Theses and Dissertations

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1275-0605

Advisor

Goliath, Jesse R.

Committee Member

Osterholtz, Anna J.

Committee Member

Zuckerman, Molly K.

Date of Degree

8-13-2024

Original embargo terms

Visible MSU Only 2 Years

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Campus Access Only

Major

Applied Anthropology

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures

Abstract

Over the last few decades, forensic anthropological research has made significant strides in developing better methods for decedent identification and increasing the accuracy of time since death/postmortem interval (PMI) estimations within medicolegal contexts. Until recently however, there has been little emphasis placed on how socioeconomic considerations might be connected, especially regarding recovery times for individuals from various demographic backgrounds. Using intersectional and biocultural frameworks and data collected from forensic anthropologists and medicolegal labs throughout the Southeastern US, this research aims to decipher the role that inequality, through instances of social vulnerability and structural violence, plays in recovery time data throughout the region. Considerations of how systematic violence can impact socioeconomic and sociopolitical factors for a demographic groups' recovery times could highlight disparities in how politics, law enforcement, and medicolegal personnel assist and conduct casework based on sociocultural and socioeconomic factors.

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