No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Despite the ever-expanding criticism of the way the international community conducts its aid missions, it remains clear that humanitarian intervention is necessary for the successful rebuilding of post-genocide nations. As such, the interactions of the international aid community with the national governments and local communities of Cambodia, Guatemala and Rwanda are of particular importance to this thesis. By analyzing these relationships and their resulting policies, it becomes clear that peace cannot last if the survivors are unable to relate to the justice and reconciliation measures implemented. Local cultural norms and traditions, as well as input from survivors, must be the foundation from which national and international policies are built. Furthermore, the goal of international intervention must focus on rebuilding the legitimacy of the nation-state in the eyes of both the local citizens and the international community. As it is oftentimes the state itself that commits genocide against its own people, it is imperative that the new government be seen as separate from the old, that the state itself institute justice and reconciliation policies with the aid of the international community, and that the international community adhere to a “light footprint” policy. Ultimately, the most effective solutions are those that have cultural and historical meaning for the affected local communities, are implemented by the state and are supported by the international community. To establish sustainable initiatives the international community must adopt a human rights oriented policy that addresses the underlying causes of genocide and encourages the local appropriation of human rights dialogue. Using an analytical framework derived from anthropology’s foci on human rights, politics and law, I argue that the recognition of overarching themes across these case studies can help improve the way international, national and local post-genocide justice, reconciliation and state-building policies are formed.

Despite the ever-expanding criticism of the way the international community conducts its aid missions, it remains clear that humanitarian intervention is necessary for the successful rebuilding of post-genocide nations. As such, the interactions of the international aid community with the national governments and local communities of Cambodia, Guatemala and Rwanda are of particular importance to this thesis. By analyzing these relationships and their resulting policies, it becomes clear that peace cannot last if the survivors are unable to relate to the justice and reconciliation measures implemented. Local cultural norms and traditions, as well as input from survivors, must be the foundation from which national and international policies are built. Furthermore, the goal of international intervention must focus on rebuilding the legitimacy of the nation-state in the eyes of both the local citizens and the international community. As it is oftentimes the state itself that commits genocide against its own people, it is imperative that the new government be seen as separate from the old, that the state itself institute justice and reconciliation policies with the aid of the international community, and that the international community adhere to a “light footprint” policy.Ultimately, the most effective solutions are those that have cultural and historical meaning for the affected local communities, are implemented by the state and are supported by the international community. To establish sustainable initiatives the international community must adopt a human rights oriented policy that addresses the underlying causes of genocide and encourages the local appropriation of human rights dialogue. Using an analytical framework derived from anthropology’s foci on human rights, politics and law, I argue that the recognition of overarching themes across these case studies can help improve the way international, national and local post-genocide justice, reconciliation and state-building policies are formed.

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.

The long, protracted civil war, spanning nearly fifty years, in the South American nation of Colombia has displaced almost four million civilians in as much time. Tens of thousands of refugees were resettled in Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela and other neighboring countries. Some, still threatened in their country of first asylum, and resettled to the United States (US) with their families, must learn to navigate the often complex systems of life and living in America. Resettlement programs that focus primarily on immediate needs such as employment and accommodations are aware of the growing need for more long&ndashterm assistance. However, while there is much research on how to improve refugee resettlement services generally, there is very limited research on the nature of services that might be needed long&ndashterm or the duration that they may be necessary, for asylum seekers specifically. This ethnographic research examines in detail the long term needs of two Colombian asylum seekers who resettled with their families to a suburban neighborhood in a city in the southern part of the United States. A series of life history interviews, participant observation, ethnographic immersion and secondary research over the course of a one&ndashyear internship with an agency servicing survivors of political torture &mdash refugees, asylees and asylum seekers &mdash uncovered opportunities for bridging perceived gaps in service and highlighting ones that are critical to the long-term successful resettlement and transition of asylum seekers. Four dominant themes emerged from the research: (1) New Identities / Roles &mdash understanding new constructions of self and other; (2) Belonging &mdash coping with new identities, building trust and setting up roots; (3) Legitimacy &mdash power, representation of asylum seekers and its effects on access to services; and (4) Aspirations &mdash goals for the future.

The goal of this study is to explore specialized and popular cultural models of trachoma, and the interaction between the trachoma elimination program and its target audience in one trachoma hyper-endemic intervention community. Eighty four million people worldwide, mainly children, are infected with active bacterial trachoma. For some, this will lead to painful and progressive corneal opacity and eventual blindness. The disease is most commonly spread by person-to-person contact or by flies, and affects very specific populations living in resource-poor areas such as rural Niger, which has one of the highest prevalence rates worldwide. The World Health Organization formed an alliance that is working toward the goal of eliminating blinding trachoma globally by 2020 through a strategy that includes behavior change communication, drug distribution, and surgery. The elimination program has been at work in Niger since the late 1990's. Trachoma prevalence in Niger showed a dramatic reduction during the beginning of the elimination program. However, disease prevalence has again increased and, at the time of this study, was nearing pre-intervention levels. While poverty is closely related to trachoma, the processes by which this economic state becomes translated into health impacts are complex, but rely on behaviors that are directly linked to disease transmission, prevention, and progression. From a social science perspective, these health behaviors can be studied by exploring the influence of both macro- (economics, structural, political), and micro- (cultural, cognitive, meaning-related) level factors. Cultural models are useful in examining the human relationship with infectious disease and how health-related decisions are made. These shared representations are drawn upon to negotiate well-being and disease, and are impacted by the introduction of new ideas or experiences. This study investigates cultural models of illness and the impact of the trachoma elimination program in one high-prevalence community in rural southern Niger. Using an ethnographic approach, which includes observation, in-depth interviews, and household surveys, data were gathered describing popular representations of the program and the disease in the research community. The main findings of this study show that the biomedical model of trachoma supported by the elimination program, amadari, has entered popular knowledge. However, this cultural model is not regularly applied to eye disease actually experienced by study households, which is seen to fit in the more general and more natural category of ciwon ido. Although the new treatments introduced for trachoma have been embraced by the intervention community, the use of the treatments has been modified to fit within popular representations of illness.