Examples
Examples of Undergraduate Thesis
Archaeology
- Adler, Rachel A. [Abstract]
An Archaeology of Purity: Heterodoxy in Ritual Bathing in Early Judaism - Baron, Christine [Abstract]
Sport, Community, and the Ballgame at Yalbac, Belize - Bracken, Justin (Archaeology) [Abstract]
Diqdiqqah, a Suburb of Ur - Lanza, Emily (Archaeology) [Abstract]
Markers of Identity: A Study of Pennsylvania German Gravestones in Berks County, Pennsylvania
Cultural Anthropology
- Behringer, Tiffany S. (Cultural Anthropology) [Abstract]
Changing Paradigms of the One-Child Policy: Understanding the Cultural Model of Reproduction and Family Roles Among Chinese Immigrant Women - Dean, Evelyn (Cultural Anthropology) [Abstract]
Bolivia In Miniature: Clientelism In University Politics and Implications for Democracy in Bolivia - Ferrucci, Leah (Cultural Anthropology) [Abstract]
Hepatitis C and Philadelphia's Fire Fighters A Union's Role in the Conceptualization of Illness - Gomez, Ana (Cultural Anthropology) [Abstract]
Legitimacies of Justice: Nasa Communities, The State, & Legal Pluralism In Northern Cauca, Colombia - Hawkes, Katie M. (Cultural Anthropology) [Abstract]
Communication and Collaboration: How relationships between local populations and environmental non-governmental organizations could be improved - Henderson, Jessica (Cultural Anthropology) [Abstract]
A God-Shaped Hole: Evangelical Women's Strategies for Maintaining Purity in the Face of a Secular Dating Culture - Leonard, Elizabeth (Cultural Anthropology)
Towards World Citizenship: Ethnography of the World Culture Initiative and Multicultural Curricula - Murray, Mariel (Cultural Anthropology) [Abstract]
Protecting Heritage: Indigenous Rights & Traditional Knowledge - Pederson, Andrew L. (Cultural Anthropology) [Abstract]
Printing Fuck: Resistance and Commodification at an Urban Alt Weekly - Peters, Alison (Cultural Anthropology)
Identity Relationships and Culture in the Camden County Jail - Rose, Alana (Cultural Anthropology) [Abstract]
Farmers' Markets in Philadelphia: Rehumanizing the Urban Landscape
Linguistic Anthropology
- Parthasarathy, Adhiraj (Linguistic Anthropology) [Abstract]
"And then I was as one who hath a key and doth open", an Ethnography of Silence: The Meeting for Worship of the Religious Society of Friends
Physical Anthropology
- Bergamo, Cara E. (Physical Anthropology) [Abstract]
An Evaluation of a Mathematical Approach to Bitemark Analysis: Do Teeth Really Tell It All? - Di Paola, David S. (Physical Anthropology) [Abstract]
Dental Attrition and the Third Molar - Groveman, Marisa (Physical & Cultural Anthropology) [Abstract]
Genetics Versus Culture, Linguistics, & History As Seen In the Jirels of Nepal - Lewis, Jason E. (Physical Anthropology) [Abstract]
The Effect of Regional Environment on Global Cranial Variation - Malmgren-Samuel, R. Erik (Physical Anthropology) [Abstract]
Evolution and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - Silverman, Piper (Physical Anthropology) [Abstract]
Cultural Evolution: A Search for Culture In Animals - Tan, Simon M. (Archaeology & Physical Anthropology) [Abstract]
The Evolution of the Human Brain and Modern Society
Concentration in Human Biology
- Pai, Athma A. (Human Biology/Physical Anthropology) [Abstract]
The Genetic History of the Saraswat Brahmins: Origins and Affinities with Indian Populations
Concentration in Medical Anthropology
- Cherian, Teenu (Physical/Medical Anthropology) [Abstract]
Diabetes in the U.S. Asian-Indian Population: Finding Answers in Diet and Lifestyle - Esteve, Rogette (Medical Anthropology) [Abstract]
At a Social Crossroads: Navajo Healing and Western Biomedicine - Lewis, Jessica M. (Medical/Cultural Anthropology) [Abstract]
Political Economy and Depression in Older Adults - Pierre, Nerlie (Medical/Cultural Anthropology) [Abstract]
The Culture of Haitian Medicine: Route 87 - Rubinstein, Alyssa M. (Physical/Medical Anthropology) [Abstract]
Is There an Explanatory Model for Depression Among Older Adults?
An Archaeology of Purity: Heterodoxy in Ritual Bathing in Early Judaism
Rachel A. Adler
Sub-field: Archaeology
Advisor: Clark Erickson, Archaeologist, Department of Anthropology, with Benjamin Porter, Ph.D., Department of Anthropology
Anthropologists have only started to investigate purity within the past century. Most research has focused on living societies using ethnographic field methods. Surprisingly, very few archaeologists have taken up the issue of purity in past societies, resulting in a lack of knowledge about its import in antiquity. This thesis, therefore, addresses this lacuna in research and sets out a broad framework for the archaeological investigation of purity in past societies. This framework is illustrated using a case study from early Judaism in Roman-period Palestine. Between 300 BCE and 200 CE, ritual bathing in early Judaism grew in popularity. Two lines of evidence support this claim. First, ritual bathing installations (Hebrew: miqva'ot) were constructed throughout Roman Palestine, several hundred of which have been recovered through excavation. Second, historical and legal evidence from the period comments on the construction and use of these baths in purity rituals. Scholars who have studied this evidence have regularly stressed similarities in the physical features of these baths. Examining the size, staircase shape, building materials and techniques, water storage, artifacts, and context from three well-excavated baths from Jerusalem, the Hasmonean Palaces in Wadi Qelt, and Sepphoris, this thesis concludes that there was far more irregularity in bath construction and use than previously assumed. The investigation of purity in past societies is an example of how archaeology can illustrate the contradictions between cultural ideals and practices, linking this archaeological study to broader anthropological concerns.
Sport, Community, and the Ballgame at Yalbac, Belize
Joanne Baron
Sub-field: Archaeology
Advisor: Robert Sharer, Archaeologist, Department of Anthropology
The Maya ballgame, widely attested through archaeological and historical sources, was a popular activity among the southern lowland polities of the Late Preclassic and Classic periods (ca. 300 B.C.-A.D. 900). Traditional interpretations of this game have seen it as a highly ritualized event, carried out to re-enact certain mythological cycles dealing with life, death, warfare, and agricultural fertility. These interpretations, however, often exclude the possibility that the game also functioned as a sport or was similar to athletic events from other societies, both past and present. Such events are universally metaphorical for conflict, and are widely popular when played between opposing communities. Archaeological evidence from ball courts in northern Belize, including the site of Yalbac, indicates that communities in this area were actively engaged in inter-community ballgame competition. This suggests that the Maya ballgame, like sporting events in other parts of the world, functioned as a means of reinforcing community identity.
Changing Paradigms of the One-Child Policy: Understanding the Cultural Model of Reproduction and Family Roles Among Chinese Immigrant Women
Tiffany S. Behringer
Sub-field: Cultural Anthropology
Advisor: Fran Barg, Medical Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology & School of Medicine
Objective: To examine the cultural model of reproduction and the family role of Chinese women studying in the United States. Rationale: In 1979, China instituted the One-Child Policy in order to control population growth and further the goals of the State. In doing so, it limited women to having one child and created steep penalties for women who did not obey. Furthermore, the reproductive body was reconstructed as a machine of the State which could be controlled in order to advance State economics interests. Thus, the One-Child Policy altered gender norms and family dynamics within mainland China and had a lasting effect on Chinese women's conceptualization of the body. Cognitive anthropology, defined by D'Andrade as the study of the ways in which individuals and populations make sense of their world, is an excellent theoretical framework for examining culture and the decisions and values people place on particular issues. By interviewing 15 Chinese women studying in the United States, this study defined the cultural schema of marriage, examined beliefs surrounding the One-Child Policy, and explored the reproductive needs and desires of the respondents, desires that are often contradictory to the One-Child Policy and the changing family relationship brought on by the shifting market system in China, the differing reproductive and familial circumstances of the United States, and the lack of qualitative research currently available on this topic. Because cultural models tend to be shared among relatively homogenous populations, the data received from this study can be extrapolated to the greater population of educated Chinese women. Methodology: Research Aims: In this study, I pursued the following three areas of inquiry: 1. Are Chinese women's reproductive goals in line with the goals of the One-Child Policy? If not, how do women account for this difference? 2. How do Chinese gender roles and the idea of gender preference affect understandings and acceptance of differing American ideas about gender? 3. Do the values embraced by the One-Child Policy in China surrounding reproduction and gender roles continue to be salient when Chinese women immigrate to the United States, a country with different reproductive polices and issues? If not, how do they change as these women become acculturated?
An Evaluation of a Mathematical Approach to Bitemark Analysis: Do Teeth Really Tell It All?
Cara E. Bergamo
Sub-field: Physical Anthropology
Advisor: Janet Monge, Physical Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology
Bitemark analysis is one aspect of forensic science that has been contested since its appearance in the late nineteenth century. Its use is based on two main assumptions made by forensic dentists; that human dentition is indeed unique to each individual and that this uniqueness is able to be replicated in a bitemark. The procedures used to identify the varying characteristics of bitemarks in human skin and other materials cover such a range of analytical methods that is it not surprising to find experts reaching different conclusions. In addition, a majority of these methods lack a solid scientific background as support. The purposed method is a mathematical approach using angles and lengths between the anterior maxillary and mandible teeth to attempt to determine uniqueness of dentition. Fifty post-orthodontic dental casts from mostly young (15-43 years, mean= 17.74 years) individuals, formed the primary source for the evaluation of this method. While the results indicate that angles are good indicators of individuality among bitemarks, lengths do not provide such valuable evidence. In addition, 10 casts' lengths and angles were re-evaluated for a comparison to the original trial as evidence of the method's reproducibility. Only one comparison out of the 20 values proved to be statistically different, allowing the assumption that the method gives consistent results upon reproduction.
Diqdiqqah, a Suburb of Ur
Justin Bracken
Sub-field: Archaeology
Advisor: Richard Zettler, Archaeologist, Department of Anthropology
The site of Diqdiqqah existed as a suburb located about one and a half kilometers from the ancient city of Ur in Mesopotamia, and is known to us through the excavations at Ur performed by Sir C. Leonard Woolley from 1922 to 1934. The site shows evidence of occupation from Third Dynasty of Ur through the Persian Period. The only archaeological evidence remaining at the site was one corner of a building, dubbed the "Treasury of Sin-Iddinam" by its excavator Max Mallowan, and numerous artifacts strewn across and just below the surface. Over the course of the excavations, about 1600 artifacts were recovered from the site, all of them without any provenience or stratigraphic information, as none could be provided. Analysis of the artifacts and inscriptions upon some of them, as well as of the ancient course of the Euphrates River and the many canals in the region, indicates that the site may have been a significant location for overseas trade coming in from the Persian Gulf. Perhaps most noteworthy about the objects found there is the great number of terracottas, a number that surpasses those found even at Ur. Further investigation into the site may reveal an important node in shipping and trade, and possibly even the "Harbor District" which has never been satisfactorily located at Ur.
Violence And Intercommunity Conflict
Kevin Brown
Sub-field: Cultural Anthropology
Advisor: Brian Spooner, Cultural Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology
This thesis deals with tangible cultural manifestations in inter-community conflict in Belgium and Spain. Both the Flemings in Belgium and the Basques in Spain, as well as their central governments effectively used these manifestations in their political endeavors. In Spain, the Franco government repressed such visible elements of culture as the Basque language, flag and musical instruments in order to punish the Basque people for fighting against him in the Spanish Civil War. This repression radicalized the nationalist movement and spawned the terrorist group Euskadi to Askatasuna, which, along with the Basque nationalist parties, uses such representations in their efforts to mobilize the Basque people to attempt to gain independence for the Basque region. Flemish scholars and politicians also consciously appropriated the Flemish cultural heritage to gain popular support for their struggle for language equality in Belgium. This movement, however, did not turn violent because in Belgium, unlike Spain, the Flemings always had democratic outlets and freedom of expression to carry on their fight to gain equal footing for Flemish in Belgium.
Diabetes in the U.S. Asian-Indian Population: Finding Answers in Diet and Lifestyle
Teenu Cherian
Sub-field: Cultural Anthropology
Advisor: Frank Johnston, Biological Anthropologist
The number of diabetics in the United States has grown considerably each year. A significant proportion of these diabetics are of Asian Indian ethnicity, as their genetic predisposition places them at greater risk of developing diabetes. Although a rapidly growing ethnic population in the U.S. and with a high incidence rate of diabetes, research regarding diabetes in this population is only slowly emerging. Since the Asian Indian population has a common predisposition for diabetes, it was hypothesized that the risk of developing the disease primarily depended on diet. In order to determine whether the diet of Asian-Indians contained diabetes-promoting foods as well as their knowledge and concern for diabetes, a small population of Malayalee Indians was surveyed. Analysis of the data collected revealed the observance of three different diets, each arising from a combination of factors. As diabetes is heavily reliant on behavior modification, diet and lifestyle interventions are argued as the primary means to prevent the rise of diabetes to epidemic proportions in the Asian Indian population.
Attitudes and Impacts on Women of Participation in Brazilian Samba Schools and Carnival
Christina E. Coirolo
Sub-field: Cultural Anthropology
Advisor: Greg Urban, Linguistic & Cultural Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology
Brazilian Carnival, especially as performed by the larger samba schools of Rio de Janeiro, is an annual ritual celebration of immense semiotic importance. Both within the country and internationally, Carnival conveys images of fun, extravagance, license and sensuality. The roots are both Afro-Brazilian and European, transformed by the respective Diasporas into a unique celebration that has become synonymous with the very notion of 'Brazilianess'. Research on Carnival has paid little attention to gender-specific issues from the standpoint of Brazilian women. There has been relatively little change in women's representations in Carnival; if anything women are depicted in increasingly more explicit sexual terms each year. Structured interviews were conducted with twelve Brazilian women in two categories: professionals who are engaged in social change and development through their work, and women who participate actively in the organization and performance of Carnival events. These were supplemented by in-depth interviews with males very knowledgeable about Brazilian music and sexual culture, and by secondary source materials. Findings suggest that women are not unaware of the gender stereotyping in Carnival, but do not consider this especially offensive and place greater value on other aspects: inter alia, opportunities for inversion a la Bakhtin and uncensored expression of one's own sensuality; for experiencing feelings of community and human interconnectedness in a society that is rapidly transisting towards individualism and placing special strains on women; and for the reaffirmation of cultural heritage. There is broad agreement that Carnival could play a greater role in focusing attention on contemporary issues of special importance to women, such as violence, provided the treatment is not divisive, as that would threaten some of the positive, integrative aspects of Carnival which women value highly. Finally, open and closed social networks coexist within the same samba schools, presenting differential opportunities for some women to strengthen their human and social capital, accessing contact and embedded resources which can be helpful either in moving beyond, or coping with, the increasingly inhospitable and dangerous low-income urban neighborhoods that are home to the largest, most famous samba schools.
Spirituality and Health in Medicine
Britt Dahlberg
Sub-field: Cultural Anthropology
Advisor: Melvyn Hammarberg, Cultural & Psychological Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology
Spirituality remains an ill-defined term, but nonetheless it is one which has come to occupy a large place in medical literature. Many studies have shown spirituality and/or religion to positively impact health outcomes of hospital patients. The Spirituality Religion and Health Interest Group, operated out of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Pastoral Care, is one place in which active discussion occurs among a wide variety of people interested in (and doing research in)this broad subject: doctors, nurses, chaplains, religious studies professors, anthropologists, and people from the surrounding communities. My study reveals some of various benefits/functions of this group. Moreover, chaplains, appropriately, make up the core of the interest group members. Chaplains, and Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) operate at the center of this intersection and interaction between spirituality and medical practice. This position of the chaplain arises out of both its historical development, as well as its current context. Together these factors have created a personal role which stands in contrast to many other more familiar roles. As a result, the chaplain is able to develop powerful and very unique relationships with his/her patients which can effectively fill patients needs not addressed by other people. This approach of chaplaincy is one which has grown out of a particular religious response to the diversity and cultural situation of the United States, and which provides insight into the place of religion in contemporary American society.
Bolivia In Miniature: Clientelism In University Politics and Implications for Democracy in Bolivia
Evelyn Dean
Sub-field: Cultural Anthropology
Advisor: Paula Sabloff, Cultural Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology
The Bolivian university is administered through a system of co-government, which gives students and professors the right to 50% of the vote in elections of authorities as well as 50% representation on governing and advisory boards. In the elections of the decano (dean) and director academico (academic director) of a particular Facultad (School) within the university, professor-candidates and student-voters develop clientelistic relationships: the candidates, acting as patrons, attract the electoral support of students, the clients, with displays of generosity such as parties and raffles. Furthermore, as data from 16 ethnographic interviews with students reveals, those who participate more extensively in the campaign of a certain candidate often do so because of the implicit promise of future academic, economic or political favors. This experience with clientelism in university politics may have negative effects on democracy in Bolivia because 1) students learn to rely on manipulation of personal relationships rather then institutional rules in order to advance and 2) many students equate university political practices with corruption, which reinforces the widespread belief that politics in Bolivia in inherently corrupt and degrades faith in democratic procedures and institutions in their society.
Dental Attrition and the Third Molar
David S. Di Paola
Sub-field: Physical Anthropology
Advisor: Janet Monge, Physical Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology
The third molars, or the 'wisdom teeth' as they are known commonly, are a set of teeth that develop and descend later in a human's life. Third molars are not exclusive to present-day humans. They are found in almost all anatomically modern humans, with some exceptions, including those from times well before any form of dental care is known to have existed. This leads to the main question addressed within this paper: What differences between ancient humans and modern humans may have allowed ancient humans to readily accept the third molar into their dentition, as compared to the issues faced by modern humans? The main theory analyzed here will be the proposed idea that dental attrition in ancient humans would have provided room to allow the third molar to grow in relatively pain-free. In this project, I analyzed 50 skulls (a combination of maxilla and mandibles) from a combination of the Tepe-Hissar Collection (representing an 'ancient' population), the Morton Collection, and a handful of others (representing a 'modern' population), measuring values of length, width, tooth spacing, toot diameter, attrition, and presence of third molars. Through this comparative study, it was determined that there is strong evidence for higher attrition in the Tepe-Hissar skulls, and a far lower percentage of complications involving third molars in skulls that had third molars in Tepe-Hissar, 32.14%, then in the Morton, 57.14%, or the others, 75%. This shows that there may indeed be an inverse relation with dental attrition and third molar-related incidents.
At a Social Crossroads: Navajo Healing and Western Biomedicine
Rogette Esteve
Sub-field: Medical Anthropology
Advisor: Janet Monge, Physical Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology
This thesis elucidates the diversity of Navajo healing models and the relationship these models have with Western Biomedicine. Through a myriad of different techniques, such as a review of applicable theoretical models, interviews, and questionnaires, I examine how these Navajo healing models and Western biomedicine as its own model informs the various conceptions of health by Navajos living in an urban setting (~76,00 Native Americans live in the metro Phoenix area, 70% of whom are Navajo). Through research conducted both in Philadelphia, over the phone, and in Phoenix Arizona, I was able to find that not only are healing models are culturally informed, but also, social infrastructures contribute to people's understanding of the world around them. We must not take the influence of these social infrastructures for granted, for all too often they will play a major role in how patients perceive their healing experience to be, and might very well play a role in the outcome of their healing experience, for better or worse (refer to Appendix D for interviews shedding more light on this particular phenomenon). We as members of the academia and health care professionals, must be more focused on the types of underlying social mechanisms found in institutional setting that will impact someone's perception of what health entails.
Hepatitis C and Philadelphia's Fire Fighters A Union's Role in the Conceptualization of Illness
Leah Ferrucci
Sub-field: Cultural Anthropology
Advisor: Fran Barg, Medical Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology & School of Medicine
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the role of a union in the conceptualization of hepatitis C by Philadelphia's fire fighters. I was interested in seeing how the union was able to fight for changes to help its members in a long battle with the city of Philadelphia. Hepatitis C was and continues to be an interest for this large group of people, but the discourses and knowledge surrounding the illness were centralized, emerging as the union's constructions. I hypothesize that the power of a collective group enabled the fire fighters both with and without hepatitis C to have a particular cultural model of hepatitis C. This model was one in which the people were agents and the disease was not biomedically defined, but given meaning through personal experiences and feelings. In order to identify the ways in which the fire fighters thought of and about hepatitis C, I conducted an extensive mixed methods study. Questionnaires were developed and distributed to members of the fire fighter's union to capture the views of the fire fighters themselves. In addition, I reviewed and analyzed the portrayal of hepatitis C in the public sphere by the media, the union, the city of Philadelphia, and the state of Pennsylvania. I combined direct empirical research of personal experiences and feelings, with the information available to the public and the fire fighters to determine the model the fire fighters held. The union invested this group with a sense of power and agency and successfully enacted changed on their members' behalves. I suggest that collective action and support from a central location working to personalize a problem were essential to the union's success. The fire fighters will now be covered by their worker compensation for this potentially life threatening disease. In the eyes of the union, hepatitis C empowered the fire fighters to contest the norms and beliefs of the United States' capitalist culture surrounding disease, equal access to health care, responsibility, and economic gains.
Legitimacies of Justice: Nasa Communities, The State, & Legal Pluralism In Northern Cauca, Colombia
Ana Gomez
Sub-field: Cultural Anthropology
Advisor: Paula Sabloff, Cultural Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology
The Nasa communities of Northern Cauca, Colombia, have long-standing cultural and juridical traditions for the recovery of their dead, a practice not foreign to them since many fall victim in the crossfire from different armed groups in Colombia's decades long conflict. Collection of the dead is usually performed by Colombian law enforcement and forensic personnel, yet this procedure has been only partially enforced in Cauca due to weak state presence and internal corruption. However, Colombia's new 1991 Constitution, grants various rights to indigenous communities such as the Nasa, legislatively allowing them to practice indigenous jurisdiction, which would potentially include the right to recover their dead independently. Using the Nasa and recovery of the dead as a case study, this thesis examines the implications involved in the articulation of Colombian official legislation and indigenous customary laws as well as the different conceptions of legitimacy both entail, within the context of Colombia's new legal pluralism policies established in the 1991 Constitution.
Genetics Versus Culture, Linguistics, & History As Seen In the Jirels of Nepal
Marisa Groveman
Sub-field: Physical & Cultural Anthropology
Advisor: Theodore Schurr, Biological Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology
The Jirels of Eastern Nepal are the focus of this study because they are interesting population from a molecular genetic standpoint due to their possible relationships to other populations throughout Asia, their internal clan structure and migration patterns, and the oral history concerning their origins. This oral history relates that the Jirels are a hybrid population on Sunwars and Sherpas that formed approximately eight generations ago. Using both mitochondrial DNA analysis and Y-chromosome analysis, because they are both uniparentally inherited along the male and female lines respectively, will help determine the relationship of the Jirels to the Sunwars and Sherpas, as well as the internal structure of the Jirels, and the relationship of all three populations to neighboring Asian populations. This study will therefore explore questions about the Jirels through existing ethnographic, linguistic, historical, and genetic data and will then explain how molecular genetic methods can be further answer these questions.
Communication and Collaboration: How relationships between local populations and environmental non-governmental organizations could be improved
Katie M. Hawkes
Sub-field: Cultural Anthropology
Advisor: Clark Erickson, Archaeologist, Department of Anthropology
In a world increasingly beleaguered by deforestation, pollution, global warming and other threats to the environment, we must take every possible step toward the conservation and sustainable management of our planet. Governments, environmental non-governmental organizations, and local communities must all work together in the pursuit of this common goal. Even with such cooperation, however, problems arise during the implementation of projects designed to protect land and resources used by local and indigenous communities. Many of these difficulties are caused by ideological conflicts between conservation organizations and the local communities with which they work, issues that appear repeatedly in the history of such interactions. In this thesis I explore the framework of conservation, including the role of governments, environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs), and local populations. This is followed by a history of the relationships between ENGOs and the local and indigenous communities with which they often collaborate. Finally, using a series of three case studies including one that I conducted in Monteverde, Costa Rica in the fall of 2006. I make suggestions as to how these relationships could be improved, ideally creating an interactive framework appropriate to the expansion and change that the field of conservation is experiencing in the 21st century.
A God-Shaped Hole: Evangelical Women's Strategies for Maintaining Purity in the Face of a Secular Dating Culture
Jessica Henderson
Sub-field: Cultural Anthropology
Advisor: Melvyn Hammarberg, Cultural & Psychological Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology
College women today are exposed to many cultural messages placing positive value on their physical appearance, or desirability. In this way they are commodified as sexual bodies competing for male attention. In turn, this commodification may lead to anxiety in the face of ambivalent social messages about dating experience. In my study of evangelical college women on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania I saw how evangelical women were able to circumvent much of the pressure of sexuality placed on college women. This paper argues that evangelical women employ a host of strategies to construct a non-sexual alternate model of romance based on an ideal relationship with Jesus Christ. In addition this paper seeks to explore the appeal of evangelicalism as a world-view to college women. Examining how evangelicals create their own model of appropriate dating within a larger and often diametrically opposed environment adds to the body of knowledge about how "culturally proximate" groups reinterpret our familiar environment to suit their needs.
Markers of Identity: A Study of Pennsylvania German Gravestones in Berks County, Pennsylvania
Emily Lanza
Sub-field: Archaeology
Advisor: Robert Schuyler, Historical Archaeologist, Department of Anthropology
Graveyards and mortuary memorials can reveal not only attitudes towards death but also identities and beliefs in life. Seven churchyards in Berks County were surveyed during the Summer and Fall of 2005 in order to record and to study the gravestones of a specific community, the Pennsylvania Germans. First arriving in the Americas during the later half of the seven teeth-century, Pennsylvania Germans settled in southeastern Pennsylvania and developed a thriving community and culture. The cemeteries and churchyards of the Pennsylvania Germans convey individual and collective social identity and serve as collections of "artifacts" that embody their culture and ideology. The survey recorded various aspects of the memorials including form, materials, motifs, and inscriptions so that each feature could be analyzed in order to determine the function and role each feature possessed in the display of identity. With available absolute dates, a chronology of each feature was created in order to show the evolution of style and preference as well as the development of the community and corresponding expression of identity. The interpretation of the meaning and temporal contexts of these features and memorials led to conclusions about gender, age, socioeconomic, and ethnic identity during the early history of the Pennsylvania German community.
The Effect of Regional Environment on Global Cranial Variation
Jason E. Lewis
Sub-field: Physical Anthropology
Advisor: Janet Monge, Physical Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology
Cranial capacity has long been held to be a key parameter in understanding the mode and tempo of hominid evolution. Accurate and reliable cranial capacity measurements allow researchers to compare fossil specimens to one another and to modern human populations to try to tease out the relationship between brain size and human evolution. Much work has been done in paleoanthropology on understanding how hominid cranial capacity, and therefore brain size, has changed over time. The generally accepted notion is that cranial capacity has increased continuously throughout hominid evolution, and that this is in fact the trademark of our species' success. Four general paradigms about the explanation of cranial size and shape have been proposed and argues over time, the first being phyletic relationship, then cognitive ability, somatic relationship, and lastly, bioclimatic correlation. Climate and regional ability, somatic relationship, and lastly, bioclimatic correlation. Climate and regional environmental factors have been heavily examined for ant correlation or causation with anthropometric distributions such as cranial capacity as well as cranial index. By collecting appropriate data from the Morton Collection of Crania and by using ArcGIS to collect and manipulate global climate data, it is the intention of this study to create powerful supporting evidence of the relationship between regional environment and global cranial variation in modern humans. The results of this study show that quite a bit of that variation can be explained by the cranium's reaction to environmental stresses in the form of temperature, wetness, and incoming solar radiation. Although the genetic mechanism for these responses is unclear at the moment, it appears that cranial index is more influenced by dietary, metabolic, or developmental effects in the life history of the individual, while cranial capacity is more related to the deep temperature history of a particular person's environment. What this study does unequivocally prove is that the relationship between regional environment and modern human cranial variation can be seen on the individual level, and that when accurate and appropriate climatic data are collected and compared to a specific individual or population, powerful correlations and conclusions can be made.
Evolution and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
R. Erik Malmgren-Samuel
Sub-field: Physical Anthropology
Advisor: P. Thomas Schoenemann, Biological Anthropologist
Objective: In this paper, I report the results of one preliminary cross-cultural statistical analysis in which I examine the effect of media-saturation in society on the development of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), as a pilot study into an evolutionary model of the disorder. ADHD is marked by hyperactivity/impulsivity and/or inattentive behavior, and is the most common childhood mental disorder at about 5%. Research has pointed to both genetic and environmental contributions, but there has been little research into developing a comprehensive evolutionary model of ADHD. ADHD is associated with genetic components maintained at high rates in the population indicating that aspects of cognition relating to the disorder were at one time adaptive, selected by the environment. I propose that many ADHD individuals have an evolved form or forms of attention and memory processes that becomes maladaptive when the amount of information and stimuli in the environment increases far enough beyond that of the environment in which our cognitions evolved. The most obvious societal correlate of information complexity and the degree of access to stimuli is the level of media saturation; therefore, media was chosen as a proxy for the amount of information and stimuli in the environment. If the degree of information and stimuli available in the environment is a significant predictor of ADHD, then in a given society, as the level of media in the environment increases the prevalence of ADHD should also increase. One recent study has shown that exposure to television at a young age is with later attentional problems, indicating the importance of television as an environmental factor in the development of ADHD, and supporting my prediction. Methods: I directly tested my hypothesis using indicators of media saturation, as indexed by the International Telecommunication Union's Telecomm database to telecommunications indicators, and worldwide prevalence rates from multiple independent studies compiled by Faraone (2003). Simple and partial correlations, principle component analysis, and multiple regressions were performed on the combined data set. Results: Analysis yielded near significant results, supporting the prediction that television is associated with ADHD; however, every other indicator of media, showed weak to moderate negative associations with ADHD. Also negatively correlated with ADHD was Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Discussion: These results appear to rule out a simple a model of media's effect on ADHD that excludes a consideration of different cultures' selection pressures on ADHD-like behavior. I propose three explanations that may be valid: 1) There is a distinction between interactive media, such as the internet and passive, non-interactive media, such as television, 2)Media and information in the environment do casually influence the development of ADHD, as a disorder; however, cultures in which there is less media may also happen to be cultures that, independently do not demand the same level of attentive behavior as those cultures in which there is more media. This might occur because in these low-media cultures there has been less of a need to adapt to an excess of stimuli, and thus the ADHD-like behavior (which encourages attention to many disparate details) flourishes. Therefore, when American diagnostic criteria are applied to these poorer, less media-saturated cultures, the more prevalent, yet benign ADHD-like behavior would falsely appear as an increased prevalence of the disorder. This demands a distinction between ADHD as a disorder specific to high-stimuli environments and as an evolved, underlying behavior. We cannot apply diagnostic criteria from stimuli rich environments to stimuli poor environments because the behavior is not as maladaptive in stimuli poor environments; and, though the underlying behavior will be more prevalent, those with the behavior cannot necessarily be considered as having a disorder on the basis of the DSM criteria. 3) Television, as the only media variable found in every country, may be the only variable that should be considered currently. Conclusion: I propose a theoretical framework in which to illustrate the various gene/environment interactions surrounding ADHD as a dynamic process, and explain the issues that must be taken into consideration when looking at ADHD across cultures. Future directions: Finally, a platform for the development of an evolutionary model of ADHD is outlined to conclude the paper, taking into consideration the results of this statistical and proposing future directions for research.
Protecting Heritage: Indigenous Rights & Traditional Knowledge
Mariel Murray
Sub-field: Cultural Anthropology
Advisor: Clark Erickson, Archaeologist, Department of Anthropology
Who defines a culture and the boundaries of its heritage, as well as how culture is remembered and used, can be contentious issues. People within a culture as well as those surrounding it often have differing views as to where certain traditions stem from and what sources of history should be consulted. In fact, control over traditional and natural resources is linked to control over knowledge and, essentially, identity. Indigenous people, a chronically disadvantaged demographic, are currently finding their culture and traditions threatened by national governments and corporations. This trend is primarily a legacy of colonialism that is reinforced by international legal instruments, which until recently traditionally failed to support indigenous peoples in their struggles for recognition and rights with national governments. This thesis will examine these issues in the context of a Maya group in Belize and their cultural knowledge regarding medicinal plants; the government's seizure of rain forest lands seem to protect biodiversity at the cost of cultural diversity.
The Genetic History of the Saraswat Brahmins: Origins and Affinities with Indian Populations
Athma A. Pai
Sub-field: Physical Anthropology
Advisor: Theodore Schurr, Biological Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology
The Saraswat Brahmin community of western India is a highly endogamous group which has retained a distinct Indo-European language and culture through centuries of migration and displacement from various parts of India, and despite living in Dravidic dominated South-India for hundreds of years. This study represents the first analysis of genetic variation in this group using mitochondrial (mt) DNA markers. Mitochondrial markers were analyzed in 116 Saraswat Brahmin males residing in North America. Due to the effects from both high endogamy and complex migratory patterns, it previously was hypothesized that the haplotype frequencies in Saraswat Brahmins would distinguish them from other Indian language communities, although they might exhibit varying degrees of genetic affinity with geographically related language communities. The results have shown that the mtDNA haplotypes found in Saraswat Brahmins are predominantly South Asian-specific haploroups, though there are several unique variations on commonly found haplotypes. In general, there is some evidence for a higher maternal affinity with Indo-European North Indian groups. Analysis of male-specific Y-chromosome variation could enrich the data of distinct maternal lineages as presented in this thesis.
"And then I was as one who hath a key and doth open", an Ethnography of Silence: The Meeting for Worship of the Religious Society of Friends
Adhiraj Parthasarathy
Sub-field: Linguistic Anthropology
Advisor: Asif Agha, Linguistic Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology
This paper is an ethnographic account of communication processes involved in the unprogrammed Meeting for Worship of the Religious Society of Friends (The Quakers). The first part of this paper provides a brief outline of the history, beliefs and practices of the Quakers, and a review of existing literature in the social sciences that deals with Quakerism in order to provide some background to the reader unacquainted with Quaker beliefs. The second part of this paper provides a description of the Meeting for worship and attempts to formulate a working definition of the Meeting that takes into account the ritual, societal and religious functions of the Meeting for Worship. Building on this working definition of the Meeting, the third section explores the communicative processes involved in the Meeting for Worship through multiple theoretical paradigms, namely those of the ethnography of communication, linguistic integrationism and Symbolic Interactionism. The paper ends with a discussion of the nature of Quaker mysticism and metapragmatic awareness of ritual processes amongst worshippers.
Printing Fuck: Resistance and Commodification at an Urban Alt Weekly
Andrew L. Pederson
Sub-field: Cultural Anthropology
Advisor: John Jackson, Cultural Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology & Annenberg School for Communication
Interest in mass media is increasing as anthropologists not only begin to regard mass media as salient features in their communities of study, but also as researchers begin to examine forms of media themselves as social sites of meaning creation. While older theoretical models tend to view mass media as a 'top down' process which can be used to manipulate or mislead passive receivers, empirical data and newer observations illustrate that mass media are active components of a dynamic social and cultural landscape. Building on this perspective, this study examines the social site of production of a large circulation urban alternative weekly publication. Using a broad based literature review as well as long term participant observation, this study examines the paper's institutional identity as 'alternative' as well its historical relations to underground newspapers and subsequent development into a freely distributed vehicle for advertising. This study ends with a discussion of the implications of the increasing commoditization of cultural production in contemporary society.
The Culture of Haitian Medicine: Route 87
Nerlie Pierre
Sub-field: Medical Anthropology
Advisor: Fran Barg, Department of Anthropology & School of Medicine
Culture is defined as "the integrated pattern of belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations." Medicine is described to be "a substance or preparation used in treating disease." Hence, the culture of medicine is understood to be specific beliefs, practices, language, and methods of treating disease that can be transmitted from one generation to the next. The culture of medicine varies greatly among continents, countries, states, cities, towns, neighborhoods, homes, and individuals. Route 87, a small town in Haiti exhibits perfectly this phenomenon. Surrounded by progressing cities, this impoverished sector of Haiti remains distinct in its lifestyle, beliefs, and medical culture. Through contact with the founders of a United States outreach organization, based in Haiti, called Fondation de Secours Internationale Haiti, I have used the techniques of medical anthropology to learn about the town. From what is known, Route 87 is an impoverished sector of an already impoverished country that endures many of its repercussions—unsanitary conditions, poor quality foods, poor hygiene, exposure to undetected disease, etc. However, the members of this sector experience less disease outbreaks than the remainder of the country. Throughout this paper, I will discuss the history of traditional and Haitian medicine. I will also discuss the illness that plague Haiti, the influence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic during the 1991 coup d'état and how Route 87 locals don't seem to experience these outbreaks. Lastly, I will expose Route 87 culture, practices, and what is currently known about the medical system by drawing upon the social, biological and linguistic factors that will help me understand and to explain the reason for this disparity in disease and health.
Farmers' Markets in Philadelphia: Rehumanizing the Urban Landscape
Alana Rose
Sub-field: Cultural Anthropology
Advisor: Jay Dautcher, Cultural Anthropologist
This thesis considers the practices, behaviors, and ideas of urban consumers shopping at farmers' markets in Philadelphia. This study presents an analysis of shoppers' experiences at a non-mainstream site of consumption. The data results from the anthropological methods of participant observation and semi-structured interviews. The central concern inspiring these methods was an understanding of consumers' motives for coming to the farmers' markets. Five themes emerged in the analysis of this data: Consumers' appreciation for the physical characteristics of the products; their articulated political awareness of the impact of consumption; the valuing of social interaction; the role of nostalgia; and the comparison of the farmers' market, as a site of consumption, to the corporate-chain grocery store. This study contends that consumers and venders at the farmers' market, interact in ways which rehumanize the act of consumption. Consumption is rehumanized when shoppers are motivated to shop by a recognized connection to other human beings, and to food sources. Consumers value their experience at the farmers' market, and the goods which they buy there, in human-centered terms. While consumers state that they come to the market in relation to the physical, political, social, and moral consequences which they perceive in this action, it is from the recognized human connection that these ideas draw their meaning.
Is There an Explanatory Model for Depression Among Older Adults?
Alyssa M. Rubinstein
Sub-field: Medical Anthropology
Advisor: Fran Barg, Medical Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology & School of Medicine
Objective: To develop explanatory model(s) for depression among older adults that can help researchers, healthcare practitioners, patients, and lay people understand both the cultural and physiological implications of depression. Methods: Code fifty transcripts from the Spectrum II study based on etiology, description, treatment, and outcome of depression. Cluster Analysis will be used to define clusters of codes that represent various explanatory model(s)among the participants. Results: The clusters produced in each of the four sectors provide a preliminary understanding to how older adults view and understand depression. They ascribe the etiology of depression to biomedical, social, "mental," or spiritual sources. Treatments for depression fall into biological, social, or religious categories. The experience of depression is described in physical, affective, or spiritual terms. These features comprise older adults' explanatory models for depression and are likely to differ from their doctors' largely biomedical explanations for depression. Discussion: The developed explanatory model(s) can help both healthcare practitioners and patients understand depression in older adults. Interventions may be developed to resonate more closely with the diverse viewpoints that people hold about depression.
Cultural Evolution: A Search for Culture In Animals
Piper Silverman
Sub-field: Physical Anthropology
Advisor: Theodore Schurr, Biological Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology
This thesis is a review of the literature on culture in animals and addresses the concept of cultural evolution from the respect. The author went over the concept of culture and its definitions that excluding only those definitions that excluded non-humans from having culture. Using observation studies in the wild as well as captivity and discussing the results of experimental studies, an argument was made for the existence of cultural abilities and behavior in primates. Human-raised apes bonding, imitation, and enculturation, or lack there of, were look at and compared to human children. Three main differences were identified in the cultural expression of humans and the great apes: 1) instincts of the apes are too strong to be complete trained out especially in older apes 2) young apes can do more complicated mechanical activities earlier than human children but human children start imitating their parents earlier and 3) human children start asking questions around 3 years old and language trained apes never do.
The Evolution of the Human Brain and Modern Society
Simon M. Tan
Sub-field: Archaeology and Physical Anthropology
Advisor: Deborah Olszewski, Archaeologist, Department of Anthropology and Janet Monge, Physical Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology
Modern human society is complex. There is no doubt that anatomically modern humans (AMH) are the most intelligent creatures on the planet, and our brains are the tool which allow for such a complex degree of society. However, having such powerful brains does not explain why we have them. By examining the evolutionary path of AMH, we can understand how our brains evolved. The brain of any creature, including that of non-human, is divided into various regions. These various regions control different functions of the body. What makes the AMH brain unique is the highly developed state of the neo-cortex region. This region controls cognitive abilities, and it makes up over eighty percent of the overall weight of the brain in AMH. However, brain tissue is metabolically costly, so it requires a great degree of maintenance. Nonetheless, evolutionary selective forces for a large well-developed brain in AMH, so the benefits of having such a relatively large brain must have outweighed the costs. The selective forces that affected AMH evolution were social pressures. By examining these social pressures, we can understand how our brain evolved and how such a tool made possible modern society.