Anthropology Commons^™

Common Law With Uncommon Regulations: The Influence Of Legal Tradition On Campaign Finance Regimes, Sky Berry-Weiss

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Americans spent $11.4 billion in their last federal election cycle but collectively, the United Kingdom and Canada only spent a little over $550 million in their last general elections. These three states have similarities in democratic governance, economic legacy, and common law legal system grouping but how did they become so separated in campaign finance regulations? Prior research in the field of international comparative campaign finance law is limited and primarily focuses on using political theories to describe the movement of laws toward deregulation or regulation. This research seeks to find what influences the creation, preservation, and deregulation of campaign …

The Heartman: The Impact Of Its Evolution On The Barbadian Cultural Landscape, Kelsia Kellman

Theses - ALL

The Heartman: The Impact of its Evolution on the Barbadian Cultural Landscape, examines the impact of cultural evolution on the Barbadian cultural landscape, using the folkloric belief of the Heartman as the point of focus. This thesis seeks through the analysis of newspaper articles, novels, graphic novels, short stories, and informal interviews to provide the historical and cultural backgrounds of Barbados, and to provide insight into the evolution that has taken place within society and how it is reflected within the minds of the Barbadian populace. In other words, how has the evolution of the Heartman affected the ways in …

The Resilience Of Agro-Pastoral Communities In High Altitude Central Tibet: Zooarchaeological And Stable Isotope Investigations At Bangga, 3000–2200 Bp, Zhengwei Zhang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Our understanding of the development of high-altitude adaptations worldwide has been enriched by recent anthropological research. Study of life on the Tibetan Plateau—dubbed “the Roof of the World”—has highlighted specific challenges of seasonal availability of food and extreme weather systems. Recent archaeological studies have revealed that pastoralism has a long history of resilience on the extreme high altitude Tibetan Plateau. However, specific risks to early flocks on the Tibetan Plateau and ways that herders managed their animals to mitigate these have not been well explored. Dated to 3000–2200 Cal BP, the archaeological settlement of Bangga represents one of the earliest …

The Myriad Of Things: Paleoethnobotany Of The Chenopodium Album Aggregate In Northern China, Mana Hayashi Tang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Carbonized macrobotanical remains of the Chenopodium album aggregate (Amaranthaceae) are highly ubiquitous at archaeological sites. These chenopods are early successional plants and ruderals, which grow well in disturbed ecosystems, including those that they co-habit and co-create with humans. Often distinguished from known agricultural crops (e.g., rice, millet) as a weed, chenopods have received less attention in early food culture studies, despite their ethnohistory as a grain crop, vegetable, and famine food. Their seed remains in northern China exhibit regionally variable morphological attributes, different from those seen in chenopod cultivars of the Americas. Their morphological variability may be a result of …

Cahokia's Hidden Landscape: Mound Building And Landscape Modification In The Ramey Field, John Grant Stauffer

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Cahokia is the largest known PreColumbian settlement north of Mexico and includes over 100 documented earthworks, generally called “mounds.” Additionally, it contains several plazas and occupation areas, or village areas, that are divided into management units called tracts. The Ramey Field is one such tract that includes mounds, plazas, village areas, and portions of large palisade walls that enclosed the central core of the site. The research findings presented here focus on the timing and scale of landscape modifications that included construction of multiple mounds and an East Plaza that co-existed with three other plazas oriented to the cardinal directions …

Health-Related Caretaking In An Institutionalized Setting: Applying The Index Of Care To Burial 1 From The Mid-19th To Early-20th Century Mississippi State Asylum, Jackson, Ms., Darcie Badon

Theses and Dissertations

This project employs a modified version of the Bioarchaeology of Care (BoC) in an analysis of Burial 1 from the Mississippi State Asylum, Jackson, MS. Burial 1 is a skeletal individual recovered from the historic MSA cemetery. Notably, Burial 1 exhibits recidivistic cranial trauma in the form of cranial depression fractures (CDFs) and significant entheseal changes in the upper extremities. However, because there is no identifying information associated with Burial 1, interpretations of the caretaking they may have received, both prior to and after institutionalization, include short- and long-term outcomes from their community and the MSA. Additionally, Burial 1’s CDFs …

Bon Appѐtit: Faunal Subsistence At Fort Tombecbe (1su7)​, Sarah Coffey

Master's Theses

The frontier fort known as Tombecbe is situated on the Tombigbee River in present day Epes, Alabama. Tombecbe was constructed in 1736 as a staging point for Bienville’s campaign against the Chickasaw and to block encroachments by the British military. Following the Treaty of Paris, the fort was occupied successively by the British and then Spanish in the eighteenth century. Fortunately, historic documents and physical modifications to the fort suggest that it is possible to isolate and examine the French, British, and Spanish separately, however the breadth of the faunal analysis leaves this for future research. The soldiers at Tombecbe …

A Comparative Analysis Of Montpelier's, Monticello's, And Mount Vernon's Collaborative Effort With Their Descendant Communities, Rachel Gregor

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Historical homes and plantation sites focus interpretation on the life and legacy of the white owners of the property and the architectural and decorative elements of the home. In order to tell the whole-truth history of these sites, there must be an active discussion regarding the lives of the enslaved population, especially since the enslaved individuals were the reason the white owner was able to be successful. While very little written historical records exist for enslaved communities in comparison to those that survive for the white plantation owner, the surviving documentation, when coupled with archaeological evidence and especially the oral …

Large-Herbivore Nemabiomes: Patterns Of Parasite Diversity And Sharing, Georgia C. Titcomb, Johan Pansu, Matthew C. Hutchinson, Kaia J. Tombak, Christina B. Hansen, Christopher C. M. Baker, Tyler R. Kartzinel, Robert M. Pringle

Publications and Research

Amidst global shifts in the distribution and abundance of wildlife and livestock, we have only a rudimentary understanding of ungulate parasite communities and parasite-sharing patterns. We used qPCR and DNA metabarcoding of fecal samples to characterize gastrointestinal nematode (Strongylida) community composition and sharing among 17 sympatric species of wild and domestic large mammalian herbivore in central Kenya. We tested a suite of hypothesis-driven predictions about the role of host traits and phylogenetic relatedness in describing parasite infections. Host species identity explained 27 – 53% of individual variation in parasite prevalence, richness, community composition and phylogenetic diversity. Host and parasite phylogenies …

The Social Life Of Violins: A Creative Exploration Of Entanglements And Actor-Network Theory, Benedetta Lombardo

Culture, Society, and Praxis

This paper uses fiction to explore anthropological concepts concerning material culture, entanglements, new materialism, agency and actor-network theory. In this article a fictive ethnographer encounters a violin who narrates its life- from its conception in the forest where it was part of an ecosystem, to taking form as a violin in a luthier’s shop and the skill negotiation that it entails as well as the effect on the human body, similar to Ingold’s theory of skilled practice, later following the violin until contemporary days as it gets exchanged as a precious good or sold as a commodity. The piece in …

Adoration Above Objectification: The Promotion Of Other In Black, Mexican And Arabic Love Poetry, Joycelynn L. Baker

Honors Projects

This paper analyzes the philosophical fundamentals of sexual objectification and presents opposing literature, written in the 20th century, by Black, Mexican and Arabic male poets in contrast. In vigorous patriarchal environments that provide more opportunities to practice sexual objectification, the poets reframe male metaphysical perception and behavior in romantic or sexual contexts by promoting the autonomy and agency of women above themselves, and displaying their enjoyment of that situation. This paper will discuss how Western metaphysical philosophy impacts self-perception and belief in contemporary romantic contexts.

Stature Estimates Of The Classic Period Maya From Chac Balam And San Juan, Ambergris Caye, Belize, Natalie Clark

Honors Theses

This thesis presents updated sex and stature estimates for ancient Maya females and males who lived in San Juan and Chac Balam in northern Ambergris Caye from approximately AD 700-900.

The regression formulae used in this study reflect a closer population affinity to the Maya compared to the equations used in the original analysis by Glassman (1995). Del Angel and Cisneros’ (2004) formulae were used when estimating stature based on a complete long bone. In Steele and Bramblett (1988), Steele and McKern (1969) and Steele (1970) regression formulae were used when estimating stature based on an incomplete humerus, femur, or …

By Her Hands: An Analysis Of The Hidden Labor Of Black Women At The Hugh Craft House Site In Holly Springs, Mykayla Williamson

Honors Theses

This project unearths the hidden labor of Black women by analyzing architectural remains, artifacts, and primary and secondary documentary evidence surrounding the urban antebellum Hugh Craft House site in Holly Springs, Mississippi. This project considers the gap in theorizing the hidden labor of Black women in the seldom-researched setting of urban slavery. It also draws on household and Black feminist archaeology theories to uncover the hidden labor in the domestic spheres that the enslaved women were actively shaping. Research methods included watching clips of Behind the Big House tour interpretations; taking a Craft House tour in Holly Springs; looking at …

A Cross-Cultural Survey Of The Funerary Practice Of Body Element Removal And Deposition In Mortuary Pottery, Sara Grevy

Honors Theses

Proteomic residue analysis conducted on several ceramic sherds from funerary vessels dating to the early Iron Age (700-400 BCE) led to the discovery of peptides of human blood, tissue, and organs. The pottery was recovered in 1999 from Grave 5 in Tumulus 17, an early Iron Age burial mound, at the Heuneburg, a paramount settlement and mortuary complex in southwestern Germany. Prior to this discovery, there had been no evidence of the removal of body elements and their deposition in funerary pottery during the early Iron Age. This thesis presents a cross-cultural literature survey of archaeological, ethnographic, and historical evidence …

Student Attitudes Towards English Grammar, Evalyn H. Bassett

Honors Theses

The literature on English grammar is mostly on its history, standardization, educational implementations, how ideologies shape its frequency of usage, and how it is perceived by students learning English as a second language. This study seeks to address a gap in the literature that reviews the attitudes of college students towards English grammar as their first language and how these attitudes correlate with any past experience with English grammar up to this point. To gain a better understanding of student’s attitudes towards English grammar, an online mixed-methods survey was distributed to graduate and undergraduate students in all departments of the …

Ageism, Eldercare, And Healthcare: An Examination Of Growing Old In Costa Rica, Akshaya Vijayasankar

Honors Theses

The world’s aging population and the Covid-19 pandemic have revealed the high level of ageism against older adults around the globe, which has resulted in an overall decreased quality of life for elders. Societies are now faced with the challenge of creating a suitable and equitable model of care to support their aging population. Despite the recent publication of the World Health Organization's Global Report on Ageism, there is still a large gap in the literature regarding ageism. This paper addresses the issues of institutional ageism in the eldercare and healthcare sector. I argue that Costa Rica serves as a …

The Politics Of Migration In América: A Comparative Analysis Of Federal Immigration Policy And Local Impacts In The United States And Ecuador, Hayden Williamson

Honors Theses

This study addresses the hemispheric politics of migration through the cases of the United States and Ecuador. It first reviews the scholarly literature regarding globalization and the politics of migration in the United States and Ecuador. Next, it analyzes the politics of migration of the Trump and Biden administrations in the United States and their local impacts. The subsequent chapter analyzes the impacts of the Moreno and Lasso administrations in Ecuador. The central argument of this thesis is based on criminalization rhetoric, arguing that criminal securitization discourses have become vital to how center and peripheral countries in the Americas are …

Pendulums Of Personhood? Exploring The Multitudes Of Immigrant Womanhood In Spanish-Maghrebi Literature, Kaitlyn C. Sisco

Honors Theses

Often considered articulations of in-between-ness and bearers of fraught selfhoods, the work of Spanish-Maghrebi authors has been widely debated in literary fields, with academics arguing that it constitutes a largely homogenous set of texts about the standard immigrant experience. However, by placing these texts in a single category, such arguments end up erasing the immensely varied identities expressed and represented by Spanish-Maghrebi authors. This thesis seeks to address this issue by paying particular attention to how Spanish-Maghrebi authors negotiate different types of immigrant subjectivities in their writing. Specifically, I analyze the works of three contemporary Spanish-Maghrebi writers, Najat El Hachmi, …

“A History Of Heartache”: Korean Reunification Through The Eyes Of Giseong Sedae, Johanna Avalyn Cooper

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I analyze answers provided by middle-aged South Koreans (Giseong Sedae, ages 40 to 69) to determine what factors have influenced this generation’s perceptions of Korean reunification. Utilizing a survey and interviews, I first measure the general views of South Korean participants within this age range. The survey results show that the majority of respondents want Peaceful Coexistence reunification without foreign influence. In interviews, participants’ answers are divided into six main factors that affect their views of reunification which include hesitancies toward reunification, the tenacity of Han Minjok, familial ties to division, anti-communist education, political …

The World’S Languages In Crisis (Redux): Toward A Radical Reimagining For Global Linguistic Justice, Gerald J. Roche

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

The world’s languages are in crisis: intergenerational transmission of around half the world’s languages is collapsing. I argue that to understand and intervene in this situation, we need to radically reimagine what it means to call it a crisis. We need to think about this crisis not simply as an acute emergency (which it is), but also in Antonio Gramsci's sense of a period in which ‘the old is dying but the new cannot be born’. In this sense, our present moment of crisis is one in which language oppression and language revitalization co-exist in dynamic tension. To analyze this …