Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

The Caves Of Barbuda’S Eastern Coast: Long Term Occupation, Ethnohistory And Ritual, Sophia Perdikaris, Sandrine Grouard, George Hambrecht, Megan Hicks, Anjana Mebane-Cruz, Reaksha Persaud

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

Barbuda is the sister island to Antigua, located in the Lesser Antilles, West Indies. This island belongs to the Miocene arch of the Lesser Antilles, along with Grande Terre of Guadeloupe, Marie Galante, and Anguilla. Barbuda, notwithstanding its small size and low elevation, has an exceptionally rich past. Recent investigations by a Brooklyn College, City University of New York led team, has discovered evidence of human activity in and around these caves from the Archaic Period down to the present day. The range of activity at these caves begins with scatters of Archaic lithics, through artifacts and faunal material possibly …

Conjuring The Close From Afar A Border-Crossing Tale Of Vieques’ Activism And Obama-Empire, Víctor M. Torres-Vélez, Sarah Molinari, Katharine Lawrence

Publications and Research

After more than 60 years of military occupation, 30 of these under violent military practices, a social movement forced the U.S. Navy from the island of Vieques. This victory would not have been possible without the highly effective organization of civil disobedience carried out on the island. But the sum total of the actions that eventually forced out the U.S. Navy, neither happened exclusively within the boundaries of Vieques, nor was carried out by Viequense residents alone. In this article we want to suggest that this amazing victory—a testament of people’s will in the face of globalization—is also a border- …

Desert In The Springs: Ethnography Of A Food Desert, Margeaux Alana Chavez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

"Food desert" commonly describes food insecure areas with few fresh food outlets. Though used in a number of sources, the definition of "food desert" remains largely undeveloped and research is often deficit oriented, failing to account for community assets that may exist within food deserts but are underutilized or under-supported. Using an assets-based, ethnographic approach, this study combines GIS and survey methodology with participant observation and qualitative interviews to assess the potential positive effect of urban agriculture on food accessibility in Sulphur Springs, a USDA identified urban food desert in Tampa, Florida.

Ethnographic data suggest that within this neighborhood, residents …

Remapping Nature: Motherhood, Autonomy, And Anti-Mining Activism In Íntag, Ecuador, Ellicott K. Dandy

Honors Theses

This honors thesis explores the social changes that women engaged in anti-mining activism bring to a region in rural Ecuador. I discuss the ways in which they incorporate their activist techniques into everyday life, using their status as mothers to access public discourses of environmentalism, and ultimately rewrite gender roles locally. Framing the mining conflict as a catalyst for social change, I draw parallels between this movement and indigenous politics in Ecuador, propose new interpretations of the mestizo ethnic identity and assimilation in the Spanish Empire, and finally, make the case for a nature-centric cultural analysis in anthropology.

Finite To Fail, Infinite To Venture: Interactivism And Relational Ethics, Rachel A. Rosenbaum

Honors Theses

This project tells the story of a group of anonymous activists at Colby College that I call 'The EDFC.' To tell the story of The EDFC I build a theory of activism that I call 'Interactivism as Anarchism' that reveals how certain structures and processes affect activism. My goals are to highlight the subjectivity of the members of the group, the creation of the collective, and the process of our activism in ways that reveal the broader implications that this group has on: 1) what makes activism effective, 2) what inhibits and incites activism at Colby, and 3) what does …

Last (Un)Fair Deal Goin' Down: A Case Study On The Racial Ideologies And Projects Advanced By The Blues Tourism Industry In Clarksdale, Mississippi, Kathryn Anne Radishofski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Considerations regarding the mechanisms through which cultural commodification may be woven into the fabric of racial inequity are indispensible when conducting research on African American music tourism in the United States, as white consumers and producers may attach invidious racial mythologies to such heritage, while the industries themselves often take root in communities inhabited by multiple racial groups possessing disparate social and economic power. With these bearings in mind, this thesis assesses the impact of blues tourism development on the experiences of, and between, blacks and whites in Clarksdale, Mississippi, an endemically impoverished Delta city populated by a sizable African …

Ua3/9/4 President's Office-Ransdell Installation File, Wku Archives, Virginia Brothers

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created and received by the President’s Office in preparation of Gary Ransdell’s installation as president.

Book Review Of, Geraldine Pratt. Families Apart: Migrant Mothers And The Conflicts Of Labor And Love, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reviews the book "Families Apart: Migrant Mothers and the Conflicts of Labor and Love," by Geraldine Pratt

A Study Of Traditional Activities In The Exit Glacier Area Of Kenai Fjords National Park, Douglas Deur, Karen Brewster, Rachel Mason

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Kenai Fjords National Park (KEFJ) occupies roughly 1,760 square miles on the Kenai Peninsula in southcentral Alaska. Sitting adjacent to the community of Seward, the park was established in 1980 under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA). The central portion of the park contains the Harding Icefield, from which no fewer than 38 active glaciers exit into valleys and tidewater locations surrounding the park. Of these glaciers, Exit Glacier is the most publicly accessible, and the only park glacier with road access from the town of Seward. A number of individuals and families from the Seward …

Book Review Of, Patrick Daly, R. Michael Feener, And Anthony Reid, Editors. From The Ground Up: Perspectives On Post-Tsunami And Post-Conflict Aceh, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reviews the book, "From the Ground Up: Perspectives on Post-Tsunami and Post-Conflict Aceh," by Patrick Daly, R. Michael Feener, and Anthony S. J. Reid.

Collaborative Research To Assess Visitor Impacts On Alaska Native Practices Along Alagnak Wild River, Douglas Deur, Karen Evanoff, Adelheid Hermann, Alexanna Salmon

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

As one of the region’s famously productive salmon rivers, the Alagnak’s banks historically were lined with villages of both Yup’ik and Alutiiq residents, and archaeological data document millennia of human occupation.

Negotiating Ethnosexual Difference In The Armenian Transnation, Nelli Sargsyan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Since heteronormativity is an inextricable part of the ethnonationalist ideologies and discourses of Armenianness, conformity and transgression are communally policed both in the Republic of Armenia, as well as in the Armenian diaspora, albeit in different ways. In the diaspora it is through public silence regarding Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) and queer self-identified Armenians that hetero-belonging is managed. In the Republic of Armenia, on the other hand, it is managed through hate speech promoted by public figures and through mass media. In both cases the anxiety that the issue of non-heteronormativity points to in the public outcry is that …

The Anti-Abortion Legislation In Nicaragua : Gender Hierarchies And Ideologies In Reproduction, Ilona M. Flores

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This research examines the anti-abortion legislation that was passed in Nicaragua in 2006. The methods of investigation involve participant/observation and collaboration, semi-structured interviews, and content analysis. Through examination of the legal and medical implications of criminalizing therapeutic abortions, this research demonstrates that the anti-abortion law attempts to enforce traditional gender roles. The abortion debate inspired many questions of morality and motherhood, and that access to therapeutic abortions meant denying `normal' gender roles. While some women internalized these notions, others did not. However, Nicaraguans use the conceptual framework of `salir adelante' as a way to practice agency.

From The Philippines To The Field Museum: A Study Of Ilongot (Bugkalot) Personal Adornment, Sarah E. Carlson

Honors Projects

Abstract: The Philippine Collection at The Field Museum contains over 10,000 objects, including hundreds of objects of personal adornment. As an intern at The Field Museum in the summer of 2012, I got to experience the collection first-hand and began examining six ornaments from the Ilongot peoples of the Philippines. At the beginning of the 20^th century, the Ilongot wore ornaments to visually communicate social meaning about themselves, their villages, and their relationships. The Ilongot were a headhunting society with fearsome warriors who beheaded their enemies. These hunters wore delicately crafted earrings and headdresses to mark their masculinity and …

Seeing Life Through The Eyes Of Swahili Children Of Lamu, Kenya: A Visual Anthropology Approach, Rebecca Gearhart

Scholarship

This research offers a first look at Swahili children in Lamu town on Lamu Island, Kenya by providing an overview of the kinds of activities in which they engage and the aspects of Swahili society that are particularly focused on them. Swahili children’s culture is characterized by identifying the beliefs, practices, and values that shape Swahili children’s lives, from an anthropological perspective. The paper features photographic images that six Swahili youth produced and selected for this study during the summer of 2011, which provide personal insight into the children’s lives and experiences. Collaborative research methods were especially designed to empower …

The Devil Made Her Do It: Understanding Suicide, Demonic Discourse, And The Social Construction Of 'Health' In Yucatan, Mexico, Beatriz M. Reyes-Foster

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

In the state of Yucatan, Mexico, the suicide rate more than doubles the Mexican national average. This article uses ethnographic data to argue that 1) local understandings of suicide in Yucatán reflect a logic of health among Yucatec Maya people hinging on the belief that spiritual, bodily, and spatial balance must be maintained in order to prevent “illness,” understood as bodily and spiritual suffering; and 2) that Yucatec Maya users of Mexico’s public health system readily adapt the biomedical model to existing paradigms that comingle spiritual, mental, and bodily health due in great part to the inherent contradictions in both …

A Joining Of Hands: Form, Function, And Diversity At A Buddhist Monastery In Batesville, Mississippi, Tanna Tan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Buddhism is a religious tradition that spans the globe, and has erupted in popularity in the United States since the 1960s. This is a study of Thã­ch Nhat Hanh's "mindfulness" practice center, Magnolia Grove Monastery, in Batesville, Mississippi. Participant observation and interviews are implemented to understand the local concerns of its practitioners, and how they deal with these concerns. "Mindfulness" practice is made locally relevant to its practitioners through what I term "localization processes." these processes enable members at the site to negotiate different meanings of this tradition amongst themselves. An individual's "localization process" consists of several "boundaries" or elements …

The Power Of The Hula: A Performance Text For Appropriating Identity Among First Hawaiian Youth, Cesily Hong

Doctoral Dissertations

Hawaii is an exotic land with a rich history and a culture imbued with meaning, including the performing arts. Such facets of any land need to be understood and preserved for future generations. The most significant aspect of Hawaiian arts is the hula kahiko, a text in motion, which when performed displays the story of Hawaii's past. The hula was forbidden by Protestant missionaries in the 1820's and was reduced to near cultural extinction. As a result, many First Hawaiians do not clearly understand the richness of their own history. Without this understanding, it is difficult for them to have …

The Effects Of Migration On Gender Norms And Relations: The Post-Repatriation Experience In Bor, South Sudan, Marybeth Chrostowsky

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

My dissertation research was a 14-month ethnographic study of the post-repatriation experience of forced migrants in South Sudan. It was designed to determine if alterations to gender norms and relations that refugees experienced during asylum differed as a function of the asylum environments and if these modifications remained intact upon the refugees’ return. The forced migrants in my sample, the Dinka of Bor from South Sudan, encountered two different asylum environments and experiences: Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya and Khartoum, in northern Sudan. After 10-15 years in asylum, these forced Dinka Bor migrants returned to South Sudan. I compared …

Soldiers Of Science--Agents Of Culture: American Archaeologists In The Office Of Strategic Services (Oss), Despina Lalaki

Publications and Research

"Scientificity" and appeals to political independence are invaluable tools when institutions such as the American School of Classical Studies at Athens attempt to maintain professional autonomy. Nonetheless, the cooperation of scientists and scholars with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), among them archaeologists affiliated with the American School, suggests a constitutive affinity between political and cultural leadership. This relationship is here mapped in historical terms, while, at the same time, sociological categorizations of knowledge and its employment are used in order to situate archaeologists in their broader social and political context and to evaluate their work not merely as agents …