Anthropology Commons^™

Indigenous Knowledge And Traditional Knowledge, Margaret Bruchac

Department of Anthropology Papers

Over time, Indigenous peoples around the world have preserved distinctive understandings, rooted in cultural experience, that guide relations among human, non-human, and other-than human beings in specific ecosystems. These understandings and relations constitute a system broadly identified as Indigenous knowledge, also called traditional knowledge or aboriginal knowledge. Archaeologists conducting excavations in Indigenous locales may uncover physical evidence of Indigenous knowledge (e.g. artifacts, landscape modifications, ritual markers, stone carvings, faunal remains), but the meaning of this evidence may not be obvious to non-Indigenous or non-local investigators. Researchers can gain information and insight by consulting Indigenous traditions; these localized knowledges contain crucial …

How To Use A Ouija Board--A Step By Step Guide, Ellie Piersol

Louise Pound: A Folklore and Literature Miscellany

No abstract provided.

The Pedophile Prophet? Breathing A Culturally Relative Point Of View Into A Controversial Cultural Debate, Samuel S. Thompson

What All Americans Should Know About Women in the Muslim World

This work focuses on a controversial topic within women studies of the Islamic world, the very young marriage of Mohammad's second wife Aisha. The work attempts to meet the issue on level ground and explain that while this may seem as a spark on conflict between non-Muslim cultures and the Islamic world this marriage was not altogether that uncommon for the time.

Cultural Appropriation In Contemporary Neopaganism And Witchcraft, Kathryn Gottlieb

Honors College

This thesis examines the discourse surrounding cultural appropriation in contemporary witchcraft and neopaganism, particularly online. The aim of this thesis is to look at how cultural appropriation became such a central topic in the witch and neopagan community and to see what can be learned about the community as a whole from this discourse. Definitions, neutralization techniques, and the development of alternative practices and terminologies are all discussed, as well as how cultural appropriation relates to the history of witchcraft as a whole. Seven witch/neopagan members of the popular blogging platform tumblr.com were interviewed for this study to examine how …

The Ufo Contact Movement From The 1950'S To The Present, Christoper Bader

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

"Since the beginning of the UFO movement in the late 1940s, beliefs about what the aliens are like and the purpose of their visits to Earth have changed numerous times. The first claims of extended contact with alien beings in the early 1950s were entirely different in form and content from the current, frightening UFO abduction tales. This article will trace the UFO movement from its origin in 1947 to the present, explaining how its prevailing paradigms have changed."

In The Presence Of Evil: Demonic Perception Narratives, Victoria Jaye

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports

I offer a new classification system for organizing, understanding, and validating the inhuman demonic encounter by organizing it through the senses the experience is activating. A demonic or inhuman spirit, which can be used interchangeably, is a spirit in that they exist without bodies, possess abilities greater than that of humans (rendering them inhuman), are hyperintelligent, react negatively to Christian religious iconography, and are malevolent in their behavior towards humans.

The system I have created is organized by the sensory perceptions of the narrative (i.e. sight, sound, smell, and feeling of the demonic presence) then is divided further by the …

The Spars Pandemic 2025-2028: A Futuristic Scenario To Facilitate Medical Countermeasure Communication, Emily K. Brunson, Hannah Chandler, Gigi Kwik Gronvall, Sanjana Ravi, Tara Kirk Sell, Matthew P. Shearer, Monica L. Schoch-Spana

Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research

Effective communication about medical countermeasures—including drugs, devices and biologics—is often critical in emergency situations. Such communication, however, does not just happen. It must be planned and prepared for. One mechanism to develop communication strategies is through the use of prospective scenarios, which allow readers the opportunity to rehearse responses while also weighing the implications of their actions. This article describes the development of such a scenario: The SPARS Pandemic 2025-2028. Steps in this process included deciding on a timeframe, identifying likely critical uncertainties, and then using this framework to construct a storyline covering both the response and recovery phases of …

Chapter 1, Background Of The Study, Alan C. Swedlund

Research Report 07: The Genetic Structure of an Historical Population: a Study of Marriage and Fertility in Old Deerfield, Massachusetts

No abstract provided.

Mirrors As Portals: Images Of Mirrors On Ancient Maya Ceramics, Julie Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Maya believed there were multiple worlds in addition to the human world. Portals connected these worlds and allowed active engagement between the Maya and their gods. Without portals and the ability to communicate between the worlds the Maya belief system could not function. Evidence suggests the Maya believed reflective surfaces – mirrors and water surfaces – were portals to spiritual worlds. In this thesis, I examine the portrayal of mirrors as portals in Maya art, focusing on mirrors in scenes painted on ceramics. Combining archaeological, iconographical, and linguistic data I argue that mirrors functioned in service to ritual as …

Haunting Experiences: Ghosts In Contemporary Folklore, Diane E. Goldstein, Sylvia Ann Grider, Jeannie B. Thomas

All USU Press Publications

Ghosts and the supernatural appear throughout modern culture, in any number of entertainment, commercial, and other contexts. Popular media's commodified representations of ghosts can be quite different from what people believe about them, based on tradition or direct experience. Belief and tradition and the popular or commercial nevertheless continually feed off each other. They frequently share space in how people think about the supernatural. In Haunting Experiences, three well-known folklorists broaden the discussion of ghost lore by examining it from multiple angles in various modern contexts. Diane E. Goldstein, Sylvia Ann Grider, and Jeannie Banks Thomas take ghosts seriously. They …