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2009 Undergrad Research Exposition Highlights

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Christina M. Crespo Suarez
Best of Both Worlds: Birthing, Embodiment of Space, and Gender Empowerment in Cusco

International and national efforts to bring health and obstetrical care to women in developing countries have not been consistently successful in lowering maternal mortality rates. Increased accessibility of birthing centers has not resulted in the expected numbers of gestational women birthing in clinics. One of the reasons appears to be that physical accessibility alone is not enough to welcome birthing mothers; cultural and linguistic approachability are equally important. This research explores the dynamics of the incorporation of cultural and ethnomedical beliefs in a biomedical clinical setting. Centro de Salud Belempampa (C.S.B.) is a state-supported health center in Cusco, Peru that is using a culturally and socially sensitive approach to birthing. Since 2005, the Center has offered women the right to use traditional birthing practices including vertical birthing positions. The opportunity to use traditional birthing methods is appealing to indigenous and rural women who might have given birth at home. As a consequence, the number of births at C.S.B. has increased and rates of maternal mortality have decreased in comparison to local hospitals and other health centers. This project is based on participant observation and unstructured interviews with women, obstetricians and nurses. The project includes a cultural analysis of the non-technological approach in the training doctors and nurses, the dynamics of space and exchange and a sociolinguistic analysis of a televised news report. An objective of the research is to explore how this holistic approach may be a model for other countries to provide more culturally sensitive obstetrics and decrease maternal mortality rates.

Mary DeAgostino
Women's Sexuality an HIV/AIDS in Arusha, Tanzania: The Realities of Educaiton & Prevention

Gender roles and inequalities have been discussed as key factors in sub-Saharan Africa's uniquely high rates of female HIV infection, with the oft implicit assumption that increasing gender equality will alleviate this crisis. Based on field research conducted in Arusha, Tanzania, this paper explores how young Tanzanians’ gendered experiences of sexuality affect the impact of HIV prevention programming by limiting discussion of critical topics and Tanzanians’ ability to integrate program recommendations into daily life. Ethnographic realities of young women’s sexuality in Arusha indicate that the taboo nature of young women’s sexuality is disempowering for female sexual decision making. Formal and informal HIV prevention initiatives for women in Tanzania focus on empowerment in educational, political, or economic realms without a direct discussion of sexuality, but examination of Tanzanian descriptions of sexual power and gender roles points to a disconnect between gender equality and female sexual autonomy. While the Tanzanian government and nongovernmental organizations must play a role in addressing the shortcomings of current prevention programs, parents should be especially targeted as HIV educators for young people as they are ideally placed to speak with their children about sexuality within the context of lived experiences.

Jessica Hagemann
Postcolonial Crisis: Reclaiming Identity in the Art and Literature of Ausrailian Aboriginals'
Stolen Generations

This paper explores the function of Australian indigenous art as an incarnation of native identity and history, and by extension, the context through which non-indigenous parties may approach native art. Two competing theorists provide the appropriate framework for discussion: Consuelo Cruz’s (Tufts University) model of declarative identity, and Stephen Turner’s (University of Auckland, New Zealand) understanding of native sovereignty. Cruz defines declarative identity as the counterpart to collective memory and the “critical juncture” of primordialist and constructivist views of identity. Turner notes the “inadequacy of the rhetoric of globalization . . . to lived local realities,” and argues for a grassroots interpretation of identity independent of socio-historical identity politics. Together, the models facilitate an examination of what it means to live a postcolonial existence. For as Aboriginal and Torres Strait artists gain back a voice silenced for so long, they are speaking from and to a world extraordinarily different from that of their ancestors. Even the voice they speak in has changed, as regional dialects die to English, and the only words at an indigenous Australian’s disposal are Western. Bark paintings and hand-hewn tools become quaint tourist trade; Western symbols and figures merge with dot painting and the Dreamtime. Meanwhile, art and poetry tend ever more towards the political, as urban indigenous artists fight both to be understood, and to understand. At this strange intersection, a hybrid form is emerging—not native, not Western; of a people no longer native, and not yet Western. In this paper, I examine two contemporary indigenous artworks and one prose poem that exhibit postcolonial hybridism, including the influences of Christianity, land acquisition, and the English language. Based on my analysis, I then attempt to position modern indigenous identity within the larger Australian national identity.

Kathryn Keegan
An assessment of diet and dental health at Byzantine St. Stephen's Monastery in Jerusalem

This study examined the diet and dental health of a monastic community from the Byzantine monastery of St. Stephen’s in Jerusalem (5th-7th century C.E) by analyzing dental calculus deposition, interproximal grooving, carious lesion frequency, antemortem tooth loss, and dental microwear. The majority (78.2%) of the teeth demonstrated some degree of calculus deposition. Carious lesion frequency was low (5%) with the first molars showing the highest lesion frequency. Antemortem tooth loss was comparably low (5.85%). There were no incidences of interproximal grooving in the entire collection. Qualitative results of dental microwear analysis of facet nine on twenty right mandibular molars showed a high frequency of shallow scratches, suggesting consumption of softer food products and a lack of dietary grit in the food supply (Teaford and Walker, 1984; Teaford, 1988; Van Valkenburg et al., 1990; Strait, 1993; Crompton et al., 1998; Carnieri and Mallegni, 2003; Mahoney, 2006). The results of both the dental pathology and dental microwear studies fit well with previous bone chemistry studies (Cooper et al., 2005; Gregoricka et al., 2005), supporting the hypothesis that inhabitants of Byzantine St. Stephen’s consumed a varied diet consisting of both plant products as well as a large amount of animal protein. Although these results contradict historical texts which claim Byzantine monks traditionally consumed carbohydrate-rich diets, it is believed the urban location of St. Stephen’s monastery near Jerusalem made the inhabitants privy to certain animal and other food products not consumed by most Byzantine monks of the Judean desert.

Brandon Sparks
Funerals in Lesotho: HIV/AIDS Affecting Attitudes and Ritual Function

The African country of Lesotho faces a severe HIV/AIDS crisis. With a large portion of the population dying, household structure, economic activity, and cultural rituals like funerals have all been impacted. Previous work has been done on funerals, but not with cultural economics in mind within a rural region so deeply affected by disease. This research focuses on funerals in rural Lesotho, which generally include expenses such as the slaughter of cattle and a large feast. Given the enormous death toll from AIDS, funerals involve an increasingly large part of the domestic economy. An interesting hypothesis emerges from this shift: the burden of funeral costs takes too many resources from needy households, yet funerals function as an indispensable form of food redistribution and social cohesion. Through interviews and participant-observation taken over two summers in the Mokhotlong and surrounding districts of Lesotho while helping the pediatric AIDS organization Touching Tiny Lives, this hypothesis was investigated to discover compelling results. Reasons given for expensive funerals include family competition and tradition, highlighting the social function of funerals. The increasing death rate caused some individuals to question the continued practice of expensive funerals. Instead of decreasing the costs of funerals, however, many rural villages have started funeral societies that help pay for funerals over an extended period of time. This evidence further supports the cultural necessity of funeral rituals. Action can be taken from the results, as understanding these cultural changes and responses can serve to better direct aid. Monetary and nutritional relief efforts work within cultural practices and patterns, and funerals organize and reveal these patterns.

Sean Mallin
Rebuilding "Normal": History, Memory, and the Future of New Orleans

Many residents claim that they lost a sense of “normal” when the floods after Hurricane Katrina washed away homes and neighbors, lives and memories. Understanding what is meant by “normal” helps us better grasp the conflicting notions that will define the “new” New Orleans. Through the various representations of what the city was, is, and should be in the discourses on rebuilding, we can see the manifestations of economic disparity and racial anxiety, the tension between the economics of public and private, and the struggle of maintaining tradition in the face of (post)modernity.

2008 Undergrad Research Exposition Highlights

Download Complete Exposition Program (.pdf)

2007 Undergrad Research Exposition Highlights

Download Complete Exposition Program (.pdf) >