Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

Cultural Authenticity And Commercialization: The Journey Of Southwest Indigenous Jewelry, Kaytlin M. Dwyer

Anthropology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Introduction Today, Southwest Indigenous jewelry exists at the intersection of cultural expression and commercial exchange. Drawing on interviews with Native artists, this study focuses on the lived experiences of those who design, produce, market, and curate Indigenous jewelry to argue that authenticity is not defined by visual appearance alone, but by the cultural knowledge, community relationships, and generational practices embedded in each piece. As Native silversmiths navigate increasing pressures from mass production, appropriation, and global markets, they actively work to maintain both artistic integrity and cultural authenticity. At the same time, this paper explores the tension between appreciation and appropriation. …

The Effectiveness Of Utilizing An Arts-Integrated Approach With Students With Ieps In Grades K–5 Self-Contained Classrooms And Why An Arts-Integrated Approach Is Not Widely Implemented In The United States, Alexandra Leff

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines arts integration as an approach for K–5 students with IEPs. Drawing on research from Western and non-Western and data from two programs, it shows gains in academic achievement and social-emotional learning. Despite cultural and systemic barriers, findings support expanding arts integration through teacher training and policy reform.

Sonic Rupture And Embodied Politics:
Reconfiguring The Aesthetic Regime In The Syrian Uprising, Lynn Shabani

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that the Syrian uprising of 2011 emerged as a sonic and embodied rupture within an authoritarian aesthetic regime that had long governed public sensibility. Through chants, song, and coordinated movement, political agency took form as collective, affective practice, transforming vernacular repertoires into infrastructures of mobilization, audibility, and resistance.

Fascism Usa: Class And Identity Politics In The Age Of Trump, Marc Edelman

Publications and Research

This essay argues that Trump’s triumph in the 2024 presidential contest represents the consolidation of an oligarchical authoritarian project, backed by a multi-class and (surprisingly, for some) multi-racial electorate. It brought intensified state and freelance attacks on immigrants, labor unions, women, LGBTQ+ people, journalists, civil servants, assorted “political enemies,” and other groups that the MAGA movement targets. It is institutionalizing authoritarian governance structures in ways that will be exceedingly difficult to undo. The paper first addresses the experience of growing up in the shadow of fascism. It analyzes various sectors that supported Trump and the impacts of inflation, incumbency, economic …

The Geography Of Race: A Spatial Analysis Of Free People Of Color In The City Of Charleston (1790-1861), Alexandra Ullman

All Theses

In Charleston, South Carolina, for all but one year from 1790 to 1860, the enslaved and free Black population outnumbered that of the white. Through manumission, the process of an enslaved person gaining their freedom, the free Black population grew substantially and reached a peak in South Carolina during the nineteenth century. This large community of free people of color (FPOC), shifted the social climate by upsetting the balance of white power, thus increasing racial conflict, tension, and legislation that aimed to control the movement of FPOC.

Despite FPOC comprising a significant portion of the total population of Charleston, there …

Toward An Anthropology Of The Expressive Individual: Reformational Insights Into Emotions, The Heart, And Christian Formation, Isaac Kantola

Senior Honors Theses

Contemporary Western culture is increasingly defined by what theologians and sociologists call “expressive individualism,” driven by an “ethic of authenticity” in which one’s emotions and desires are seen as the primary arbiter of identity and meaning. Responding to this cultural movement, the Church has appropriated the language of desire, happiness, and the affective in its preaching, ministry, and apologetic endeavors. Figures such as John Piper, James K.A. Smith, and Timothy Keller have each, in their own way, sought to contextualize the faith so it may be better understood by a culture obsessed with their longings and therapeutic self-concern. While these …

Intersectionality And Belonging: Higher Education Mathematics, Ashley Natalie

Mathematics and Statistics

Students with intersecting marginalized identities (such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, disability, or first-generation background) often face unique challenges in advanced mathematics that affect confidence, participation, amounting to a sense of belonging. These experiences remain underrepresented in mathematics education research. This qualitative, narrative-based study examines how these students experience classroom dynamics and belonging in upper-level mathematics courses. Semi-structured interviews will be analyzed thematically to identify patterns related to identity, classroom culture, instructor behavior, and peer interactions. Findings aim to highlight barriers and supportive practices, informing more inclusive teaching strategies and equitable learning environments in advanced mathematics.

Intersectionality And Belonging: Higher Education Mathematics, Ashley Williams

Mathematics and Statistics

Students with intersecting marginalized identities (such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, disability, or first-generation background) often face unique challenges in advanced mathematics that affect confidence, participation, amounting to a sense of belonging. These experiences remain underrepresented in mathematics education research. This qualitative, narrative-based study examines how these students experience classroom dynamics and belonging in upper-level mathematics courses. Semi-structured interviews will be analyzed thematically to identify patterns related to identity, classroom culture, instructor behavior, and peer interactions. Findings aim to highlight barriers and supportive practices, informing more inclusive teaching strategies and equitable learning environments in advanced mathematics.

House Of Ill-Fame: A Historical, Cartographic, And Archaeological Study On The Spatial Evolution Of Commercial Sex Work In New Orleans, 1875 – 1925, Austin Roebuck

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the historic spatiality of commercial sex‑work in New Orleans by analyzing targeted addresses associated with the trade across three census years. Using the establishment and closure of Storyville (1897–1917) as a temporal frame, it compares demographic patterns in dwellings labeled as “houses of ill fame” in 1880, 1900, and 1920 to trace changes in household composition and social identity. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, newspapers, and city directories contextualize these patterns within three ten‑year intervals (1875–1885, 1895–1905, 1915–1925), revealing how sex‑work spaces were regulated, represented, and embedded in the urban landscape. The study also incorporates an archaeological assemblage …

Bound To Status: A Comparative Study Of Public And Private College Libraries, Lilianna Fujita

Anthropology

This ethnographic study compares student culture and behavior at two upstate New York universities — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), a private STEM-focused institution, and the University at Albany (UAlbany), a public research university. Through two rounds of participant observation conducted in each school's library and three semi-structured student interviews, the author examines how institutional type, admissions selectivity, campus environment, and resource allocation shape student social dynamics, gender experiences, and overall well-being. The author argues that differences in student behavior reflect not only individual student dispositions but broader institutional decisions about who is admitted and what social infrastructure is supported.

Addressing Low Vaccination Rates In Lewis County, New York: A Community-Based Participatory Research Study, Samantha Carter

Anthropology

Low rates of on-time human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination continue to remain a significant public health concern, particularly in rural communities, one being Lewis County NY, which reports the lowest rate of vaccination in the state.  This study, through Upstate Medical University, uses a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) model in efforts to examine barriers to HPV vaccination and identifying community-driven solutions formulated by committee members from within the community.  A steering committee composed of researchers and community members, who were also co-researchers, worked collaboratively to develop and distribute surveys to healthcare providers, dentists, and parents.  Responses revealed that while many parents …

Albany City As A Case Study In Language Mapping, Storm Pupina

Linguistics

This thesis uses Albany, NY, as a case study in urban language mapping, following the example of many other language mapping projects, most notably the NYC Language Mapping Project. Albany's languages and linguistic features were analyzed to better understand the area's linguistic ecology and ongoing heritage-language maintenance efforts. Various types of American Census data were compared to reach the conclusions. Despite not being a major city, Albany is bustling with both new and old language communities. Similar efforts with more varied data-gathering tactics would greatly benefit other American urban landscapes.

Integrating Doulas Into The Medical Team, Alyssa Shaw

Anthropology

This thesis explores the potential integration of doulas into the obstetric medical team, defining birth as a cultural and social experience as well as a physiological process. Drawing on anthropological literature and historical accounts, I examine the shift from social, woman-centered childbirth practices to the medicalized model that occurs in modern American obstetrics. While this transformation has improved maternal and infant mortality rates, it has also caused a loss of continuous emotional and social support for laboring mothers, as well as a shift in autonomy from the birthing person to medical professionals. To investigate how doulas may help bridge this …

Merajut “Kampung Harapan”: Pendekatan Budaya Dan Partisipatoris Dalam Resolusi Konflik Laten Di Kawasan Transmigrasi Teluk Wondama, Papua Barat, Iflah Hayati Nurrahmi, Diva Vermanda, Muhammad Ilham Fasya, Mohammad Gama Subarkah, Iman Fachruliansyah

Bhakti: Jurnal Pengabdian Masyarakat

The Werianggi-Werabur Transmigration Area in Teluk Wondama, West Papua, faces challenges of social integration in the form of latent conflict between Indigenous Papuans (OAP) and transmigrants. This tension is manifested in residential segregation and recurring disputes regarding crop damage caused by livestock ("cattle vs. garden"). This community engagement activity aims to initiate culture-based conflict resolution through the "Damai Kita, Sejahtera Kita" Participatory Workshop. We used Participatory Action Research (PAR) as method. The pre-implementation phase utilized Social Network Analysis (SNA) to map key actors, as mediators, followed by social intervention through Focus Group Discussions (FGD) using Problem Tree and Conceptual Model …

Appreciative Commoning; Musical Knowledge-Sharing In Earhouse Songwriting Club, Arya J. P. Adyuta

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

This article develops the concept of “appreciative commoning” to focus on the importance of appreciation in musical community practices. By examining the practices of musical knowledge-sharing in the Earhouse Songwriting Club (ESC), a songwriting community, this article argues that greater attention should be paid to the roles of appreciation and support in facilitating media and cultural commoning in Indonesia. The article draws on ethnographic fieldwork in Earhouse, an initiative space located in Pamulang, South Tangerang, established by the musician duo Endah N Rhesa. Exploring three main activities of the community: weekly meetings, monthly showcases, and afterparties, I show how embracing …

Toward An Integrative Anthropological Ecology; Pluralism, Power, And Socioecological Futures, Komang Ariyanto

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

No abstract provided.

An Alignment Of Absences: The Medicalization Of Death And Its Implications On Archaeological Methodology, Makayla J. Bowman

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Absence describes something that is "expected, wanted, or looked for [but] is not present or does not exist," (Merriam-Webster Dictionary 2026). The archaeological discipline interacts with absence in many profound ways, largely in its study of the past dead. This paper focuses on the ways in which the medicalization of death has influenced, limited, and misaligned archaeological methodology, and how the result of those methodologies produces archaeological analysis that is absent of or misrepresents our understanding of life, personhood, and our position within a greater, interconnected biosphere. Thus, I present an anthropological critique of the ways in which death and …

Do Not Dismiss: How Community Is Built Through Kpop And Their Fandoms, Re Steinberg

Senior Seminars and Capstones

Fans of the music genre Kpop have been dismissed as juvenile or unimportant by some scholars and social commentators. Existing scholarship tends to focus on how the kpop fandom creates a space where the fans form groups amongst themselves, ex: dance cover groups, rather than how the fandoms influence individual motivations and benefits of participation. My aim with this study is to consider the effects that Kpop fandoms have on how fans identify and present themselves, feel a sense of belonging, and partake in the creative process. By using methods of oral history and content analysis of online social spaces, …

Creative Engagement For Community Through The Life-Span, D. Nicole English, Pelgy Vaz

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

Creative Engagement for Community Through the Life-Span

Creative Engagement includes crafts, cultural practices, expressive arts, and activities that bring people together. Having access to such activities enables people to develop healthy habits, social interactions, and build community that can sustain one throughout the lifespan. On-going research indicates that Creative Engagement Activities, and the Communities of Practice that build around them, benefit people throughout the life-span, but become particularly important to older adults, by building resilience and social connections, in the face of inevitable life losses.

https://youtu.be/r3JS5YP-MnM

Cripping The Border – Acompañamiento As Access: An Ethnographic Case Study Of Transborder Youth With Disabilities, Marco O. Amaral

Dissertations

The U.S.-Mexico border is a historical, geopolitical site of intense militarization where colonial logics of "othering" converge to marginalize disabled transborder youth. While transborder studies have expanded, students with disabilities remain relegated to the "void" and contained by educational systems that prioritize surveillance over access. Grounded in Sepúlveda’s (2011) acompañamiento and Transborder DisCrit, this ethnographic case study examines the lived experiences of both students and their families who cross the border daily to attend school in the U.S. It frames these journeys not as mere commutes, but as acts of defiance within the broader disability rights movement.

As a teacher-activist, …