Anthropology Commons^™

Situating Street Kids: An Ethnography Of Nomadic Street Kids In Portland, Oregon, Elizabeth Delise

Anthropology Department Honors Papers

Homelessness in the United States has been widely researched in the social sciences. Only within the last 20 years have ethnographic studies focused on street kids, a youth subculture. Some of this work has emphasized the transience of street kid lifeways and problematized the street kid lifestyle, an approach that has rendered street kids as victims. More recently, social scientists have refocused their analytic lens on the ways that street kids are agents of their own actions and understood only within the context of past events that shaped decisions to live on the street. This thesis aligns with the latter …

The Human Transformation Of Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Pacific Ocean), Terry L. Hunt, Carl P. Lipo

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

Rapa Nui (Easter Island) has become widely known as a case study of human-induced environmental catastrophe resulting in cultural collapse. The island's alleged "ecocide" is offered as a cautionary tale of our own environmental recklessness. The actual archaeological and historical record for the island reveals that while biodiversity loss unfolded, the ancient Polynesians persisted and succeeded. Demographic "collapse" came with epidemics of Old World diseases introduced by European visitors. In this paper, we outline the process of prehistoric landscape transformation that took place on Rapa Nui. This process includes the role of humans using fire to remove forest and convert …

Animals As Lifechangers And Lifesavers: Pets In The Redemption Narratives Of Homeless People, Leslie Irvine

Human and Animal Bonding Collection

This paper examines personal narratives in which homeless and formerly homeless people construct their companion animals as having changed or saved their lives. The analysis considers selfhood a narrative accomplishment, the strategic outcome rather than the source of the stories people tell. These particular stories employ the theme of redemption, in which tellers describe overcoming adversity to face a better future, with animals playing key roles. The analysis reveals the narrative elements through which animals become vehicles for redemption. As dependent others, animals encourage a sense of responsibility. As the providers of unconditional love, they reward the fulfillment of responsibility. …

Are Apes’ Responses To Pointing Gestures Intentional?, Olivia Sultanescu, Kristin Andrews

Sentience Collection

This paper examines the meaningfulness of pointing in great apes. We appeal to Hannah Ginsborg’s conception of primitive normativity, which provides an adequate criterion for establishing whether a response is meaningful, and we attempt to make room for a conception according to which there is no fundamental difference between the responses of human infants and those of other great apes to pointing gestures. This conception is an alternative to Tomasello’s view that pointing gestures and reactions to them reveal a fundamental difference between humans and other apes.

Pvc Report 2013 Field Season, Patricia Urban, Edward Mark Schortman, Aaron Shugar

Four Valleys Archive

No abstract provided.

Pvc-Ceramics-Color Chart For Ceramic Types-Op 53, 54, Patricia Urban

Four Valleys Archive

No abstract provided.

Pvc-Drw-Op 50ca-Structure 412-Section, Patricia Urban

Four Valleys Archive

No abstract provided.

Pvc-Op 53 And 54 Test Pits-Ceramic Analyses, Patricia Urban

Four Valleys Archive

No abstract provided.

Degradation Of Algal Palynomorphs On 34-Yr-Old Microscope Slides, Lynn A. Brant

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Reexamination of 34-yr-old microscope slides of palynological preparations reveals the loss and degradation of algal palynomorphs, in particular the green alga Pediastrum and the desmid Pleurotaenium. Results from this study suggest that great caution should be used when referring co archived palynological slides.

The Ethno-Epistemology Of Transpersonal Experience: The View From Transpersonal Anthropology, Charles D. Laughlin

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This paper introduces the topic of ethno-epistemology with regards to transpersonal experiences. The distinction between polyphasic and monophasic cultures is introduced and the interaction between a society’s world view and individual transpersonal experience is explained using the cycle of meaning model. A link to philosophical work on “natural epistemology” is made and the importance of the “projectability” of cultural theories of experience is discussed. The individual contributions to this special section of the journal are introduced.

Dreaming And Reality: A Neuroanthropological Account, Charles D. Laughlin

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

In what sense is dreaming real to people of different cultures? How do they come to conclude that dreaming is real, and how do they use dreams to expand their knowledge and control of real events? The reader is introduced to dream anthropology and shown that there are universal patterns to how dreams are experienced, expressed, and used by societies. The distinction between monophasic and polyphasic cultures is described, the latter being the majority of societies that consider dreaming as being in some sense real. Neuroscience supports the notion that there is a natural realism behind the experience of reality …

The Self: A Transpersonal Neuroanthropological Account, Charles D. Laughlin

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The anthropology of the self has gained momentum recently and has produced a significant body of research relevant to interdisciplinary transpersonal studies. The notion of self has broadened from the narrow focus on cultural and linguistic labels for self-related terms, such as person, ego, identity, soul, and so forth, to a realization that the self is a vast system that mediates all the aspects of personality. This shift in emphasis has brought anthropological notions of the self into closer accord with what is known about how the brain mediates self-as-psyche. Numerous examples from the ethnography of the self are given, …

Dream-Spirits And Innovation In Aboriginal Australia’S Western Desert, Robert Tonkinson

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Among the Mardu Aborigines, dreams (kapukurri; jukurrpa) may carry at least the same weight as the events of waking life. ‘Travelling’ in dream-spirit form enhances the possibility of revelations both dangerous and enlightening. In the Australian case, a major cultural dilemma is to accommodate and rationalize an inevitable dynamism when the dominant ideology is one of timelessness and stasis. Two key cultural symbols, the Dreaming and the Law, still substantially shape worldviews and behaviour of the Martu people, who live in the remote Western Desert region. Much of my focus is on a category of popular, largely public contemporary ritual …

Understanding Bohm’S Holoflux: Clearing Up A Conceptual Misunderstanding Of The Holographic Paradigm And Clarifying Its Signifigance To Transpersonal Studies Of Consciousness, Mark A. Schroll

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Throughout the past 31 years transpersonal anthropologists and transpersonal psychologists seeking a scientific language to discuss anomalous phenomena and the farther reaches of human nature (or to invoke a discussion of ultimate reality, universal mind or cosmic consciousness) have referred to the holographic paradigm, the conceptual origin of which is directly related to David Bohm’s implicate order theory. In 1982 and 1984 Bohm discussed the holographic paradigm’s limitations (and more specifically his concept of holomovement) to accurately represent his implicate order theory, suggesting instead the more precise conceptual reference holoflux; yet the limited publication of this correction has not been …

Barriers To Critical Thinking Across Domains, Reed Geertsen

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

The transfer of critical thinking across domains presents both a significant

challenge and meaningful opportunity for college education as well as

programs of continuing education and · efforts to encourage lifelong learning.

After examining different approaches to teaching critical thinking, this paper examines some of

the barriers to transfer across domains using an interactionist perspective. This perspective

underscores the fact that developing and using critical thinking is a lifelong endeavor due to the

tunnel-vision tendencies that naturally follow from situated learning in a particular domain. Two

case studies are presented to illustrate the potential blinding effects of situated learning

resulting …

A History Of The African American Students Experience At Indiana State University 1870-1975, Crystal Mikell Reynolds

Student Diversity Histories

The story of African American students at Indiana State University throughout the decades to acquire an education is one of perseverance. It is a story of the Black students’ tenacity and faith in themselves, each other, and the University. Indiana State University should share in this remarkable story for its courage and dedication in ensuring that all students received an education regardless of race.

A Look At International Student Diversity, Arjun Reddy Baddam

Student Diversity Histories

No abstract provided.

The History Of Women At Indiana State University 1870-1970: The White Female Perspective, Sydney Mcclary

Student Diversity Histories

The history of Indiana State University is rich with the stories of women. From the beginning of The Indiana State Normal Teaching College women have been intrinsic to the success and progress of the institution and played an important role. Many of these roles reflect the progress of women’s rights throughout the country. From suffrage to affirmative action, women have shaped ISU. It is impossible to curate every story and event in the history of women at ISU, but through extensive archival research their voices are now heard again. Here is their story.

Dharathula “Dolly” Hood Millender: The Joy Of Giving Service, Crystal Mikell Reynolds

Student Diversity Histories

No abstract provided.

Belief Is Not Experience: Transformation As A Tool For Bridging The Ontological Divide In Anthropological Research And Reporting, Bonnie Glass-Coffin

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

For more than a hundred years, anthropologists have recorded stories of beliefs in other-than-human sentience and consciousness, yet we have most frequently insisted on contextualizing these stories in terms of cultural, epistemological, or ontological relativism. In this paper, I ask why we have had such a hard time taking reports of unseen realms seriously and describe the transformative role of personal experience as a catalyst for change in anthropological research and reporting.