Anthropology Commons^™

Pvc Survey Report-Site Descriptions, Edward Mark Schortman

Four Valleys Archive

No abstract provided.

Pvn-Survey Report-Site Descriptions, Edward Mark Schortman

Four Valleys Archive

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Nexus Between Food Insecurity And School Readiness: A Comprehensive Analysis In Ghana, Michael Atuahene Djan, Emmanuel Yeboah, Isaac Sarfo, Michael Kpakpo Allotey, Abraham Okrah, Desmond Nii Ayitey Mettle-Nunoo, Ben Emunah Aikins, Asante Vincent Antwi, Clement Issaka Anaba, Clement Kwang

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

This study delves into the multifaceted challenges of food insecurity and its profound impact on school readiness among children in Ghana. Utilizing data from the Ghana Statistical Service and the Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis, and employing ArcGIS for spatial analysis, the research maps high food insecurity areas and overlays population density to prioritize interventions. Findings reveal a stark concentration of food insecurity in northern Ghana, worsened by adverse weather conditions, underscoring the urgency for targeted interventions. The study highlights how food insecurity extends beyond nutritional deficits, affecting socio-economic structures and family dynamics. Children in food-insecure households face significant …

Sci-Fi: An Anthropology Anthology Of Other Worlds, Kailey Rocker, Genevieve Frank, Miranda Lile, Meridian Ondrejka, Nyhan O'Sullivan, Leo Plunkett, Lukas Schmerse, Percy Schneider, Iris Roxanne Shykula, Sophia Weiss-Priebe

Sci-Fi: An Anthropology Anthology of Other Worlds

In this magazine, student authors at Lawrence University explore the relationship between science fiction and ethnography. While different in terms of content, writing style, audience, and author, the two genres share an important objective: to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange. In exploring human variation and the diversity of cultural knowledge, anthropological accounts (ethnography) challenge the anthropologist and the reader to understand that their perspective of the world around them is one among many. Likewise, science fiction presents a world with its own logics that simultaneously comfort and estrange the reader. While science fiction and ethnography offer an …

Down The Bay Oral History Project Newsletter - Winter 2025, Center For Archaeological Studies, Mccall Library

Down the Bay Oral History Project Newsletter

Public newsletter sharing information about progress and discoveries during the Down The Bay Project.

This Needs More Time!: Considerations For Improving Partnerships Between Communities And Institutions In Folklore, Sarah M. Gordon, Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth, Junious Lee Brickhouse, Ashley Minner Jones, Naomi Sturm-Wijesinghe

Art Faculty Publications

From 2021 to 2023, the authors convened a series of discussion forums at the annual meetings of the American Folklore Society to discuss the challenges of community-institutional partnerships in the field of folklore. This perspectives piece presents the outcomes of that series of panels with the goal of advancing adaptability in institutional practices to better support community-engaged work. We seek to promote practices that better respond to community needs in collaborative partnerships through disciplinary norms and institutional bureaucratic mechanisms.

Biocultural Mobility: The Impact Of Osteoarthritis On Rural Kentuckians, Alexandria Anderson

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common chronic degenerative joint disease that results in joint pain and loss of joint function, and it is rising in prevalence alongside an aging population. OA has a complex etiology, with various biological, mechanical, and sociocultural factors affecting its acquisition and progression. Like most diseases, OA has a differential prevalence among populations; it is disproportionally more common in underserved communities, including rural areas. This thesis presents (1) a study comparing selected OA treatment type and patient travel time, (2) a study comparing OA comorbidity amount and rurality, and (3) a discussion of exploratory interdisciplinary methods in …

Indigenous Artists Working With Digital Materials, Luke A. Meeken

Teaching Resource Archive

This is a static PDF version of the online resource found here: https://www.gildedgreen.com/indigital This document contains the five thematic curricular modules from the online resource but does not contain the always-growing online database of contemporary Indigenous digital artists, who can be found at the above link.

This resource includes several thematic modules designed for use by educators of preservice art teachers, which can be adapted for use in graduate and undergraduate level courses (and parts of which will be deployed in my own elementary and secondary methods courses). These could be used in whole or in part, and are designed …

Folklore And Region In Actual Play Podcasting: An Interview With Clint And Griffin Mcelroy, Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth

Art Faculty Publications

The article focuses on the rise of "actual play" podcasts like The Adventure Zone, which use tabletop roleplaying games as a medium for storytelling. Topics include the show's engagement with Appalachian folklore, the emotional depth of its narrative themes such as memory and loss, and its representation of West Virginia's cultural landscape.

Introduction: Beyond Hollow Materialism, Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth, Zada Komara

Art Faculty Publications

This introduction to the special issue, “Transformative Approaches to Materiality in Appalachian Studies,” provides theoretical background and examples that demonstrate applications of new material culture and materiality theory to key Appalachian studies themes. It offers new directions for the study of material entanglement in social relationships by reviewing the history of material culture studies in the Appalachian context, fundamental theoretical propositions emerging from the “material turn” in social theory, and examples drawn from ethnographic and archaeological research into the patterns of use of material culture in the timber country of West Virginia and coalfields of eastern Kentucky. Finally, this introduction …

Lifelong Learning And Archaeological Field Schools, Ed Schortman, Pat Urban

Four Valleys Archive Scholarship

Higher education inculcates in students an enduring curiosity about the world. Accomplishing this goal requires helping undergraduates recognize that learning is a social process occurring within multiple communities of practice. Each of these collectives provides different lenses through which aspects of reality are illuminated, none encompassing all there is to know about a subject. Students thus appreciate that learning is an open-ended processes driven by a curiosity that is never satisfied. Knowledge resulting from that process is forever being refined, a project to which undergraduates can contribute. Appreciating the many ways of knowing the world requires engaging meaningfully with these …

"The Toughest Job You'll Ever Love": Identity Creation, Compartmentalization, And Belonging Among Queer Peace Corps Volunteers, Laura N. Keeran

Theses and Dissertations

The Peace Corps advertises that it accepts anyone, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation; however, recruiters and staff ask volunteers to go back into the closet for their twenty-seven months of service due to the Peace Corps’ safety concerns about their volunteers being out in their host countries. Queer Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) answer the call to serve, accepting that it means they will need to keep their queer identities concealed for two years and three months. I conducted ethnographic interviews with ten people who have served or are currently serving in the Peace Corps and identify under …

Warriors Of Faith Vs Passive Men: Gender Binarism And Performance In Evangelical Christian Masculinity, Alexander Koch

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis examines communications and reflections of self (gendered and religious) in Midwest Evangelical Christian men. The focus was on how these groups perform their gender and religion with each other, and the tactics that were used to reinforce an acceptable notion of masculinity. Drawing upon literature on gender and masculinity studies, feminist philosophy, and hierarchical systems, my project aimed to analyze acceptable gender performance pushed by patriarchal gender norms and evangelical Christian groups. I incorporated multiple settings in my ethnographic study across the Midwest. Methods included semi-structured interviews and participant-observation of men’s conferences and Christian men’s groups, while reflecting …

Critical Approaches To Climate-Induced Migration Research And Solutions, Rosalyn Negrón, David Hernández, Hossein Ayazi, Pablo Shiladitaya Bose, Nyingilanyeofori Brown, Elora Chowdhury, Janelle Knox-Hayes, Rajini Srikanth, Banu Subramaniam, Farhana Sultana, Patrick Sylvain, Carlos Vargas-Ramos, Charles Venator-Santiago

Sustainable Solutions Lab

In this commentary we explore the confluence of factors shaping climate-induced migration and the need for comprehensive solutions grounded in historical and systemic understandings. We argue that climate change, colonial legacies, and geopolitical policies significantly influence migration patterns, particularly for historically marginalised communities. We call for scholars to develop holistic frameworks that consider environmental, political, historical, and economic factors while advocating for the legal recognition and protection of migrants and people displaced by climate impacts. Drawing on examples of internal migration and displacement in the United States and refugee camps globally, we highlight the complexities of resettlement. We propose integrated …

A Cadaver Story: Relationality In The Anatomy Laboratory, Stephanie Teasley

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Cadavers in the human anatomy laboratory occupy a liminal social space, a circumstance that presents a variety of challenges for anatomy students. Cadavers are intended to be scientific objects for study, but their human status makes dissection uniquely challenging. Many of the obstacles to working in the laboratory result from discomfort experienced at the thought of cutting a person (i.e. a social being). In this project, I use ‘cadaver’ to indicate a category of being created in and for the anatomy laboratory. This is distinct from the more general ‘dead body’ in that the category cadaver enables emotional distance and …

An Introduction To Cultural Anthropology: What Does Anthropology Offer The Current World?, Kristina Baines, Victoria Costa, Baird Campbell

Open Educational Resources

This Open Educational Resource (OER) is designed to be used as a textbook to accompany an introductory course in Cultural Anthropology. The chapters can, however, stand alone or be expanded and be used in courses with units on Medical Anthropology, Ethnographic Methods, Race and Gender Studies, Climate and Environmental Anthropology and others. Please feel free to use all or part of the textbook and supplemental materials provided. This resource is published under a creative commons license. Use and modify as you wish for non-commercial use only with attribution to Cool Anthropology.

Projectile Points Of New Mexico: 13,000 Years Of Technological Innovation, Bradley J. Vierra

Anthropology: Faculty Book Gallery

For the first time, New Mexico has a volume dedicated to all projectile point types dating from the Paleoindian through Historic period. Filled with historical details, measurements, defining attributes, age estimates, interpretations, references, and images, Projectile Points of New Mexico: 13,000 Years of Technological Innovation edited by Dr. Bradley J. Vierra and with many contributing authors and supporters, is graciously offered here courtesy of the New Mexico Bureau of Land Management, who provided the grant for production costs, New Mexico State University, who was responsible for the contract, and Statistical Research, Inc., who produced the volume. There …

Precipitation, Perceptions, And Participation: An Analysis Of Individual Perceptions Of Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority's Cloud Seeding Pilot Program And Suggestions For Public Outreach And Communications, Rachel A. Rowlee

Pitzer Senior Theses

Cloud seeding is a form of weather modification intended to increase the amount of precipitation by introducing a seeding agent. The Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA) has implemented a four-year cloud seeding pilot program utilizing silver iodide as a seeding agent during rain storm events. Over the last year, SAWPA received various feedback, much of which exists in the social media realm. This research consists of open-ended interviews with water resource managers, SAWPA employees, and individuals expressing disapproval of the program on social media and Instagram comment analyses. Interview and comment analyses are put into conversation with the theory …

Glitched Humanity: A Digital Media Arts Advocacy Project, Shelly Maloney

Teaching Resource Archive

This lesson includes an original sample project and website that directs students towards learning how to utilize digital glitch art to create advocacy or raise awareness for the social, cultural, environmental, or political issue of their choice. It is designed to engage students in critical thinking skills, cross-curricular connections, reflective writing, digital art making, group discussion, and peer review.

Artists can use video and other media sources to explore the self-destructive tendencies of human nature (i.e. violence/war, consumption, and/or carelessness/environmental neglect) or other social, cultural, or political issues using digital manipulation, layered imagery, sound, and video.

Layers Of Identity, Elizabeth Toffel

Teaching Resource Archive

Students explore identity, specifically that identity is layered, shaped by personal experience, cultural background, community ties, and unique traits. Students conduct interviews with peers, reflect on identity components, both individually and collectively, and create a layer artwork on transparent acetate sheets. When stacked the layers visually showcase the layers of the student’s identity and represent how identity is complex, constructed, and always shaped by multiple influences.