Lambda Alpha Journal, v.20, 1988-1989
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The Lambda Alpha Journal of Man is published annually by the Lambda Alpha Anthropology Honors Society at Wichita State University. The Journal of Man is partially funded by the Wichita State University Student Government Association.
Editor-in-Chief Dr. Lowell D. Holmes
Student editors Kari Manz and Hector Garcia
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Item Lambda Alpha Journal of Man, v.20 (complete version)(Lambda Alpha Anthropology Honors Society at Wichita State University, 1989) Lambda Alpha National Collegiate Honors Society for AnthropologyThis issue of LAJ consists of seven articles: Culture shock in paradise by Ellen Rhoads Holmes; Attainment of higher states of consciousness by natural means (North America: The vision quest of the Sioux; Indian: Transcendental meditation of the Vedic tradition) by Robert S. Milota; Smiles on faces and thumbs in the bread: self-esteem maintenance in a service occupation by Sherri Dawson; Psychology and biochemistry in the shamanic world by John Damrose; Female circumcision in two contexts by Lori L. Jervis; A possible historical basis for La llorna legend by George A. Agogino; and Two perspectives on the etiology of pibloktoq by Janet Lister.Item Culture shock in paradise(Lambda Alpha Anthropology Honors Society at Wichita State University, 1989) Holmes, Ellen RhoadsSelf-observation of professional anthropologist on her first field trip to American Samoa.Item Attainment of higher states of consciousness by natural means: North America: The vision quest of the Sioux; Indian: Transcendental meditation of the Vedic tradition(Lambda Alpha Anthropology Honors Society at Wichita State University, 1989) Milota, Robert S.The mind is able to transcend so-called ordinary or gross perception to come to the Sacred or inner perception by natural means, and furthermore, this experience is an actual change in one's consciousness--hence the real, lasting results. These results are those revealed by American Indians such as Black Elk and Lame Deer, or, by the thousands of people today who enjoy increased "ecstasy" in their lives' by the regular practice of meditation. Sioux Indian and Vedic traditions of meditation are discussed.Item Smiles on faces and thumbs in the bread: self-esteem maintenance in a service occupation(Lambda Alpha Anthropology Honors Society at Wichita State University, 1989) Dawson, Sherri"Dr. Jekeyll and Mr. Hyde" was a term used by an informant, a grocery store cahsier, to assess accurately how a cashier's attitudes, actions, and self-esteem change with each customer. Every day a cashier will have to deal with many customers. Each customer is categorized, defined, and serviced differently; most importantly, each customer has a different effect on the cashier's self-esteem. The research explores the means by which service sector employees, cashiers in a grocery store, maintain their self-esteem when interacting with customers. As cashiers interact with customers, they categorize them emically and redefine their identity vis a vis each customer. The ethnographic research was conducted at a mid-size chain grocery store, in a college community, in the southeastern United States.Item Psychology and biochemistry in the shamanic world(Lambda Alpha Anthropology Honors Society at Wichita State University, 1989) Damrose, JohnThe idea that and may be employed by us to uncover information, to heal the sick or injured, and to punish or to maim others is something that boggles a Western mind. Perhaps even more perplexing is the fact that shamanism is the oldest known form of organized religion, and that there exis~s a large body of evidence that testifies to the power and reality of the spirit world, such as those accounts given in William K. Powers' Yuwipi, John G. Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks, and Mircea Eliade's Shamanism. Perhaps it is this dilemma, that so many people have practiced shamanism for so many years and have amassed definite proof of its inherent healing power, that leaves Western minds searching for a plausible explanation that satisfies their scientific curiosity. It is not the goal of this paper, however, to support or to discredit the evidence suggesting the existence of the spirit plane. That task can only be left to individual experience. Rather, this paper will demonstrate that several aspects of the shamanic world may be explained in biochemical and psychological terms, while recognizing that there are many other aspects which cannot be, or at least not yet.