Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

A Classification System For Glass Beads For The Use Of Field Archaeologists, Kenneth E. Kidd, Martha Ann Kidd

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

As a result of examination of numerous collections of glass beads in northeastern North America and elsewhere, and as a result of a study of the procedures used in their manufacture, the authors propose a classification and nomenclature which they hope will permit exact descriptions and a reference base for all beads found in archaeological excavations. New bead types may be added to the system which is expansible to accommodate all possible variations.

Reviews And End Matter

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

The History of Beads: From 100,000 B.C. to the Present, Revised and Expanded Edition, by Lois Sherr Dubin, and The Worldwide History of Beads, by Lois Sherr Dubin, reviewed by Margret Carey

Phoenix Rising: Narratives in Nyonya Beadwork from the Straits Settlements, by Hwei-Fe'n Cheah, reviewed by Alice Scherer

Journal: Borneo International Beads Conference 2010, Heidi Munan and Freya Martin (eds.), reviewed by Jean Nicholls

Journal: Borneo International Beads Conference 2011, Heidi Munan and Freya Martin (eds.), reviewed by Marjorie Bernbaum

African Dolls/Afrikanische Puppen: The Dulger-Collection, by Frank Jolles, reviewed by Marilee Wood

Cherished …

Heirloom Blue-Glass Melon Beads Of The Tani Tribes, Northeast India, Barbie Campbell Cole

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

The Tani tribes of Arunachal Pradesh in India's remote northeast wear various heirloom necklaces including those composed of highly distinctive melon-shaped beads of wound turquoise-blue glass. These are unique to central Arunachal and were already of considerable age and very highly prized in the early 19th century. The Tanis believe their beads were made by a mythical ancestor in Tibet, but their bubbly opaque blue glass and wound method of production suggest a Chinese origin. The beads have local names which appear to link them to Tsari, one of Tibet's most important Buddhist pilgrimage sites. For centuries, the hostile animist …

Captions And Color Plates (V. 24, 2012)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Reconstructing History: An Inter-Generational Perspective On Collective Memories And Constructed Identities In Post-Genocide Rwanda, Heather Randall

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

In the 18 years since the Rwandan genocide, which left approximately 1,000,000 people dead in 100 days, much has changed for Rwandans. This paper will examine the history of the genocide, including the international response to the killings and developments in peace and reconciliation. This paper also examines anthropological data from college-age Rwandese, whose names have been fictionalized, and historical information from older generations who lived through the genocide. I argue that the students represent a significant social change in the history of Rwanda. Their experiences contrast sharply with those of their parents, who grew up in a colonial world …

Ua12/2/23 United Black Students, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about the United Black Students organization.

Ua12/2/15 Campus Activities Board, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about the Campus Activities Board.

Ua94/5/3 Student/Alumni Personal Papers Bowling Green Business University Charles Jeffries Papers, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Love letters written by Charles Jefferies to Wanda Adams. Also contains letters and pledge notes for Pi Tau Nu.

Emplacement And Displacement: Perceiving The Landscape Through Aboriginal Australian Acrylic Painting, Fred Myers

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Aboriginal Australian acrylic paintings have long been considered representations of mythologically invested landscape. This understanding has been made problematic by recent writings on ‘dwelling’. As common usage of the term ‘landscape’ seems to prioritize vision, to suggest that the acrylic paintings are landscapes only strengthens the suspicion that they are artifacts of displacement or distancing, rather than examples of the emplacement emphasized in this ‘dwelling perspective’. However, this paper will demonstrate that the relationship between acrylic painting and the land is more complex than such an interpretation. It will argue that the Aboriginal objectification of their relationship to the land …

It's A Birth Not A Procedure: An Ethnographic Study Of Intrauterine Fetal Death In A Labor And Delivery Unit Of An American Hospital Setting, Catherine Mcleod Griffin

Wayne State University Dissertations

Life transitions such as birth and death constitute a significant area within anthropological studies of ritual. It is important to investigate how individuals, groups, and communities organize around these events. Birth and death can be considered as rites of passage that mark key life transitions (van Gennep 1909/1960). Thus birth and death related rituals need to be investigated within the social and cultural context of American hospital settings to better understand the social organization of life, death, and personhood. In the American hospital setting, a reproductive loss at any gestational age receives the medical diagnostic label of an intrauterine fetal …

Exploring Sacred Objects And Their Meanings In Catholic Mexicano Households: Domestic Religious Practices In San Antonio, Mary E. Durocher

Wayne State University Dissertations

Anthropological literature in the study of material culture argues that person/object interactions are important to the construction and maintenance of social relations and personal identity both in the present and through time. It is through relationships and interactions with things that people come to "know who they are" (Tilley (2007). This line of thinking has led some Latino studies scholars to propose that the retention of traditional aspects of culture, such as religious practices, often serves as a way of negotiating personal or cultural identity in an ever changing social milieu (Sandoval 2006, Aponte and De La Torre 2006). This …

Zen Communication - A Cross Cultural Approach To Mindfulness, Appropriate Response, And Flow In Dyadic Interactions, Gregory Husak

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study examined the question of how the qualities that arise from the practice of traditionally East Asian disciplines such as Zen and related martial arts might be effectively applied to dyadic interactions. Long-form interviews of about 40 minutes each were conducted with academics who have studied these topics and with expert practitioners who have extensive direct experience. Most subjects had significant cross-cultural experience, having studied and/or practiced in both the U.S. and in Japan. Detailed analysis of transcripts of these recorded interviews indicated that, in particular, the seated Zen meditation practice known as zazen generates personally transformational qualities that …

Preterm Birth And The Perception Of Risk Among African Americans, Gwendolyn Simpson Norman

Wayne State University Dissertations

Background: African American women deliver preterm at a rate that is two to three times that of their white counterparts, and after decades of research, this disparity in birth outcomes still remains unexplained. While factors including income, education, neighborhood conditions, infection and stress have all been associated with prematurity, no combination of these factors has explained why the disparity persists. Recently, however, racism-specific stress has emerged as a possible factor contributing to this disparity. This study was designed to learn how preterm birth was explained by African Americans directly impacted by prematurity. Methods: Interviews were conducted with African American women …

Dancing The Numinous: Sacred And Spiritual Techniques Of Contemporary American Belly Dancers, Jeana Jorgensen

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

In this paper, I explore how contemporary American practitioners of belly dance (as Middle Eastern dance and its many varieties are often called in the English-speaking world) conceptualize not only the spiritual dimensions of their dance, but also how the very notion of performance affects sacred and spiritual dance practices. Drawing on interviews with this community, I describe the techniques of sacred and spiritual belly dancers, how these dancers theorize performance, and how the conflicts inherent to patriarchal mind-body dualism are resolved in these practices. My purpose here is twofold: to document an emergent dance tradition and to analyze its …

This Paper Is Only Skin Deep: The Socio-Cultural And Biological Reality Of Human Variation, Paige Jamieson

A with Honors Projects

This project is an anthropological study of human variation and "race".

"Still Here, Trying To Find My Way": Understanding The Experiences Of Hiv Disruption And Reorganization Among Older African Americans In Detroit, Andrea Nevedal

Wayne State University Dissertations

Adults aged fifty and older are the fastest growing age group with HIV/AIDS. Research on older adults with HIV has focused primarily on health status and physiological changes that occur as people age with HIV. However, little is known about the socio-cultural consequences that occur when older adults are diagnosed with HIV and as they age with HIV. Drawing from an anthropological approach to the life course and Becker's (1997) framework of life disruption, this dissertation research explored to what extent people experienced disruption from living with HIV and reorganized their lives after experiencing disruption.

The specific aims included identifying …

Crossing The Valley Of Death: A Multi-Sited, Multi-Level Ethnographic Study Of Growth Startups And Entrepreneurial Communities In Post-Industrial Detroit, Marlo Rencher

Wayne State University Dissertations

The intention of this research is to reveal the humanity of the startup experience for American growth companies. What is it about the growth entrepreneurship experience that has been hidden from view? Can we begin to articulate a holistic view of entrepreneurship--including those human universals and culture-bound particulars that must be successfully navigated?

This study is an ethnographic account of three Detroit-based entrepreneurial communities and the people within them. This research examines the sociocultural features of entrepreneurship on three levels. The first level of context for growth businesses to be studied is that of their entrepreneurial community. These communities have …

Protection Of The Natural And Cultural Heritage Of The Mongolian Altai, Ulikpan Beket, Hans D. Knapp

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

The Altai-Sayan Ecoregion is known as a hotspot of biodiversity with large wilderness landscapes and a high rate of endemism in Central Asia and Siberia. There are many large and important protected areas of different categories. Parts of the Russian Altai, the “Golden Mountains of Altai”, are inscribed as World Natural Heritage. Also the neighbouring countries contain pristine landscapes, which could be a potential for an extension to a transnational serial World Heritage Site.

The Mongolian part of the ecoregion is characterized by very diverse landscapes and vegetation complexes: Deserts, semi-deserts and desert steppes in arid basins, river floodplains, salt …

Binford, Lewis R., Alan J. Osborn

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Binford challenged anthropologists and archaeologists to expand the scope of their research, to develop more rigorous methodologies for data collection and analysis, and to think more critically. Science is a marathon without a finish line. Our understanding of past and present human behavior and cultural systems does not come easily. Social scientists can produce reliable knowledge by means of an iterative process that involves generating, testing, and refining (or rejecting) explanatory models. These models are, then, combined to construct scientific theories. The robust consequences of these theories are then continually scrutinized and evaluated. Binford continually made use of the complex …