Anthropology Senior Theses

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.

 

 

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  • Publication
    It Takes a Village (and More): Collaborative Mobilization among the Kanawan Aytas in Post-IPRA Morong, Bataan, Philippines
    (2024-05-20) Wells, Vernon
    The Ayta Magbukún are an Indigenous cultural community (ICC) spanning and belonging to several villages across the Bataan Peninsula of the Philippines. One of these villages today is located in Sitio Kanawan, Barangay Binaritan, Morong, Bataan, the site and community that serve as the focus of this thesis. Following the inauguration of the Philippines’ Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997 (IPRA), the recognition of Indigenous peoples (IPs) has incorporated Indigenous desires for self-determination within ongoing projects of state legitimation. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork and semi-structured interviews with community members conducted during June, July, and December of 2023, this thesis questions the nature of “indigeneity” as it operates in contemporary Kanawan. In mapping the Kanawan Aytas’ histories and place within the broader imagined Filipino identity, I analyze within a nested collaborative analysis (NCA) how challenges of the twenty-first century have spurred them to foster new collaborative networks of assistance, negotiation, and partnership. These emergent “collaborative mobilizations,” as I characterize them, have had shaping effects on the bureaucratic regimes governing ICCs and their land claims while inevitably transforming what it means to be Ayta Magbukún.
  • Publication
    Mental Health in the Age of Social Media: The Role of Digital Aesthetics and Displays of Vunerbility in the Experiences of Women of Color
    (2024-05) Asif, Maira
    In our hyper-connected yet isolating digital age, social media emerges as an intersection of digital and physical realms. It acts as a communal square where identities are formed, movements ignited, and cultural patterns woven. This project investigates the nature of mental health dialogues on social media such as TikTok and Instagram. Employing digital ethnography and qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews, it discusses how the aesthetics shaped by the attention economy are critical in drawing or deterring user interaction. Specifically, it highlights how women of color utilize social media platforms to forge new bonds of solidarity and mount challenges against entrenched societal systems. It also marks the advent of a novel style of authority characterized by relatability and authenticity, upending the traditional, distant expert image. This human-centric authority underscores the importance of displays of vulnerability, transforming social media into a stage for both empowerment but also potential oversimplification of mental health discourse.
  • Publication
    Landscapes of Belonging - Narratives at a Student-Run Free Clinic in Philadelphia
    (2024) Jacqueline Chan
    University City Hospital Coalition (UCHC) medical clinic is a student-run free clinic (SRFC) largely run by undergraduate, medical, and nursing students from the University of Pennsylvania. This thesis explores the role of the UCHC medical clinic’s role in patients’ lives and healthcare landscape of Philadelphia. Using narrative inquiry and semi-structured interviews, the research uncovers the lived experiences of patients from the broader Philadelphia community who sought care at the UCHC medical clinic. These narratives trace their healthcare journeys and the clinic’s unique place within the social fabric of the city. The stories also underscores the clinic’s significant role in providing consistent care and a space of belonging for underserved populations. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of how identity and belonging is constructed in medical spaces, such as through reciprocal performances of labor of belonging, treating patients as active partners in their care management, and the sharing of space with community meal programs. The implications of these findings suggest a model for healthcare delivery that emphasizes human connection, empowerment, and fostering welcoming spaces of belonging.
  • Publication
    Critical Evaluation of Sustainable Monitoring in Philadelphia Museums
    (2024-05-19) Mac Mckillip
    Sustainability needs to be a prioritization of museum maintenance moving forward in order to protect cultural heritage, the structure of the museum, and its integrity. This means being aware of and improving upon shortcomings that prevent museums from being sustainable. This work acts as a case study for evaluating the extent to which museums in Philadelphia meet sustainable goals outlined by an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment framework. While the word sustainability is commonly associated with the environment, various social and administrative assets are also considered in evaluating how each museum interacts positively (or negatively) with its community, which ultimately contributes to museum longevity. These data are evaluated by in-person museum visits, where monitoring is performed based on an ESG-based sustainability metric checklist. As a result of this monitoring, it can be inferred that some museums operate more sustainably than others, though there is great variation in performance aspects. Even if some museums have shortcomings in some metrics but strengths in others, Philadelphia museums must be aware of and respond to sustainable needs, especially to protect both cultural heritage and the visitor audience. Many of the weaknesses these museums face rely on lack of transparency in interpersonal relations with societal and political stances as well as data clearance; in addition, many systems infrastructures should be upgraded, especially since emissions and energy data are not available to analyze.
  • Publication
    Orangutan Osteobiography: Surviving Broken Bones
    (2023-12-21) Sarah Caminito
    Orangutans are usually considered a solitary species, but they are able to survive severe broken and re-healed arm bones. This is remarkable as they are reliant on their arms for suspensory locomotion. We predict that orangutans survive on their own with broken and re-healed arm bones by compensating for their handicaps with a heavier reliance on their other limbs to climb. We identified how five particular orangutans compensated when bones were broken using osteobiography as our investigative method (n= 30). CT scans of long bones were taken to assess asymmetry in cross-sectional areas of humerus, radius, ulna, femur, and tibia and trabecular bone density at the femoral neck. We looked for one-sided weakness corresponding to the injured side of the body by calculating directional asymmetry (%DA) and absolute asymmetry (%AA) and using 95% confidence intervals in Excel. Writing osteobiographies for these individuals revealed their unique characteristics and strength. Osteobiography is an underutilized method in animal studies and this study indicates that there is a lot to be learned from considering the entire body holistically.
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    Stock Spam Emails: Proliferation and Impact
    (2008-04-01) Baskin, Ernest
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