Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Anthropology, 2007. / Title from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 25, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-02, Section: A, page: 0649. Adviser: Anya Peterson Royce.

Disp., Uppsala universitet, 2008.

The point of departure of this dissertation is the identification of the existence of a (historic) realm of affection and eroticism among men in Mexico that have not been accounted for neither by dominant discourses on Mexican men or Mexican homoerotic practices and identities, nor by Anthropological and epidemiological studies of the homoerotic experience: affective and/or erotic relations that take place outside dominant categories like gay, homosexual, joto or mayate (or other terms used for sexual deviants) and contesting the heterosexual ideal of manhood. Far from explaining and identifying this realm of intimacy, the dissertation makes an ethnographically and theoretically informed criticism on how these dominant discourses, and their sexual and gender categories, work to sustain the sex/gender system by render them invisible. The dissertation explores masculinity identity as a heterogeneous space of power and resistance. Masculine identity is considered to be a contradictory space where intimate relations may take place and even where homophobia can be resisted. At the same time, the dissertation shows the heterogeneous character of the homoerotic experience in Mexico; a heterogeneity that contest the theoretical effort to construct a single narrative as pretended by the terms "homosexual subjectivity" or "gay world".

This thesis presents a case study of the Dogon CultureBank in Fombori, Mali, a local initiative started in 1997 to conserve cultural heritage through the provision of microcredit loans. Participants obtain credit to support small enterprise by using cultural objects as collateral; the objects are conserved and exhibited in a community museum collection. This innovative approach to microfinance has provided financial incentive for cultural conservation in a rural Dogon community, increased social capital among participants, and heightened community awareness of the importance of cultural heritage as a resource for development. Results of quantitative analysis demonstrate a significant increase in overall income generation patterns among participants; however, male borrowers have consistently benefited from both higher loans and greater increases in income generation than female borrowers who are targeted as the primary beneficiaries. The study concludes by highlighting the contributions of the model to the broader field of microfinance in developing countries.

Alaska Native cultures are based on subsistence fishing, hunting and gathering, which also remain important sources of food supply. The 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) extinguished all aboriginal rights to territory, hunting and fishing, creating Native corporations to own Native land in fee simple, instead of reservations with land in trust with the U.S. government (Indian country). ANCSA led to the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), which protects subsistence activities on federal land. Alaska followed ANILCA's subsistence guidelines on state land, until the preference was found unconstitutional in 1989. Subsistence and sovereignty today are linked to a network of interacting institutions such as tribal governments, Native corporations, ANCSA, ANILCA and court decisions. The thesis examines these and argues that institutional changes must occur for Alaska Natives to be sovereign and protect subsistence resources and culture. Suggestions include restoring Indian country to Alaska, resource co-management, and amending ANILCA.

The subject of this dissertation is the negotiation of gender relations and ideologies in the matrilineal communities of Mgeta Division in the Uluguru Mountains of Tanzania. The dissertation revisits social theories that emphasize the importance of hierarchical binaries such as public/private, and production/reproduction in understanding social inequities. The analysis reworks these theories by focusing on the active construction (and dismantling) of these separate spheres. Through an understanding of the multiple, conflicting and intersecting relations of space, work and gender, the research will describe the active negotiations over the division of labor. Of particular interest is the construction of a "rational masculinity," expressed in development discourse as the wisdom, organization and planning necessary to success in "modern," capitalist agriculture. The study highlights the interconnections between this discourse and rural social histories and conflicts, including the creation of a local elite of farming and business leaders, the organization of state power and relations of rule, and shifts in the meanings and relations of kinship. This dissertation also describes a counter-hegemonic gender discourse in Mgeta that is based in the symbolic and material interdependence between husbands and wives. Ideals of reciprocity and interdependence are invoked through the spatial organization of work and other daily activities, challenging, but at the same time circumscribed by, class and gender hierarchies. In this dialogue between the global and the local, gender ideologies are analyzed not as just an effect or by-product of capitalism, but as a central aspect of the meaningful context in which action takes place (Roseberry 1991:42). In Mgeta there is no single gender ideology following from the single determining force of capitalist agriculture. Instead there are multiple and shifting ideologies that express and shape a whole range of social processes. Here I try to examine some of the intersections and conflicts and the different ways in which the farmers of Mgeta create common sensibilities about self, place and history.

This dissertation offers a detailed empirical study of a film industry by closely following the industrial process involved in the making of an Iranian feature length film, The Willow Tree (dir. Majid Majidi, 2005). What I mean by film industry is the standardized process of making a film through various semi-independent modules that must be performed in a sequence and that are widely shared around the world. Within the dissertation, I move from the initial stages of pre-production (script writing, casting, location scouting), through production (shooting) and post-production (editing, mixing), to the final stages of distribution and exhibition in national and international markets. My concern is with process as product. This stance foregrounds the background of film production, and allows us to see the dialectical relationship between film industry as a universal process and the more particular cultural contexts within which a variety of films situate themselves. It seeks to move the analytical focus to the cultural and social contexts of filmic production and consumption and explore the links between material and ideological, industrial and aesthetic, and national and transnational dimensions of cinema's circulation. In the case of The Willow Tree, I argue that the film was not only meant to portray Islamic virtue on the screen but to subject its own industrial production to Islamic practices. / Anthropology

<p> This qualitative study explores the evolving notion of economic success among middle class Salvadorans. While initially aimed at the effects of dollarization, the scope was widened to be more inclusive of overall neoliberal practices in El Salvador. In-depth interviews and ethnographic observations were used to understand life as a middle class Salvadoran and the relationship between government practices, including dollarization, and the evolving definition of economic success. Focusing on the individuals in the advertising industry, this study examines the complex factors that influence and determine middle class sentiments regarding their economic status and their point of view on dollarization&rsquo;s effects on their lives. Additionally, this study considers how opinions and experiences differ along socioeconomic lines, comparing middle class employee experiences with that of upper class CEOs. The study was conducted in San Salvador, El Salvador; the economic and cultural center of El Salvador. </p>

This dissertation is based on twenty-one months of ethnographic fieldwork in Damascus and Suwyada, Syria. Research focused on the Druze religious sect. The central focus is on a religious minority's strategies for preserving their sense of separateness and uniqueness while at the same time claiming pan-Arab and patriotic Syrian affiliations. Three broad topics are used to discuss this: reincarnation, marriage, and memory. Because the primary focus is on a religious minority, one of the major concerns has been to elucidate notions of relational identity from a Druze point of view. This dissertation is an argument against any kind of facilely labeled Druze identity, and is an extended discussion of various facets of Druze experience, on what it means to be a member of a religious minority in the contemporary Middle Eastern state of Syria in the mid-1990s. Identity might be best understood as affiliations and affinities, multiply interacting levels of meaning, and a question of frequently adjusting focus and perspective. Reincarnation is not usually associated with Islam, and the Druze belief in reincarnation is one thing that sets this sect apart from the Sunni majority in Syria, even stigmatizes them. This dissertation also explores the nature of the everyday lived experience of Druze reincarnation, and how it is a point of cohesion for the community as a whole, but at the cost of some emotional splintering of individuals selves and families. Reincarnation has concrete social effects on both families and communities. It brings together members of unrelated families who otherwise would never have cause to know one another. Reincarnation also functions doctrinally to support the sect's prohibition against outmarriage. Outmarriage was perceived to be occurring with increasing frequency among the Druze in the 1990s, and was a hot topic of conversation. This dissertation explores the nature of ideologies being reproduced, as well as challenged and altered, through the debate ongoing in the community regarding marriage and outmarriage. Both reincarnation and outmarriage are topics that raise the issue of the Druze's relationship to non-Druze, and relational identity, since they both deal with ideologies of boundary maintenance, and "purity" of sect membership.

The Native American Vendors Program of the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, New Mexico is a major tourist attraction and a central locus of the Native American arts and crafts market in the American Southwest. Known as the Portal Program for its location under the front portal, or porch, of the Palace of the Governors on Santa Fe's central plaza, the program is descended from informal markets held in the same location since the mid-nineteenth century. The Portal became a regular venue for Native American arts and crafts beginning in the 1930s when the New Mexico Association on Indian Affairs (now the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts) sponsored weekend markets during the summer months. The market continued to grow in popularity under the management and organization of the Native American vendors. In the early 1970s the Museum of New Mexico officially recognized the program, and in response to legal challenges in the 1970s and 1980s, the Portal was formalized as an educational program. Today the Portal is closely managed by the program's participants, with strict guidelines regulating participation in the program and the quality of objects sold. The Portal is much more than just a place to buy and sell indigenous art. It is an economically important Native American workplace that supports hundreds of families throughout New Mexico. It is also a socially important community for the program's participants. As a museum program, the Portal is an instructive example of how Native American people and state institutions can work together to promote understanding and to support indigenous cultures. Finally, the Portal is a place of dynamic interaction between a diverse group of Native American artists. As such it is central in the development of new artistic styles and forms while at the same time protecting traditional production techniques. The lives of Native American people are complex, with many dividing time between traditional responsibilities in their home communities and employment and social involvement in the broader national and global society. This work reflects that reality and provides one examination of contemporary Native American experience.