Scholarship to date on the subject of horsetrading and horsetraders has been primarily narrative collections with a minimum of attention paid to the cultural context within which the horsetrader lives and works. This thesis focuses on the lives and dealings of several horsetraders in a five county region in middle to southern east Texas. Beginning with a discussion of the merits and failings of existing scholarship, I outline the historical background leading to the unique regional context and strong sense of independence in my area of study. A combination of early isolation, radical economic and political swings, and a strong southern Baptist presence work to give this region a particular character that both condemns and supports a number of horsetraders. Long ethically suspect, the horsetrader here has evolved from the travelling gypsy trading stock over vast areas into a fixed, though feared member of the community. The question of ethics arises in a flexible duality on the community's part as they teach and preach against al that they believe the trader guilty of, yet continually suspend these ethical values as they enter into the trader's world and attempt to beat him at his own game. A vast bank of community narrative exists to warn of the trader's deceptions, yet should a community member ever best the trader, his social status skyrockets with David and Goliath-like fame. In order to grasp the nuances and subtleties of the trader's craft, I then describe aspects of the horsetrade in light of current folklore theory. There are elements of both folk drama and gaming in the verbal dueling and strategy of the trade, but nothing that can affix the interchange to either genre. Next I explore many of the deceptions for which the traders have become known, and more often, have become victims of themselves. My final concern is with the changes that have taken place in the trader's world. Agribusiness that no longer relies on animal power coupled with widespread urbanization has depleted the market for horses in many respects. A new class of customers now acquire horses for specific, convenient needs, and often these are only temporary. The horsetrader has been forced to adapt to these changes or retire completely. In summation, the region and people I studied are responsible for a unique environment that both shuns and supports horsetraders. The community depends upon the reputations of the traders to serve as examples of improper behavior and lifestyle, yet applauds the individual who can enter their ethical hinterland and return successful. (i.e. having suspended acceptable ethics). The duality works on several levels, and pervades the region and the trades, forming the very context within which the trader exists.

The purpose of this thesis is not to give the common man a voice, for he has already spoken. It is to give his words credence - to make writers of history aware that in the epitaph there is, indeed, a body of material which gives evidence of the historical currents and thoughts of past generations.

This thesis explores how public high school teachers in Tacoma, WA, USA conceptualize the values and rewards of their career through their professional interactions at various levels of the educational institution. By analyzing teachers’ career motivations, goals, and definitions of success, it becomes clear that these teachers most highly prioritize their affective labor and the relationships they build with their students. Teachers consistently emphasize the non-financial, student-centered elements of the compensation they receive for their work, and their grievances about the structure of the school system primarily center around the constraints placed upon their performance of student-centered affective labor by the neoliberal foci of the institution of the public school. Ultimately, it is argued that teachers’ choice to emphasize this affective labor can be seen as a public reclamation of a historically feminized form of labor in an effort to cultivate a vocational sense of meaning within their career.

Histories of colonialism, imperialism, racism, and immigration have impacted the political and social identities of MENA peoples and created a sense of unity through histories of belonging. These histories provide the framework with which many people recognize, misrecognize, or erase MENA identities and experiences today. I use this historical context to investigate the ways in which MENA identifying students at the Claremont Colleges seek to foster identity based community on campus. Though efforts continue to be made to foster MENA community at the Claremont Colleges, there is more work to be done in order to foster a community in which the diversity of the MENA identifying student population is recognized, while unity is fostered and maintained.

Over the last four decades, farming families throughout North America experienced significant transitions due, in part, to the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. This multi-sited dissertation investigates the ways in which a network of binational (Mexican-American) families organize their small- to mid-scale farming enterprises, engage in global networks as food producers, and contribute to rural economies in the southeastern U.S. and the Mexican Bajío. To mitigate difficult transitions that came with the globalizing of agri-food markets, members of this extended family group created collaborative, kin-based arrangements to produce, distribute, and market fresh-market fruits and vegetables in the foothills of southern Appalachia and basic grains in the foothills of the Mexican Bajío. Members of extended binational families regularly negotiate social, economic, and political borders within and across regions, genders, and generations. This study shows how these binational kin use cooperative practices to navigate two distinct, yet interrelated, contemporary agricultural political economic environments in North America. The study counter-constructs stereotypes of Latinx and their roles in southeastern U.S. agriculture by focusing on a vertically integrated, kin group of allied, migrant farming families and theorizing them as binational collective strategists. Their stories and strategies provide insight into the importance of temporalities and practices of kin relatedness to agri-food enterprises and suggest possibilities for alternative distributions of surplus value within the globalized agri-food system.

Baker Cabin, a pioneer log structure, is located on privately owned property near the community of Carver, Oregon. According to traditional accounts the cabin has existed continuously on this site since its construction in 1856. Archaeological excavations of the cabin's foundation and the surrounding area uncovered date-able artifacts and a second foundation with an associated well. Analysis of the artifacts associated with the present cabin foundation indicate a post-1870 construction date those associated with the second foundation and its well indicate an 1850’s occupation. Four hypotheses that are explored in this paper can be derived from the interpretation of all available data: Baker Cabin was constructed in 1856 at a presently undiscovered site on the claim but was moved to its present location about 1870. Baker Cabin was constructed in 1856 on the precise spot that it now stands but reconstruction by the Old Timers' Association involved a complete rebuilding of the foundation. Baker Cabin was constructed in 1856 on the present foundation but extensive repairs were done on the foundation in the 1870's. The old foundation represents a smaller cabin occupied from the late 1840's until 1856. The old foundation with its associated well represents the original construction am habitation of the site. The present cabin is not the original 1856 cabin referred to in tradition but is rather a cabin constructed about 1870. Data used in this research include excavated materials, informant interviews, and historical documents. The excavated materials consist of glass and pottery sherds, buttons, cartridges, and toys. Informants interviewed are Baker descendants, and they provided recollections, documents, and pictures. Historical documents used included census and tax assessment records, newspapers, Donation Land Claim material, and family ledgers. Results of this research reveal that the authentic history of Baker Cabin will not be known unless further evidence becomes available. The first two hypotheses would seem to have no validity, however, the third and fourth hypotheses can be supported by the available data.

The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in Women's Liberation results in identity change in the individual participants. As a pilot study, it examines the characteristic experiences of a study group of twenty-six local participants and compares the effects of their participation with a theoretical model of identity change process proposed by Ward H. Goodenough in Cooperation in Change. According to this model the process of identity change is a consequence of specific kinds of realizations fostered by a series of definable stages which are: 1) achieving a desire for identity change, 2) making a commitment to change, 3) attaining an understanding of what needs to be changed (which involves recognizing the problems and solutions to achieving change), and 4) having the new identity accepted by others. The research included an examination of available materials on Women's Liberation, the consultation of some general literature on the status of women, personal participation in various Woman's Movement activities, observation of individual participants and groups in action, the collection of in-depth interview statements and biographies from a study group of twenty-six women who are Women's Liberation participants, and finally, a comparative study of the findings. The comparative study involved an analysis of the interview information in light of the theoretical model of identity change. Specifically analyzed were the process involved in facilitating identity change, and the actual effects of participation on the women in the study group (as this related to identity change). A discussion is presented of the informants' experiences and how they see themselves since participation, and a discussion of some of the aspects of public response to women's participation in Women's Liberation activities. The findings show that all of the women studied experienced identity change in varying degrees; all have been subjected to new self-confrontation experiences; all made physical and/or psychological behavioral modifications; all experienced changes in their categories of perception and their criteria for evaluating their changed perceptions; and, all have some understanding of what they want changed and how to achieve it. The most extensive identity changes occur in those who are most actively involved, in those who have had the most exposure to radical political activities and those whose social circumstances are most favorably receptive to Women's Liberation. Individuals who are not extensively involved, who have conservative political and /or religious backgrounds, and who are exposed to continued hostile or negative reception on the part of others to their activities are blocked from achieving extensive identity change. In general, the experiences and behavior of the women in this study conforms to what is now known about women's participation in the movement and the general public's response to Women's Liberationists. The study presents a brief history of the background of the movement, a discussion of the theoretical model used, an account of the research methodology, a series of sample portraits of women in the study, the data analysis, an application of the theoretical framework to the data, and a brief discussion of some general implications of the Women's Movement as a whole. This thesis shows that participation in the movement produces identity change which conforms to an anthropological model of identity change process.

The sasswood ordeal of poison presents a divinatory ritual which has been used in criminal cases by the traditional African of Sierra Leone and Liberia. For at least six hundred years, the peoples of these present countries have imposed this strictest of ordeals on their moral transgressors; and the practice has survived, despite the protestations of nineteenth-century missionaries and the encroachment of the western world. The investigation of the historical evidence of the sasswood ordeal among the West Atlantic tribes of Africa has three basic purposes. First, because of the paucity of interpretive data on the sasswood ordeal, the primary purpose of the thesis has been to more clearly delineate the meaning, characteristics, and functions of this poison ordeal as well as the swearing of oaths among the peoples of Sierra Leone and Liberia by amalgamating historical and more contemporaneous evidence. To this end, the distribution of the ordeal was considered; and descriptions were made of the various characteristics of the trait--complex--the poison’s action, the ritual and ceremonial aspects, the sasswood specialist, the accusations made in connection with the ordeal as well as indigenous myths of origin of the ordeal. Intracultural correlations were then presented to demonstrate the interdigitation of the elements in a culture in relation to the ordeal. Finally, some functions, other than the obvious guilt-determining aspect, were presented to demonstrate the various ways in which it had been used historically. A second purpose of this thesis was to demonstrate the intrinsically conservative: qualities of the ordeal as an aspect of religion and law. By assessing the impact of specific historical influences in the region of the West Atlantic tribes, such as Islam, colonialism, slavery, and urbanization, it was shown that no significant change had been witnessed through the six-hundred-year period of the historical record. In concluding this aspect, it was noted that certain "weaknesses" in the historical record—such as its being "piecemeal" and recorded only infrequently--caused problems in interpreting what appeared to be an intrinsically conservative nature of the sasswood ordeal. A third purpose, related to the second, was the application and assessment of "ethnohistoriographic" techniques, that is, those specific methods of historical scholarship utilized by the ethnographer in investigating past cultures. The limits of the use of the ethnohistoriographic techniques included observational bias (which was readily accountable, dealing as it did with hyperbole), the preoccupation with "sensational" data (which provided disparities, over-emphases in the historical record), as well as political motivations such that national prejudice frequently determined the "interpretation" placed on the ordeal. In addition, it was noted that because the sasswood ordeal may be classified as "esoterica," the record for this practice was generally spotty; and this fact affected interpretations on the actual change manifested in the trait complex. The main contribution made by this study has been to afford future readers with a composite and relatively complete source of information on one specific type of poison ordeal practiced among the West Atlantic tribes of Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Decisionmakers in organizations like the Department of Defense and the State Department rely on accurate information to develop strategies to engage foreign populations. There is gap in understanding how perceptions are formed in religious adherents, specifically understanding how Muslims determine if violence is an acceptable or unacceptable behavior. Informed by Hobföll's conservation of resources theory of stress, the purpose of this case study was to identify and understand the religious and secular factors that influenced a group of Sunni Muslims in Western Michigan to accept or reject violent behaviors. Research questions focused on how this population's perception of violence was influenced by religion, various sources of information and threats of loss. Convenience sampling was used to identify the participants for this study. Data were collected from face-to-face interviews with 10 Sunni Muslims living in Western Michigan. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and the data were inductively coded and examined to identify trends in the information. While identity and religion were important to understanding how Muslims view the acceptability of violence, perceptions of the justice system's effectiveness also emerged as an important factor in understanding an individual's tolerance for violent behaviors. The results of this study may contribute to positive social change by informing leaders who engage large Muslim populations about how perceptions of identity and justice system efficacy impact the acceptability of violent behaviors.

Heritage, the “present-centered” use of the past (Ashworth 2007) influences the identities of contemporary citizens (Palmer 2005, Sommer 2009). Grasping the ways in which the production and consumption of heritage takes place is becoming increasingly relevant in a post-Brexit Britain, where the national identity is constantly up for debate. This research asks: what role does heritage tourism play in (re)producing hegemonic national narratives in Glastonbury and Tintagel? And subsequently, what do these narratives say about broader conceptualizations of English identity? Arthurian legend permeates the historical narrative in both locations. According to the legend, King Arthur was conceived and born in Tintagel, and ultimately buried in Glastonbury. Both Glastonbury and Tintagel are located in the southwest region of England and are home to significant national heritage sites. In Glastonbury, heritage sites include Glastonbury Abbey, Glastonbury Tor and the Chalice Well Gardens. In Tintagel, heritage sites include Tintagel Castle, King Arthur’s Great Halls, St. Nectan’s Glen and the Arthurian Centre. Methods for this ethnographic comparative study include classic participant observation, semi-structured interviews, ethnographic photography and archival research. The focus here is on the producers of heritage (heritage management employees, local shop owners and community members) rather than the consumers (tourists and travelers). By using a holistic political economy approach, this research reveals how heritage is both contested and commodified in both Glastonbury and Tintagel. Rather than understanding “authorized heritage discourses” (Smith 2006) as simply the result of hegemonic forces imparted by heritage management organizations, this research reveals the nuances created by the commodification of heritage in both Glastonbury and Tintagel, where tourism plays a significant role in the local economy.