The Department of Anthropology provides motivated undergraduate majors with an opportunity to conduct research and/or independent study on a topic of their choice and to write an Undergraduate Thesis formally presenting the results. The option of writing an Undergraduate Thesis is available to any undergraduate Anthropology major. The Department of Anthropology encourages students to do original research for the Undergraduate Thesis, but a substantial library-based synthesis of an important theme in Anthropology is sufficient. Undergraduates have many opportunities to get hands-on experience in Anthropology courses, especially laboratory, field, computer, and Academically Based Community Service courses offered by the Department. Students also have opportunities to work on research projects directed by Anthropology faculty, curators at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum), researchers and staff, or advanced graduate students.
Submissions from 2018
Creating a Space for the "Outsider Within": A Framework for Black Feminist Anthropology, Alexus Bazen
Heaven is a Circle, Earth is a Square: Historical Analysis of Chinese Neolithic Jade Disks, Nichole M. Bryant
THE CUBA PARADOX: An Assessment of Primary and Maternal Healthcare in Cuba Today, Ivana T. Kohut and Ivana Kohut
The Experience of Managing Type II Diabetes Among Indigenous Maya in the Western Highlands of Guatemala, Nubia Ortega
Robert H. Lamborn: At the Intersection of Anthropology and Museums in the Nineteenth Century, Sheridan S. Small
Constructed Identities and Perpetuated Inequalities in App Dating, Alyssa D. Turizo
Submissions from 2017
The History of Race in Anthropology: Paul Broca and the Question of Human Hybridity, Samantha S. Ashok
Health Citizenship in the "Forgotten District": Non-Profit Governance in the Ugandan Welfare State, Jessie Lu
Variation in Rhesus Macaque (Macaca mulatta) Vocalizations: Social and Biological Influences, Emma A. McNamara
Comparison Between Genetic and Morphological Sex of the Cranium, Elizabeth V. Pierce
Submissions from 2016
"Pro-Poor" Tourism in Nicaragua: A Case Study of the Telica Rota Natural Reserve, Megan M. Bridges
The Penn Face: Deconstructing Mental Health At Penn, Antonia Diener
Mitochondrial DNA Diversity of Saint Vincent and Trinidad and Its Implications for Caribbean Settlement History, Taryn R. MacKinney
Ritual and Subsistence: Paleobotany at the Smith Creek Site (22wk526), Alexandria T. Mitchem
Epigenetic Traits, Computerized Tomography And Native American Identity, Jordi Rivera Prince
Burmese Migrant Laborers in Bangkok: Assimilation Patterns and Their Indications for Global Movement, Enika Selby
Credit Where Credit is Due: Looking Back at The Junior Archeological Society of Baton Rouge, 1958-1976, Ashley Lauren Terry
Transnational Migration and Political Exile in Laos, Sharon Vongvanith
Choice, Control and Childbirth: Cesarean Deliveries on Maternal Request in Shanghai, China, Eileen Wang
Submissions from 2015
Thematic Analysis of the Culture of UNICEF in Response to Polio Eradication Efforts, Sarah Albala
Gender Post-Mortem at Sitio Conte, Panama, Monica Fenton
Philly Coalition for REAL Justice: Constructing a Collective Identity Out of Many for Black Liberation, Emanuel Martinez
The Karen of Andaman Islands: Labor Migration, Indian Citizenship and Development of a Unique Cultural Identity, Tanvi Mittal
Recasting Sustainability: A Case for the Reevaluation of a Sustainable Healthcare Model for HIV Programs in Botswana, Elizabeth Pecan
"Constructing" Hepatitis C in Philadelphia, Amy Phillips
A Taste of Brown: Alimentary Anthropology Between Michoacan and Washington, Jose A. Romero
The Cost of Volunteering: Consequences of Voluntourism, Megan Smith
Penn Masti: An Ethnography on Penn’s Premier Co-ed South Asian Fusion Dance Troupe, Mithin Thomas
As Long as You’re a Black Wo/man You’re an African: Creole Diasporic Politics in the Age Of Mestizo Nationalism, Melanie Y. White
Submissions from 2014
An Assessment of Philadelphia's Nutritional Programming, Julia Brownstein
Disgust and the Human Ecology of Insect Consumption: Examining the Barriers to Anthropo-Entomophagy, Christen Jun-Li Chan
Variation in Femoral Anteversion, Whitney Kite
More Than Just A Diet: An Inquiry Into Veganism, Sarah E. Mann
"A Rose By Any Other Name": An Exploration of the Importance of the Artist in Art Preferences, Marlena Mattei
Liminality, Marginality, Futurity: Case Studies in Contemporary Science Fiction, Julie R. Sanchez
Anthropological Perspectives from Medical Professionals on the Affordable Care Act, Mikhaila Smith
Social Contexts of the School Closures in West Philadelphia, Madeleine Tardiff
Submissions from 2013
The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, Laurel Caffee
The Dog in Roman Peasant Life, Kyle deSandes-Moyer
Behind The Gates: The Wagner Free Institute of Science and its Neighborhood, 1865-today, Elizabeth C. Doi
Bones And Base Pairs: A Look Inside American G.i.’s Missing in Action, Matthew Finnegan
The Site Of Quirigua Through Time: The Use of Digital Reconstructions in the Context of a Comarative Photographic Project, William Gilbert
HIV Risk Perception in High-‐risk Populations: Drugs and Sex Work in North Philadelphia, Camille Heard
In the Shadow of Glory: Olympic Pageantry and the Disruption of Rio’s Favelas, Elizabeth Jacobs
Skeletal Study of the Hominins from Hotu and Belt Caves, Iran An Example of Conservation Gone Wrong, Jennifer McAuley
Everyday Life in Kashmir: The Maintenance of Normalcy Amidst Political Violence, Divya Mishra
Migrant Farm Communities: Culture, Education, Nutrition And Health Consequences, Paula Nessler
The Milk Relationship: The Evolution And Significance Of Wet-‐nurses, Natalie Rosen
Uncontacted Peoples Of The Javari Valley, Brazil, Alex Tickle
An Examination of the HBB Gene in Various African Populations, Charles Washington III
The Genetic History Of The Otomi In The Central Mexican Valley, Haleigh Zillges
Submissions from 2012
A Gender-Based Approach to Oral Health Changes Across the Lifespan, Dascher Branch-Elliman
Diabetes and Food Access in Philadelphia, Caroline Carney
Dubstep, Darwin, and the Prehistoric Invention of Music, Myles Karp
Steppe, Seed, & Supper: An Ethnoarchaeological Approach to Plant Foodways in Kazakhstan, Julia E. McLean
Women, Water, and Development in Santiago Atitlan: An ethnographic study of municipal interventions into women's lake washing practice, Sascha Murillo
Harm Reduction, Biopower, and Micropolitical Resistance at the Syringe Exchange Program of Prevention Point Philadelphia, Alex Niculescu
The Comadrona: A Dying Profession or Secret Society? The Effects of Modern Medicine on Traditional Practice, Vanessa Romero
The Bioarchaeology of War, Katie Rubin
When One's Child is Ill: Help-Seeking Behavior of Tz'utujil Maya Mothers in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, Janet Sung
Quantifying Dominance: An analysis of humeral bilateral asymmetry and implications for behavioral reconstruction, Cassandra M. Turcotte
Notions of health and manhood in a Guatemalan gym: Patterns contra to machismo, Ollin Venegas
Linear Enamel Hypoplasias in Hasanlu: a Survey, Anne Wang
An Anthropological Perspective on the Conflation of Health and Justice: the Case of Obstetric Fistula in Sub-Saharan Africa, Monika Wasik
Submissions from 2011
Online and Offline Social Networks: Who's in Them, What' Not?, an Ethnographic Study, Rachel Bauer
Understanding Duch and His Impact: Reaching Toward National Reconciliation in Cambodia, Kym Cole
ADH Variation in Indigenous Altian Populations, Lydia Gau
The Informal and Formal Economies of Indigeneity Among the Toba of Barrio Nam Qom, Formosa, Argentina, Lauren Kapsalakis
Scrutiny Modern Day Museums and the Legal and Social Structures That Criticize Them, Samantha Osborne
Assessment of the Cortext Ration Model to an Epipaleolithic Assemblage From Jordan, Sarah Raffae MacIntosh
Submissions from 2010
Burning Man: the Man and the Myth, Molly Hude
Breast Feeding Beliefs and Behaviors: Evaluating Cultural Patterns Among Hispanic Women, Shelly Joseph
The Relationship of the Proximal Femur to the Femoral Length in Subadults From Different Populations, Catalina I. Villamil
Submissions from 2009
Beyond the "McGuggenheim": Museum Globalization and its Critics, Roland Betancourt
Perceptions of and Receptivity to Dance/Movement Therapy, Julia Cuccaro
A Little Off the Top: A Controlled Archaeological Experiment on Scalping in America, Caitlin Dardenne
Hybrid Lives: The Sabbateans and the Search for Identity in Turkey, Lauren Davis
Explanatory Models of Off-Label Prescription Stimulant Use at the University of Pennsylvania, Emilia Hermann
"I'm Not an Addict. I'm a Recovering Addict": Clashing Discourse and Identity at an Addiction Research Clinic, Kelley Kampman
Animal Management at Tell Leilan in the Fourth Millenia, BCE: Faunal Data from the Operation 1 Step Trench, Hannah Lau
Apparent Altruism on Penn's Campus and It's Larger Implications, Christopher M. Meznaric
The Roman Sense of Place: Movement, Space, and Mapping in the Roman Empire, Natalie Pitcher
Against All Odds: Representing Native American Identity in the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, Jocelyn Rosenwald
Torsion, Platymeria, and Curvature of the Femur: Determining iological Affinity from the Postcranial Skeleton, Lauren Winkler
Submissions from 2008
Youth Sexual Agency in Nairobu: at the Nexus of Three Ideological Practices, Zohra Ahmed
Stock Spam Emails: Proliferation and Impact, Ernest Baskin
Facebook Trends: Understanding Intagible Cultural Ties Through a Virtual Community, Jessica Palay
Submissions from 2007
The Archaeology of Purity: Heterodoxy in Ritual Bathing in Early Judaism, Rachel Anne Adler
An Evaluation of the Mathematical Approach to Bitemark Analysis: Do Teeth Really Tell It All?, Cara Bergamo
Dental Attrition and the Third Molar, David DiPaola
Of Theatre: Its Production and Reception, Robert Caleb Green