Doctoral Dissertation Research: Knowledge Systems and Social Networks: The Delaware Nation and Its Neighbors

0240056杰克逊/费尔这篇文化人类学家的论文研究项目调查了俄克拉荷马州阿纳达科的一个美洲印第安人社区中存在的不同类型的传统和非传统知识。这个社区形成了一个包含特拉华州民族成员的社交网络，并扩大到包括卡多部落和威奇托部落的成员。主要的假设是，在社区中处于更核心地位的人拥有更高水平的传统知识。然而，这些人并不总是对非传统知识体系(如科学或非土著说话方式)不太熟悉。例如，传统的部落知识和科学可能以互补的方式存在。为了验证这些说法，研究人员将绘制特拉华州、卡多和威奇托社区的社交网络。接下来，将使用定量和定性措施评估个人的传统和非传统知识水平。将个人在社交网络中的位置与他们的传统和非传统知识水平相关联，将表明知识在社交网络中的位置。该项目的结果将澄清知识和社会制度人类学研究中的几个重要问题。首先，这项研究探讨了社区在一段时间内和在区域社会网络内维持和保存传统的方式。第二，该项目调查了历史环境对传统的创造和再创造的影响。最后，它将修改和完善美国印第安人社区现有的文化变化模式。目前发展于20世纪50年代和60年代的模型通常假设，面对泛部落主义和同化，部落和社区特有的传统会恶化。更新的研究表明，这些模型严重不足。这个项目的更广泛的影响包括对当代美国印第安人社会和文化生活的更新、更复杂的理解。这个项目创造的新知识将有助于打破人们对美国原住民传统主义及其对西方知识的假定反对的普遍刻板印象。此外，该项目的成果将帮助部落政府更有效地分配资金和资源用于文化保护计划。此外，该项目还有助于培训一名年轻的社会科学家。

0240056Jackson / FairThis dissertation research project of a cultural anthropologist investigates the different types of knowledge, traditional and non-traditional, that exist within an American Indian community in Anadarko, Oklahoma. This community forms a social network containing members of the Delaware Nation and expands to include members of the Caddo and Wichita tribes. The primary hypothesis is that people who are more central within the community have a higher level of traditional knowledge. However, these same individuals may not always have less familiarity with non-traditional knowledge systems, (such as science or non-Native ways of speaking). For example, traditional tribal knowledge and science might exist as complementary ways of knowing. In order to test these statements, the researcher, will map out the social network of the Delaware, Caddo, and Wichita community. Next, the traditional and non-traditional knowledge levels of individuals will be assessed using quantitative and qualitative measures. Correlating individuals' position in the social network with their levels of traditional and non-traditional knowledge will demonstrate where knowledge in located in the social network. The results of this project will clarify several important issues in the anthropological study of knowledge and social systems. First, the study addresses the manner in which communities maintain and preserve traditions over time and within regional social networks. Second, the project investigates the impact of historical circumstances on the creation and re-creation of traditions. Finally, it will revise and refine existing models of cultural change in American Indian communities. Current models, developed in the 1950s and 1960s, generally posit the deterioration of tribal and community specific traditions in the face of pan-tribalism and assimilation. Newer research suggests that these models are grossly inadequate. The broader impacts of this project include a newer, more sophisticated understanding of contemporary American Indian social and cultural life. The new knowledge created by this project will help undermine popular stereotypes about Native American traditionalism and its presumed opposition to Western knowledge. Furthermore, the results of this project will assist tribal governments in more efficiently allocating funding and resources for cultural preservation programs. In addition, the project contributes to the training of a young social scientist.