Anthropology

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/9870

This is the collection for the University of Waterloo's Department of Anthropology.

Research outputs are organized by type (eg. Master Thesis, Article, Conference Paper).

Waterloo faculty, students, and staff can contact us or visit the UWSpace guide to learn more about depositing their research.

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Now showing 1 - 9 of 9

An Anthropological Perspective on the Experiences of Osteoarthritis in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, and South Yorkshire, England
(University of Waterloo, 2021-01-13) Richards, Emily; Liu, Jennifer
This research studies the experience of both being diagnosed and living with osteoarthritis. I conducted this research looking to understand whether and how societal norms affected medical treatment of the disease. The research mostly focuses on the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, with a small comparative section on South Yorkshire. Three key themes were discovered and analyzed throughout the research. The first theme is lived experiences of osteoarthritis, which focuses on the concepts of pain and loss. The second key theme is the interrelation of responsibilization, medicalization, and moralization. This involves how patients rationalize the causes of their own osteoarthritis and sometimes how these compare to others. The third theme is Doctor-Patient interactions. Participants explained their experience interacting with medical professionals about their osteoarthritis, and analysis highlights how these interactions influence the participant’s perception of their condition and their own health. Osteoarthritis is well understood from a biological perspective; however, this is only one element in medical treatment. It is hoped in this research that the consideration of lived experiences by medical professionals will improve flaws in the communication of osteoarthritis management and treatment.
Beneath the Hype: Engaging the Sociality of Artificial Intelligence
(University of Waterloo, 2018-04-23) Govia, Leah; Liu, Jennifer
Artificial intelligence (AI) is highly visible in today’s public media. With potential uses across domains such as healthcare, labour and transportation, its capacity to impact human lives is widely apparent. As it continues to enter into public view, concerns surrounding its research and application also arise. Here, narratives of techno-optimism, technological determinism, and dystopia often shape the AI imaginary with sensationalist displays of super-intelligence and existential concern. Counterpoised to these representations, this thesis investigates the sociality that inheres in everyday practices within artificial intelligence as emerging technology and as a field of study. Drawing on methods and scholarship from STS and socio-cultural anthropology, I explore the attitudes and experiences of specialists to analyze how entanglements of the socio-cultural, ethical and technical appear within more mundane, everyday practices of AI. Often overshadowed by popular, sensationalized understandings of technology, the focus on such experiences and practices allows for an initial view into a situated understanding of AI beneath the hype.
Biopower, Disciplinary Power and Surveillance: A Qualitative Analysis of the Lived Experience of Drug Users in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
(University of Waterloo, 2020-03-31) Scher, Benjamin; Liu, Jennifer
Focusing on the role of police as primary actors in the arena of citizen safety, this thesis examines the effects of police practices on the daily lived experience of drug users accessing a Supervised Consumption Site within a community centre which I refer to as the Hawthorne Resource Centre. This site is located in the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood of Vancouver, Canada. Drawing on Foucauldian conceptualisations of power, the findings of this research suggest that modes of both biopower and disciplinary power are pervasively operative in various realms of the day to day lives of the Hawthorne Resource Centre clients. Evidence of the scalable nature of these modes of power are seen within the internal functioning of the Supervised Consumption Site, outside in the methods of community policing in the Downtown Eastside and in weekly police practices in Oppenheimer Park. As such, my study represents a multi-scalar assessment of how these Foucauldian power structures work at multiple levels and locations in the Downtown Eastside. Additionally, the trauma and stigma within the narratives provided by many of the Hawthorne Resource Centre clients suggests an appreciation by those clients of their lack of social and cultural capital. This understanding shapes how they navigate the distinctly bounded physical neighborhoods of Vancouver. Driven by the narratives of the Hawthorne Resource Centre clients, the findings of this research illustrate the importance of power relations within specific policy interventions and show that a better understanding of power in the context of interventions is crucial for policy-makers.
The Precariousness of the Non-Human Other: Situating Lyme Disease Within a Multispecies Framework
(University of Waterloo, 2019-08-14) Dauphinais, Jennifer; Liu, Jennifer
Lyme disease, the fastest growing vector-borne infection, can be found at the convergence of human-animal-environmental health. The spread of the bacterium is accompanied by various factors, such as ecological changes brought about by human activity (i.e. climate change, hunting & deforestation), tick lifecycles, deer, mice, and bird populations, political designs, economic strategies, built environments, and toxic myths that turn practices of care into conditions for disease communicability. Lyme disease highlights how when multiple species are present, how they interact and relate with each other shapes their respective realities and changes the contours of interspecies encounters. Drawing on methods and scholarship from both critical medical anthropology and multispecies ethnography, this thesis seeks to understand the factors involved in people’s understanding of their companion animals, the environment, and disease transmission.
Responsible Representation and Collaboration in Supporting Indigenous Maternal Health in Canada
(University of Waterloo, 2022-04-05) Tomkins, Sarah; Liu, Jennifer
Honouring the sacredness of pregnancy, childbirth, and the early postpartum period has long been held as integral to the strength and celebration of Indigenous families and communities in Canada. Although the impacts of oppressive settler colonial systems have strained the connection to and practice of traditional approaches to these reproductive life stages, there are immense efforts under way by Indigenous midwives and women and birthing parents to restore and reclaim what had been lost. With an awareness of historical and current conditions of Indigenous maternal health, I explored how to best situate myself as a white settler anthropology researcher and maternal health practitioner, and how to support Indigenous maternal health in an anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and culturally safe manner. Over the course of my research, I had the honour of interviewing a number of highly respected Indigenous scholars, midwives, and community leaders across Canada to seek their guidance and insights about how I can responsibly represent and partner with Indigenous midwives and women and birthing parents, as well as the role and extent of the impact of having shared identity in the provision of culturally safe care. With honest self-knowledge of being a settler Canadian, critical understanding of how settler colonial systems and structures continue to harm and disenfranchise Indigenous women and birthing parents, and a commitment to equal, respectful relationships, there is the potential for robust, healthy partnerships with Indigenous practitioners to champion Indigenous maternal health in Canada.
Self, Materiality, and National Identity: The Dilemma of Authenticity Among Millennial Industrial Designers in China
(University of Waterloo, 2023-05-29) Wang, Yingjia; Liu, Jennifer
By analyzing the discourse relating to the dilemma of authenticity among millennial industrial designers in China, the major objective of this thesis is to gain insights into the values, beliefs, practices, and ethics of the design community under investigation. This study has shown that, first, the locus of authenticity and self could be contested between individuals depending on the cultural backgrounds. Second, the boundary between copy and authenticity in design is ambiguous; further, a contested authenticity between materiality and objects could be examined with combining the constructivist and materialist approach. Third, designers hold an essentialist view on the Chinese tradition and in the pursuit of an authentic national design identity, even though the authenticity is constructive in nature. This research contributes to the emerging field of design anthropology from a non-western perspective.
Stakeholder Perspectives on Water Conservation Practices and Asymmetrical Power Relations in Southwestern Ontario
(University of Waterloo, 2021-03-04) Paul, sharmita; Liu, Jennifer
Abstract This thesis focuses on the politics of freshwater conservation and its impacts on water access, distribution, and management in Southwestern Ontario, focusing on Waterloo Moraine. It examines the role of various stakeholders involved in water governance in Southwestern Ontario and investigates whether and how the stakeholders’ perspectives and their activities impact water use, conservation efforts, and policymaking in the region’s water governance. Therefore, this study specifically asks whether and how the various socio-political and economic factors in the region shape stakeholder’ attitudes and inform their role in shaping social movement, public perception and policymaking in the water governance of Southwestern Ontario. The Waterloo Moraine, a significant natural drinking water resource in the region, has been impacted adversely due to the growing technological advancement, industrial and economic growth. The environmental hazard represented by this industrial growth has been a great concern of various activists, community members and environmentalists. In this study, I have applied a political-ecological approach to investigate the relationship among the stakeholders shaping the interaction between the environment and human beings while considering the socio-political understandings of water conservation and power politics involved in decision-making. I have engaged ten community members in this study and conducted semi-structured interviews asking for their experiences, opinions, attitudes, and recommendations for water conservation of the region. Then, I have used a thematic analysis approach to analyze the narratives and identified three major stories: Bill 66, aggregate extractions, and Nestlé related to water conservation in the region. Moreover, these three stories have represented two major overlapping themes: the asymmetrical power relationship among the stakeholders and the environmental degradations caused by the region’s politics of development and economic growth. This research has found some suggestions from the local experts and community members that could set a path for further research investigating a balanced approach to the relationship among the stakeholders, ensuring their equal involvement in decision-making both economic growth and environmental well-being.
Vaccine Hesitancy: Changing Priorities Towards a Lens of Compassion and Opportunity
(University of Waterloo, 2024-05-24) Clasen, Isabel; Liu, Jennifer
Vaccine hesitancy and refusal is an increasingly important topic, especially as concerns appear to be on the rise after the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent vaccine rollout. While concerns about vaccines are often brushed off as ignorance or conspiracy, this is not necessarily the case. Rather, vaccine hesitancy and refusal highlight a lack of trust in the larger institutions these vaccines come to represent, such as medical, scientific, and political institutions. This is often rooted in both personal and historical reasons which need to be addressed, as they highlight larger societal issues. My research focuses on recent vaccine concerns in the Global North, with my own research being conducted in Southern Ontario, however, this is an issue that spans across space and time. Similarly to previous research on the topic, I found that underlying distrust due to negative experiences appeared to correlate with increased vaccine hesitancy and refusal. Hesitancy is also noted as an important potential area of intervention, as those who are hesitant appear to be more likely to change their minds with the help of compassionate interactions based in trust. Thus, hesitancy offers a much-needed opportunity for public health to engage with the public in a meaningful way, thereby both building trust in vaccines and the institutions they come to represent, as well as aiding in the maintenance of herd immunity in order to protect those who are vulnerable.
View from a Body: Situating the Lived Experience of Painful Obsessions and Compulsions
(University of Waterloo, 2017-01-18) Van Der Meulen, Erin; Liu, Jennifer
Painful obsessions and compulsions have been traditionally consigned to the realm of mental illness. However, an investigation into the lived experience of these tendencies demonstrates that they constitute embodied forms of suffering. Using anthropological and phenomenological insights, I demonstrate how painful obsessions and compulsions exceed categorization as a mental disorder. As someone who lives with obsessive-compulsive tendencies, I use my autoethnographic authority, partnered with ethnographic data, to emphasize the ways in which painful obsessions and compulsions are embodied within the lifeworlds of sufferers. Thus, I argue for a re-conceptualization of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and I insist upon a radical transformation of best-practice treatments to more adequately and compassionately account for these embodied forms of suffering. Importantly, this approach provides a means to alter the role of the sufferer from being a mere object of research, to an active and engaged agent of research.

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Browsing Anthropology by Author "Liu, Jennifer"