Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

Producing Goods, Shaping People: The Materiality Of Crafting, Julia A. Hendon

Anthropology Faculty Publications

The study of craft production has a long and venerable history in archaeological research on ancient societies. In this chapter, I consider the crafting of useful and desired things from a materiality perspective by looking at the interactions between the craftpersons, the materials with which they work, and the ways that their end products are valued in society. I use two examples: working with fibers by the Maya of Mesoamerica and with metals by the Moche of Andean South America. These are two very different kinds of materials whose characteristics affect how one interacts with them. Crafting was a part …

Does Environmental Knowledge Inhibit Hominin Dispersal?, Colin D. Wren, Andre Costopoulos

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

We investigate the relationship between the dispersal potential of a hominin population, its local scale foraging strategies, and the characteristics of the resource environment using an agent-based modeling approach. Wren et al. (2014) demonstrated that natural selection can favour a relatively low capacity for assessing and predicting the quality of the resource environment, especially when the distribution of resources is highly clustered. This also suggested that the more knowledge foraging populations had about their environment, the less likely they were to abandon the landscape they know and disperse into novel territory. The present study gives agents new individual and social …

Tacit Cultural Knowledge: An Instrumental Qualitative Case Study Of Mixed Methods Research In South Africa, Debra Rena Miller

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Notwithstanding the dramatic expansion of mixed methods research, research methodologies, methods, and findings are culturally situated. Problematically, studies conducted outside the global north often embrace canonical methodologies aimed at understanding concepts more explicit than tacit. Learning about the needs of researchers and participants in South Africa may bring to light taken-for-granted assumptions in Anglo-American orientations of mixed methods. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore aspects of tacit cultural knowledge that contextualize mixed methods research in South Africa.

In-person interviews among South African professors as well as a corpus of books, sections, journal articles, and theses informed the …

Transportation And Sanitation Drivers Of Land Use/Land Cover Change: Loss Of The Jamaica Bay Wetlands, Margaret Joy Cytryn

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents an analysis (1830-2014) of the historical events of land use/land cover change in the Jamaica Bay estuary, identification of the agents of change, and a perspective on the potential drivers of transportation and sanitation in land use/land cover change.

Giving A Voice To The Powerless: Participatory Monitoring & Evaluation As A Tool For Inclusive Development Through Microfinance, Evan T. Burke

Capstone Collection

The greatest experts on the situation of the marginalized peoples of the world are the marginalized communities themselves. This paper explores how participatory monitoring & evaluation can be a powerful tool for giving voices to marginalized communities, ensuring that the voices of beneficiaries and local stakeholders are heard and inform sustainable project design. It analyzes a participatory monitoring and evaluation methodology implemented for women’s credit cooperatives in Gujarat, India by the Human Development & Research Centre, and examines lessons to be learned to design evaluations facilitating inclusive development.

Strategies for the monitoring and evaluation of microfinance have evolved along with …

Reinventing The Role Of Children And Youth In Post-Conflict Peacebuilding, Amirah M. Alias

Capstone Collection

This paper underlines the roles of children and youth in post-conflict peacebuilding and the reinvention of their roles from participants of peacebuilding to active facilitators of post-conflict peacebuilding. The reinvention is based on the re-interpretation of the traditional roles of children and youth in post-conflict peacebuilding and the analysis of children and youth peacebuilding programs. The re-interpretation will suggest that children and youth take on a more active role, if not, a leadership role in peacebuilding programs conducted for children and youth. This paper will look at the historical and contextual information about Nigeria's inter-religious conflict and a youth peacebuilding …

Philosopher's Stone: The Faustian Geist Of Development, Salikyu Sangtam

Dissertations

The present study juxtaposes scientific rationality with polyphonic rationality in respect to societal development. This is done to illuminate how scientific rationality provides a narrow and truncated view of development. In order to explicate the exclusion of polyphonic rationalities/knowledges in favor of scientific rationality, several development scholarships are examined along with an episode of developmental scheme and two episodes of development programs. This is done to expound (note: ‘→’ = influences) how scientific rationality → scholarships → organizational/institutional schemes, such as the MDGs → actual applications of development schemes, such as transmigration and compulsory villagization. The present inquest, …

An Ethnography Of Taste: Craft Beer Culture In Hattiesburg, Yingkun Hou

Master's Theses

This thesis studies the craft beer culture in Hattiesburg in order to answer the research question: Is taste what draws people to this culture? Beyond conducting classic participant-observation, I deployed the method of sensory activated participant-observation in my fieldwork. In so doing, this research centers the perspective and the data collected on the senses, especially the taste of craft beer. The purpose of this research is to add to our knowledge of the anthropology of the senses and contribute to the literature on the anthropology of taste.

Kin Selection, Raymond Hames

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

When Hamilton (1964) published his theory of inclusive fitness it had no immediate impact in the social and behavioral sciences, even though ethnographers knew kinship to be a universally fundamental factor in human social organization, especially in egalitarian societies in which humans have spent nearly all their evolutionary history. In many ways, it was a theory that perhaps anthropologists should have devised: Anthropologists knew kinship fundamentally structured cooperation, identity, coalition formation, resource exchange, marriage, and group membership in traditional societies. It was not until 1974 with the publication of Wilson’s Sociobiology (1975) and especially Richard Alexander’s The Evolution of Social …

Breastfeeding With The Bronson Mothers’ Milk Bank, Marykate Bodnar

Masters Theses

Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo is home to one of only 15 certified breast milk banks in the United States. Women have shared breast milk for centuries through wet nurses, but this institutionalized and regulated version of sharing is distinct from previous forms. Breastfeeding has become a symbol of successful motherhood; donor milk adds a new dimension to this aspect of idealized motherhood. This study explores how the milk bank works: its organizational structure within a hospital, how donors are selected, and how recipients qualify for donor milk. It is grounded in Feminist and Medical Anthropology literature. Using semi-structured interviews …

The Culture Of Sustainability At Southern Miss, Amy J. Ball

Honors Theses

The sustainability movement has been studied in general before, but little research has been done on topic of the sustainability movement at universities. This study aims to contribute to the larger conversation on sustainability by looking at the ideas and motivations behind participation in the movement among students at the University of Southern Mississippi. This is done primarily through interviews performed by the researcher with a number of students in a club on campus dedicated to spreading knowledge of and participation in sustainable activities, known as the Sustainability Advocates. Background information about the sustainability movement on campus is provided by …

Canning Jars And Patterns Of Canning Behavior: A Study Of Households On The Hector Backbone, New York. 1850-1940, Jayne Ann Michaels

Masters Theses

Typically, late 19^th or early 20^th century domestic sites contain fragments of a common item: canning jars. Such is the case regarding 21 sites along the Hector Backbone in New York State. These sites, investigated by the Finger Lakes National Forest Farmstead Archaeology Project, produced a rich sample of over 250,000 artifacts and thousands related to canning.

The objective of this thesis is to explore the potential of these common artifacts to yield important information about these Backbone households. Specifically, my questions include: when did these households adopt canning and who were they?

The intentional decision to include …

In Search Of Flavour-Nutrient Learning: A Study Of The Samburu Pastoralists Of North-Central Kenya, Jeffrey M. Brunstrom, Peter J. Rogers, Kevin P. Myers, Jon D. Holtzman

Faculty Journal Articles

Much of our dietary behaviour is learned. In particular, one suggestion is that ‘flavour-nutrient learning’ (F-NL) influences both choice and intake of food. F-NL occurs when an association forms between the orosensory properties of a food and its postingestive effects. Unfortunately, this process has been difficult to evaluate because F-NL is rarely observed in controlled studies of adult humans. One possibility is that we are disposed to F-NL. However, learning is compromised by exposure to a complex Western diet that includes a wide range of energy-dense foods. To test this idea we explored evidence for F-NL in a sample of …

Media Representation Of Islam And Muslims In Southern Appalachia, Saundra K. Reynolds

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Southern Appalachian attitudes about the religion of Islam and Muslim adherents are influenced largely by mass media's representations. With more than 80% of Appalachia’s population following Protestant Christianity, exposure to Islam in daily life is limited. Media outlets offer the greatest exposure to information about the religion and its adherents. This thesis examined the region's media representation of Islam and Muslims to determine what images are most often portrayed. Research following a twoyear span of reporting in Southern Appalachia studied substance, word frequency, imagery, and editing used in articles that focused on Islam and Muslims. Through the use of content …

An Investigation Into Human To Dog Attachment Systems And Their Influence On The Degree Of Aversion Used In Training, Shelly Volsche

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of my Master’s Thesis research is to determine if and what type of relationship exists between owner-to-dog attachment levels and the degree of aversion used in dog training. I also sought to determine if owner characteristics such as parental status, income, gender, and the like influenced the degree of aversion used. My primary hypothesis is that a negative correlation exists between attachment to one’s dog and aversion used in training. That is, as attachment scores increase, aversion scores decrease. In addition to testing this hypothesis, I collected data to determine if there are correlations between the following: gender …

Effects Of Human Maternal Placentophagy On Maternal Postpartum Iron-Status, Laura Kathleen Gryder

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Recently, human maternal placenta ingestion, known as placentophagy, has emerged as a rare but growing practice among postpartum mothers in industrialized societies, and is currently found in both home birth and hospital birth settings. The practice is purported to result in certain health benefits for postpartum mothers, some of which could be related to the iron content in full-term placenta (e.g., increased energy and an improved and more rapid postpartum recovery, among others). The aim of this research project was to investigate the effect of encapsulated placentophagy on maternal postpartum iron status via a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study (n=28). …

Does Market Integration Buffer Risk, Erode Traditional Sharing Practices And Increase Inequality? A Test Among Bolivian Forager-Farmers, Michael Gurven, Adrian V. Jaeggi, Christopher Von Rueden, Paul L. Hooper, Hillard Kaplan

ESI Publications

Sharing and exchange are common practices for minimizing food insecurity in rural populations. The advent of markets and monetization in egalitarian indigenous populations presents an alternative means of managing risk, with the potential impact of eroding traditional networks. We test whether market involvement buffers several types of risk and reduces traditional sharing behavior among Tsimane Amerindians of the Bolivian Amazon. Results vary based on type of market integration and scale of analysis (household vs. village), consistent with the notion that local culture and ecology shape risk management strategies. Greater wealth and income were unassociated with the reliance on others for …

Our Master’S Legacy: Belief And Ritual In Mission De L’Esprit Saint, Dale Joseph Rose

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis is a folkloristic examination of the religious beliefs and rituals associated with members of a religious movement known as Mission De L’Ésprit Saint. Mission De L’Ésprit Saint is a Quebecois religious denomination which believes that their founder was the physical incarnation of the Holy Spirit, and the movement strives to continue the teachings which were laid down during his lifetime. The major components of Mission theology and history, as well as an introductory consideration of their cosmology and worldview will be the major focus of this document, as well as a consideration of the role that Folklore has …

Keeping The Magic: Fursona Identity And Performance In The Furry Fandom, Jakob W. Maase

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The furry subculture (also known as the anthropomorphic fandom) creates identity through anthropomorphism and therianthropy. Anthropomorphism is the giving of human traits to the non-human. Therianthropy is the giving of animal traits to the human. Through play and creating art, these individuals of the furry subculture take on an anthropomorphic identity (what furries call a fursona) while bridging local and global groups through communication technologies. For this folklore project I conducted ethnographic field works interviews with the Bowling Green, Kentucky fur group. I also build off of the interviews project with an online furry role-play group as well as a …

The Role Of Diversity On Team Effectiveness In A Multinational And Multicultural Military Environment, Mustafa Utoglu

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The trend of deploying multinational coalition or alliance forces to respond to emerging threats in the past two decades has become a conventional approach. Beyond the advantages presented by coalitions and alliances, the literature suggests that multinational forces have raised a new set of challenges in achieving their mission: managing the demographic, functional, and cultural diversity introduced by the individuals from various nations that compose the coalition/alliance.

A large number of researchers have considered diversity a "double-edged sword" as they discovered that diversity could pose risks, as well as benefits, to teamwork. Although extensive research effort has been dedicated to …