Graduate Programs: Recent Theses

 

Previous Theses

In a quarter century of graduate research in Anthropology at Western, candidates have engaged in projects which have been innovative and challenging, covering all of the sub-disciplines in Anthropology. Below you will find a list of the theses projects completed in our graduate program during the last five years. A complete list of all theses research completed since 1981 can be found as a PDF file HERE.

 

# Sociocultural & Linguistics # Archaeology & Bioarchaeology # Applied Arch. #

Sociocultural And Linguistics

MA

Students

 Date and Supervisor Title of Thesis  
Manferd, Melissa Jan 2001 - St.Christian Toward a Critical-Clinical Ethnomedical Anthropology: An examination of health and illness experiences in Texas  
Finnis, Elizabeth Jun 2001 - St.Christian Lesbian and Gay Experiences with Health Care in a Northern Ontario Community  
Johnson, Jon Aug 2001 - St.Christian Chiropractic in Ontario: The Historical Transformation of the Chiropractic Profession and the Quest for Professional Legitimacy

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Berbecs, Renata Sep 2001 - Creider The Power of Talk: Analyzing Organizational Discourse  
Carroll, Frances Sep 2001 - St.Christian Maneuvering Across Shifting Boundaries: Tourism Space, Dollars, and Everyday Life in Cuba Since the Early 1990s  
Godwaldt-Morupisi, Melissa Sep 2001 - St.Christian Socio-Economic Dis-Ease and the Contemporary Challenges Facing HIV/AIDS Care in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe  
Polsky, Andre Jun 2002 - St.Christian Grand-Park: The Experience of “Home” in a Retirement Community  
Md. Monir Moniruzzaman Aug 2003 - St.Christian “But we could not save our brother”: Organ Trade in Banladesh  
Strachan, Laura Sep 2003 - Farah Struggling to Balance Environ-mental Protection and Ecotourism with Bedouin Needs: The Wadi Rum Protected Area  
Martin, Jodi Aug 2003 - Clark Weaving, Fair Trade, and Development in Highland Guatemala  
Sousa, Joao-Paulo Jan 2003 - Philibert Radical Peasantry in the Struggle for Agrarian Reform in Brazil  
Schreyer, Christine May 2003 - Valentine The Social Construction of Place Around the Chapleau Cree First Nation  
Alexandrakis, Othon Jun 2003 - St.Christian Between Life and Death: Violence and Greek Roma Health and Identity  
Maloney, Michelle Sep 2003 - Clark Petroleum and Protest: Globalisation and the Contradictions of Development in the Ecuadorian Amazon #Top#
Murdoch, Christine Jun 2003 - St.Christian Dismantling Development: Understanding Indigenous Ecosocial Justice Movements in Madhya Pradesh, India  
Bozickovic, Daniela Dec. 2003 - Farah “Tell us how to clean our souls”: Humanitarianism and Refugee Strategies in Serbia  
Stephens, Christianne Nov 2004 - Darnell The Semiotics of Community Experience: The Residential School Legacy at Walpole Island First Nation  
Geer, Sacha Sep 2004 - St.Christian Being a “Come-Backie”: Work, Identity and Belonging Among Guyanese Re-Migrants  
Cesarini, Leah Sep 2004 - St.Christian Transmitting Culture: Deaf Identity and Education  
Baker, Ted Sep 2004 - St.Christian This is What Democracy Looks Like: An Anthropological Investigation  
Blekaitis Van Geffen, Sarah Sep 2004 - Farah Female Circumcision: A Critique of Western Literature and Alternative Voices  
Kysela, Alenia Sep 2004 - St.Christian The Intersection of Anthropology and International Health: Phnom Var, Cambodia: the HIV Village  
Willson, Catherine Apr 2005 - Darnell Technology, Discipline, and the "Rhetorical" Body  
Pozniak, Kinga Jul 2005 - St.Christian  Identity Construction Among Colombian Newcomers to London #Top#
Eramian, Laura Jul 2005 - Farah Perspectives on Family Life in Post-Genocide Rwanda  
Kain, Danielle Jul 2005 - St.Christian Narratives of Love and Loss  
Grimes, Alicia Aug 2005 - Clark Verifying Fair Trade Practice: An Account of Certification  
Pineda, Carolina Aug 2005 - Clark “Street Children” An Institutional Life in Bogata Columbia  
Qiao, Shan Dec 2005 - St.Christian An Examination of Chinese National Health Policy  
Kim, Gary Apr 2006 - St.Christian The Political Economy of Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centres  
Chimbinda, Jorge Apr 2006 - Darnell The Umbundu Naming System  
Crowley, Kelly Aug 2006 - Clark National Incorporation vs. National Isolation  
Conley, Jack Aug 2006 - Darnell The Persistence of the Caldwell First Nation  
Baker, Laurie Aug 2006 - Clark The Alignment Interests  
Du, Qian Ping Aug 2007 - St.Christian New Home, New Religion  
Donovan, Sadie Aug 2007 - Darnell A Case Study of Wiingashk Alternative Secondary School #Top#
Rouleau, Brandon Aug 2007 - Walsh An Ethnographic Study of Clothing Production in Lima, Peru  
Brown, Ellen Aug. 2008 - Hele Borders of Knowledge: Cultural and Political Borderlands, Identity and the Ironsides in the Great Lakes  
Stachel, Melissa Aug. 2008 - Walsh An Ethnography of the English Language Industry in the Republic of Korea  
Yuen, Pamela Aug. 2008 - St.Christian Identity and Community Among Gay Asian-Canadians in Toronto  
West, Michelle Apr. 2009 - St.Christian The Rusty Years: Seniors' Social Networking in Retirement  
Espanol, Christian Apr. 2009 - Clark The Piaroa and the Venezuelan State  
Chapeskie, Alexis Jun. 2009 - Walsh Women in an Malagasy Sapphire Mining Community: An Interactive Learning  
Gordon, Christina Jul. 2009 - Jorgensen From Mining Widows to *Prayer Mamas*: Women, Christianity and Modernity in a Papua New Guinea Village  
Butler, Julianna Aug. 2009 - Farah Contested Histories and Identities: Roma Refugees in Toronto  
Yeh, Lavi Aug. 2009 - Hele/Premat Taiwanese Indigenous Education in the Urban Environment: A Case Study of Kaohsiung Municipal Cianjhen Junior High School  
Whippey, Caroline Sept. 2009 - Hele/Katchabaw Where Real Meets Virtueal: Real Life Values, Perceptions, and Experiences in World of Warcraft  
Levy, Jordan Apr. 2010 - Clark Honduran Political Culture and the 2009 Coup: Experiences from San Lorenzo  
Spinney, Jennifer Aug. 2010 - Pennesi Perceptions of Vulnerability to ‘Severe’ Weather in Pangnirtung, Nunavut  
Urbi, Anna Victoria Aug. 2010 - Jorgensen Caring for Others: Filipino Live-In Caregivers and their Left-Behind Families  
Ellis, Rebecca Aug. 2010 - Premat Sowing the seeds of democracy: Community gardening in Parkdale, Toronto  
Patterson, Ashley June 2011 - Walsh Off the beaten path: obstacles to success in a locally managed community-based conservation and ecotourism project in Northern Madagascar  
Hunter, Emma July 2011 - Walsh Developing a Tourist Attraction: the Processes of Negotiation, Improvisation and Exchange at a Sacred Cave-tomb in Northern Madagascar  
Lawrence, Aaron July 2011 - Premat Urban Agriculture as a place-making project in Havana and Detroit  
Phd

Students

 Date and Supervisor Title of Thesis  
Manzano-Munguia, Maria Apr. 2009 - Darnell Mediating Aboriginal-State relations: an alternative model  
Aras, Ramazan Dec. 2009 - Darnell Political Violence, Fear and Pain: Formations of Kurdishness in Turkey  
Kennedy, Christine June 2010 - Farah Women’s Stories: Gender, Representation, and Identity in East Germany  
Bisha, Tim April 2011 - Philips Exemplary Practice: Inscribing Conduct Along Upper Canada’s Early Frontier [LINK]  
Pozniak, Kinga Sep. 2011 - Farah Model Socialist Town, Two Decades Later: Contesting the Past in Nowa Huta, Poland  [LINK]   

 

Archaeology and Bioarchaeology

MA

Students

 Date and Supervisor Title of Thesis  
Quirk, Laura Jun 2001 - Ellis The Bridgeport Site: Small-Scale Manufacturing in Ontario  
Fraser, Meredith Jul 2001 - Spence Lengthy Longhouses, Eccentric Ceramics, and Other Quandaries: An Exploration of Identity at the Savage Site 9AdHm-29)  
Ginter, Jaimie Jun 2001 - Spence Dealing with Unknowns in a Non-Population: The Skeletal Analysis of the Odd Fellows Series  
Blumenfeld, Jodi Jun 2001 - Nelson Neandertal Facial Morphology and Cold Adaptation  
Gibbs, Kevin Jul 2001 - Spence Time and Ethnicity in the Oaxaca Barrio, Teotihuacan: The TL6 Ceramics  
Retter, Michael Jul 2001 - Spence Enigmatic Pots: Enculturating Identity at the Dymock Site (AeHj-2)  
Lichtenfeld, Marc Sep 2001 - Nelson Artificial Cranial Modification as a Marker of Ethnicity in the Jequetepeque Valley, Peru  
Lancashire, Susannah Sep 2001 - Ellis Early Palaeoindian Trianguloid End Scrapers: A Comparative Analysis #Top#
O'Neal, Paul Jan 2002 - Ellis The Archaeology of the Blue Water Bridge Site  
Toyne, Marla Jun 2002 - Nelson Tales Woven in Their Bones: The Osteological Examination of the Human Skeletal Remains from the Stone Temple at Tucume, Peru  
Rainey, Dori Aug 2002 - Spence Challenging Assumptions: An Analysis of the Scattered Human Remains at the Keffer Site, AKGv-14  
Sherratt, James Apr 2003 - Pearce The Chypchar Site (AiGx-73): A study of ceramic variability and social organization at a Middle Ontario Iroquoian Village  
Dougherty, Kathleen Jan 2003 - Spence Social Organisation and Mortuary Program of the Rice Lake-Trent River Middle Woodland Hopewellian Manifestation at Cameron’s Point  
Blyth, Lisa Jun 2003 - White/ Longstaffe Who Was Left on the Battlefield? Isotopic Identification of Soldiers from Fort William Henry and the Battle of Stoney Creek  
Matthews, Julianna Sep 2003 - White Dental Pathology and the Reconstruction of Diet in Two Postclassic Maya Skeletal Populations  
Nash, Jennifer Jun 2003 - Nelson A Statistical Analysis of Musculoskeletal Stress Markers: The Significance of Age, Sex, Body Size and Activity #Top#
Prowse, Shari Jun 2003 - Ellis Middle Woodland Fishing Methods at the Bluewater Bridge South Site (AfHo-7)  
McMillan, Katherine May 2003 - Ellis Hafted Diagnostic End Scrapers from the Nettling Site: Assessing Technological Change in the Palaeoindian-Early Archaic Transition  
Keron, James Jun 2003 - Ellis Iroquoian Chert Acquisition: Changing Patterns in the Late Woodland of Southwestern Ontario  
Maxwell, Jay Dec 2003 - White Evaluating Morbidity and Mortality in Skeletal Remains: An analysis of paleopathology at the Maya sites of Marco Gonzalez and San Pedro, Belize  
Gardiner, Megan May 2004 - Nelson An Examination of the Relation-ship Between Sexual Dimorphism and Sex-Specific Activity Patterns Among the Sadlermuit Inuit  
Carr, Dillon Sep 2004 - Ellis The Paleoindian Use of Hixton Silicified Sandstone: Examining the Organization of Western Great Lakes Paleoindian Lithic Procurement Strategies  
Foreman, Lindsay Sep 2004 - White Osteopenia or Osteoporosis?: The Development of a Methodological Protocol for Examining the Antiquity of Sex- and Age-related Patterns of Bone Loss  
Fontaine, Adriana Sep 2004 - Spence Scattered Bone: Fragmentary Human Remains From the Lawson Site (AfHg-1) #Top#
Mahoney, Malgorzata Sep 2004 - Spence Teotihuacan-Style Figurines and Ethnicity in the Oaxacan Barrio, Teotihuacan.  
Beauchesne, Patrick Jul 2005 - Nelson Protein Consumption and Bone Health in Ancient Peru  
Brady, Allyson Jul 2005 - White/ Longstaffe In Situ IR-Laser Ablation Isotope Analysis of Bioapatite  
Cross, Alan Jul 2005 - Nelson Arm Swing, Thermoregulation and the Evolution of Bipedality  
Metcalfe, Jessica Jul 2005 - White/ Longstaffe Diet and Migration at Chau Hiix, Belize: A Study of Stable Carbon, Nitrogen and Oxygen Isotopes  
Pawlowski, Andrew Aug 2005 - Spence An Examination of Foreign Ceramic Styles: Parker Festooned in Southwestern Ontario Neutral Sites  
Marion-Bellemere, Eileen Sep 2005 - Spence A BioArchaeological Analysis: Social Class in Ancient Crete  
MacLellan, Erin Aug 2006 - Nelson The Consequences of Cultural Cranial Modification  
Olsen, Karyn Aug 2006 - White, Longstaffe Dedication and Sacrifice: An Oxygen Isotope Study of Remains From Altun Ha, Belize and Iximche, Guatemala.  
Goodfellow, Stephanie Aug 2006 - White Dental Microwear Analysis at Altun Ha, Belize #Top#
Anderson, Jacob Sept 2006 - Hodgetts Pre-Dorset Life in South-Western Hudson Bay  
Dickson, Parker Oct 2006 - Ellis Examining Hi-Lo Lithic Procurement and Use Strategies  
Kron, Hope Apr 2007 - Molto Spatial Analysis of Morphogenetic Traits in Kellis2  
Boston, Christine June 2007 - Nelson Possible Arsenic Poisoning in Ancient Chilean Populations  
Pritchard, Brian July 2007 - Ellis Developing a Typology of Tsimshian Stone-Tools  
Sharman, Jennifer Aug 2007 - Molto Fertility in Paleodemgraphy in Roman Period Egypt  
Wade, Andrew Apr 2008 - Nelson Radiology of Age-Related Change in Trabeculae of the Pubis #Top#
Porawski, Tomaz Aug. 2008 - Hodgetts A Multivariate Taphonomic Approach to Understanding Midden Formation in Thule Inuit Contexts  
Pearce, Sherri Aug. 2008 - Ellis Small Point Archaic Lithic Procurement and Use in Southern Ontario  
Shkrum, Stephanie Agu. 2008 - Molto Dental Paleoepidemiology of Children from Kellis 2, Dakhleh  
Taggart, Christine Jun. 2009 - Molto The Bioarchaeology of the Prehistoric comondu Culture: A Synthesis  
Scott, Amy Jul. 2009 - Nelson Body size indicators and the examination of stress from a growth and development perspective: A new method of bioarchaeological assessment  
Solomon, Shauna Aug. 2009 - Colquhoun Living On the Edge: A Preliminary Dry Season Study of Crowned Lemur (Eulemur coronatus) Response To Anthropogenic Habitat Changes in Northern Madagascar  
Spigelski, Sheryl Aug. 2009 - Nelson Marcahuamachuco and Cerro Amaru: Taphonomic Skeletal Analysis #Top#
Sweeney, John Apr. 2010 - Hodgetts Faunal Analysis of a Ritual Deposit from the Dorchester Village Site (AfHg-24)  
Moody, John Aug. 2010 - Hodgetts Pioneering Thule Inuit Subsistence: A faunal analysis of Tiktalik (NkRi-3)  
Teeter, Matt Dec. 2010 - Molto Age Estimations Using Aspartic and Raceminzation  
Hanson, Caitlin Dec. 2010 - Ellis The Early Paleoindian Occupation of Southern Ontario: Temporal and Spatial Trends  
Jaagumagi, Alyson Jan. 2011 - Nelson An Examination of Vertebral Compression Fractures in a Pre-Columbian Peruvian Population  
       
       
       

 

Phd

Students

 Date and Supervisor Title of Thesis  
Williams, Lana July 2008 - White Investigating Seasonality of Death at Kellis 2 Cemetery Using Solar Aligment and Isotopic Analysis of Mummified Tissues  
Wheeler, Sandra Aug. 2009 - White Bioarchaeology of Infancy & Childhood at the Kellis 2 Cemetery  
Webb, Emily Dec. 2010 - White Residential Mobility, Paleodiet and Stress in Nasca, Peru  
Bleuze, Michele Dec. 2010 - Nelson Cross-sectional Morphology and Mechanical Loading in Plio-Pleistocene Hominins: Implications for Locomotion and Taxonomy [LINK]  
Foreman, Lindsay Sep. 2011 - Hodgetts Seasonal Subsistence in Late Woodland Southwestern Ontario: An Examination of the Relationships Between Resource Availability, Maize Agriculture, and Faunal Procurement and Processing Strategies  [LINK]   

Applied Archaeology (MA's Only)

MA Students Date and Supervisor Title of Thesis  
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