Early, John D.

In this paper the literature of shamanism as well as psychology, biofeedback, hypnosis and other alternative therapies was researched, synthesized, and combined with direct clinical experience to provide a broad context for discussing why shamanic healing works. This approach was used in order to move shamanism out of the area of magic and sleight-of-hand into explanation systems more acceptable to western minds. Shamanic healing methods are demonstrated to be similar to those underlying many alternative therapies, especially in their use of altered states of consciousness and self-healing. Examples are given of their effectiveness in overcoming the broad spectrum of illnesses caused by alienation and separation which are presently beyond the healing powers of allopathic medicine and psychology. Finally, ways to integrate shamanic philosophy and the potential efficacy of its healing approaches into psychology and allopathic medicine are suggested, an integration shown to be prerequisite to a genuine lasting cure for the ills of an alienated society.

Faced with a highly industrial society, traditional Cubans, who
began to leave the island for political reasons since 1959, have
experienced repeated social strains under rapid social changes:
strains at the levels of economics, the family, social relationships
and a system of meaning. Cubans have resisted the pressures of
assimilation from a larger, dominant, group by integrating into
American society while re-enacting their traditional worldview. This
integration has established their diversity, their capacity to select
traits that confrom to, and do not clash with, pre-existent traits,
and their need for supportive, 'liminal,' mechanisms of a 'relational'
quality which C&~ aid them move through life crises. LA Santeria,
the worship of African gods as catholic saints, is one of the adaptive
mechanisms used by Cubans in their process of transculturation. This
syncretism of La Santeria provides a mythological worldview that
integrates meaning in the midst of social stress through ritual activity.

This thesis examines the evolution of religious symbol systems.
It proposes that religion as a cognitive system has
evolved through the processes of differentiation and abstraction.
Furthermore, it demonstrates that this evolution
has occurred not through a cumulative process but through
major paradigmatic shifts that rejected the previous traditions.
These propositions are applied to the religious
history of Western civilization. The study deals with the
religions of the ancient Near East, the religion of Israel,
classical Christianity, and the Christianity of the modern
"radical" theologians. The validity of the theories set
forth are tested not in the exotic setting of most ethnological
literature but in the familiar and well-documented
world of Western religions.

The structural dynamics underlying mythical expression have been clearly
demonstrated in the work of Claude Levi-Strauss. Myths and series of
myths are shown to be fields where contradictory terms are stated and
mediated. In the past, consideration of myth structure has generally
been through the examination of particular component relationships. The
present study, wit·h the aid of computer application, attempts to define
a network of term relationships and thus integrate numerous mediating
systems associated with the final expression. The proposed methodology
is demonstrated through the analysis of contemporary Mesoamerican myths.

The purpose of this study was to investigate certain socio-cultural change
variables that would discriminate attitudes and behavior in regard to modern
methods of fertility control. Married women from a Mayan peasant community
were interviewed. Analysis revealed that the socio-cultural change
variables as suggested by the literature, were non-discriminatory. A possible
explanation for non-discrimination is that these variables directly
affect the man more than the woman. Traditionally, fertility control has
been the responsibility of the woman by the use of abortion. Therefore,
factors that directly affect the woman in the decision to use modern methods
appear to discriminate attitudes and behavior. This is the first study
of fertility control in these communities, and should be considered a preliminary
rather than a definitive study.

This study intends to organize a typology of the Colombian peasant
communities. The typology is used as the base for a further study of
the impact of economic development upon the family unit and kindred
as elements of the communities' socio-cultural structures. In each
of the types of communities--Traditional, Specialized, and
Diversified--the impact of economic development is studied through
the change of the already mentioned elements in relation to the
economy. It is assumed that there have been some changes in the
economic function of the family unit, and that the kindred has lost
almost all its meaning. Nevertheless, the family unit as a whole is
still the main economic source within the socio-cultural system of
the Colombian peasant communities.

The paper attempts to develop a useful typology of peasant
societies by focusing on the statal structure in which the peasants
are involved. The economic dynamics of agrarian states are considered
and on this basis it is determined that there are at least two types--
capital-domains and labor-domains--and therefore at least two types
of peasantry.
The economic variables that specify the types are employed to
account for differences in the political-legal systems of the types.
Analysis of selected ethnographic data is presented. A new, and
hopefully more useful, definition of peasantry is presented.
The analysis attempts to systematize the melange of theory
concerning peasant society. The major works, especially Wolf, are
considered. The analysis incorporates a theoretical framework for
the study of plantation societies, previously a theoretical
no-man's land.

Although interest in the linguistic relativity hypothesis seems to
have waned in recent years, this thesis attempts to assess the
available evidence supporting it in order to show that further
investigation of the hypothesis might be most profitable. Special
attention is paid to the fact that anthropology has largely failed
to substantiate any claims that correlations between culture and
the semantics of language do exist. This has been due to the
impressionistic nature of the studies in this area. The use of
statistics and hypothesis testing to provide more rigorous methodology
is discussed in the hope that employing such paradigms would enable
anthropology to contribute some sound evidence regarding the
hypothesis.

The village of Port Howe on Cat Island (Bahamas, BWI), is a
small community which earns most of its living by slash-bum horticulture.
The economy is not self-contained, and horticulture does not
produce surplus sufficient to pay for the imports. A few government
salaries and relief payments make up the difference, together with
the help sent by citizens who go to work in Nassau or the mainland.
The economic activities of Port Howe are inefficient in many
respects, the most important being:
1. The people do little fishing. They buy canned fish from
Nassau.
2. They raise no poultry for eggs or meat, but do without
or buy eggs and chickens.
3. They have horses, but use them little, preferring expensive
motor transportation.
4. They raise goats and sheep, but waste the wool, hides and
milk, valuing only the meat.
5. They keep no dairy cattle, no beef cattle.
6. They have no kitchen garden the year round, but a few
vegetables for two months of the year.
7. They do no canning, preserving, smoking of hams and bacon.
8. They do not sew, although they have a severe problem
of getting clothing.
Inefficiency in the face of extreme poverty poses the question:
why? It is the thesis of this paper that this aspect of the economic
activities of Port Howe can be explained as the interplay of three
factors: the geological structure of the islands, the history of the
Bahamas, and the African heritage of the people. It is shown that the
skills acquired under slavery tend to be dropped or retained under
emancipation, according to whether they were rooted in the African
heritage. It is further shown that skills thus rooted tend more strongly
to be retained if they are backed up by favorable traits of the geological
structure and/or the historical background.
Thus, goat herding, although it is manifestly uneconomic, is
universally practiced. It is rooted in African tradition, compatible
with the geologically dictated practice of horticulture, and has also
the sanction of having been carried on throughout the period of slavery.
Salt-water fishing and the use of horses, on the other hand,
are not practiced today, although they were a part of the plantation
economy. But they have no African roots, are rendered difficult by
the structure of the islands, and were not emphasized during the
plantation era as part of the life of the slaves.
Cattle culture also is rendered difficult by the nature of the
island, and is probably not rooted in African economy. Although it
was an important part of plantation life, it has been abandoned.
Some other practices associated with the plantation culture
are of late origin, having only developed after the abandonment of the
island plantations by their owners. Canning and home sewing by machine
were patently no part of life in Africa, and the isolation of island
life obviously tends to retard the assimilation of new inventions.
The family structure is also shown to be African in its origins,
somewhat influenced by the economics and traditions of our culture, but
this influence is softened by the nature of the island and the economics
of horticulture which it requires. The formation of the matrifocal
family, which often takes place in West Africa, was given added impetus
by the slavery institution, which stripped the male of his status-giving
religious functions, while also down-grading his economic importance. The island structure intensified this trend, by requiring horticulture
which can be carried on by women and children, and by making it necessary
for him to leave the family home to make much of a cash contribution.
Thus the institution of the matrifocal family flourishes,
even though it originally rooted in African polygyny, which is illegal
in the Bahamas.