Female genital cutting/circumcision/mutilation (FGC) is found predominantly in the Sahel, Northern Africa, removing parts/all of the clitoris, labia minora and majora in girls. Cutting the highly innervated external genitalia may change sensory processing leading to chronic pain. Fourteen Somali women in the Greater Toronto Area (21-46, Type III FGC) completed qualitative, quantitative and psychophysical methods to evaluate pain. Interviews analyzed by interpretive phenomenology form the core method, examining circumcision stories and present, embodied life. The second Short Form McGill Pain Questionnaire and quantitative sensory testing with a vulvalgesiometer form secondary components. Somali women with FGC have pain-filled stories about circumcision and daily life. Socio-cultural considerations are central for women to comprehend how their own bodies feel. SF-MPQ-2 indicates low intensity or no pain symptoms; however, many body regions were indicated. QST reveals low vulvar pressure-pain thresholds. Reports from three measures suggest that FGC may cause sensory changes including chronic pain.

Theories of writing are one of the fundamental ways by which Indigenous peoples have been labeled as "uncivilized." In these discussions, writing becomes synonymous with history, literacy, and often times Truth. As such, scholars studying Nahua codices and Andean khipu sometimes juxtapose the two because together they present a break in an evolutionary theory of writing systems that links alphabetic script with the construction of "complex civilizations." Contemporary scholars tend to offer an "inclusive" approach to the study of Latin American histories through challenging exclusive definitions of writing. These definitions are always informed and limited by language-the extent to which these "writing" systems represent language. However, recentering discussions of writing and language on what Gregory Cajete has called Native Science shifts the discussion to matters of ecology in a way that intersects with current scholarship in bicocultural diversity studies regarding the link between language, culture, and biodiversity. Because of the ways in which language configures rhetoric and writing studies, a shift in understanding how language emerges bears great impact on how we understand not only the histories tied to codices and khipu but also how they function as epistemologies. In my dissertation, I build a model of relationality using Indigenous and decolonial methodologies alongside the Nahua concept of in ixtli in yollotl (a wise face/a wise heart) and embodied rhetorics. The model I construct here offers a path for understanding "traditional" knowledges as fluid and mobile. I specifically look at the relationship between land, bodies, language, and Native Science functions on the reciprocal relationship between those three components in making meaning. I then extend this argument to show how the complex web of relations that we might call biocultural diversity produces and is produced by "things" like images from codices and khipu that in turn help to (re)produce biocultural diversity. Thing theory, in emerging material culture studies, argues for the agency of cultural artifacts in the making of various realities. These "things" always-already bear a relationship to bodies and "nature." Thing theory, then, can challenge us to see artifacts like khipu and Nahua images as language artifacts and help us connect Nahua images and khipu to language outside of a text-based model. Ultimately, I argue that Native Science asks us to see language as a practice connected to biocultural diversity.

This study explores the relationship between tourism, the nutrition transition, and prenatal dietary practices in the Monteverde Zone, Costa Rica. This rural tourism community, located in the central highlands of Costa Rica, has seen rapid growth and development since the tourism boom in the early 1990s, leading to changes in the local food system and increased food insecurity. This investigation added to this work by identifying the ways that prenatal dietary practices have shifted over time in the context of increased tourism and the concomitant nutrition transition, and by describing the relationship between food insecurity and nutritional status among pregnant women. In applying a critical biocultural approach, this study drew on both quantitative and qualitative methods. Pregnant women were recruited to participant in twenty-four hour diet recalls (n=21), the Household Food Insecurity and Access Scales (n=20), and semi-structured interviews (n=22). Women who had older children were also recruited for semi-structured interviews (n=20) to explore prenatal dietary practices and decision-making over time. Focus groups (N=2, n=15) and surveys with a free listing component (n=52) were administered to better understand the cultural construction of nutrition in this region, and how tourism and the nutrition transition have interacted with the local dietary norms. Overall this study found that there was a relationship between tourism, the nutrition transition, and diet, although findings suggest that pregnant women may be buffered from these effects by cultural factors. Food insecurity was present in the sample (n=7) and was associated with numerous variables, including saturated fat and zinc intake.

Supplementary feeding continues to be a widespread strategy for child health promotion though its efficacy remains contested. The long-standing, Malaysian national food assistance program for children - Program Pemulihan Kanak-Kanak Kekurangan Zat Makanan (PPKZM) - fits this pattern, receiving severe criticism for its limited impact on child nutritional status. Still, the program remains, producing a seeming paradox and prompting questions of how it fits into (1) the larger political context of national health policy and (2) more localized village and clinic environments. This research combines historical inquiry with the in-depth, ethnographic study of two predominantly Malay coastal villages in Malaysian Borneo, where child anthropometry and household food insecurity rates establish a clear need for the PPKZM despite low coverage rates. This study assesses the ways in which common, local foods are perceived and categorized and the degree to which these understandings are shared both (1) within the communities and (2) between the communities and the clinics that serve them. Community members do not share a single core set of well-known food items. Instead, multiple microenvironments within the fieldsites likely dictate differential diets and prioritize distinct sets of foods. Agreement is more pronounced among clinic workers, who display a simple food classification system based almost exclusively on taxonomic differences with the rationale for these distinctions expressed in nutritional terms. Although community members recognize the same constitutive kinds, their categories are more nuanced and reflect the concerns of day-to-day practice, encompassing when and how a food item is encountered; its origins, relative expense, and common usage; and who will likely consume it. The dissertation relates cultural models for food classification to health education messages, PPKZM programming guidelines, community conditions, and food beliefs and practices. It facilitates an understanding of place - as viewed through the lens of food security - and addresses the relative fit of current nutritional programming within this context. The study offers concrete design recommendations for a successful, child-specific food package in the short-term while arguing for a more holistic, household-level solution.

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For many American women, insurance restrictions and lack of access restrict women’s options when choosing birth experiences. This research uses a biocultural approach and cognitive anthropological methods to explore the ways and the degree to which alternative birthing practices, such as home-, clinic-, and hospital-based natural births, and midwifery services, physically and emotionally affect the women and infants who experience them. This research explores the reasons women pursue natural or alternative births. These topics are explored through interviews with women who have had natural births, who have used midwifery services, and who have had highly medicalized, OBGYN-attended births. Findings indicate that while there is not an overarching cultural model of how women want to experience birth, there is a shared cultural model concerning the nature of birth among Mississippi women. Results show that women benefit more, emotionally and physically, from natural birth and midwifery care than from highly medicalized birth.

Pregnancy brings numerous physiological and psychosocial changes and conditions, which can include gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and mental health conditions, including anxiety, and mood disorders such as depression. Food insecurity, or not having access to a diet that meets needs and preferences, may make management of pregnancy complications more challenging. I examined whether or not food insecurity was associated with a greater prevalence of mental health conditions, or GDM during pregnancy. I used the biocultural and syndemics approaches to the investigate the relationships among these conditions and to understand their interactions with the larger environment. The main questions are: (1) Does pregnancy increase the risk of developing or worsening food insecurity? (2) Are there positive associations between food insecurity during pregnancy and GDM as well as mental health conditions? (3) How does food insecurity impact the management of above-mentioned issues? (4) What are the experiences of individuals who have had GDM during pregnancy? To answer these questions, I undertook a mixed methods approach that involved quantitative analysis of the Canadian Community Health Survey, as well as a survey administered to pregnant people in the city of Hamilton. I also quantitatively analyzed pre-existing focus group transcripts and conducted one-on-one interviews with pregnant and postpartum people in Hamilton. This study found that there is a syndemic interaction between food insecurity, GDM, and mental health conditions in Canada. Analysis of focus group and interview transcripts provided further insight into the complex environments that shape risk for developing one, or more of these conditions during pregnancy. These results indicate how the pregnancy experience is impacted by a multitude of factors, which can lead to increasing complication risk. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Due to disproportionate violence impacting the trans community, forensic anthropologists may increasingly encounter the remains of trans and non-binary individuals; however, it is presently unknown how often trans remains are represented in casework and if practitioners have sufficient knowledge about trans personhoods. After contextualizing forensically relevant demographics for the trans community, this study uses anonymous survey data of forensic anthropologists to explore the collective knowledge of and experience working with trans remains; practitioners’ perceptions of sex and gender; and potential opportunities for trans-oriented research in forensic anthropology. The results indicate that 28.9% of respondents have worked with trans remains in casework, but 75.0% of forensic anthropologists were unfamiliar with trans-related surgical procedures. Additionally, the survey indicates that forensic anthropologists struggle with the binary nature of forensic sex estimation, with 42.4% agreeing that sex is binary and 56.2% disagreeing. Similar opposition was found with reporting gender: 39.5% indicated that gender should be reported in casework and 31.0% disagreed. Moreover, current sex estimation methods and reporting are: rigidly binary; not reflective of human biological variation; and inadequate for trans and non-binary individuals. In order to dismantle rigidly binary sex categorization, we propose the adoption of a biocultural and queer theoretical approach to forensic sex estimation and in sexual dimorphism research that challenges heteronormative assumptions, questions typological two-sex categorization, and combats the presumptions that gender and sex are stable, independent entities that convey universal meaning. Relatedly, trans-oriented research, which is supported by 95.8% of respondents, will further improve methodological accuracies. / 2022-02-23T00:00:00Z

Under ever intensifying pressures from land use, climate change, and erosion, tropical islands are among the most vulnerable systems in the world. Terrestrial systems are weakened by intensifying land use patterns, the weakening of which is highlighted when high intensity rainfall events erode sediment and leads to sediment deposition on the marine system. The deposition of sediment on the marine system is a major stressor that can lead to weakened coral reefs and a decrease in marine resources commonly gathered for food. These interactions have led to the emergence of biocultural resource management strategies, one of which is the ahupua'a system. The ahupua'a system, at some scales, is an example of a resilient resource management strategy that has held up despite the pressures and challenges of living on a tropical island. Here we utilize a combination of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) and autonomous surface vehicles (ASV) to gather imagery that is then used in geospatial analyses to better understand the ahupua'a of Ka'amola as well as evaluate coral reef structure along the south shore of Molokai. Our terrestrial work using UAVs and geospatial analyses supports qualitative data from community members and local land managers regarding sediment movement trends they have noticed. Steep slopes coupled with a weakened landscape and decreasing vegetative cover due to ungulate grazing has primed the area for erosion during high intensity rainfall events. Our marine work matches trends observed in previous studies and highlights the value in utilizing an ASV to perform marine remote sensing while also acknowledging the limitations associated with a system such as the one built for our research work.

This doctoral dissertation examines the holistic health and wellbeing of a First Nation community to understand several factors relating to environmental racism and water contamination that support and hinder community health and wellbeing to inform future policy. This dissertation incorporates a mix of methodological approaches across three interrelated research studies to better understand the direct and indirect factors influencing water security and community health and wellbeing. Study 1 consists of a theoretical approach to co-creating knowledge between Indigenous collaborators and medical anthropologists. It highlights the importance of community-based participatory research in medical anthropology and frames the co-creation of a health survey through three phases as a boundary object that can create dialogical space for Indigenous and settler-scholar pedagogies and priorities. It demonstrates how CBPR and co-creation work allows for the reciprocal development of long-term partnerships that work in solidarity with the Two-Row Wampum (Kaswentha) treaty established by the Haudenosaunee Nation and European settler nations. Study 2 presents an analysis of household water access, quality, and use, specifically how E. coli and mercury contaminations of household tap water are related to reported household health conditions for a sample of 66 households (representing 226 individuals) living in Six Nations First Nation. Logistic regression models were built to identify possible associations with water use and treatment variables for mental health, eczema, and gastroenteritis, with a second model adding contaminants as predictor variables. In the second model, E. coli was found to be a significant predictor for the presence of mental health conditions within the household, and households primarily purchasing bulk bottled water were more likely to report mental health conditions. Those using bleach/chlorine to treat their tap water were more likely to report gastroenteritis. Reported tap water uses indicated that 57% of contaminated tap water was still being used for activities that may heighten exposure risks (such as washing produce). Investigating household tap water uses beyond drinking water demonstrates alternative pathways for contaminant exposures for Six Nations Peoples, who have deep cultural relationships with water. Study 3 contains a mixed methods approach to investigate the effects of water access, satisfaction, and experiences of water insecurity for the sample of 66 households in Six Nations of the Grand River First Nations, to inform culturally effective ways of assessing water insecurity for Indigenous Nations experiencing long term water shortages, contamination, and other water- related concerns. Water security was measured using the Household Water InSecurity Experiences (HWISE) scale and Likert-scale questions on water access at household, community, service, and environmental levels, and contextualized using interviews. Results demonstrate a high level of water insecurity in the sample of Six Nations households (57.5%, n=38); women were more dissatisfied with their drinking water (p=0.005), and younger participants were more likely to report contamination issues (p=0.02) and higher monthly water costs (p=0.03). Qualitative interviews informed these results, revealing that experiences of water insecurity and poor health were shaped by the degradation of traditional lands. This posed specific barriers for Six Nations women, who face physical and geographical barriers to household and community water access while caretaking for their communities and fulfilling their roles as water protectors. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The goal of this doctoral dissertation was to explore the connections between water security and health with Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, to explore the nuanced factors that inform perceptions of drinking water and better understand who in the community faces higher challenges and barriers throughout the water crisis. This project was co-created research using Indigenous Knowledge (IK) with medical anthropology approaches to understand water security, satisfaction, quality, and relationships as they relate to Haudenosaunee health. Water security was explored through tap and well water contamination tests, survey data, and interviews and focus groups. Water insecurity was reported for 57.5% of 66 households in this sample, with 21.2% having E. coli contamination in their tap water, 25.4% having mercury in their tap water exceeding provincial drinking water limits, and 77% of households relying primarily on bottled drinking water rather than their tap water. While water insecurity experiences were quite high in this study, Western metrics are not able to capture the crucial elements of Indigenous water relationships, such as community and cultural relationships with the land, environmental racism, and the consequences of environmental degradation, such as grief or poor mental health, relating to water and climate crisis. Water insecurity experiences are best understood as highly localized experiences that have mental health, physical health, and environmental consequences for Indigenous communities. To fully untangle the specific cultural, spiritual, racial, and colonial landscapes or structures that have shaped Six Nations experiences and perceptions of their local water, co-created and flexible place- based methodologies are needed.