Anthropology
Graduate
Student
Symposium

Political Ecology of Peat Swamp Development Projects
in the Malay-Muslim Majority Area of Southernmost Thailand
Under the context of sporadic ethno-religious conflict and violence of the southernmost Thailand, a predominantly Malay-Muslims region, the state’s and especially the royal peat swamp development projects in that area are rife with politics. In this paper, I argue that the projects represent the latest stage to try to incorporate Malay Muslims into Thai state. I also argue that the projects have been operated in the context of the special kind of constitutional monarchy, internal colony, and “war zone” nature. These contexts combine to create a condition in which local inhabitants, especially the grassroots movements, are barred from openly questioning, criticizing, and rejecting the state’s and royal peat swamp development projects that potentially have negative impacts on both the ecosystem and local inhabitants’ way of life.Chalita Bundhuwong.

Traditions of Earthenware Technology in Early Historic Angkor Borei, Cambodia
This study focuses on ceramics from the archaeological site of Angkor Borei in southern Cambodia’s Mekong Delta, spanning the period from ca. 500 BCE – CE 500, a period of sociopolitical change leading to the formation of the region’s earliest states. I have examined physical and chemical variability in these ceramics and the ways in which this variability reflects technical choices made by ceramic producers. The spatial and temporal distribution of technical choices illuminates patterns of inter- and intra-regional interaction during this period. Shawn Fehrenbach.

Buried with Animals: Toward a More Complete Understanding of the Role Animals Play in Mississippian Mortuary Contexts, the David Davis Farm Site (40HA301), Tennessee
Artifacts from mortuary contexts are considered to be intentionally deposited. We argue that all animals recovered from these features are also the result of this intentionality, and must be taken into account, as it is doubtful their inclusion was accidental. Using the David Davis Farm Site (40HA301) as our case study, we show that incorporating all of the zooarchaeological remains allows us to more fully interpret the types of mortuary activities that were practiced during the late Mississippian Period. Teresa Ingalls.

page last updated April 7, 2009