<p> Within the space of a battle to halt ski resort expansion and snowmaking on the San Francisco Peaks, a mountain in northern Arizona, a coalition has emerged of indigenous activists (primarily Din&eacute;), Euroamerican environmentalists, and anarchists. The resulting collaboration, Mountain Defense, goes beyond usual models of environmentalist-indigenous alliances as temporary and incommensurate. This dissertation explores the development of the Mountain Defense movement over time, the motivations of activists from divergent backgrounds in opposing snowmaking, the social interactions and negotiations of identity within this group, and the public discourse by which they construct a message about this space and threats to it. Ethnographic fieldwork was undertaken from 2009 to 2015; key methods of data collection included participant observation, interviews, archival research, and collection of spoken, print, and online communication. This data was analyzed for emergent themes as well as the ways in which meaning was produced between parties. Situating Mountain Defense within scholarship on place-making, traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), and social constructionism, this dissertation explicates how the movement has articulated a hybrid knowledge, including layered conceptualizations of sacred land and syntheses of sacred and scientific idioms in expressing the dangers of snowmaking technology. This research also speaks to the complex dimensions and continuing salience of Din&eacute; relationships with the San Francisco Peaks and the ways in which snowmaking and expansion threaten these. </p>

This project explores domestic violence advocacy in California by tracing historical, social, and cultural influences; examining the limit of the law and bias of those who uphold it; and analyzing a local domestic violence agency that provides services to survivors. Through the frameworks of anti-essentialization, and intersectionality I analyze gender roles and stereotypes ingrained in our culture. The essentialization of what it is to be a women renders women’s differences invisible, making it difficult for law and policy to address. By looking at domestic violence through an intersectional lens, the multi-layered nature women’s experiences can be revealed. However, not all laws and policies reflect this intersectional viewpoint which limits their effectiveness. The law can also be limited by those who enforce and interpret it. Those within law enforcement and the justice system are not immune to the stereotypes, and assumptions of the culture we live in. I use several women’s stories as well as advocate interviews to demonstrate the bias or attitude of indifference that can be held by law enforcement and the court system. The advocates who work closely with survivors of domestic violence use a client-centered approach to advocacy. This affirms the client’s ability and right to make her own decisions. The advocates partner the use of boundaries and self-care with this client-centered approach in order to best serve their clients.

The practice of gathering water from community springs in Kentucky constitutes a rich and complex research setting for the study of folklore beliefs and practices. Local knowledge construction, nostalgia as an evaluative process, contested views about purity and impurity, the protection and retention of a “public commons,” and the crisis which ensues when infrastructure maintenance and the delivery of safe drinking water are no longer guaranteed to communities, are all relevant to this vernacular practice. My thesis explores these topics, informed by fieldwork I conducted in nine Kentucky counties, which included formal and informal interviews with individuals who have used springs, as well as participant observation of spring sites. Roadside water sources are used by the public for drinking water, and are vestiges of the public commons. In addition to gathering water, these sites allow us to gather and study folkloric practice and knowledge. Historically, community springs were utilized before public water systems were implemented, providing a critical source of water for travelers, or for those who did not have private access to a reliable water source. Yet today, even with the presence of municipal water systems, many people still gather water from springs. My thesis integrates archival/historical library research, participant observation, and oral history narratives collected in 2016 as part of a Kentucky Oral History Commission Project Grant, in order to illuminate two fundamental research questions: Why do people prefer to get water from springs today? And what cultural meanings are constructed through the continued engagement with this tradition? I examine the historical use of these resources, their relationship to the implementation of municipal water systems, and how localized knowledge about water purity is formed and put into practice in this region. I also explore the use of nostalgia, collective memory, and narrative for constructing place and landscape, as well as theorize on how springs function as public commons resources today. I also use photographs to convey ethnographic knowledge distinct from the written word, providing an opportunity to convey sensory information about the spaces I describe in my research.

<p> This thesis is a critical study of two exhibits, <i> First Encounters Spanish Exploration in the Caribbean</i> and <i> A Tribute to Survival</i>. The objective of the thesis was to understand if and how indigenous activists, using the media as tool, were able to change curatorial approaches to exhibition development. Chapter 1 is broken into three sections. The first section introduces the exhibits and succinctly discusses the theory that is applied to this thesis. The second section discusses the objectives of the project and the third provides a brief outline of the document. Chapter 2 discusses the historical background of American museums in an attempt to highlight changes in curatorial attitudes towards the public, display, interpretation, and authority. Chapter 3 gives a more in-depth overview of the methodology and materials utilized in the thesis. Chapter 4 is a critical analysis of the literature for both <i>First Encounters</i> and <i> A Tribute to Survival</i>. Chapter five is a summary of the thesis and offers a conclusion of the effectiveness of using the media as a tool.</p>

<p> This dissertation presents an analysis of the reconstruction of urban folk arts as cultural heritage in China. Focusing on material culture and folk performances revived in two Beijing folklore markets, the dissertation discusses the neoliberal marketization that coincides with urban commercial zoning in China since the 1980s. The dissertation examines the intertwined cultural and economic dimensions of collective nostalgia, urban marketization and heritage developmentalism. Based on ethnographic and archival research in Beijing from 2010 to 2015, the dissertation addresses China&rsquo;s collaboration with UNESCO in world cultural heritage program. It looks closely at the process of cultural heritage marketization, which is geared toward a developmental agenda. Such a heritage construction appears in conjuncture with the rise of the new Chinese cultural industry and cultural entrepreneurship, reconfiguring the sociopolitical role of folk arts and folk artists in China. </p><p> Through the ethnographic lens, the dissertation focuses on depicting the everyday life in contemporary Beijing surrounding folklore marketplaces. In particular, it describes material engagements established by connoisseurs and collectors in two major folklore markets, the Shilihe and the Panjiayuan market, demonstrating a new Chinese folklore connoisseurship that ascends and reconfigured in contemporary Beijing. This dissertation argues that the desire, and the collective effort, to overcome the post-Mao social and cultural transformation have materialized in the revival of folk traditions as marketized cultural heritage. It contends that the ascending cultural market propels the hope of national rejuvenation while bringing about a new form of possessive individualism alongside the process of privatization.</p>

<p> Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, there has been a significant amount of research on the Middle East and Islam. These studies inform the academic community regarding the culture and religion of the region and its people. An area of research regarding the culture and people of the Middle East that has not been represented in the literature is the experience of honor. Honor has been researched from a sociological and anthropological perspective, and honor killings have been present in the media. However, there was a need for the experience of honor, specifically among first generation Levantine Arab American women, to be explored in a qualitative study. The methodology used for this study was Moustakas&rsquo; heuristic research design, which allowed the primary researcher to illuminate the experience of honor among first generation Levantine Arab American women. The study found that honor was a complex experience for the participants. The multifaceted experience was familial and societal, public and private, and individual and collective. The experience of honor among first generation Levantine Arab American women was found to be one that started in early childhood and continued into adulthood, never really ending for the participant. The participants describe their lives as a struggle between the wants of the individual and the wants of the family and community. The implications of the study are discussed further in Chapter 5.</p>

<p> The negative statistics pertaining to American Indian women education should cause concern for everyone. The data reflect that American Indian women graduate high school behind all other demographic categories. In contrast, all participants of this study graduated high school and ascended to various levels of higher education. This paradox lends itself to further investigation despite opposing views of some scholars who believe there is nothing more to add. This research explored the existence of a correlation between culture and education for American Indian women who served in the pow wow princess role. Members of the American Indian women were called-upon for their cultural insights and tacit knowledge that is unknown to many outsiders. Interviewing pow wow princesses and exploring the role they fulfilled as a pow wow princess within the American Indian community produced information and data that was used to analyze the existence of a correlation between positive educational outcomes of American Indian women who have served in the pow wow princess role. This research helped to create a better understanding and essence of the pow wow princess role from the perspective of American Indian women who served in this role and being able to apply gained knowledge to other areas of the American Indian body of research. The design of this research employed a qualitative mixed methods approach that was used to conduct field research and gather data through administering the American Indian Enculturation Scale survey designed by Winderowd, Montgomery, Stumblingbear, Harless, and Hicks (2008) and conducting personal interviews with a questionnaire developed by the researcher that triangulated the selected instruments with theories contained within the body of research. The findings of this study suggest there is a correlation between the pow wow princess role and positive educational outcomes of American Indian women serving in this role. These findings support and add to the existing body of research.</p>

<p> Cooperation between members of subordinate and dominant national groups under conditions of alien rule is routine: rulers demand it, and the ruled&mdash;willingly or unwillingly&mdash;supply it. Yet the boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable cooperation&mdash;what I term interactional norms&mdash;vary. Scholars have yet to explain how and why cooperation varies under military occupation, colonial rule, or other cases of asymmetric power relations between distinct identity groups. This study fills that gap by assessing fluctuations in Palestinian cooperation with Israel from 1967&ndash;2016, building a theory of <i> Purpose-Driven Boundary Maintenance.</i> It process-traces a causal story, beginning with leadership dynamics, working through social purpose, and noting distinct and probable outcomes around interactional norms. Social purpose&mdash;<i> the shared goals of a group that create obligations to behave in ways that aim at achieving collective goals</i>&mdash;is considered a necessary condition for realizing clear interactional boundaries for subordinate groups under alien rule. Social purpose is triggered with cohesive leadership, producing sharp interactional norms and encouraging norm-compliance. When national strategy aims toward diplomacy, interactional norms will be positive (promoting cooperative relations with the dominant group), and compliance will be high. When national strategy aims at resistance, interactional norms will be negative (prohibiting certain interactions with the dominant group), and compliance will be moderate. Fragmented leadership, on the other hand, fails to trigger social purpose, resulting in social anomie. Where compliance exists, it is sporadic and isolated from a cohesive national strategy. This study draws on 2 years of fieldwork and process-traces changes in Palestinian interactional norms from 1967&ndash;2016, highlighting critical junctures and explaining shifts in five major phases of contestation: (1) The beginning of occupation&mdash;1967&ndash;1987 (2) the first intifada&mdash;1987&ndash;1993 (2) the Oslo years&mdash;1994&ndash;2000 (3) the second intifada&mdash;2000&ndash;2006 (4) and the post-inqisam years&mdash;2006&ndash;2014. </p>

<p> This research stems from my questioning regarding the lack of research of precolonial archaeological sites and their almost complete absence in the new industry of tourism. I chose my field site on the city of Granada because of the historical importance in the economy of the country, its foundation as the first establishment of Spanish colonizers, and its centrality today in Nicaraguan tourism. Babb (2004) argues that the introduction to tourism industry provides the opportunity to the Nicaraguan government to remake its image to the outside. This remaking of the country&rsquo;s image will affect how Nicaraguans view themselves. In that sense my main question is: what are the effects of tourism on the identity of granadinos? I argue that the Nicaraguan government takes an active position in presenting tourists with a modernized (not indigenous or black) Nicaraguan community by silencing their past and present, and presenting to tourists only the European heritage of the country; such narratives gives a partial representation of the Nicaraguan identity to foreign visitors; at the same time it projects and naturalizes Nicaraguan identity as &ldquo;mestizo.&rdquo; I conclude tourism narratives are reinforcing a mestizo identity through the colonial heritage. Young mestizos as well as indigenous people continue to admire and emulate foreigners&rsquo; accents, clothing, sports, hairdo, etcetera.. I believed that the reason for these changes were rooted in the introduction of tourism and new cultural expressions, however, from this research I concluded that is rooted in the effects of the colonial period on the identity of the population. For centuries the Spanish crown and later the national governments eroded the foundation of the indigenous identity, thus the origins of mestizo identity as well. Thereby creating an identity crisis among both ethnic groups and a deep tension on the subject of identity, furthering the racialization of indigenous and Afro-descendant communities. Mestizaje successfully silenced indigenous populations, and ignored the indigenous origin of mestizos. However, currently mestizos do participate in indigenous cultural expressions departing from the hegemonic concept of mestizo - as in complete opposition to indigenous identity -, although they deny or ignore and racialize indigenous people. I consider that the introduction of tourism has brought changes in the Nicaraguan population. The government narratives based on colonial identities create a new environment where colonial relationships are reproduced. In my opinion this is a negative impact of tourism, however, it may lead to new conversations about colonialist interactions, ethnic identity and racism that remain covert in the everyday lives of Nicaraguans. </p>

<p> The US Census Bureau reveals the number of families in poverty in the United States in 2014 was 9.5 million, at a rate of 11.6 percent. In the current economic climate, many more families are facing the possibility of eviction, foreclosure and homelessness. Low income families may be able to secure a residence through low-income housing organizations. Orange County Community Housing Corporation is an organization that offers a program in addition to long-term housing in areas such as financial literacy, education, and health. In this setting, tenants may begin to think about more future oriented prospects rather than daily/weekly survival issues. As families become more stable, their perceptions of success and how the program may help them will reveal how services can be tailored more effectively.</p><p> The purpose of this ethnographic study is to discover how participants within Orange County Community Housing Corporation define success. As tenants are involved in the program, program definitions may play a part not only in shaping tenants&rsquo; immediate goals (i.e., finding employment, returning to school), but also their overall perception of success. Tenants&rsquo; definitions of success may also contribute to how the program is shaped. This qualitative study will utilize participant-observation and semi-structured interviews with the overall aim to explore the intersection of tenant and program definitions of success and their convergence towards sustainable outcomes for tenants, which includes averting homelessness and working towards greater &ldquo;self-sufficiency.&rdquo;</p>