Anthropology Commons^™

Mni - Petrous, Lesley Gregoricka

Gregoricka et al. 2024 AAP

No abstract provided.

Mni - Mandible, Lesley Gregoricka

Gregoricka et al. 2024 AAP

No abstract provided.

Islamic Themes In Us Hip-Hop Culture, Anders Ackfeldt

Music & Performance in Muslim Contexts

Explores how Islam is produced in American hip-hop culture by both Muslims and non-Muslims

Islam has been a part of hip-hop culture since it sprang from New York’s street culture in the 1970s. Today hip-hop has evolved into a global artform with a diversity of Muslim Islamic discourses expressed. Using tools from the field of social semiotics, this book examines how Islamic themes feature in US hip-hop culture, maintaining a particular awareness that both Muslims as well as non-Muslims participate in their production.

Anders Ackfeldt analyses a collection of lyrics, sounds and images to show how Islamic themes are featured …

Silent Testimonies: The Global Evolution Of Grave Marker Art And Meaning, Erik Culley

Bakerman Student Research Awards

Grave markers are more than simple memorials; they are meaningful cultural objects that reflect how societies understand death, identity, belief, class, and community values. The size, material, decoration, and inscriptions of gravestones change over time in response to economic conditions, religious beliefs, social structures, and consumer culture. By studying grave markers across different regions and historical periods—such as early modern Europe, nineteenth-century Germany, and immigrant cemeteries in Australia—archaeologists can trace broader cultural transformations. Research shows that the rise of external grave markers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was closely tied to increased material consumption and a growing emphasis on …

Reassessing The Role Of Polynesian Rats (Rattus Exulans) In Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Deforestation: Faunal Evidence And Ecological Modeling, Terry L. Hunt, Carl P. Lipo

Anthropology Datasets

The role of introduced Polynesian rats (Rattus exulans) in the deforestation of Rapa Nui remains a contentious issue. Several critics, including Mieth and Bork (2010), argue that rats played a negligible role compared to human impacts. We address the role of rats through three lines of evidence: (1) a response to rats-are-neglible arguments, including problematic continental analogies and misunderstandings of seed predation impacts; (2) analysis of rat remains from Anakena excavations (1986-2005) showing that rats decreased by 93% over time, contradicting claims they served as a “fallback food” following resource depletion; and (3) ecological modeling demonstrating that introduced …

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 …

"Queens Of Ghost-Land" 134 Years Later: Un-Masking An Appalachian Witchcraft Accuser, Aíne Norris

English Faculty Publications

In 1891, newspapers across America printed a story about witches in the Appalachian Mountains and the alleged powers they possessed to control their small farming community. The article was scathing in accusation and ultimately contributed to continued othering of the women profiled, increasing their visible vulnerabilities of class, gender, and societal status. Despite an implied familiarity with the region, the article was published with initials for its byline, an act that simultaneously identified the author to locals as historian Eva Grant while offering her anonymized national protection as a subject expert. For over five years the accusations were re-printed in …

Asian American Navigation In Higher Education: Do We Belong At Colby College?, Amanda Rose Alpert

Honors Theses

This thesis explores how Asian American students navigate their belonging at Predominantly White Institutions (PWI), specifically a case study at the higher educational institution Colby College. In understanding how Asian American students navigate the spaces around them, this thesis dives into the history of Asian immigration to the U.S., the Asian American politicized label, and the different diasporas and cultural nuances Asian Americans experience that make up the complicated, diverse, and misunderstood label. Through exploring global racializations of Asian bodies and legacies of Western imperialism and colonialism, this gives a basis of how Asian Americans understand themselves as persons living …

A Long Way Home: Postcolonial Migration Between Cameroon And France, Elizabeth Greenberg

Honors Theses

This project grew from an observation that despite exhibiting strong national pride, most young Cameroonians express a fervent desire to emigrate. Through a combination of interviews and a review of past literature, I discovered a unique narrative among upper middle class Cameroonian migrants whose stories are generally underrepresented in migration literature. This study investigates how history and sociocultural dynamics help explain the Cameroonian decision to choose France (specifically the Île de France region) as a migration destination. France is particularly relevant because it previously held control of many parts of Cameroon and is one of the most popular migration destinations …

Shore Leave : Rare, Brief And In Danger Of Extinction, Maria Carrera-Arce, Raphael Baumler, Bikram Singh Bhatia, Lei Du

Reports

Shore leave for seafarers is generally accepted as a custom, if not a right, essential for well- being and pressure relief from the responsibilities of life on board. However, it is clear that the ability of seafarers to take shore leave has been seriously eroded and may even be facing extinction.

The combination of workload on board and limited time in port make it virtually impossible for seafarers to make time for shore leave. Commercial pressures have increased, and there is a serious risk that facilities available for seafarers will decline due to a lack of demand.

The culprits are …

Audit Culture And A Nonprofit In Northern Illinois, Onyenum Ruth Udoh

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Audit culture has become a defining feature of nonprofit life, shaping how organizations balance accountability to donors with responsibility to their communities. While existing scholarship often highlights large or international NGOs, less is known about how small and mid-sized nonprofits in the United States experience these pressures. This study focused on nonprofit in DeKalb County, Illinois, to examine how audits, donor restrictions, and accountability demands influence nonprofit practices, priorities, and relationships with their communities. Grounded in ethnographic fieldwork and organizational anthropology, I conducted eight weeks of participant observation and semi-structured interviews with seven staff across leadership, finance, program, and administrative …

A Big Data Approach To Modelling Urban Population Density Functions: From Monocentricity To Polycentricity, Cehong Luo, Yujie Hu, Fahui Wang

Faculty Publications

Urban studies have a long tradition of examining the regularity of urban structure by modelling urban population density functions and probing the theoretical or behavioural foundation behind it. Previous studies commonly used census data in areal units such as census tracts or census block groups, which varied a great deal in area size and shape and led to the zonal and scale effects, commonly referred to as the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP). This study uses big data of individual vehicle trips in Tampa, Florida, to define the precise population and employment distribution locations, and then aggregates them with uniform …

Identifying Intangible And Biocultural Heritage Elements Toward Environmental Understanding: Engaging Stakeholders Through Art, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Grounded in a case study in Barbuda in the Caribbean, this research examines sustainability from the perspective of what arts and heritage can contribute to community engagement and local and broader understandings about the environment. This article documents a growing body of literature recognizing the role of arts and culture, including local knowledge and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), in climate change endeavors. Art and TEK present expansive world views. Contextual information situates research done on the island of Barbuda pre- and post-Hurricane Irma. Visual arts workshops engaged community members in mixed methods research. Results documented cultural elements, particularly intangible and …

The Bone Lady: Life As A Forensic Anthropologist: Book Review, Dakota Taylor

Nebraska Anthropologist

Review of The Bone Lady: Life as a Forensic Anthropologist (2000) by M. H. Manhein.

Review Of The Land Of Open Graves: Living And Dying On The Migrant Trail, Maggie M. Klemm

Nebraska Anthropologist

The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail (2015), authored by Jason De León, is a crucial and important read which examines the United States’ contemporary immigration policy. The federal government program, Prevention through Deterrence, aims to prevent illegal immigration through expanding border enforcement. Instead of deterring people, this program pushes them to the hostile terrain of the Sonoran Desert. The author of this text argues that the desert is utilized as a tool of border enforcement as it perpetrates violence to those who attempt to cross the border, as well as their loved ones. …

Review Of Digging For The Disappeared: Forensic Science After Atrocity, Abigail Vaughn

Nebraska Anthropologist

Since the field's development, individuals and communities involved in and affected by international forensic investigations have been confronted with many political and ethical dilemmas. The book, Digging for the Disappeared: Forensic Science After Atrocity (2015), by Adam Rosenblatt, attempts to identify and articulate the various debates surrounding humanitarian forensic work. In doing so, the author focuses on four key areas; the purpose of such investigations, the stakeholders and expectations involved, and what may realistically be accomplished. While sympathetic to the perspective of forensic practitioners, Rosenblatt presents the positions of all parties in an unbiased manner, introducing the reader to …

Anthropogenic Prairies Of The Southern Salish Sea: Ethnographic And Archaeological Landscapes, South Puget Sound, Washington., Jamey D. Taylor Ms.

All Graduate Projects

This project report has been completed to fulfill requirements of the Master of Applied Science of Cultural and Environmental Resource Management (MAS-CERM) at Central Washington University. The project models the cultural landscapes of the southern Salish Sea. These landscapes include anthropogenic prairies, travel routes (trails and roads), salmon runs, and archaeological sites. This study maps the historic boundaries of prairies and recent data sets for key plant species. The locations of prairies and indicator species are overlaid with ethnohistoric settlements, archaeological site locations, and trail systems. The spatial correlations of these data are used to interpret the prominence of anthropogenic …

A Critical Approach To Analyzing And Addressing Worldview-Based Cultural Conflict Between Indigenous Peoples And Western Science In Education And Research, Deborah H. Williams

Sabbatical Projects

Intercultural conflict exists in science education and research, I argue as a result of differences between the Western scientific worldview and the Indigenous worldview. Native Americans are the most underrepresented group in STEM, and this has been the case, in my personal experience for over two decades. Western science is not universal or acultural, Indigenous peoples have their own ways of knowing founded on different philosophical assumptions and recognizing metaphysical phenomena and explanations that are rejected by Western science and the positivist/post-positivist paradigm. Through the power of colonial privilege, scientists, science departments, and science disciplines have been able to erect …

Popularizing Autogestión: Punk, Zapatismo, And Anarchist Ethics In Mexico City, Livia K. Stone

Faculty Publications – Sociology and Anthropology

Autogestión (self-management), has been a popular articulation of radical politics since its emergence in the 1960s. This article examines how Mexico City's anarcho-punk scene transformed autogestión in the 1990s from an anarcho-syndicalist principle into a unique ethical practice detached from industrial material production. It was then popularized and made more mainstream through university rock festivals. As these were Zapatista benefit concerts, autogestión became inadvertently attached to Zapatismo and detached from anarchism and punk. This history is a crucial one for understanding the political development of an entire generation of the political left in Mexico City who were young in the …

Program And Proceedings: Nebraska Academy Of Sciences 1880–2025, 145th Anniversary Year, One Hundred-Thirty-Fifth Annual Meeting

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

Program

Aeronautics and Space Science

Biological and Medical Sciences

Biology

Chemistry

Earth Sciences

Science Education

Anthropology

Applied Science and Technology

Physics and Engineering

Forensic Sciences

Ecology, Sustainability, and Environmental Science

Maiben Lecture: Mary Ann Vinton, "State of the Academy"

Friends of Science Awards: David Crouse and Daniel Sitzman