Indigenous Cultural Practices Research Articles

Ka Suwe: Culturally sustaining and responsive practices in expressive therapies education

Indigenous methodology, which includes story, the arts, and Native language, is defined and applied in this article as a response to the appropriation and misrepresentation of Indigenous spirituality and cultural practices, the silencing and erasure of American Indian genocide, and the denigration of Indigenous worldviews experienced by this author in expressive therapies education. Throughout the article, this author identifies and incorporates Indigenous methodology as one route to promoting culturally sustaining and responsive practices in expressive therapies education.

Lessons from the myth of the Akan for gender mainstreaming in sustainable development

ABSTRACT This article examines the Akan myth of the separation of the Supreme Being from humankind and how the knowledge base which it forms can be used for achieving SDG 5 – Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls. It developed from a study carried out against the backdrop that indigenous African culture subjugates women, especially, in matters of political participation and representation, and the management of national resources. Using qualitative research, specifically, phenomenology and in-depth interviews as the research tools, data was collected from a sample of 10 respondents made up of seven females and three males. It contends that many indigenous African cultural beliefs and practices, including the knowledge based on the myth, advance women’s well-being and communicate ideas for achieving SDG 5. However, key aspects of the myth have not been interrogated for critical analyses. It submits that applying the widely affirmed worldviews of the complementary nature of gender dynamics associated with the Akan helps to utilise the myth for gender-mainstreaming and sustainable development.

Catastrophic Bushfires, Indigenous Fire Knowledge and Reframing Science in Southeast Australia

The catastrophic 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires were the worst fire season in the recorded history of Southeast Australia. These bushfires were one of several recent global conflagrations across landscapes that are homelands of Indigenous peoples, homelands that were invaded and colonised by European nations over recent centuries. The subsequent suppression and cessation of Indigenous landscape management has had profound social and environmental impacts. The Black Summer bushfires have brought Indigenous cultural burning practices to the forefront as a potential management tool for mitigating climate-driven catastrophic bushfires in Australia. Here, we highlight new research that clearly demonstrates that Indigenous fire management in Southeast Australia produced radically different landscapes and fire regimes than what is presently considered “natural”. We highlight some barriers to the return of Indigenous fire management to Southeast Australian landscapes. We argue that to adequately address the potential for Indigenous fire management to inform policy and practice in managing Southeast Australian forest landscapes, scientific approaches must be decolonized and shift from post-hoc engagement with Indigenous people and perspectives to one of collaboration between Indigenous communities and scientists.

Transforming REDD+ for Indigenous rights in Costa Rica

ABSTRACT : Financing the conservation of critical global carbon sinks in developing countries has been an ongoing focus in global climate change mitigation talks, with the development of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) strategy through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The importance of returning land tenure of these forests to Indigenous People is also recognised as a crucial component of forest conservation as well as fulfilment of Indigenous Rights, as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). However, denunciations of REDD+ by Indigenous rights activists justify concern over transparency and accountability for governments claiming to effectively uphold Indigenous rights throughout the negotiation of their national REDD+ strategies. This case study of the KéköLdi Indigenous Territory of Costa Rica yields essential decolonial transformations for the Costa Rican National REDD+ strategy in order to support ten specific articles of the UNDRIP. These decolonial Indigenous proposals hold the Costa Rican government accountable to its legal commitments to its Indigenous People as well as recognise and respect the robustness of Indigenous environmental knowledge and cultural conservation practices. These decolonial approaches could be applied in other countries that are developing their own national REDD+ strategies while fulfilling their commitment to Indigenous rights.

Human augmentation of historical red pine fire regimes in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

AbstractThe Border Lakes Region of Minnesota and Ontario has long been viewed as a fire‐dependent ecosystem. High‐severity fire in the region's near‐boreal forests has been a focus of ecological research and public fascination. However, the surface fire history within this transnational wilderness landscape has received more limited attention. We used an interdisciplinary, dendroecological approach to characterize the surface fire history of the region, assess potential drivers of historical surface fires, and document the ecological legacies of frequent fires within the red pine forests of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in northern Minnesota. We used tree‐ring and fire atlas data to reconstruct multi‐century surface fire records for 101 sites and document age structure and composition at 32 sites across the BWCAW. Stratification of these sites relative to their proximity to a primary travel and trade corridor used first by Indigenous groups and later by Euro‐American fur traders through the late 1800s provided strong evidence of human augmentation of fires. The patterns of fire activity, fire–climate relationships, and forest development indicate that traditional landuse by Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) increased rates of local surface fire and played an important role in shaping the landscape. The decline of traditional subsistence practices by the Border Lakes Anishinaabeg coincided with a sharp decline in surface fires and a period of abundant tree establishment. In the absence of repeat surface fires, many red pine sites have shifted in composition, increased in stem density, and grown vulnerable to forest‐type conversion through future high‐severity fire. These results highlight the need for active fire reintroduction to red pine forests of the Great Lakes Region and underscore the importance of collaboration and guidance from Indigenous Knowledge Keepers in this process. A blended knowledge approach to fire restoration that directly engages with Indigenous perspectives and cultural practices can perpetuate the distinctive character of the largest remaining tracts of long‐lived pine forest in the Great Lakes Region. Carefully developed fire restoration practices would enhance the visitor use experience within one of the most frequently visited wilderness areas in the United States while re‐engaging directly with Indigenous knowledge and traditional cultural practices.

The Expansion of Protestantism and Culture Change among Gedeo

This paper was primarly concerned with the expansion of Protestantism and culture change among the Gedeo people. It attempted to document the coming of branches of Christianity and their methods of expansion and the conversion of the people. Special emphasis is given to examine the impacts of expansion of Protestantism on the Gedeo traditional culture. The researcher employed qualitative paradigm; primary data were collected by formal and informal interview, document analysis, the use of oral tradition and secondary sources such as reports, journals and electronics media. Finally, the collected sources will be cross-checked and analyzed by using content narrating and descriptive method. Based on the study findings and analysis, it is deduced that, in the study area, before the introduction of Christianity, most of the people practiced indigenous belief known as Maganno, literally meant the “Sky God”. Mainly, the research reveals that Christianity arrived among the Gedeo before a century ago, following the conquest of the area by Emperor Menilek’s force. Protestantism expanded in the area by convincing method of donations and often by pulling factors that attract the people from traditional religion to Protestantism. The then general contextual background: political oppression, low economic status, lack of infrastructures, the event of epidemic and other world historical incidents have contributed to the peoples’ active conversion to Protestantism. The mass conversion of the people resulted in creating new spiritual orientations, which brought hollistic change, including the missing of indigenous cultural practices. Accordingly, the Gedeo indigenous culture was changed in many aspects: social customs, material cultures, oral literature and verbal arts or oral performance.

Decolonizing Samoan fa’afaletui methodology: taking a closer look

Since Samoan fa’afaletui (meeting) was first conceptualized as a research methodology, fa’afaletui has experienced an uncomfortable coupling with Western research approaches and methods. This article takes an epistemological turn by looking closely at the Indigenous principles and cultural practices that underpin fa’afaletui as a traditional conversational practice to bring fresh insight into fa’afaletui as a research methodology and method.

Ēhara tāku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini: the power of a collective

ABSTRACT Transmission of skills and knowledge is a core message in dominant discourses surrounding early verbal and non-verbal communication of babies. Narrow conceptualisations fail to place adequate emphasis on sociocultural elements of language and children’s sophisticated non-verbal communication. Utilising Kaupapa Māori research methods, this study describes a critical reflective narrative of a community-led parenting programme that makes space for whānau to re-centre Indigenous linguistic and cultural practices. ‘He Awa Whiria/The Braided Rivers’ metaphor is used to illustrate three themes derived from the analysis: Ma te kotahitanga e whai kaha ai mātau/In unity we have strength, reciprocity/whakaututu, whānau ki te whānau and manaakitanga/love and compassion for others. Data sources included focus groups; interviews; and reflective researcher memos. The evolution of the collective-agentive approach is illustrated within each theme with selected critical episodes. This study describes the parent-coaches-researchers journey to illustrate how a community’s rangatiratanga/sovereignty led to system transformation. The whānau collective journey represents an organic response of one ‘targeted’ community to lead the way in responding to deficit assumptions of parents and their children held by educators in the realm of early oral language. Indigeneous knowledge, ways of being and languaging are central and valid for the success of all tamariki/children.

Challenges of contemporary social work in Ghana

Social work is practiced all over the world with the primary aim of helping individuals and improving the welfare of the general society. Ghana is a multi-ethnic society with a multitude of different cultural practices that may affect social work interventions (implementation by practitioners and clients’ response). The main goal of this paper is to show how indigenous cultural practices in Ghana shape the way of supporting children, older people, people living with physical disabilities and mental health disorders, and the socially excluded. This paper relies on available literature and the first-hand account of the author. The extended family system where parenting, kinship, and identity includes the nuclear family as well as grand-parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and in-laws is prominent in Ghana, especially in rural areas. The positive aspect of this system as shown in this paper shows the merits in a collectivist approach to social welfare. However, some aspects of local cultural practices are shown to limit how vulnerable people have access to needed help. The article indicates the need to prepare social workers in such a way that their practice is adjusted to respond to local cultural practices in order to ensure more people have access to help and reduce the potential of rejection by people in local communities. It also contributes to the discussion on the merits of indigenization of social work.

Enacting curriculum ‘in a good way:’ Indigenous knowledge, pedagogy, and worldviews in British Columbia music education classes

ABSTRACT In 2015, the British Columbia (BC) Ministry of Education mandated that local Indigenous knowledge, pedagogy, and worldviews be embedded in all K-12 curricula, but most BC music teachers have been unable to fulfill this directive because they are unfamiliar with Indigenous cultural practices. We designed this multiple case study, informed by Indigenous Protocols and worldviews, to address this gap of knowledge and understanding, so educators might learn how to enact the new curriculum ‘in a good way’ (i.e. in a way that aligns with Indigenous peoples’ ways of knowing). We used document analysis and surveys to identify music educators and Indigenous community members who together had already been successful in embedding local Indigenous knowledge in music classes. We interviewed 51 music teachers, culture bearers, cultural workers, and students to learn how they had done this, and whether they found that such embedding had contributed to fostering cross-cultural understanding and respect. Participants reported that singing and drumming, taught orally in tandem with related stories, were the most prevalent forms of cultural practice, and that establishing relationships and following local Protocols led to greater cross-cultural understanding and respect.

Strengthening sustainability initiatives: a case for repositioning Australian Indigenous communities as dominant stakeholders in managing bushfire risks

ABSTRACT This study examines the role of market orientation, privacy, and stakeholder theory in enhancing the effectiveness of current sustainability efforts for managing bushfire risks by proposing a novel conceptual framework entitled ‘Stakeholder Repositioning Strategy (SRS).’ Adopting a case study approach, we describe the SRS framework as a driving force behind shifting the Australian Indigenous community’s present position from a marginal (minimal effort) to a dominant position (key player) in bushfire mitigation. We build our framework based on the Johnson and Mendelow matrices and advocate for a sustainable solution utilizing Indigenous cultural burning practices to better manage bushfire crises, Australian ecology, communities, and the economy. The paper supports the need for Indigenous communities to proactively consult with government agencies to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into national bushfire management policies.

Staging Indigenous Heritage: Instrumentalisation, Brokerage, and Representation in Malaysia by Cai Yunci

Reviewed by: Staging Indigenous Heritage: Instrumentalisation, Brokerage, and Representation in Malaysia by Cai Yunci Janet Pillai Staging Indigenous Heritage: Instrumentalisation, Brokerage, and Representation in Malaysia. by CAI YUNCI. New York, NY: Routledge, 2021. 244pp. ISBN 9780429053627. This monograph stands out for its contribution to expanding the literature on indigenous museology from a Southeast-Asian perspective. In this study the author surfaces critical conversations on museology, cultural heritage and the mobilization of UNESCO's culture for development rhetoric through an ethnographic study of four community-based cultural villages in east and peninsular Malaysia. The four 'living museums' are touted as community-based cultural heritage projects intended to conserve and sustain living traditions and customs and contribute to the socio-economic well-being of indigenous groups. Using grounded case studies Cai Yunci exposes contradictory realities—how these museums represent a post-colonial reconfiguration of the state's relationship with indigenous minorities and are in fact sites of negotiation and contestation where the dynamics of representation, self-determinism, identity and sustainability are complicated by the differing interests and motivations of several stakeholders (communities, sponsors, mediators/brokers, curators, landowners, audiences) involved in setting up, managing and operating the museums. Readers are persuaded to rethink the politics of representation and of museology by the methodical approach taken by the author. The monograph opens with a well referenced and up-to-date literature review on the changing notions of concepts such as culture, cultural heritage, culture for development, indigeneity and museology. The author strongly suggests the need to adopt critical museology, an approach which recognizes that cultural institutions such as museums are subject to specific geographies and histories which cannot be segregated from wider social, political and economic relations. Cai devotes a chapter to uncover the early historical conceptualization and classification of indigeneity in Malaysia and how it has been influenced by colonial thought and politics, in the form of race discourse, ethnography and censuses, evolutionary principles, cultural protectionism and [End Page 234] integration policies. Cai also presents newer counter developments in indigenous political activism and shared consciousness that have arisen as a response to issues of marginalization and status reclassification, encroachment of customary land and resources, environmentalism and the rise of transnational indigenous rights movements. Following the examination of the historical conception of indigeneity at the macro level is an examination of how indigeneity is conceptualized, curated and consumed at the micro level through cultural museums. The case studies provide well-researched information on the founding, development and organization of the four cultural villages and reveal differing perspectives held by contesting stakeholders on the impact and effect of these cultural projects. In particular the case studies highlight the concepts of cultural brokerage and cultural enterprise and commodification that characterize the Malaysian projects. The case studies demonstrate how indigenous cultural practice has been displaced from its place of origin; how beneficiary groups have been reduced to a culture of dependency on the brokers and museums; how self-determinism is denied due to lack of trust; and how the staging of cultural heritage has resulted in the modification, reinvention or reframing of cultural attributes. By contextualizing how the dynamics and notions of indigeneity at the macro level affect indigenous representation at a micro level, the author exposes the complexities that need to be considered in museology and the importance of maintaining a critical and reflexive attitude towards toward place, time, and constituencies. Southeast Asian museums need to reconsider the rights and obligation of the community in matters of curation, operation, and management, to recognize community agency and authority on what they deem appropriate, sensitive, and accurate, as well as acknowledge that indigenous cultures are not merely rooted in locality but are also subject to the pressures of modernization and globalization. Janet Pillai Independent Scholar and Resource Person Copyright © 2021 Malaysian Branch of The Royal Asiatic Society

Awramba Community: The Unique Cultural Practices as a Center of Cultural Tourism

In the paper, it has been tried to explore the aspects of unique cultural practices of Awramba Community, attitudes of the surrounding society and to show what the community experienced and the challenge that community faces to survive and thrive. In order to achieve the objective, the research has used qualitative research method. Primary and secondary sources have been collected through key informant interview, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) observation and document analysis. Extensive oral tradition and oral information were also substantiated in the study.Awramba is a community guided by its own unique principles, namely, respecting women’s rights to equality, respecting children’s rights; helping people who are unable to work due to physical limitations; avoiding negative speeches and deeds while promoting cooperation, peace, good deeds and accepting all human beings as brothers and sisters. The community has unique characteristics that make them different from the surrounding society. This society’s social fabric promotes strict work ethics, gender equality, division of labor, marriage and divorce based on free will, old age protection, social solidarity, less ceremonial funeral, and managed internal conflicts and others. There are two types of membership in Awramba community. These are the member of the association or union known in Amharic as Yemaheber Abal and full honorary membership, in Amharic Yemahberesebu Abal. Their culture is practice-oriented. It has been described by some members of the community as a movement which aims not mainly to convince, but to act, and build a new society. So, this study is to be sought in the considerations of the filling of the gaps and earnestly aimed to benefit readers and researchers about the indigenous cultural practices of the community. Keywords: Awramba, Community, Cultural Practices and Cultural Tourism DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/53-03 Publication date: January 31 st 2021

Situating Indigenous Resilience: Climate Change and Tayal’s “Millet Ark” Action in Taiwan

Whereas indigenous people are on the frontlines of global environmental challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and numerous other forms of critical planetary deterioration, the indigenous experiences, responses, and cultural practices have been underestimated in the mainstream frameworks of environmental studies. This paper aims to articulate a meaningful response to recent calls to indigenous and local knowledge on food as a source of resilience in the face of global climate change. By retrieving the values and practices indigenous people of Taiwan, specifically Tayal women, associate with human and non-human ecologies, our collaborative work with the indigenous community explores indigenous resilience and its relevance to indigenous cultural knowledge and global environmental concerns. Pivoting on the “Millet Ark” action, a Tayal conservation initiative of the bio-cultural diversity of millets, this study revolves around issues of how Tayal communities adapt to the climate change, how to reclaim their voice, heritage, knowledge, place, and land through food, and how to narrate indigenous “counter-stories” of resilience and sustainability. The cultural narrative of “Millet Ark” investigates indigenous way of preserving millet bio-cultural diversity and restoring the land and community heritage, inquiring into how Tayal people are adaptive and resilient to change and therefore sustainable through the cultural and social life of millets.

Playing at the Margins: Colonizing Fictions in New England Larp

North American larping (live-action roleplaying) is a collaborative performance that encourages critical and creative engagement with cooperative, improvisational narratives. Nevertheless, larping often relies on problematic engagements with race and racial stereotypes. Like many gaming hobbies, larp uses the idea of a “playable race”. Unlike other gaming arenas, however, larping necessitates that players physically embody a character in order to participate in the collaborative narrative: larpers embody fictional races and engage in a complex form of “race play”. Within this context, non-Indigenous players frequently appropriate Indigenous cultural practices and mobilize racist stereotypes. This paper explores this phenomenon and its ramifications. Based on seven years of ethnographic fieldwork and community participation in New England larping communities, I examine how concepts of Indigenous identity manifest in New England larp. I explore both Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives in order to demonstrate (a) how fantastical play facilitates cultural appropriation and damaging “race play” and (b) how these spaces affect Indigenous players. I close with Indigenous perspectives on new possibilities for Indigenous larp projects and cultural reclamation.

Fragmented Landscapes and Planscapes—The Double Pressure of Increasing Natural Resource Exploitation on Indigenous Sámi Lands in Northern Sweden

Human induced land-use change through natural resource extraction has significant ecological, social and cultural effects for indigenous communities. Indigenous rights, cultural practices and identities are strongly interconnected with traditional lands. In northern Sweden, the cumulative effects from natural resource extraction have become increasingly problematic for Sámi reindeer herding. Land use planning and permit processes are organized based on single projects or policy sectors, instead of the needs and rights involving reindeer herding. Existing research has demonstrated loss of ground and arboreal lichen, fragmentation of pastures and reindeer avoidance of otherwise valuable pastures due to disturbance caused by competing land uses. There is however a lack of synthesis of the amount and scale of encroachments on traditional Sámi territories in Sweden so far. Likewise, while research has looked at weaknesses of the sectoral regulations in terms of cumulative impact assessment and the inadequate recognition of Sámi reindeer herding rights, no studies have analyzed the meta-pressure caused by the fragmented planning regime as a whole, as the amount of regulations regarding different land use sectors and permitting processes increases with each new type of competing activity. Through the concept of double pressure caused by the inter-related processes of fragmented landscapes and fragmented ‘planscapes’, this study seeks to capture the actual pressure the affected communities are currently experiencing. Using multiple quantitative and qualitative data sets consisting of Geographical Information Systems, policy documents, workshops discussions and interviews, we study how natural resource extraction like mining and wind energy has increased on traditional indigenous Sámi lands in northern Sweden. By expanding the analytical focus from today’s landscapes to both planscapes and the pressure from not-yet realized future projects, our results highlight the need for a holistic understanding of the situation reindeer herding is facing, calling for more relevant and legitimate land use permitting and planning mechanisms to reduce the industrial pressure on the landscape, and to address the social injustices caused by today’s planscape.

Adjudicating Indigeneity: Anthropological Testimony in the Inter‐American Court of Human Rights

ABSTRACTIn 2014, the Inter‐American Court of Human Rights heard two cases concerning the alleged complicity of Honduran state institutions in the violation of Garifuna communal property rights. Garifuna, a people of mixed Arawak, Carib, and African descent, are one of nine officially recognized “ethnic groups” in Honduras. Yet the state has repeatedly denied their status as a pueblo originario—a people native to Honduras—thus calling into question the lawfulness of their claims to national territory. I draw on my experience serving as an expert witness to analyze the role of cultural evidence in the legitimization of Garifuna rights claims, and how specifically ethnographic treatments of Indigenous cultural practices are circumscribed within dominant juridical interpretive frameworks and modes of recognition. The judgment, issued in October 2015, repeatedly deployed anthropological concepts and insights to bind Indigenous subjectivity to the land, thereby deepening essentialized notions of Garifuna ethnic and racial difference. This article probes the challenges of presenting cultural evidence in a court of law and the limited political potential of witnessing, which, I argue, stem from the ways in which anthropological and legal ways of knowing coarticulate.

Conservation through Traditional Knowledge: a Review of Research on the Sacred Groves of Odisha, India

Sacred groves are patches of forests protected and used by people for cultural and religious reasons. India has more than 100,000 sacred groves as a result of its high cultural, geographic, and ethnic diversity. Sacred groves can be valuable in conserving biodiversity and in providing ecosystem services. Although numerous sacred forests from biodiversity-rich regions of India, such as the Western Ghats and Himalayas, have been studied, the sacred groves of eastern India are not well documented. We analysed the available literature on the sacred groves of Odisha, a densely forested state in eastern India and home to many indigenous tribal communities that are dependent on forest resources for their livelihoods. There are an estimated 2166 sacred groves across the state of Odisha, concentrated largely in tribal districts. Most of these groves are small, many under one hectare. We conclude that traditional indigenous tribal cultural practices have conserved natural areas in Odisha, but that these areas and practices are under increasing pressure from industrialization, exploitation of valuable forest resources, and expanding agriculture.

Prevalence and factors associated with knowledge and access to delivery services at primary health care facilities amongst indigenous women in Khagrachhari district Bangladesh – A cross-sectional study

ObjectiveTo estimate the prevalence of facility delivery knowledge and access during childbirth amongst Indigenous women in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh and to identify factors associated with facility delivery service utilisation. DesignA cross-sectional study design using a structured self-report survey. SettingTwo Upazilas (subdistricts) of Kharachhari hill district of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. ParticipantsIndigenous women of reproductive age (15–49 years) within 36 months of delivery. Measurements and findingsA modified national survey about accessing maternal health services, including delivery services was administered to all Indigenous women that met eligibility, guided by community leaders. Data collected included socio-demographic characteristics and reproductive history. Main outcome variables were the proportion of women having prior knowledge about and access to facility delivery services for childbirth in the three years prior to the survey. Secondary outcomes were sources of information about facility delivery services, decision making about delivery place, and factors associated with knowledge and attendance at facility delivery services. Factors associated with knowledge and attendance were estimated using logistic regression with results reported as adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. With an 89% response rate, a total of 438 Indigenous women (220 Chakma, 100 Marma, 118 Tripura) participated in the survey, and 75% were aged 16–29 years. Relatives played a vital role as a source of information about delivery services (59%). Nearly three-quarters (73%) were aware of facility delivery services, however, prevalence of accessing delivery services was 33% (n = 143; 95% CI 0.28–0.37). Relatives were the key decision-makers for accessing facility delivery services (60%). Independent factors associated with knowledge about facility delivery were higher household income (AOR 5.3, 95%CI 2.2–13); having knowledge of nearest health care facilities (AOR 5.8, 95%CI 3.0–11); and attending antenatal care visits during last pregnancy (four or more AOR 3.1, 95% CI 1.3–7.2 and one to three visits AOR 2.7, 95% CI 1.5–5.0). Independent factors associated with accessing facility delivery services at childbirth were attending antenatal care visit; having access to media; higher level of education of partners; and residing at Khagrachhari Sadar compared to Matiranga subdistrict. Key conclusions and implications for practiceIndigenous women in Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh have sub-optimal knowledge of, and attendance at, facility delivery services for childbirth. Maternal health related interventions should target Indigenous women in order to educate and motivate them to access facility delivery services at childbirth. Rigorous research is needed to explore Indigenous cultural practices related to childbirth that might influence their access to facility delivery services.

Ancestral Cartography: Trans-Pacific Interchanges and Okinawan Indigeneity

This article examines how Okinawan Indigenous identity is influenced by “minor” Trans-Pacific interchanges between the Native Hawaiian sovereignty movement and Native American discourses on Indigeneity. Drawing from interviews with fellow Okinawan diaspora artist Denise Uyehara, the author explores their parallel responses as fourth generation Okinawan Americans to the recent resurgence of Okinawan Indigenous cultural history, practice, and identity. Uyehara’s collaboration with Native American artists in the performance Archipelago (2012) with Adam Cooper-Terán (Yaqui/Chicano), Ancestral Cartographic Rituals (2017) in collaboration with the late Payómkawichum, Ipi, and Mexican-American artist James Luna (1950–2018), and the immersive theatre project Shooting Columbus (2017) collaboration with The Fifth World Collective, is put into conversation with Kina’s painting series Sugar and Blue Hawai‘i (2010–2013) about Hawaiian sugar plantations and her trilingual illustrated children’s book Okinawan Princess: Da Legend of Hajichi Tattoos (Bess Press, 2019) written by Hawai‘i Creole author Lee A. Tonouchi.