Digital language archives are used for the preservation of documented language data, such as video and voice recordings, transcriptions, survey data, and ethnographic fieldnotes. This data is most often used for research and linguists and anthropologists are generally heavily involved in the creation of language archives. Ideally, Indigenous communities that are represented in the archives are also able to access their data, but this is not always the case, especially if poor internet access and lack of technological know-how prevent archive use. In addition, western epistemologies are embedded in archival logics, exacerbating the issues surrounding Indigenous access and pointing to the need for a decolonizing archival design that centers the needs of its users. Using ethnographic research methods and a decolonizing framework, I conducted a usability study on the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (AILLA) to uncover the cultural-based meanings that inform AILLA use. Using linguistics and anthropology listservs, I recruited research participants for a Qualtrics survey and conducted semi-structured interviews that explore the user perspective on AILLA. I analyzed AILLA's Google Analytics data and used qualitative and quantitative research methods to build upon the previous literature in user-centered design approaches to language archives. As one of the largest online language archives in the world, AILLA serves an important role in the language documentation and cultural revitalization movement. Continued research in the field of user-centered design and non-Western epistemologies is necessary to ensure the accessibility of language archives and for AILLA to fulfill its mission of support for the survival of the Indigenous languages of Latin America.

This study examines the relationship between proposed desalination plants and increased plastic pollution along the Texas Gulf Coast. It specifically focuses on their expected impact on communities in the area and was conducted for Society of Native Nations. The goal was to gather information about environmental ideologies and experiences from different environmental experts and scientists to educate community members and inform policy recommendations. The study relied on semi structured interviews and archival research to understand how environmental experts and scientists envision the future, how they interpret the impact of desalination plants as related to plastic pollution. Ideas that guided this research include decolonial methodologies, political ecology, Indigenous research agendas, environmental justice and knowledge, cultural hybridity, and the anthropology of the borderlands. This research provides actionable steps and recommendations to improve environmental education in Texas Gulf Coast communities on the U.S./Mexico border and to reduce plastic pollution in order to ensure that these communities have ample amounts of water supply without relying on desalination plants.

This was a mixed-method user-centered study regarding the University of North Texas's student-owned learner record and credentialing system. Through methods of quantitative and qualitative inquiry, student perceptions were unearthed and recommendations to improve the system were provided.

This rapid ethnographic study explored how a 'mobile health education' app might impact preschool teachers and students, interact with organizational protocols and policies, and align with the preschool culture. The researcher evaluated the app's early Pre-K content and user experience. With a systems thinking approach, this study revealed the lived-experiences and processes in preschools around Austin, Texas. The outcomes of this study guided the client with more human-centered approaches to researching and designing their apps and services.

In 2019, a major academic medical center released a public health research report on life expectancies in Texas organized by zip code. The study revealed that the 76104-zip code, part of the central area of the city of Fort Worth, has the lowest life expectancy in the entire state. Concerned about the life expectancy study statistics, New Mount Rose Baptist Church, affiliated churches, and other community members sought to understand better why the life expectancy in their area was so low. This exploratory study uses a mixed-methods approach that incorporates interviews, a survey, and participant observation to help understand (i) how community members in the area feel, think about, and relate to their community, (ii) what the major social determinants of health are for them, and (iii) what health-related infrastructures in the area are lacking or need improvement. This study unearths perceptions of health and community from the various communities in the area and social and structural determinants of health in 76104.

Confrontée à des familles devant faire face à des questions reliées à l'honneur, l'ethnopsychiatrie ne peut faire l'économie de s'interroger sur cette notion. C'est l'un des objectifs de cette thèse qui se donne pour mission, non seulement de réaliser une revue de la littérature sur ce thème, mais aussi de dégager l'intérêt de ce concept pour cette discipline. / The notion of honor in psychotherapy and ethnopsychiatry: Interviews conducted with psychotherapists and ethnotherapists in Montreal and Paris. Having to treat families with honor related issues, ethnopsychiatry cannot afford to ignore this notion. The objectives of this thesis are to review the literature on the theme of honor and to impress the importance of the notion of honor in the field of ethnopsychiatry.

Confrontée à des familles devant faire face à des questions reliées à l'honneur, l'ethnopsychiatrie ne peut faire l'économie de s'interroger sur cette notion. C'est l'un des objectifs de cette thèse qui se donne pour mission, non seulement de réaliser une revue de la littérature sur ce thème, mais aussi de dégager l'intérêt de ce concept pour cette discipline. / The notion of honor in psychotherapy and ethnopsychiatry: Interviews conducted with psychotherapists and ethnotherapists in Montreal and Paris. Having to treat families with honor related issues, ethnopsychiatry cannot afford to ignore this notion. The objectives of this thesis are to review the literature on the theme of honor and to impress the importance of the notion of honor in the field of ethnopsychiatry.

Orkney is currently home to over 400 wind turbines and a growing marine energy industry, developing cutting edge technology for what could be called a global energy transition. Situated off the north tip of the Scottish mainland, the archipelago is also home to a long-standing local population of just over 21,000 inhabitants. In fact, habitation in these islands stretches back over 5,000 years, a connection expressed by the local population. This thesis rests at the intersection of these two points of interest: energy and locality. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork conducted between October 2013 and October 2014, this thesis analyses the communication of perceptions of renewable energy in the archipelago. It takes into consideration the specificity of one particular network of relations: the individuals employed or otherwise involved in the development and production of this energy while situating the specificity of these perceptions within the larger body of residents. Here, collective history, the importance of place, and maintenance of identity are intimately tied up in the range of perspectives present, as well as within the very promotion of the industry. The relationship between individual perception and collective affirmation, the existence of multiple spheres of realities, the simplification of realities in the communication meaning, and the relationship between nodes of interaction are all analysed. While far from a constantly discussed occurrence, the presence of renewable energy in Orkney has provided residents with a mobilising force, an impetus for discussions of the self, of identity and belonging, of the importance of place, and of the relationship between the past, present and future.

This thesis describes a pilot study for a new cultural anthropology initiative at Team One, a US-based premium and luxury brand advertising agency. In this study, I explore the role and meaning of technology among a population of affluent individuals in Southern California through diaries and ethnographic interviews conducted in their homes. Using schema theory and design anthropology to inform my theoretical approach, I discuss socioeconomic and cultural factors that shape these participants' notions of affluence and influence their presentation of self through an examination of their technology and proudest possessions. I put forward a theory of conspicuous achievement as a way to describe how the affluent use technology to espouse a merit-based model of affluence. Through this model of affluence, participants strive to align themselves to the virtuous middle-class while ascribing moral value to their consumption practices. Lastly, I provide a typology of meaningful technology artifacts in the affluent home that describes the roles of their most used tech devices and how each type supports conspicuous achievement.

Upward Bound is a federally funded program designed to help low-income and first-generation high school students become college graduates by providing them with academic enrichment, financial aid information, and relevant educational experiences. Many Upward Bound programs throughout the country include a 6-week summer program when participants stay in residence halls on a university campus. The Upward Bound program at the University of North Texas is one such program. The goals of this research project are to understand how the residential component of the summer program affects the experience of participants in Upward Bound and the possible benefits it may have towards meeting the overall goals of the program. Participant observation during the 2016 UNT Upward Bound summer program and interviews with participants, RAs, program alumni, and organizational leaders uncovered the ways in which the residential component benefits and enriches the experience of participation in Upward Bound.