We researched how animals in Pacific Island legends vary from island to island, and the cultural significance of these animals. This research question directly relates to the readings we have done in Pacific Island Legends and Research is Ceremony. Pacific Island Legends has showed us a variety of stories from various areas of the pacific islands. Shawn Wilson’s book Research is Ceremony shows us the importance of using culture when teaching students. We used the methods of legend analysis, interviews, participant observation, and discourse analysis. We hypothesized that we will find patterns of animals used in the legends. Our research matters because legends are important for character building in children. Legends are important to bring to the classroom because they help people build relationships not just with people, but also with all of their surroundings.

Four displaced ethnic groups populate Kyakitanga village in central Uganda. The community collaborates with small NGOs and local ministries to address conditions of “underdevelopment” and at a August 2012 workshop, participants expressed a priority of increasing community wisdom concerning “modern” food production. In a place-based subsistence community, such wisdom may be framed as Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). This research explores Kyakitangan TEK as it already exists, aims to identify the local food sovereignty development model, and the implications of that model for social equity and environmental sustainability. These questions were explored through a participatory action research study involving local-led grand tours, object-and-walking probe interviews, alternative talking circles, and pile sorts. Findings indicate Kyakitangans possess tremendous TEK concerning foraging, agriculture, and pastoralism. This TEK is tied to ethnicity, as different foodways function as survival strategies specific to each group’s ancestral history and environment. Contrary to the 2012 workshop’s “modernist” atmosphere, Kyakitangans actually advocate a development model utilizing knowledge and resources already existent within the community. Implications pose questions about how ethnic groups collaborate moving forward since different foodways entail different land-shaping impacts and the livelihoods of each group are linked to each other. These dynamics are contextualized in the region’s political economic and cultural history, because the question of food insecurity is a by-product of peoples’ physical separation from native lands. This is exacerbated by structural violence and historical trauma of post-independence regimes and neoliberal globalization. Open-endedness in methodology allowed for the surfacing of important issues surrounding gender and reproductive control. Overall, the Kyakitangan context presents alternative models of development which privilege local knowledge. This type of model in broader development discourse is currently marginal, co-opted, or nonexistent.

This project explores a grassroots organic food movement in Chengdu, China through a case study of an organic co-op in Anlong Village in the outskirts of the city. Due to its small size and inadequacy of official organic certification standards, the Anlong farmers refer to their produce “ecological” vegetables, as opposed to “organic” vegetables. Since the farms converted to “ecological” production in 2006, small, but growing number of Chengdu urbanites has turned to Anlong farms for a source of healthy and fresh organic produce while other affluent urban consumers enjoy organic products at metropolitan supermarkets. Given that the produce of these farms in Anlong is not officially certified, and given the fact that the cost of the produce is still on par with certified organic produce, why are they gaining popularity among urban customers who could easily buy similar produce at a shopping center nearby? Based on analyses of semi-structured interviews I conducted with Anlong farmers and customers and field observation, I argue that the consumption of Anlong products carries significance that extends beyond actual processes of production to suggest a symbolic purity untainted by the government association. In China, due to a series of reports on counterfeit food labels and the limited success of government regulations on food industry, government certified labels hardly evince moral attributes of organic foods, but generate negative interpretations. Anlong’s produce absent an official label shuns such suspicion and validates honest values that the organic agriculture elicits. 

The uneasy coexistence between ethnic Czechs and Roma has recently been flaring up in anti-Roma protests and riots throughout the Czech Republic. Tensions between Czechs and Roma have been strained for some time, and general Czech attitudes towards Roma are decidedly negative. Despite this, Roma have a significant presence in the popular music industry, indicating that there is something different about how Romani musicians are perceived. This research will seek to understand the general relationship between ethnic Czechs and Roma, Czech attitudes towards Romani musicians, and what shapes these attitudes. Using media, comments on public Internet forums, ethnography, and interviews, this research seeks to understand the underlying Czech values that make Roma acceptable, and often popular, within a musical setting. Understanding how attitudes towards musicians positively differ from those towards other Roma might help us understand the basis of negative attitudes and use this knowledge to address policy formation.

 For thousands of years, the Chengdu Plain in Sichuan, China has been characterized by the linpan settlement pattern, a system where the family compound is located amongst the lands they farm as well as thickets of bamboo and trees, creating a patchwork of farmland and human life across the Plain. A recent Chinese government program entitled “A New Socialist Countryside” threatens this unique pattern through nationwide reconsolidation of rural households into concentrated villages. This style of living undoubtedly places a new ecological strain on the Chengdu Plain, an effect believed to be more serious due to the concentration of environmental pollutants compared to the former dispersed pattern of waste flows. I sampled water in an area with both new and old settlement patterns, measuring the levels of nitrates, phosphates, ammonia and chemical oxygen demand. Through a comparative study of the results, initial findings point towards supporting the hypothesis that consolidated housing is more ecologically harmful than the linpan. The consolidation of the Chengdu Plain presents the exciting opportunity to capture and record the effects of modernization within rural farmland.

The influence of environmental oxygen level on the development and histological characteristics of mammalian bones has only recently begun to be explored by the biological sciences. By utilizing bone histology as the methodology, this research works to identify and analyze the influence of environmental atmospheric hypoxia on the characteristics of the microstructure of mammalian femora. This study focuses on wild caught animals of the order Lagomorpha and the family Sciuridae, provided by the Burke Museum of Natural History. Data was collected on bone wall thickness and a wide variety of mechanical properties in order observe any possible patterns and trends as the amount of oxygen in the environment decreases. The comparison is intra-species, and each animal is collected from a discrete elevational point and compared to animals from higher or lower discrete elevations. By using paleontological preparation methods we can strengthen our ability to make assumptions through evolutionary history and into the fossil record. The implications of this research are possible inferences about the universal effects of elevation, and as a proxy, oxygen level, on the growth and mechanical properties of mammalian bone. Because oxygen is believed to be a macroevolutionary pressure, identifying the physical manifestations of oxygen’s influence within bones would further our broad level understanding of how an organism’s habitat and environment influences the mammalian body.

 Cultivation of annual species of goosefoot (Chenopodium/Amaranthus spp.) for food was practiced by the ethnographic Southern Paiute groups in southern Utah (Kelly 1932-1934, Fowler 1995). Yet our understanding of the archaeological use of these plants in the northern Colorado Plateau is limited. This study documents use of these important species over time and examines evidence for Chenopodium berlandieri management at North Creek Shelter (NCS), an archaeological site in the Escalante river valley of southern Utah. NCS contains a rich macrobotanical sequence spanning the early Holocene to Proto-historic times, of which Chenopodium spp. fruits and seeds form the largest dietary component. Here preliminary results are presented on the use of Chenopodium spp. by examining 1) change in Chenopodium spp. abundance throughout the Holocene archaeological record and 2) concurrent morphological changes in the fruit margins and/or seed coats of C. berlandieri. To my knowledge, this is the first attempt to evaluate archaeological evidence for management of Chenopodium spp. in the northern Colorado Plateau. Findings of this study provide a local history of Chenopodium spp. use and an archaeological context for ethnographic data on wild plant horticulture in the region.

In the United States, eating disorders affect nearly 10% of the population and have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. Among at-risk populations, female athletes involved in aesthetic sports, including dance, are the most likely to develop an eating disorder. High incidence and widespread prevalence of eating disorders among dancers is often interpreted as a desire to craft a body required to achieve peak artistic and athletic performance. Previously conducted studies on numerous populations of dancers reveal that body dissatisfaction, heightened sensory awareness, and trained perfectionism are contributing factors to eating disorder development. Despite commonalities between varying explanatory models of illness, the spectrum of theories pertaining to eating disorder etiology does not adequately represent the lived experiences of the primary investigators and insufficiently addresses the relationship between embodied identity and aesthetic sport. This pilot research project seeks to challenge the assumption that eating disorders among dancers manifest to maintain a performance-enhancing physique and aims to identify when and how dance can destabilize the identity of certain dancers. Drawing from data generated through an analysis of autobiographical narratives, this research seeks to generate a new theory to comprehensively explain the high prevalence of eating disorders among dancers. This theory will serve as the grounding framework for an extension of this project in which each primary investigator continues research to develop and answer a more pointed question that bridges gaps in existing literature. 

The goal of this research is to examine how the Bulgarian community in the greater Seattle, Washington, area is attempting to maintain its cultural heritage through specific efforts such as carrying on traditional practices. I had witnessed a few performances of traditional Bulgarian songs and dances, and was interested to discover if there was an organized, consistent community effort to continue practicing traditions, maintaining social structures and networks, and perpetuating ideologies or attitudes about their Bulgarian heritage. I began inquiring of Bulgarians living in the area, and then networked through social media, websites, and by attending meetings and rehearsals to examine whether this heritage maintenance was indeed happening, and what it looked like. The Bulgarian community in Seattle appears to indeed be actively involved in retaining their Bulgarian heritage, and this heritage maintenance primarily is evident in preparation for outward acts or events showcasing their traditions and customs. It is during the rehearsals and preparations for these events that the bulk of heritage maintenance occurs. Elements of this include uniting under shared memory, language, music and dance, researching family histories, building community and networking, reintegrating lost cultural practices in the home, observing cultural rituals, wearing traditional dress, and performing for a presumably non-Bulgarian audience, which includes elements of commodification of culture. The motivation for displaying this culture serves as an impetus for identity formation and assimilation into the larger, diverse community of Seattle. Thus a symbiotic relationship is manifested between assimilation within a diverse community such as Seattle, and performance of distinct cultural heritage.

In recent years, multi-cultural education has become commonplace in policy making and public discourse. While policy makers, educators, parents and community members surely make an earnest effort to seek out and implement standards and practices which fairly address multiple cultures, many children and young adults remain faced with intense challenges in the form of curriculum and social pressure. This study sought to better understand how students in a South Seattle refugee community negotiate identity and achievement while engaged in this American public education system. It also attempts to explore how and why certain aspects of social fabric are maintained and others dismissed in favor of mainstream American culture and the ways which these interact with this system. The common view of multi-cultural education is based on supplementing otherwise standardized curriculum and the creation of certain types of spaces. This process of supplementing pre-existing curriculum is problematic because it leads to the exclusion of increasing numbers of students from both the public education system and future socioeconomic advancement in the United States. While this system deeply affects the lives of children, young adults, parents and community, these issues remain underexplored. Therefore, this study engaged participants from South Seattle’s Yesler Terrace neighborhood to explore these concerns using ethnographic data collected based on a “mosaic approach”, including one-on-one and group participant led interviews, photo-voice, social mapping and participant observation. Using these methods, this study explored two sites within this neighborhood. The first is an after school tutoring program run by Catholic Community Services at the Yesler Terrace Community Center which pairs students one on one with tutors for help outside of the classroom. The second is a first grade classroom at a neighboring elementary school. This study has found that the complexities faced by young people in the United States education system are incredibly individualized experiences. One of the primary goals of this research is to emphasize the importance of these individual experiences over those understood through collective sets of data. It is hoped that this study may open doors for further exploring the lives of individuals in order to better serve them in the public education system. Simultaneously, this study focuses on the anthropological process and the relationships that arise from it, the various roles of anthropologists and the impacts of research.

My experience on a short term medical mission trip to Guatemala in 2010 left me with an uneasiness. In the face of the experience itself, much post-trip discourse has been centered largely on its value as social capital. The goal of my research is to begin to unravel the complex emotions that take place both at the site of contact in the third-world host country and after returning home. In the face of the ubiquity of short term mission trips, their increasing necessity for professional and educational development, and the vast amount of development literature, this emotional ambiguity is left out. I plan to unpack and illuminate this internal conflict as a way to understand the dual nature of its effects. As an overall objective, I hope that this project invites further discussion about short term volunteer programs and their complexities. Additionally, my research questions ask what evidence of this duality in their own experiences there might be in personal accounts of returnees. Additionally, I plan to address the source, context, and representation of this ambiguity, if it does in fact exist for others, as well. My methods consist of revisiting my experience through an autoethnography and collecting data from the trip. I also include personal narratives from several returned volunteers willing to share their experiences, as well as reviewing much of the academic literature about short term trips. I plan to present emergent broad themes and possible significance for others preparing to go on a short term volunteer trip. These themes include mixed feelings about the trip in the form of a duality, the manner in which relationships formed in the contact zone might affect personal beliefs about the work being done on the trip, and the ambiguity of short term mission trips in terms of their helpfulness or harm.

Humans and other primates have been in contact for the entirety of our evolution and our relationships have been complex and ever changing. Many cultures hold a position of dominance, exploitation, or power over other primates. This often results in turning them into the "Other," which allows humans to use them as they see fit. This research examines the ways in which humans relate to and perceive other primates to understand how these relationships are associated with varied human uses of them. Expanding upon the current research in ethnoprimatology, which examines the human-other primate interface, my work studies the relationships and perceptions that develop in the context of captivity. I investigate these relationships in a biomedical research facility, a zoo, and an animal sanctuary. I use observation, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and discourse and artifact analysis to determine the human perception(s) of other primates. Qualitative data analysis will be used to discern and interpret similarities, differences, and patterns. What I expect to find from this study is that humans treat other primates as "Others" and assign them a lower status in order to justify their varied uses. This study will help us to understand our hierarchical relationships with other primates, how they allow for exploitation, entertainment, or conservation values, and what this teaches us about the construction of "human nature".

Colonization is often associated with exploitation of local laborers. However, the degree to which physical activity in local populations changes following colonization depends upon the policies of the colonizers, and the technology that is locally available. This research tests the null hypothesis that levels of physical activity, as evidenced by osteoarthritis in human skeletons, remained constant at Epidamnus, Albania during Greek and Roman colonial occupation (620-100BC). To test this hypothesis, 80 skeletons from Epidamnus were examined for evidence of osteoarthritis, and scored according to international standardized protocols. Of these 80 individuals, 27 were adults that showed sufficient preservation for analysis of osteoarthritis. Results indicate that osteoarthritis was more pronounced in all joint surfaces during the Greek than the Roman period (shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, ankle, cervical vertebra, and temporomandibular joint), with the exception of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. Chi-square indicates that this pattern is statistically significant in the shoulder (p=0.02) and ankle (p=0.003), and approaches significance in the elbow (p=0.09), wrist (p=0.06), and temporomandibular joint (p=0.06). These results do not support the null hypothesis of no change from the Greek to the Roman period. Historical documents indicate that Greek colonization resulted in increased dependence on agriculture and largely replaced nomadic pastoralism in local Illyrians. The Romans then introduced new technologies to increase agricultural efficiency. The emerging pattern indicates that the introduction of new, sophisticated technology made life easier for Illyrians during the Roman period. However, the impacts of small sample size are also considered.

 In our research, we are focusing on Pacific Islander traditional medicine and how Pacific Islanders adapt these cultural practices when living in the mainland USA. We found that our topic relates to the Pacific Island Legends by Flood et al and Don’t Ever Whisper by Giff Johnson and the way that the stories link to the importance of land and passing on as well as preserving cultural practices. To research this subject further, we plan on utilizing the Pacific Islander community in Seattle through a combination of interviews and surveys. We will also be making participant observations by visiting local traditional medicine shops to see the demographic of people going to these stores. We hypothesize that Pacific Islanders coming to the US will use a combination of Western medicine while looking for ways to continue traditional medicine on the mainland. We hope that through our research we can show the importance of connecting Pacific Islander culture within Seattle and Washington State through medicine and showing the cultural benefits of continuing these methods.

University students suffering from tension-type headaches and/or migraines report a profound impact upon their ability to study, perform in school, and participate in social activities. Despite this, few people consult their doctor regarding headaches, and previous research points to headaches not necessarily being conceived of as a symptom of disease or pathology. Furthermore, there is stigma attached to some headache disorders, such as migraine, that chronically interfere with productivity. In order to ascertain what resources and coping strategies university students with headaches use, I conducted 10 semi-structured ethnographic interviews with UW undergraduate students who identified as 'struggling with headaches' recently. Interviews ranged from 20-55 minutes in length. Students were asked what type of headaches they experienced and what difficulties headaches created for them in their day-to-day lives, among other questions. All students reported difficulty studying and concentrating while experiencing headaches; many students missed classes and some missed deadlines. Very few of the students interviewed utilized campus resources such as Hall Health, Disability Services or the Student Counseling Center, directly concerning their headaches. My initial analysis of student interviews demonstrates that the stigma surrounding headaches is of the type Goffman called 'flaw of the character', meaning a person with a stigmatized trait is perceived as weak, dishonest, lazy or having other negative personal attributes regardless of their behavior. This stigma, along with students' conception of headaches themselves, may lead to a disconnect between needs and services on campus for students struggling with headache.

 According to the World Health Organization, low-income countries have ten times fewer physicians than high-income countries. This gap in health care access contributes to numerous global health disparities, including differences in mortality rates, disease transmission, and life expectancy. In Madagascar, health care access has improved due to the implementation of integrated health care systems, which incorporate traditional medical practices with allopathic health care strategies. My research uses qualitiative data gathered from interviews and lectures to explore the ways in which these systems in Madagascar provide health care in an affordable and accessible manner, while also promoting cultural sustainability and the conservation of biodiversity. Understanding and implementing integrated health care systems can lead to further discoveries of new medical treatments, the protection of biodiversity, advancements in traditional and allopathic remedies, and ultimately, improved access to health care.

What influences “Micronesians” to join the U.S. military? What effects does militarization have on reconstructing Micronesia? How does this also influence Micronesians' decisions to join the US military? In our study, we researched  the reasons that influence Micronesians to join the military and how militarization affects the reconstruction of Micronesian identity and culture. Micronesians have one of the highest rates per capita of enlisting in the United States military, and in turn have a death rate that is five times the average in the US. Despite these numbers and the nuclear history in Micronesia, men and women are still deciding to join the military. To study these reasons, we used methods such as surveys, interviews, and participant observation. As cultural insiders, we utilized our connections to family, friends, and communities to highlight the experiences of Micronesians in the U.S. military. Through conducting our research, we anticipated that the main influences of enlistment would be access to a better quality of life, career, and a chance to move away from the islands. We hope to give insight to the reasons for choosing this path while also bringing awareness to the possibilities of other choices and challenge this mindset of the military being the last resort for Micronesians.

It is important to see the way that the word “Micronesia” itself belittles the people and culture, because when it is broken down, it means “small islands.” Such language connotes the idea that Micronesia is insignificant and unimportant. However, these islands have a rich cultural background in navigation and fishing. Through our research, we studied the ways that knowledge about navigation and fishing is passed down and why it is important to learn the values it brings to the people and culture. We conducted interviews, utilized object and artifact analysis, as well as cultural mapping on how the importance of learning this knowledge is today. We anticipate that our research will show the interconnectedness and reciprocity of Micronesian culture, the understanding and respect for the land, societal roles, and the ways of living. 

How has colonization affected Micronesian art forms and what is the process of reviving and reclaiming culture through art today? Through our study, we are going to show the importance of art as a connection to culture, not for entertainment or aesthetic purposes. We anticipate that our research will show the vastness and unique qualities of Micronesian art forms such as carving, weaving, music, dance, and tattoos. The ways in which we are conducting our research is through artifact and object analysis through items found in the Burke Museum, interviews with individuals who practice different Micronesian art forms within the community, and our own positionality as students who identify with Micronesian culture through art. Through our research, we hope to inform others of the importance of keeping these traditions alive and how we can dispute the negative connotations of being “Micronesian” by practicing various art forms.

It is important to see how health care policies in the United States and citizenship affect Micronesians who move away from the islands. Despite having the ability to travel freely to and from the United States, the non-citizen status of many Micronesians denies them access to proper health care. The argument among policymakers is that Micronesians create a burden on taxpayers and that the responsibility should not fall on them, but the reality is that Micronesians who fall under the non-citizen status are also among those who pay income taxes. In our research, we studied the reasons for these inequalities and disparities and the ways in which Micronesians are being blamed for matters out of their control. To sufficiently unveil our research, we used discourse analysis to look at how the government responds to Micronesians who are in this situation, qualitative interviews of Micronesians affected by health care to reflect on their experiences and how they have responded, and surveys to gain a sense of the understanding US society has of Micronesians and their access to health care. We hope that through our research, we can bring awareness to the disparities Micronesians face in the health care system and the unique experience they face as displaced peoples affected by their citizenship status.

Understanding the energy expenditure required for the activities of daily living is a critical step in assessing the caloric needs both of those individuals whose body mass exceeds recommended standards and those who are chronically under/malnourished. Knowing how much energy people require to accomplish their activities of daily living, which typically includes walking with burdens (carrying excess weight) and on sloped surfaces, is a critical component in developing guidelines for appropriate caloric intake. Activity energy expenditure is the second largest component of daily energy use, after the energy required to maintain bodily function (usually called resting metabolic rate (RMR)). This study allows us to understand the relationship between burden, gradient and walking which is necessary to accurately account for the daily caloric needs of humans. To evaluate this relationship, data is collected from a large number of female participants. Participants walk at three self-selected velocities (slow, normal, and fast), on five gradients (flat, slight uphill and downhill at a gradient of (6.7%), and steep uphill and downhill at a gradient of (12.6%)) and two burdens (no burden and a burden of a 10 kg backpack).“Self-selected” velocity means that the subjects are able to choose their own pace, be it slow, normal or fast. This approach allows flexibility for the subjects to choose speeds that reflect their normal routine. The energy consumption is measured by the volumetric rate of oxygen consumption (VO2, inspiration) and carbon dioxide (VCO2, expiration) with a portable Cosmed K4b2 device. Unlike previous work that has used treadmills, this study is completed outside in an urban setting. Preliminary results indicate that walking outside requires different energy expenditure than walking on a treadmill. This study provides data collected from real-world experience, thereby providing more accurate understanding of the caloric needs to achieve more day-to-day activities.

This study attempts to examine China’s New Socialist Countryside Construction policy and its potential environmental and socio-political consequences. Aggressive urbanization threatens the traditional landscape and governance structures of Sichuan province’s Chengdu Plain. Current scholarship on this subject examines potential reconstruction models and population densities on villages throughout Sichuan. I examine Zhanqi Village as a case study, an experimental region which is currently undergoing transformation. This study explores how alternative development strategies can be deployed to maintain the cultural and historic landscape, while maintaining local planning goals. I employ current urban planning theories focusing on population density and anthropological theories of spatial relationships. Using data collected from consultations with experts and critical reading of existing scholarship I provide a historical overview of the physical landscape and discuss potential redevelopment schemes currently being considered by local authorities. Lastly, I conclude with a discussion on the challenges and obstacles that will arise as a result of these programs. I hope that my research will inform local authorities on the challenges of current development models and contribute to a broader discussion on sustainable countryside development in China.

The following project examined the ways in which HIV/AIDS treatment in St. Petersburg, Russia has been shaped by geographical narratives of blame centered on stereotypes of the United States. Currently the majority of HIV/AIDS in St. Petersburg is spread by intravenous drug use (IDU). When compared to countries with a similar GDP per capita, Russian HIV/AIDS mortality rates rank significantly higher. With Foucault’s concept of biopower as theoretical framework, my thesis focused on the ways in which the United States is negatively associated with heroin and the disease of HIV/AIDS itself. Heroin use greatly increased after the fall of the Soviet Union when heroin was considered to be fashionably new and ‘American’ by youth in St. Petersburg, and the United States invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 was perceived as exacerbating levels of heroin abuse. HIV/AIDS itself seemingly originated in the United States, and only later traveled to Russia. These associations have been used instrumentally by Russians to avoid having to address the epidemic and to minimize treatment for affected Russians. Through an exploration of biopolitics, media, and personal ethnographic research of Russian culture and political policy, it is apparent that the United States is perceived as the origin of blame for the spread of HIV/AIDS.Drawing on the concept of biopolitics, explorations of media representations, and research (including ethnographic interviews) about Russian politics and health policies, I argued that the United States is perceived by the Russian government and people as the origin of blame for the spread of HIV/AIDS.

This is an ethnographical account about a topic of little exploration, indigenous martial arts of the Philippines. Filipino cultures are a plurality of multi-stratum genealogies that merge and occasionally, disrupt one another. Filipino martial arts (or Eskrima) are a collection of Indigenous martial arts that has existed in the Philippines since pre-contact to today. Over the centuries, these arts have distilled into various systems, each with their own styles and codes. Through the methods of ethnographic data collection such as direct participant observation, shadowing, interviewing, literature review, journaling and self-analysis, I will document the shared phenomenological experiences and present a grounded theory based on the sorted material. My qualitative focus will be on one particular Filipino martial art system, Balintawak Cuentada. My presentation will convey the significance of heritage practices along with analytical insight into embodied anti-colonial perspectives while asking; how do practitioners, while living our everyday lives as Americans of Filipino decent maintain this embodied perspective? My study population is a group of practitioners dedicated to the Balintawak Cuentada system. Nearly all of the participants of this research, including myself, began our training because we wanted to connect to our ancestry in a way that could pragmatically fit into our modern lives. In our quest to reconnect with our heritage we have connected with each other. The preliminary results of this ethnography will have implications of significance to other social sciences concerned with place-making, identity, postcolonialism, embodiment, cultural memory, health and politics of the body including gender norms and performances as well as asking the philosophical questions of what are movements of the body without meaning, and what is a community without traditions. My expectation for this research is to document an example of deepening an understanding of the self through the physical engagement of ancestral habitus and ceremony.
 

Cortisol, the main glucocorticoid hormone in humans, and testosterone, an androgenic hormone, are secreted from the adrenal cortex and gonads respectively in response to physiological and social stimuli. Cortisol and testosterone both display diurnal patterns with peaks in the early morning and gradual declines throughout the day. These morning peaks have been suggested to play a role in preparing the body for the day. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axes regulate stochastic, homeostatic processes, which respond to short and long-term caloric changes. Although studies have determined the effect of fasting on cortisol and testosterone, the effect of the time of feeding is currently unknown, particularly the effect of eating close to bedtime on subsequent morning hormone levels. We hypothesized that the morning awakening response of cortisol will be resistant to changes in the timing of feeding before bed and testosterone will be more responsive to these changes. To test for the effect of timing of eating the night before, twenty male and female participants, aged 20 – 35, followed a four-day regimen. This protocol included three cycles of controlled time of evening feeding and next day saliva collections upon waking up and 30 minutes after waking up. The first cycle required consumption of dinner four hours before sleeping, the second cycle required consumption of dinner one hour before sleeping, and the third cycle was a repeat of the first. Salivary cortisol and testosterone were measured with enzyme immunoassays. Morning cortisol levels following late night feeding are expected to display no difference from those following normal dinner times, while morning specimens following late night feeding specimens may show increased testosterone awakening responses. This research may provide insights into the timing of eating and homeostatic regulation in humans.

H5N1 Avian Influenza is a global threat. Given the globalized nature of our world as well as the universal human susceptibility to disease, an influenza outbreak in Southeast Asia poses a concern for the rest of the world. Although there are no major transmission cases reported among human populations, the virus might evolve to become lethal over time. Despite it being a global threat, only the West was well situated for preparedness during the 2005 outbreak in Asian poultry farms. Vaccines created were targeted towards developed countries, and few drug companies were willing to work with Indonesia and Thailand because of lower profit potential. This policy report is designed to accommodate the needs of high-risk countries. Due to the potential destruction of what the avian influenza carries, this report outlines the fundamental causes of avian influenza. We question how the avian influenza virus is evolving to become infectious to humans, and investigate necessary changes to avoid future outbreaks. From our research through news articles, public health journals, microbiology textbooks, and a telephone conference with Dr. Suraya Afiff of the University of Indonesia, it is apparent that food sovereignty is the most crucial issue in preventing future outbreaks. We address our policy-recommendation report to La Via Campensina (LVC) an Indonesian Non-governmental Organization attempting to regulate the poultry industry and working to minimize the negative consequences of large agriculture. Through this report to LVC, we hope to convey a specific set of strategies that will mitigate future pandemics. Above all, we show LVC the importance of considering future outbreaks in the fight for food sovereignty.

On September 1st, 1991 a large nation state of Soviets died, giving birth to the Republic of Uzbekistan. As a result, thousands of non-Uzbek people became citizens by default in the newly independent republic. They had no chance but to stay in Uzbekistan – now their only homeland. Uzbekistan is a highly understudied region, especially when it comes to the national identities of Russian-speaking population that used to be labeled as the Soviets. The main research question is how linguistically russified non-Russian youth identify their national/ethnic identity in Tashkent, Uzbekistan today? I hypothesize that the majority of this population in Tashkent connect themselves to the Uzbek culture while integrating Russian cultural culture in their everyday lives. Russian speaking population today, though varying in gender, ethnicity and class, has similar experiences thus forming an identity that we can name as “Central Asians.” Methods I have employed are my positionality (I am a Russian-speaking citizen of Uzbekistan), interviews (informal interviews conducted in Uzbekistan with 5 adults), and participant observation (done in the summer of 2013 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan). The research sample are young adults between the ages of 20 to 22, raised after the collapse of the Soviet Union with Russian as their native tongue, but mixed ethnic backgrounds (linguistically russified non-Russians) who live in the capitol of Uzbekistan, Tashkent. The findings provided by this research are a significant step in understanding national formations in understudied Uzbekistan. Theoretically, studying independent formation of national identity of ethnic minorities in the post-Soviet nation-states can help understand identity formation of ostracized groups at the time of the mobilized nation building promoted by the government in the region. Urgent need for such research in post-Soviet territories is highlighted by the recent events in Ukraine and Crimean territory.

Although previous studies have found that commuting increases our salivary cortisol (stress) levels, little is known about how it affects salivary testosterone, the sex hormone associated with aggression. Even less is known about the impacts that different modes of transportation may have on these hormone levels. My project therefore aims to 1) identify how commuting influences both salivary cortisol and testosterone patterns and 2) compare the salivary cortisol and testosterone levels of commuters when they drive to when they take the bus to determine how different modes of transportation affect these hormone levels. I hypothesized that 1) commuting (in general) would have a noticeable impact on salivary testosterone and cortisol levels, 2) that testosterone levels would be highest shortly after commuting for both busing and driving, and 3) that salivary cortisol and testosterone levels would be higher when study participants drove than when they took the bus. Ten male and female participants selected two days to commute home via bus and two days to commute home via driving their own car or vehicle. Shortly before and after all four of these commutes, each participant completed mood surveys and stress scales and collected 2 mL of saliva specimen. Cortisol and testosterone were assayed in the specimens using enzyme immunoassays. Bus commute day hormone levels were compared to car commute day hormone levels. Findings from this research project could have implications for future research on stress and transportation which could encourage commuters to use one mode of transportation instead of another since long-term exposure to elevated stress levels has been shown to be bad for one’s health.

Arm swing length has been observed to vary with walking velocity. The mechanical function of arm swing as a counterbalance to leg movement has been suggested as an explanation for these observations. If this explanation is valid, then step length should be a better predictor of arm swing length than velocity, even though velocity and step length are correlated. We hypothesize that the variation in arm swing length can be explained more by step length than by walking velocity in shod and unshod walking conditions. Thirteen women completed 30 shod and 30 unshod trials at self-selected slow, medium, and fast velocities. An eight-camera system collected kinematic data by tracking infrared reflective markers placed on participants. For each trial, we calculated average walking velocity and step length from the calcaneal tuberosity and measured two distances that the distal arm travelled in a step: arm swing length measured from the travel of the radial styloid process (RSAL) and the ulnar styloid process (USAL). Arm swing length does not differ between shod and unshod conditions (RSAL: p<0.69; USAL: p<0.74). Using linear regression, arm swing length is significantly associated with both step length (RSAL: p<0.001, r2=0.46; USAL: p<0.001, r2=0.53) and walking velocity (RSAL: p<0.001, r2=0.37; USAL: p<0.001, r2=0.43). In stepwise regression, walking velocity and the interaction of walking velocity with step length were removed in favor of step length. Our hypothesis is not rejected: arm swing length is more closely associated with step length than walking velocity in both shod and unshod walking conditions.

Although our pre-hominin ancestors almost certainly were climbers, most species of hominins infrequently used this ability. Recently, however people have begun to climb for recreation. With the growing popularity of rock climbing, we were interested in learning how the human body changes under these new forces. This study was designed to understand the relationship between hand proportion and hand strength in rock climbers and non-climbers. We hypothesized that rock climbers have stronger hands for their size than non-climbers. A hand dynamometer was used to test hand strength. The lengths of the carpals and metacarpals from the radial and ulnar styloid processes to the distal ends of each ray and the lengths of each digit and each phalanx were measured. In addition, the width and circumference of each hand was taken from the proximal phalanges, with the fingers resting against each other, and the circumference of each digit was measured around the proximal interphalangeal joing. We also measured the basic anthropometric variables of stature, body mass, and age and asked climbers how long they had climbed, the level of difficulty they usually climbed, and how often they climbed. Unsurprisingly, Student's t-tests revealed that the hands of men are bigger and stronger than those of women (all p's </= 0.004) and climbers are stronger than non-climbers (all p's </= 0.01). The circumference of the digits is ia significant predictor of hand strength when sex, side, and climbing status are controlled (all p's </= 0.03), with 67% of the variation in hand strength explained (r²=0.67).

This analysis discusses changes over time at the Gua Talimbue site, excavated in 2013 by Sue O’Conner, Ben Marwick, Tim Maloney, Emma St. Pierre and Rose Whitau in South-East Sulawesi, Indonesia. Sulawesi, formerly known as Celebes, is one of the four Greater Sunda Islands and is considered the largest island in Wallacea. This area was a major stepping stone for the migration of peoples into Island Southeast Asia and what is now modern Australia, and understandng shifts in occupation here can shed light on human movement patterns throughout the globe approximately 18,000 years ago and onward. The research has examine the changes through time with consideration to geoarchaeological and lithic samples taken from the Talimbue site, with a specific focus on shifts in human behavior, site formation, and the environment of the site over time. Geoarchaeological testing of the site includes pH and electrical conductivity testing, loss on ignition, magnetic susceptibility, color and particle size distributions. Lithic analysis is focused on the change in distribution, size, mass and type throughout the occupation of Talimbue, first occupied by humans 18,000 years ago and continuously inhabited until recent times. Preliminary results have identified an environmental shift at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, approximately 12,000 to 8,000 years ago, which affected occupation and has implications for the decreased complexities seen in lithics analysis. The purpose of this research is to understand human impact on environmental processes, as well as identify occupation and technological trends within the context of Sulawesi and beyond. 

 Most kinematic studies using modern human gait to provide insights into the movement of extinct hominins collect data from shod participants. Given that our hominin ancestors were habitually unshod, this methodology is potentially problematic if the kinematics of shod and unshod gait differ. We investigate whether or not differences are present by comparing the movement profiles of the lower limbs in shod and unshod walking. Kinematic data was collected on 20 women using an eight-camera motion capture system. Participants walked at self-selected slow, medium, and fast velocities, performing 30 shod and 30 unshod trials. Average velocities were calculated for each trial, as well as the maximum and minimum angles made by the foot, calf, and thigh during the stride cycle relative to the horizontal (foot) and vertical (calf, thigh) axes in the sagittal plane. Paired t-tests indicated that for all individuals, velocities differed between shod and unshod trials (p<0.01). Linear regression comparing shod and unshod lower limb angles was thus performed including velocity as a variable. Foot (p<0.001) angles differed between shod and unshod trials at all velocities. Additionally, the magnitude of the differences is positively correlated with velocity in all individuals (foot: p<0.001). These observed differences warrant a second look at previous kinematic studies. Future studies should consider using unshod participants to obtain data that is applicable to extinct bipeds.

We present preliminary results of an analysis of sedimentary deposits from Malakunanja II, a rock shelter and archaeological site located in Arnhem Land, Australia. Malakunanja II is the oldest known site of human occupation in Australia. Previous dating of the site has shown the first human occupation to have occurred at approximately 50,000 years BP (Roberts RG, Jones R and Smith MA 1990). Presented here are the results of laser particle size, color and magnetic susceptibility analyses on sediments taken from deposits at the site during the 2012 excavation. These analyses will serve to further the understanding of site formation processes, environmental changes and human behavior at the site.

The Yi people lives in the south west of China, leading a life of the combination of growing and grazing which has lasted for hundreds of years. They have a rather distinctive culture characters with their own writing system, religion, customs, and clothes. Jieshy and Vala are two kinds of capes that play an important role in Yi people’s daily life. They are made of wool and have several similarities in outlooks but are functioned differently, especially in social lives and celebrations.However, as modern life is eventually influencing the life of the Yi people, Jieshy and Vala are less worn in daily life. In order to know the status of these two traditional clothes in Yi people’s modern life, we did several field researches in three Yi counties in Sichuan Province, China, during the summer of 2013. Our research focused on the productions and the application of these two kinds of clothes in modern life, and the Yi people’s attitudes toward them. Through our observations and interviews with local people and scholars, we know that nowadays, Jieshy and Vala are still used in funerals and traditional weddings and have almost been considered as a symbol of the group. But there is indeed a trend of reduction in the use of these two kinds of traditional clothes. The goal of our project is to present how modernization shapes the tradition and how people react to the changes.

Gradiometer is a powerful instrument for detecting the underground condition. It works by measuring the gradient of the magnetic field so no physical contact is needed. For this reason, gradiometer is usually employed by archaeologists to figure out the condition of buried sites when excavation is not necessary (sometimes not allowed). We wrote a manual about how to use the instrument to collect, analyse, and interpret data in very detail.Considering the quality of the survey result will be affected by factors like the distance between the object to the sensors, the amount of the object, the material of the object, and the operation of the instrument, we did a series of control variable test at the Denny Yard, UW campus. Our purpose is to explore how those factors can affect the survey result, and find ways to improve the result in the real archaeological survey.According to our result, the most important factor is distance, which suggests we can get a better result by shortening the distance between the sensors and the ground. And the amount of the object has a positive relation to the strength of the signal, according to that we can estimate our result before a survey. Whether a kind of material can be detected depends on its magnetic contrast to the soil as well as the factors mentioned above. With this study, we can know when and how should we apply gradiometers into archaeological study.

 Community-based organizations face numerous challenges as they develop initiatives for delivering various types of services. What are the varying challenges that small, non-profit, community-based organizations face as they aspire to become highly functioning service centers? Exploring this question exposes the true depth and variety of internal and external challenges that many community-based organizations meet. To develop an understanding of these challenges, I utilize participant observation while volunteering at a small, community-operated organization called the Somali Community Services Coalition in Tukwila, WA. Since September 2013 I have been a tutor for students enrolled in their after-school program, and recently I have also been involved in planning of the future after-school program as well as the summer enrichment program. During this time I have developed an understanding of the organization’s dependence on volunteers and the implications of that dependence; the roles of the staff, both those that belong to the ethnic community as well as the temporary staff from organizations like the Peace Corps; the difficulties regarding organizational funding through grants; issues with food provision within the organization and the community, as well as many other topics. Through furthering my time with the organization I hope to learn more about potential funding competition with other local organizations. I hope the implications of this study will develop my own as well as other’s understanding of the challenges small community-based organizations face and how understanding these challenges can assist those working with them to properly engage the multifaceted functions of these organizations to best suit the organization’s interests and development.