"The Jewel of Consumerism"
Culture, Status and Consumerism within Atlantic City Casinos
"In this paper, I consider the link between the social structure created within the
Casinos of Atlantic City and the greater consumer culture as a whole, In offering an
analysis of the social phenomenon occurring within the casino, I describe the
psychological and social factors which have made the casinos so popular and successful.
I argue that the casinos, in their attempts to maximize profit, can provide a unique and
candid look at how people view consumption and status in today's society. Through the
lens of my subjective experience within the casinos, I illuminate how social structures
and emotions on the casino floor utilize and reinforce values at the heart of our
Consumer culture."
"Filipino American Cotillion
Dancing Across Boundaries"
have transformed meanings of Cilillion to their advantage and to create a unique Filipino
American identity. It also serves as a mechanism for maintaining community boundaries.
I also look at Cotillion as occurring transnationally, with participants identifying
themselves and the ritual in terms of the Philippines and in the context of their position in
The United States. Cotillion is seen by many of its participants as a site where Filipino identity
can be celebrated, but as notions of Filipino American assimilation and circumstances surrounding
Cotillion change, boundaries and content of Filipino American identity also continue to shift.'
"Cultivating Community and Place in Contested Space"
Surveying the Moral Landscape of Urban Gardens
"The phenomenon of community gardening in America is embedded in the
historical and discursive context of social activism and has grown the reputation
as a powerful tool for urban revitalization and social change. While it is
possible to trace this function in actual gardens, this idealized notion of
community gardening tends to mask the contested and dialectical
dimensions of the phenomenon. As constructed spaces, urban gardens
are both the product of social practice, and as perceived/symbolic spaces
they are imbued with values and systems of meaning. Thus, through a
comparative, ethnographic examination of three gardens in a West
Philadelphia neighborhood, this project investigates the dynamics of the
Negotiations of practice and ideology within these moral landscapes."
Picturing the "Curious Amalgam": Photographs of the Thai King
as Nation as King
"In Thailand, globalization, westernization and modernization pose a threat to the
integrity of traditional Thainess. The integration of these cultural polarities is as
contentious as it is inescapable. By what means can Thais attempt to resolve such
contention? By mapping this 'curious amalgam' onto a particularly potent and
revered Thai body, images of Thailand's King Bhumibol evidence the potential for
coherence within Thai cultural dissonance."
"The Guardian Angels: A Case Study in Vigilantism"
"This paper focuses on ethnographic fieldwork completed with the Guardian Angels;
a vigilante group with newly established, institutional associations.The Angels are said to
represent vigilante character through fulfilling the following criteria: a desire to enhance
community safety, a dissatisfaction with existing institutional mechanisms for addressing
safety issues, premeditated operations directed at specific persons or kinds of people,
and a concern for public attention and recognition of the group's leadership and constituency.
Typically, the establishment of vigilante groups come on the heels of well-publicized crimes
or social events that fuel community anxieties and dissatisfaction with preexisting state-based
law enforcement, thereby galvanizing vigilante participants into taking extralegal action to
ensure community safety in light of a sudden felt crisis. In practice, such groups typically
target "outsiders" - non-community members, minorities, and residents of nearby, socio-
economically "lower" regions - as sources of local social issues and criminality that must
be policed and regulated."
"Observations made concerning vigilante action and moral motivation are seen, in a Geertzian
scene, to illustrate what particular social actions can tell us about actors' and their groups'
attitudes towards masculinity, authority, self-importance and the role "outsiders"
(typically members of lower socio-economic strata and communities) have in causing
local social ills and insecurity. To the extent that these criteria are reflected by the Guardian
Angels' actions, the group is said to reflect vigilante character and organization."
"Creating Kinship in North Philadelphia"
Situated in the substantial bod of literature chronicling twentieth century
attacks on the African American family, critiques of kinship studies, and recent
fieldwork on kinship, I begin by addressing stereotypes of the African American
family while debating the varying utility of anthropological theories. I join others
social scientists in rejecting both the idea that a family can be broken and specific
critiques of the African American family. Indeed, the nuclear familu of husband,
wife and children may not be the norm in the neighborhood where I did my fieldwork,
but that is not to say that community members are striving for that goal and not
achieving it. Additionally, while phenomena such as absent fathers and teen
pregnancy jeopardize existence of the nuclear family they do not negate the
existence of kinship. I use ethnographic examples and commentary that highlight the
ways in which parenthood and maturity are and are not connected, and analyze
the differing roles of biological and social parents. Biological parenthood as a rite
of passage is central to this section as is the greater local value placed on the
more-involved social - as opposed to biological - parenting. Thus, within the
neighborhood, forming a nuclear family is much less valued than forming a safe,
supportive gamily without biological ties. Local, chosen families are products
of creativity and personal significance not the result of an inability to form
nuclear families comprising biological relatives, and the norms shaping neighborhood
kinship include the permance of biological kinship ties, the importance of enacting
social relationships, and respect for positive male role
models.
"The (Mexican) American Dream"
Food, Identity, and Acculturation in Mexican Immigrants
"This thesis explores issues of cultural change as dictated by the process of
acculturation through the lens of food consumption. It examines themes of
acculturation, identity, and food habits within a population of recent Mexican
immigrants in Norristown, PA. It examines who the agents of this process
are and how they differ intergenerationally. Making a distinction between first
generation, second generations and so called 'one-and-a-halfers' allows for the
process of change to be more clearly understood. It explores what is means for
adult immigrants to attempt to maintain a 'Mexican' identity in the face of
so-called structural changes as in changes in positions, routines and access
to traditional ways. It also explores the layering of selves and the process
towards biculturalism in children immigrants and the struggles which they
cope with in determining a dual-identity. All of these processes are
examined through the use of food as a market of cultural identity and change."
"The Myth of Tibet: Photographic portrayals fro the
West and China"
"For over a century Tibet has been the object of Western desire and nostalgic
longing. Westerners have been exposed to a myth of Tibet as an idealized
'Shangri-la' through photographs and other forms of media. Photographs of
Tibet taken by professional Western photographers, Chinese photographers,
and tourists differ both in content, and in purpose. This paper examines how
images influence the way Tibet is viewed, addresses the current status of
the myth, and discusses how outsiders appropriate and transform images
of Tibet and Tibetans into souvenir objects."
"The Carnival Ritual of 'Mas' in Trinidad"
"My thesis is contexualizing the Carnival ritual of masquerade in Trinidad.
This masquerade ritual is examined by ritual theory and Bakhtin's Carnival theory.
A historical backdrop of Tinidad and Carnival history is given. Masquerade is
then analyzed as a ritual performance. My examination descrbes three Carnival
events, J'ouvert, Carnival Monday Parade of Bands, and Children's Carnival.
Mas production is then analyzed. It also includes my ethnographic work with
two mas bands, 'The Washing' and 'Osebo's Drum.' My thesis tries to expand
ritual theory from traditional scholars."
Liliana Rosa Leitner-Laserna '06
"A Question of Life, A Sentence of Death: Analysis of the Empowerment
Discourse for HIV/AIDS in Guatemala City"
"In this thesis, I examine the ways in which the term 'empowerment'
(empoderamiento) is conceptualized and utilized by various actors in the HIV/AIDS
community in Guatemala City. My desire to explore this theme stems from the
participant-observation I conducted in a Medecins Sans Frontieres HIV/AIDS
Clinic from March-August 2004. In my thesis I analyze the various discourses
emerging around this word, its evolution/development in different spheres and people,
and its deployment and appropriation by various individuals. Utilizing interview data from
fieldwork conducted in December 2005, I use two analytical methodologies to investigate the
discourses that healthcare providers and patients present regarding the notion of
'empowerment.' The first analysis uses a coding model both to characterize the nature
of the discourses, uncovering trends between patients and providers, and to compare
these discourses to the First World's articulation of the word empowerment (Using World
Bank's definition). The second analysis utilizes a case study of a patient/provider to
Explore the complexities of adopting a First World discourse. Here I demonstrate that
attempts to 'localize' the concept of empowerment is limited to translating the word
linguistically and to using local people to promote its use. I argue that attempts to
promote First World discourses indeed fail to instill a true local empowerment because
the underlying ideological presuppositions in the term 'empowerment' leaves no room
for local understandings. Such a pattern proves to be unsustainable and ineffective to
promote true grassroots empowerment. Hence in this thesis I propose that the World
Bank changes its current day definition of empowerment in order to frame development
programs directly from local people's epistemology."
"Harnessing Hierarchy: Pick-up Basketball and the Power
of the Win"
"Pick-up sports have a very different function in society than professional sports.
Whereas professional sports need the media, an audience and money to survive, pick-up
sports do not. In pick-up basketball there are a number of hierarchies that co-exist, from
those regarding gender and race to more political ones concerning teams. Fieldwork
studies that I have done portray the drive for a form of 'harnessed egalitarianism,' and
amalgam of hierarchy and egalitarianism that also recognizes the authority and power of winning.
Fieldwork was done in Haverford, PA, and at various gyms, schools and churches around
Flint, MI. Included are some basic rules of pick-up basketball."
"Everyone Wears Blue Jeans, Embodying Contradictions in America's Most Familiar Clothing"
"Blue jeans are one of the most familiar objects in
American culture and
have been a prevalent aspect of the country's fashion since their
invention in 1873. Over their nearly 150 year history, blue jeans have
been worn by members of every class, ethnicity, age group and gender,
acting as an equalizing uniform for the average American. The emergence
of premium denim has placed blue jeans' equalizing characteristics into
question with the advent of hidden stratification. I have conducted my
study using historical and present information from a range of
disciplines and sources and through a case study at Haverford College in
January-March 2006. My study indicates that blue jeans epitomize a set
of contradictions between egalitarian values and stratifying practices
that are apparent in American life."
"Lifestyle in the New Pink: Class, Consumption, and the Lilly Pulitzer Brand Community"
"This study concentrates on the "brank community" of clothing designer Lilly Pulitzer, whose
product is marketed within a constructed lifestyle image laden with assumptions of class
and identity. First introduced by Muniz and O'Guinn (2001), a "brand community" is based on
shared admiration and consumption of a particular brand, rather than common background
or location, and has its own structured set of expressions and social relations. Whereas
"brand communities" have been defined as somewhat liberated from the constraints of class
stratification, the Lilly Pulitzer brand community is distinct because of its inextricable ties to
class and lifestyle as expressed through its products and accompaning literature. Together
with theories of consumer behavior, concepts drawn from both classic and contemporary social
theory - most notably the complex issue of class tracing back to Marx (1848) and Weber (1968),
Veblen's (1899) understandings of "conspicuous consumption" and "conspicuous leisure," as well
as Bourdieu's (1948) theories of class 'habitus,' stratification of "lifestyles," and objectified
'cultural capital' - inform my study. Through these concepts, I examine the history and iconography
of the brand, the lifestyle image it represents, and the ways in which both the corporation and
consumers interact to express, represent, and cocreate the community of Lilly Lovers. I
determine the Lilly image to be as much an object of shared consumption as the Lilly product
itself, discuss the implications for such a brand community based on representation and ideal,
and open this up to broader commentary on consumption and class in America."
"Affinity Groups: Commonality in Diversity"
"Over the past 40 years, student ethnic organizations have become widespread at
institutions of higher learning, yet very little anthropological literature has examined
ethnic identity in an educational context. In this work, I investigate the maintenance of
cohesion within these organizations. Their very existence seems to assume a certain
amount of commonality among members, yet, in reality, students come from
exceptionally diverse backgrounds and experiences. I attempt to examine how groups
negotiate their differences in order to create a common identity."
"Student ethnic organizations (or Affinity Groups as they are called at Haverford College, the
locus for my fieldwork) first came into existence in the early 60s and late 70s. Inspired by
the Civil Rights Movement, students created Affinity Groups as a political weapon to bring
equality to their colleges and universities. Over time, these organizations have expanded their
roles to encompass one or more of four purposes: one, refuge from the mainstream community;
two, cultural emissary; three, provision of academic aid; four, source of social activism."
"I conducted by fieldwork at Haverford College, where I joined three Affinity Groups: Alliance
of Latin American Students (ALAS), Asian Student Association (ASA), and Black Students
League (BSL). I attended meetings and activities sponsored by the groups and conducted
interviews with club members as well as faculty and administration."
"Several theoretical approaches to ethnicity influenced my analysis of these groups.
Barth's theory of boundary maintenance, referred to as circumstantialist, helped frame
how groups distinguish themselves from the rest of the college community. Primordialist
Theory, which claims an intrinsic attachment among members of the same ethnic group, and
Instrumentalist theory, which posits that ethnic groups are formed out of utility to create
effective political weapons, both aided my understanding of how members found commonality
within their groups."
"I found that each Affinity Group took a different approach to forming a shared ethnic
identity. This suggests that one theory of ethnicity is not sufficient for all circumstances.
Instead, we must develop an approach that considers the social, political and historical
contexts of each ethnic groups.