Indigenous Understandings Research Articles

Indigenous elegance in the city: producing contemporary indigeneity through YouTube music videos in Otavalo, Ecuador

ABSTRACT In this article, I examine the image of indigeneity spread through music videos by indigenous producers from Otavalo, in the Ecuadorian Andes, mainly for a local indigenous audience. To do this, I look at the motivations of the producers and musicians and the constitution of specific aesthetics in the music videos by analyzing the settings, the characters portrayed and their actions. Investigating this form of expression, which constitutes a widely consumed cultural product in the Otavalo region, allows me to shed light on local understandings of indigeneity. I show that these understandings challenge national and international narratives and imaginings of indigeneity (e.g. indigenismo, ‘transnational indigeneity’), which often rest on rural-urban and tradition-modernity dichotomies (indigenous people being associated with the first of the two terms). While scholarship on media and indigeneity tends to be permeated by these oppositions, Otavalo music videos do not quite fit: they unsettle the boundaries between these opposite terms through intense engagement with urbanity, widespread use of technology, etc. Consequently, I argue that these music videos’ aesthetics constitute a claim by Otavalo indigenous people to contemporaneity and membership in a global society.

African customs and traditions and the indigenization of international humanitarian law in armed conflict

Abstract Many ancient African societies had advanced and sophisticated humanitarian protection mechanisms and war codes to regulate the conduct of armed hostilities. A careful examination of both historical and contemporary African customs and traditions provides unique avenues through which to interpret and apply international humanitarian protection in armed conflict. As a sub-branch of international law, international humanitarian law (IHL) seeks to limit the excesses of warfare and regulate the conduct of armed hostilities. However, international conventions such as those of IHL remain severely constrained if they are not framed and reconciled with indigenous understandings and meanings of humanitarian protection. In non-international armed conflicts specifically, this enduring challenge demands that IHL conventions and other international conventions be framed and understood within indigenous frameworks that support local ownership of this internationalized body of law. Encouraging dialogue between international norms and indigenous practices can enhance the relevance, authority and legitimacy of IHL in Africa.

Relational Ontology in the Mapuche Thinking: Possibilities for Indigenous Well-Being Amidst Colonial Settings

The imposition of a colonial mindset over indigenous peoples and their relational understanding of life is a common experience in the Global South. Forced displacement and subordination are also part of history in which cultural manners to preserve balance with the environment were severely altered. This article delves into the case of the Mapuche people, an indigenous group from Latin America that faces old and new expressions of colonialism. Because of structural discrimination, the health outcomes of the Mapuche people have been affected, including mental health. In this scenario, intercultural health experiences have been implemented to address the needs of the Mapuche population. Intercultural health policy emerges as an arena in which indigenous understanding of well-being is once again subjugated. From the author’s indigenous position, possibilities for well-being come through the negotiation of meanings and power that complicate indigenous life in colonial settings. Moreover, the subalternization of indigenous perspectives within scientific spaces is acknowledged as an obstacle to achieving horizontality in academic networks and to constructing meaningful interventions.

From Participant to Partner: Applying Indigenous Understandings of Treaties to Canada’s Environmental Impact Assessment Processes

The following seeks to explore solutions forward amid increasing pressure to improve the quality of Indigenous involvement within environmental assessments (EAs). This paper describes the historical entanglements of resource development, colonialism, and limited recognition of Indigenous interests within EAs currently. It deconstructs the implications of the following: extractive methodologies habitually used within EAs; distinctions between Canadian and Indigenous legal systems; cultural variances in perceptions of power structures; and noticeable systemic issues within EA processes. Drawing from Indigenous understandings of treaties, this article brings forth some key considerations necessary to establishing meaningful Indigenous involvement during EAs. It positions treaties as a powerful, practical orientation towards envisioning a framework that utilizes practices which foster genuine collaboration and dialogue amongst all parties involved. To this end, this article contends with the importance of addressing gaps in quality of Indigenous involvement during EAs, particularly as calls for reconciliation and sustainable environmental decision-making continue.

Indigenous Sovereignty and Political Science: Building an Indigenous Politics Subfield

Scholarship from the nascent subfield of Indigenous politics illuminates an enduring tension between Indigenous politics and political science. Settler colonialism continues to configure the contemporary politics of the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia in profound ways that political science has been slow to grapple with. In a related concern, political science has little ability to engage in Indigenous knowledge production. This article reviews the structural exclusion of Indigenous knowledge despite increased inclusion of Indigenous scholarship and argues that Indigenous understandings of settler colonialism, sovereignty, and authority hold the potential to reconfigure political science's approach to Indigenous politics in research and teaching. This reconfiguration will not only impact the development of the Indigenous politics subfield but also expand the analytic potential of political science more broadly.

Indigenous Knowledge, Young Adult Literature, and Teacher Education

This paper explores how Indigenous Young Adult Literature (IYAL), offers teacher candidates (TCs) spaces for examining crucial ideas regarding Indigenous knowledge and worldviews. Using IYAL as a pedagogical approach with TCs in education programs is one step toward developing anti-oppressive education practices that work to understand marginalized peoples while also enacting pedagogies “that work against the privileging of certain groups, the normalizing of certain identities, and that make visible these processes” (Kumashiro, 2000, p. 35). By incorporating Indigenous knowledge as story (Rice, 2020), IYAL can be a tool for developing nuanced understandings of Indigenous youth, Indigenous Peoples and communities. Supporting TCs to better attend to the needs of Indigenous youth through IYAL allows for exploring the complexity of youth, identity, and culture of Indigenous Peoples. IYAL can feed the spirits of Indigenous youth in schools, a place that has historically been hostile, violent, and deadly to them. This paper explores how IYAL can further support non-Indigenous teacher candidates to develop better understandings of Indigeneity at large.

Reconciling the Mismatch: Creating a Regenerative Framework for Regional Planning

The world is urbanizing rapidly, and many urbanized regions deplete and degrade their environment. The additional polycrisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, epidemics, food insecurity, and reduced water, air, and soil quality asks for a transformational vision for the design and planning of these urban regions. Current planning practices are not able to respond to the complexity of the problems associated with the polycrisis. At the same time, regenerative thinking has not yet been practical enough to be accepted into spatial planning practices and create regenerative regions that can respond to the global polycrisis. This mismatch reinforces the status quo of well-thought-through regenerative frameworks on the one hand and ongoing spatial planning in urban regions on the other. The aim of this study is to create a regenerative framework for regional planning. A range of regenerative frameworks have been analyzed and integrated into one ’framework of frameworks’, highlighting clusters of attributes describing the ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘how’, and ‘who’ of what needs to happen to create a regenerative world. On the other hand, expert judgement of planning practices in nine urban regions around the world provided insight about the priorities for regional regenerative development. This clarified the ‘what’ and ‘where’ of different aspects of urban planning in the region. Bringing the theoretical frameworks and practical understanding of urban planning together, the regenerative framework for regional planning provides a practical approach for navigating the complexities of creating a regenerative region. It starts by backtracking to the 1st generation city (of first settlements and indigenous understanding of the land). When this equilibrium is found, it is used to create a vision for the 3rd generation city (in which regenerative potentials are fully used). The comparison with the 2nd generation city (a current anthropogenic industrial city) clarifies what must change, how this change can be achieved, and who the agents of change are to make it happen.

Popularity in Chinese Early Adolescents: A Focus Group Analysis

Popularity is of great developmental significance to early adolescents for its implications on behavioral and adjustment outcomes. Although extensive research on popularity has been conducted in Western cultures, little is known about Chinese adolescents’ indigenous understanding of popularity. The current study examined Chinese early adolescents’ understanding of popularity using focus group interviews to explore the characteristics of popularity and unpopularity, as well as popularity determinants for boys and girls. We conducted interviews on six focus groups comprising 37 Chinese fifth and sixth graders (18 boys, 19 girls). Transcriptions were coded and analyzed through developing coding schemes that included emerged codes and categories. The results showed both cross-cultural similarities and culturally specific findings in adolescents’ perceptions of popularity characteristics and determinants. Specifically, sociability, academic performance, and prosocial behaviors served as major characteristics of popularity, whereas aggressive and disruptive behaviors were regarded as typical attributes of unpopularity. More importantly, culturally unique aspects of popularity characteristics were reported by Chinese adolescents, such as a strong sense of collective honor. When responding what would make a peer popular, Chinese early adolescents reported various behavioral, social, and cultural factors. Findings of this study underscore the importance of examining perceptions of popularity in consideration of the cultural context.

“All great warriors have long hair”: Tourism and shifting Indigenous masculinities in Napo, Ecuador

As young Indigenous Kichwa men begin working as local tour guides in the small city of Tena in the Ecuadorian Amazon, they go through complex processes of transition and adjustment navigating entanglements of tourists’ expectations, familial obligations, and desires for socioeconomic mobility. For many, there is the additional challenge of emphasizing their Indigenous identities, given the pervasive anti-Indigenous racism to which they are subjected within Ecuadorian society. I argue that work in tourism has provided young Kichwa men with opportunities for self-transformation, at once attractive and fraught with contradictions. On one hand, they have come to perceive their Indigeneity as an asset rather than a liability and are increasingly able to contest long-standing racism at the local level. On the other hand, their urban lifestyles, pursuit of intimate relationships with foreign tourists and sometimes dismissive attitudes towards rural Kichwa people have distanced them socially from the broader Kichwa population. By exploring these complex affective processes, their impacts on local dynamics, and the multiple and often conflicting understandings of Indigeneity that are constantly being produced and negotiated in these spaces, I seek to broaden the scope of scholarly debates on the impact of cultural tourism in Indigenous communities. I also engage with recent scholarship on Indigenous masculinities to discuss the possibilities and limitations of masculinity as a tool of decolonization for Indigenous peoples.

Trivialization of Well-being and Perils of A-theoretical Research in Psychology: Considerations from the Case of Mindfulness.

This article addresses the implications of ´Understanding the process of Taoistic-informed mindfulness from a Meadian perspective´, a work by von Fircks (2023) published in this journal, which represents a vindication of the historic, philosophic, and subjective dimensions of research in psychology. From my perspective as an indigenous researcher, I share my own experience of how deceitful distinctions between more or less scientific research topics are fostered by the omission of those dimensions. I also introduce the indigenous understanding of well-being to emphasize the relational nature of this phenomenon and similarities with some conclusions arising from the autoethnographic approach of the author. Moreover, the trivialization of well-being and epistemic violence toward the indigenous corpus of knowledge are signaled as consequences of reductionism in psychological research and the pursuit of scientific status. In this vein, the lack of a critical perspective in psychology is considered functional to the order in which possibilities for well-being are seriously constrained.

Generativity as a Traditional Way of Life: Successful aging among Unangan Elders in the Aleutian Pribilof Islands.

Predominantly Western-based biomedical models of successful aging have been used to research, understand, and explain successful aging among diverse populations. With an increasingly heterogeneous older adult population nationwide, scholars have been exploring Indigenous understandings of successful aging. To add to the accumulation of knowledge of diverse Alaska Native populations, this study involved semi-structured qualitative interviews with 20 Unangan Elders from the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands. This community-based participatory research study explores the aging experiences and conceptualization of successful aging of these Elders from this remote and culturally distinct region of Alaska. Thematic analysis was employed to identify themes related to successful aging within this specific region, which supported our previous four themes, or characteristics, of Alaska Native successful aging: physical health, social support and emotional well-being, generativity as a traditional way of life, and community engagement and Inidgenous cultural generativity. Each of these themes or characteristics of Eldership is intertwined and together support successful aging within two remote communities in the Bering Sea. The findings of this study illuminate how Alaska Native Elders can live in geographically diverse regions of the State, yet the values and teachings they possess on successful aging possess the same cultural values and teachings. This study highlighted two new emerging constructs that influence Alaska Native Elders' successful aging based on geographical location. Findings contribute to the thematic saturation of the four main successful aging domains while outlining the importance of future research to conduct deeper investigations into the role of environment and history on Elders' perceptions and understanding of aging.

Water courses and discourses: A media content analysis of environmental water reporting in Australia

This study presents the findings of a media content analysis (n=303) of articles discussing environmental water (water allocated to the environment in freshwater systems) in the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia across 20 years (2001 – 2021). The aim of the study was to determine the disposition of the articles, the actors (voices) invoked within them, as well as the topics they discuss in relation to environmental water, with a particular emphasis on understanding the representation and power dynamics prevalent in media discourse. The analysis highlighted that negative portrayals of environmental water occurred more often than those that were positive in nature. This led to a lack of balance in representation in heralding certain views, such as pro environmental, over others, such an economic arguments. Notably, Indigenous voices were given almost no representation across the analysed articles, while settler colonial voices such as Irrigators and Irrigator Lobby Groups were provided with a disproportionately larger share of discussion, driving the anti-environmental water disposition. This is notable as it serves to sway debate towards certain views and conceptualisations such as an economic valuing of environmental water. As such, environmental water is often discussed in the context of the economy and livelihoods of communities. There is a notable absence of discussions of climate change and cultural water in the debate, with zero mentions of either across all surveyed articles. This is surprising considering climate change is expected to reduce water availability across the basin by 20% in years to come. Water discussed as a commodity was regularly featured in discussion, which lends itself to understanding the wider policy debate nestled in neoliberal framings, rather than other valuations of water, such as environmentalist or Indigenous understandings. This has wider implications for other countries that are considering policy options for allocating environmental water and how a market-driven approach to water allocation serves to sway public discourse.

A Journey across Countries, Constructs, and Dreams: Perspectives of Indian American Families of Youth with Developmental Disabilities on Transition from School to Post-School Settings

<i>This article draws on the findings of a qualitative study that focused on the perspectives of four Indian American mothers of youth with developmental disabilities on the process of transitioning from school to post-school environments. Data were collected through in-depth ethnographic interviews. The findings indicate that in their efforts to support their youth with developmental disabilities, the mothers themselves navigate multiple transitions across countries, constructs, dreams, systems of schooling, and services. The mothers’ perspectives have to be understood against the larger context of their experiences as citizens of this country as well as members of the South Asian diaspora. The mothers’ views on services, their journey, their dreams for their youth, and their interpretation of the ideas anchored in current conversations on transition are continually evolving. Their attempts to maintain their resilience and their indigenous understandings while simultaneously negotiating their experiences in the United States with supporting their youth are discussed.  </i>

Enablers and barriers to dietary change for Māori with nutrition-related conditions in Aotearoa New Zealand: a scoping review.

Māori, the Indigenous population of Aotearoa New Zealand, face a substantial burden of nutrition-related diseases, especially obesity and type 2 diabetes. Weight loss, through dietary change, is a central component of obesity and diabetes prevention and management; however, most approaches have not been designed with or evaluated specifically for Māori. The aim of this study was to review literature on the enablers and barriers to dietary change, for Māori. Relevant literature published from January 2000 to May 2024 was identified by searches in Medline (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), Scopus, Indigenous health (informit), CINAHL (EBSCO), Web of Science and NZResearch. Studies included Māori and reflected enablers and barriers to dietary change for individuals/whānau (families). Data identifying the aims, methods, interventions, location, population studied and identified enablers and barriers to dietary change and responsiveness to Māori were extracted. Enablers and barriers to dietary change were mapped to a New Zealand Indigenous health framework, the Meihana model. Settings included studies based in Aotearoa New Zealand, where participants were free living and able to determine their dietary intake. Studies included at least 30 % Māori participants. Twenty-two of the seventy-seven identified records met the inclusion criteria. Records included a diverse range of research approaches. Using a relevant Indigenous model, this study highlights that multiple and diverse enablers and barriers to dietary change exist for Māori and the critical importance of developing interventions, in close partnership with Indigenous communities, grounded in Indigenous understandings of health.

Decolonizing methodologies and the reversal of colonial logic: Implications for non-Indigenous nursing lecturers and nursing researchers

This article exists as a call for decolonizing methodologies and the reversal of colonial logic. Drawing in part on my own ethnographic research on soccer in the Fiji Islands and popular music and society in Indonesia, I explain how local study participants can and should be encouraged to operate as co-interviewers and co-researchers so that the project has an Indigenous flavour and orientation and functions in terms of Indigenous understandings of relationships, practices, and values. The last section of the article draws out the implications of decolonizing methodologies for nursing lecturers and nursing researchers in the Global South. Based on three short cases, I conclude that decolonizing logic means that, first and foremost, we learn to choose and want to choose the Fiji logic while not necessarily despising the Western logic but putting it below or in parenthesis. We might need to remember it if and when we go home!

The Indigenous Practice of Braiding Sweetgrass and the Expansion of Ethical Imagination

The tradition of braiding sweetgrass in indigenous cultures is the practice of picking strands of the plant sweetgrass, drying the strands, and intertwining the distinct strands into a braid of different textures. This braid is given to others as a form of goodwill and gratitude. The braids are also used and burned during ceremonies and prayers. Indigenous tradition teaches that the sweet smell and smoke are attractive to good spirits and can carry prayers to the spirit realm. The Greek origin of the botanical nomenclature for sweetgrass, hierochloe, derives from the words sacred (hieros) and grass (chloe). This study utilizes accounts of indigenous sweetgrass practices and myths in anthropological and religious studies fields to evaluate how indigenous approaches serve to expand Western ethical imagination around plants and ecological preservation. Indigenous harvesting practices and uses of sweetgrass are embedded in sacred myths and assumptions about the interconnection between humanity and plants. In this interconnection, plants and humans are envisioned to be in a sacred relationship of symbiotic mutuality. The indigenous understanding of the relationality between plants and humans provides a different, potentially instructive paradigm in contrast to common Western understandings of ecology and ethics around plants.

Protecting and Accessing Indigenous Peoples’ Digital Cultural Heritage through Sustainable Governance and IPR Structures - the case of Sámi Culture

This article addresses the clash between Western and Indigenous understandings of how cultural heritage should be governed, protected and treated through law, especially in the digital environment. Specifically, the focus is on the ways in which the Western intellectual property rights (IPR) system often stands in contrast with Indigenous practices and ethics. This problem is approached through a single, intrinsic and descriptive case study related to the digital cultural heritage of the Sámi people: the Digital Access to Sámi Heritage Archives project. The article shows how the current IPR framework governing Indigenous cultural heritage is often misaligned with Indigenous worldviews. However, the study reveals that there is room to develop more sustainable, just and inclusive practices by complementing the existing legal rules with soft-law mechanisms, such as norms and customs, co-created with Indigenous communities.

Indigenous Perception About Epilepsy and Its Treatment with Ethno-Medicines

This qualitative study delves into the indigenous understanding of epilepsy and its treatment using ethno medicines within the Saraiki community of Pakistan. Employing in-depth interviews and a case study approach, this research uncovers the distinctive cultural beliefs, rituals, and viewpoints related to epilepsy in this community. The findings unveil a spectrum of interpretations surrounding epilepsy, with some attributing it to spiritual or supernatural causes. Moreover, the study sheds light on the significant role of ethno medicines in traditional healing practices, underlining their therapeutic value in the context of epilepsy management. Recognizing and respecting these indigenous perspectives is crucial for developing culturally sensitive approaches to epilepsy management, as it allows for the incorporation of traditional healing practices and holistic healthcare within the Saraiki community. By bridging the gap between conventional medical approaches and culturally rooted beliefs, this study not only enriches our understanding of how epilepsy is perceived and managed within the community but also contributes to more effective and inclusive healthcare strategies, ultimately improving the overall well-being of the Saraiki people.

Prolegomena to Any Future Indigenous History of the Ancient World

Abstract The usual way of talking about indigenous peoples in antiquity is to assume analogies between any peoples who were not hegemonic or imperial and the modern victims of European settler colonialism. The merits of such comparison are less often considered, and almost never from the perspective of the population described as “indigenous.” The aim of this article is to define and apply the term more carefully as a concept for premodern historians. A series of case studies from Hellenistic Anatolia illustrate how a casual use of “indigenous” leads to serious misunderstandings of imperial and colonial dynamics and indigenous self-understandings that can be rectified only by a theoretically grounded and transhistorical understanding of indigeneity. Such an approach forces us to examine the logic behind power relations and imbalances, leading to more fruitful comparison with the more familiar colonialism of the modern period.

Theatrical Recycling as Colonial Prequel: The Provocation!, Nootka Sound, and British Columbia’s “First” Play

The 1790 pantomime The Provocation!’s intervention into the Nootka Crisis may signal that what was to crystalize by 1871, when British Columbia entered Canadian Confederation as a settler colony, was already taking shape: the confluence of the development of a series of extractive industries, the establishment of settler colonies, and persistent imperial ambivalence about the territory that would eventually become a Canadian province. Given that the Nootka Sound Crisis is now relatively unknown, this article begins by briefly summarizing the crisis. After describing Nootka Sound and The Provocation!, The Provocation!’s apparent intervention in British diplomacy is discussed. Finally, after outlining how the public appearance of six Cherokee Chiefs at one of The Provocation!’s final performances was deployed by the press, the article addresses how the two plays built on pre-circulating British understandings of Indigeneity and of the Pacific Northwest, recycling and activating these performative and visual genealogies to lay the groundwork for the settler-colonial structures that followed in the nineteenth century.