The ubiquitous role of the Italian woman in society is ever-changing and expanding beyond its origin in the domestic sphere. The identity of the Italian woman was once engrained in matrimony and motherhood, not necessarily by womens own choice, but because it was considered the natural and expected path of life for any woman. An Italian woman was identified by her faith in the Catholic Church, her marriage to an Italian, working man, and the culmination of her life purpose was seen in giving birth to the sons of Italy. Working all day in the house and raising the children were the joys of life for Italian women, who were expected to be content and grateful as housewives. However, once women realized that higher education and a career were not solely the benefits of being a man, they began to realize that marriage was not for all women and that motherhood was not a necessary rite of passage to establish their entrance into adulthood. Through my public observations, review of scholarly articles, attendance of a film panel, and informal discussions with a variety of women in NGOs and other relevant settings over the course of a four month study abroad program in Italy, I have attempted to understand the differences between gender roles and expectations in Italian culture versus American culture. Personal experience has allowed me to contrast my life as an American woman of Italian heritage, with my adaptations as a foreign woman in Italy. Although Italian women have realized the advantages of independence, they must make sacrifices to stabilize and discover themselves in a media-driven society that is still ruled by male hegemony.

This research explores the social organization of prehispanic communities in the Jamastrán Valley in Southeastern Honduras. It reconstructed the demographic patterns of a 250 km² region through a full coverage systematic survey. Our ceramic evidence indicates that the Jamastrán Valley was occupied between about 600 and 1000 AD. Therefore, the analysis in the chapters that follow is fundamentally synchronic since it deals with a single period of occupation which ceramic analysis does not, at present, enable us to subdivide. Evidence derived from the comparison of different social trajectories in regions of western, central, and eastern Honduras, points to three common factors that stand out as crucial elements for understanding the development of social hierarchies in those regions; access to prime agricultural land, craft production and local exchange and interregional interactions. Each of these factors can be understood as components of two basic political strategies: economically or prestige-based ones. The articulation or combination of these factors, and the ability to connect economic and prestige strategies to each other, enabled the consolidation of permanent forms of social inequality in many regions of prehispanic Honduras. We suggest that the demographic history of the Jamastrásn Valley is related to processes of acute political centralization, population growth and expansion of interregional exchange networks in west-central and eastern Honduras beginning at around 500 AD, and to opposite processes (political decentralization, disruption of existing exchange networks, and population dispersal) later in the social trajectories of most archaeologically known regions in Honduras. Our research in Jamastrán also indicates that local aspiring leaders in the valley seem to have failed to articulate in a complementary fashion both economic and prestige-based strategies in order to strengthen their social status. We propose that hierarchical structures in the Jamastrán Valley were incipient and that their frailty is reflected in the communities´ inability to resist and/or adapt to the pressures toward decentralization and population dispersion experienced throughout prehispanic Honduras between 900 and 1000 AD.

This is a study of folktales, referred to by the people as cuentos (stories), from the town of San Agustín Oapan in the state of Guerrero, Mexico. The study takes a close look at the function of folktales in the contemporary Indian community and how it compares to the function of myths in the pre-Hispanic past, explains why there was a decline from mythology to folklore, why the folktales are syncretic entities, and why there are similarities and differences found among them; including in their themes. It also looks to understand why the same folktales are not told among different families, examines the linguistic framing and performance of the folktales, determines their cultural relevance to the contemporary Indian community, and explains what they say about the indigenous way of life in Mexico. Folktales from six different Oapanec families were collected in Oapan Nawa and Spanish, translated into English, and examined. Oapan folktales are unique because they are not shared between families, but do contain common themes. Some of the folktales illustrate, through there overlapping themes, characteristics of European fables which are a direct reflection of contact with the Spaniards and their religion (Catholicism), while maintaining certain aspects of the pre-Hispanic mythological tradition. The goal of the study was to determine what if any specific links, cultural or religious, the contemporary Oapanec folktales have to pre-Hispanic Mexica-Tenochca mythology from before and up to the early 16th century.

This dissertation addresses the ways in which government policies and agendas, media representations, local histories and perceptions influence marriage patterns across the Taiwan Strait. While socio-economic interactions between the Republic of China (Taiwan or ROC) and the Peoples Republic of China (PRC or Mainland China) have deepened in recent years, both governments continue to often have conflicting agendas and policies aimed at supporting their own goals. As a result, Taiwan promotes a policy of careful interaction with Mainland China which is reflected in Taiwans strict immigration policies with regard to Mainland brides who are considered a threat to Taiwans population quality (renkou suzhi). The PRC, on the other hand, has established policies aimed at increasing economic and social integration with Taiwan. Taiwanese men on the Mainland enjoy preferential treatment, particularly in Chinas Special Economic Zones. As more people travel across the Taiwan Strait, the number of cross-Strait (PRC-ROC), marriages have increased on the Mainland. Traditional marriage and kinship practices such as patrilocal marriages are often cited as primary factors in influencing womens place in Chinese society (Davin 2008, Johnson 1983, Lu 1997, Watson 1991). However, a Mainland woman who marries a Taiwanese man and sets up a household near her natal home can have a very different experience. This practice, in turn, has in some cases led to more flexibility with regard to gender roles and mutual upward social mobility for both partners on the Mainland. Finally this dissertation contributes to the academic literature regarding cross-border marriage and global hypergamy, which usually refers to women from less developed, poorer regions who attempt to marry up by finding husbands in a more developed, richer area (Constable 2005). In this study, I consider a very different situation; men who migrate from a more developed region (Taiwan) to areas that are being developed (SEZs). While most did not migrate for the express purpose of marrying, these unions formed as a result of the migration process. Examining these relationships reveal some interesting insights into the ways that recent shifts in the global economic landscape related to Chinas economy influence marriage patterns and marital relations.

This dissertation explores the role of internal and external conditions of social change at the site of El Dornajo in the El Oro-Tumbes region of southern Ecuador / northern Peru. The El Oro-Tumbes region lies on the boundary between the central and northern Andean culture areas. Consequently, the developmental trajectory of this region has often been seen as closely tied to that of its more complex neighbors. Indeed, as inter-regional interaction between these areas increased through time, the potential for such interactions to affect the intermediate region also increased. However, the El Oro-Tumbes region is also the epicenter of El Niño activity along the South American, coast making environmental hazards an equally plausible condition for social change. The possible role of these conditions, inter-regional interaction and environmental hazards, were examined at the site of El Dornajo, a central place in the Zarumilla River Valley during the Regional Development Period. Results indicate that neither condition was a catalyst for social change, although each played a role in the developmental trajectory of the site in ways not originally anticipated. Existing data suggest that social inequality at El Dornajo was most directly associated with land rights and regional interaction between elites that were manifest at the site in clambakes and the display of prestige goods.

This dissertation is a historically and politically grounded ethnography of bangbang, an estimated 200,000 to 1,000,000-strong crew of male porters, who serve the transportation sector of Chongqing in southwest China. Bangbang are mostly Chinese rural migrant men who work as informal day laborers. Based on fifteen months of ethnographic field research conducted in Chongqing in 2004 and 2006-2007, my research examines the labor and gender inequalities that bangbang experience within the context of post-reform Chinas economic development and modernization. My dissertation examines the cultural logics, social and cultural forces, and the discursive conditions and contradictions embedded in bangbangs decisions to migrate, their occupational choices, their imagining of modernity and success, as well as their understanding of masculinity. It also documents the strategies bangbang adopt to defend their dignity and the changes that bangbangs migration brings to their social relations. I argue that in Chongqing, rural mens migrations are not just an important attempt to pursue economic advancement, but also part of their quest for decency and masculine pride. Out-migration constitutes a valuable approach for these men to elevate their reputation as responsible and capable men. However, the majority of poor rural men experience systematic and gendered violence during migration which forces them to remain exploited and socially marginalized in the urban region. I also argue that the informality of bangbangs employment is the result of Chinas labor market deregulation and economic restructuring. The rhetoric of freedom which is made popular among bangbang by the Party-state, functions as a pro-growth strategy that reorganizes the flow of knowledge, capital, labor, social relations, and the formation of worker subjectivities. Lastly, this research has found that the fragmentation of employment contributes to the lack of large-scale, public, collective protests among bangbang against the government. Overall, this dissertation contributes to anthropological studies of development, labor, migration, and post-socialism. Furthermore, it contributes to gender studies in general and to masculinity studies in particular by contributing to an understanding of Chinese working-class masculinity. This research also provides insights into gender and class conditions in post-reform China.

The pelvis, the most sexually dimorphic area of the adult human skeleton, is essential to determine biological sex. Although sex differences have been noted in subadult pelvic bones since the late 1800s, no reliable method has been developed to determine biological sex, and therefore, subadult sex demographics must be omitted from forensic and archaeological investigations. This study examined three North American skeletal samples of documented age and sex, the Forensic Fetal Osteological Collection (n=113), the subadult component of the Hamann-Todd Collection (n=37), and the Trotter Fetal Bone Collection (n=37), to test the hypothesis that subadult pelvic traits, both metric and non-metric, are sufficiently sexually dimorphic in one or more sample or age category. Method accuracy and reliability were also evaluated. Traits included those previously studied: the breadth and angle of the sciatic notch, iliac crest curvature, arch criterion, auricular surface elevation, subpubic angle, pubic length, and ischial length. Two additional feature analyses and three indices were developed for this study: the anterior and posterior sciatic notch lengths, pubic body width, pubic index, anterior/posterior sciatic notch, and sciatic notch width/iliac length index. Both left and right sides were considered using photographic and direct measurement techniques. For t-tests and correlations, at least one trait per sample reached statistically significant levels for sexual dimorphism. Reliable testing methods were not developed because these features were inconsistently sexually dimorphic for each sample; furthermore, male and female measurement ranges overlapped considerably, trait morphology proved variable, and individuals were incorrectly assigned to sex when using methods outlined in previous studies. Both logistic regression and discriminant function analysis provided low predictive scores, the highest at 0.68, which were insufficient to predict sex consistently or meet the Daubert threshold. Two non-metric traits, sciatic notch shape and auricular surface elevation, also proved to be inconsistent across the three samples. Consequently, these traits were unreliable for sex determination. Several features, including the sciatic notch width, sciatic notch shape, and pubic body width, demonstrated differences among older subadults and should be investigated using larger, broadly-aged samples that include adults.

The Late Preceramic period (3500 1800 BC) of coastal Peru witnessed the earliest examples of monumental architecture for the Americas. The presence of monumental architecture has been interpreted as the product of complex societies at the chiefdom or state level. But prior research has focused in this ceremonial monumental architecture. In contrast, research at the site of Bandurria proposed a bottom-up approach focusing on the people who built and used this architecture, with the household as the basic social unit. Excavations at Bandurria explored the residential occupation of the site, and revealed a sector of monumental architecture unreported by previous researchers. In the domestic sector, evidence of two types of domestic structures: a quadrangular stone structure associated with a small ceremonial platform and smaller oval hut made of perishable materials. Oval houses were occupied by 2 or so people; the proximity of some oval structures suggests that a household unit consisted of at least two of such structures. The quadrangular structure held a larger floor, and was related to ritual activities such as unbaked clay figurines. Estimates of household size indicate 5 inhabitants for the quadrangular structure. From the analysis of the two types of domestic structures the households at Bandurria were composed of the nuclear families. Chronologically, both structures were occupied at the same time. The artifact assemblages from the domestic sector exhibit little variety and low density. All the excavation units share similar artifact types in low proportions. One significant difference is the presence of figurines depicting human figures found in the quadrangular stone structure, another difference is a different access to marine resources. In the monumental sector, excavations were centered in one of the mounds (mound 1) uncovering evidence of architecture made entirely of round cobble stones and mud mortar. Chronologically the construction of mound 1 is later than the domestic occupation was in use when the site was abandon circa 3400 BP. The results from Bandurria challenge the models that characterize the Late Preceramic society as a complex chiefdom or state. Alternative models have are proposed to fit the domestic data within a larger explanatory framework.

This study will concentrate on the transformative nature of culturally specific folk art objects, and how they are contextualized within narratives of national tradition and regionalism. Utilizing the Japanese wooden folk art doll kokeshi as a vivid example, I will explore how tradition becomes embodied in objects, and in turn how the image of the kokeshi is actively used to define perceived traditional spaces under the umbrella of cultural nationalism and nostalgia. The establishment of folk art categories like kokeshi reflects the deeper dynamics of Japanese nation building, and the role that the Tōhoku region (the production area for kokeshi) plays in national cohesiveness. Tōhoku and the products within it act as perceived repositories of tradition and self-discovery in what are defined as furusato (hometown) spaces. Those landscapes and objects found within these hometowns become by association traditional and evocative of a past more simple and serene lifestyle. The classification, collection, and creation of works devoted to the perceived regional characteristics of kokeshi will be explored in relation to the larger topic of national cohesion and the formations of traditions.

The role of ideology in the development of hierarchical relations is investigated with archaeological data recovered at the site of Panquilma, a community of the 13th to 15th centuries located in the hinterland of one of the most important religious centers of the ancient Andes: Pachacamac. By focusing on a community dominated by an important religious center, this study offers a new perspective on the ways in which rural leaders used the ideological ascendance of the religious center and shows how this process was articulated with local economic and political forces in the development of social power. Toward this end three scenarios were envisioned in which ideology played different roles in the development of power. These three models were evaluated based on the relative importance that ideological control had in the development of power strategies in two segments of Panquilmas population: the ruling elites that resided in walled pyramid complexes and the heads of the different extended family groups that resided in the surrounding15 household compounds. Evidence from Panquilma indicates that, regardless of its proximity to Pachacamac, hierarchy at the site was mainly based on local political and economic conditions. Ideological factors were very important in the context of validating economic and political differences but did not constitute by themselves a viable source of power. Panquilmas ruling elite competed with other elite factions for prestige via feasting activities without any special religious significance. However, when they were dealing with the lower ranking residents of the household compounds, the control of ritual space and esoteric knowledge validated the elites economic supremacy and facilitated surplus extraction. In a similar manner, the development of inter-household relations between the leaders of extended families was based in great part on competition for economic resources, as evidenced by contextual and proportional information. On the other hand, within the compounds, the privileged position of the familys leaders was validated through religious notions of ancestry and redistributive mechanisms in the form of ancestor veneration rituals and feasting.