The production and use of human figures, or dolls, is a common practice in many societies. However, the materials, construction, purpose, and attitudes surrounding dolls vary cross-culturally. Samples from Indigenous groups in various locations and times in the United States have shown differences in the use of dolls, especially in relation to colonial and commercial forces. To illustrate this, I employ samples from the Robbins Museum of Archaeology’s Doyle Doll Collection, which contains items from twentieth-century Indigenous groups in the United States, to shed light on how the purpose, intended audience, and treatment of these dolls reflect the evolution of groups’ values and gender roles.

This research proposal examines the lived experiences of immigrants as they navigate the complex process of balancing their cultural heritage with pressures to assimilate into mainstream society. Focusing on first- and second-generation immigrants in the United States, the study explores how individuals negotiate identity, belonging, and cultural preservation while aiming for social acceptance and upward mobility. It looks to understand how factors such as language use, family expectations, education, and peer relationships shape the tension between maintaining one’s own heritage and adopting the culture of the society they are in. Using qualitative research, this study will incorporate in-depth interviews to get personal narratives of the struggles of belonging as an immigrant. By centering immigrant voices, the research aims to highlight the emotional and social struggles of identity formation.

This paper seeks to examine existing literatures which may aid in understanding the ways in which people experience and interact with loneliness in the US, in the context of the formation of the US and its realities. Initial searches for “loneliness” found a predominant concentration of studies with psychological, clinical, and public health perspectives of loneliness, in which loneliness is understood as a rising medical and public concern at the individual and interpersonal level. More specific searches for anthropological approaches and ethnographies provided a conceptualization of loneliness as something universal yet specific to land and culture, with underlying social, political, and economic processes. Each ethnography reveals specific experiences of loneliness deeply tied to the experience of people, space, and culture, in which a synthesis of the ethnographies found shared themes of cultural expectations, unfulfilled requirements of belonging, alienating effects of forms of movement or mobility, and their underlying institutional processes. Ethnographies of loneliness in the US also reflect these themes, illuminating structural forces of exclusion which include social stigmatization, spatial and institutional separation, and disruption of kinship systems and communal practices. However, anthropological research on loneliness in the US is limited. Using themes of existing ethnographies as guidelines led to subsequent research on identity and culture formation in the US, in order to contextualize the institutional and sociocultural structures which those in the US navigate. These readings demonstrate the mobilization of institutions like that of education to create a sense of unity, or shared commonality of being American, among a multitude of diverse individuals and backgrounds. The implications of such mobilizing forces are found in further readings which illustrate tensions and difficulties of identity formation as marginalized members of the US, as well as in conflicting ideas of the US. Additional readings on postmodernism and modernism provide conceptual frameworks for analyzing the production of culture-specific realities and the ways in which people navigate them. Findings include the construction and organization of physical space and social life in the US in ways which disrupt connection or communicate ideas of life in the US being secondary to ideals of progress. Where existing anthropological literature on loneliness in the US is limited, shared themes of existing ethnographies, in addition to literatures which contribute understandings of experiences of living in the US, may supplement this gap while illuminating the need for more research in this area.

In the fourteen years following Hurricane Sandy, the Rockaway peninsula has become a site of "coastal grabbing,” the institutional enclosure of shoreline commons, under the guise of ecological necessity. This presentation examines how bureaucratic actors utilize the protection of the Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) to enact a racialized "differentiated state" of beach management in Edgemere, a neighborhood in Queens, NY. Building on previous research and drawing on multi-sited fieldwork from the summer of 2025, including focus groups with community activists, participant observation, encounter interviews, and media analysis, we argue that shorebird conservation functions as a sophisticated technology of racialized gatekeeping that excludes the historically Black community of Edgemere from access to their coastline during the hottest months of the year. In this presentation, we seek to demonstrate how an assemblage of state and nonprofit actors construct and maintain control of the shore. Through tightly controlled messaging and the use of emotional appeals, they produce and maintain a legal authority and construct a moral community, that is composed of expert monitors and compliant shorebird stewards. This community is then positioned in opposition to residents and a larger undefined ‘public,’ by framing access as a moral failing and an existential threat to shorebird survival. Ethnographic observations and encounter interviews in the summer of 2025 revealed skepticism among residents regarding the promoted flexibility of a "shifting dynamic management plan", despite the promise of increased access points during shorebird breeding season. While framed as a balance between ecological needs and public use, residents view the shifting fences as a mechanism that maintains unpredictable exclusion. The counter-narratives of Rockaway activists identify that these conservation practices ignore the sociopolitical context of the beach, as well as the historical and culturally significant uses of the shore by residents. The practices, they describe, perpetuates the erasure of the Edgemere community, what they link to as an extension of urban renewal practices of the 1970s. This presentation will culminate with a discussion of comparison cases that offer alternatives, as well as a consideration of the shifting legal and federal contexts.

Messianic Judaism is part of an ongoing debate within religious studies on how or whether it should be viewed, embraced, distanced from or otherwise classified in relation to its theological origins, Christianity and Judaism. However, there is limited anthropological research on its nuances and potential for broader analysis as a lived faith and subsequent catalyst for communally-reinforced actions. I evaluated a sect of One New Man, who believe in post-supersessionist (re)unification and interfaith reconciliation through Jesus’ body. Through two site visits, an interview with a married couple and archival data, I examined how the congregation situates itself locally and globally through the use of affirming material symbology, Davidic dance and a religiously-informed worldview. This research offers a snapshot of the prospects in analyzing offshoots of Abrahamic belief systems with an interdisciplinary vernacular lens, and the ways they can provide insight on syncretic practices and relevant political situations.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed profound structural inequalities within the United States healthcare system, many of which disproportionately affected immigrant and minority healthcare workers. Filipino healthcare professionals represent one of the largest immigrant groups in the American medical workforce, yet they experienced disproportionately high rates of infection and mortality during the pandemic. This thesis examines the experiences of Filipino healthcare workers in New York City during COVID-19 through a multidisciplinary lens that integrates biological, social, and cultural perspectives.

Drawing on historical analysis and public health data from Filipino healthcare workers, this research explores how structural factors such as immigration patterns, occupational clustering in frontline healthcare roles, and cultural expectations of caregiving contributed to the heightened vulnerability of this population. The project also considers the broader cultural and social dynamics that shape Filipino participation in healthcare, including diasporic identity, intergenerational expectations, and community networks.

Ultimately, this study argues that the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Filipino healthcare workers cannot be understood solely through epidemiological data. Instead, it must be examined within the broader context of labor migration, structural inequities in healthcare systems, and the cultural values that have historically guided Filipino participation in caregiving professions. By situating the pandemic within these intersecting frameworks, this thesis highlights both the resilience of Filipino healthcare workers and the systemic conditions that placed them at heightened risk.

The focus of my research surrounds the generational differences that members of the LGBTQ community express, particularly their relationship to marriage during their youth years. I aim to gather data surrounding various LGBTQ people’s “visions” of marriage during their youth (more specifically high school age) and the dominant political leaders/messaging that occurred at the time of their youth. The goal of this research is to understand how generational political messaging plays a role in how the queer community views the concept of marriage in the United States. The question I would aim to answer is whether political messaging plays a role in how young queer people view their future with their potential partner. The issue of queer marriage has specifically sparked debate and raised questions for queer individuals' futures. Because the conversation surrounding queer marriage does not appear to have been of benefit to queer youth as time progresses, it raises the question of how political leadership relates to youth ideals regarding marriage.