Undergraduate Research

A Tooth Size Allocation Investigation into Bodo Origins: Revisited

Brooke Fisher
Mentor: Dr. Brian Hemphill

This project is the continuation of a biodistance analysis started in the Fall of 2022 of an ethnic group called the ‘Bodo’s’ from the Assam region in India through a comparative analysis of another ethnic group residing north of the Brahmaputra Valley, the Nyishis of Arunachal Pradesh.

“Girls,” “Dancers” and “Ladies”: Language, Gender and Power in a Gentlemen’s Club

Meredith McMahon
Mentor: Dr. Robin Shoaps

This project examines how erotic dancers craft the interactional personae they sell to customers and how these performances respond to power dynamics in their workplace. It will draw from participant-observation ethnography and discourse analysis of interviews with dancers and staff at a local gentlemen's club.

Sex Education and Female Pleasure; A Comparison Between the United States and Germany.

Colleen File
Sophie Schilling

Mentor: Christopher Miller

Consist of interviews of young women to find out what they were taught about their own sexuality, specifically sexual gratification and pleasure as women with male partners. The project will compare answers from the U.S. and Germany, a sexually liberal country.

Exploring Lay and Provider Understandings of "Adequate" Prenatal Care in Interior Alaska: An Ongoing Pilot Study

DaeLee Forshaw
Lisa Gilbert
Lainey Lioi

Mentor: Dr. Elaine Drew

The work I have completed for my travel involved attending the Navajo Nation Human Resources and Review Board Bi-Annual Conference. The conference involved the presentation of my project in poster format along with other projects being presented over the course of two days. In those two days between every meeting I stood by my poster presentation and explained my research project to members of other Universities. The Projects presented were interconnected and overlapped in various conference rooms. My project was noticed by a few professors and attendees from other universities for its cultural significance and contribution to language revitalization. Questions regarding my project included: What are you doing this for? What have you found? How did you come up with this idea? What do you plan to do next? The project found a significant positive feedback in the application notion of contemporary language use. Very significant discussion over the continued use of these methods in various other reservations were very helpful among the academics and researchers. The final day of the conference found a few discussions into others name usage as well as reflection of Navajo language use among young Navajo children. Interestingly enough, elders self reflection of their own Navajo names sparked conversation of contemporary use among a select few. Further inquiry of results were asked of this researcher by the members of the board to which positive feedback was found. Further investigation of name usage in churches were discussed and produced results that require a new project protocol involving past name documents among Catholic churches on the reservation. These documents in conjunction with this current project holds significant applications to the revitalization of the language. The presentation of this project produced positive feedback as we as further community inquiry into the continued investigation and work of this researcher. 

The building of a set of Javanese gamelan instruments was a goal of mine since arriving in Fairbanks to finish my bachelor’s degree in the Music Department at University Alaska Fairbanks in 2016. It took a few semesters of reading, listening and emailing other instrument builders before I managed to get enough information and funding to take on such a large project. To construct the instruments the project included collaborations with a carpenter and a blacksmith, consultations with physics faculty and the help of a few volunteers and friends. I relied on the expertise of instrument builders, Jarrad Powell and Stephan Fandrich for instruction on the minute details of tuning the steel bars and plates and resonator acoustics.
As an ensemble leader and educator, I reached out across the university and community to acquire skills in participatory action methods in education and collaboration. My mentors and teachers are my collaborators, community members and participants each providing a vital part to my research and education process as I document the process of participatory methods in community music. This project serves as the capstone of my undergraduate interdisciplinary degree in Applied Ethnomusicology by utilizing the skills I have learned in music, Alaska Native cultures and knowledge systems, anthropology and the importance of community involvement.
Fairbanks has many community music ensembles and cultural events within the Alaska Native community which celebrate the different music and cultures of the people who live in Fairbanks. In the use of gamelan, I was looking for something that would have no barriers of learning in place such as knowing how to read music or owning a certain instrument to be able to participate. The goal of bringing gamelan music into the community was to share, equally, a musical experience that would require only the participants willingness to learn to create music together as an equivalent.
I am continuing to make contacts with other gamelan educators and players in the United States and Indonesia to further my education in both Javanese gamelan and Javanese culture. I intend to spend time with gamelan instructors during a visit to Java over the winter break and bring back more information to my fellow gamelan players to further our collective knowledge in support of our community gamelan ensemble.