Outward Appearance, Inward Perceptions: Preservation of Identity among K’ichee’ Women offers a look into the changing patterns of identity and regional Maya clothing among the female members of a rural K’ichee’ Maya municipality located in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. It provides a brief framework of the history and importance of Maya clothing in Guatemala as well as in the context of the rural Maya community. Building upon a loose theoretical framework based on works by Irma Otzoy (1992, 1996a, 1996b), Clifford Geertz (1997), and Paul Connerton (1989), the current study was aimed at examining the connections that exist between one municipality’s female regional style of clothing and the redefining of sacred spaces for cultural and identity preservation and an analysis of historical memory related to material culture. This descriptive study was conducted among a sample of K’ichee’ Maya women (N=18) over a two month period in 2010. Qualitative data were collected using an open-ended semi-structured interview guide. Major themes that emerged from the data were the vital roles that female community members play in the preservation of local culture and the changing and adaptive nature of material culture. The findings suggest that local identities and culture change alongside the changes occurring in municipal traje use, and pride and respect for local origins is preserved through performative ritual / text

Laws and policies have created a legal context aimed at allowing the adivasis to develop socioeconomically while retaining the aspects of their culture that they value the most. While the adivasis still face numerous challenges, it is evident that many have achieved successful economical advancement as a result of the legal framework established upon independence in 1947. Yet, it has also been acknowledged that economic advancement can undermine aspects of culture that are essential to the identity and dignity of the adivasis. Such a loss can result from exogenous factors such as government policy and the actions and beliefs of nontribals, or from endogenous factors such as the willingness of the adivasis to adopt the values of nontribals.

An escalating environmental phenomenon is transpiring across global shorelines. Sea level rise and other factors effecting coastal geomorphology have not only resulted in significant land loss but loss of historical communities. Coastal Terrebonne Parish, located in southeastern Louisiana, experiences a complexity of detrimental factors. Communities with similar stories of diaspora and social marginalization have settled the region. For centuries, they have largely maintained their distinctive cultural identities, through deep rooted social networks and resiliency, are now jeopardized due to an increasing loss of place. The intent of this research is to propose alternative methods of mitigation to affected communities by evaluating case studies of community relocation, gathering empirical information and providing relevant recommendations. Accounting for the potentially significant loss of cultural fabric, additional mitigation techniques, such as cultural documentation, are discussed. / 0 / SPK / archives@tulane.edu

Laws and policies have created a legal context aimed at allowing the adivasis to develop socioeconomically while retaining the aspects of their culture that they value the most. While the adivasis still face numerous challenges, it is evident that many have achieved successful economical advancement as a result of the legal framework established upon independence in 1947. Yet, it has also been acknowledged that economic advancement can undermine aspects of culture that are essential to the identity and dignity of the adivasis. Such a loss can result from exogenous factors such as government policy and the actions and beliefs of nontribals, or from endogenous factors such as the willingness of the adivasis to adopt the values of nontribals.

The Blackfoot Confederacy Keepers of the Rocky Mountains provides a first hand account of the Blackfoot intimate relationship with their mountain landscape now known as Glacier National Park, Bob Marshall Wilderness, Badger Two Medicine Unit of the Lewis and Clark Forest Service, and the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. The animals shared the traditional ecological knowledge of the mountains with the Blackfoot Confederacy so they could survive through the "transfer of knowledge" in their elaborate ceremonial bundles made up of plants, animals, and rocks from the landscape. The Blackfoot agreed to share the minerals of copper and gold with the United States government through a lease agreement in 1895 following the policy of the time under the Dawes Act that allowed Indians to lease their land allotments to non-Indians. Although, the Agreement was written as a land cession with explicit reserved rights for the Blackfeet to hunt, gather, and fish upon the land, the Blackfeet have continued to maintain their ties to the mountain in secret to avoid persecution and publicly when asserting their rights. These rights have been limited, denied, and recognized depending on who is making the decision--Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National Park Service, the Forest Service, and/or tested in the court of law. Despite the turmoil, the Blackfoot People have managed and preserved the area through resource utilization, ceremony, and respect for their mountain territory mapped out by Napi (Creator). Blackfoot know their status when it comes to their landscape as illustrated through the annual renewal of the bundles: "When we begin the ceremony, we call upon the water and the water animals, the sky people, the animals of the land, the plants, the rocks and so forth with the humans being the last to be called upon until all have arrived and taken their place in the lodge. Without the environment and its beings, we could not have this ceremony"

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A tese se propõe a analisar o cemitério como espaço de expressão e preservação da memória identitária do imigrante teuto no sul do Brasil, através da interpretação dos elementos simbólicos religiosos contidos nas lápides, bem como de sua estrutura espacial e organizacional. A pesquisa foi construída a partir de extensa revisão bibliográfica, da pesquisa de campo aos cemitérios localizados em comunidades de origem teuta no Rio Grande do Sul e nos cemitérios da Alemanha. O primeiro capítulo se ocupou com a definição de túmulo bem como a relação do indivíduo com a finitude e suas representações funerárias. O segundo apresenta o cemitério como local de memória e identidade, através do estudo das fontes de informação artísticas, sociais, culturais e ideológicas contidas nestes, de forma a identificar a construção de uma ou mais identidades culturais. O terceiro capítulo estabelece um quadro teórico sobre a construção do imaginário europeu sobre a morte e os cemitérios, e de que forma isso é representado materialmente nos túmulos, analisando as características religiosas católica e protestante expressas na simbologia cemiterial entre 1824, no início da imigração alemã para o Brasil, até 1930, período que marca o final destas expressões transculturais nos túmulos. Por fim, o último capítulo estabelece um estudo comparativo entre os cemitérios dos imigrantes teutos no sul do Brasil e dos cemitérios de seu país de origem, a Alemanha, buscando definir quais elementos simbólicos revelam a manutenção de uma identidade religiosa teuta expressa nos símbolos e nos epitáfios, de forma a analisar a construção de uma ou mais identidades culturais preservadas nos cemitérios teutos do Rio Grande do Sul. / The dissertation proposes to analyze the cemetery as a space of expression and preservation of the German identity memory in southern Brazil, through the interpretation of religious symbolic elements contained on the tombstones as well as of their spatial and organizational structure. The research was built on extensive bibliographic review and on field research of the cemeteries localized in communities of German origin in Rio Grande do Sul and in the cemeteries of Germany. The first chapter occupies itself with the definition of tomb as well as with the relation of the individual with finitude and its funerary representations. The second chapter presents the cemetery as a place of memory and identity, through the study of sources of artistic, social, cultural and ideological information contained in these so as to identify the construction of one or more cultural identities. The third chapter establishes a theoretical framework about the construction of the European imagery about death and cemeteries and in what way this is represented materially on the tombs, analyzing the Catholic and Protestant religious characteristics expressed in cemetery symbology between 1824, the beginning of the German immigration to Brazil, up to 1930, the period which marks the end of these trans-cultural expressions on the tombs. Finally, the last chapter establishes a comparative study between the cemeteries of the German immigrants in southern Brazil and the cemeteries of their country of origin, Germany, seeking to define which symbolic elements reveal the maintenance of a German religious identity expressed in the symbols and in the epitaphs so as to analyze the construction of one or more cultural identities preserved in the German cemeteries of Rio Grande do Sul.

As China experiences rapid urbanization, local traditional knowledge (LTK) has been increasingly brought to the public’s attention as a significant feature of cultural identity and inclusiveness. Especially in the ethnic minority areas, it is important to respect LTK so that the cultural identity and social cohesion of ethnic minorities can be sustained in an increasingly urbanized environment. The objective of this research is to explore the incorporation of LTK during the process of urbanizing China’s ethnic minority regions from the perspective of residents. Using Dali City as a case study, this dissertation investigates local Bai people’s perspective on LTK with urbanization in mind. Questionnaire surveys, focus group discussions, and daily field observations are employed to examine how Bai LTK is impacting Dali’s cultural landscape. Based on the questionnaire surveys answered by 80 Bai people, this research finds that Dali has a well-preserved Bai cultural landscape. Complementary to the questionnaire findings, the focus group data and daily field observations provide robust conclusions on how local Bai people perceive the preservation of their culture. Respondents placed a high cultural value on Bai language, traditional architecture, and traditional festivals. Nonetheless, a discrepancy is evident between participants’ preferences regarding the conservation of Bai traditions, which reveals the culture preservation is facing challenges. By demonstrating that there are profound differences in Bai LTK conservation between the urban and rural areas, this study contributes to more realistic descriptions of the impact of urbanization in Dali. Particularly, it captures the cultural processes which transform the built environment and reveals a better strategy to integrate LTK with urban development. The decision-making process for ethnic culture preservation is highly complicated and refers to achieving a benefit equilibrium for every stakeholder using a more participative approach. LTK indicates an intrinsic value to a livable city and is instrumental in an inclusive urbanism. The research findings assert a better understanding of culture preservation from the perspective of Bai people in Dali and shed light on the interplay between LTK and sustainable development in the ethnic minority region.

Immigrant clinicians are vital to population healthcare delivery and therefore population health. One in four physicians in the USA is foreign-born and notably represented in family and pediatric medicine—specialties charged with administering childhood/adolescent vaccines, such as human papillomavirus vaccine (HPVV). Our examination suggests there may be unique cultural and socialization factors that influence clinician HPVV recommendation practice; however, immigrant clinicians have not been adequately engaged within the national HPVV agenda. Given the volume and significance of immigrant clinicians, engagement of these clinicians, in both community and nation-wide efforts to increase HPVV, is a necessary step for improving and achieving the national health goal of optimizing HPVV for cancer prevention.

Immigrant clinicians are vital to population healthcare delivery and therefore population health. One in four physicians in the United States are foreign-born and notably represented in family and pediatric medicine–specialties charged with administering childhood/adolescent vaccines, such as Human Papillomavirus vaccine (HPVV). Our examination suggests there may be unique cultural and socialization factors that influence clinician HPVV recommendation practice; however, immigrant clinicians have not been adequately engaged within the national HPVV agenda. Given the volume and significance of immigrant clinicians, engagement of these clinicians, in both community and nation-wide efforts to increase HPVV, is a necessary step for improving and achieving the national health goal of optimizing HPVV for cancer prevention.

Westernization of Chinese traditional music occupies a significant portion of Chinese music history and has had a tremendous influence on Chinese contemporary music. This dissertation will discuss why almost all contemporary Chinese music has been integrated with Western musical elements. It will also address the evolution of Chinese music, the differences between traditional Chinese music and contemporary Chinese music, the way contemporary Chinese music combines Chinese traditional music with Western music, Chinese peoples’ views towards Chinese traditional music and contemporary music, and the significance of the above with respect to the preservation of Chinese culture and cultural diversity in the world.