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- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
Description
This dissertation examines a practice of scientific museums in the 19th and early 20th centuries: the exchange of their duplicate specimens. Specimen exchange facilitated the rise of universal museums while creating a transnational network through which objects, knowledge, and museum practitioners circulated. My primary focus concerns the exchange of anthropological duplicate specimens at the Smithsonian Institution from 1880 to 1920. Specimen exchange was implemented as a strategic measure to quell the growth of scientific collections curated by the Smithsonian prior garnering to the broad political support needed to fund a national museum. My analysis examines how its practice was connected to both anthropological knowledge production, particularly in terms of diversifying the scope of museum collections, and knowledge dissemination. The latter includes an examination of how anthropological duplicates were used to illustrate competing explanations of culture change and generate interest in anthropological subject matter for non-specialist audiences. I examine the influence of natural history classification systems on museum-based anthropology by analyzing how the notion of duplicate was applied to collections of material culture. As the movement of museum objects are of particular concern to anthropologists involved in repatriation practices, I use specimen exchange to demonstrate that while keeping objects is a definitive function of the museum, an understanding of why and how museum objects have been kept or not kept in the past, particularly in terms of the intentions and value systems of curators, is critical in developing an ethically oriented dialogue about disposition of museum objects in the future.
ContributorsNichols, Catherine (Author) / Toon, Richard J. (Thesis advisor) / Parezo, Nancy J. (Committee member) / Isaac, Gwyneira L (Committee member) / Jonsson, Hjorleifur R (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Other People's Stuff studies the relationships created between objects within their environment, and how these relationships amplify the exchange of human experience. By looking at tactile relationships, material culture, and both the functional and symbolic nature of objects, one can recognize that the relationships created exemplifies the importance of human awareness and perception, while creating a tangible social reality. The research paper is accompanied by a series of woven and printed art pieces that visually express the author's analysis.
ContributorsAdler, Maxie Phyllis (Author) / Hanson, Erika (Thesis director) / Verstegen, Clare (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis project is to situate emotional knowledge of conventional and alternative menstrual products within cultural processes that construct menstrual shame and taboo. This study employs both quantitative and qualitative research methods - a survey distributed via snowball recruitment and an age-selected follow-up oral interview- to analyze emotions associated with specific menstrual products. I find that fear and disgust are the two most significant emotions to influence menstrual product choice - fear associated predominantly with penetrative internal products and disgust associated with external products that do not sufficiently contain the chaotic flow of menstrual blood. Ultimately, I argue that menstrual disgust and shame born from the construction of the menstruating female body as anarchic, threatening, and inferior to the male body permeates the daily lives of women through their relationships to and emotions towards menstrual products, their periods, and their bodies in general. I discuss how these relationships are modulated throughout the lifecycle by approaches to formal menstrual education approaches that instill shame and disgust, as well as the embodied experiences of pregnancy and birth. I also discuss implications for activist approaches to menstrual education and present the issue of menstrual suppression via birth control.
ContributorsMurray, Sarah Anne (Author) / Loebenberg, Abby (Thesis director) / Graff, Sarah (Thesis director) / Stoff, Laurie (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
The matter of legitimate ownership over cultural artifacts has always been an area of great dispute as rediscovered treasures are claimed by actors of differing cultural backgrounds rather than the original proprietors, or appropriated over time through both force and miscommunication. Recently, there has been an influx of tension surrounding this topic as more actors begin to demand the repatriation or restitution of cultural artifacts directly linked to their historical identity or tradition. Unlike prior discourses on the matter however, new arguments are being crafted that utilize both moral reasoning and political analysis to support their claims. These arguments, both new and old, are now being joined with innovative responses that are attempting to resolve disputed matters concerning the ownership of cultural heritage objects. This paper details several frameworks that are established in either moral or political reasoning as the dispute over material culture continues. These frameworks examine the benefits of both preserving the objects within the cultures they currently reside or returning them to source cultures. The paper concludes with analysis of two of the most notorious material culture debates: the Parthenon Marbles and plundered Nazi war art. These two instances not only offer unique analysis on the current arguments being employed, but also review the validity of the claim of conservation over original ownership.
ContributorsGurtler, Gina Lee (Author) / Poudrier, Almira (Thesis director) / Porter Brace, Karrie (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12