Indigenous Forms Research Articles

‘Nyungu’: an indigenous healing practice for decolonising the global health measures of COVID-19 in Tanzania

During the COVID-19 outbreak – a paradigmatic global health challenge – multiple African countries, including Tanzania, mobilised indigenous forms of healing as both preventive and curative measures to curb the pandemic. However, despite this effort to curtail the crisis, the place of indigenous medical knowledge in decolonising global health interventions remains unexamined. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Tanzania, as well as political speeches and newspaper sources, this paper examines how the government, under the late President John Pombe Magufuli, responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper demonstrates that the late Magufuli’s approach to the pandemic, and especially the mobilisation of local practices of self-care like steaming with nyungu, stirred debates on decolonising global health and the role of African traditional medicines in the COVID-19 pandemic response. Building on scholarship regarding the efforts to promote indigenous healing knowledge in postcolonial states in Africa, I argue that colonial history and postcolonial political positionings towards this history were the ‘cause’ for Magufuli’s resistance towards global health interventions of COVID-19 in Tanzania. This draws our attention to the possibility of new thinking when it comes to how global health, colonialism, national politics, and local practices of self-care like nyungu, interact with one another in contemporary Tanzania.

Ethnobotanical Survey of Medicinal Plants Used in the Treatment of Transmissible Diseases

Herbal medicine, as an ancient traditional medical method, predates the establishment of contemporary healthcare systems within human culture. Globally, several groups develop their own indigenous forms of medicine and corresponding methodologies for treating and enhancing overall well-being. The research presents a comprehensive ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used in the treatment of transmissible diseases in Katsina State. A random selection technique was employed in conjunction with an open-ended interview guide over the period spanning from October 2022 to June 2023. The demographic information of the respondents was ascertained using Excel 2016. Quantitatively, the documented plants were subjected to analysis based on their Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC). This study identified 26 medicinal plants used in the administration and treatment of various transmissible diseases in the northern Nigerian state of Katsina. Moringa oleifera (28%) is the most frequently reported plant, followed by Olea Europaea (24%) and Azadirachta indica (20%). Leaves were the most frequently used part of the plants (69%), common method of preparation is decoction (65%). As their popularity and recognition expanded throughout the world, plants with medical potential remain the sole hope for the future. According to the current study, people of Katsina citizens had a solid awareness of the medicinal plant. Even with the progress of contemporary medicine, the people in the area still depend on using traditional plants for medical purposes.

‘We have a right to flourish in our own land’: using pedagogies of healing to support Indigenous students to thrive in university classrooms

ABSTRACT This article responds to a pressing question, posed by Māori university students in Aotearoa, New Zealand: How do teachers transform universities into places where Indigenous students can thrive and heal? To address this question, we engage with pedagogies of healing, a radical critique of wellbeing within the classroom. We utilized the Māori practice of wānanga to facilitate collective reflection and action. We propose three principles for enabling Māori and Indigenous healing within classrooms: engage colonial histories, foreground Indigenous forms of knowledge, and uplift students through Indigenous research on/as healing. Within these, we offer seven teaching strategies to enact a pedagogy of healing and create classroom ‘healing zones’, strategies that challenge the individualized and depoliticized approaches to wellbeing dominant within contemporary universities.

Screening for Lung Cancer in India: Expert Opinion Statement.

Lung cancer (LC) has the highest rate of disability-adjusted life years (DALY) of all cancers in India. A large majority of patients with LC present with advanced disease, resulting in poor survival rates. Early diagnosis can improve survival outcomes as the patients can be treated with curative intent. The National Lung Screening Trial (NLST), in 53,454 persons at high risk for LC in the US, showed a 20% (95% confidence interval of 6.8-26.7; p = 0.004) relative reduction in LC-specific mortality in the patients screened with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) compared with chest X-ray. To date, India does not have a formal LC screening (LCS) program. As a panel of experts, we reviewed a synthesis of a targeted literature search on the burden of LC, the current status of diagnosis of LC, barriers to early diagnosis, current referral pathways, LC risk patterns, use of artificial intelligence (AI) and risk calculators for risk assessment, and a multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach to diagnosis LC. We used the existing international LCS guidelines, data from published literature, and clinical experience to depict the characteristics of the population at risk of LC in India-young age (<40 years), smoking, especially the predominance of bidi smoking (an indigenous form of tobacco smoking), exposure to biomass fuel smoke, especially in rural women, and air pollution being the prominent features. LC in India is characterized by a higher rate of driver mutations and adenocarcinomatous histology. Here, we present the expert opinion on risk-based LCS in India and discuss the challenges, facilitators, and research priorities for the effective rollout of LCS in India.

Multiple football codes and their spectators, fans and supporters in Australia

ABSTRACT This is the first attempt to describe and explain the varying patterns of support for football in Australia from the very early games played by First Nations people and the arrivals from overseas down to the present day. It discusses the Indigenous forms of football and the subsequent involvement of Indigenous people in the codified games of the nineteenth century. The majority of the article covers the development of spectatorship since codification and tries to bring out the distinctive features of changing Australian spectatorship where this is appropriate.

Performative agency and transition in Àlàbí Ògúndépò’s ìjálá and Yẹmí Ẹlẹ́buìbọn’s Ifá chants

AbstractIndigenous Yorùbá poetry is often defined by such features as context, structure, tonal quality and the performer’s identity. Early taxonomy of the poetry focused on the poetics that could be deduced from a long tradition of practice. Recent scholarship in literary and cultural studies has been more interested in showing the ways in which the poetry is being inflected by encounters with postcolonial modernity. While these recent contributions demonstrate how new forms, such as ewì, distil expressive nuances from the older forms and invent new performative practices to address new publics, such studies encourage a generalization that credits to the new forms all the modern advances recorded in the indigenous forms themselves. Looking at specific indigenous forms in terms of how postcolonial modernity has reshaped them, rather than considering them another set of additions to a new generic category, allows us a clearer view of their transition. I track the inventions and changes in the practice of two Yorùbá forms, ìjálá and Ifá chants, using the performances of Àlàbí Ògúndépò and Yẹmí Ẹlẹ́buìbọn. I rely on ethnographic data to show how mutating audiences and electronic storage and retrieval systems have continually shaped composition and performance, discuss the imperatives of modernity and economy in the performative choices of the artists, and show how the performers simultaneously manage their resistance to and adoption of the modern.

Social, cultural and political responses to Somaliland’s tahriib movement

ABSTRACT Irregular migration to Europe has surged over the past decade, including tahriib (irregular migration) from Somaliland, an internationally unrecognized nation-state in East Africa. As a unrecognized state, Somaliland endeavours to forge its national identity by drawing upon collective memories of historical violence and has gained prominence in the region through its successful forms of communal and indigenous forms of state-building, security and peace against a backdrop of the continued violence in southern Somalia. Consequently, Somalilanders that participate in tahriib are often viewed as unpatriotic for leaving their homeland and risking their lives to venture to foreign lands, exacerbating Somaliland’s precarious statehood. The article argues that the rise of particular language and terminology in Somaliland to disparagingly depict the tahriib movement challenges notions of national solidarity between migrants and their home country. Understanding Somaliland within this context highlights the particularities in which the Somaliland tahriib movement operates in and challenges notions of solidarity between tahriib participants and their country of origin. Primarily based on fieldwork from 2022 to 2023, including interviews with tahriib participants, their family members, community leaders and civil servants, this article presents an analysis of the political, social, and cultural responses towards tahriib participants.

Indigenous health in specialized care: perspective of healthcare professionals in a reference hospital in Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil

This cross-sectional study aims to identify the perspective of healthcare professionals and residents regarding the challenges faced in providing care to Indigenous users in a reference hospital in Mato Grosso do Sul, a Brazilian state with the second-largest Indigenous population in the country. The study used a semi-structured online questionnaire emailed to each worker between June and August 2020. The discrete variables were summarized as mean and standard deviation and median and interquartile range (5% significance level). Two hundred thirty healthcare professionals and 29 residents participated in the study. Among the findings, only 14.7% of participants knew the ethnicities served, and 60.2% had never witnessed traditional practices in the hospital, indicating low articulation between biomedical and Indigenous forms of care. When comparing responses from residents and professionals, residents were noted to have a more positive view of approaching the Indigenous context, suggesting that they consider it essential to improve this articulation. When comparing professional categories, some differences of opinion among the medical category stand out concerning assistance. In addition, professionals and residents demonstrated some level of difficulty in caring for the Indigenous population. The results highlight the centrality of the biomedical model, the professionals' lack of knowledge about the context of the communities served, and the devaluation of their practices. The findings contribute to discussions about healthcare policies at different levels of care and management and the qualification of hospital care for Indigenous people.

Colonial mechanisms for repudiating indigenous sovereignties in Australia: A Foucauldian-genealogical exploration of Australia day

A Foucauldian genealogical approach was used to explore the historical context surrounding Australia Day social tensions. Historic Indigenous-settler relations appear central to Australia Day events. Australia Day social contestation suggests unsettlement surrounding the ways in which Australian nationhood is predicated on colonial-settler privilege and exploitation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sovereignties. While modalities of colonial-settler power are identified, so too are Indigenous forms of resistance that serve to disrupt settler privileges. The findings indicate that settler determination of Australia Day acts to preserve settler sovereignty within the national mythscape as a mechanism in the colonial project and repudiation of Indigenous sovereignties in Australia. However, Indigenous forms of resistance challenge settler constructions of the Australian mythscape and nationhood.

Indigenous dialogic teaching: Orality in a Tibetan school in China

This article describes the use of dialogic teaching in a rural Tibetan school in China. Using ethnographic data from a school that serves socially disadvantaged Tibetan youth, we demonstrate that dialogic teaching is a powerful pedagogy even in a resource-deprived learning environment. We describe how oral commentary, interpretive discussions, and debate form the core of effective school practices. Inspired by traditional monastic training, schoolteachers have transformed the century-long indigenous oral practices into a culturally-appropriate form of pedagogy, infusing it into modern academic subjects. This article aims to enrich the growing literature on dialogic teaching by presenting a case outside Anglo-American societies. We examine an indigenous form of dialogic teaching by considering Alexander (2017, 2020)'s framework. Our analysis shows that while the specific pedagogy is developed indigenously, it is compatible with the dialogic philosophy. The findings suggest that the dialogic approach is a general pedagogy rooted in distinctive human societies. However, indigenous development also limits the school practices to a small repertoire.

Ijegbe and Luse Performances, and the Dialects of Collectivized Tragedy and Ideology among the Ilaje

This essay explores the genres of Biripo, the Ilaje oral performance or folk-poetry, Ijegbe and Luse vis-à-vis the notion of collectivised tragedy and ideology among the people. Few forays have been undertaken into Biripo, but no known research has been carried out Ijegbe, Luse and collectivised tragedy and ideology among the people. The essay adopts Richard Schechner’s performance theory which sees performance as representation of self and advocates the revolutionary departure from the confinement of theatrical enactments to the theatre. The theory is suitable since the concepts of Ijegbe and Luse are performance-centred. The essay employs oral interviews; secondary materials like textbooks, filmic records of already performed Ijegbe and Luse, journal articles and electronic materials for information garnering.&#x0D; The essay unfolds the meanings of Ijegbe and Luse as the mother of or home-grown forms of the modern rap art or music. They are the genres of Biripo that are performed as the indigenous form of western dirge or elegy performed for the sole purpose of mourning the loss one’s loved ones. The paper also reveals how practice of collective performance of Luse and Ijegbe epitomises the notion of collectivised or shared tragedy and ideology among the people. Also revealed in the essay is the fact that the two genres are potent agencies of transmission and propagation of indigenous knowledge system. The paper, therefore, recommends the perpetuation of the forms for the continuity of the people and their sense being.

Between Documentation and Dispossession: the Language of the Nuu-chah-nulth People in the Journals of James Cook’s Third Voyage

Abstract Through a case study of James Cook's third voyage and his contact with the Nuu-chah-nulth people of Vancouver Island in 1778, this article sheds new light on the epistemological dispossession of indigenous peoples that accompanied European expansion in the eighteenth century. The documentation of the Nuu-chah-nulth language in the official account of the expedition (1784) contributed to the establishment of a monopoly on history, from which indigenous forms of knowledge were excluded. The study of languages contributed to the representation of indigenous peoples as having no history and as being situated in the past of a presumed European ‘modernity’.

Transplantation and native peoples: latin american perspectives from the brazilian Amazon

This article aims to investigate the reasons behind the absence of literature on organ transplantation among native peoples in Latin America, in contrast to the extensive literature on the subject in English-speaking countries. Given the increasing incidence of chronic diseases observed among Latin American indigenous peoples, a demand for organ transplantation among indigenous peoples is anticipated compared to other national contexts. However, meeting this demand is hindered by the need for a culturally sensitive vision on the part of public managers and the need for high-complexity planning and infrastructure in these countries. Therefore, the creation of a research network in the region is proposed to monitor the problem and generate data that can pressure these countries to provide transplant services to native peoples, with protocols that respect indigenous forms of consent, maintenance of fluids and organs, traditional knowledge, eschatology, and cosmology.

Symbolic forms in Church architecture: a case study of Saint Augustine Catholic Church Ikorodu, Lagos State

A religious building is nothing less than the symbolic representation of the tradition, values, culture and creativity levels of the special territory in which it stands. Each type of church architecture may have different symbolic qualities, but every church building transmits some symbolic messages. Human beings provide meanings to the images that are received from objects by their symbolic minds. The study examined architectural spaces in Saint Augustine Catholic Church Ikorodu, in Ikorodu Division of Lagos State Nigeria enacting from the perspective of indigenous form, art and symbols. It demonstrates the integration of cultural heritage, traditional forms, material availability, arts and symbols into the architecture of Catholic Church. The study is an historical, explanatory, qualitative using the methods of observation and focused interviews. The Church architecture illustrates how influences from indigenous and local forms and symbols have been incorporated in sacred spaces in the Catholic Church. The study expounded knowledge for the clergy and the institution of religion bodies and the enlightenment of academic expository. KEY WORDS: Catholic Church, Church Architecture, Culture, Ikorodu, Symbols.

Seeger Lecture, Society for Ethnomusicology Virtual Meeting 2021

Seeger Lecture, Society for Ethnomusicology Virtual Meeting 2021

SAWUBONA. A theo-ethic for everyday decolonial gestures

This article takes a pentecostalicity engagement with the Zulu notion of Sawubona to construct a theo-ethics of everyday decolonial gestures of life-giving, affirmation and enhancing in the context of global coloniality and cultures of death that define and determine life in modern capitalist societies. Pentecostalicity is grounded in the Spirit’s freedom to greet (Sawubona) creation as happened on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2) with pneumatic gestures of redemption, liberation, emancipation and recognition of the singularity of life and co-becoming of all things in the universe. I demonstrate how indigenous forms of greeting embody pentecostalicity resources that could be mobilised to construct a theo-ethics ofeveryday decolonial gestures. I underline that such an approach helps to perceive indigenous greetings such as Sawubona as dynamic philosophical terms saturated with incredible meanings deeply rooted in the pro-existential spirituality of care for life.

Indigenous resistance at the frontiers of accumulation: Challenging the coloniality of space in International Relations

Abstract Latin America has long been subjected to colonial development that has negated Indigenous territory. In the present conjuncture, the region is home to the largest volume of environmental conflicts in the world. These conflicts are intrinsically connected to the wider model of neo-extractivist development that has been embraced throughout the continent since the early 2000s. Indigenous communities have frequently been the victims of this model of extractive development, with their territories becoming the primary sites for the aggressive expansion of the resource frontier. This has generated new political conflicts, as Indigenous communities conversely assert claims to territory and resources. In this article, I link these conflicts to what I term the ‘coloniality of space’, whereby Indigenous territorial forms have been theoretically elided from traditional spatial imaginaries within International Relations and concretely negated through practices within the global political economy. Moving beyond the territorial trap of nation-state centrism, Indigenous forms of resistance raise important questions about the subject and actors of International Relations.

Needles to Say

Story telling and informal learning is passed down generations and has been recognized as the best approach for human evolution and development. Its efficient process has made its impact and has demonstrated its benefits scientifically at the DNA level. There are scientific publications that attribute human evolution to this DNA based memory, making humans thrive on this planet as dominant species with emotions and care. One such form of storytelling and informal learning is folk quilting which has an extensive history. The power of storytelling and informal learning over generations helped quilters acquire their sense of identity, belonging with a deep sense of felt values. Every patch in a quilt is a story to say invoking memories presenting a living tradition in the folk world. The story of quilts are not just personal appeal to those who stitch but symbol of care, comfort, and inspiration to their loved ones and to those who eventually own them. Community of collaborative quilters within families and guild collectives resonate to social values; patience, connectedness and expression that are central to the form. Hybrid networks of quilting communities in developed countries maintain integrity of social values different from that of traditional folk quilters in developing countries due to the very nature of digital accessibility. With the growing global market, native folk quilters are approached by the creative industries with a certain sense of urgency. Creative technological tools are introduced to meet the demand for increased production. With market driven production, care and collaboration are in question. To top it all, as digital immigrants, traditional folk quilters struggle with technological adoption as they are already threatened to survive and sustain the purity of the indigenous form. They now are further challenged to impart their sense of effective passing down of traditions to their younger generation with the care different from their own. Adopting technology on their own terms is no easy feat, as makers of technology don’t necessarily see folk artists as their primary users. As part of my research into creative technology influencing quilters, I hope to draw on transdisciplinary methodologies ranging from textual analysis of case studies from India and North American folk art history, folk feminist ethnography, cultural studies, ethno-mathematics and digital fabrication. I will be interviewing folk quilters, quilt guilds, artists, designers and technologists to understand the complex dynamics of the interplay of social values, aesthetics, technology and production. In my proposed paper, I will share voices from the field that will examine the changes in the process of how memories and stories are told with the coming of new digital tools and technology and a reaction on how to take forward care for cultural nature of this rich artistic tradition to their own communities through living practitioners. These voices could help transfer the cultural nuances to creative technologists in ways that inform their design processes such that they improve the chance of technology success amongst folk artists for creative production, discourse building and folk quilting pedagogy to sustain and thrive.

Indigenous Political Representation in Canada

AbstractDespite long-standing academic interest in Indigenous peoples and the Canadian state, there has been little study of Indigenous elected officials as representational actors. We ask: What are the distinctively Indigenous forms of representation practised by Indigenous elected officials in Canada? And how does clarifying the role of Indigenous elected officials as representatives both contribute to and enhance our overall understanding of Indigenous politics, governance and sovereignty? We draw on the existing literatures on substantive representation as well as original interviews conducted with current and former Indigenous elected officials to develop an original conceptualization of Indigenous representation. These actors differ in their perceptions of themselves and their roles as representatives, the representational behaviours they engage in and the outcomes they seek. Our conceptualization of Indigenous representation engages with four themes: Indigenous perspective, Indigenous advocacy, balance with other imperatives including constituency representation and party discipline, and Indigenous nationhood.

Minstrelsy, Apprenticeship, Origin and Features of Biripo, the Ilaje Folk-Poetry

Issues of minstrelsy, apprenticeship, origin, features of Biripo, the Ilaje oral performance in chanting and singing modes, and the influence of modernity and technology on it have never been subjects of any known research in folkloric literature or other fields of human knowledge. This paper thus, investigates the issues of minstrelsy, apprenticeship in Biripo, origin and features of Biripo among the people. The paper employs sociological approach to the study of Biripo since it operates within its society of origin. Sociological approach to the study of literature or folklore examines a text or indigenous oral performances through sociological binoculars with a view to examining how the text has been influenced by the society and vice-versa which justifies the adoption of the theory. The paper also gathers information through oral interviews and secondary materials such as textbooks, journal articles and cyber materials. The research finds out that: the issues of minstrelsy, apprenticeship is present in Biripo the way it is in other indigenous forms, the oral (Biripo) artist occupies special place in his community and enjoys special privilege from the community leaders and the people, Biripo is a product of the people’s tradition and quotidian existence from the pre-literate and post-literate eras and that modernity and technology have tremendously influenced Biripo, functional application and that the use of ideophones, call and response, affinity with ritual and masquerades songs etc are features of Biripo. The paper advocates the technologising of Biripo for the 21st century exigencies and realities.