Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

Visions Of Sovereignty: Tribal Sovereignty Through The Lenses Of Postcolonialism, Indigenous Film, And Visual Anthropology, Martin I. Lopez

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Tribal sovereignty has been a topic of discussion since the beginning of colonization in America. Anthropological thought, especially postcolonialism theory, addresses how colonialism can be analyzed to gain a better understanding of Indigenous perspectives on sovereignty. Visual sovereignty, an example of Indigenous Film, is an interdisciplinary approach that can contextualize in specific histories and social interactions all while serving individual tribes, depending on which tribe the filmmaker represents. A film, for instance, can be edited in a way to convey Indigenous ideas of time and space and staged presentations of oral histories that are nearly impossible to display through written …

Moving Toward A Holistic Menstrual Hygiene Management: An Anthropological Analysis Of Menstruation And Practices In Western And Non-Western Societies, Sophia A. Bay

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Educating girls is not only their human right, but also proposed as one of the best investments for improving quality of life in developing countries (Montgomery et al. 2016, 2). Although menstruation is a universal, biological process, it is fraught with cultural stigmas and taboos throughout Western and non-Western societies. Menstrual-related absenteeism is believed to be a primary cause of missed attendance and early dropout rates, so the developing field of menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is seeking to understand and evaluate what factors are contributing to these findings. After the analyzation of the current literature, a more holistic, nine-pronged approach …

Violence, Catastrophe, And Agency In Nepal: A Deeper Understanding Of The 2015 Earthquakes And Border Blockade, Kassandra D. Viers

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 2015, Nepal was struck by two catastrophes. First, on April 25, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, struck in Gorkha. Then, in September, a blockade was formed that prevented goods from passing through trade checkpoints between India and Nepal. Both of these events highlight social suffering, a form of suffering that refers to the systems of oppression, unequal distribution of resources, and broad social structures that serve to keep certain people impoverished and subjugate. The earthquake caused the most damage to vulnerable people, people already suffering the effects of structural violence. The blockade was created by …

Potentially Dangerous Enemy Aliens: Experiences At Fort Missoula And Transformative Immigration Policy In The United States, Daniel Smith

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this paper, I attempt to comprehend the experiences of Italian and Japanese internees who were detained at Fort Missoula’s Alien Detention Center during World War II. Furthermore, I draw upon historical patterns of United States’ immigration policies that greatly affected perspectives and social values between various ethnic groups. Simultaneously, national immigration policies shifted across space and time reflecting ethnocentric ideals and discriminatory campaigns that altered past cultural, political, and economic landscapes. The events that produced the internment of Italian and Japanese men at Fort Missoula varied greatly and are critical to examine through historical records. Such records pertain to …

Carrying The Seeds: Adaptations And Transitions Of Hmong American Food Producers In Missoula County, Montana, Rachel Cramer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Forty years after the initial resettlement of Hmong refugees in Missoula County, Montana, the Hmong American community has undergone significant agricultural and cultural adaptations. Today, there are about 200 Hmong Americans in the county, less than 2% of the population (US Census Bureau 2010), but they make up around 40% of the farmers’ market produce vendors. The thesis demonstrates that, while agriculture has played a central role in helping Hmong refugees adapt, its role is becoming more symbolic as the second generation develops an identity less connected to growing and selling food. Through a qualitative research approach using 19 in-depth …

Listening To The Mattole: Lessons In Bioregionalism, Cannabis, And Capitalism From A Northern California Community, Nicola R. Walters

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In the United States, from the 1960s through the 1970s, nearly a million Americans left urban areas to establish themselves in rural environments; this exodus is now known as the back-to-the-land movement. Nestled in the mountains of Northern California, along a capricious river, and surrounded by natural beauty, the Mattole Valley became home to many of these back-to-the-land immigrants. Seasoned in the social and cultural movements of Berkeley and San Francisco during the 1960s, the “new settlers” transformed the social and environmental landscape of southern Humboldt County as they integrated into rural communities. The Mattole Valley offers a unique look …

Black-Americans In Michigan’S Copper Mining Narrative, Brendan Pelto

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This thesis details the Phase 1 archaeological investigation into Black-Americans who were active on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan during the mining boom of the 1850s-1880s. Using archaeological and archival methods, this thesis is a proof-of-concept for future work to be done that investigates the cultural heritage of Black Americans in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Investigating The Utility Of Rapid Assessment Process For Environmental Development Work Of Peace Corps Master’S International Students, Mariah Maggio

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Peace Corps Master’s International (PCMI) students engage in international development when they assume the role of Volunteer and graduate researcher. Michigan Technological University had the largest PCMI program in the country, with many Volunteer assignments involving environmental problem solving opportunities. Unfortunately some PCMI students have experienced “failed projects,” something not un-common to international development approaches. This research design supports institutional interdisciplinary efforts aimed at preparing PCMI students to engage in productive community development that avoids historic pitfalls of international development efforts. In order to contribute to this effort, the Rapid Assessment Process (RAP) approach was identified as a potential tool …

A Landscape Of Water And Waste: Heritage Legacies And Environmental Change In The Mesabi Iron Range, John Baeten

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This dissertation explores the intersection between mining technology, industrial heritage, and environmental history, using iron mining in the Mesabi Range of the Lake Superior Iron District as its core case study. What impact did technological shifts in iron mining and ore processing have on the environment of the Lake Superior basin? How did the environmental changes wrought from low-grade iron ore mining and processing, such as the expansion of open-pits and the production of tailings, affect different communities in Minnesota’s Mesabi Range? And finally, how have the environmental legacies of iron mining been remembered and memorialized, or ignored and forgotten?

Gender And Sexuality (First Edition), Carol C. Mukhopadhyay, Tami Blumenfield, Susan Harper, Abby Gondak

Anthropology Publications

Learning Objectives:

• Identify ways in which culture shapes sex/gender and sexuality.
• Describe ways in which gender and sexuality organize and structure the societies in which we live.
• Assess the range of possible ways of constructing gender and sexuality by sharing examples from different cultures, including small-scale societies.
• Analyze how anthropology as a discipline is affected by gender ideology and gender norms.
• Evaluate cultural “origin” stories that are not supported by anthropological data.

Manzenreiter, W. And Holthus, B. (Eds.). Happiness And The Good Life In Japan. New York: Routledge, 2017., Ilana Maymind

Religious Studies Faculty Articles and Research

A review of W. Manzenreither's and B. Holthus' Happiness and the Good Life in Japan.

Late Precontact Settlement On The Northern Seward Peninsula Coast: Results Of Recent Fieldwork, Shelby L. Anderson, Justin Andrew Junge

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Changing Arctic settlement patterns are associated with shifts in socioeconomic organization and interaction at both the inter- and intraregional levels; analysis of Arctic settlement patterns can inform research on the emergence and spread of Arctic maritime adaptations. Changes in late precontact settlement patterns in Northwest Alaska suggest significant shifts in subsistence and/or social organization, but the patterns themselves are not well understood. Prior research around Kotzebue Sound suggests three possible scenarios: (1) population decrease and dispersion from settlement centers after 550 cal bp, (2) population stability and dispersion after 550 cal bp, and (3) different settlement patterns in the northern …

Ritualization Of Ethno-Nationalism: A Textual Analysis Of A Hungarian Corpus Christi Procession, Lisa Pope Fischer

Publications and Research

Observing a Corpus Christi procession in post-socialist Hungary, this article uses a textual analysis to explore how the ritual mirrors post-socialist trends that affirm Hungarian identity. This article serves to both document an interesting ritual procession but also view it in light of growing ethno-nationalism that both unites a community yet also shows exclusion of others. It is like a mirror at a microcosmic level that reflects a kind of ritualization of ethno-nationalism.

Introduction: Issue In Honor Of Terence S. Turner, Suzanne Oakdale

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

From The Social Production Of The Person To Transnational Capitalism: Parsons, Turner, And Globalization, Daniel Reichman

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This paper focuses on influence of Talcott Parsons on the thought of Terence Turner, and explores how Turner's Brazilian ethnography led to a critical rethinking of Parsons' general theory of action. While Turner's adaptation of Marxian theory of value to anthropology is often read as a practice-oriented alternative to structuralism, I argue that it can also be fruitfully understood as a response to general theoretical questions first posed by Parsons. Late in his career, Turner published a series of papers on "globalization" which apply his Marxian analysis of the social production of the person in Amazonia to questions of citizenship …

Fraternity, Dignity, And Democracy: Forms Of Value In Northeast Brazil’S Health Care Reform Movement, Jessica Jerome

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This essay applies Terence Turner’s insight that production is the key to understanding social value to the context of an urban poor community in Fortaleza, Brazil. It uses this insight to address a contemporary tension in the community between democratic values espoused by city and state politicians and local forms of value which glorify fraternity and dignity. I argue that older women’s daily activities (such as courtyard maintenance, siestas, and dinner potlucks) produce the values of dignity and fraternity, which women regard as essential to sustaining their households’ viability. It is the dispossession of these values by government sanctioned forms …

Shamans, Wives, Families: An Isoseño Case Considered Using Turner On Kayapo Dominance And Beauty, Kathleen B. Lowrey

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

In this essay I describe what I have seen elapse over twenty years in the lives (and sometimes deaths) of two shamans and their respective wives in Isoso, an indigenous community of Guarani-speaking people in the Bolivian Chaco. These shamans’ two different kinds of shamanic practice, their two different sorts of marriage, and the two different life-trajectories of their wives resonate with the dual nature of Isoso itself and its historical constitution. The reproduction of a hierarchical Arawakan way of life through feminine submission to a Guarani “egalitarianism” of masculine dominance has been, I suspect, a dynamic of long standing …

Illusion And Value, Or Marcel Mauss On Alienability And Inalienability, Marcos Lanna

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This article reexamines Marcel Mauss’s The Gift and suggests that a certain degree not only of alienability and inalienability but also of illusion is a condition for communication and social organization. Even if there is not an explicit concept of illusion in Mauss’s works, the paper points out that it is present in those of Claude Lévi-Strauss, and that both Mauss’ and Lévi-Strauss’ perspectives can be fruitfully contrasted to Karl Marx’s theory of alienation. Starting from Mauss, this paper offers an exploration of logical and historical continuities between the notions of the gift and of commodities, arguing that they are …

Review Of Thunder Shaman By Ana Mariella Bacigalupo, Robin M. Wright

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

Review Of Praying And Preying: Christianity In Indigenous Amazonia By Aparecida Vilaça, Aleksandar Boskovic

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.