The half-century marked by the end of the Civil War and the beginning of World War I was a critical period of cultural, social, and economic transition for African Americans in the southern United States. During the late nineteenth century, while African Americans were rebuilding communities and networks disrupted by enslavement and the ensuing Civil War, several settlements developed between Williamsburg and Yorktown on Virginia's lower peninsula. One of the settlements, Charles' Corner, is an optimal case study for understanding the gradual process of community building during a particularly challenging period of African American history dominated by systemic racism and legal persecution.;A majority of Charles' Corner residents made their living as self-employed farmers and oysterers, work which provided them with a significant level of economic stability and autonomy. The neighborhood continued to flourish until the United States government commandeered the property in 1918 in order to create a naval facility fronting on the York River. Residents were forced to relocate and abandon the property where they had invested decades of physical labor and built substantial social and economic networks. Fortunately, their farmsteads were preserved as archaeological sites which may be eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places as an archaeological district, due to their integrity and historical significance.;Archaeological assessments at four sites located at Charles' Corner provided an opportunity to address research questions and themes critical to the archaeology of African American life in the South after Emancipation. Questions focus on the establishment of socioeconomic networks after the Civil War, episodic displacement, and their role in the community building process. Addressing these questions through the application of an anthropological model for community building emphasizes the role of a diversified economy and construction of networks on a path of self-determination.;This dissertation is a response to critiques about the need to understand transformative periods in African American history. A study of Charles' Corner demonstrates the process of community building for one neighborhood during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through the application of data from the archaeological record, historical documents, and oral histories. Furthermore, the residents' compelling narrative demonstrates the ways that rural African Americans contributed to the black freedom movement.

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Economic growth has spurred rapid urbanization in Malaysia and triggered changes in diet, lifestyle, and disease trends. National studies show that a third of Malaysia's population is overweight/obese while household expenditures on dining out grow. In metropolitan Kuala Lumpur (KL), residents navigate concepts of nutrition, body weight, and health as they dine out. Using the biocultural framework, this study examined links between body weight, diet, income, street food consumption, and nutritional knowledge through the perspectives of consumers and vendors. Altogether, 77 participants were recruited for this three-phase research. In the first phase, a survey was administered to 60 participants recruited at street food sites around KL. In the second phase, semi-structured interviews, anthropometry, and diet recalls were conducted on 13 participants. Finally, semi-structured interviews and observations were carried out on four street food vendors at their places of business. Though the findings in this research did not show statistical relationships between body weight status, income, and dining out in KL, telling diet and lifestyle trends emerged. Work mediates the lives of participants, often dictating their diet and capacity to engage in physical activity. Though most female participants work, they still bear the expectations of meal provisioning. These factors encourage the consumption of food away from home, and the commercialization and gentrification of the local street food industry. When viewed critically through the biocultural framework, these observations support the idea that trade liberalization and domestic economic policies have induced demographic changes, household transformations, and dietary adaptations among urban dwellers in KL.

Institutionalized racial segregation in the United States has had a significant impact on many aspects of American culture. Segregation was practiced in every aspect of public life, even in areas of recreation. For those labeled as "nonwhite," even going to the beach was legally restricted. The events between the 1950s and 1960s at Homestead Bayfront Beach in Homestead, Florida are evidence that social stratification based on the social categorization of race has a significant effect even today. This research examines how legalized segregation in the past impacted society and contributed to the development of a place and identity at Homestead Bayfront Beach. This analysis not only fills a gap in the historical record on segregation and recreation in the United States, but also contributes to research on place and place making and the formation of memory and identity.

In the Temecula Valley, California, neoliberal development policies were implemented that had the potential to bring drastic changes to this semi-rural area, renowned for its wine production and idyllic setting as a wine tourism destination. In order to better understand the contested nature of these development plans, I conducted ethnographic and key informant interviews and public policy analysis research with policy-making officials, local residents and other stakeholding groups that formed in opposition to the planned expansion. This applied anthropology of policy was uniquely situated to explore the tensions between various stakeholders. This thesis serves to propose interventions that could have the intended impacts of the expansion plan, which included increasing tourism and bolstering the economy, while preserving the qualities that made the Temecula Valley marketable and consumable as a wine tourism destination. Bringing together diverse fields of study including economics, tourism and environmental anthropology, this thesis sheds light on policy making processes in the 21st century United States.

Abstract The focus of this thesis is early attachment among institutionalized infant orphans. Previous research has pointed towards attachment problems in dysfunctional institutions, but did not take a comparative approach to understanding attachment. The present research was conducted in an orphanage in Kaya, a little town located in the Center North Region of Burkina Faso, Africa. The 22 children at the institution were aged four months to five years and were mostly from the Mossi ethnicity. Using mixed psychological and anthropological methods such as behaviors checklist, attachment questionnaires, and participant observation, this research indicates that orphans do not display evident features of unsecure attachment such as avoidant, resistant, or disorganized attachment: 79% of the children would seek proximity with caregivers, 93% would make visual contact, and 79% would often explore their environment. However, a significant number of children in the orphanage showed disinhibited reactive attachment: 36% of the children would seek contact with a stranger; only 21% would be anxious to see a stranger. Using a cross-cultural approach, the study questions the classification of disinhibited reactive attachment as a problematic ailment and suggest that the behavior might not be seen negatively, but can have positive outcome in the transition process from the orphanage to the adoptive family. The research also examines the factors related to orphanhood that can have consequences on the future of children and consecutively on their chances to form secure attachment. The research underlines many other difficulties between caregivers and orphans such as the lack of training, the young age of the caregivers, and the reluctance to get attached to the children in order to avoid difficult separations. This study emphasizes the complexity of the early attachment process of institutionalized orphans.

This thesis will focus on what Mechanic terms "cultural and social aspects of medical care"; more specifically, it is the layman's evaluation of medical practitioners and practices. Medical practices are defined as the behavior directed toward maintenance or improvement of health while medical orientation designates the cognitive and affective attitudes toward health care.

This thesis focuses on various topics related to transgender identity and culture. Through a combination of ethnographic and secondary research, I studied transgender coming out narratives, trans media representation, transgender performance and identity, and conceptualizations of group and chosen family in a community of trans students, the WKU Transgender and Non-Binary Student Group. The three chapters of my thesis address some of the traditional milestones of a trans person’s acculturation: coming out, constructing one’s newly discovered trans identity, and finding community. Chapter 1 explores coming out as transgender, and the way in in which coming out is valued and discussed within trans communities. Chapter 2 discusses transgender representation, and how gender presentation is contested and complicated by transfolk. Chapter 2 also addresses trans media representation, and the way in which transfolk create their own media representation in the absence of adequate and accurate trans representation in popular culture. Chapter 3 provides an in-depth analysis of the WKU Transgender and Non-Binary Student Group, discusses how the group functions as a chosen family, and explores the way in which group membership helps group members mitigate stigma and deal with trauma.

In 1973 folklorist Jan Brunvand presented a definition of modern folkloristics that challenged folklorists to take an eclectic approach to the study of traditional culture by employing theoretical and methodological approaches from a variety of disciplines including communications. This thesis represents one effort at addressing part of this challenge by discussing specific folklore and folklife objectives and how still photography can be incorporated in the research process. Chapter one includes a brief overview of how still photography has been used in social science research, emphasizing use of the camera for examination and communication. Chapter two examines the photographic "moment" and discusses its relevance and application in folklore genre research. Discussions about three approaches to folklife research and the use of still photography to understand the broader concerns of regional culture constitute chapter three. Chapter' four outlines the basic methodological steps for using still photography in folkloristic research from pre-field preparation to post-field analysis. Numerous photographs which illustrate or further explain key points are interspersed in chapters two and three. Sections on the problems and limitations folklorists are likely, to confront when using photography are also discussed in these two chapters. A reference bibliography covering the major photographic thrusts applicable in folkloric research is also included.