<p> This dissertation explores a discourse of democratic modernity in EU-member Bulgaria, which revolves around a hybrid popular music called chalga. I argue that chalga does not function as the name of a defined music genre. Rather, Bulgarians use it as a self-reflexive voice of ambivalence regarding the recontextualziation in liberal democracy of the socialist language ideology of evolutionary modernization: <i> navaksvane</i>&mdash;catching up&mdash;with Europe. On one hand, chalga indexes musical images that resonate with the current <i>zeitgeist</i> of modern European culture: aesthetical and social heterogeneity as well as commercial mass media. On the other hand, Bulgarians take this Ottoman-derived word as a non-referential index that invokes anxieties of Balkanism&mdash;a discursive trope of European modernity that has invented the Balkans as its liminal incomplete Self. As the ethnographic chapters of the dissertation show, Bulgarians deal with their ambivalence to chalga by seeking paternalist figures capable of imposing the language regimes of <i>navaksvane</i> when performers and audiences digress too much into coded zones of Balkan liminality. Regimenting modern popular music with top-down control points also to the political communication implicit in chalga. Cognizant of their inferior location vis-&agrave;-vis "real modern societies", ordinary Bulgarians seek paternalist leaders who can address them on an intimate level but are powerful enough to impose norms and practices circulating to Bulgaria from loci that represent the Occident. The expectation to have such leaders is not exclusive to democracy. It defined the political culture during socialism and even before. What is special to the contemporary era is the discursive formulation of such leadership, which I define as paternalistic populism. Bulgarians regard democracy as working in their country when it is guided from above by an authoritarian boss <i>(shef),</i> who knows how to anticipate the popular will, how to ally with bigger and external forces in order to overcome the society's marginality, and most importantly, how to act with "barbarous" Balkan aggression so as to put the nation in modern European order.</p>

<p> An academic dialog concerning the intersectionality of national origin, economic class and gender, as mutually constitutive elements of migration, set the context for my inquiry into the experiences of wives who are barred from paid labor by their restricted visa status. Guided by grounded theory, I conducted seventeen semi-structured qualitative interviews to examine ways in which a move to Silicon Valley under a restricted visa class changes the self-image of women, and how they evaluate this change. I found that the ambiguous agency construct of women socialized in the Soviet and post-Soviet eras facilitated their choice to migrate despite the visa restrictions. After emigrating, the women tended to embrace values of individualism and self-reliance, which reinforced their professional ambitions. However, the absence of professional options created a split between the women&rsquo;s lived experiences and their self-representation. In addition, I found that a visa that prohibits employment creates a homogenizing effect on women&rsquo;s self-images, putting them on similar personal and professional tracks and making their legal and economic status less predictable. These findings suggest that structural strategies might be adopted to help these women reclaim their self-images and exert more control over the selection and pursuit of their goals.</p><p>

<p> This dissertation addresses questions related to craft production, social identity, and interaction through a multifaceted analysis of ceramic production and use during the Majiayao (3200-2000BC) and Qijia (2300-1500BC) periods in the Tao River Valley of northwestern China's Gansu Province. Situated between the Gobi Desert to the north and the foothills of the Tibetan Plateau to the south, for millennia this area acted as a key conduit for interaction between groups in central China and the Eurasian steppe. Majiayao and Qijia communities played a vital role in adopting, adapting, and retransmitting new domesticates, technologies, and ideas in both directions, helping shape the course of both Chinese and steppe civilization.</p><p> Despite these contributions to the development and spread of Chinese civilization, however, this region of northwest China is often pigeonholed into the trope of cultural devolution, with climatic shifts forcing a change from sophisticated Majiayao farmers to the small-scale, possibly pastoral societies of the Qijia. This conclusion is based almost entirely on shifts in pottery form and decoration, with the large, elaborately painted urns of the Majiayao period being replaced by the smaller, mostly undecorated pottery that defines the Qijia period. This dissertation challenges these conclusions by investigating the relationship between craft production, consumer and producer identity, and social interaction in order to provide a more nuanced understanding of the continuities and changes occurring between the two periods.</p><p> Taking a communities of practice based approach to ceramic production, this research focuses first on identifying potential groups of producers through assessment of paste recipes and forming techniques. In order to identify these groups, sherds from four Majiayao and Qijia habitation and mortuary contexts were sampled and analyzed using petrographic analysis. This technique provides information not only on the mineralogical makeup of a vessel, but also can provide insight into specific paste recipes and production techniques. This study revealed striking differences between vessels from mortuary and habitation contexts during the Majiayao period, pointing to the potential use of mortuary rituals for the negotiation and construction of relationships with other communities. It also demonstrated surprising continuity in production knowledge and techniques between the two periods, showing that changes in pottery form and decoration are not necessarily accurate reflections of underlying shifts in social identity. </p><p> In addition to petrographic analysis, whole vessels from mortuary contexts were also examined in order to assess how they were produced and used. Use-wear analysis was employed in order to understand the use histories of individual vessels, revealing that the majority of pots placed in graves during both periods were well used before interment. Standardization analysis was also carried out in order to explore potential production differences between various vessel types. It was demonstrated that while production does appear to vary between vessel types, there is impressive continuity in degree of vessel uniformity between the Majiayao and Qijia periods.</p><p> Combining the results of these three techniques, this research is able to address not only the communities of practice who were making these vessels, but also the potential roles they played in building and mediating relationships between groups. Specifically, for the northern Tao River Valley, it appears that despite significant shifts in pottery form, mortuary rituals, and the relationships that were mediated by these items and events, underlying communities of practice persisted over the course of more than 600 years.</p><p>

<p> There are long-standing debates regarding the history and identity of Ottoman communities that settled in Southeast Europe during the Ottoman period. As with any political expansion, individuals from Anatolia, the capital region of the empire, were likely to have migrated to newly acquired areas as soldiers, administrators, and political leaders. A mass migration of people is, however, not the only process that may have defined the Ottoman communities in Southeast Europe, as historic documents also record the conversion of Europeans to Islam for a variety of reasons. A consensus on whether migration or conversion practices more significantly impacted the biological makeup of Ottoman Europe has not been reached. </p><p> Thus far, the nature and impact of the Ottoman past in Europe have been predominately studied from the evidence and viewpoint of written history. Anthropological methods and theory have the potential to shed light on the population dynamics of this key period however. This dissertation employed advancements from both archaeology and biological anthropology to conduct a regional bioarchaeological analysis of the European Ottoman period, seeking a better understanding of identity in this historic context. </p><p> Two forms of analyses allowed for in-depth inquiry into biological aspects of identity in Ottoman Europe. First, the assessment of biological affinities from four European Ottoman period groups was done using biological distance analyses of craniometric and cranial non-metric morphological variation. These communities, today located in Hungary, Romania, and Croatia, were compared not only to each other, but also to other European and Anatolian populations. The European and Anatolian comparative populations were represented by four skeletal series from Hungary, Austria, Croatia, and Anatolia. The second method, utilized for one of the Ottoman period populations (from Romania), analyzed strontium isotopes from human and faunal dental enamel. Together, these methods provided a dynamic approach for highlighting markers of biological identity and affinity from human skeletal remains. </p><p> The use of biological distance and strontium isotope analyses highlighted a number of interesting patterns in the European Ottoman communities. The Ottoman populations appear diverse in terms of constituting a mix of peoples from different biological backgrounds. This is evident both within a single Ottoman community, as well as between communities located in different parts of the Ottoman territory. Evidence of this diversity was clear between males and females in different Ottoman period populations. Larger than expected between-sex biological differences within the Ottoman communities suggest distinct population histories for males and females. </p><p> The diversity found within and between the four Ottoman period populations analyzed in this research can be used to better understand different social and political processes influencing the demography of Ottoman Europe. With migration and conversion frequently cited as the two main processes contributing to population change in the region, this analysis allowed for the consideration of how unique trajectories of both impacted different individuals and different groups of people in these societies. The biological data highlighted in this study disagree with many simplistic historical conclusions that cite either migration or conversion as the singular process behind the creation of Ottoman communities and the European Ottoman identity. </p><p> Despite historic evidence that immigration from Anatolia and the conversion of Europeans to Islam impacted the demography of European Ottomans, these communities are at times treated as biologically homogeneous ethnic groups. The Ottoman-established Muslim populations in Southeast Europe are not only treated as a distinct group historically, the division between Muslims or &lsquo;Turks&rsquo; and Europeans has been maintained in some modern communities as well. With Islamic relations in some regions of contemporary Europe continuing to deteriorate, long-held notions that European Muslims are the &lsquo;other&rsquo;, trespassers on Christian lands, are unlikely to be assuaged. The creation of the European Muslim identity descending from the Ottoman period includes a complex history that is still not fully understood. Many modern identities are created from a complex amalgamation of biological and cultural processes, both historical and modern in origin, committing diverse peoples into uniform categories. The bioarchaeology of this dynamic period provided new data on groups of people that influenced both the past and present in Southeast Europe. </p><p>

Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.

This project investigates the complicity of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the use of sexual violence as a war tactic and means of ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War. The thesis explores this in three ways: examining religiously imbued incidents of rape by Serbian belligerents, analysing the relationship between Serbian Orthodox authorities to Serbian politics and war criminals, and deconstructing specific Serbian Orthodox theological discourses. A project of this nature relies on two foundational pillars: first, an in-depth exploration of rape (especially in conflict) and second, the interlocking and socially constructed nature of identities, particularly ethnicity, enemies and gender. The analysis relies on United Nations reports, transcripts of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, media reports and secondary sources, all of which illustrate the often subtle and discursive relationship between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the systematic rape of Bosniak women.

No description available.

<p> The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 ushered in a period of change in higher-education systems across the former Eastern bloc. Reform-minded leaders in the region sought to introduce western models and policies promoted by foreign development aid agendas. Private higher-education institutions emerged. This qualitative multiple case study examines three universities based on the western, private, nonprofit model that were established during the post-Cold War transition period: the American University of Central Asia (Kyrgyz Republic), South East European University (Macedonia), and the American University in Bulgaria. These institutions, founded through a process of negotiation involving the national government, U.S. and European governments, and nongovernmental organizations, offered an alternative to state universities. This negotiation continued as these institutions adapted to their changing sociopolitical contexts. The study explores the interplay of global, national, and local influences at the level of these institutions. The research presented is based on data collected on field visits through interviews with faculty and administrators and focus groups with students, as well as document analysis. Findings from the study shed light on how new institutions strive to establish legitimacy. The financial support for these institutions evolved from an initial heavy dependence on support from foreign aid agencies to greater reliance on tuition and responsiveness to the higher education market. The ability to adapt to shifting circumstances while maintaining a consistent sense of identity, despite turnover of faculty and administrators, proved vital. These universities, to varying degrees, were able to strike a balance between the global and local that allowed them to establish themselves as highly regarded institutions in their respective countries. As interest in transnational education grows, this study offers insights into finding a balance between global and local that results in a sustainable higher education endeavor.</p>

The dissertation, "The Stakes of Empire: Colonial Fantasies, Civilizing Agendas, and Biopolitics in the Prussian-Polish Provinces (1840--1914)," is a comparative and transnational analysis of the discourses and practices that the German empire used to map out, describe, and regulate Polish-speaking citizens in Imperial Germany. It studies the cultural and biological definitions of Polish subjects not only through the scientific works of Germans and Poles in Central Europe, but also through their experiences with colonial projects in German Africa. Inspired by the works of postcolonial and imperial studies on subjectivity, I study multiple levels of subject positioning, nested imperial and colonial relations, and constructions of national/colonial cartographies using sources that range from medical texts and state documents to travel literature. I argue that many ideological elements informing power relations and cultural practices in distant colonies also applied to the Prussian-Polish provinces, especially when considering the politics of the state regulating populations and epidemic diseases in the borderlands. Poles were often portrayed in the German empire as internal others who shared characteristics with the colonized and required similar strategies of control. / In addition to providing a historical context for the health conditions of the Prussian-Polish provinces, the dissertation analyzes the complicated process by which these territories became stigmatized as disease-stricken places. I show this transformation by studying debates about cholera and typhus epidemics in the region. The project also examines the different Polish scientific organizations that were founded not only as a "self-help" strategy used to confront diseases, but also as a method to counter the Germanizing projects and the leading medical discourses about the region. The close analysis of Polish writings from this period demonstrates that Polish-speaking citizens under the German empire were not passive receptors of state policies and discourses, but they were actively challenging these conceptions by calling into question imperial civilizing agendas and developing at the same time their own civilizing and colonial fantasies. By studying these medical and political debates, the dissertation uncovers novel ways to connect medicine, scientific expeditions, and colonial agendas.