Inaug.-Diss.--Münster. / At head of title: Pädagogik. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--New York University, Graduate School of Arts and Science, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 271-295). Also available in electronic format on the World Wide Web. Access restricted to users affiliated with licensed institutions.

This dissertation combines archaeological and ethnohistorical methods to examine the lived experiences of enslaved African laborers on the wine haciendas of San Joseph de la Nasca and San Francisco Xavier de la Nasca, owned by the Society of Jesus on the southern Peruvian coast in the 17th and 18th centuries. This exploration specifies the local conditions of coercive colonial institutions within an emerging global economy. The study approximates daily praxis and spatio-material conditions of the haciendas drawing on reconnaissance with geophysical survey of the productive and domestic cores of the haciendas, along with test excavations, and augmented with a systematic survey of the annex properties of San Joseph and San Xavier located within the Grande Drainage. Through these data an aesthetic and semiotic approach to power and enslaved praxis within the institution of the hacienda is formulated, probing the dynamic construction of meaning and hierarchy within enslaved communities through both strategic and habitual practices. As in many other parts of the colonial Americas, the African experience in Peru was both generative and conservative of aspects of West and Central African traditions. This dissertation finds that the Nasca Jesuit estates deployed coercive technologies embodying a doctrine of labor as Christian discipline in both the use of hacienda space and material conditions. Excavations reveal the intertwined nature of domestic and agroindustrial activities in the lived experiences of enslaved laborers. These enslaved actors, however, found modes for expression and the building of meaning, as demonstrated in material correlates of slave-made ceramics and foodways, through which signs were evoked referencing aspects of African aesthetic traditions. The research presented offers the first explicit archaeological description and analysis of Afro-Peruvian material culture, contributing to an emerging understanding of enslaved and coerced workers in colonial-era intensive viticultural production, and to a growing body of archaeological research concerning the African diaspora in Latin America.

Despite generations of demographic scholarship, the everyday social practice of reproductive decision-making remains unclear. The objective of this thesis is to generate a theoretical framework for understanding the ways in which decisions of whether, when, and how often to have children are made. An expanded Gramscian concept of hegemonic process is developed, based on a review of anthropological, historical, and feminist literatures. Following a review of the anthropology of reproduction and demographic transitions, I illustrate the theoretical gaps for which hegemony is analytically well-suited. On a macro level of analysis, there is a focus on the historical relationship between race, reproduction, and the national body politic. A Foucauldian biopower expands the analysis by incorporating the experience of the individual, reproductive body, productive desires, and disciplinary techniques. Special attention is paid to stakeholders' concerns with the national body politic, such as identity definitions and limitations on the allocation of resources.

This ethnographic study examines the pioneering tactics Brazilian Internet freedom activists have used to defend what they refer to as the Internet livre a free and open Internet. In particular, it explores how the concept of participatory democracy a governing philosophy that strives to broaden opportunities for citizens to make meaningful contributions in policy decisions beyond voting in elections has uniquely informed Brazilian activist initiatives. Fighting for more participatory democracy was a hallmark of left wing social movements and labor unions working in the 1970s and 1980s to end the military dictatorship (1964-1985) as they sought to radically challenge elite control of the state by incorporating previously marginalized groups into the political system. Thus, Internet freedom activists are now applying this philosophy to the development of Internet policy and governance. Specifically, this study examines the crowdsourcing of a national Internet rights law, the Brazilian Internet Civil Rights Framework (Marco Civil da Internet), and the institutional structure of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil). However, while proponents of participatory democracy contend that increased citizen participation leads to more socially equitable policy, scholars have also noted how participatory initiatives that do not actually redistribute power have frequently reproduced the preexisting socioeconomic inequalities of the larger society. This research substantiates this claim and exposes the many shortcomings of participatory initiatives in light of powerful corporate interests that continue to dominate the development of Internet policy in Brazil. This study is based on more than 20 months of multi-sited ethnographic research conducted over four years in the Brazilian cities of Porto Alegre, São Paulo, and Brasília between 2010 and 2014. The methods used were long-term participant observation, semi-structured interviews with activists and policymakers, and in-depth analysis of activist publications and official documents.

This study aims to understand the mechanisms by which HIV/AIDS affects the means, relations and processes of rural livelihood systems practiced by the Shona living in the arid southeastern region of Zimbabwe. It shows how these households that participate in that livelihood system and respond to the shocks and stresses associated with HIV/AIDS. During fieldwork in 2004 and 2005, this region underwent a severe and prolonged drought resulting in the widespread loss of staple crops and placing the nation in a declared food emergency. Widespread poverty, stigma and an inadequate health care system further exacerbate the crisis created by HIV infection, limiting the range of household options to access care and nutrition. I propose that HIV/AIDS constitutes a shock or threat to the functioning of a livelihood system and its ability to respond to drought. The analysis investigates a set of mechanisms internal to the Shona livelihood system to show the impacts of HIV/AIDS at the household level. It presents a scenario in which the harsh synergism of drought and HIV/AIDS result in significant loss of livelihood security.

International education is a profitable industry in Canada with thousands of students entering the country each year to contribute millions of dollars to educational institutions in the form of tuition payments. Students around the world are encouraged to seek out international experiences in order to build a cosmopolitan knowledge that will be an asset for employment in the global economy. As a result, academic credentials acquired through international education programs have become a valuable object for international students. This research project examines the experiences of students, and faculty, with international education to explore how participants view the nature of their educational relationships. Given current critiques about commodification and the entrepreneurial activities by education institutions in the international market, this project highlights ways in which economic relationships between institutions and students/clients affect the gift-giving exchange that is the basis for non-economic educational relationships between faculty and students.

This thesis is an exploration of housing as a social and environmental determinant of health and draws example from one Manitoban First Nation community. Aboriginal people across Canada suffer a disproportionate burden of morbidity and mortality relative to the rest of the country. Literature on the social determinants of health is reviewed with emphasis on the role of housing conditions in achieving and maintaining good health, followed by the historical context for Canadian Aboriginal settlement patterns and the current housing crisis. Local history and the results from a 2010 housing survey of the Sayisi Dene First Nation are described. Crowding, in-home water availability, housing design, and building materials are identified as risk factors for health problems, whereas occupant behavior appears to have little effect on conditions. Recent popular challenge to the longstanding and ongoing effects of colonialism sheds light on the degree to which all Canadians accept these pervasive circumstances.

The 2012 excavation of a single housepit (Housepit 54) at the Bridge River Village site (EeR14) offers the unique opportunity to look at lithic organization and techinological strategies during the Fur Trade era in the Middle Fraser Canyon. The main goal of this research is to understand how the winter occupation of Housepit 54 may have affected the lithic technological strategies carried out at Bride River Village. As a winter pithouse, lithic raw material sources would be inaccessible during the three months of occupation. The hypothesis of this thesis is structured with a theory of risk framework in order to understand what strategies may have been implemented in order to minimize the risk of exhausting raw material over the winter. This thesis will also seek to explore the ethnographic record in relation to the archaeological record in order to extrapolate a model of lithic organization. The hypothesis proposes that certain strategies such as bipolar reduction and high production intensity would be applied in order to conserve raw material over the winter. Tools size, expedient reuse and longer use-lives are also factors anticipated from the hypothesis. These factors are highly testable variables that will provide a deeper understanding of lithic technological strategies, but also, will provide insight into the activities being carried out over the winter occupation at Bridge River Village during the Fur Trade era.

The aim of this project was to provide a preliminary understanding of the Crows usage of plants. Ethnohistorical data, combined with botanical information, were utilized to give an overview of Crow ethnobotany. By focusing on the Crow tribe's views on health, religion, and food, we can provide an understanding their traditional knowledge about plants. Information was gathered from a select literature review of existing research. Chapter One addressed methods, theory, and significance of the project including an explanation of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Native North American ethnobotany. Chapter Two discussed Crow historical ethnography which includes a historical overview of their emergence from the Hidatsa, an explanation of their worldview and cosmology, a brief description of their religious ceremonies, as well as an explanation of the etiology of their illnesses. Chapter Three contained a list of eighty-two plants used by the Crow. The plants were listed alphabetically by Latin name first, followed by their common name, Crow name, the English translation of the Crow name, and additional common names. They were grouped by family. Each plant had a description of its appearance and location, and an explanation of how the Crows used the plant. The uses were categorized as tools, toys, toiletries, technology, food, medicine, and religion. Chapter Four was a critique on the complications and benefits of traditional ecological knowledge.