Native Research Articles

Planetary media: Decolonizing the space industry through Indigenous ownership

The colonial relationship between Indigenous people and people of European origin has been characterized by conflicts, economic exclusions, and epistemological discriminations as well as the mutual sharing of knowledge, practices, and technologies. In many cases, the industrial development of space technologies such as telescopes and rocket test sites has continued the exploitative nature of colonialism. This article, however, offers a different story and concept of Indigenous decolonization that is not antagonistic but complementary to the space industry and Western liberalism more generally. The case is Space Enterprises, a company and Earth station owned by the Center for Appropriate Technologies in Alice Springs, Northern Territories, Australia and conceived by its Aboriginal owners, workers, and board of directors as representing a beneficial integration of their Indigenous self-determination and the space industry. This essay offers synthetic decolonization as an example of this integration with Western liberalism. Understanding the flows between the Indigenous-owned Earth station and satellites, as well as the connections between Indigenous and Western liberal planetary imaginaries, requires a theory of mediation. Towards that goal, planetary media is offered as a way of conceptualizing the flows of information between local Indigenous and planetary spaces and imaginaries. This essay argues that another decolonization is possible, one based on mediation between Indigenous and Western liberal systems of thought.

The World Heritage Convention, human rights and Indigenous Peoples

This article discusses how the World Heritage Convention contradicts and coalesces with rights to culture and rights of Indigenous Peoples as asserted in international law. It describes the origin and universalistic aims of the Convention, and how the Convention’s state-centrism and Eurocentric heritage discourses have stymied the equitable participation of Indigenous Peoples in World Heritage conservation. However it also asserts that a broadening conceptualisation of World Heritage value alongside an increasing focus on synchronicity with human rights can enable recognition and protection of Indigenous Peoples’ worldviews, rights and cultural continuity under an international legal framework. Finally, the article examines the variance among states parties and the World Heritage Committee in upholding human rights standards, using case studies of five World Heritage sites: Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, Australia; Pimachiowin Aki and Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada; the Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya; and Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex in Thailand. The article concludes that despite the rights-based turn of recent years, the World Heritage system remains inconsistent in its adherence to international human rights standards.

Untangling the Web: A Phenomenological Analysis of Social Workers’ Critical Reflections on Racism in Social Work and Antiracism Efforts in Contemporary Practice

Racism has been deemed a public health crisis in the United States, which has often led to racial trauma, warranting a need for adequate support within social work settings. Using critical reflection and a phenomenological approach, seven frontline social workers shared their lived experiences with antiracism in their practice and how racism impacts social work. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Findings indicate the ways institutional and systemic racism continue to operate in social work organizations and identify barriers in social work organizations that impede antiracism efforts. The participants’ introspective reflections explore their coming into the awareness stage in their antiracism journey. Social workers expose the discriminatory behaviors toward Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) service users in their organizations. Social workers expressed that racism impedes BIPOC from getting equitable mental health care.

World Heritage and human rights

This paper describes the protracted nomination to the UNESCO World Heritage (WH) List of the Keang Krachan Forest Complex, Thailand and the issues it exposed. The complex was inscribed in 2021, seven years after it was first nominated, despite ongoing conflict with indigenous Karen hunter-gatherer communities. The nomination was referred back to the state party by the WH Committee in 2015, 2016 and 2019 for reasons related to inconclusive and out-of-date ecological information, and human rights issues associated with the forced resettlement of Karen hill tribe people living within its proposed boundaries. In 2020 the nomination was resubmitted during the 4th mandate of the Thai state party on the WH Committee, and the property was inscribed contrary to a formal recommendation to defer the nomination, and despite repeated communications from the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights to the WH Centre, the Thai government and the WH Committee seeking resolution of community and human rights issues prior to inscription. Decisions that run contrary to the advice of the WH Committee’s three advisory bodies have become an abiding and troubling aspect of the Committee’s decision-making, reflecting a trend in the politicisation of Committee sessions that has increased over more than 20 years, to a point where it now threatens the integrity of the World Heritage system. This paper examines how the state party pursued its WH ambitions and the impacts this had on particular indigenous Karen communities during national designation and nomination to the WH List. It demonstrates the issues that arise due to legacy nature conservation approaches to the management of extensive natural protected areas.

Indigenous Peoples as resources and resource makers in Peruvian Amazonia

ABSTRACT Environmentalist organizations promote co-management arrangements as a means of protecting forests and moving away from predatory forms of Indigenous-settler interactions. In Peru, the state and Indigenous Peoples co-manage territories under three regimes: Native Communities, Communal Reserves, and Reserves for Isolated Indigenous Peoples. Through the case of the Purús-Manu Conservation Corridor, we show how in co-management arrangements Indigenous Peoples play dual roles as resource managers (and makers) and as resources themselves, and how in this process indigeneity emerges as a resource. As a result, Indigenous Peoples find that paradoxically, co-management schemes reproduce many of the power asymmetries of previous interventions.

The contested terrain of sport, media & indigenous representation: a case study of sámi sport organisation in Norway

This paper examines the representation of Sámi sport in Norwegian media by applying a Nordic-informed ‘critical ethnicity theory’, and a media framing perspective. The study extends previous analyses that have focused on media stereotyping of Indigenous athletes to explore how the media represent Sámi sport. Drawing from a combined quantitative and qualitative analysis of Norwegian print media from 1994-2017, Sámi sport is represented as both a unique organisational phenomenon and as part of the overarching Norwegian sport context. Three main findings are revealed. First, Sámi sport has shifted from being an exotic exhibit to being framed as a potential partner for mainstream (Norwegian) sport within specific contexts, such as during an Olympic bid process. Second, there is an emerging tension between the understanding and celebration of Sámi sport as something exclusive within Norwegian society and its potential to be inclusive via organisational mergers. Third, the findings illustrate the need to recognise that Sámi culture, including sport, also spans Sweden, Finland, and Russia thus any structural reorganisation creates consequences across multiple state borders. Overall, the results indicate several co-existing, and sometimes competing and contradictory representations, all of which must consider the postcolonial conditions of the Sámi as an Indigenous people.

Unbalanced or Absent: Assessing Indigenous Representation in Interpretive Materials at Government Administered Heritage Sites in Cascadia and Hawai‘i

ABSTRACT Unbalanced or absent Indigenous representation in interpretive materials at government administered heritage sites in settler-colonial contexts can create contention and perpetuate a misinformed or one-dimensional visitor experience and historical narrative. This research therefore examines representation in interpretive materials accessible in 2019 at heritage sites with Indigenous ancestral connections in settler-colonial contexts. This study uses 10 U.S. case study heritage sites and two supplementary sites in Washington, Idaho, and Hawai‘i. Researchers utilized participant observation and systematic photography during two 2019 research phases to document interpretive materials. Quantification generated 731 analytic units which were subsequently assessed for the presence of inductively and deductively generated codes. The assembled empirical results illustrate three overarching themes: (1) controlled historical narrative; (2) absence of shared authority; and (3) challenges in representing and/or integrating different ways of knowing. This research contributes to heritage studies and practical heritage site management in two ways: (1) offering a timely multi-sited and multicultural sample of settler-colonial heritage site interpretive materials comparable to other sites; and (2) illustrating empirical trends in interpretive materials that privilege settlers over Indigenous peoples. This research suggests that future interpretation could benefit from a more balanced multivocal approach that recognizes ancestral and contemporary Indigenous homelands and the complexity of Indigenous-settler interactions.

US State and Territorial Indigenous Consultation Laws: A Potential Strategy to Improve the Social Determinants of Health.

The United Nations (UN) has articulated the right to self-determination as a human right for Indigenous people; however, US states and territories have been slow to operationalize this aspect of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous consultation laws require all federal executive agencies to consult with tribal nations before implementing policies that have a "tribal implication," and these form the cornerstone of US efforts to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Despite these federal efforts, less is known about the degree to which state and territorial laws require consultation with Indigenous communities. We reviewed all Indigenous consultation laws identified through a search of 50 US states, the District of Columbia, and 5 territories to provide a holistic picture of how jurisdictions have regulated Indigenous consultation efforts. Of the 56 states, 49 (87.5%) had at least 1 Indigenous consultation law; the remaining 7 jurisdictions had none. States engaged in Indigenous consultation in various ways, generally falling into 1 of 3 categories: (1) centralized consultation facilitated through an agency or department, (2) indirect consultation through a designated commission, and (3) fragmented Indigenous consultation through discrete laws. Important gaps were identified, including the lack of a definition for Indigenous consultation, the absence of an appeal process, and the need to train state officials on existing policies. The results provide a baseline on the degree to which US states and territories consult with Indigenous communities and can be used to identify gaps in US compliance with UN human rights mandates.

Witnessing transgenerational trauma in teacher education: decoloniality of time, rupture of developmentalism, and settler resistance

ABSTRACT How can educators and students from settler backgrounds engage with and acknowledge the experiences and representation of transgenerational trauma among Indigenous peoples in educational environments, while remaining cognisant of the ethical and political implications? This challenge arises within the context of societal structures still influenced by colonial legacies, where systems of power are ingrained along lines of race, ethnicity, class, gender, disability, and sexuality. What would be some of the necessary conditions that educational environments would need to meet in order to ethically and politically respond to transgenerational traumatic encounters? This paper addresses these questions and suggests three conditions that educational environments would need to meet, when educators and students are invited to become witnesses of transgenerational trauma: decoloniality of time, rupture of developmentalism, and an ethic of non-innocence. Both these conditions and their pedagogical implications are discussed and analysed through the lens of a decolonial ethic.

“It´s a utopian dream”: Mexico´s intercultural universities and the challenges of decolonising higher education

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the decolonising potential of Mexico´s Indigenous-serving universities, through a qualitative study of the pioneer of these institutions: the Mexico State Intercultural University (UIEM). Created jointly by the federal and state governments in 2003, the UIEM is one of 16 such universities serving more than 21,000 students, mostly members of Mexico´s Indigenous minority. In this article, I present findings from more than 75 interviews with UIEM graduates, students, teachers, and administrators, focusing on their perceptions of the intercultural curriculum, as well as its relationship to the labour market, an area that has received little attention in the literature. The research seeks to answer the following broad question: To what degree does the intercultural model challenge existing knowledge hierarchies and empower Indigenous students and to what degree does it reproduce the coloniality of power, being and knowledge? While the institutions serve an important function in expanding educational opportunities and revitalising Indigenous languages and cultures, they also face profound difficulties, including political meddling, a lack of institutional autonomy, ‘epistemic frictions’ over the curriculum, institutional racism, scarce resources, and contradictions between the ‘intercultural utopia’ and the realities of the job market.

Mapping Trans-Indigeneity Across the Trans-Tasman: Architectural Practice, Research, and Education

ABSTRACT The Indigenisation of the architectural practice, research, and education in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand has been an ongoing legacy from the early twentieth century until the present. This paper aims to begin mapping out significant agents, events, and processes of Indigeneity and Indigenising legacies when reviewing across the Trans-Tasman’s architectural education, research, and practice contexts. The study employs secondary data coupled with findings from action research and observations as architects, educators, and researchers positioned across the Trans-Tasman from each other. Trans-Indigeneity is an apt framework for this study because it centralises the experiences across Indigenous groups within globalised and colonial settler settings. The findings indicate an affinity that continues until the present between the closely connected circles of New Zealand and Australia’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous architectural researchers, educators, and practitioners at the forefront of Trans-Indigeneity. Across the Tasman, each Indigenous legacy has complemented and challenged the other towards common goals. The Trans-Tasman relationship, made possible through industry and academic gatherings and conferences, has assisted the Indigenisation and critical reflections of Indigeneity across the architectural profession in both locations.

From Lady Jane Franklin to #TradWife: gender, race, and class in colonial complicity in the North American High North

ABSTRACT White supremacy's entanglement with gender and class in North America shaped legacies of policies and dynamics toward ordering individuals in hierarchies of desirability. In so-called Canada and the USA, colonial complicity by white women reflects ideals of womanhood intertwined with whiteness and expected roles within the workforce and bourgeoisie. Justifications of settlement and eradication of Indigenous peoples relied on racial superiority using white femininity as a symbol of a Manifest Destiny. The article argues that Lady Jane Franklin's, Louise Arner Boyd's, and Sarah Palin's instrumentalization of their societal positions show the evolution of how race, class, and gender are articulated within the racial-patriarchal-colonial myth-making of the Arctic : from an Angel in the House serving the memory of a British Navy officer ; to an Arctic Diana self-funding her scientific expeditions and collaborating with the government during war; to normalization by claiming nativeness to the land. Palin, Franklin, and Boyd are elite white women who served the crafting of the Arctic within this imperial colonial realm. They operated a carefully well-thought-out strategy balancing the reality of the societal structure in which they lived and live in with their interests and ambitions - embodying the site of contestation between agency and structure.

Sensing indigeneity: A sensory ethnography of the presence of the past among newly identifying indigenous people in South Africa

Sensing indigeneity: A sensory ethnography of the presence of the past among newly identifying indigenous people in South Africa

Rural–urban migration of Alaska Indigenous peoples: changing patterns and drivers

Rural–urban migration of Alaska Indigenous peoples: changing patterns and drivers

Homicides of American Indians/Alaska Natives in urban versus rural areas: United States National Violent Death Reporting System, 2003–2020

BackgroundMissing and Murdered Indigenous People is a historic and contemporary issue that has gained national attention. In 2021, homicide was the eighth leading cause of death among American Indian/Alaska Native...

Comparative analysis of leukemia and risk estimation in working age population between provinces of Ecuador.

Leukemia is associated with exposure to radiation, benzene derivatives, and pesticides. Previous research has documented an increase in work-related leukemia in the Latin American Andean region. To date, there are only few studies in Ecuador on the impact of oil exploitation on adjacent indigenous communities. Our study aims to show the impact of leukemia on the working-age population. For the calculation of morbidity and mortality rates, we used hospital discharge and death records from the National Institute of Statistics of Ecuador. These data were collected and adjusted to the corresponding province's population for further analysis. Large differences were observed between provinces in adjusted rates of leukemia mortality and morbidity in the working-age population. The variations in altitude among different areas in Ecuador give the provinces a distinct geographic identity. Likewise, the provinces with the highest morbidity and mortality rankings, such as Azuay, Loja, Imbabura, and Tungurahua, have an average altitude above 2000 meters. As a result, there are variations in the average temperature, exposure to solar and cosmic radiation, and mining and farming methods. The observed differences warrant the future collection of geolocation data for affected individuals. This could help to better understand how leukemia cases have demogrpahic hotspots in the country, identify possible risk factors associated with the disease in each region, and design more effective prevention and control strategies.

Local Wisdom in Sebambangan Traditional Marriage Practices: A Maqāṣid Sharī’ah Perspective

This research examines the traditional marriage custom of Sebambangan in Lampung. It involves a man abducting the girl he intends to marry without the consent of her family and taking her to his family's residence. This socio-legal research gathered data through interviews with traditional leaders, indigenous community members, and religious figures. Maqāṣid Sharī’ah is used as an analytical tool to address the social problems arising from the practice of Sebambangan marriage. The finding reveals that Lampung culture and Islam have been acculturated into the social system. The traditional marriage system in Lampung can be divided into two types: marriage through a formal proposal process, which is conducted as a grand traditional ceremony (gawei besar) or a simpler traditional ceremony (gawei kecil), and marriage without a formal proposal process, known as kawin larian (elopement), or in Lampung terms, kawin Sebambangan. It is part of the local cultural wealth; however, the series of traditional marriage processes must respect the applicable legal provisions and consider the main purpose of marriage. The Sebambangan marriage tradition, with its various processes, currently lacks the value aspects found in maqāṣid sharī’ah, especially the preferences of hifẓ an-nafs, hifẓ al-‘aql, and hifẓ al-‘irdh. It is hoped that the Sebambangan tradition, as a local cultural and wisdom asset in Lampung, can pay more attention to and consider important aspects of marriage, such as the maslahah (well-being) value, the main purpose of marriage in religion, and the protection of a sense of justice, so that local wisdom can be preserved and does not become a social problem for the community. This research is expected to serve as a reference for stakeholders to evaluate and oversee the practice of cultural preservation in harmony with universal values, such as well-being and justice

THE RIVERS OF THE PONTOS REGION IN ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL SOURCES: THE HALYS, IRIS  THERMODON

The seas have shaped and moulded the surrounding geography ecologically, economically, demographically and politically for ages. However, freshwater resources, which are essential for people’s lives, also attracted human communities to themselves, and settlements were formed around the freshwater resources and streams. Like all seas, the Pontos Eukseinos (the Black Sea) shaped its surrounding geography and gave its name to the region on the south coast. The region called the Pontos in ancient times attracted attention with its suitable climatic conditions, geographical features, underground and above ground rich resources and the autochthonous peoples living on it. It is understood that the rivers were significant for the shaping of this region. These rivers not only marked the boundaries of the region, but also were regarded as the psychological border between societies and civilizations throughout history. The Halys was one of these rivers. Not only did the Pontos region mark the southern and western borders but also was considered to be the border between the eastern and western cultures throughout the ages. Another important river in the region was the Iris River being the lifeblood of the region with its waters forming the fertile plains. The Thermodon River, which gained its fame with the legendary peoples living around it, contributed to the popularisation of the region, and formed fertile lands suitable for agriculture due to its wetlands, it also significantly added value to the development of the region. This study has tried to deal with the importance of the Halys, Iris and Thermodon rivers in the Pontos Region and their images in the minds of the people throughout the ages by taking into account the axis of the ancient, medieval sources and modern research.

Dengue outbreaks in Brazil and Latin America: The new and continuing challenges

Dengue is one of the most common zoonoses in Latin America. In 2023, Brazil registered a total of 1,658,814 suspected cases of dengue with 1094 deaths. For 2024, a total of 1,978,372 suspected cases of dengue were reported only until the 11th epidemiological week, with 656 deaths. When comparing dengue cases reported in 2024 and 2023, there is an increase in suspected cases, with 20% more cases reported during the first 11 epidemiological weeks of 2024 than in the entire 52 epidemiological weeks of 2023. At the same time, in 2024, the Pan American Health Organization reported suspected cases in 20 Latin American countries, with 3073 cases of severe dengue and 1187 deaths. In this sense, Brazil was responsible for more than 50% of suspected cases and deaths from dengue compared to the other Latin American countries in 2024. Furthermore, there is a different ethnic racial profile for dengue in Brazil, as Black people, Mixed individuals, and Indigenous peoples were more likely to be suspected cases of dengue in 2024 compared to 2023.

Improving cancer control initiatives in Indigenous people.

Improving cancer control initiatives in Indigenous people.