This study examined infant caretaking practices among the Efe (Pygmies) and Lese, who inhabit the Ituri Forest in northeastern Zaire. The data presented here, collected as part of a larger study of child development among these people, focus on two related questions. First, to what extent are infants' mothers their primary caretakers during their first months of life? And second, who are the other individuals responsible for infants' care? Ten Efe and nine Lese infants were observed longitudinally. Naturalistic observations were made when infants were 3, 7, and 18 weeks old, using an event sequence format with the infant as the focal subject. The behavioral scoring system noted the occurrence of, or any changes in, the ongoing behavior of infant or caretaker, as well as caretaker identity, in each one-minute interval. Four measures of infants' contacts with caretakers were derived: percentage of intervals infants were in physical contact with various caretakers; the rate at which infants were transferred among caretakers; the mean length, in intervals, of caretaking bouts; and the mean number of individuals who held the infant in an observation period. Descriptive data and comparisons of caretaking by mothers and other caretakers are presented. Analyses examine non-maternal caretakers' age, gender, familial relationship to the infant, and the reproductive status of adult female caretakers. Data reveal that Efe and Lese caretaking practices include extensive participation by non-maternal caretakers. Efe infants spent more than 50%, and Lese infants almost 40% of the time with caretakers other than their mothers, and were passed to these caretakers more often than to their mothers. Infants spent little time out of physical contact with a caretaker. Effects of group membership and infant age on contributions by various classes of caretakers are presented. The findings are discussed with respect to models of mother-infant contact during the first months of life. Models such as the continuous care and contact or the bonding model, which place narrow and rigid constraints on the range of acceptable human caretaking practices are challenged, and a more culturally sensitive "strategic" model is proposed.

The origin of and impetus for the development of different and common life-styles and lifeways within various cross sections of modern society is a debated issue within anthropological scholarship. Different paradigms which guide the researcher in analyzing common objects of knowledge effect multiple foci and explanations of processes and patterns. The historical materialist paradigm argues that common life-styles and lifeways within a particular society are the effect of common fundamental conditions of existence. Utilizing the method of participant observation, the life-styles and lifeways of African-American, Latino, and European-American working people in the industrial community area of South Chicago, the second largest steel center in the nation, were studied. Emphasis was placed on attitudes and behaviors in the realms of electoral politics, during the era of Mayor Harold Washington, race and ethnicity, and sex-love practices toward discussing the degree of the expression of a common culture and consciousness of a common class position. Consciousness, as an effect of the ability to assess the conditions of existence and life processes in modern industrial society, is most manifest at the level of trade union consciousness in the context of working people in the United States. Elements of class consciousness gain expression intermittently.

This dissertation explores the nature of gender relations and their significance within Transkei society in South Africa. It focuses on how gender inequality is a process embedded in the social, economic and political fabric of Xhosa society in Transkei, and straddles the productive and reproductive realms. The study also looks at the extent to which gender inequality and patriarchal domination are incorporated into all spheres of the Transkei culture both ideologically and practically. A central claim of this study is that gender plays a key role in determining the ways in which men and women participate in economic, social and political activities. Men's and women's lives are socially and culturally structured in different ways and therefore male-dominated state policies and programs affect them differently and provoke different responses from them. In determining the ways in which men and women participate in economic, social, and political activities, a framework that stresses the dialectical interplay between patriarchal ideology in the home and and the labor market is developed. This framework allows me to examine the changes occurring in household and labor market relations, and the resultant contradictions and tensions within Transkei society as both men's and women's actions negotiate, maintain, challenge and redefine existing social structures. At the same time this framework maps Transkei's women's position both historically and in the present, and portrays them not as passive victims, but as active social actors who contribute to the historical changes and are in turn affected by them. Two rural villages in Cofimvaba district, Transkei, were selected for the study: Magwala, a predominantly Christian educated community, and Mangweni, a "traditional" non-literate community. The households in the latter community are the poorest and still practice some of the old Xhosa customs, while the households in the former community vary widely in wealth and economic activity.

This dissertation examines the history of alcohol among the Anishinaabe (also known as the Ojibway or Chippewa) people from the middle of the eighteenth century until the enactment of National Prohibition in 1920. As early as the eighteenth century, alcohol was an integral part of the gift-giving which preceded negotiations for the French--and later British and American--fur trade. Some Anishinaabe people incorporated alcohol into funerals, and there is also evidence that the Anishinaabeg had reasonable social controls around drinking into the twentieth century. Alcohol was also pivotal in shaping non-Indian stereotypes of Indian people. In the nineteenth century, the drinking habits of the Anishinaabeg were seen first as a sign of cultural weakness. The rhetoric of American missionaries emphasized that once the Anishinaabeg had accepted Christianity, they would choose to give up alcohol. However, these same missionaries also argued that in order to become Christian, the Anishinaabeg first would have to reject liquor. By the early twentieth century, the stereotype of the culturally inferior Indian combined with scientific racism to create the image of racially inferior Indians. These images served as the justification for Anishinaabeg dispossession in the early years of the twentieth century. Further, as Prohibition agitation increased in the early twentieth century, non-Indians used the Anishinaabeg in Minnesota to wage an ideological war not only about alcohol in white society but also about the extent of federal power in enforcing treaty provisions on non-Indians lands. Hence, the Anishinaabeg became the rhetorical vehicle for a complex debate which at times only marginally included them. By focusing on one Indian group at a particular point in time, this dissertation seeks to historicize one Indian group's experience with alcohol and to move away from generalizations about "Indians" and drinking. By presenting as full a picture as possible of the diversity of the Anishinaabe experience with alcohol, this dissertation hopes to emphasize both their humanity and their history.

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Child nutrition, illness and behavior are studied during the first baseline health surveys for Ranomafana National Park in the southeastern rain forest of Madagascar. Research objectives include: (1) documenting the prevalence and causes of undernutrition and illness, (2) evaluating the dietary importance of forest resources, (3) demonstrating how undernutrition affects children's work and social activities, and (4) examining the utility of resource shortage behavioral models in conservation-development management. Anthropometric, dietary, time allocation and socioeconomic data were collected during a 1989 cross-sectional health survey of 613 0 to 9 year old children in 7 representative communities, and during a 1990-91 multi-season study of 40 6 to 9 year old children and their households. Respiratory infections, malaria, helminths, scabies and diarrhea are the major illnesses. Chronic undernutrition and illness result from poor sanitation and frequent resort to alternative staples, which are deficient in nutrients compared to the ideal meal of rice, greens and legumes or meat. Nevertheless, in addition to rice production, cultivating a variety of these staples is important for obtaining food security, green leafy vegetables, and good child growth status in a land and labor limited environment. In the 1989 dry season, 9.4% of the children fall below $-$2 s.d. weight/height. This proportion increases in the wet season. Six to nine year old children become more sedentary around $-$1.5 s.d. weight/height, although their play and productive behavior is surprisingly varied until about $-$3 s.d. weight/height, or below 1000 kilocalories intake. This low weight/height status or caloric intake is likely if alternative staples are eaten more than one meal per day. The children's households demonstrate retrenchment coping strategies, or moderately irreversible levels of household commitment of assets. Some foods come from the forest, more so during harsh cyclones, but the sale of forest products becomes important much earlier to obtain cash to buy food. While extremely dependent on forest resources for household products and cash, the poorest households were not the largest forest exploiters. Some elements of the resource shortage models, with local modification, may be useful for long-term monitoring in conservation-development management. These surveys are the protocol for other Malagasy park projects.

My research explores my Egyptian family’s migration from Egypt to Saudi Arabia and Canada. It examines the role of photography to document memories of family reunions, migration, and stories. The objective of my study is to foster dialogue and raise awareness about the lived experiences of an Egyptian family from the 1950s to contemporary times. The methodology used in this series is open-ended interviews and textual analysis with family members: my mother, father and maternal grandfather. My research aims to reconstruct the historical effects of migration and the lived experience of an Egyptian family in the diaspora. It looks into intergenerational psychological trauma, its several interfaces and role in familial relationships, and modernity's emergence in Egypt. I aim to explore transnational identities through storytelling and photography that capture historical and contemporary movements—the role of these movements in producing complex versions of identities, belonging and trauma. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

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