Paper Abstracts

A  ·  B  ·  C  ·  D  ·  E  ·  F  ·  G  ·  H  ·  I-J  ·  K  ·  L  ·  M  ·  N  ·  O  ·  P  ·  Q-R  ·  S  ·  T  ·  U-V  ·  W  ·  X-Y-Z

TABER, Peter (VA) Para-ethnography, Auto-ethnography and Information Sharing in a Health Informatics Research Unit. The Salt Lake City Veterans Affairs Center of Innovation is a research unit with a strong focus on healthcare informatics. In the summer of 2019, internal discussion highlighted concerns about the “silo-ing” of research teams and a desire for greater internal collaboration. The author was enlisted to conduct a qualitative study examining these issues, framed in terms of “information sharing.” The paper reflects on this internal study as para- and auto-ethnography and considers the implications of “information sharing” as the primary idiom for understanding the social relations of healthcare research. (W-35) 

TAUBERG, Mindy (UCI) Establishing Shared Narratives of American Religious Minority Experience. In this excerpt from my dissertation entitled, “Emotionally Vulnerable Storytelling as Peacebuilding: Muslim/Jewish Interfaith Activism in the United States,” I argue that interfaith activists’ creation of a third narrative - not a Jewish narrative or a Muslim narrative, but an interfaith narrative - is a crucial part of their project of bridging communities with histories of conflict. This strategy is an effective one for forming coalitions between marginalized groups that have had very different experiences of privilege and oppression, particularly if those different experiences cause friction and prevent effective allyship as they have for Muslim and Jewish communities in the United States. mtauberg@uci.edu (W-02) 

TAYLOR, Gigi (Indeed) Meaning in Transition: An Ethnographic Study of the Cultural Construction of Health and Identity among Young Adults. This paper explores the cultural construction of health and identity among young adults in a liminal life-stage where symbolic meanings are in transition. Sixteen ethnographic interviews with college students who recently moved away from home were conducted and analyzed using Geertz’s interpretive and Turner’s symbolic anthropology. An “incubation” step was key in the creative interpretation process where the leap from data to themes was made. Three health worldview themes emerged: Health as negotiating identity; Health as creating home; and Health as taking responsibility. This paper closes with a reflection on the practice of consumer anthropology in a capitalist system. gigi.taylor@gmail.com (TH-155) 

TAYLOR, Melina (USF & American Board of Family Med) Examining Responses to Negative Sexual Encounters: How Sexual Education Influences Decision-Making for Undergraduate Students across the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Spectrums. This paper is from a study of undergraduate students at universities in the U.S. Southeast to understand instances of sexual assault/harassment and coerced sexual encounters. This paper will address the need for a deeper understanding of how cis-gendered, heteronormative, public school sexual education across multiple sexual orientations and gender identities impacts responses to sexual assault/harassment situations. Using a mixed methods approach of surveys and semi-structured interviews, the study examines students’ social support networks (friends, parents, social organizations), access to healthcare facilities, partner relationships, and sexual education knowledge to understand needs of students coping and healing from a potentially traumatic event. melinataylor@mail.usf.edu (W-05) 

TAYLOR, Sarah R. (CSUDH) Marketing Maya Bees in San Juan la Laguna. This research focuses on understanding the ways that meliponiculture is influencing household economic strategies and biodiversity conservation outcomes in San Juan la Laguna, Sololá, a small Tzu’tujil community on the shores of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. Mundo de Abejas Mayas is a local business that works with a number of species of native stingless bees to promote them and their products in the tourism economy and disseminate traditional ecological knowledge about bees to locals and visitors. This research provides an opportunity to build on cross subfield data to understand the important relationship between humans and this semi-domesticated non-human actor throughout Mesoamerica. sartaylor@csudh.edu (TH-09)​​​​​​​ 

TAYLOR, Sue (American U) Ethnohistory as a Tool for Program Planning. Ethnohistorical research is a valuable tool for addressing program planning and community engagement in the U.S. Based on written narratives and archival research focusing on African American movement and resettlement on the home front from the Civil War to World War II, the findings reveal a seldom told story and provide guidelines for agencies that serve the public. This is especially relevant for obtaining background information on park sites and other tourist attractions as well as involving the local population in telling the story. suetaylor@verizon.net (W-132)​​​​​​​ 

TELENKO, Shannon (Penn State U) Reflections on Segregation: Individual and Societal Needs for Equity in Education. In this paper, I share reflections as a scholar and practitioner with roots in Appalachia and the Rust Belt. This includes specific encounters with inequity, exclusion, and identity throughout my education and career and how those encounters continue to shape the work I feel called to do. This includes teaching students and colleagues to adopt their own self-reflective practices around bias. I challenge fellow anthropologists and higher education administrators to think deeply about their own histories and the ways we might create a more equitable education system within the United States that connects us to one another and the world. sjt13@psu.edu (F-61)​​​​​​​ 

THAKUR, Gail S. (NCRC) Anthropology in the Early Childhood Classroom. Formal education provides a leveling field for members of society to come to shared perspectives, practices, and what is to be considered acceptable behavior in dominant society. This socialization process does not necessarily encourage “Cultural Citizenship,” as defined by Dr. Lois Stanford. Yet, considering the potential impact which schooling has on children, we can promote Cultural Citizenry nonetheless. Through a pilot project in an educational institution covering the formative years, an anthropological perspective is integrated into the curriculum to provide an optimal way to develop respect for cultural diversity, and appreciation for the value which this richness can bring. (F-61)​​​​​​​ 

THARP, Christopher (UDel) Rethinking Postcolonial Sovereignty Using Mouffean “Artivism” throughout Contemporary Puerto Rico and the Diaspora. In the postcolonial context, people are often already interpellated by Western government institutions that frame their communities and political futures in particular kinds of ways. In Puerto Rico, politics have traditionally been framed around the question of Puerto Rico’s status vis-à-vis the U.S.—constrained by the categories “statehood,” “commonwealth,” and “independence.” Puerto Rican critical artistic practice (or Mouffean “artivism”) struggles against post-Enlightenment Western hegemony by imagining political alternatives. Examining the artivism of Adál Maldonado and Pablo Delano, I analyze their aesthetico-political agendas to generate counter-narratives of popular sovereignty and dissent throughout contemporary Puerto Rico and the diaspora. ctharp@udel.edu (W-122)

THEODOROPOULOS, Anastasia (UNM) Tradition Is a “Straight Line”: Connecting to an Imagined Orthodox Christian Citizenry in Brazil’s Middle Class. This paper will look at how a group of previously Catholic and Protestant middle-class Brazilians have since the 1980s converted to and claimed an Orthodox Christian identity in line with the Eastern Orthodox churches of Byzantine and Slavic origins. I argue that in so doing, converts tacitly assert their belonging in an imagined global Orthodox citizenry that is both in line with Orthodox tradition and authentically Brazilian. In particular, this paper will analyze how such an imagined religious citizenry is crystalized and put into practice through social media, as traditional Orthodox rituals and festivals are (re)mediated online. (TH-93)​​​​​​​ 

THIANTHAI, Chulanee (Chulalongkorn U) When Young Thai Digital Natives Talk about Their Online Citizenship and Cyberhate Experiences. Globalization and the rise of digital natives have created a new opportunity for anthropologists to investigate how youth experience cultural citizenship online. Cyberhate - namely discrimination and ethnic slurs - are the fastest growing negative effects on young Thai digital natives. This research aims to capture young Thai digital natives’ cyberhate experiences on social media and to understand cyberhate themes found to be relevant to their youth years. One hundred Bangkok high school students, from ten public schools, aged 13-18, participated. Through surveys and in-depth interviews, Thai digital natives revealed that cyberhate themes often emerge from not accepting people’s diversity and rights. Chulanee00@hotmail.com (W-02)​​​​​​​ 

THOMAS, Eric (UNCCH) “We are deprived”: Fishing Families and the Fight for Environmental Justice in Southern Chile. Remote coastal communities are especially vulnerable to climate change. In southern Chile, warming water from the Pacific and organic material from industrial salmon farms have combined to produce an unprecedented series of toxic algal blooms. As residents mobilize, demanding a response to this contamination from the government in Santiago and seeking compensation for lost livelihoods, they deploy tactics and discourses developed during the struggle against their country’s dictatorship (1973-1990). In so doing, they frame their movement as a non-partisan fight for both human rights and environmental justice. ehthomas@live.unc.edu (TH-05)​​​​​​​ 

THOMAS, Michael (Wayne State U) What’s the Point of a Point of View?: Decision Making and Developing Metrics in Human-Centered Design. In various ways, inevitable tensions in the normative commitments structuring a particular mode of discourse surface and require negotiation where they emerge in the cognitive activities of daily practices within that mode. This paper discusses Human-Centered Design, and associated critique, as one such mode wherein decision making and metric development are sites of the emergence of underlying tensions in need of resolution. The emic invocation of a point of view, one method for resolving these tensions, potentially reproduces the problematics for which the normative modes ostensibly exist to alleviate. mhowardthomas@gmail.com (TH-94)​​​​​​​ 

THOMAS, Zareen (Wooster Coll) Rap, Recognition, and Respect: Indigenous Youth Hip-hop in Bolivia. This paper examines how Indigenous hip-hoppers in Bolivia disrupt the reductive characterizations inscribed onto them due to their subjectivities and “subcultural” affiliations. Hip-hoppers not only encounter the quotidian challenges of being a young person, they also move into a specialized, contested space, not fully understood by outsiders, and in which they negotiate what it means to be an artist. I argue that hip-hoppers carve out respect through strategies of local and international alliance building, and by constructing their practice as labor. These are practical means for youth to contest the policing of their practices, and assert their belonging as citizens. (S-73)​​​​​​​ 

THORPE, Marian (Rutgers U) Being Seen by the State: Embracing Neoliberal Multicultural Recognition in Western Panama. Critiques of neoliberal multiculturalism note that state recognition of Indigenous peoples often extends the neoliberal policies that oppress such groups in the first place. Some Indigenous peoples have refused the trap of recognition by forging their own paths of self-determination. But what happens when Native peoples embrace neoliberal multiculturalism? Examining this question in the context of anti-dam mobilization and land titling efforts in Panama, I show how Indigenous leaders have forged a notion of environmental citizenship that deploys state neoliberal multicultural policies to expand territorial rights and call the state to account for its theft of Native land and water. marian.thorpe@rutgers.edu (W-121)​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ 

TILL, Charlotte (ASU) Environmental Perceptions and Migration Decisions in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana: Insights from an At-Risk Area. How do persons living in areas identified as “at-risk” from environmental changes perceive their environments, make migration decisions, and why do they reach those decisions? Research addressing environment-migration relationships is limited, especially when considering migration that does not cross national borders. This paper presents preliminary results from a six month survey and interview based field project conducted in Terrebonne Parish Louisiana; a place experiencing impacts from aquatic inundation and hurricanes. Results suggest that environmental risk factors are mediated by strong sense of place and belonging. The impact of these factors on migration decisions is far more complex than previously recognized. cetill@asu.edu (F-33)

TILUS, Castelline (She Builds Global Initiative) Sourcing the Truth: Presenting Ground-Level Data on Perceptions of the State and Government Officials. Anti-government protests have brought thousands of Haitians onto the streets of Port-au-Prince, with local citizens demanding transparency and government accountability. The United Nations reported that its humanitarian efforts have been impacted by the protests, affecting people’s access to medical care and basic needs. This paper explores perceptions of the state in the Southern Department of Haiti, using household surveys and semi-structured interviews from a multi-year longitudinal study. The purpose is to capture ground-level data from local citizens to better understand their attitudes and overall perceptions of the state. castelline.tilus@gmail.com (F-121)​​​​​​​ 

TO DUTKA, Julia and SHAFFER, Franklin (CGFNS Int’l Inc) General Education and the Healthcare Workforce: Nursing as a Case Study. General education is the hallmark of higher education in the United States. Regardless of academic major, students generally take about two years of coursework in general education. While liberal learning is viewed as foundational preparation for academic study in any field, many academic majors, particularly those in applied fields, may have difficulty in incorporating both general education and professional education within a four-year program structure for students. Using nursing as a case study, how this dual requirement impact on the preparation of nurses entering the workforce is discussed. Applicability to other health professions will also be explored. jtodutka@cgfns.org (F-14)​​​​​​​ 

TOOHER, Erin (UNM) “It’s not so easy in the ‘Big Easy’”: Female Honduran Migrant Struggles for Citizenship and Belonging in Post-Katrina New Orleans. Following Hurricane Katrina, social science discussions about disaster recovery in New Orleans primarily focused on Latin American male migrant laborers. But, as male migrant laborers saw the opportunity for sustained employment in post-Katrina New Orleans, so too did their female peers. In this paper, I focus specifically on two post-Katrina female Honduran migrant life histories, and the cultural meanings, resources, and practices Honduran female migrants used in their struggle for cultural citizenship and belonging in New Orleans. I also discuss how these Honduran migrant women have drawn upon New Orleans food culture to negotiate, define, and contest citizenship and belonging in a post-disaster environment. etooher@unm.edu (S-03)​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ 

TORRES, M. Gabriela, FLYNN, Lindsay, and MCCORMACK, Karen (Wheaton Coll) The Role of Social Sciences in Inclusion Driven Curricular Change in General Education. Like other residential Liberal Arts colleges, Wheaton College is comparatively agile when making curricular change due to its relatively small size and the importance that the general education curriculum plays to the institutional mission. Our paper showcases how social science frameworks from sociology, political science and anthropology that attend to structural inequalities are central to the implementation of a new general education curriculum. To illustrate this process, we focus on the creation of first year experiences, shaped by individual faculty, faculty-staff collaborations, and faculty-led organizations, that promote collaboration in teaching and learning, and foster inclusion-driven courses for students. torres_mgabriela@wheatoncollege.edu (TH-44)​​​​​​​ 

TORRES, Maria Idali (UMass), SMOLLIN, Leandra (SUNY Potsdam), SANCHEZ, Rocio (Tufts U), GRANBERRY, Phil (UMass), SANCHEZ, Ana (Maynooth U), BRAVO, Daniela and NEGRON, Rosalyn (UMass) Linguistic Maneuvers in Puerto Rican Maternal Communication about Sexual Health. This paper examines linguistic maneuvers used by US-resident Puerto Rican mothers to speak to their children (ages 10 to 19) about sexual health topics. Data comes from a subset (102) of interviews in a probabilistic rapid ethnographic household survey. Results from qualitative analysis of mothers’ indirect utterances revealed culturally embedded ideologies expressed as suffixes or diminutives, coded language, and conditional statements. Our analysis highlights the importance of understanding patterns of spoken language among Spanish-speaking Puerto Rican mothers and provides insights on cultural attributes that are important for the development and implementation of sexual health education programs. idalitorres2013@gmail.com (TH-35)​​​​​​​ 

TOVAR, Antonio (Farmworker Assoc FL) and PEON, Alicia (UPRA) Agricultural Practices and Climate Change in Puerto Rico: Lessons from Maria. Hurricanes Maria and Irma presented Puerto Rican farmers with an exceptional living laboratory in which they experienced practices and crops that may result in more sustainable and continuous agriculture. The climatic events highlighted the particular social and political contexts that shape farmers’ implementation of conventional-fossil-based practices, organic farming, small-scale gardening, or agroecology farming. Using mixed methods, we present a comparative analysis of conventional and agroecological farming focusing on the resilience of their systems, including the potential impact of the usage or avoidance of fossil fuel products. Forty-eight farmers were surveyed throughout the island. Responses revealed common realities and important differences. atovar@ufl.edu (F-35)​​​​​​​ 

TRANG, Kathy (Emory U) How Cultural Processes Shape the Association of Peritraumatic Features with Long-Term PTSD Symptom Severity and Psychophysiological Dysregulation in Vietnam. This paper evaluates the psychological and emotional salience of different traumatic events and examines how the characteristics of these events shape the presentation of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for trauma-exposed men who have sex with men in Hanoi, Vietnam. It juxtaposes qualitative data in which participants categorize and describe events they consider most corrosive to health with statistical analyses demonstrating associations of particular features (e.g., perpetrator identity) - some different from those participants identified - with symptom severity and psychophysiological dysregulation. This paper considers the cultural underpinnings of these differences (qualitative with quantitative, symptom severity with psychophysiological dysregulation) and evaluates their implications for cross-cultural study of trauma. kathytrang.kt@gmail.com (W-38)​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ 

TRIVEDI, Jenn (UDel) “Get a Game Plan”: The Role of Football in the American South in Hurricane and Flood Preparedness, Response, and Recovery. Anthropological research clearly demonstrates the importance of culture in people’s perceptions, decision-making, and behaviors in disasters. Looking at what people value and enjoy in a culture may introduce ways to communicate with those people about disaster preparedness, allow for more effective disaster response, and better understand people’s feelings of comfort and a “return to normalcy” in disaster recovery. This research examines the complexities of American football as a cultural reference point across varying populations and identities in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery in hurricanes and flooding throughout the American South, especially important as these events transform with climate change. jtrivedi@udel.edu (S-11)​​​​​​​ 

TURNER, Christopher Lindsay (Smithsonian, Nat’l Museum of the American Indian) ‘Stepping Carefully into the Murk’: Negotiating Politics and Interpretation of Environmental Justice at the National Museum of the American Indian. Suddenly, stories of environmental justice- or injustice- are all around us. We may soon speak of a ‘post-Standing Rock’ era as a time when a kind of cultural fluency began to form, a consciousness with which we might expect more understanding from the public. Or can we? What does this mean for museum audiences, or any audience from educators who want to help Native communities disseminate information about their issues? With case studies from the NMAI- an interactive media piece in an exhibit opening soon, and an exhibit modified to reflect a current issue, this presentation will ask these questions. turnerc@si.edu (TH-135)

TYSON, Will (USF) Leaving Four-Year STEM Programs to Earn a STEM AS/AAS Degree. This study interviews current community college engineering technology (ET) students who were previously enrolled or considered enrolling in STEM programs at four-year universities. This includes university dropouts who later enrolled in community college. Engineering BS degree programs at universities are generally theory-driven whereas engineering technology AS/AAS degree programs are more practical and applied with a focus on hands-on lab work. These former engineering students believed ET courses were more hands-on and allowed them to mimic what they would do on the job, thus better preparation for a career. Despite initial disappointment with their four-year experience, most eventually planned to return to earn a bachelor’s degree. wtyson@usf.edu (F-135)

TZENG, Yi-En (UMD) Navigating Oral Health Care Access: Dental Underinsurance at a Mobile Dental Clinic in Maryland. Examinations of constrained access to healthcare have predominantly focused on the fate of uninsured populations. Yet disparities in oral health are also pronounced for underinsured patients. This project explores the trajectories of 15 individuals who attended the Mission of Mercy mobile dental clinic at the University of Maryland in September 2019. Analysis of their pathways underscores that it is not only uninsured individuals who obtain this form of charity care but also those who have insurance that does not fit their needs. Though gaps in children’s access to oral health care are well documented, this project highlights an important adult underinsurance gap to be addressed. ytzeng@terpmail.umd.edu (F-67)