Contemporary anthropological theory can be seen as part of the debate over explanation and understanding in the study of human phenomena. This debate has important implications for the practice of anthropology and history, and in public affairs and everyday life as well. This dissertation focuses on the relationship between explanation and understanding--how they can be reconciled as part of a continuum or part of a larger intellectual process of interpretation, on the one hand, or how they can be separated from each other on the other. The opposition of explanation and understanding is examined in terms of object ontology, subject epistemology, and subject ontology. The authors who contributed most to this inquiry are Dilthey, Gadamer, Ricoeur, Weber, and Kroeber.

This study focuses on the lives and livelihoods of smallholding herders who reside in the high pastoral zones in the Province of Caylloma (Department of Arequipa) in southern Peru. Pastoralists in this region, also known as the upper Colca Valley, rely largely on family labor to raise camelids, sheep, and cattle. Sales of alpaca fiber, mutton and beef constitute primary sources of income, and residents rely on the market to acquire most consumption goods. The investigation explores the position of these simple commodity producers within the wider political economy and their responses to social and economic inequities. The overarching research methodology--tracing the flow of pastoral commodities--clarifies the interrelationships between temporally and spatially dispersed social processes. Ten months of ethnographic fieldwork in a small herding community included participant observation, structured interviews and collection of family and individual histories. These data provide a strong foundation for analyzing local systems of production and exchange and their imbeddedness in social organization. Additional information collected from fiber traders and exporters, meat dealers, local and state officials, and technical experts affords a broader regional, national, and international perspective on the commercialization of pastoral goods. Local residents are vulnerable to perturbations in the national economy and fluctuations in commodity prices. Further, they see their efforts as guardians of native camelids, an important national resource, receiving little official acknowledgment or support, a perspective which pertains to broader sense of cultural and political disenfranchisement. Local strategies for dealing with these tensions are twofold. People protect and enhance their interests at the level of household production through flexible, cooperative relations with kin. And, since the mid-1980s, herders in Caylloma have formed a grassroots organization to improve fiber prices through collective sales, to implement technical assistance programs, and to advocate for more favorable state policies.

abstract: In this dissertation, I examine how social perceptions of physical disability shape interactions in healthcare. Drawing upon the lived experience and insights of Diné (Navajo) individuals with physical disabilities, family members, and Diné/non-indigenous healthcare workers and service providers, I explore the interrelationship of social perceptions of physical disability with understandings of identity and performance of personhood. Embedded within discourses and critiques of ableism/disablism, narratives highlight the interconnection of constructs of personhood and productivity. Findings show that social perceptions of physical disability are closely linked to broader cultural norms surrounding concepts of health/illness. I offer a critical analysis of contemporary impacts of colonization and historical trauma on the physical, emotional, sociocultural and economic wellbeing of Diné people and those who fill service provision roles for this diverse population. Situated within broader contexts of defining constructs of ‘Whiteness’ and ‘Indigeneity’, the role of culture and discourses regarding stereotypes are particularly prominent factors in shaping relationships. This interdisciplinary ethnography brings together contributions from Anthropology, Disability Studies, and Indigenous paradigms. Placing a particular emphasis on the social dynamics in two urban centers in the state of Arizona, this ethnography centers on analyzing areas of medical practice that work well, as well as gaps in the provision of healthcare services, with a particular focus on systemic and infrastructural barriers. These concerns are shared not only by Diné individuals with physical disabilities and family members, but also by non-indigenous service providers and healthcare professionals. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2020

This study examines the process of ethnic maintenance within the Native American controlled educational programs at the Boston Indian Council (B.I.C.) in Boston, Massachusetts. Anthropologists and educators will find this study important because it analyzes how the B.I.C. functions as an innovative culture broker, providing opportunities for economic advancement while it publicly supports Native American ethnic identities. The B.I.C. integrates specific ethnic elements, particularly Micmac, as well as elements of pan-Indianism into their educational programs with Native American teachers in a setting analogous to a reserve household.

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The study uses a century of change in Orasac, Yugoslavia to examine the role of fertility in socio-economic change. The theoretical significance of the research is that it attempts to cope with the disparity between expectation as exemplified by the demographic transition and economic determinant models with the observed variability within patterns of social change. An approach to fertility is advanced which incorporates a sensitivity to traditional values regarding children and their role in change with economic concepts. It further argues that traditional values about the family are not necessarily antithetical to or incompatible with economic modernization. The conceptual framework employs a four-tier analytical hierarchy composed of the individual, household, lineage, and community with subsequent comparisons to regional and national trends. A primary consideration is given to modifying and operationalizing Caldwell's ideas about the economic importance of children, social values related to economic production, and wealth flow in determining fertility levels. Study results are used to assess the adequacy of theoretical generalizations about fertility and their relationship to social and economic change. Conclusions are advanced about intracommunity variation over time and the importance of different social levels in understanding change.

While the macro-level association between poverty and child malnutrition is well established, the concept of “poverty” and its operationalization in terms of measures of socioeconomic status shed little or no light on the mechanisms through which malnutrition is created and/or prevented. This paper investigates several such mechanisms that may mediate the impact of poverty on childhood nutrition. Of particular interest is the influence of women's access to instrumental resources, including time and money, and their social power to mobilize these resources be they their own, their household's, or located in networks extending beyond the household. These micro-level factors are examined using survey data on 402 children five years and younger and their 261 Fulbe mothers in rural Mali. A conceptual model of social power is developed and used to test the hypothesis that the offspring of mothers with high social power will be nutritionally better-off than the children of mothers with low social power. When controlling for known biological, individual, and extra individual determinants of child malnutrition, analysis reveals an independent effect of women's social power captured by measures of passivity/helplessness and felt control.