"There are many interconnected variables that directly impact an individual's health, including but not limited to economic status, gender, ethnicity, environment, and access to care. Between 2012-2014, a portion of the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Historical Cemetery, located in San Jose, California, was excavated. The cemetery was in use from approximately 1875-1935 and served as one of the county's indigent burial grounds. This dissertation explores the impact of immigration, public health, and structural violence on the biological health of individuals interred at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Historical Cemetery (VMC).The primary goal of this study is to examine specific and non-specific indicators of health, while contextualizing the archaeological and osteological data with the socio-political context in which the pathological conditions occurred. Multiple theoretical paradigms including structural violence and epidemiological transitions are used to provide possible explanations for the observed health patterns. The VMC skeletal sample is also compared to archival data sets and other historic skeletal samples to examine similarities and differences in expected and observed health indicators.The individuals interred at VMC had higher rates of infectious communicable disease and higher infant and neonate mortality rates than comparative samples. The results of this research suggest that the social and health inequalities seen in the VMC skeletal sample can be understood by examining the county's efforts towards public health initiatives, public policy towards the destitute, and the components of structural violence and institutionalization that intertwine these factors."--Pages ii-iii.
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