Local Indigenous Populations Research Articles

From Arctic ponds to the "Northern Great Lakes": Algae as first responders of climate-driven regime shifts.

Arctic freshwater ecosystems are on the "frontline" of climate change, but due to a lack of direct long-term monitoring data, indirect approaches, such as algal-based paleolimnology, must be used to reconstruct past limnological conditions. Our understanding of the responses of small- to mid-sized Arctic lakes to climate warming has increased over the last ~30 years. However, until recently, little was known about even the basic limnological conditions of Canada's "Northern Great Lakes," such as Lake Hazen, Great Bear Lake, and Great Slave Lake. In this summary, we show that a continuum of algal changes, observable in the sedimentary archives of shallow ponds to very large Arctic lakes, signals the crossing of key aquatic thresholds linked to changing ice covers and thermal regimes, declining wind speeds, and other climate-related variables. With recent accelerated warming, even the largest and most resilient Arctic waterbodies are now fundamentally different than they were just a few decades ago. These changes will undoubtedly cascade throughout the food web leading to important changes for local Indigenous populations as well as the global community.

Food ethnobotany of forest resource in the high-altitude Himalaya Mountains: Enhancing the food sovereignty of ethnic groups

The vital knowledge of traditional foraging techniques used in indigenous peoples' cuisines may be preserved through gastronomical field studies before it is lost forever. Certain plants are appreciated for their gastronomic, social, economic and ecological importance in the High Himalaya because they play such a significant role in the daily life of the local indigenous populations. To determine the plant cultural indicators for each ethnic group, the data were analyzed using an indicator species analysis. Semi-structured interviews of 167 participants, focus group discussion, and field observations were used to gather information from February 2019 to August 2022 for a comprehensive and systematic gastronomical survey. Across four ethnic groups, a total of (N = 99) wild edible plant species and (N = 9) fungi species from 38 families were documented. Tender leaves were the most commonly used, while tubers were the least commonly used. The majority of the species reported were used as vegetables, followed by species used as fruits and herbal tea. For the first time, we examined cross-cultural similarity and dissimilarity for gastronomic usage: vegetables and savoring plants,fruits, and herbal tea across the cultures studied from the perspective of food ethnobotany. We discovered a clear difference in how different cultures used forest resources, with Gujjar and Pahari showing the most species similarity. This is because these ethic groups are culturally linked with one another and share a common social structure, geography, and language. We calculated plant cultural markers for each species, and 19 of them had significant p-values among the four ethnic groups. The findings revealed a positive relationship between the Gujjar and Pahari ethnic groups and the gastronomical indicator values, while the Kashmiri ethnic group had a negative relationship. The Kashmiri ethnic group experienced the loss of traditional knowledge because of the economic transition that caused people to prefer purchasing vegetables from the market rather than foraging for them in the wild. Traditional knowledge was also dwindling between the Gujjar and Pahari ethnic groups because of social changes brought on by developmental activities that changed their way of life. The identified plant cultural markers were significant to local residents and frequently had adaptations to extremely harsh climatic and environmental conditions. Our finding that 47% of species had market value suggests that these species have a sizable market demand and a promising economic value. They have the potential to boost food security, local community sovereignty, and people's living standards. Food production systems may become more resilient and sustainable by incorporating these indicator species into conventional agriculture. The current study raises awareness about forest resources and enables ethnic groups to live in a natural environment without food scarcity.

DESAIN KOMUNIKASI DALAM UPAYA MENYELESAIKAN KONFLIK ANTAR AKTOR PADA KASUS PULAU REMPANG

This study discusses the role of the government in providing public services and infrastructure development to increase economic growth and community productivity. The case study focuses on the development of Rempang Eco City in Indonesia, which faced challenges due to the lack of involvement of the local community and the reliance on technical aspects only. The relocation efforts did not consider the social and emotional aspects of the community, leading to conflicts and human rights violations. It highlights the need for an effective communication strategy involving multi-actors to ensure that development projects are sustainable and do not discriminate against local indigenous populations. The government, indigenous communities, and BP Batam need to understand each other's interests and concerns to minimize the emergence of sectoral egos, dominance, and asymmetric information. The research study used a qualitative approach with descriptive methods to explore the conflict between sectors on Rempang Island. Data collection was conducted through document study, gathering information from various credible secondary sources. The data analysis was descriptive, aiming to provide an interpretation of the conflicts and their implications. The theoretical basis of the text is the importance of effective communication in policy formulation and implementation, which is crucial for the proper functioning of democracy in a developing country like Indonesia.

Indonesia's New Capital: An Analysis Of Transparency, Public Participation, And Deliberative Democracy

This study aims to assess the government's policy regarding establishing a new capital city, focusing on the dimensions of transparency, public participation, and deliberative democracy. This study will provide valuable insights for policymakers in Indonesia and other developing nations, enabling them to make informed decisions of a comparable nature. The present study employs a qualitative case study approach, incorporating interviews, observations, and secondary data collection from government reports and research conducted by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). According to this study, the formulation of the IKN Law has successfully adhered to the principles of deliberative democracy, encompassing the dimensions of influence, inclusiveness, and deliberation. However, it is essential to note that certain limitations are associated with this process, specifically insufficient transparency and limited engagement with local indigenous communities. In order to ensure effective community engagement and inclusivity, it is imperative for the government to enhance transparency in disseminating information regarding the progress of the Ibu Kota Negara (IKN) and actively involve local indigenous populations in the project. In the context of a developing nation such as Indonesia, it is imperative for policymakers to accord utmost importance to public engagement and transparency in formulating critical policies that bear substantial consequences on the social, economic, and environmental fronts.

Modeling Holocene coastal ecosystem availability and site distribution patterns for Borikén, Puerto Rico

Coasts are dynamic environments prone to the physical and social impacts of climate change. Examining the archaeological and environmental records of coastal areas can deepen our understanding of how humans respond to changing environmental conditions. In this article we consider how sea-level rise impacted coastal environments through time, and how these changes could pose opportunities or challenges to local indigenous populations. We present new findings of coastal zone transformations and past settlement patterns for Borikén, the largest island of the Puerto Rican archipelago, during the Holocene. We use paleogeographic modeling to reconstruct ecosystem availability for six discernible coastlines at 1000-year resolutions that accounts for past relative sea-level (RSL) heights and paleotidal ranges. We then compared ecosystem availability trends with the spatiotemporal distributions of available archaeological data to demonstrate the localized impacts of climate-related RSL rise across the island’s coastal ecosystems and suggest a consideration of habitat availability in past decision-making strategies. We observe a strong presence of Archaic Period sites in the island’s southwest coast where high coastal ecosystem availability and stability were present during this period. We also observe a significant expansion of intertidal ecosystems beginning at 3 kya for the north-central, north-eastern, south-central, and south-eastern coastlines that correspond to the appearance of materials associated with Early and Late Ceramic Periods cultures in these areas. This comparison of differential coastal transformations and site distributions conveys a deeper understanding of factors involved in past decision-making strategies and contributes to the emerging picture of human adaptations amidst changing environmental conditions.

Reifications in Disease Ecology 1: Demystifying Land Use Change in Pathogen Emergence

ABSTRACT Disease ecology has the potential to help build a new society where the contradictions of our time are recognized and confronted in the pursuit of a more considered, and just, understanding of the interrelationships of organisms with the environment. Unfortunately, the discipline is facing a major dilemma as the advent of new technologies, access to remote data, and lack of engagement with the contexts where diseases emerge and are transmitted, has resulted in the creation of Blame Local Indigenous and Peasant Populations (BLIPP) narratives that align with hegemonic globalizing agents and processes. Here, in the first half of a two-part essay about reifications in disease ecology, thinking with dialectical materialism, we demystify BLIPP narratives around land use change in disease emergence.

Analysis of Anthropogenic Pressure in the UFA Pokola Production Series, Sangha, Congo

The phenomenon of anthropization of the production series of the Pokola forest management unit is an acute problem. This study aimed, among other things, to analyze the anthropogenic pressure of local communities and indigenous populations (CLPA) in the production series as well as to suggest prospects for improving this phenomenon. Data collection and analysis favored a qualitative rather than a quantitative approach. It appears from this study that this phenomenon is due to the difficulty of access to agricultural land in the municipality of Pokola, the increased demand for agricultural products, the lack of land subdivision in the municipality of Pokola, etc. Despite knowing the limits of the community development series (62%) and given the demographic and spatial growth of the municipality of Pokola, some CLPAs are forced to carry out their activities in the production series, an area reserved for production. lumber. Illegal occupations concern food crops and cash crops which are the origin of forest clearing, camps and some dwellings. Better management of access to land in the community development series is necessary to mitigate this phenomenon.

Profiles of indigenous patients with epilepsy in a Brazilian village

IntroductionIdentifying epilepsy in local indigenous populations and describing its epidemiological, etiological, electroencephalographic, and therapeutic aspects can assist public health policies planning toward epilepsy in indigenous communities. MethodsThis descriptive, cross-sectional study investigated epilepsy among indigenous people residing in Jaguapirú Village, Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Participants had their clinical histories reviewed and physical examination performed, as well as one or more electroencephalograms (EEG) registered. Other laboratory tests and neuroimaging data available were analyzed and patients with nonepileptic paroxysmal events were additionally identified. ResultsOut of 2,994 respondents, 49 had a confirmed diagnosis of epilepsy (2.37%) and 22 had self-limited epileptic syndromes, a rate that exceeds the global prevalence but is close to other data reported in the Brazilian population. Focal epilepsy, predominantly from temporal lobe origin, was the most prevalent epileptic syndrome (71.4%). Febrile seizures occurred in only 0.4% of respondents, much lower rate than reported in the general population, which can be attributed to the cross-sectional study design. The etiology of epilepsy was undetermined in 82.6% of cases, with the remaining cases attributed to head trauma, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, and brain malformations. A history of delayed neuropsychomotor development was significantly associated with epilepsy. Monotherapy with first-generation antiseizure medications was greatly effective in most epilepsy cases (87.7%). Electroencephalogram helped to define focal epilepsies and diagnose seizures of nonepileptic origin; the latter mostly included cases of psychogenic seizures and, less frequently, syncope. ConclusionDiagnosing epilepsy, its clinical presentation, and therapeutical response profile in traditional communities is essential for the establishment of public health policies in developing countries and may help community involvement for successful treatment.

PHYLOGENETIC PROCESSES IN EUROPEAN AND ASIAN PIG POPULATIONS

As a result of evolution, a gradual change in the hereditary structure of a species, not only the number of genes changes, but also their properties, frequency, and direction of variability. Changes in gene frequencies occurring over a relatively small period of time belong to microevolution. The breeding process in pig breeding is the microevolutionary processes originating from the ancestral forms of Sus scrofa to the modern specialized breeds of pigs. Genetic monitoring of the genetic systems of blood groups makes it possible to assess the genetic structure and processes occurring in populations. The microevolutionary process of transformation of wild ancestral forms over the last 10-12 thousand years from transitional forms of local aboriginal to factory breeds has occurred with significant genetic and phenotypic transformations in animal populations. In this connection, it is important to clarify the correct understanding of the terms 'population' and 'breed'. Naturally, any breed is a population, but not any population is not a breed, especially since both population and population as taxonomic terms have different interpretations. In the first place, a distinction must be made between wild populations, in which microevolution takes place only by means of natural selection, and breed populations, in the development of which artificial selection was involved as a fundamental factor in microevolution. Depending on the level of methods and forms of selection, we have to distinguish local indigenous populations (e.g., Kakhetian and Mangali breeds) and basic factory breeds (Large White, Berkshire, Landrace, Duroc, etc.), which have been created for decades and centuries. The concept of a breed is closely linked to the size of the reproductive population and the range of distribution. According to FAO, in 2006 there were some 730 breeds and lines of pigs worldwide, most of which are bred in China and Europe, and 270 of which are regarded as rare breeds. At the same time, 58 breeds (25 regional and 33 international) are registered as common, i.e. occurring in more than one country. Five international breeds are now widely distributed: Large White (117 countries), Duroc (93 countries), Landrace (91 countries), Hampshire (54 countries) and Petren (35 countries).

High Frequencies of TNC and COL5A1 Genotypes Associated With Low Risk for Superficial Digital Flexor Tendinopathy in Greek Indigenous Horse Breeds Compared With Warmblood Horses

Tendinopathies constitute a very common category of musculoskeletal disorders, causing economic losses in the equine industry and animal welfare issues in horse populations. Sport and racehorses are in general sensitive to tendinopathies, whereas local indigenous horse populations are often more tolerant to various disorders. Particularly, indigenous Greek horse breeds have evolved and adapted in the rough topographic features of mountainous and semimountainous Greek terrain and are less prone to develop tendinopathies. Susceptibility to tendinopathy has been proposed to be associated with three specific variants in the tenascin-C and collagen type 5 α-1 genes. The present study was designed to analyze these genes and estimate the frequency of the aforementioned variants in three indigenous Greek horse populations, namely the pinia (peneia) breed, the Messara breed, and the nondescript Macedonian pacer, in comparison with a population of warmbloods. Results revealed high frequencies of genotypes with high risk for tendinopathy in the warmblood population and high frequency of low risk genotypes in the Greek breeds. Apart from the three variants, two novel polymorphisms were detected, one of which may also be associated with risk for tendinopathy. Our findings (a) are in agreement with previous ones demonstrating that risk for tendinopathies is associated with particular gene variants and also (b) highlight the value of Greek indigenous horse breeds as a genetic resource that (c) may be used in selective breeding schemes for decreasing the risk for tendinopathies in genetically improved breeds.

Principles and strategies for improving the prevention of cardio-metabolic diseases in indigenous populations: An international Delphi study.

The disparity in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, including within high-income countries, is driven by a heightened risk of cardio-metabolic diseases. The current study recruited independent panels of experts in Indigenous cardio-metabolic health from Australia, New Zealand and the United States, in order to establish local consensus opinion and initiate dialogue on appropriate prevention strategies. Therefore, a three-round Delphi process was used to consolidate and compare the opinions of 60 experts, 20 from each country. Round one, the experts were asked twelve open-ended questions across six domains: (i) prevention; (ii) consultation; (iii) educational resources; (iv) societal issues; (v) workforce issues; (vi) culture and family. Round two, the experts completed a structured questionnaire based on results from the first round, in which they ranked items according to their importance. Final round, the experts were asked to re-rank the same items after receiving summary feedback about the rank ordering from the previous round. Several themes emerged common to all three countries: (i) socio-economic and education inequalities should be addressed; (ii) educational, behaviour change and prevention strategies should address physical environmental determinants and be responsive to the local context, including being culturally appropriate; and (iii) cultural appropriateness can be achieved through consultation with Indigenous communities, cultural competency training, use of Indigenous health workers, and use of appropriate role models. These findings highlight several key priorities that can be used to initiate dialogue on appropriate prevention strategies. Such strategies should be contextualized to the local Indigenous populations.

Teacher Ethics: The Link between Quality Teaching and Multi-ethnic and Multiracial Education

Many current economic and social challenges lead to waves of migrating people. The countries where migrants seek refuge can be ethnically homogeneous and monolingual such as Greece, or more frequently, ethnically diverse with local Indigenous populations which have been subjugated and marginalized, such as the US or Australia. In either context, a significant corollary of migration is the absorption of children into the local educational system. Migrant children, much like the local Indigenous marginalized children of the host countries, have language barriers and different customs from those of the host country. Cultural mismatches between the culture of the child and that of its teacher have been empirically shown to result in a range of negative outcomes for the child, including behavioural infractions, low academic outcomes and dropping out of school. This research illustrates findings from the second phase of an extended study. The study aim was to identify what constitutes culturally responsive pedagogy in Australia to support the needs of Indigenous Australian students. Indigenous Australian students, like their counterparts in New Zealand and North America, have the lowest academic attainment of any students in Australia. Through qualitative interviews with Indigenous parents, teachers and students, we identified a range of teacher behaviours deemed by Indigenous people to be indicators of teacher quality as indicated by culturally responsive pedagogy. From these we constructed a teacher survey which was piloted with two waves of practicing teachers. Latent Trait Analyses using the Rasch Model validated the survey and its underlying factors. Findings showed that teachers' ethic of care strongly predicted their pedagogical expertise. Implications of the research include redefining quality teaching as a pedagogy based on strong ethical standards driven by a vocational disposition which seek to benefit all students including those from ethnically diverse groups such as Indigenous students, refugees and recent migrants.

Discourse Particles in Malaysian English

Regional varieties of language, often a result of language contact, possess various characteristics, such as borrowed words, and often structures, sounds, and meanings transferred from one or more languages. The variety of English used in informal contexts in Malaysia known as Malaysian English contains localized features resulting from contact with languages spoken by the local indigenous populations as well as the Chinese and Indian diaspora in this Southeast Asian nation. A prominent feature of Malaysian English is the presence of discourse particles (such as lah, meh, and lor) that are not found in the standardized form of English and that are often unintelligible to people unfamiliar with them. Using communication on Facebook by Chinese Malaysian young adults as data representing real-life, informal talk in a computer-mediated environment, this article examines the multiple functions of Malaysian English discourse particles and proposes a framework for interpreting their meanings when used in communication.

TECHNOLOGIES OF DOMINATION AT MISSION SAN BERNABÉ, PETÉN, GUATEMALA

AbstractThe Spaniards established severalcongregacionesor missions in central Petén, Guatemala, shortly after the 1697 conquest of the region to help control local indigenous populations. Recent investigations at the church and community of Mission San Bernabé revealed details about the entangled relations of Mayas and Spaniards. Foucault's four technologies of domination help explicate these power relations as they were played out in the small settlement and the church at its center. Material culture differed in many ways from that of the pre-conquest Itzas, but was clearly predominantly “Maya.” Spanish-style goods and burial patterns were found as were hybrid ceramic wares, the Spanish-style artifacts most common in an elite residence, reflecting that Maya elite acted as brokers with the Spaniards. The occupants also incorporated Spanish domesticates into their diets. Some changes likely resulted from various ethnic groups residing in the same settlement, but others were the product of indigenous adaptations to the situation of contact. Nevertheless, it is clear that the mission anchored a number of strategies of domination that subdued the occupants of San Bernabé.

Genomic Insights into the Ancestry and Demographic History of South America.

South America has a complex demographic history shaped by multiple migration and admixture events in pre- and post-colonial times. Settled over 14,000 years ago by Native Americans, South America has experienced migrations of European and African individuals, similar to other regions in the Americas. However, the timing and magnitude of these events resulted in markedly different patterns of admixture throughout Latin America. We use genome-wide SNP data for 437 admixed individuals from 5 countries (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina) to explore the population structure and demographic history of South American Latinos. We combined these data with population reference panels from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas to perform global ancestry analysis and infer the subcontinental origin of the European and Native American ancestry components of the admixed individuals. By applying ancestry-specific PCA analyses we find that most of the European ancestry in South American Latinos is from the Iberian Peninsula; however, many individuals trace their ancestry back to Italy, especially within Argentina. We find a strong gradient in the Native American ancestry component of South American Latinos associated with country of origin and the geography of local indigenous populations. For example, Native American genomic segments in Peruvians show greater affinities with Andean indigenous peoples like Quechua and Aymara, whereas Native American haplotypes from Colombians tend to cluster with Amazonian and coastal tribes from northern South America. Using ancestry tract length analysis we modeled post-colonial South American migration history as the youngest in Latin America during European colonization (9–14 generations ago), with an additional strong pulse of European migration occurring between 3 and 9 generations ago. These genetic footprints can impact our understanding of population-level differences in biomedical traits and, thus, inform future medical genetic studies in the region.

Characterizing Types of Human Mobility to Inform Differential and Targeted Malaria Elimination Strategies in Northeast Cambodia.

Human population movements currently challenge malaria elimination in low transmission foci in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Using a mixed-methods design, combining ethnography (n = 410 interviews), malariometric data (n = 4996) and population surveys (n = 824 indigenous populations; n = 704 Khmer migrants) malaria vulnerability among different types of mobile populations was researched in the remote province of Ratanakiri, Cambodia. Different structural types of human mobility were identified, showing differential risk and vulnerability. Among local indigenous populations, access to malaria testing and treatment through the VMW-system and LLIN coverage was high but control strategies failed to account for forest farmers’ prolonged stays at forest farms/fields (61% during rainy season), increasing their exposure (p = 0.002). The Khmer migrants, with low acquired immunity, active on plantations and mines, represented a fundamentally different group not reached by LLIN-distribution campaigns since they were largely unregistered (79%) and unaware of the local VMW-system (95%) due to poor social integration. Khmer migrants therefore require control strategies including active detection, registration and immediate access to malaria prevention and control tools from which they are currently excluded. In conclusion, different types of mobility require different malaria elimination strategies. Targeting mobility without an in-depth understanding of malaria risk in each group challenges further progress towards elimination.

Latin America’s Transformative New Extraction and Local Conflicts

Subterranean Struggles: New Dynamics of Mining, Oil, and Gas in Latin America, edited by Anthony Bebbington and Jeffrey Bury. University of Texas Press, 2013. Unearthing conflict: Corporate Mining, Activism, and Expertise in Peru, by Fabiana Li. Duke University Press, 2015. Oil Sparks in the Amazon: Local Conflicts, Indigenous Populations, and Natural Resources, by Patricia I. Vasquez. University of Georgia Press, 2014.

Oil Sparks in the Amazon: Local Conflicts, Indigenous Populations, and Natural Resources

Recent decades have seen a rise in the production of hydrocarbons (oil and gas) in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The motivating observation of Oil Sparks in the Amazon is that this rise has coincided with an increase in the frequency of “local conflicts.” These conflicts are “geographically limited to the boundaries of the oil or gas project that originally sparks them, and they involve Indigenous People, and sometimes farming communities living in the area” (p. 5–6). Patricia I. Vásquez's take on this phenomenon is policy oriented, with a focus on strategies to mitigate local hydrocarbons conflicts in the future. The major contribution of the book arises from the author's clear command of the facts of her case studies. The detailed descriptions of events make for a useful primer on the issues of hydrocarbons and conflict in the region. With a focus on the Amazonian areas of Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru, the first chapter provides a helpful overview of the stakeholders in each case while also summarizing the global forces at play. The second chapter presents a brief history of the indigenous peoples, their struggle for rights in the case countries, and the lingering disparities between these groups and nonindigenous populations. The third chapter examines the general structural factors underlying local conflicts, while the fourth covers specific triggers or aggravating factors for the case conflicts of interest. These chapters present a wealth of information about the legislative, legal, and local organizational contexts of the cases.

Patricia I. Vásquez, Oil Sparks in the Amazon: Local Conflicts, Indigenous Populations, and Natural Resources (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2014), pp. xix + 187, $79.95, $24.95 pb.

Patricia I. Vásquez, Oil Sparks in the Amazon: Local Conflicts, Indigenous Populations, and Natural Resources (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2014), pp. xix + 187, $79.95, $24.95 pb.

The Introduction of Wheat in Mendoza, Argentina During the Sixteenth Century A.D.: Archaeobotanical Evidence

During the colonial era, southern Mendoza, Argentina, functioned as a frontier where indigenous and Spanish-speaking people interacted. Contact caused major transformations to indigenous economic, social, and political organization. Archaeological analysis is fundamental to understanding the characteristics of local indigenous populations that rapidly incorporated European products into their diets. Analysis of archaeological remains from the region, therefore, can cast light on important aspects of Spanish-indigenous interactions. The aim of this work is to describe the archaeobotanical record of Cueva de Luna—located in the Rio Grande Valley and containing occupations dated between ca. 3800 B.P. and European contact—and to understand how plants were exploited by the inhabitants of southern Mendoza. Preliminary analysis of the archaeobotanical record, consisting primarily of seeds and woody endocarps in a dry state of preservation, indicates the use of native wild taxa, among which algarrobo (Prosopis sp.), molle (Schinus polygamus), solupe (Ephedra), and jarilla (Larrea nitida) abound. American cultivars including beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) are also present. Significantly, the record includes Eurasian taxa, including wheat (Triticum sp.) and walnut tree (Juglans sp.). The Cueva de Luna record is important in this regard for it may correspond to the nineteenth century, when the area was inhabited by what may have been the last indigenous Pehuenche group preceding the current ranchers. Our results provide a basis for future work related to change and continuity in the prehistoric use of plants.