Anthropology Commons^™

Embodying Ritual Performance: An Iconographic Analysis Of Burial 38 At The Etowah Site, Amy M. Goldstein

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an iconographic study of Burial 38 from Mound C at the Etowah, a Mississippian mound site in present-day Northwest Georgia. The goal of this study was to gain an understanding of the iconographic meaning of the artifacts in Burial 38 as well as the significance of the arrangement of individuals within the burial and its relationship with Mound C more broadly. Applying theories of relational ontology, performance, and gender, I build on King’s (2010) interpretation of Mound C’s final construction phases as a ritual event that transformed the mound into a sacred center, melded foreign and local …

A Multi-Sited Examination Of Pregnancy, Birth And Women’S Perceptions Of Care In Ghana, Jessica M. Posega

Theses and Dissertations

In Ghana, both governmental and non-governmental agencies have been working to reach the 2015 United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The fourth and fifth goals are related to reproductive health, reducing infant and maternal mortality respectively. Through a combination of increasing midwifery and nursing training programs, public awareness programs, and programs designed to retain skilled birth attendants. This paper explores how the policies and practices intended to create better birth outcomes in Ghana are perceived by those targeted for intervention, and by the reproductive health workers. Drawing from in-depth interviews with pregnant women, mothers with children under one year, and …

What Enables Size-Selective Trophy Hunting Of Wildlife?, Chris T. Darimont, K. Rosie Child

Big-Game and Trophy Hunting Collection

Although rarely considered predators, wildlife hunters can function as important ecological and evolutionary agents. In part, their influence relates to targeting of large reproductive adults within prey populations. Despite known impacts of sizeselective harvests, however, we know little about what enables hunters to kill these older, rarer, and presumably more wary individuals. In other mammalian predators, predatory performance varies with knowledge and physical condition, which accumulates and declines, respectively, with age. Moreover, some species evolved camouflage as a physical trait to aid in predatory performance. In this work, we tested whether knowledge-based faculty (use of a hunting guide with accumulated …

"I Came To America, Crying": Rebuilding A Life, Redefining The Self—Ethiopian Women Refugees In Denver (Colorado) (2012–2013), Barbara Guglielminotti Valetta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the challenges faced by Ethiopian women in the Denver community to reach harmony within their new social and cultural space and to examine what they feel they have lost and gained in their self-identity as a result of their immigration. Refugees face a multitude of dilemmas when they are compelled to relocate from their home countries to a new, foreign-host society. Ethiopian refugees have been arriving in the US since the 1970s and feel the uprootedness of being away from their homeland. Being uprooted is losing one’s culture and ways of life. …

Book Review Forum: Glenn Petersen, Traditional Micronesian Societies: Adaptation, Integration, And Political Organization, Glenn Petersen

Pacific Studies

Response: GLENN PETERSEN

PROFESSOR AND CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY, BARUCH COLLEGE, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

A Rejuvenating Resort Remembered: The Use Of Folklore And Archaeology In The Investigation Of The Historic Massey Springs Resort In South-Central Kentucky, Renee Pinkston

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Using only one line of evidence for a study of historic sites can be problematic if it does not provide a complete picture of the material culture or lifeways of a people, group, or community. In order to understand the ideas and objects, of culture present at historic sites, it is necessary to use archaeological methodologies with vernacular architecture studies and folklore to create a more holistic image of the world and its inhabitants. To facilitate this, I conducted original research on a mineral spring resort, Massey Springs Resort (Massey Springs) in Warren County, Kentucky, a popular resort in the …

Vol. 37 No. 2 (2014): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US $26.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, …

Book Review Forum: Glenn Petersen, Traditional Micronesian Societies: Adaptation, Integration, And Political Organization, Nancy J. Pollock

Pacific Studies

Glenn Petersen. Traditional Micronesian Societies: Adaptation, Integration, and Political Organization. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2009. Pp. 288. ISBN: 978-0-8248-3248-3. US$42.00 cloth.

Review: NANCY J . POLLOCK

RESEARCHER, VICTORIA UNIVERSITY (RETIRED )

The Art Of Lebanese Verbal Dueling: The Battle Of Beit Mery And Beyond, Paula Marie Haydar

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the living and vibrant oral tradition of verbal dueling in Lebanon, also known as Lebanese zajal. The introductory chapter explores the historical, sociolinguistic, and musical-metrical roots of today's Lebanese zajal contests and festivals, which feature teams of up to four poets who compete against each other in improvised, sung verse in colloquial Lebanese, carrying a sort of dialogue within which they argue opposing sides of universal themes and topics of current social interest. Though time, tradition, and culture in the Lebanese mountainside have nurtured the development of sung oral poetry into its current form and status …

Vol. 37 No. 2 (2014): Pacific Studies Front Matter, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Front Matter for the Vol. 37, No 2-Aug 2014 edition of the Pacific Studies Journal.

Determining The Minimum Number Of Individuals And Significance Of The Kuelap Ossuary In Chachapoyas, Peru, Vu Tran

HIM 1990-2015

The pre-Hispanic archaeological site of Kuelap in Chachapoyas, Peru, is representative of the variation in mortuary practices observed throughout the Chachapoya region. The goal of this study was to analyze the human skeletal remains excavated in the center of the Circular Platform between residential structures at Kuelap by creating an inventory of the remains (n=2,573) and determine the minimum number of individuals originally interred in the mortuary context. This study observed a total of 171 femora, 159 humeri, 74 calcanei, 110 ilium bones, 86 temporal bones, and 74 maxillae. Results show that this mortuary context was an ossuary of secondarily, …

At The Margins Of The Plantation: Alternative Modernities And An Archaeology Of The "Poor Whites" Of Barbados, Matthew Connor Reilly

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation is an historical archaeological examination of the "poor whites" or "Redlegs" of Barbados. Excavations were undertaken from October 2012 to July 2013 in an abandoned tenantry, Below Cliff, on the east coast of the island, once inhabited by dozens of families locally referred to as the "poor whites" or "Redlegs", said to be the descendants of seventeenth century European indentured servants. Combining archaeological, ethnographic, and historical methodologies, this dissertation explores class relations of Below Cliff residents to processes of capitalism as well as other island laborers, including Afro-Barbadians. Additionally, racial categories are interrogated through an analysis of complex …

Hotel Bukovyna, Rebecca Ann Bosshart

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This collection of short stories and first chapter of a novella take place in the historical area of Bukovyna, the beech tree land, partly located in Chernivetska region, western Ukraine. On the edge of it, or under it, or traveling to and from it, in contemporary time. I've been occupied with "the outsider," represented here, and where the seven stories reside, by the giant grande dame tourist hotel on Main Street, across from Shevchenko Park, in Chernivtsi, the region's city center. The occupants: the outsider looking in and around. Outsiders looking at other outsiders. An outsider being welcomed in. Most …

Ground Stone Technology And Household Activities At The Harris Site, Southwestern New Mexico, Lauren W. Falvey

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis examines household activities through an analysis of ground stone technology from the Harris Site (LA 1867), a Late Pithouse period (550-1000 CE) Mimbres Mogollon archaeological site. Ground stone technology is a category that includes a wide range of stone tool types used in a variety of processing and manufacturing tasks, as well as stone items that held intrinsic or ritual significance. Previous studies of ground stone technology in the Mimbres Valley have often focused on addressing questions related to subsistence practices. The object of this research is to move beyond a typological documentation of subsistence technology and examine …

Book Review Forum: Glenn Petersen, Traditional Micronesian Societies: Adaptation, Integration, And Political Organization, Karen L. Nero

Pacific Studies

Glenn Petersen. Traditional Micronesian Societies: Adaptation, Integration, and Political Organization. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2009. Pp. 288. ISBN: 978-0-8248-3248-3. US$42.00 cloth.

Review: KAREN L . NERO

UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

Book Review Forum: Glenn Petersen, Traditional Micronesian Societies: Adaptation, Integration, And Political Organization, Laurence Marshall Carucci

Pacific Studies

Glenn Petersen. Traditional Micronesian Societies: Adaptation, Integration, and Political Organization. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2009. Pp. 288. ISBN: 978-0-8248-3248-3. US$42.00 cloth.

Review: LAURENCE MARSHALL CARUCCI

PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY, MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY

Liminal River: Art, Agency And Cultural Transformation Along The Protohistoric Arkansas River, Leslie Walker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For nearly a century, ceramic vessels looted from Protohistoric Native American Graves in the Central Arkansas River Valley have raised questions about the ethnic identity of the inhabitants of the region and their relationship to their neighbors in time and space. This analysis combines careful documentation of 1198 of these vessels with excavated sherds and other data from the Carden Bottoms site (3YE0025) and adjacent rock art sites in the Arkansas River Valley to provide a context for these vessels and, in so doing, defines the Dardenne Style of artistic production. Comparing motifs, and the manner in which they are …

Tempo And Mode Of Domestication During The Neolithic Revolution: Evidence From Dental Mesowear And Microwear Of Sheep, Melissa Zolnierz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Neolithic Revolution marked a dramatic change in human subsistence practices. In order to explain this change, we must understand the motive forces behind it. Researchers have proposed many different stimuli, with most theories invoking environmental dynamics, human population density increases beyond environmental carrying capacity, and the natural outgrowth of human and plant/animal interactions. However, unanswered questions remain concerning the mechanics of animal domestication. Traditional studies of changing faunal morphology and skeletal population profiles offer some clues, but such research has had limited success identifying stages intermediate between wild and domesticated forms, which makes it difficult to discern initial attempts …

3-D Morphometric Analysis Of The Primate Elbow Joint, Seth Brockman Boren

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Large body size requires limb joints capable of supporting said weight, and a species exhibiting sexual size dimorphism may necessitate joint size differences between the sexes of the species. If habitual behavior differs with body size, one may expect to see significant variation in joint morphology between species and the sexes within species. The following analysis tests two hypotheses: (1) that significant differences in joint size between males and females correlate with the magnitude of sexual dimorphism and (2) that there is significant interspecific variance in joint shape between males and females of the same species. The first hypothesis is …

Selling Tradition: Impression Management And Draft Animal Agriculture Of A Mississippi Farmstead, Matthew Corbin Lance

Master's Theses

This thesis is a case study of a family of farmers in Mississippi’s Piney Woods who use horse-drawn equipment to grow crops. This practice is notable in the context of a larger agricultural system that prioritizes mechanization (particularly the use of tractors). The production style and their use of local direct selling via farmers markets allowed them to thrive economically because they were able to tap into a niche market of consumers desiring an alternative to the modern, conventional agricultural system.

Other literature on Alternative Food Networks (AFN) discusses the issues of alterity and appropriation—that is, whether AFN ventures are …