<p>The adoption of children across international borders has emerged as an important cultural phenomenon. It shapes the way North Americans understand families, and forms relationships between sending and receiving countries. This dissertation explores the transnational adoption of children between Canada and China with a focus on the subjective experiences of Canadian women who have adopted children from China, their dreams, motivations and lived experiences of becoming an adoptive mother. Highlighting these narratives, this dissertation serves to balance critique with advocacy, and complicates the binary opposition in both scholarly and popular culture presentations of transnational adoption as either ‘good’ or ‘bad’. The dissertation also explores the social pressures that Canadian women endure and how gender expectations and cultural ideas of femininity depend on a woman experiencing motherhood. Through the window of transnational adoption this dissertation examines discourses about infertility, philanthropy, kinship, gender and the construction of transnational adoption as kidnap or rescue.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>There are two central themes to this thesis. Firstly, it shows how the adoption of people-centered and greening development paradigms, designed to improve mainstream development problems of the late 20^th century, continue to produce unsatisfactory and unsustainable results for intended beneficiaries in the 21^st century. Secondly, it shows how the “intended beneficiaries” use their experiences and their knowledge of the development processes to analyze, explain and voice why it has not worked for them. Their <em>local knowledge</em> illustrates how beneficiaries continue to remain on the “outside” or peripheral to development instead of being equal partners as the people-centered discourse claims.</p> <p>This thesis reviews the development of the Wadi Rum Protected Area (WRPA) in southern Jordan. This development fostered both conservation and tourism projects to assist members of the seven local Bedouin communities or clans whose historical rangelands constitute the protected area. Four significant development decisions and projects are examined to better understand how this development functioned. Many Bedouin commentaries and those of some non-Bedouin involved in the projects provide social, economic and environmental assessments of the protected area's progress over a ten year continuum. What emerges is a nuanced awareness of how the WRPA has not achieved its stated goals or the benefits promised to the Bedouin, but did support other developers', lenders' and government objectives. Bedouin knowledge also highlights how “development” has contributed to a near dissolution of their control over what had been their tourism industry, how it has usurped their control of their lands and villages, how the project has created greater divisiveness between and within the clans and how it has come to support the growth of tourism over environmental protection. In general, the development of the Wadi Rum Protected Area has not achieved its people-centered and green goals.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis engages in a counter-visual ethnography, using Alcatraz as a site to examine the workings of U.S. memorialization practices and visuality, specifically regarding carcerality. In examining the U.S.’s most popular site of penal tourism, this ethnography aims to provide new vantages from which to perceive of Alcatraz in relationship to the contemporary carceral moment. This is done in part by analyzing the processes of visuality through which hegemonic meanings of carcerality are circulated and consolidated at the site. The work is to at once see and unsee the ways Alcatraz is visually structured, in the process creating alternative ways to perceive of the site in its historical contingencies and relation with the wider workings of the carceral state.

This thesis is a study of the student subculture and cultural variances of that subculture represented by the dorm practices of the inner dorms on Harvey Mudd College’s campus. Using Dick Hebdige’s theory of subcultures and David Schneider’s theory of cultural variances, this work examines the ways that the four inner dorms support and reproduce the Harvey Mudd College student subculture so that all students share values and behaviors that are unique to the Harvey Mudd student population. After first establishing the presence of a Harvey Mudd College student subculture, viewing the dorm practices of North, South, East, and West dorms at Harvey Mudd College through the lens of four main values shared by Harvey Mudd students presents the case that each of the four inner dorms work to provide students of all backgrounds the opportunity to be participating members of the Harvey Mudd student subculture.

This thesis is an exploration of the relationship between Black Americans and Palestinians. I trace the historical relationship between Black Americans and Israel/Palestine in order to show how Black Americans move from large, overwhelming support for Israel to solidarity with Palestine and the Palestinian people. This thesis tracks the relationship between Black Americans and Jews (both domestically and abroad), Black leaders who opposed the state of Israel prior to 1967, the large shift in Black American support for Palestine that occurs after the Six Day War of 1967, the relationship between Black Americans and Arab Americans, and the current day Ferguson to Palestine movement.

In this thesis, I explore how bowling frames a gendered understanding of the world. I examine style, ball weight, and relationships, and others areas to discuss the ramifications of a binary understanding of gender as it is conceived in bowling centers. To complete this examination, I use interviews and personal observations from a year of fieldwork in Louisville and Bowling Green, Kentucky. I also rely on my personal experiences with the sport to provide contextual information. Drawing primarily on scholarship from Judith Butler, Richard Bauman, and Ann K. Ferrell, I theorize about gendered performances occurring in the bowling center. These performances regularly highlight the disparities between men and women; not only are there two distinct genders, but performing outside one’s ascribed gender has negative social ramifications. I conclude with an examination of the current state of the sport and the reinstitution of the Professional Women’s Bowling Association, which occurred in 2015. Taken together, this thesis questions the binary gender system and offers insight into the ramifications of a traditionalized gender performance. This work also provides a necessary examination of recreational folklore, as that area of scholarship is not explored academically to the same degree that it is a predominant factor in the lives of many people.

This thesis examined how four Male Mexican American post-undergraduate college students constructed their views on what it means “to be a man”. The method of oral histories not only for it’s power but also for its ability to offer a different perspective than that given by theory. Oral histories offer a rich perspective that has the power to challenge dominant narratives. The thesis was set up to reflect the way that the past informs the future. Through beginning with the history of U.S.-Mexico border relations via NAFTA, the Bracero Program, and the Border Patrol, one grasps the contentious relationship between the two countries and is introduced to the idea of pluarlities. Due to the relationship of labor to masculinity, theories on masculinity, machismo, and macho were discussed. The last two chapters centered on the oral histories of each man. “Origins,” the third chapter examined the “history” behind each orator. Finally chapter four, examined what masculinity, machismo, macho, and “being a man” is to each man. It is through this foregrounding in theory that one is able to better understand lived experiences. Through the combining of both theory and lived experiences, one is able to see the both the disconnect and overlap between the two. Although the responses ranged on what it “means to be a man” if you could essentialize it, there were are few themes that reappeared. “To be a Man” is about taking responsibility for your actions, being there for one’s family, and having honor. The range of responses only goes to highlight the complexities of even one term and each term could certainly warrant its own dissertation. Based on my brief research, there is still much work to be done on each area of focus.

This work looks at the way the Taiwanese American college student's identities are complicated and compounded by the intertwined histories of China and Taiwan. It looks at the historical account of Chinese and Taiwanese history through the understanding of genealogical history. It also analyzes the importance of narrated family accounts and lived experiences of Taiwanese-ness. Lastly, it looks at the development of Taiwanese identity as it is strengthened or weakened through religion, politics, and language.

HIV is one of the world’s most potent killers. It’s a name we have most likely heard of before, and yet there are aspects of this disease that do not get as much of the spotlight. One such aspect of HIV is adherence. Adherence is a colossal issue when dealing with anti-retroviral (ART) medications. A lack of adherence to ART dosage can lead to viral immunity and even AIDS if not treated. Despite many attempts from providers to solve the issue of adherence, studies tell us that the challenges of adherence lie within deep-seeded sociocultural and economic backgrounds. As a result, an anthropological approach seems necessary in order to grasp these challenges. Overall, I believe that adherence is learned and innate. I aim to prove this by exploring the various provider discourses regarding HIV adherence by delving into the history of AIDS, the patient/provider hierarchy, and media representations of HIV.

This dissertation is based on an ethnographic study of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and the racial, cultural and political considerations that shape the meaning of diagnosis for Alaska Native individuals and families in Anchorage, Alaska. During the period from August 6, 2010 to through August 5, 2011, I worked with foster families and extended natural families living with and supporting individuals diagnosed with FASD. Documenting the experiences of families in their interactions with clinical, state, tribal and non-profit institutions, I sought to understand how a diagnosis of FASD structures opportunities, outcomes and everyday life experiences across several critical life domains, including health, education, employment, kinship and identity. Family narratives and experiences are highlighted to illustrate the ways in which difference is reproduced in everyday public understanding and clinical practice.