As combat veterans returned from supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, questions over the safety of vaccinations as well as exposure to burn pit smoke and toxic metals lying dormant in the sand emerged. For many, returning home was marred by unexplained symptoms followed by diagnoses of autoimmune diseases and/or cancer. This research examines how these veterans negotiate this transition from healthy to sick struggling with the many forces that interact with this transition. I focused on the lived experience of their illness as it is non-verbally expressed through embodiment, verbally expressed through illness narratives, and negotiated to avoid stigma. This research is situated in and through the body. It is based on assumptions, rooted in context, founded on theory, and framed by visual methodology. I utilized photo elicitation and photo voice in concert with open-ended interviews of 10 Operation Iraqi and/or Enduring Freedom veterans diagnosed with autoimmune diseases and/or cancer. I then created a digital story to give voice to these often overlooked veterans in hopes of educating not only clinicians but also a broader audience. It is also a call to other anthropologists to fill this most important qualitative research gap.

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This dissertation examines the historical traditions and ritual representations of Incan society through the conceptual framework of dual organization. Broadly defined as the division of society into opposed halves, dual organization has been an enduring pattern of social classification in South America. In Pre-Hispanic times, it characterised the social and spatial organization of Cuzco -- the imperial capital of Tawantinsuyu -- which was divided into two asymmetric moieties, Hanan and Urin, composed of several elite factions. Analysis of this system has been hitherto restricted to a branch of ethnohistory informed by structural and cultural anthropology. Very few works have yet investigated the dynamics that linked dualism with the shaping of an historical consciousness proper to the pre-Hispanic ruling elite. The present thesis offers to fill this lacuna in modern scholarship by reassessing Incan narratives in the light of moiety division. In doing so, it identifies the traits proper to two distinctive bodies of Incan traditions, each of which encloses a particular, and mutually conflicting, representation of the past reflecting the moieties' respective perspectives. Such an approach not only harmonizes many discrepancies affecting primary sources on Incan society, but also enables a re-examination of other forms of dualist representation in Incan religion. Three case studies are therefore considered through this methodological approach: the structure of Incan cosmology, the seasonal division of the metropolitan calendar, and the ritual expressions of social antagonisms. The first case study suggests that Incan religion was divided into two sub-cults headed by divinities that were complementary in overseeing water regulation throughout the annual cycle. The second case study shows that the dual division of yearly activities did not coincide sensu stricto with the temporal setting of the Andean meteorological seasons, but rather followed a time framework guided by communal activities and astronomical knowledge. The last case study reveals that the formal model of the conical clan not only clarifies the underlying structure of Incan descent, but also enlightens the triggering mechanisms of Incan succession wars and moiety conflicts. The outcome of this work decolonizes the Andean past by refining our understanding of historical representations in pre-colonial societies.

Nicodemus, Kansas is one of the few remaining settlements founded by African American former slaves in the post-Civil War period of American history. Designated by the National Park Service as a National Historic Site in 1996, Nicodemus has secured its role as a place deemed important to the history of America. For this project, I worked as an intern for the Nicodemus Historical Society, under the direction of Angela Bates. This local heritage preservation agency manages archival and genealogical records important to Nicodemus descendants, and exhibits several of the community's cultural and material artifacts for the public. I was specifically involved in the collection of archival research for this agency and the facilitation of an oral history project. In addition to these duties, I used the ethnographic techniques of participant observation and semi-structured interviewing to explore how Nicodemus descendant identity is constructed, and how this identity maintains its continuity into the present day. Using Annette Weiner's arguments concerning women's roles in identity formation and cultural reproduction in Inalienable Possessions, I worked to discover the ways that women have historically worked to preserve Nicodemus cultural heritage and reproduce Nicodemus descendant identity for future generations.