Indigenous Efforts Research Articles

Indigenous Rights, Global Governance, and State Sovereignty

This article discusses indigenous rights within the context of global governance. I begin by defining the terms “global governance” and “indigenous peoples” and summarizing the rights that are most important to indigenous peoples. The bulk of this article studies the global governance of indigenous rights in three areas. The first example is the creation of the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. A second example involves violations of indigenous rights brought before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. A third case looks at a relatively new international regime created by indigenous peoples themselves—the Inuit Circumpolar Council. I conclude by using theories of sovereignty to assess the relative successes and failures of indigenous efforts to secure their rights.

Critics Question China's Indigenous Innovation Effort

The Chinese press holds up the new Sunway BlueLight supercomputer as a success of China's indigenous innovation effort, but experts say the true story is more complex.

A Revolution for Our Rights: Indigenous Struggles for Land and Justice in Bolivia, 1880 – 1952

Laura Gotkowitz’s book is a timely intervention in ongoing discussions among historians, ethnohistorians, political scientists, and anthropologists over the meaning and uses of the law for the consolidation of the modern nation-state, and for what we might now refer to as the evolution of multicultural or plurinational states in Latin America and in the Andes. She also fills in what has been a neglected chapter in recent Bolivian history, that is, the period between the turn of the nineteenth century up to the events of the 1952 Revolution.Gotkowitz adds significant depth to conventional understandings of the 1952 Revolution as a rubicon of Bolivian history by connecting it to myriad ongoing campaigns undertaken by rural indigenous advocates throughout the 1910s – 1940s. In so doing she brings into focus the relationship between grassroots indigenous efforts and the military populism of this period, while linking the often mythologized events of 1952, typically discussed as a largely urban movement among workers and the middle class, to a less well known but persistent silent revolution in the countryside over rights to land.Gotkowitz generates her rich narrative of indigenous advocacy, representation, and organizing during the period by tracing out the construction of relationships between indigenous and other political actors: rural-urban networks, workers’ unions, municipal officials, and national political leaders and parties. Her attention to these highly coordinated networks animates her accounts of the 1938 constitutional referendum, 1945’s first national indigenous congress, and the 1947 uprisings in rural Cochabamba, all precedents to what has arguably been Latin America’s most neglected revolution. Gotkowitz uses archival records to build the case for the consistency of indigenous claims about collective rights, autonomy, and land throughout the twentieth century right up to the present, and for the extent to which these claims played a significant role in Bolivia’s national political history during this period. Setting the narrative against the background of national politics, Gotkowitz shows indigenous leaders as engaged in an ongoing argument among themselves and with state authorities about what it meant to be “indigenous.” This was an argument conducted by contesting the significance of presidential decrees, petitions, land surveys and titles, boundary disputes, competing definitions of private property and of fallow lands, efforts to extract protections and guarantees, written labor agreements, arguments over taxation, the juridical status of communities, political circulars, and a host of other legal, political, and bureaucratic interventions.Gotkowitz explores the vernacularization, in the hands of grassroots indigenous leaders, of relationships between liberalism, rights discourses, and concerns for justice in early twentieth-century Bolivia. Indigenous voices appropriated legal precedents and idioms as tools to claim alternative visions of Bolivia’s liberal state, citizenship, collective rights, property, self-government, and ownership. We see the extent to which indigenous political practice was shaped by, and actively shaped, the process of the law. This book shows how indigenous leaders, as sometimes subversive and self-appointed agents of the law, appropriated and challenged Bolivia’s liberal project, as part of an ongoing contest in Bolivia about who can legitimately speak for Indians.The most important contribution of Gotkowitz’s book is her convincing and well-researched demonstration of the importance of the regular politically creative uses of national law made by indigenous leaders during this period in repeated interventions with multiple levels of state officialdom. Despite often prevailing assumptions to the contrary, representatives of indigenous interests both demonstrated legal literacy and challenged an elite monopoly over legal interpretation. Promoting their own account of the law, these leaders actively built relationships with nonindigenous local and national political leaders and regularly intervened to promote their own concerns, primarily in order to articulate collective indigenous claims to land.Gotkowitz’s work is in fruitful conversation with scholars dedicated to identifying indigenous voices and political projects or concerned with the forms taken by indigenous engagements with the state, and with a rich corpus of research on the politics of land and land reform. More narrowly, even as it helps to fill in a relatively neglected chapter in the history of indigenous struggle in Bolivia, the book adds to our appreciation of the limits of national identity projects and opens a timely historical window upon the grievances that continue to be sources of Bolivia’s current transformational moment of Evo Morales and the MAS.

Trees and the Forest: Story and Trustori in Quaker Faith and Practice

Trees and the Forest: Story and Trustori in Quaker Faith and Practice Robert Pierson The planting of trees is the planting of ideas. By starting with the simple act of planting a tree, we give hope to ourselves and to future generations.—Wangari Maathai1 Let your lives speak.—Quaker advice Let me tell you a story.Once upon a time, in a land far away, a young woman looked out at her poor village. She saw that the once green hills were now bare and the people scattered. There were only scraps and dung to burn for fire and swirling dust in the heat of the day. But where others saw only barren dirt, this woman saw a forest. She began to plant trees. People told her she was crazy. Some threatened her and told her to go away. Others made fun of her. After all, she was only a woman. But the woman just moved on from hill to hill, slowly planting. Now, these many years later, there is a forest. Where people competed for scraps to burn, now the village gathers wood to cook the evening meal. Now, there is a break from the wind and an end to the swirling dust. Now, the community rests in the shade of leaves, and there are spreading roots to hold the ground. Now, there is a place for rain to seep gently into the earth and replenish the streams. There are birds above and people below, singing and making their home. And the woman moves on from hill to hill. But that’s just a story, isn’t it? Perhaps not a very good one. How about this: Thirty years ago, in Kenya, Wangari Maathai looked out at her country, and where others saw a landscape of poverty, she saw a people of promise. She began planting the vision of trees in the people of the land, and these took root. She gave the people tools and showed them how to plant nurseries where they raised row upon row of seedlings. The vision of trees that she planted grew and spread until it colored green swaths around villages all across rural Africa and sent seedling visions sprouting to the far corners of the world. Her work led to what has become the Green Belt Movement, a complex intertwining of the human, ecological, and political into an organic community that reforested a landscape formerly denuded by its impoverished population. Thirty million trees later, Wangari Maathai received the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. “Peace on earth,” notes the Nobel committee “depends on our ability to secure our living environment… Maathai combines science, social commitment, and active politics. More than simply protecting the existing environment, her strategy is to secure and strengthen the very basis for ecologically sustainable development… She represents an example and a source of inspiration for everyone in Africa fighting for sustainable development, democracy, and peace.”2 Over the years, the Green Belt Movement has not only increased tree cover, but also improved life for thousands of rural people, empowering individuals and building community while simultaneously raising awareness of environmental concerns. The basic tree‐planting methodology is deliberately simple: Communities lack basic necessities, like wood for fuel. Therefore, focus on this one visceral “felt” need and disseminate information on the importance of tree planting for the community. Encourage local groups to form and prepare tree nursery sites. Enable these local groups to provide seedlings to the community members and check that they are properly planted. Pay for each successfully planted seedling. The trees provide a sustainable fuel supply. The work provides income. The effort helps organize, empower, and educate the people. This is an indigenous effort that deliberately chooses to rely on the wisdom, knowledge, and resourcefulness of local people, particularly women. What grows are not just trees, but a network of village foresters and activists. It is the greening of both place and people. This, too, of course, is just one version of the story, a story that is never so simple. As with any good story, there are obstacles: a lack of resources, lack of education, ethnic suspicion, people’s tendency to blame others (particularly the government), and...

Coefficient of Thermal Expansion Measurement of Metal Matrix Composites by Thermo Mechanical Analyser

The demand of today’s and future spacecrafts for a stable platform for critical payloads is the driving force behind the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) measurement of different aerospace materials. The CTE of a composite is different from that given by a simple rule of mixtures. This is because of the presence of reinforcement. The expansion coefficient of reinforcement is less than that of the matrix which introduces a mechanical constraint on the matrix. The degree of constraint is also dependent on the nature of the reinforcement. It is important to point out that interface can exert some influence on the value of CTE, especially for very small particle size. In addition to the interface, the CTE of particle reinforced metal matrix composites (MMCs) is affected by several other factors. To cater the needs of various requirements in a spacecraft making, a wide variety of materials are used. Besides, the indigenization efforts and development of new materials for space-use emphasizes the measurement of CTE before their actual use. Stir casting technique was used to fabricate composites containing Si Cp as reinforcements and special thermo physical properties of the material are found. CTE of the composites are measured by TMA. The experiments have been carried out in the temperature range -1400 C to 5750 C.

The Unity of Knowledge and the Diversity of Knowers: Science as an Agent of Cultural Integration in the United States Between the Two World Wars

During the 1930s the émigré philosophers of the Vienna Circle launched an ambitious program to create a more scientific culture, but they proved to be largely blind to indigenous American efforts along similar lines. Those scholars who study the Vienna Circle have too often ignored the intellectual power and broad appeal of these American efforts as led by John Dewey, Thorstein Veblen, Morris Cohen, and Sinclair Lewis. The émigrés developed as their chief enterprise The International Encyclopedia of Unified Science, which was dwarfed in size, appeal, and longterm historical significance by The International Encyclopedia of Unified Science brought out at the same historical moment by followers of Dewey. Both encyclopedias and the circles of intellectuals who sustained them illustrate the special appeal of scientific culture for The Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences intellectuals of Jewish origin throughout the North Atlantic West between the two World Wars.

Technology Breakthrough by Heavy Water Board in Material Support to Indian Nuclear Power Programme

Abstract Heavy Water Board (HWB) is the sole agency in the country for production and sustained supply of heavy water, nuclear grade solvents and enriched elemental boron which are the key input materials for Indian Nuclear Power Programme. DAE has ventured to develop heavy water technology indigenously starting from scratch. H2S-H2O bi-thermal process was developed starting from laboratory studies to pilot plant and breakthrough was achieved by setting up first industrial plant at Kota and double capacity plant at Manuguru. In early 1960‟s, NH3–H2 mono-thermal process was at nascent stage of development. The rich experience from first industrial plant set up at Baroda has led to success story in second generation plants at Thal and Hazira, totally with indigenous efforts. NH3-H2O front-end process had also been developed for ammonia based Heavy Water Plants (HWPs) making them independent of fertilizer plants. Performance indicators of operating HWPs have reached the zenith level. India is the largest global producer of heavy water and is the only country using multiple technologies. HWB is also fulfilling the global demand of high quality heavy water. HWB has diversified into other activities like industrial production of other nuclear materials and development of spin off technologies.

Do International Technological Spillovers Facilitate Regional Innovation Performance in China? Evidence from the Provincial Panel Data

Based on the provincial panel data put forward by National Bureau of Statistics of China, over the period 2000-2006, this paper empirically investigates the impacts of different channels for international technological spillovers on regional innovation performance, using regional innovation performance as dependent variable, and the channels for international technological spillovers as independent variables. The empirical results in this paper indicate that learning-by-exporting and learning-by-importing have positive effects on regional innovation performance in China, and that foreign R&D activities by multinational enterprises in China have positive and statistically significant effects on regional innovation performance. In addition, absorptive capability is an important driving factor for increasing the regional innovation performance in China. Research results indicate that both international technological spillover sources and indigenous efforts, including domestic R&D intensity and absorptive capacity jointly determine the regional innovation performance in China.

Open Educational Resources in India’s national development

As India marches rapidly towards an ambitious agenda of economic and social advancement, one of the greatest challenges it faces is to provide extensive access to quality higher education opportunities. An evident and expanding Open Education Resources movement offers great promise for meeting this challenge through initiatives that make quality tools, content and practice widely available. Accordingly, India’s National Knowledge Commission launched a process to explore and leverage these initiatives for adoption and adaptation, as well as to serve as a model for further indigenous efforts. This paper outlines issues and recommendations that address organisational considerations and infrastructure readiness as part of a systemic and sustainable strategy to make effective use of Open Educational Resources for scaling educational opportunity and excellence in the Indian context.

Toward a Theory of Indigenous Entrepreneurship

Indigenous populations throughout the world suffer from chronic poverty, lower education levels, and poor health. The 'second wave' of indigenous development, after direct economic assistance from outside, lies in indigenous efforts to rebuild their 'nations' and improve their lot through entrepreneurial enterprise. This paper suggests that there is a distinguishable kind of activity appropriately called 'indigenous entrepreneurship'. We believe that entrepreneurship among the indigenous-approximately 300 million strong worldwide-has a rich potential for rebuilding indigenous communities.We begin by defining the indigenous population and noting some general facts about their numbers and distribution. In an effort to discern the potential for economic development on indigenous peoples' own terms, we then explore three frameworks for understanding efforts at development, including indigenous development: modernisation theory, dependency theory and (at somewhat greater length) regulation theory. After distinguishing 'indigenous' from 'ethnic' entrepreneurship, we conclude by identifying a number of lead questions that present themselves at the outset of an enquiry into the nature of indigenous entrepreneurship.

Batswana audience and the <i>Thokolosi</i> television drama controversy

In February 2006, Botswana Television (BTV) screened a commissioned television drama series entitled Thokolosi. This drama series, which deals with witchcraft, is set in a Botswana village called Bobonong. The contents of the drama series in relation to the village attracted criticisms from the public, which culminated in a heated controversy. While a section of the Batswana audience cherished the pioneering indigenous effort of the filmmakers, a cross-section, particularly indigenes of Bobonong and their sympathizers, frowned at the production, denouncing it as stereotypical, parochial, and ethnically biased. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the ‘censorship' debate in a positive mode, by attempting to enlighten the viewing public on how to deal with works of art and to sensitize artistic producers to expectations from the consuming audience. Keywords : audience; Bobonong; Thokolosi; television drama; producer; controversy MARANG: Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 17 2007: pp.83-94

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Aspects of Early Native American History Cluster

Few aspects of American history have gone through as rapid a transformation as Native American history during the past generation. In the not too distant past scholars, including many anthropologists, wrote accounts of particular Indian ‘tribes’. Many of these works, which were often quite sympathetic to their subject, concentrated on politics and wars. Beginning in the late 1960s, historians, anthropologists, and those calling themselves ‘ethnohistorians’ began to bring new perspectives to the subject. To date, many of the most important studies focus on the period before 1850. Taken together, these works testify to the fundamental importance of understanding the histories of indigenous peoples in the Americas. In recent years, scholarship about Native Americans has boomed. The cluster of six articles here suggests the range of work being done in the field. Nicholas Rosenthal provides an overview of some of the major developments and Joshua Piker offers a penetrating view of the concept of race and how it has shaped our understanding of Native peoples in early America. Ruth Spack’s short essay on American Indian schooling reveals a shift in the history of education based on the incorporation of indigenous perspectives. Tyler Boulware investigates the notion of national identity and its application for Native peoples. Dixie Ray Haggard’s perceptive piece offers nothing less than a major revision of scholars’ understanding of the Yamasee War of the 1710s, an event that played a pivotal role in the southeast during the eighteenth century. Finally, Steven Hackel and Anne Reid reveal the benefits of electronic publication. Their essay on the Early California Population Project provides insight into a major database housed at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, a project now available to scholars that will revolutionize our understanding the period from the 1760s to the midnineteenth century. The full cluster is made up of the following articles:

Innovation performance and channels for international technology spillovers: Evidence from Chinese high-tech industries

This paper empirically investigates the impact of different channels for international technology spillover on the innovation performance of Chinese high-tech industries, using panel data analysis. We report that learning-by-exporting (and importing) promotes innovation in Chinese indigenous firms. Foreign R&D activities by multinational enterprises in a host country significantly affect the innovation performance of domestic firms only when absorptive ability is taken into account. The findings indicate that both international technology spillover sources and indigenous efforts jointly determine the innovation performance of Chinese high-tech sectors.

China’s 15-year science and technology plan

As China implements its plan to improve scientific innovation, it will need to solve such political and economic problems as finding the proper balance between indigenous efforts and engagement with the global community.

Revisiting Foreign Aid Theories

Foreign aid, as a subject matter of political economy, has been intensely debated in global development discourse and international politics. Does aid lead to growth and development of the underdeveloped countries? Or is it an instrument used by donor countries to promote their domestic and foreign policy interests? The theory and practice of foreign aid suggest that even if it may be useful for the economic development of underdeveloped and developing countries in the initial stages; development comes through indigenous efforts and not through foreign aid. Moreover, there are serious political and economic hazards of a foreign aid led growth model and long-term dependence on foreign aid. Therefore, foreign aid may be desirable but not essential for the development of these countries. But more importantly, while negotiating aid, the recipient countries should be cautious of donor motives and their own national and foreign policy interests.

'It's all Migloo Crap to Me'

This article provides a brief literary history of Indigenous writing in Queensland. The literature covered here is informed by the experiences of the personal, the familial and the communal, and enlarges the meanings of both the literary and the political because Indigenous writing is part of, not separate from, the daily lives and struggles of its authors. Related to this is the question of the sacred, and Indigenous relationships to the land are an abiding preoccupation of the writing explored here. Literature, as well as the way it is read, is intimately related to Indigenous efforts to achieve cultural autonomy and calls for recognition of difference and shared humanity and agency. It thereby becomes a tool of recognition, acknowledgment and transformation, producing new kinds of knowledges and new kinds of readers.

Indigenous brown sugar processing technology in nigeria : past and on-going research

The effort to develop brown sugar processing technology in Nigeria was initiated by the Federal Government in 1986 through the Federal Ministry of Industries. The first prototype plant of 2 tons per day cane - crushing capacity was designed, fabricated and tested by the National Cereals Research Institute, Badeggi in 1988. Since then several research activities have been carried out in order to improve the efficiency of the plant and also up-grade its capacity. The basic unit processes are : weighing, crushing, clarification (liming, heating and settling), evaporation, crystallization, centrifugation and drying. Designs of equipment for each of the unit processes were provided by the Institutes engineers. Fabrication materials were procured locally and all the equipment were fabricated through indigenous effort. Test results of the prototype plant using three varieties of Sugarcane BD96-001, BD96-003 and BD96-009 indicated average sugar recovery rate of 6.3–6.5%. The quality of the sugar, compared with existing one at the Nigeria Sugar Company Limited (Nisuco), Bacita was also acceptable.

Towards a theory of indigenous entrepreneurship

Indigenous populations throughout the world suffer from chronic poverty, lower education levels, and poor health. The 'second wave' of indigenous development, after direct economic assistance from outside, lies in indigenous efforts to rebuild their 'nations' and improve their lot through entrepreneurial enterprise. This paper suggests that there is a distinguishable kind of activity appropriately called 'indigenous entrepreneurship'. We begin by defining the indigenous population and noting some general facts about their numbers and distribution. In an effort to discern the potential for development on indigenous peoples' own terms, we then explore three frameworks for understanding efforts at development, including indigenous development: modernisation theory, dependency theory and (at somewhat greater length) regulation theory. After distinguishing 'indigenous' from 'ethnic' entrepreneurship, we conclude by identifying a number of lead questions that present themselves at the outset of an enquiry into the nature of indigenous entrepreneurship.

Wind Energy Conversion Systems as a Distributed Source of Generation

As a result of the worldwide energy crisis, research and development activities in the field of wind energy have been gaining momentum for the last few years in many countries. Although this technology has been greatly improved during that time, the available technical know-how is not yet adequate to develop reliable wind energy converting systems for Indian conditions at low wind speeds. In spite of a few indigenous efforts, the developments of wind energy converting systems working at low wind speeds of 2–5 m/s, which is available for a considerable period of the year in the major part of the country, remain unfulfilled. This issue continues to be a matter of great concern for the Indian researchers. This paper introduces a new concept of amplifying the wind speed before it comes in contact with the rotor blades of a Savonius turbine by using a convergent nozzle. This novel work emphasizes the improvement of the efficiency of Savonius rotors, which normally extract less than 25% of the power in the wind and have been commercially unsuccessful. A research program involving wind tunnel tests of five different nozzle models has been conducted. Some necessary modifications in the design of the turbine have been suggested and verified practically with the help of working models. Analysis of different nozzle dimensions has also been outlined. The variation of the output speed with different values of input wind speed and different lengths placed at different distances from the wind tunnel are presented in the paper.

From defence conversion to globalisation strategies

Brazil developed a very dynamic defence industry in the 1980s. The changing global geopolitical scenario in the 1990s forced a number of Brazilian defence industries to engage in conversion strategies. Brazilian defence companies have dramatically revamped their business strategies since they implemented conversion strategies. Over the past ten years, Brazilian defence companies' emphasis on continuous innovation, coupled with indigenous technological efforts, have demonstrated that conversion strategies can enable defense companies to become meaningful players in the global economy.