Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

Farming As Life: Reframing Smallholder Farming As A Site Of Self-Sufficiency And Cultural Heritage In Botswana, Natasha Yen

Pitzer Senior Theses

Dominant neoliberal frameworks often frame smallholder farming through a deficiency lens, reducing it to metrics of productivity, efficiency, and profitability. These perspectives overlook the deeper material, cultural, and social significance that farming holds in the lives of smallholder farmers. In Botswana—where approximately 70% of the rural population engages in smallholder farming—farming remains a vital part of everyday life, yet few studies adopt a culturalist or holistic lens to examine its meaning. To center smallholder farmers’ lived experiences and perspectives, this study is based on semi-structured interviews with ten smallholder farmers in southeast Botswana. Grounded in a culturalist framework and critical …

Land Rematriation: Utilizing The National Register Of Historic Places And Developing Tribal Homeland Territories For The Restoration Of Historic Landscapes And Sovereignty, Robert E. Hazen

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Land rematriation and cultural revitalization are crucial to addressing the ongoing impacts of settler colonialism on Indigenous communities, particularly for the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The National Register of Historic Places and federal recognition processes have traditionally marginalized Indigenous practices and land claims, yet, as I argue in this thesis, they hold potential for reappropriation in support of sovereignty and heritage. This thesis argues that integrating Indigenous methodologies, geospatial research, and archival analyses can forge a path toward effective land rematriation efforts. My findings reveal culturally significant sites connected to the historic village of Getegitigaaning, helping …

Indigenous-Industrial Heritage: Centering Indigenous Voices In Minnesota's Iron Range, Larissa A. Juip

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Industrial heritage refers to the material remains, sites, landscapes, and practices associated with industrial and extractive activities. As a field, it has historically been concerned with the conservation, management, and interpretation of industrial sites and activities and forms a central narrative within Minnesota's museums. Yet such accounts often privilege object-centered narratives while silencing the presence, knowledge, and contributions of Indigenous and Descendant communities, obscuring their enduring relationships to extractive landscapes. In recent decades, critiques of traditional industrial heritage approaches have identified gaps in the discipline related to the exclusion of marginalized populations, including Indigenous Peoples. Minnesota is home to eleven …

Find My Friends: Location-Sharing Ideologies And Peer Surveillance Practices, Nayla Dayal

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the use of Find My Friends in the context of the Claremont Colleges. Students choose to location-share under initial rhetorical justifications of social reciprocity, and community-orientedness, and peer-safety. Drawing from ethnographic interviews conducted with users at the colleges, I argue that the infrastructure of Find My Friends in conjunction with the social and physical proximities of the Claremont environment creates a distinctive condition where users are subject to what I term as a “virtual, neoliberal, and participatory panopticon.” Here, users are seemingly empowered through the application’s neutralizing collapse of reciprocity and hierarchy that are seen in conventional …

Cold Water Immersion: Communal Intimacy And Embodied Wellness, Clara R. Louden

Scripps Senior Theses

On the shores of Lake Superior, many residents of Duluth engage in cold water immersion, or as many call it, "dipping." Through the lenses of embodied experience, magical language and modes of storytelling, and communal intimacy, dipping emerges as a uniquely bonding practice. Dippers cite cold water immersion as an immune-boosting ritual, drawing on biomedical and non-biomedical conceptions of health. Immersion in cold water, especially in nature, requires a strong sense of communal trust. By deliberately encountering danger in their day to day lives, dippers' relationships with each other and with the lake often deepen over time, hinging on the …

Spatial Vulnerability Towards Flooding And Mitigation Of Three Coastal Cities: Charleston, South Carolina | Passaic City, New Jersey| Virginia Beach, Virginia, Kory Abbott

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This meta-analysis investigates the impact of flooding on three coastal communities along the Atlantic Coast: Charleston, South Carolina; Passaic City, New Jersey; and Virginia Beach, Virginia. One goal of this paper is to determine the adequacy or inadequacy in the flood mitigation responses of these communities so that future actions can be taken to improve flood mitigation measures. Another goal is to consider whether the cities experience environmental injustice in terms of flooding mitigation. This paper draws from governmental documents, news reports, local experiences, updated storm management systems, and scholarly articles. The methodology used in this meta-analysis is as follows: …

“Democracy,” Usa, Marc Edelman

Publications and Research

What does it mean to be an effective citizen in a democracy? Answering this question requires unpacking “democracy” and an analysis of institutions that systematically disempower and alienate citizens. This paper briefly examines the contributions of psychoanalysis to understanding democracy and authoritarianism. It scrutinizes U.S. governance institutions and points to democratic deficits and backsliding present even before Trump 1.0 and 2.0. These range from the Electoral College, the Senate, and the Supreme Court to the Federal Communications Commission. All contributed to institutionalizing minority rule and elite capture. Governance institutions failed to deliver what the American people tell opinion pollsters they …

Records Of The American Society Of Missiology Arc2017-003 - Finding Aid, Ats Special Collections And Archives

Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

Adhd As A Lived Experience Amongst Bipoc College Students, Nikash Kale

Honors Theses

This thesis focuses on the perspectives of Black Indigenous and Persons of Color (BIPOC) college students on Attention-deficit/hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The study analyzes scoping strategies, perceived symptomatological differences, and the effects of racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds among BIPOC college students. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 14 participants, I examine the full permeation of ADHD among BIPOC college students, its evolution from pre-diagnosis to the present, and how they navigate the disorder and its treatment. A qualitative analysis of ADHD among minorities in college will not only allow clinicians to understand the distinct struggles of BIPOC with ADHD, but it …

Qualitative Interview Coding, Caroline M. Moore

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

This lesson introduces undergraduate students to rigorous thematic analysis as a tool for gaining insights from qualitative interviews. Aimed at students with some familiarity in Design Thinking, it emphasizes the role of interviewing in understanding user experiences and informing human-centered research. This might be the first lesson in a multi-lesson sequence, allowing the next lesson to go deeper into insights of what design researchers gather from their thematic coding. Through a mix of lecture, individual coding, and small-group coding, students learn to distinguish between inductive and deductive coding and apply these methods to sample interviews. The lesson fosters active learning …

Covid-19 Impacts On Refugee-Serving Ngos In Clarkston And The Atlanta Metropolitan Area, Georgia, United States, Ghazal Khaksari

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

This study provides a unique anthropological perspective on how technology, language, NGO staff, and culture intersect during emergency times, which can affect NGOs’ abilities to reach and help communities. Findings of this study emphasize the importance of equality in digital access and of available and culturally competent interpreters in reducing the gap between NGOs and refugee communities. The digital divide has played a fundamental role during the pandemic, often leading to other problems for both NGOs and refugees. This issue has taken a variety of forms in terms of access to education, language classes, community cohesion, and communication with and …

Traveling Jack: Tracing Settler Identity Through Appalachian Folklore, Madelynn R. Green

Endeavors: Mississippi State Undergraduate Research Journal

Archaeology and Folklore have long had a tense relationship, but in an era of archaeology focusing more and more on the current and descendant communities it is imperative for archaeologists to begin engage folklore traditions in their work. By engaging archaeology and folkloric methods both fields can benefit. In the case of this study, I have used the "Traveling Jack" story, a common folk tale with English, Scottish, Irish, and Appalachian versions that involves a young man using his wits to overcome a series of challenges to achieve various happy endings, to trace Scottish and Irish settlement and reinvention in …

The Demand For Educational Functions Of Study Tour Products: From Students’ Perspectives, Yaqi Yu, Azizan Marzuki

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

Few academic studies have comprehensively examined the actual demands of students regarding the educational function of study tours. This paper develops a demand index system based on three dimensions: cognitive, affective, and behavioral demands. A questionnaire survey was administered to 397 students. Initially, student demands were categorized using the Kano model. Subsequently, the “dependence” and “expectancy” characteristics were analyzed through the dissatisfaction index (DI) and satisfaction index (SI). The impact of fulfilling each demand on dissatisfaction and satisfaction levels was then determined. The results indicated that among the three dimensions, there were 7 must-be demands, 6 one-dimensional demands, 8 attractive …

Unveiling Legacies: Exploring And Analyzing Cultural Artifacts In The Higbee Collection, Samantha Staller

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Anthropology and the Cummings Center to find ways to properly analyze an archaeological collection's artifacts to understand the overall significance of everything better. Before starting my research, I came up with the following questions: Can any artifacts be considered culturally affiliated? Is everything in the collection authentic? What is the overall background of the collection? Does this collection have any connection to Ohio history? Can anything in the collection be dated? Throughout the research, I will create an Excel inventory list to include qualitative and quantitative data from the artifacts to give insight into what is included in the Higbee …

Organizational And Structural Factors In Building The Therapeutic Alliance In A Work Rehabilitation Program With Injured Immigrant Workers In Quebec, Daniel Côté, Maude Arsenault, Jessica Dubé

Études primaires

Abstract

The therapeutic alliance is central to occupational rehabilitation, particularly for immigrant workers who face unique challenges of migration and of social and occupational integration. This study explores the development and maintenance of this alliance between immigrant workers with compensated work injuries and their care providers during work rehabilitation. Using ethnography, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups, the qualitative case study involved 7 injured immigrant workers and their interdisciplinary clinical team. The study identified several factors that weakened the alliance, including administrative complexity, conflicting views on pain and disability, cultural stereotypes, and interorganizational communication issues. Many of these challenges were systemic …

A Systematic Review Of Dietary Trends, Influencing Factors, And Their Impacts On Cardiovascular Health In Turkish Populations, Pelin L. Özoğlu

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death globally, including in Türkiye. One key factor influencing CVD prevention is dietary patterns, which directly impacts cardiovascular health. Türkiye traditionally follows the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet), which is acclaimed for its cardiovascular benefits. Despite this, Türkiye continues to experience high rates of CVD, with projections indicating that CVD mortality will double for both men and women by 2030. It is crucial to address diet-related factors, including potential nutritional deficiencies, to reduce cardiovascular health risks.

This research aims to analyze the Turkish community's adherence to the Mediterranean diet to understand why CVD prevalence …

An Overview Of Nagpra And The 2024 Revisions, Emily V. Owens-Barber

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Section 11 of the National Museum of the American Indian Act (NMAIA) was added to public law in 1989. This required the Smithsonian Museum to repatriate any human remains or funerary objects associated with Native American Ancestry back to their tribes. In 1990, The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was added to federal legislation expanding on this section and requiring that every federally funded institution in the United States that held Native American Remains or funerary objects in their collection must follow this regulation to continue to receive federal funding. Nearly 33 years later in the autumn …

Climate Planning, Energy Sovereignty, And Electric Vehicle Perceptions Among Michigan’S Tribal Nations, Alexis Belle Tater

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Climate change will especially impact marginalized communities and communities with less government support for funding climate adaptation actions. The first chapter of this report focuses on climate change responses, specifically Tribal Nations in the state of Michigan. In the current U.S. context, funding for large climate change mitigation and adaptation projects in Tribal Nations can be achieved through federal funding from the CPRG (Climate Pollution Reduction Grant), which requires an established PCAP (Priority Climate Action Plans) to guide decision making in alignment with identified priorities. I discuss the importance of Tribal sovereignty, the potential implications of its inclusion and exclusion …

From Conscientious French Canadian To Enterprising American: Making Memory & Measuring Social Mobility Of French Canadians 1880-1940, Brooke S. Schwaderer

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This thesis studies the social mobility of French-Canadian immigrants to the Keweenaw Peninsula 1880-1940 and memory among their descendants to explain how French-Canadian culture in the Keweenaw faded over time. Oral histories were conducted to gain an understanding of the current French-Canadian culture in the Keweenaw, understand how the current generation perceives changes in culture over time, and provide possible explanations for why French-Canadians thrived in the Keweenaw. Tax records from the Michigan Technological University Archives and social mobility scores, mother tongue, and homeownership information from the United States census was analyzed to measure language loss, and the social mobility …

Listening To The Body: Attunement And Advocacy In Women's Experiences Of Endometriosis, Rebekah E. Greenslaugh

Theses and Dissertations

Endometriosis is a chronic, inflammatory condition in which tissue similar to the endometrial lining grows outside the uterus, leading to severe pain, fatigue, and other debilitating symptoms. Despite its significant impact on daily life, many women with endometriosis report that their symptoms are dismissed in medical encounters, as their pain is minimized or normalized as an inherent aspect of womanhood. This medical dismissal, combined with a lack of definitive diagnostic tools and effective treatments, leads many to turn to online support communities to make sense of their symptoms, share experiences, and develop ways to cope with the condition. Drawing on …