The Cherokee / Family Characteristics, Organization, and Values
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A 6 page look at family structure and values in the Cherokees. Emphasis is placed on the clan system and on the family relationships imposed by that system. Bibliography lists three sources.
Filename: Cherokee.wps

The Decline Of Traditional Southeastern Dance Among The Cherokee and Creek
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A 6 page review of the current status of dance among some groups of Southeastern Native Americans. Analyzes the shift in concentration from traditional dances such as the stomp dance to the modern day Pow Wow style dance among the Cherokee and the Creek. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Filename: Stompdnc.wps

Tantric Tribes and Tantrism
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A 7 page research paper in which the writer provides an overview of the tantric tribes of India and the impacts of tantrism on Buddhism and Hinduism. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Filename: Tantrist.wps

Play and Leisure Among Slave Children in the United States
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A 5 page overview of the concepts of play and recreation and how they related to black children during slavery. Emphasizes that play was shaped by the environment and that while black children may have not had much leisure time they assuredly engaged in a diversity of play and leisure activities. These activities could have been as diverse as learning to read, as Frederick Douglass related in his now infamous narratives, to learning complex and often meaningful circular song games. Bibliography lists 10 sources.
Filename: PPslaveC.wps

Science, The Bell Curve, & Racism
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A 14 page paper that presents the theory that science has been readily utilized as a means for promoting racism. This paper considers the impact of scientific findings in regards to ethnicity and the impact that these have on racism, especially in the United States. The Bell Curve is one example of recent racially-based scientific findings that have been challenged because of their jaded methodology. Bibliography lists 10 sources.
Filename: Science.wps

Physical Descriptions Of Biblical Patriarchs / Influence Of Ancient Art
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A 6 page paper that compares the Biblical descriptions of some of its major patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, etc;) with the archaeological findings of the time, to support their descriptions. The writer attempts to show that archaeological findings, including art and sculpture, deny some of the representations in the Bible, including the advanced age of many of the patriarchs in Genesis, and the racial hereditary basis for characters like Esau. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Filename: Patriar.wps

The Amish
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A 12 page overview of the Amish, their culture and the factors which are changing that culture. Gives a brief historical account of the Amish and provides considerable information regarding the effects of their increased interaction with non-Amish and the factors which have caused that increase. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Filename: Amishcul.wps

The Amish People
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6 pages in length. This group is examined in terms of lifestyle, dress, use of technology and relationship to the larger society. Disputes with the United States government are highlighted in the areas of dress, education and military duty. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Filename: Amish.doc

Looking At The Past For Answers To The Future / The Culture Of Ancient Rome
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This 10 page paper examines social problems of today in comparison with those of Ancient Rome's. An historical overview is first provided that concentrates on the rule of Julius Caesar. Facts about Ancient Rome are gleaned from a variety of sources, inclusive of the art work the ancient world is famous for. An intense examination of this early culture concludes that they study of the ancient world is relevant to us today. Bibliography lists 9 sources.
Filename: Ancrome.wps

Sedimentary Strata as Diaries of Environmental Change
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This 4 page paper provides an overview of the process of creation of sedimentary strata and the impacts in assessing environmental events of the past. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Filename: MHSedSec.rtf

!Kung San: Cultural Change
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5 pages in length. Before the white man's social infiltration, the !Kung San were a nomadic people content to live their lives without any of the modern conveniences so readily associated with many parts of the world; in fact, there was little knowledge beyond their immediate villages as to what technological advancement actually meant. Theirs was a simple yet satisfying hunter/gatherer lifestyle perpetuated generation after generation with no external intrusion or forced cultural assimilation – until the white man arrived. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Filename: TLCKung2.rtf

'Contested Lives'—Debate on Abortion
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A 5 page analysis of the principle points from Faye D. Ginsburg's study of abortion debate, Contested Lives. Ginsburg approaches this debate from an anthropological standpoint that examines the ideologies that motivate each group of activists in one town, Fargo, North Dakota. No additional sources cited.
Filename: 00gincon.rtf

'Economics' In The New Guinea Highland
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This 7 page research paper examines the tribal societies of the Highlanders of New Guinea as written about by ethnographer David M. Hayano in The Road Through the Rain Forest: Living Anthropology In Highland Papua New Guinea (1990). Specifically discussed are the concept of economics, distribution of labor and services, and wages. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Filename: Highland.wps

“Chimpanzee Politics”
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An 8 page overview of the many similarities that exist between humans and chimps when it comes to group dynamics. Using the book by Frans De Waal as a reference, this paper highlights how chimp group dynamics share more similarities than they do differences with politics in American government. No additional sources are listed.
Filename: PPpolChimps.rtf

“Chinese American Death Rituals: Respecting the Ancestors”
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This 4 page paper is a review of the book “Chinese American Death Rituals: Respecting the Ancestors.” Bibliography lists 1 source.
Filename: HVChiDth.rtf

“Clifford Geertz and cultural anthropology”
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A paper which looks at Geertz’s theories regarding the development of culture and how it interacts with the evolution of human thought, in that the one can only be found as a corollary of the other, and some of the ways in which other researchers have dealt with Geertz’ material.
Filename: JLgeertz.wps

“Eannatum, Prince of Lagash” and “Woman or Goddess with Snakes” -- Ancient Art Representing Ancient People
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This 5 page report discusses two works of ancient art from Sumeria/Mesopotamia and the Greek island of Crete, home of the Minoan culture. The actual artworks are considered as well as what they represent for the ancient cultures from which they were created. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Filename: BWlagbce.wps

“Magical Death” -- An Ethnographic Film about the Yanomami of South America
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This 5 page report discusses the film “Magical Death,” produced by anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon and ethnographic filmmaker Timothy Asch. Magical Death, made in 1973, portrays Yanomami shamans causing a trance through taking psycho-active drug “ebene.” They do this in order to be able to contact their spirit helpers or “hekura” for assistance and guidance in times of sickness or adversity. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Filename: BWmdeath.rtf

“Naufragios” by Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca
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A 10 page paper which examines “Naufragios” by Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca as it contributes to the field of anthropology. Bibliography lists 5 additional sources.
Filename: RAnaufrg.rtf

“Nest in the Wind : Adventures in Anthropology on a Tropical Island”: A Review
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A 5 page overview of the book by Martha C. Ward. This book provides not only insight to the people of the island on which Ward is stationed but also into the mindset and thinking of the author herself. This paper contends, however, that this book is a window into the lives and the experience of the people Ward is investigating, not a reflection of preconceived ideas as to how these people somehow innately fall at a lower echelon on the totem pole than our so-called more advanced society. The author of this paper asserts, however, that there is an underlying issue broached by Ward. This issue is the depiction of gender roles in this primitive society and how these roles relate to the patriarchal domination which has so heavily impacted the world as a whole. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Filename: PPnestWn.rtf

“The Canadian Anthology of Social Studies”
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A 5 page paper which examines one of the essays in “Discipline-Based Strands” from “The Canadian Anthology of Social Studies” by Roland Case and Penney Clark. The essay discussed is “The Anthropology of Everyday Life: Teaching Cultural Anthropology in Schools” by Michael Ling. No additional sources cited.
Filename: RAcndass.rtf

“The Hold Life Has” by Catherine J. Allen
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A 4 page paper which examines practices, or rituals, associated with pilgrimages as seen in “The Hold Life Has: Coca and Cultural Identity in an Andean Community” by Catherine J. Allen. No additional sources cited.
Filename: RAhold.rtf

“Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World”
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A 5 page discussion of the many lessons which are available in the lesser developed world among indigenous tribal units. Reviewing the observations presented by author David Maybury-Lewis in “Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World”, this paper contends that our current move toward global economic development and globalization is occurring at the expense of indigenous peoples all over the world. Bibliography lists 7 sources.
Filename: PPtribal.rtf

“Vogel’s Net” and “The Sacrificial Aesthetic”
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This is a 3 page paper. It is based on the arguments presented in 1996 by Alfred Gell in Vogel’s Net and those in Dawn Perlmutter’s 1999 work The Sacrificial Aesthetic: Blood rituals from art to murder. Three sources cited.
Filename: BWvogel.rtf

"Argonauts of the Western Pacific" and "The Nuer": A Discussion of the Two Classic Anthropological Texts by Malinowski and Evans-Pritchard
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A 5 page comparison of two classic anthropological accounts and the differences in their ethnographic styles. Outlines the contents of each account, detailing economics and non-utilitarian and ceremonial aspects of each group, and compares and contrasts the ethnographic methods used to record those accounts. Concludes that Malinowski's constant interruptions of his narration of Trobiand life to insert his ethnographic perspective illustrate the fact that narrative and ethnography are not necessarily incompatible. Malinowski in fact became a stylistic guide for subsequent anthropological works as a new-style ethnographic science. Suggests that Evans-Pritchard recorded his account in a manner which did not really differ substantially from Malinowski but in a manner which he saw no reason to justify, perhaps using Malinowski's earlier ventures into new-style ethnographic science as a guideline for his own. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Filename: PPtrobia.wps

"Dancing Skeletons": A Review of the Book by Catherine Dettwyler
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A 5 page review of the ethnographic account of fieldwork in medical anthropology. Working among malnourished children in West Africa Dettwyler experienced both professional and personal insight. Although sometimes criticized for her subjective approach to her subject, in reality Dettwyler provides both a a touching human account and a valuable ethnography. Her approach to death as "the ultimate illness", however, is one which is unfortunate. This paper points out that death is in fact a natural component of life. To view death as an ultimate illness is to regard death, a phase which we must all pass through, as a personal and medical failure. No additional sources are listed.
Filename: PPskeltn.wps

"Mortality is Not Relative": James Rachels' Views on the Theory of Cultural Relativism
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A 7 page exploration of Rachels beliefs in regard to what determines certain cultural practices and whether or not there are inherent rights and wrongs in those practices. More specifically, Rachels explores the question of whether morality is a phenomena that varies according to culture, whether different cultures do in fact operate under different moral codes. Rachels points out that many cultures even diverge greatly from our Western precepts of right and wrong. He is particularly interested in the theory of cultural relativism, that theory that demands that we view behavior and situations in a world context rather than from the closely defined views of one culture. Rachels sees both positives and negatives in that theory, however. No additional sources are listed.
Filename: PPmoralR.rtf

"National Geographic": Political Propaganda or Insight into the Exotic and Fascinating?
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A 6 page discussion of the criticism that has been waged by some authors against "National Geographic". Analyzing those criticisms and evaluating them against one specific article in particular this paper concludes that "National Geographic" is not a political publication and it is not intended to be. The publication's "images are formed, selected and controlled, purveyed and read" (as one author has contended) all right but they are presented for the specific purpose of giving us a view of the exotic and the interesting not the political and controversial. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Filename: PPntlGeo.rtf

"Primate Behavioral Ecology: From Ethnography to Ethology and Back"
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An 8 page review of an article published in the March, 2003 edition of the "American Anthropologist" by author Karen B. Strier. The article's focus is delineated and the content criticized both in relation to the work her literature review encompasses and to work that it does not encompass. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Filename: PPprimat.rtf

"Rabbit-Proof Fence" and Other Insights into Aborigine Subjugation
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An 8 page discussion of the concept of manifest destiny as it is illustrated in the film "Rabbit-Proof Fence". The author reviews the plot of this film and compares the blatant discrimination experienced by the characters with other acts of discrimination conducted against other aboriginal peoples around the world. Bibliography lists 8 sources.
Filename: PPaboRbb.rtf

"The Next of Kin": Bilingual and Bicultural
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A 6 page paper which discusses how Washoe, from Roger Fouts' "The Next of Kin," written with assistance along with Stephen Tukel Mills, is bilingual and bicultural. The paper also discusses how this challenges the powerful notion, and existence, of European ethnocentrism. No additional sources cited.
Filename: RAnextkin.doc

"The Role of Women in Human Evolution"
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A 3 page review of author Margaret Ehrenberg's views on the emergence of gender roles in mankind's evolution. Published in editors Caroline B. Brettell and Carolyn F. Sargent anthology titled "Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective", this article questions the traditional anthropological explanation of women's role in evolution. No additional sources are listed.
Filename: PPGndClt.rtf

2 Anthropology Studies
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A 5 page research paper that examines Jody Glittenberg's To The Mountain and Back (1994), a study of the peoples of the Guatemalan highlands and Dennis Werner's Amazon Journey (1990), which describes the author's year-long study of life among Brazil's Mekranoti Indians. Both texts are intriguing, offering the reader insight into other cultures, other social paradigms. This examination of these texts examines the orientation of each anthropologist toward field work and how these studies were conducted. No additional sources cited.
Filename: kh2anth.rtf

A Brief Comparison of Native American Religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Confucianism, and Taoism
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An 8 page overview of each of these fascinating religions. The author discusses the importance of the environment as a factor in shaping the evolution of Native American Religions, then goes on to provide a brief overview of the beliefs and ideologies of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Confucianism, and Taoism. Bibliography lists 11 sources.
Filename: PPrelDiv.rtf

A Comparison Between France and the United States
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This 16 page paper examines the social and cultural anthropology of France and compares it to that of the United States. Various aspects are explored including geography, religion, ethnicity, and history. Similarities and differences are highlighted. Bibliography lists 9 sources.
Filename: SA129AAF.rtf

A Comparison of Appalachian and Cherokee Cultures
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A 9 page comparison of these sometimes diverse yet sometimes astonishingly similar cultures. The author of this paper defines the geographic range encompassed by the Appalachians and the unique peoples who presently live there. The author notes that this range was once the homelands of the Cherokee Indians. Specific details are provided on the cultural organization of these two groups, as well as their subsistence patterns, and information about their material culture. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Filename: PPapala2.rtf

A COMPARISON OF THE CARIBBEAN AND CENTRAL AMERICAN CULTURES
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This 4 page paper discusses the similarities and differences between the history of the Caribbean and Central America. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Filename: MBcompcar.rtf

A Consideration of “Aboriginality”
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A 5 page paper in which the author approaches the term “aboriginality” with the contention that the term has been defined not only by the Aboriginal peoples themselves but by those cultures who invaded Australian shores and ultimately came to dominate the land and the people. The problem which is inherent in an English definition of “aboriginality” is that such definitions typically fail to take into account the fact that aboriginal culture, like all cultures, is an ever-evolving phenomena. An equally important problem results in that the definition of the term “aboriginality” tends to continually evolve in accordance with the degree of economic and political pressure the aborigine peoples represent to the dominant culture. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Filename: PPabo1.rtf

A Critical Analysis: 'Growing Up In New Guinea' By Margaret Mead
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A 5 page research paper on the book 'Growing Up in New Guinea,' by Margaret Mead. This paper offers a critical analysis of Mead's study of child development and overall society of the Manus people living on the Admiralty Islands located in the Western Pacific Ocean. A critique is presented focusing on the research methods and design of Mead's study done during 1928-1929. Bibliography lists 1 source.
Filename: Growup2.wps

A Discussion of Death: Cultural Variation and the Obligations of the Living
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A 4 page contention that death is a process, a process in which the dying terminate their societal obligations but in which family members often incur obligations in the form of family vigilance. These obligations have varied, however, over time and culture. In many aspects of our modern society death has become more of a clinical topic than a personal and spiritual one. To more traditional societies, however, the process of death is one in which family members not only are expected to but want to provide the structure which they feel best allows their loved one to transition from the physical world to the living world. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Filename: PPdeath4.rtf

A Discussion of Umberto Eco’s Argument that All of Social Life is a Sign System
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A 2 page overview of several observations of the universal nature of facial expression which support Eco’s argument. Reviews the related work of Farit Emil, Paul Ekman, and Deborah Blum. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Filename: PPantSym.wps

A HISTORY OF WORLD SOCIETIES
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This 6 page paper compares and contrasts the cultures and civilizations of: Africans, Pre-Columbians, Asian, Islamic peoples. Examples, features, history examined. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Filename: MBmckay.rtf

A Multicultural View of America
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A 14 page contention that contemporary America has set the stage in terms of providing an example to the world of a multicultural country. The author of this paper provides observations on how the various fractions that compose our country interrelate. These observations are provided first from an academic approach, relying on the sociological and anthropological literature, then from a humanistic perspective relying on the popular literature. Bibliography lists 12 sources.
Filename: PPmultic.rtf

A Music Ethnography Of the Bluegrass Group 'Intermountain Acoustics'
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An 8 page paper discussing a group of five musicians who form 'Intermountain Acoustics,' a bluegrass group. Consists of notes and observations.
Filename: Blueg.wps

A Proposal for Additional Archaeological Excavation in Jerusalem
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A 5 page contention that the modern era of the nineteenth and twentieth century have by many accounts waged more damage on Jerusalem than the city has incurred at any point in her pre-modern history. Much of this damage relates to the perception of the religious importance of the city. It is an insult which is deserved of a deliberate archaeological effort to clarify that indeed Jerusalem was, and is, one of the most important religious shrines on earth. This paper proposes additional excavation in Jerusalem which is designed to demonstrate that the Bible, despite growing perceptions to the contrary, is an accurate historical record and not just the myth of which some would prefer it be comprised. A brief budget is proposed based on a fictional $1,000,000 grant. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Filename: PParchPr.rtf