Anthropology Commons^™

The Technocratic Birthing Model As Seen In Reality Television And Its Impact On Young Women Age 18-24, Michelle Elizabeth Farber

Honors Scholar Theses

In the Western ethnomedical tradition, childbirth follows the technocratic model, a concept developed by Davis-Floyd (1992). Within such a system, the woman’s body produces a fetus, much like a machine produces and product, and is delivered unto society by the physician (mechanic) in the proper manner and time. This cultural conception of birth has lead to a society in which maternal and child health has suffered, as many of the practices employed by a physician during a managed labor and delivery are not backed by evidence-based medicine. This thesis argues that reality television shows, specifically A Baby Story enable the …

Ragland, Mark S. (Fa 559), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 559.  Paper:  "Influence of Popular Culture on the Subject of Art," done by Mark S. Ragland as part of a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.  Includes an interview done by Ragland with artist and art educator Michael Taylor about the influence of popular culture on art, with particular emphasis on the pop art genre.

A New Paradigm: Brazilian Catholic Eco-Justice Activism In The Neoliberal Age, Lena R. Connor

Environmental Analysis Program Mellon Student Summer Research Reports

This paper analyzes how traditional liberation theology in Brazil has been adapted in the neoliberal age to encompass ecological goals and rhetoric. In this research report, I first examine the work of prominent Brazilian ecotheologians, Ivone Gebara and Leonardo Boff. I then look into the applications of such ecological liberation theology in Catholic activism in Brazil, focusing on the role of religious advocacy in dam controversies, land reform, and mining.

Upper Pleistocene Human Dispersals Out Of Africa: A Review Of The Current State Of The Debate, Amanuel Beyin

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Although there is a general consensus on African origin of early modern humans, there is disagreement about how and when they dispersed to Eurasia. This paper reviews genetic and Middle Stone Age/Middle Paleolithic archaeological literature from northeast Africa, Arabia, and the Levant to assess the timing and geographic backgrounds of Upper Pleistocene human colonization of Eurasia. At the center of the discussion lies the question of whether eastern Africa alone was the source of Upper Pleistocene human dispersals into Eurasia or were there other loci of human expansions outside of Africa? The reviewed literature hints at two modes of early …

Book Review Of "The Archaeology Of North American Farmsteads" By Mark Groover, Louann Wurst, Dustin Conklin

Northeast Historical Archaeology

No abstract provided.

Book Review Of "The Archaeology Of Institutional Confinement" By Eleanor Conlin Casella, Sherene Baugher

Northeast Historical Archaeology

No abstract provided.

Book Review Of "The Archaeology Of Race And Racialization In Historic America" By Charles E. Orser, Paul A. Shackel

Northeast Historical Archaeology

No abstract provided.

Book Review Of "Past Meets Present: Archaeologists Partnering With Museum Curators, Teachers, And Community Groups" Edited By John H. Jameson, Jr. And Sherene Baugher, Lynn Evans

Northeast Historical Archaeology

No abstract provided.

Health And Disease On Hiwassee Island: A Study Of Late-Mississippian Human Remains, Cassandra Pardo

Theses and Dissertations

The intensive agricultural subsistence strategy of late pre-Columbian populations of North America has long been associated with chronic nutritional and disease stress as a consequence of episodic or recurring agricultural shortfall and the compromised community health of aggregate village settlement. Social stratification, defined archaeologically by burial location and grave goods, is thought to be a primary force in shaping different health patterns within these communities.

This study is a bioarchaeological review of the Dallas phase (AD1300-1550) skeletal collection from Hiwassee Island in east Tennessee. The purpose is to gain an understanding of community health and to explore status-related differences in …

Democratic Nationalistic Privilege And The Exclusion Of Europe's "Gypsy", Eli E. Roth

Senior Honors Projects

Europe is the world’s best example of a group of countries offering similar levels of political freedom, tolerance, and economic prosperity and security. Following the fall of Communism, Europe began to outpace the rest of the planet on aggregated indicators of development, and, according to Freedomhouse.org, only two of the world’s forty seven “not free” countries, Belarus and Russia, can be found on this continent. The Roma, frequently mislabeled as “Gypsies,” are among the few troubled populations residing in Europe. In the comprehensive 2006 Final Report on the Human Rights Situation of the Roma in Europe, one Romani man describes …

The Transformation Of A Shire: Local Negotiation In The Society For Creative Anachronism, Suzanne Barber

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In this thesis, I am examining how a small branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Loch an Fhraoich, whose values and identity center around camaraderie and narrative and aesthetic coherence, attempts to balance these two often contradictory principles. To better illustrate the negotiations taking place, I have used ethnographic fieldwork to focus on the areas of material culture, ethno-kinetics, persona, knowledge, and events. These areas are tightly interwoven, and almost never operate independently, but the exercise of isolating them is useful in seeing the complexities of choices that members must make to navigate the social world of the Society …

Making Modernity: Ideological Pluralism And Political Process In Zinacantán, Kristen Adler

Anthropology ETDs

This dissertation examines political process and ideology in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, focusing on the Tsotsil-speaking community of Zinacantán. The complex interplay between constructions of tradition and modernity clearly indicates that Zinacantán is not the isolated, "closed corporate community" often portrayed in the anthropological literature. Rather, complexities that emerge from local narratives suggest profound ideological pluralism, e.g., liberal individualism alongside hierarchical complementarity. Through a focus on narrative and event, this work challenges received notions of tradition and modernity and demonstrates the diverse ways in which Zinacantecos are traditionalizing the modern and modernizing the traditional through reflexive communicative means. Although …

Dietary And Behavioral Strategies Of Neandertals And Anatomically Modern Humans: Evidence From Anterior Dental Microwear Texture Analysis, Kristin Lynn Krueger

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The extreme gross wear of Neandertal anterior teeth has been a topic of debate for decades. Several ideas have been proposed, including the excessive mastication of grit-laden foods and non-dietary anterior tooth use, or using the anterior dentition as a clamp or tool. This second idea has been the most examined, and was taken from analogy of Arctic populations who used their anterior dentition in this manner. However, combining wear variables and examining them in relation to important factors, such as climate, location, and time, has been challenging to incorporate into interpretive models. The present study seeks to better understand …

Dental Genetic Traits Of Selected Maya Burials From Wild Cane Cay And Moho Cay, Belize, Kelly Heim

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Renegotiating Gender And Class In The Berry Fields Of Michoacán, Mexico, Donna Chollett

Anthropology Publications

This article examines the renegotiation of gender and class in a rural Mexican community where economic crisis in the sugar industry led foreign agribusinesses to promote blackberry and raspberry production for export and hire primarily women as berry pickers. Analysis focuses on the transition from a sugar economy where mostly men worked in the cane fields to non-traditional agricultural exports when women entered agricultural waged labor in unprecedented numbers. This restructuring of the regional economy raises important questions regarding the marginalization of differentiated subaltern groups and the nature of new sets of power relations between transnational agribusinesses, berry growers, and …

The Medicalization Of “Homosexuality”, Kristin (Lula) Townsend

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Cross culturally and historically people who are attracted to members of their own sex ("homosexuals") have been viewed and treated in radically different ways. Some societies have exhibited tolerance or indifference, whereas others have vilified and persecuted homosexuals. Using primary sources, this project reviews the major sociological and medical theories of “homosexuality” between 1864 and 1946, evaluates their bias and political implications, and closes with a brief overview of contemporary research.

In chapter two the themes of the texts presented are: causality, diagnosis, and treatment. The primary theory between 1864 and 1908 argues the congenital nature of “homosexuality. The themes …

Liminality As A Space Of Self Reflection On El Camino De Santiago Del Norte, Amanda Redpath

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

As ancient pilgrimage across Spain, El Camino de Santiago has affected the lives of the pilgrims that travel it for centuries taking on new meanings as it passes through time. Traditionally, scholars maintain that the focus of a pilgrim’s journey lies at the final destination, or pilgrimage center in Santiago de Compostela. This project demonstrates, however, that the emphasis should lie on the journey or period of liminality which through concepts of place has created a space for self-reflection and meditation. Analysis of pilgrim interviews within the context of a wide array of scholarly literature in the disciplines of anthropology, …

An Evaluation Of The Performance Characteristics Of Olivine Temper In Pueblo Ii Virgin River Puebloan Ceramics, Sharlyn Anderson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study is to examine the technological properties of the three dominant temper types - olivine, sand, and sherd - used by the Virgin Branch Puebloan during the Pueblo II era (AD 1000-1500) to explain the high proportion of Moapa Gray Ware traded to the Moapa Valley at that time. The research is guided by the hypothesis that olivine tempered pottery - or Moapa Gray Ware - possessed superior technological qualities than locally made wares, and that these qualities fueled the demand of Moapa Gray Ware ceramics.

This thesis evaluates one possibility for explaining the transportation of …

The Implications Of Merleau-Ponty For The Human Sciences, Ryan Marcotte

Senior Honors Projects

The Implications of Merleau-Ponty for the Human Sciences Ryan Marcotte Cobb Faculty Sponsor: Galen Johnson, Philosophy The American Anthropology Association (AAA) made headlines in November 2010 due to a controversial change in their 'Long-Range Plan.' The revised AAA mission statement omits all mention of the word 'science' and this omission has sparked a fierce debate within the anthropology community. The debate reveals that the study of social phenomena can be approached from two competing points of view – a scientific and a non-scientific perspective.  This project is concerned with the historical and intellectual developments that led to this competition between …

Seasonality On The Oregon Coast: Avian Faunal Remains From Whale Cove (35-Lnc-60), Jessica Watson

Senior Honors Projects

The northwest coast of the United States was one of the first regions to receive Homo sapiens immigrants in the Western hemisphere and is rich in archaeological sites.  The Whale Cove site, first excavated in 1985, was initially analyzed by Ann C. Bennett-Rogers and R. Lee Lyman.  Their findings included an introductory analysis of lithic, bone, antler, and shell artifacts and general inventory of all pieces examined.  Bennett-Rogers found preliminary evidence for changes in vegetation and shellfish taxa at the Whale Cove site over time and has hypothesized that these changes were due to a tsunami event. Robert J. Losey …