Anthropology Commons^™

Beyond Ramaluk: Towards A More Inclusive View Of Identity In The Tibetan Diaspora, Shani Shih

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper is an investigation of identity in the Tibetan diaspora in India, informed by the oral histories and narratives of Tibetan diasporic youth living in the capital city of Delhi. By documenting, comparing, and analyzing the experiences of Tibetan youth growing up in India (both Indian-born and Tibetan-born), and attempting to understand their varying notions of Tibetan identity, as well as perspectives on its role in their community, it seeks to answer the following: Why and how do dominant notions of Tibetan identity and/or “Tibetanness” become dominant? What are the unintended consequences of affirming these notions of Tibetan identity …

From Pokhara To Kandahar: The Two Hundred Year Journey Of The Force That Made Nepal Famous, Elijah Wohl

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Gurkhas are renown throughout the world for their fighting skills, their bravery, and their loyalty to the British Crown. Much has been written on their distinguished history, but traditional literature on the Gurkhas leaves several questions unanswered. How did the Gurkhas come to be as a fighting force for the British Empire when the British never occupied Nepal? How have they survived the independence of India and the subsequent dismantling of the British Empire? And what will the future of the Gurkhas be? Will they continue their two centuries of service to the British Crown? Or will they become …

Blood, Self-Sufficiency, And The Government Dime, Elijah Ober

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project begins with an examination of the blacksmith trade in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh, based upon the observation and limited apprenticeship of the author.

It then examines the caste system in Spiti. Th9is system more intense in certain regions than others, but throughout the region the Zoks, the metal-smith caste, are second from the bottom. This has two main effects on the caste. First, caste is keeping zoks who remain in the village in the lower class. Secondly, the fact that their historical profession is the symbol of their caste, combined with the fact that their Scheduled Caste Status makes …

Oxen And Elephants: An Examination Of Approaches To Enlightenment And Dialogue Between Zen And Tibetan Buddhism, Alexander Macmillan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Exchange between Tibetan Buddhism and Zen1 Buddhism in the United States has proven fruitful and mutually beneficial to each form as practiced in the American context. The relationship between the two began famously with the intimate relationship between Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and Chogyam Trungpa, arguably the two most influential Buddhist teachers in the West during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Although short lived, this relationship led Trungpa, from the Kagyu Tibetan lineage, to reach out to other Zen teachers in America and adopt zen art forms and meditation style in his teaching. On the side of Zen practitioners in America, Trungpa …

Ordinary And Poor People In 18th-Century Delaware, John Bedell, Gerald P. Scharfenberger

Northeast Historical Archaeology

The authors and their colleagues have recently carried out excavations at three 18th-century farm sites in central Delaware. The Augustine Creek South and Thomas Dawson Sites were both occupied by ordinary property owners in the 1730 to 1770 period. The Augustine Creek North Site was occupied from about 1750 to 1810 by unknown but probably poor tenants, possibly in two chronologically separate occupations. At all three sites, architectural remains and artifact deposits were found. Analysis of these sites has focused on the question of how fully ordinary and poor people participated in the social, economic, and intellectural changes of the …

Telling Time For Archaeologists, George L. Miller, Patricia Samford, Ellen Shlasko, Andrew Madsen

Northeast Historical Archaeology

This essay presents an accumulation of data on the dates for common types of artifacts found on archaeological sites from the historical period. These dates come from a variety of sources and include a mix of types of dates. These dates are based on such things as patents, pattern registrations, dates when commercial production began, estimates of when production stopped, and the popularity ranges for various styles of wares based on makers' marks. The introductory essay discusses some of the problems in the sources of the dates presented.

Editor's Introduction, Mary C. Beaudry

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Editor's introduction to the volume.

Economic Influence On Pediatric Health Care In A Medically Pluralistic Society: An Ethnographic Study Among The Asante People Of Ghana, Kevin Gamett, Dr. Randy Val Johnson, Dr. William Carl

Journal of Undergraduate Research

There are many factors that influence decisions regarding medical care, including financial, situational, and ideological issues. Families may choose to avoid modern health care facilities because of the costs associated with hospital stays, treatment regimes, transportation, and lost time. Long waiting times, disrespectful treatment from doctors and nurses, and family obligations are also qualitative issues that contribute to the eschewing of modern medicine. Other families choose to go to hospitals and health clinics because they believe that medicines are the ultimate source of healing, following the western paradigms set by principles of physiology, anatomy, chemistry, and internal medicine. In questions …

New Matriarchs: Louisville, Kentucky (Fa 768), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and representative photographs for Folklife Archives Project 768. The collection details the lives of seven women from around the globe (India, Syria, Mexico, Uganda, Russia, Argentina, and Somalia),all recent immigrants to Louisville, Kentucky.

Motivation And Peer Relations In A Second Grade Spanish-English Dual-Immersion Program, Melinda Clement Hardman

Journal of Undergraduate Research

While there are many different models for how motivation works and what it is in second language acquisition, Gardner’s model dominated the research for over 30 years and continues to be the most well-known (Oxford 1996). Gardner explained motivation in second language acquisition with what he called the Socio-Educational Model (Gardner 1998). This model distinguished between three levels of motivation which move upward toward a broader and broader degree of motivation. At the first level is integrative orientation (An orientation, according to Gardner and Tremblay 1994, is a group of reasons for studying a language). Integrative orientation deals with having …

Western Kentucky University Libraries Oral History Project (Fa 756), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 756. Collection includes 39 interviews with Western Kentucky University Libraries faculty, staff, and administrators about their work in the university’s libraries from the 1950s to 2015. Each interview includes information about the individual’s particular role in the library’s function, the evolution of the libraries, and significant projects in which they were involved.

Snapshot Of A Nabataean Tomb, Jean Marie Vance, Dr. David Johnson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Nabataean kingdom existed as an independent entity from about 3rd century BC to 1st century AD and continued to exist through the 3rd century AD as a province of the Roman Empire. The Nabataeans flourished as traders and they were able to establish their capital city at Petra. With the development of trade among the Nabataeans came an influx of ideas and technologies among those ideas was stylistic considerations involved with art – in particular frescos.

Cultural Components Of Infant Mortality In Asante, Ghana, Adriana Matos, Dr. William Olsen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Among the Asante people of central Ghana, health and healing are conceptualized quite differently than the western biomedical model. Religious cosmology has special significance in relation to healing. Health is thought of holistically; every illness is a product of physical, spiritual, emotional, and cosmological forces. Illnesses manifest themselves in the body, but unlike the biomedical view of health, it is not the bodily affliction that is the root of the problem. In order to cure a disease, the true cause must be discovered and resolved. Although many of the traditional beliefs have been pushed out or reduced by the growing …

K’Iche’ Kinship Terms And Social Identity, Kristine Kinship Whipple, Dr. John Hawkins

Journal of Undergraduate Research

During the summer of 2005, I lived and worked among the indigenous Maya-K’iche’ of the Guatemalan highlands. Prior to leaving, I had anticipated examining kinship terms in a bilingual country and whether the use of K’iche’ terms vs. Spanish terms would indicate a difference in the type of kinship relationship created. Upon arrival, I learned that I would spend the season in a rural, monolingual K’iche’ hamlet. Without my informants knowing any Spanish, I abandoned my bilingual project altogether and studied, instead, the native conceptions of communication and how these conceptions interplayed with their models of kinship and family. Having …

Fossils As Votive Offerings In The Greco-Roman World, Holly A. Raymond, Dr. David Johnson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Often archaeologists fail to recognize objects of veneration and cult worship in religious contexts. These objects may at first glance be difficult to identify as votive offerings. Consequently, they are often overlooked because of their seemingly ordinary appearance and functional purpose. Robin Osborne says of votive offerings “… it may be an object made for everyday use and ‘converted’ into an item that might be employed in an exchange with supernatural powers, as a cup or piece of jewelry may be” (Osborne 2004: 2). This type of votive offering may have been more widely employed among those of a non-elite …

A Hairy Tale Analysis Of Adobe-Embedded Hair From Arrowhead Hill, Escalante, Utah, Bradley A. Newbold, Dr. Joel Janetski

Journal of Undergraduate Research

During the Spring Term of 2004, the BYU Archaeological Field School excavated a portion of Arrowhead Hill, a Formative (or early agricultural) Period site a few miles west of Escalante, Utah. Two intriguing finds were made during that field season: two pit-house structures of varying style situated within a few meters of each other and multiple large, deep, spherical underground pits. Diagnostic characteristics of Formative Period pit-houses are, among others, the style of structure construction and the style and type of ceramic vessels recovered on or near the original floor of the structure. From this, it was concluded that one …

Determining The Value Of Subsistence And Cash Crop Farming In Tamil Nadu, Indian Family’S Subsistence Strategies, Joseph Neil Ransom, Dr. Charles Nuckolls

Journal of Undergraduate Research

It is nearly impossible to asses the true conditions of a community from older books or research papers about neighboring areas. That said my background reading leading up to this research project had left me with the impression a large percentage of Indian farmers completely subsisted from their land. While other farmers spent their time cultivating crops for the market, these subsistence farmers planted their favorite foods for future consumption. Reading about subsistence farmers in Africa had lead me to believe these farmers lived a better quality of life than cash crop farmers because they were able to grow a …

“They Are All My Children:” Grandparenting And Globalization In The K’Iche’ Eldercare System, Melarie Wheat, Dr. John Hawkins

Journal of Undergraduate Research

“Tojo papi, tojo amor,” Juana playfully beckoned her young grandson from across the kitchen. The child glanced over at her, but instead toddled towards the plancha, the ceramic stove, aiming directly for the fire. Once there he proceeded to play with the ash emerging from the front of the plancha. The family, however, looked on unconcerned and continued their conversation about how many cows to buy in the market the next day. Suddenly Miguel, the grandfather, lunged forward shouting “no, no, no!” as he confiscated a flaming stick from his young grandchild. “Ai hombre!” the child’s exasperated mother exclaimed as …

Field Study Impact Assessment In Highland Guatemala, Adriana Smith, Dr. John Hawkins

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I felt at home walking down the cement block street through Nahualá’s town center. It was good to be back in the small highland community in Guatemala where I had spent nearly every summer of my undergraduate career. It had been 10 years since the first group of anthropology students had come to study in these communities and since then, BYU students have been visiting every year for several months at a time. My interaction in years past with the K’iche’ has always left me wondering what they thought of me living in their homes, eating their food, and asking …

Rise Up From Fragments: The Life And Arts Of The Virgin Anasazi, Cynthia Lee Killian Young, Dr. Marti L. Allen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The adventure of planning and creating a museum exhibition began September 2003. While other museums may take a year or more to install a series of exhibits, we at the Museum of Peoples and Cultures (MPC) were able to create a professional exhibition in eight months. My whole project centers on a collection of Virgin or Western Anasazi artifacts that Mr. Lanny Talbot retrieved from his lands. The Talbot collection is one of the largest collections of Western Anasazi pottery allegedly found from one site.