The purpose of this project was to use a social constructivist approach to understand the perception of risk by mothers making the choice to give birth at home in Missoula, Montana. Social constructivism assumes that knowledge about risk is filtered through social and cultural frameworks of understanding (Lupton and Tulloch 2002, 321). The information gained from participants in this study was interpreted as a representation of the individuals culture, including their beliefs, values and upbringing, as well as the influences of the individuals social network which can include family members, spouses, friends, and community members. Various phenomena, elements or constructs in society are viewed as realities by social groups whether they exist as reality or not. Social constructs in the United States create a reality around the normalcy of hospital birth and tend to paint a picture of home birth mothers as risk takers (Craven 2005) (Davis-Floyd 1992). However, in developing this study, I predicted that home birth mothers would construct a different type of reality around risk in order to explain their decision to have a home birth. By examining the interpretive repertoires of home birth mothers in Missoula, Montana, one can begin to understand how women interpret their individual risk concerning birth and respond according to their determined level of vulnerability. First, the mothers confronted the dominant social norm that home birth is risky. In response to accusations of making a risky decision, these home birth mothers responded by emphasizing the risks that they see in hospital birth. For home birth mothers, the importance of having minimal medical interventions during the birth of their baby outweighed other potential risks associated with homebirth identified by medical authorities or published studies. Furthermore, many of the women in this study emphasized feeling very positively about their home birth experiences and felt that going through with this decision helped them gain feelings of confidence and empowerment.

In this professional paper I examine the human skeletal remains of one individual. The remains were analyzed to gain information on the sex, ancestry, age, stature, weight, pathology, and trauma of the individual. This information is helpful in assisting law enforcement personnel or for research purposes. Several different methods used by forensic anthropologists were used to examine UMFC 29. The remains of UMFC 29 represent a male, between the age of 38 and 59. He is probably of mixed ancestry exhibiting characteristics for both African and Asian/Native American decent. UMFC 29 is between 5 feet 3 inches and 5 feet 7 inches tall and between 127 and 141 pounds. There is healed trauma to the fourth left rib and possibly trauma to the left scapula. UMFC 29 has ossified thyroid cartilage and osteophytic lipping on several vertebrae in regards to pathology.

This thesis is a spatial analysis of 24HL1085 and attempts to discern the use areas of two prehistoric components, Late Archaic and Late Prehistoric, through the identification of spatial patterns created by the excavated lithics, faunal remains, and fire cracked rock (FCR). I also wanted to show that understanding the spatial layout of FCR is just as important as understanding the spatial layout of lithics and faunal remains. In order to complete this analysis the three ring model developed by Stevenson (1985) was adapted and combined with the trend surface analysis created by Hodder and Orton (1976). Theory behind this analysis was based heavily on work done by Binford (1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1987). Results from this study showed that both components were comprised of several discernible use areas that provided a better understanding of how the site was created and used. Despite being separated by several thousand years, both components are representative of campsites at which people were hunting and gathering resources locally before leaving. Without the spatial data obtained from the FCR, a spatial analysis would have been almost impossible to complete to the same degree of certainty.

This thesis examines the history of Montanas Metis, Cree and Chippewa people as landless Indians in a twentieth century context. Landlessness among the Metis, Cree and Chippewa became a defining aspect of their identity by the twentieth century that distinguished them from both Indian and white people in the state. This paper discusses the historical processes by which the Metis, Cree and Chippewa became landless, and examines the unique aspects of their social and economic lives as landless Indian people. This paper concludes with an examination of the ethnogenesis of Metis, Cree and Chippewa, which was based upon patterns of merger between discrete multi-ethnic groups.

The purpose of this research was to attempt to identify the population affinity of three crania (UMFC 103, 104, and 120), housed at the University of Montana Physical Anthropology Lab, using multivariate statistical analyses. A database collected by Dr. Hanihara and another collected by researchers at the University of Michigan were used for comparative purposes. Multiple populations from both databases were chosen so as to be representative of various Asian, African, Indian, and Native American populations. Two variations of each of the databases were used in the following statistical analyses: principal components analysis and discriminant function analysis. It was shown that the Michigan database was more effective at classifying UMFC 103, 104, and 120 into one of the predetermined populations than the Hanihara database. Based on these analyses UMFC 103 is tentatively classified as Taiwanese aboriginal and UMFC 120 as South Chinese. These classifications are based on the discriminant function analysis with the Michigan database and all show significant typicality probabilities.

UMFC case #141 was acqired in spring 2006, as a commercially prepared anatomical specimen, reportedly from the Peoples Republic of China. It is a nealy complete skeleton that exhibits severe trauma of hte lower limbs. I reviewed the literature on methods of estimating age from the skeleton, because age is difficult to estimate for this case nad presents an interesting challenge. I then proceeded to estimate sex, ancestry, age, stature, and weight. I conclude that UMFC #141 is a White male, 39 to 45 years old, 5'0" to 5'4" in height, 110 to 161 pounds in weight. Healed fractures of both tibiae and fibulae, and of ribs 8,9, and 10 are present. Degenerative joint disease is widespread throughout the skeleton, and cribra orbitalia is present. Time since death is difficult to estimate due to the manner of preparation of the skeleton.

Much of the epidemiological research conducted on non-medical prescription drug use assumes pharmaceuticals to have fixed, inherent euphorigenic qualities. Quantitative analysis of substance abuse depends on drugs acting predictably. However, this conception of pharmaceuticals has failed to account for the absence of pleasure when prescription drugs are taken as part of corrective or curative regimes. For this thesis I will employ Actor Network Theory (ANT) to explain how a prescription drug can emerge alternately as a substance either amenable to, or unresponsive in, producing pleasure. ANT suggests that the properties attributed to prescription drugs are not deterministic or unimpeachable, but are instead a result of networks of heterogeneous actants. Using interview data collected among young adults about their early non-prescribed pharmaceutical episodes, and comparing these experiences to those of accomplished users, I will illustrate how, during initial periods of transparent indeterminacy, pharmaceutical affects are not discovered, but rather are constructed and enacted through actant relationships.

Human stature estimation is a central part of forensic anthropological investigation. It is one of several factors used to identify unknown individuals. The statistical relationship between body length and body segment length allows for long bone lengths from an unidentified individual to be used in a linear regression equation to estimate living stature. These linear regression equations are often formulated from a data set of an entirely different population. This research explores the necessity for the unknown individual to be similar on a number of points to the known population that makes up the equation. Populations are highly variable, and one or two equations should not be applicable for every population. The sample to be examined consists of 22 Hispanic males with known stature and long bone lengths, drawn from the Forensic Data Bank. This data was applied to some of the most commonly used equations today, including: Trotter and Glesers Korean War equations, Hispanic and American White equations from FORDISC, and Genoves Mesoamerican equations. Statistical analysis revealed the necessity for more data collection from Central and South American populations. If this were done, a greater number of unknown individuals could be identified and their remains returned to their families.

Franz Boas proposed almost one hundred yeas ago that cranial plasticity explained the differences in cranial form between European-born immigrants and their American-born children. Plasticity refers to the idea that the body responds to environmental forces during growth and development. If the environment does affect cranial growth and development, than differences should be seen in populations living under different ecological conditions. In this study anthropometric measurements will be used to test for differences in head and face measurements of members of the Blackfeet Nation using multivariate statistics. The tests are designed to detect differences between the three tribes of the Blackfeet Nation (the Piegan, the Blood, and the Blackfeet). Blackfeet children sent to the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, PA are compared to the children that remained on the reservations. Lastly, this study examines the overall changes in the Blackfeet peoples throughout the nineteenth century as they were forced to change from nomadic hunter-gatherers to sedentary farmers living under Anglo-American policy on restricted lands.

Changes in bone morphology have always been a concern of physical anthropologists who are trying to explain a culture's everyday activity. These types of changes, including arthritic and musculoskeletal, are based on subjective observation of the researcher and therefore subject to observer error. I used three samples; the Indian Knoll sample, the Nutwood and Rosedale Mound sample, and a control sample from the Terry collection I was able to employ a scoring method based on Hawkey (1988). This current research uses the scoring method for arthritic changes in women to test for changes in patterns of distribution and/or severity when the women transitioned from hunting and gathering to agriculture. This scoring method provides quantifiable data to use for statistical analysis. The observations and scoring method highlight patterns in osteoarthritis which may be interpretable between and within samples. This research found that no single feature of osteoarthritis is significant on its own but looking at several joints and the emerging patterns we can infer stress level changes and possibly narrow these changes down to the types of subsistence activities the individuals participated in. Understanding the change in women before and after the transition to agriculture allows archaeologists to construct a better picture of the daily activity and labor divisions based on age and sex for the population.