South American Context Research Articles

One Health Index applied to countries in South America.

The One Health concept has proposed an integrated and unified approach aiming for health balance and enhancement by recognizing the interdependence of human, animal, and environmental health. The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed global One Health initiatives and policy improvement toward preventive measures for future pandemics, particularly of zoonotic origin. Such a scenario may be particularly relevant for South America, which is considered highly vulnerable due to its natural biodiversity superposed to socioeconomic and environmental issues, demanding effective methods and indicators for proper One Health strategies and goals that are aligned with macroregional contexts. Accordingly, the present study aimed to assess the One Health Index (OHI) in South American countries, along with potential interactions with socioeconomic indicators. The results obtained using clustering analysis and permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) have revealed a positive association between the OHI and the Human Development Index (HDI) but not with gross domestic product (GDP). Although South American countries with political stability, robust investment in health, and progressive policies have shown a higher OHI, better environmental health is not associated with better human and animal health. In addition, although the Amazon biome- spanning 9 of the 12 South American countries-has positively impacted environmental health, this benefit contrasts with the rudimentary local human health systems, highlighting the complexity of One Health within the South American context. The lack of stronger indicators for animal health was also considered an important weak point for a true OHI assessment. Nonetheless, countries with more developed livestock have presented better animal health, which may not reflect an overall animal health indicator, as companion and wildlife animal health indicators were not available. Although lower (within-country) scale analysis such as states and metropolitan areas may better shape internal differences, the study herein has clearly shown One Health inequalities and challenges among South American countries. Equally important, forests and other natural areas in developing countries, particularly the Amazon, should receive incentives to promote sustainable economic growth. This approach would help prevent sacrificing environmental health for the benefit of human and livestock animal health.

Language policy and planning for heritage language maintenance: a scoping review

ABSTRACT The study of language maintenance and shift (LMS) has attracted a large body of empirical work in language policy and planning (LPP) contexts, including allochthonous (immigrant) and autochthonous (indigenous) languages. However, some critical ontological questions that relate to the scope and terminology of language maintenance studies remain unanswered, and there seems to be a lack of consistency in the definitions of the relevant terms, such as what ‘heritage’ language refers to, whose heritage it is when a language can be classified as a heritage language, and what ‘language’ is at all. Therefore, this review summarises existing literature on LPP for language maintenance by employing a scoping review methodology, providing an overview of empirical studies of LPP in migration context over the past two decades (2001-2023), focusing on terminology, geographical settings, research focus and methods. The findings reveal that most studies (66.3%) use the term ‘heritage language’ to refer to the ‘language of transnational minorities’ among other terms. The results also highlight geographical gaps and imbalances in the literature, calling for more LPP studies from South American and East Asian contexts. In addition, further investigations are needed to explore the transnational and translocal aspects of language maintenance.

Frailty prevalence in older adults with atrial fibrillation: A cross-sectional study in a resource-limited setting.

Frailty is a common condition among older adults and is associated with an increased risk of adverse health outcomes, including mortality, disability, dysmobility, falls, and hospitalization. In patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), these risks are further exacerbated. However, evidence linking AF and frailty, particularly in the South American context, is limited. This study aimed to assess frailty and other geriatric conditions in older outpatients with atrial fibrillation in a resource-limited setting in Lima, Peru. In this cross-sectional study, we included adults aged 60 years and older diagnosed with atrial fibrillation who were attending outpatient check-ups. Patients who were hospitalized, receiving chemotherapy induction, or presenting with acute infections or exacerbations were excluded. Standardized questionnaires were used to assess frailty, cognitive impairment, and functional dependence. Statistical analysis was performed using R Studio version 4.3.1, with a significance level set at p < 0.05. Among the 200 patients who agreed to participate (mean age 74.76 ± 8.42 years, 41% females), 28.5% exhibited frailty, and 46.5% were classified as prefrail. Frailty and prefrailty were significantly associated with older age (p<0.01), female gender (p = 0.01), illiteracy (p<0.01), heart failure (p<0.01), falls (p<0.05), cognitive impairment (p<0.01), and functional dependence (p<0.01). Multivariate analysis revealed significant associations between frailty and cognitive impairment (p<0.05), frailty and functional dependence (p<0.05), and cognitive impairment and functional dependence (p<0.05). One-third of older outpatients with atrial fibrillation were identified as frail, while half were classified as prefrail. In this population, frailty frequently coexists with cognitive impairment and functional dependence, highlighting the need for timely screening and the implementation of evidence-based interventions for individuals with atrial fibrillation in resource-limited settings.

Physical education by competencies in the South American context: Pedagogical perspectives and curricular approaches for the integral development of children

Physical education by competencies in the South American context: Pedagogical perspectives and curricular approaches for the integral development of children

Brazil’s pragmatic equidistance: hedging and the Second World War

Can hedging be applied to non-Asia-Pacific regions and historical contexts? And, to what extent did Brazil operationalize hedging behavior during the Second World War? Taking these questions, the purpose of this paper is to expand the discourse on hedging twofold: First, to employ it within a South American context; second, to verify hedging historically as a widespread strategic unit-level behavior of small and middle powers amid systemic-level great power competitions. Here, by unboxing Brazil’s hedging behavior during the Second World War, specifically President Getúlio Vargas’s ‘ equidistância pragmática’ (pragmatic equidistance) coping strategy, it is found that Brazil employed hedging behavior with omnidirectional engagement with both the United States and Nazi Germany, yet later abandoned this strategy to fully align with Washington and the Allies in 1942, once Brazilian security and economic interests were aligned.

Distributed Generation Applied to Residential Self-Supply in South America in the Decade 2013–2023: A Literature Review

The implementation of residential distributed generation (DG) in South America has shown significant growth in the last decade, driven by increased research on photovoltaics and renewable energy sources. Regulatory policies and business models have been crucial in fostering the adoption of DG in the region, with residential self-supply being the most receptive sector for implementing the concept. This article presents a literature review on DG as applied to residential self-supply in South America by comprehensively analyzing documents published between 2013 and 2023, applying the PRISMA methodology. In total, 37 literature resources have been systematically selected and reviewed to contribute to the identification of trends and developments in the field of DG in the residential sector, as well as to highlight areas that require further research and attention from stakeholders, including policymakers, investors, technology providers, and consumers in the South American context.

Croatian as a Heritage Language in Argentina: Between Vulnerability and Linguistic Maintenance

In the South American context, migrant population makes up for a large portion of the population who, in most cases, stop using their heritage language. This work aims to present the results of a study that inquired about the status of the Croatian language as a heritage language in South America, and analized the tensions between linguistic displacement and maintenance. The analysis is focused on Argentina, where an estimated 250 000 to 500 000 people are from Croatian descent. The study is based upon a corpus of Croatian speech gathered from second- and third-generation migrants and from official and non-official records, gathered by the authors. Findings suggest that there are signs of linguistic attrition at the phonological, morphosyntactic, and lexical levels. They also suggest that identity and language aware­ness strengthening play a significant role in the maintenance of the ancestral language in this migrating context. The study contributes to the field of minority and endangered languages, and helps understand the dynamic pro­cesses influencing the vitality of heritage languages.

The Semangat and the Mantra in Java, Indonesia

The Javanese mantra is a communicative act, and a spiritual dialogue. During the mantra ritual, the shaman Orang Pinter and supplicant receiving the intervention select become equal agents, as they intervene for change in the cultural and spiritual disposition of the supplicant. But in this paper. The presentation discusses ethnographic work over 10 years during which over 1500 mantras were documented throughout central to east Java, Indonesia, To effect the documentation process, I engaged with a range of communities and individuals throughout Java, that is, Yogyakarta, Solo, Surabaya, Alas Purwo, Salatiga, Bali, and other localities, Spiritual interventions were witnessed, and we suggest religious affiliation tells only part of the story. Drawing on frameworks of symbolic interactionism, and phenomenological nominalism, the synopsis discusses how a poetic discourse analysis of mantras can describe a system employed by these shamans and the supplicants to discursively facilitate the spiritual process, by altering the dissociative state of the supplicant. The talk concludes by presenting a model for the mantra in Java, and possibly in other global regions. Within this model, several overlapping processes mediate the drawing on cultural symbolisms, and overlap in strategic designs, to to effect change in the supplicant. The paper draws on work by Rebecca Seligman, who has conducted similar ethnographic and theoretical work in the South American context.

Theologies of Labor and the Limits of Capital

This essay explores how theological conceptions of the nature of work relate to the material conditions of labor in late-capitalist economies. It identifies within the tradition of Catholic social teaching a tension between normative accounts of dignified human labor and the systematic undermining of this dignity by the social relations of capitalist ownership. Considering one instructive instance of this tension and the productive insights it invites, namely, Pope John Paul II’s 1981 encyclical Laborem Exercens, the essay examines the different receptions of papal teaching on labor in North and South American contexts. After sketching the countours of John Paul’s theology of labor, it turns to the Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez’s creative extensions of Laborem Exercens’s key insights, suggesting Guiérrez’s development of John Paul’s theological account of labor within a broader vision of anticapitalist struggle clarifies the concrete social and political transformations necessary for the realization of dignified work for all.

Regional income convergence in Colombia: population, space, and long-run dynamics

We examine the trajectory of regional income dynamics in Colombia. Using data on all 33 Colombian departments from 2000 to 2016, we employ extensions of (spatial) Markov chains, space-time mobility measures, along with a fully weighted version of the distribution analysis approach. By considering these extensions, our analysis enables us to answer questions such as whether the role of spatial context influences the distributional dynamics of Colombian departments, or the magnitude of the moderating effect of department’s population. The inclusion of additional measures such as the asymptotic half-life of convergence provides additional results, informing on how long it would take to reach the hypothetical long-run distribution of per capita income. Results, which are reported for both pre- and post-2008 trends, complement previous literature on regional economic convergence in a relevant South American context, showing stronger convergence patterns when controlling for the population living in each department. The patterns do not particularly intensify when controlling for spatial spillovers, since the role of spatial context was already playing a relevant role from the beginning of the period analyzed. Therefore, although the ergodic distributions show a conditional-convergence pattern, addressing the problems of spatial exclusion fully, persistent polarization among geographical departments and populations, along with the relevant core-periphery gaps, still requires the design and implementation of specific policies.

Stigma experienced by people with mental illness in South America: an integrative review

Introduction: People with mental illness are highly stigmatized by populations around the world and are perceived to be a burden on society. As a result of stigma, many people with mental illness are discriminated against, which leads to limited life opportunities. Given that beliefs about mental illness can vary based on culture, religion, nationality and ethnicity, it is important to understand the different types of mental illness-related stigma experienced around the world. Materials and Methods: Whittemore and Knafl’s (2005) methodology for integrative reviews was used to analyze 18 studies about lived experiences of mental illness-related stigma in South America. Results: Findings suggest that certain types of stigma in South America are based on gender and social norms, such as the social position of men and women in society. This leads to discrimination, isolation and violence from family, intimate partners, friends, society and health professionals. Employment is also limited for South Americans with mental illness. Other consequences, such a self-stigma, also impact the lives of people with mental illness in many South American contexts. Discussion: Family, friendship and social relationships, including health professionals, can involve processes that lead to the stigma experienced by people with mental illness. Conclusion: This integrative review highlights how mental illness related-stigma impacts

The Identified Osteological Collections of South America and Their Ethical Dimensions

Recent years have brought an important increase in the interest in identified human osteological collections in South America. Their number has been systematically growing and their sizes have been expanding, allowing the development of the field of forensic anthropology, among other disciplines, in this region. These collections are used mainly for the validation of international forensic anthropology methods for national and local populations, as well as for the training of professionals and researchers. Despite their growth, important limitation related to the lack of variability in the representativeness of individuals within these collections represents a significant drawback. Likewise, their concentration in only a few countries constitutes a noteworthy concern. This article aims at mapping the existing identified human osteological collections in South America, discussing the advances in the area of forensic anthropology that they have allowed, and reflecting upon their ethical dimensions in the South American context.

Emerging Pan-Asian Identities in Chile in #StopAsianHate

This position paper highlights the emergence of "Asian Chilean" identities and "anti-Asian racism" discourses during #StopAsianHate social media campaigns in Chile. We argue that while panethnicity can critically respond to and visibilise the shared racialisation of ethnic Chinese and Asian persons in South American contexts, public discussions must also distinguish between ethnic Chinese persons, Chinese-owned private and state enterprises, and the PRC government, as well as highlighting the diversity within these groups and others often considered as “Chinese” in Latin America. Both approaches are necessary to apprehend the multifaceted implications of geopolitical shifts in the region without promoting biased anti- or pro-China attitudes.

The South American medical communities in the genesis of the tropical medicine: construction and circulation of knowledge on American leishmaniasis in the beginning of the twentieth century

AbstractThis article aims to demonstrate how researchers from different South American countries took part in the process of globalisation of the tropical medicine paradigm, through research on leishmaniasis found in this region. The main objective of the present article is to highlight the role of these researchers, as well as of their scientific institutions, in a global history of tropical medicine which surpassed European borders and its imperialistic practices. At the same time, it will be identified the renewal of the tropical medicine paradigm in the South American context. During the beginning of the twentieth century, leishmaniasis became an important health issue in tropical areas, whereas the mere usage of the repertoire of the medical knowledge, produced in Europe up until that time, revealed itself as an insufficient instrument to help solve the problem. Hereupon, this matter was, above all, an open discussion, which required great skills and refined techniques of tropical medicine for its study. For this reason, it enabled the members of the regional medical communities to establish vigorous communication channels with medical centres, located in other continents, that had already been giving much deserved importance to leishmaniasis as an exciting scientific theme.

Modelling mixed crop-livestock farms for supporting farmers’ strategic reflections: The CLIFS approach

Integrated mixed crop-livestock farming systems help improve farm sustainability by securing agricultural incomes through the diversification of productions and by enhancing farm autonomy regarding agricultural inputs. Based on interactions between crop and livestock productions within farms, such systems are complex to manage and to model. A one-to-one support methodology was developed to help farmers in their strategic thinking regarding the future of their farms in a redesign perspective. This methodology includes a three-step scenario process and is based on a spreadsheet simulation tool called CLIFS (Crop LIvestock Farm Simulator). CLIFS makes it possible to build scenarios of the evolution of a farm and assess them ex-ante by calculating several balances at the farm level (staple food, forage, manure) and their effects on the farm’s economic results. The support process has been tested in several African and South American contexts and with French suckling cattle farms. The diversity of production contexts and issues addressed during the design process led to the development of a generic tool that can be applied easily to a large range of situations. A detailed description of the approach and the tool, with an illustration based on a Malagasy dairy farm, are presented here. Farmers appreciate the support process because it addresses their own questions within the context of their own farms. The process must now be transferred to advisory structures to assess its relevance in a professional context.

Soybean and maize cultivation in South America: Environmental comparison of different cropping systems

Maize and soybean are two widely spread crops for food, feed and biofuel production, and in South America there are some of the most important producing countries in the world. This study investigates the environmental impact linked to their agricultural production in a sub-tropical South American context, starting from primary data relating to a cultivated area in eastern Paraguay. To this end, the Life Cycle Assessment approach was adopted in a cradle-to-farm gate perspective, evaluating eight different impact categories. In particular, two widespread intra-annual rotations were compared, both of which consider soybean as a first-season crop, alternating in the second-season with maize or soybean itself. Environmental results were expressed both in a crop-to-crop approach (per t of individual product) and with four different units expressing the land management function (1 ha year −1 ); the productive function (1 GJ ha −1 year −1 and 1 t of crude protein ha −1 year −1 ) and finally the financial function (1 USD of gross margin ha −1 year −1 ) of the two different cropping systems. In the cropping system approach, results expressed per hectare of cultivated area and per t of crude protein produced do not see one cropping system performing better than the other consistently over the evaluated impact categories. The soybean-maize rotation, on the other hand, appeared clearly more efficient from an environmental point of view in terms of gross energy and gross margin produced per hectare per year. The lack of a shared consensus on the most appropriate and comprehensive way to express the results of LCA studies on cropping systems makes difficult the selection of the best system. In particular, there are still on-going limitations and controversies in selecting the most appropriate functional unit for cropping systems LCA. • The environmental impact for different crop system was evaluated. • LCA was applied with a from cradle to farm gate perspective. • Different functional unit were considered. • The soybean-maize rotation is more efficient from an environmental point of view. • Depending on the selected functional unit the relative comparison changes.

The impact of a mother-infant intervention on parenting and infant response to challenge: A pilot randomized controlled trial with adolescent mothers in El Salvador.

A pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted in El Salvador of an intervention ('Thula Sana') previously shown to enhance maternal sensitivity and infant security of attachment in a South African sample. In El Salvador, trained community workers delivered the intervention from late pregnancy to 6 months postpartum as part of a home-visiting programme. The sample comprised 64 pregnant adolescent women, aged 14-19 years, living in predominantly rural settings. They were randomised to receive either the intervention or normal care. Demographic information was collected at baseline and, immediately post-intervention, blind assessments were made of parental sensitivity and infant emotion regulation. The intervention was found to have a substantial positive impact on maternal sensitivity. Further, compared to control group, infants in the intervention group showed more regulated behaviour: in a social challenge task they showed more attempts to restore communication, and in a non-social challenge task they showed more social and goal-directed behaviour. This replication and extension of the South African findings in a small El Salvador sample shows promise and justifies the conduct of a large-scale RCT in a Central or South American context.

Geopolitics of Global Energy Transformation and Territorial Dynamics of Energy Transition in South America

Abstract This article aims to analyze global and regional South American contexts of the on-going energy transition, from a territorial and geopolitical energy perspective. Multiscalarity is adopted as a methodological strategy that allows analyzing social actors beyond a single scale of political action. It is complemented with a bibliographical review and interpretation of reports prepared by several international organizations. The conclusions confirm that on a global scale the trend is to achieve decarbonisation through actions by States, society and companies that mitigate climate change. At the South American regional scale, energy transition is more complex, as it seeks to contribute to improve the quality of life of society with a strategy of diversification of electricity matrix - focused on gas resources and hydroelectric energy - but unsolved, historical and geopolitical conflicts, added to social, economic and political issues, make it difficult to achieve a deeper and more sustainable regional energy transformation.

Ancient DNA studies: Use of ethnonyms and collaborative research in South America

The sudden proliferation in ancient DNA (aDNA) studies has prompted critical thinking on the subject and the development of recommendations that can be framed within the “Ethics, Legal and Social Implications”. The outcomes of these self-reviewing exercises have regional particularities in terms of their application and regulation.Aiming to contribute to these debates in South America, we focused on examining two aspects of aDNA studies: the use of ethnonyms and the evidence of collaborative research. We compiled 68 articles reporting genetic data from South American archaeological sites. First, we recorded edition and research-related general characteristics. Second, the discourse was analyzed searching for ethical-related issues like the use of ethnonyms, the justification for its usage, and evidences of collaborative approaches.Many articles included no information on the permits granted for analysis (44%) and the custody of the human remains (49%). Besides, ethnonyms were used in 41% of the studies mostly without any explicit justification. Finally, only 7% of the studies exhibited some evidence of a collaborative approach.These results help problematize and reflect on the ways of undertaking aDNA studies in the South American context, the limitations of scientific communication, and the social repercussions of these studies.

Macroeconomic, demographic and human developmental correlates of physical activity and sitting time among South American adults

BackgroundOur aim was to investigate the association of macroeconomic, human development, and demographic factors with different domains of physical activity and sitting time among South American adults.MethodsWe used data from nationally representative samples in Argentina (n = 26,932), Brazil (n = 52,490), Chile (n = 3866), Colombia (n = 14,208), Ecuador (n = 19,883), Peru (n = 8820), and Uruguay (n = 2403). Our outcomes included leisure time (≥150 min/week), transport (≥10 min/week), occupational (≥10 min/week), and total (≥150 min/week) physical activity, as well as sitting time (≥4 h/day), which were collected through self-reported questionnaires. As exposures, gross domestic product, total population, population density, and human development index indicators from the most updated national census of each country were used. Age and education were used as covariates. Multilevel logistic regressions with harmonized random effect meta-analyses were conducted, comparing highest vs. lowest (reference) tertiles.ResultsHigher odds for transport physical activity were observed among the highest tertiles of total population (ORmen: 1.41; 95% CI: 1.23–1.62), ORwomen: 1.51; 95% CI:1.32–1.73), population density (ORmen: 1.36; 95% CI: 1.18–1.57, ORwomen: 1.49; 95% CI: 1.30–1.70), and gross domestic product (ORmen: 1.16; 95% CI: 1.00–1.35, ORwomen: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.20–1.61). For leisure physical activity, women living in departments with higher human development index presented 18% higher odds for being active, and for total physical activity a similar estimate in both sexes was observed among those who live in more populated areas. No consistent associations were found for occupational physical activity and sitting time.ConclusionMacroeconomic, demographic and human development indicators are associated with different domains of physical activity in the South American context, which can in turn guide policies to promote physical activity in the region.