The focus of my research has been the reverberations of the 2001 Argentine economic crisis, as they affected and were responded to by women in social movements. This dissertation contributes to studies of globalization by highlighting the unintended consequences of neoliberalism in Argentina in the form of the collective empowerment of women in egalitarian social movements. The negative consequences of neoliberalism are well known, but I found that these policies produced more than misery. They also helped to stimulate a new kind of politics —a set of autonomous movements aimed at democratizing society as well as the state. In response to rapidly deteriorating living conditions, contemporary Argentine social movements organized their constituencies in what I have defined as the field of politics by other means. In the context of failed governmental programs and discourse designed to create docile, mobile subjects (governmentality), egalitarian social movements engaged in the creation of social movements whose democratic structures contrasted with the dispossessing nature of the neoliberal global power they confronted. In Argentina, this new political culture and methodology fostered, through street theater and pageants, 'other means' of making politics, including a concern for internal gender democracy in what has been called the “solidarity economy.” My research suggests that struggles against gender inequities have a synergistic relationship to democratic political structures. I found that receptivity to feminist discourses and opportunities for women’s participation were greater in antihierarchical opposition movements than in those with a more traditional leftist orientation. In these autonomous movements, women were able to challenge gender inequities, democratizing both the movements and their family relationships. Their struggle for democracy and freedom contrasts with the role of neoliberal policies and practices responsible for the weakening of democratic institutions in Argentina. In this way, my research not only broadens understanding of Argentina’s crisis and recovery, but it raises questions about the implications of the present worldwide economic and social crisis on struggles to transform gender relations.

The absence of federal government consensus on various nicotine policy matters, such as the legality of menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes, gives rise to distinct agendas, policy landscapes, and public attitudes at the state and local levels. As a result, nicotine activist groups and interested stakeholders are actively engaged in shaping the future of nicotine policy and use. This thesis explores the culture of local activist groups in Central Florida to understand how they influence nicotine-related policy change and set the tone for nicotine use in their communities. Drawing on data collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with activist group members, key actors, and nicotine users in Volusia County and Orange County, I argue that various external and internal factors compel activist groups to adopt a reactive strategy in addressing nicotine-related use and disparities rather than a proactive one. This thesis provides a novel, holistic perspective on nicotine-related policy change from both the activist and user viewpoints, and contributes significantly to scholarship on nicotine policy change by filling a previously unexplored gap in the anthropological literature.

Recent biomedical advancements, cultural practices, and individual preferences have altered the ways in which biological process such as menstruation are perceived and managed. Increasingly, women are interested in suppressing menstruation to alleviate its negative symptoms, including bloating, menstrual cramps, fatigue, and irritability. This topic is especially relevant for adolescent girls, as mothers and daughters might have to negotiate attitudes towards daughters’ menstrual suppression. Therefore this study aims to examine how this topic is discussed and understood within the mother-daughter dyad. It is also important to consider how these attitudes are shaped by cultural background, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, and religion. Through this knowledge health care providers can have a more holistic understanding of how their patients’ view menstruation. If health care providers know these basic demographics and the perspectives on this issue, they can be better prepared in administering information and educating their patients. My data collection included literature review, a five category survey, and participant observation in a clinical setting. There were 72 mother-daughter pairs with a total of 144 participants that completed designated surveys for mothers and daughters that had a total of five categories emphasizing participant details, menstrual cycle, reproductive health history, attitudes towards their period and menstrual suppression. Through the experiences of my participants I have found that there is a great desire to learn more of menstrual suppression among both mothers and daughters and that there is some degree of influence of religion and ethnicity on perceptions of menstrual suppression in this population. Age on the other hand, turned out to not be an important factor shaping the positive or negative attitudes toward suppression.

Endangered languages are those that are spoken by a very small percentage of the population and are at risk of disappearing with all the knowledge and diversity they contain. Endangered languages often become endangered because the speakers and the society perceive the language as low status or of little use, and a positive change in perception of the language could aid in revitalizing the language. Institutions such as governments, businesses, and universities have recently begun supporting endangered languages in several areas, and this support could greatly affect language ideologies, perceptions of and attitudes about the language. In this research project, I intend to explore the effects on how an endangered language is viewed by both speakers and non-speakers when it is supported by linguistically dominant institutions such as business and higher education. This research was conducted in various areas of Scotland and Ireland and consists of survey data, ethnographic interviews, and participant observation. Specifically, this research aims to answer the following research questions: 1) What is the relationship between institutional support and language ideologies? 2) How do different forms of institutional support affect language ideologies? Institutional support of endangered languages could provide these languages with validity and recognition as a language, as well as offer economic and status advantages to speakers, creating positive attitudes about speaking and learning the languages. This positive change in the way these languages are perceived could be a crucial step in revitalizing endangered languages and preserving the linguistic diversity of the world.

This thesis compares pottery from Ike's Cut, Inagua, Bahamas with assemblages from the site of El Mango, Cuba, analyzed by Ashley Brooke Persons and the site of Ft. Liberte, Haiti, analyzed by Irving Rouse. The Ike's Cut site was a seasonally occupied location on the largest bank on Inagua, and was utilized for its access to marine resources. The migrants living here brought with them Meillacoid ceramics that were manufactured somewhere in the Greater Antilles. The objective of this research was to evaluate whether the ceramics at Ike's Cut share more in common with either the Hispaniolan or Cuban assemblages. These similarities can provide evidence from where these people came. Noting the frequency of certain traits in the distribution allowed me to draw conclusions regarding the similarities and differences in pottery characteristics among these Taíno sites. Upon completing a comparison of decorative modes and an analysis of rim types, I was able to conclude that these sites showed considerable similarities despite being situated in different regions. These results indicate the differences in site purposes and their corresponding ceramics, and also shed light on the continuity between decorative motifs throughout Taíno sites and the Caribbean. This indicates that Rouse’s initial hypothesis, that migration throughout these islands was unilateral, was false and that there was significant interaction between these three sites over time.

Mothers are known to have an emotional attachment to their infant; however, some mothers also experience an emotional attachment to their own milk. Exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life, followed by continued breastfeeding with complementary solids are recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization. Some mothers produce enough surplus milk to donate to a human milk bank. This thesis considers the emotional attachment to milk experienced by women who donate milk to a milk bank. This research is based on participant observation in a human milk bank in Florida and interviews collected from 14 milk bank donors. These methods were informed by the frameworks of moral motherhood and emotive value to foreground and enhance understanding of mothers' experiences. The results of this study show that mothers do not emotionally attach to breastmilk itself, but rather what the breastmilk represents. This study starts a conversation and brings awareness to women's emotional experiences at the beginning of motherhood, especially as they pertain to breastfeeding and human milk.

<p>It has been suggested that Canadian society increasingly promotes a rhetoric of tolerance, through the dissemination of multicultural and politically correct discourses. At the same time, there has been a growth in the popularity of performances that seemingly counters this national image; that of risqué stand-up comedy. This dissertation explores if an institutionalized rhetoric of multiculturalism and “PC”, popularized since the late 1980s, is pierced, protracted and parodied within risqué stand-up comedy while remaining confined within spatial and temporal boundaries. Furthermore, this relationship between comedy and multicultural and “PC” discourses illuminates the nature of power circulating within our dialogues about issues of discrimination in contemporary Canadian society. This thesis establishes that both stand-up comic performances and politically correct rhetoric share a carnivalesque nature that while degrades authorial discourses, is ultimately constrained within its self-definition.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>No pages i or ii in the hard copy</p> <p>Pgs. 111 and 209 were combined together in Photoshop because pages were too large for scanning at one time.</p> / <p>This thesis is based upon ethnographic and archival research relating to the Crees of Red Earth in east central Saskatchewan. Ethnographic research was conducted at the Red Earth reserves for about a year, mainly in 1971 and 1972. Archival research was carried out at the Public Archives of Manitoba, utilizing documents of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Anglican Missionary Society.</p> <p>This research has been basically historical in orientation and directed towards obtaining information on the changing subsistence-settlement patterns and social organization of the Crees of the Red Earth region since about 1860. Culturally, the Red Earth people are Plains Crees, originally affiliated with those who centred their yearly activities about Ft. a la Corne, Saskatchewan. Of particular interest is the cultural and social affiliation of the Red Earth people with the Shoal Lake Crees, a Swampy Cree group who formed one segment of the large Indian group attached to The Pas, Manitoba.</p> <p>A major theme of this thesis is the development of a high degree of in-marriage between the Red Earth and Shoal Lake Crees and the formation of an in-marrying group which is here termed the "deme" or "marriage isolate". It is postulated that the marriage isolate is a social form characteristic of hunter-gatherer society throughout the world and that it was present among Northern Algonkians in the early contact period (and, therefore, also in pre-contact times). Due to the environmental instability of the boreal forest, disruptions due to contact (introduced diseases, fur trade vicissitudes) and contemporary government policies, it appears that Northern Algonkian demes have been in a recurrent state of disruption and re-formation throughout the contact period.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>This thesis examines the process by which three generations of women living on Northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia construct the collective identity labels north island woman, pioneer, oldtimer and newcomer. The label north island woman is a composite of pioneer, oldtimer and newcomer labels. The meanings which north island women attached to these labels in their life stories reveal core attributes that constitute self and group identity. A sense of place and connection with in-migrating groups of women are central elements in the construction of self and group identity by these women. This thesis draws attention to the importance of viewing collective identity labels as a significant cultural element in understanding how women construct self and group identity.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Educational reform movements are constantly in the process of trying to improve a fractured educational system. Many scholars contend there is a discrepancy between educational outcomes for White students and students from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Some educators in working class communities of color have begun to infuse elements of students’ social and cultural backgrounds, including popular culture, to create instructional methods that can better engage and pique student interest. Hip-hop Pedagogy is one of the methods, rooted in popular culture, which is being used in classroom settings to increase students’ awareness about the societal constructs and issues in their communities that may affect them. Student access to Hiphop based instructional methods, however, have been limited and virtually absent from elementary education settings. However the consumption of Hip-hop culture persists in urban communities worldwide. This qualitative study implemented a Hip-hop emergent-based curriculum in an elementary school setting, closely documenting the perceptions and responses to the curriculum by four young males students of color. The study consisted of five consecutive classroom sessions, in which the curriculum and dialogue focused on different expressions of Hip-hop culture. Student viewpoints were logged daily in focus groups and the data that emerged from the sessions and focus groups informed the emergent curriculum. Graffiti became the Hip-hop element of focus chosen for deeper exploration by the participants in this study. The study revealed a number of findings that point to the potential value of an emergent Hip-hop curriculum with elementary male students of color.