Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

An Anthropological Study Of The Effects Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Drug Treatment In The United States, Abigail Shepherd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This thesis examined the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the structure of drug treatment in the United States and how the effects have influenced the experience of undergoing and providing services in a variety of contexts. The COVID-19 pandemic emerged amid an opioid epidemic, which has taken the lives of over 564,000 Americans since the late 1990s. With overdose deaths increasing since the onset of the pandemic and government agencies responding with policy changes, recent research in the social sciences and on drug treatment services has necessarily shifted its focus to the effects of the pandemic on …

More Than Just Sticks And Stones: Effects Of Interpersonal Interactions On Liminality And The Negotiation Of Identity, Conlon Muhr

Masters Theses

The following study contains the detailed findings of my lived experiences studied in an autoethnographic method with a focus on the effects of interpersonal communication on identity negotiation during liminality. This study is conducted to expand upon the large and dense web of communication studies. During the use of the autoethnographic process, I provide in-depth insight into my lived experiences during liminality. The main goal of the study is to explore how interpersonal interaction affects liminality and the formation of identity. Liminality support, rejection, complication, and acceptance are the emergent themes found by combining liminality with interpersonal communication.

Ua12/2/73 Alpha Omicron Pi, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about Alpha Omicron Pi.

Comparison Of Chinese And Western Arts Mirroring The Evolvement Of Consciousness, Rui Peng

Journal of Conscious Evolution

A few researchers of consciousness in the West demonstrate that the development of western art mirrors the evolvement of human Consciousness since human civilization emerged. This paper explores the differences in art development between China and the West by comparing the artworks in the same era. Furthermore, discussing why the Chinese scholar art over two thousand years does not reflect the same structures of Consciousness that western researchers defined.

Front Matter

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Rural Development In Papua New Guinea: Mining, Logging, Agriculture, And Alternatives, Tj Askew

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines multiple approaches to providing rural, indigenous Papuans with improved social services and economic opportunities. Rural Papuans, who make up 80 percent of the population, face below average rates of nutrition, education, disease, crime, and other quality of life indicators. Due to location, land use rights, lack of infrastructure, and minimal access to economic markets, the PNG government has struggled to provide rural communities with basic social services. Historically, the development of resource extraction projects such as mining, logging, and agriculture have been the main strategies used to improve the livelihood of rural Papuans, with limited success. This …

The Question Is Not “Can Humans Talk?” Or “Can They Suffer?” But “Can They Reason?”, Clive Phillips

Animal Sentience

In their target article, Rowan et al (2022) make a welcome attempt to chart the development of Western progress over the past two hundred years toward formally recognizing that animals feel. They outline the heroic efforts of Compassion in World Farming to gain for animals the status of sentient beings rather than merely human property. A broader view exists, from human prehistory to the present day, in which animals have been (and still are) understood to be sentient by indigenous peoples as well as by some Eastern religions. Growing recognition in the West that animals feel represents a new age …

Experiencing Dyslexia Through The Prism Of Difference, Keith Murphy

Doctoral

According to research by AHEAD (2021), students with specific learning difficulties are accessing third level education in greater numbers than ever before. My research has shown this to be the case also, however, my research, alongside a larger body of research (Clouder 2020; O’Brien, 2019; McCullagh, 2018) have highlighted that student with dyslexia tend not to access the support services. Within the body of research conducted in third level education in Ireland, few have focused on the overall experiences of students with dyslexia studying in third level education. My study addresses this gap in knowledge as it provides an insight …

Negotiating Islam: Debating Authority And Ethnoreligious Authenticity Among Iranian Americans In The U.S. South, Erfan Saidi Moqadam

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

This dissertation examines the flexibility of Quranic exegesis in accommodating self-defined Muslims’ agency in the predominantly Christian society of the United States. This is a project to study Islam not from the perspective of an explicit ideology articulated by clerics, intellectuals, scholars and elites on scriptural texts, but rather one that focuses on Muslims’ readings of scripture and practices of Islam(s), reconstructed in their lived experiences. During fourteen months of ethnographic research in four cities in urban and rural areas in the U.S. South with Iranian Muslims, interlocutors were found to be engaged in a particular kind of relationship with …

Different Versions Of Myself, Anya Smith

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This is a research-informed screenplay exploring the relationship between religion and recreational pole dancing. While the popularity of recreational pole dancing has grown over the last two decades, it remains a controversial topic in some circles. This study employed interviews, autoethnography, and a literature review to examine the tensions between pole dancing and religion. Creative Analytic Practice was employed as a method of evaluating and presenting the research, which culminated in a fictional screenplay.

The story is about Louise, a young woman caught between two worlds. She feels pressured to conceal her recreational pole dancing activities in order to retain …

Difficult Dialogues: Toward Building Community Through Conversation, Jessica Rhyne, David Marlow

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

This paper examines the construct of community: its nature, ontological significance, and role in society, as well as determining factors in community fragmentation and the role constructive dialogues can play in community building. With this knowledge, a campus conversation was orchestrated to explore students’ perceptions of our community and wicked problems confronting our world.

Students were asked the ways in which they engage with their communities, what barriers they identify as inhibiting community cohesion, and potential paths for progress. Challenges with orchestration as well as student responses are discussed.

This paper concludes that, among this demographic, there is very little …

The Ukrainian Immigrant Experience In South Carolina, Nataliya S. Vykhovanets, Alexander Lorenz

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

The following paper focuses on the Ukrainian immigrant community living in the Upstate region of South Carolina and the vast differences in immigrant experiences of former and more recent Ukrainian Immigrants. Ukrainians have been migrating to the US since the late 1800s, but unfortunately, there are few studies available on this ethnic group.

To give readers a background on the topic, this paper first documents the history of Ukrainian immigration to the US by describing and comparing the four waves of Ukrainian migration to the United States. The following section introduces a questionnaire, created to collect data on the Ukrainian …

A Grounded Approach To Integral Art Therapy: Initial Reflections On Art Materials, Natalia Gómez-Carlier

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Art therapy has the power to bring healing and wholeness as it expands globally, an awareness of the integral structure of consciousness can benefit an adaptation of this profession that is both integrative and respectful of multiple perspectives and cultural views. The art-making process in art therapy can ground experience, and art materials can serve as vehicles through which different structures on consciousness are elicited, experienced, documented, and integrated. Integral art therapy can study the use of art materials to activate an integral structure of consciousness. Integrality is defined by its ability to play simultaneously from all structures of …

Aesthetic Altruism: Consciousness Of Street Artists, Melanie Cheng

Journal of Conscious Evolution

In the past few decades, many street artists have gained international recognition and now straddle the worlds of actual street art – art in the streets, art in the public domain – and fine art – art that is perceived to be of a particular quality, shown in galleries or museums. Despite perhaps “transcending” the streets, most successful street artists choose to continue creating artwork in public spaces, both legally with permission, or illegally without. Street art is different from public art, which is categorically created through a public process; while some street art, if not created aesthetically or …

The Isolated As The Revolutionary: How “Leftover” Men In China Challenge Heteronormativity, Ruwen Chang

Theses and Dissertations--Gender and Women's Studies

In contemporary China, demographers estimate that 30 million men are single because there are simply not enough women in the Chinese population, and the 2020 Chinese census shows that there are 34.9 million more men than women. These men are called guanggun, which can be directly translated to “bare sticks/branches,” a slur that indicates a lack of marriage and sex. In this project, I demonstrate that guanggun’s singlehood marks them as the marginalized at the intersection of heteronormativity, patriarchy, globalizing capitalism, and pronatalist governmentality. In a highly heteronormative and patrilineal culture, guanggun are branded as abnormal/incomplete. However, because …

“I’Ve Never Met Another Person With This Identity”: The Experiences Of Abrosexual Individuals On Tiktok, Eleanor Doughton

Capstone Showcase

Abrosexuality can be defined by an individual experiences changes in their perception of their sexuality; for instance, an abrosexual person could find themselves to be exclusively attracted to women for a time, and then experiences no sexual attraction months later. Unlike sexual identities such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, abrosexuality has not been previously studied. Previous research shows that social media and online sites provide spaces for positive identity development and support for gender and sexual minority individuals. Since abrosexuality had not been previously studied, it is important to ask about the experiences of abrosexual individuals on social media. …

The Rite Of Becoming, Pilar Von Hummel

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The body is a term that has been vastly manipulated but never fully trapped. The body is in constant transformation and movement, always becoming. Catherine Malabou claims that our bodies are plastic, meaning they have the capacity to give and receive form as well as to explode. Plasticity which has an element of temporality is resistance, it is multiple and transformational. What are the conditions of possibility for the body to transform? Art resists and dance as art resists with the body: its main medium is the body. I claim that dance as art is a site to put plasticity …

We Can Still Feed Ourselves: Food Sovereignty, Aid, Sickness, And Health In Eastern Kentucky, Annie Koempel

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

Over forty percent of eastern Kentucky residents are classified as obese. From a biomedical perspective, obesity is linked to a range of chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure and is caused by particular lifestyle behaviors that lead to an increase in calorie consumption and decrease in calorie expenditure. However, these links – individual behavior leads to obesity which leads to chronic disease - do not take into account a wide range of personal, social, environmental, political, and economic conditions. In addition to the assumptions of what it means to become and be obese, Kentucky is regularly …

Development With Identity Or Commodities With Identity? Lenca Craftswomen, Honduras' Cultural Identity Politics, And Global Economies Of Culture, Ana Hasemann Lara

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

Across Latin America ‘development with identity’ schemes are currently widely promoted by multilateral and aid organizations; schemes based on the commercialization of heritage, which increasingly focus on impoverished ethnic minorities. As part of this trend, the Honduran state’s discourse on cultural diversity reinforces the ‘heritage-making’ (patrimonialización) of cultural minorities, their identities, and livelihoods—particularly indígena women, under the auspices of multiculturalism. However, the on-the-ground reality for indigenous Lenca communities, specifically Lenca craftswomen, participating in such initiatives, remains with some of the highest indices of poverty and vulnerability in the country. Hence, the conditions under which ‘development with identity’ benefits local communities, …

Wilderness And The Geotag: Exploring The Claim That "Geotagging Ruins Nature" In The Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Wa, Mara Gans

All Master's Theses

This research explores the claim that “geotagging ruins nature” by quantifying and qualifying patterns in geotag use and visitors’ experiences in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, in Washington, United States. Many have raised concerns that geotags increase recreational visitation to public lands, which subsequently contributes to negative resource impacts. Others, however, claim that geotagging has made the outdoors more accessible to less privileged communities and raise concerns that condemning geotags will perpetuate the exclusion of certain groups from outdoor recreation. This debate is studied within federally designated Wilderness, which is legally defined as “untrammeled by man,” a definition rooted in problematic …