Perspectives Of Indigenous Peoples Research Articles

Keeping on Country: Understanding and Responding to Crime and Recidivism in Remote Indigenous Communities

ObjectivesThe objectives of this qualitative study were to examine local perspectives on the causes of crime and recidivism in two remote Indigenous communities, and provide a series of recommendations regarding more effective responses that could be implemented by way of justice reinvestment.MethodThis study was coordinated by a multi‐disciplinary research team that actively engaged the community in every stage of the research process, through a culturally and ecologically informed participatory action research design. Data was gathered through semi‐structured individual and focus group interviews with three cohorts: (a) offenders who had been incarcerated on at least one occasion (n = 20); (b) offenders’ families (n = 20); and, (c) service providers working with offenders (n = 20). Data was also gathered through over 40 informal conversations. Data collection occurred over a period of 18 months, with participants recruited by Indigenous researchers and community members.Data AnalysisInterviews were transcribed and analysed by NVivo qualitative data processing software in the first instance. The core research team and community members reviewed this analysis in order to collectively identify major themes and patterns in the perspectives of participants.ConclusionPeople in remote Indigenous communities are aware of the complex issues associated with crime in their community and have clear ideas regarding what can be done. We argue that in order to understand and address Indigenous crime and over‐representation in the criminal justice system, the perspective of Indigenous people must be elevated and communities empowered to identify and implement ecologically and culturally informed solutions that will work for them.

Local Wisdom In Malam Berinai Tradition In Malay Society, Tanjungbalai, North Sumatera, Indonesia

Malam Berinai tradition is part of a traditional wedding ceremony in Malay society. The tradition of malam berinai which is a series of ceremonies is held on the evenings before the wedding ceremony. Malam berinai becomes a very important part in the ceremony to give a signal to the bride. Giving henna to the bride is an attempt to give a sign to the bride as well as the blessing of the family to allow the bride and groom set up a new life. In addition, malam berinai is thanking and praying to God asking for the succesful of the marriage ceremony the next day, away from all obstacles and barriers. The purpose of this study is to analyze the form of local wisdom contained in traditional Malay society malam berinai in Tanjungbalai. This study used a qualitative method with an ethnographic approach. Ethnographic approach is the work of describing a culture. The main objective of this activity is to understand a way of life from the perspective of indigenous people. The results show there are four forms of local wisdom in this malam berinai tradition, they are manners, gratitude, mutual help, and care for the environment. The fourth local wisdom is to serve the Malay Tanjungbalai to guide their lives in society and country.

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN TORAJA: PERSPECTIVE OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Stakeholders in Indonesia have accepted sustainable tourism as the protection and the long use of tourism resources as well as the availability of the resources for current and the future generation. Although such concept has been recognised as a good notion for developing tourism destination, its implementation needs to be investigated. Since 1970s, Toraja has been promoted as one of the main tourism destinations of Indonesia. For this reason, Toraja was chosen as a location for qualitative fieldwork to investigate the conduct of sustainable tourism. This article provides insights about sustainability and sustainable tourism based on the perspective of indigenous people in Toraja. Participant observations and interviews to stakeholders in South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia (specifically in North Toraja and Toraja land) were utilised to obtain information about sustainable tourism. On the basis of traditional cultural practices, Torajanese believe that the way they practice culture is actually a sustainable way. The idea of sustainability links to sustainability tourism which is now being promoted by the levels of government in Indonesia.

Perspectives of Indigenous people in the Pilbara about the delivery of healthcare services

To identify Indigenous people's views about gaps and practical solutions for the delivery of healthcare services in the Pilbara. A structured guide was used to interview three Indigenous language groups from the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The responses were analysed with the use of content analysis. In the first stage, codes were developed by assigning names to small sections of the interview transcripts. Next, the most salient incisive codes were identified and developed into themes that captured the most important issues. Many respondents said that there were insufficient health professionals near country, which was compounded by a lack of adequate transport to reach healthcare services. Moreover, respondents commonly indicated that they would be unable to secure adequate accommodation for themselves and any carer when needing to leave country to undergo medical care. The importance of secondary healthcare interventions was highlighted, particularly health promotion initiatives that improved diet and exercise levels and reduced substance abuse. Assuming responsibility for one's own health was seen as integral to improving the overall health of communities. The respondents saw role models as the most important influence in leading people to take responsibility for improving their own health. This study provides Indigenous perspectives about gaps and solutions in healthcare service delivery in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Although initiatives have commenced to address the shortfall in health professionals and inadequate transport to healthcare, there are still gaps in service provision. Mobile health services were strongly supported as an integral measure to address these gaps. WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THIS TOPIC? About two out of every three Indigenous adults in the Pilbara experience a chronic health condition. Moreover, compared with non-Indigenous people in the region, Indigenous people experience a significantly higher mortality rate for numerous chronic health conditions. Although some information is available about the provision of health services for Indigenous people in the Pilbara, little is known about Indigenous people's perspectives about its adequacy or how it should be delivered. WHAT DOES THIS PAPER ADD? This study details three local language groups' views about the gaps and solutions to delivery of healthcare for Indigenous people in the Pilbara. It highlights the need for secondary healthcare interventions given difficulties around providing adequate primary care in remote settings. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTITIONERS? Health promotion initiatives need to be prioritised to improve the health of Australian Indigenous people in the Pilbara and the initiatives should be delivered with the involvement of the local communities. Innovative solutions are required to improve the continuity of healthcare in the Pilbara, including increased use of mobile services.

AcademIK Connections: Bringing Indigenous Knowledge and Perspectives into the Classroom

Indigenous knowledge is local knowledge aggregated by communities over generations, reflecting many years of experimentation and innovation in all aspects of life. Unfortunately, positivist thinking has become the dominant epistemic culture within the academic and professional arenas and leads to the systematic marginalization of alternate ways of knowing, learning, and doing. Educating global-minded social problem-solvers necessitates bringing knowledge and perspectives of indigenous people with different epistemologies and philosophies of life into the classroom. Penn State has produced AcademIK Connections, a series of video clips that provide engaging stories about the importance of indigenous knowledge systems in developing entrepreneurial solutions to address community challenges. The video clips feature stories by individuals that, collectively, represent decades of experience in engaging with indigenous communities. These individuals come from diverse disciplines and scholarly research traditions and are known to consciously and respectfully employ indigenous knowledge in their academic activities. This paper discusses the importance of integrating indigenous knowledge into the classroom and suggests that the video series can help transform the classroom into an engaging and intriguing smorgasbord of philosophies and epistemologies.

On Playing Cowboys and Indians

This article traces my childhood experience of playing with cowboy and Indian toy figures. I argue that such playing was both productive and problematic for developing an ethical sense of the other. Layered between my accounts are the words of Michael Yellow Bird, who offers an alternative point of view, one that establishes how such playing might be read from the perspective of Indigenous people.

The Transcontextualization of Sustainable Development in a Mining Exploration Milieu: A Transect on the Alangan Mangyans

This study contends that although an array of factors may impinge on the evolution of the development perspective of indigenous peoples, the discourse of globalization orchestrated through mining exploration is a crucial force in reconstructing the concept of sustainable development. In broad stroke, the inquiry centers on the amphimixis of etic and emic perspectives of sustainable development, ancestral domain, and eco-spirituality as manifested in the mining exploration in Victoria, Mindoro Oriental, Philippines. Based on the ethnographic accounts gathered through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and observation, the study concludes that Alangan Mangyans have holistic concept of sustainable development. The interconnection between the concept of sustainable development, ancestral domain and eco-spirituality asserts that the development perspective of Alangan Mangyans has been a product of long experience and not merely a reflection of a primitive way of life. The transcontextualization of the aforesaid concepts has been orchestrated by the discourse of globalization manifested in the realm of mining exploration.

Bridging the Divide between Genomic Science and Indigenous Peoples

The new science of genomics endeavors to chart the genomes of individuals around the world, with the dual goals of understanding the role genetic factors play in human health and solving problems of disease and disability. From the perspective of indigenous peoples and developing countries, the promises and perils of genomic science appear against a backdrop of global health disparity and political vulnerability. These conditions pose a dilemma for many communities when attempting to decide about participating in genomic research or any other biomedical research. Genomic research offers the possibility of improved technologies for managing the acute and chronic diseases that plague their members. Yet, the history of particularly biomedical research among people in indigenous and developing nations offers salient examples of unethical practice, misuse of data, and failed promises. This dilemma creates risks for communities who decide either to participate or not to participate in genomic science research. Some argue that the history of poor scientific practice justifies refusal to join genomic research projects. Others argue that disease poses such great threats to the well-being of people in indigenous communities and developing nations that not participating in genomic research risks irrevocable harm. Thus, some communities particularly among indigenous peoples have declined to participate as subjects in genomic research. At the same time, some communities have begun developing new guidelines, procedures, and practices for engaging with the scientific community that offer opportunities to bridge the gap between genomic science and indigenous and/or developing communities. Four new approaches warrant special attention and further support: consulting with local communities; negotiating the complexities of consent; training members of local communities in science and health care; and training scientists to work with indigenous communities. Implicit is a new definition of "rigorous scientific research," one that includes both community development and scientific progress as legitimate objectives of genomic research. Innovative translational research is needed to develop practical, mutually acceptable methods for crossing the divide between genomic researchers and indigenous communities. This may mean the difference between success and failure in genomic science, and in improving health for all peoples.

Transformative Spirituality for a Transformed World: Contributions from the Indigenous Perspective

AbstractA Transformative Spirituality from the perspective of indigenous peoples should be rooted in the life experience, cultural values and spirituality of the indigenous peoples. From the identity and history of the indigenous relationship with Christianity, the article presents some experiences and voices of indigenous peoples and concludes with some suggestions to think about the theme. In this perspective Transformative Spirituality is a proposal of an alternative way of life to the current one which is marked by financial crisis and hopelessness in the face of the future. Pachamama as the Mother Earth, origin and end of life, is the main symbol of this spirituality.

ANN M. LITTLE. Abraham in Arms: War and Gender in Colonial New England. (Early American Studies.) Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2007. Pp. 262. $45.00

Ann M. Little has contributed an interesting and useful new volume to the growing scholarship on gender and warfare in early America. Her book also integrates recent insights from Native American historiography (heavily influenced by ethnography), and she takes a strong cue from scholars such as Daniel K. Richter (Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America [2001]) who argue that early history must integrate an assessment of events from the perspective of indigenous people. Little also draws from recent developments in western and borderlands history to analyze seventeenth and eighteenth-century warfare in what she calls the “northeastern borderlands,” an area of contact among English colonists, French colonists, and various Indian peoples. Little notes that important strands in each of the areas of historiography from which she draws have emphasized how colonists and Indians created visions of one another that emphasized difference and shaped their social relations accordingly. While recognizing the importance of this view, she wishes instead to emphasize how the “essential sameness” actually drove many of the conflicts among New Englanders, French, and Algonquin and Iroquois Indian actors. Little argues that ideas about gender were at the heart of this contention over similarity, since “perhaps the most important common touchstone of these cultures was the value they placed on masculinity and on men's performance in war and politics” (p. 7). Little explores how contests over masculinity, driven by some similar cultural understandings, influenced warfare during nearly a century of colonial military clashes.

The colony The harrowing true story of the exiles of Molokai

The colony The harrowing true story of the exiles of Molokai

Indigenous health research ethics in Australia: applying guidelines as the basis for negotiating research agreements

The introduction of the National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines for the ethical conduct of Indigenous health research: Values and Ethics: guidelines for ethical conduct in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research (NHMRC, 2003), has prompted renewed debate about the ethical assessment of Indigenous health research in Australia. Concern has been expressed that these guidelines provide inadequate protection of Indigenous interests and that their introduction will result in a rolling back of important Indigenous research reform gains of the past three decades. Another view is that the participatory focus of the Guidelines will help ensure that key Indigenous values are positioned as central to the development of research involving Indigenous interests. In this article we provide an overview of recent commentary on the Guidelines, and canvass practical proposals for their implementation into practice. In particular, we present a case for applying the Values and Ethics Guidelines as a foundation for establishing negotiated research agreements between Indigenous peoples and professional researchers at the local community level. The intention of this proposal is to give voice to the concerns and perspectives of Indigenous peoples through research, and to provide a framework for monitoring research after ethics approval has been granted.

Cidadania e globalização: povos indígenas e agências multilaterais

No mundo atual a situação presente e as perspectivas de futuro dos povos indígenas são cada vez mais afetadas por projetos cuja elaboração e decisão não se dá apenas no âmbito dos Estados-Nacionais, mas que seguem igualmente um conjunto de normas, convenções e diretrizes definidas em foros internacionais e em agências multilaterais. Esse artigo focaliza justamente um desses instrumentos, a diretriz operacional de 1991 que estabelece as condições que devem ser seguidas em quaisquer projetos apoiados pelo Banco Mundial, realizando uma leitura crítica a partir do contexto histórico brasileiro e dos interesses e demandas indígenas aí manifestados. A análise a seguir aborda basicamente 4 pontos: a) mostra a insuficiência dos critérios socioculturais para identificação das populações indígenas, apontando os prejuízos trazidos pela noção de "vulnerabilidade" (associada freqüentemente à julgamentos sobre a primitividade e autenticidade) e termina por recomendar a retomada dos procedimentos de auto-classificação propostos na Convenção 169 (OIT, 1989); b) faz uma avaliação das condições de salvaguarda apresentadas e do risco de imagens e expressões ambíguas (como a de "mitigação"); c) procede a um exame das formas de participação previstas para os povos indígenas, bem como dos fatores que as podem limitar ou mesmo o anular; d) chama a atenção para o enorme risco de distanciamento entre as diretrizes e as práticas, sendo indicados alguns dos fatores que podem ser responsáveis por tal descompasso.