrays this contested post-disaster landscape through a thorough data recording of 120 individuals affiliated with various groups: racialized migrants or locals, tenants or property owners, local or external helpers, and those from wealthy or impoverished backgrounds. Ecologies of Inequity refer to the spatialized networks of organizational and interpersonal relations …

Reclaiming Bodily Autonomy Through Gullah Geechee Natural Healing, Tamaray Yvonne White

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In today’s sociopolitical climate, restrictive reproductive laws continue to disproportionately target Black women, reinforcing historic patterns of racialized and gendered oppression. This thesis argues that Black women will recommence their usage of traditional herbal healing as both a survival strategy and an act of reclaiming bodily autonomy in defiance of hostile legal, financial, and medical systems. The Gullah Geechee community serves as a blueprint for this transition, offering cultural continuity, intergenerational knowledge, and a model for community-based healthcare and resistance. By tracing the historical necessity of herbal medicine among Gullah Geechee women, this study situates ancestral natural healing within contemporary …

Undergraduate Awareness Of Sexual Harassment Law In Tanzania's Higher Learning Institutions: Case Studies Of Two Universities, Salma Ramadhan Fundi Phd Candidate

Tanzania Journal of Sociology

This study examines undergraduate students' awareness of legal provisions and guidelines concerning sexual harassment in Tanzanian higher education, focusing on the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) and the Open University of Tanzania (OUT) as case studies. Sexual harassment significantly impacts students’ well-being, safety, and academic success. Despite the existence of legal frameworks, students' knowledge of these provisions is often limited. The study employed a qualitative approach with a phenomenological research design to explore students’ experiences and perceptions of harassment policies. This design allowed participants to share the meanings they attach to their experiences and how such policies are understood …

“Festivity Without Feast”: Autonomy, Prosperity, Mutuality And Inequality In A Mentawai Village, Darmanto Darmanto

Antropologi Indonesia

Among the Mentawai, autonomy, prosperity, and mutuality are core values that foster their egalitarian ethos. In the last few decades, they have reconfigured these values in their quest for equality with outsiders who have consistently looked down upon them. The state encourages and facilitates their pursuit by establishing a centralised village, implementing development projects, and promoting engagement in commodity production. These processes direct productive work results towards household livelihoods, legitimising wealth accumulation and sidelining sharing practices. In seeking equality with outsiders, the realisation of autonomy and productivity increasingly leads to internal inequality, which is the antithesis of their egalitarian quest …

Embodied Overcrowding And Sensory Tensions: A Carceral Autoethnography Of Philippine Jails, Dwayne Antojado

Ateneo School of Government Publications

In this paper, I undertake a sensorially oriented autoethnography of two Philippine jails, illuminating the visceral textures of carceral life that conventional sociological or criminological discourses often overlook. Drawing inspiration from Jewkes and Young's (2021) examination of Kyoto Prison, I foreground the overlapping realms of sight, sound, smell, and touch, arguing that incarceration is inherently a profoundly embodied phenomenon. By weaving personal reflections, field observations, and broader scholarly insights, I reveal how overcrowded dormitories, suffocating heat, and lingering bodily odours converge to redefine detainees' spatial, temporal, and psychosocial realities in ways rarely captured by quantitative metrics. While mindful of Nelken's …

Mountain Communities During A Time Of War: A Case Study Of The Hutsul Region In The Carpathian Mountains Of Ukraine, Pavlo Rybaruk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the ethno-ecological technologies employed by the Hutsul people within the highland agrarian economy of the Carpathian Mountains. Over centuries, the Hutsuls have developed ethno-ecological technologies that maintain ecological integrity while supporting community livelihoods.

The study addresses three primary research questions: What are the most important ethno-ecological technologies of the Hutsul highland economy? How might these traditional ethno-ecological practices be applied to economic, agricultural, and tourism development in the Hutsul region? How might these traditional ethno-ecological practices be combined with contemporary approaches to encourage sustainable development in the region?

The research explores the devastating impact of the Russian …

Ädeeja: Origem Dos Alimentos Cultivados E Práticas Alimentares Ye’Kwana, Viviane Cajusuanaima Rocha (Povo Ye’Kwana)

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

O artigo explora a ligação entre a cosmologia do povo Ye’kwana e suas práticas alimentares tradicionais, com base no conceito central de ädeeja, que representa os alimentos cultivados. Esse termo abrange mais do que a ideia de comida — ele carrega uma dimensão cosmológica e relacional, conectando humanos, espíritos, plantas e o território. Está ligado a uma rede de relações entre humanos, espíritos vegetais e saberes ancestrais. Representa a comida como elo com o cosmos, reforçando a interdependência entre os seres. Minha análise mostra que, para os Ye’kwana, alimentar-se é um ato cósmico, enraizado em narrativas, cantos e relações …

Prosperando Con Otros: Paisajes Multiespecie Y Producción De Alimentos En El Caribe Colombiano, América Larraín

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

Este artículo es resultado de un proyecto de investigación asociado a la producción de alimentos en una comunidad arhuaca en las tierras bajas de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Se describen algunas experiencias de la implementación del proyecto, destacando los aspectos relacionados con la articulación entre las técnicas derivadas de la agroacuicultura integrada y la cosmovisión arhuaca. Con este artículo, se espera contribuir a la reflexión sobre cómo las cosmologías indígenas se materializan en prácticas concretas, que en este caso específico podrían pensarse en el marco de lo que se ha llamado el Buen Vivir.