Traditional Territories Research Articles

Keeping birth at home: community and service provider visions for perinatal wellness and continued Inuit childbirth in Nunavik

Childbirth on traditional territories is unattainable for many Indigenous peoples living in remote communities in Canada. In Nunavik, Inuit territory in northern Quebec, rapid population growth risks exceeding local midwifery capacity. This poses challenges to community-based childbirth in a region recognized for reclaiming Inuit midwifery and local birthing. To explore community views on protective factors of maternal and family perinatal wellness and continued local birthing. In ten communities, Inuit families and perinatal service providers created a total of 54 fuzzy cognitive maps on protective factors for (1) birth in a good way in Nunavik, (2) maternal and family perinatal wellness, and (3) community-based birthing in Nunavik. We used fuzzy transitive closure to examine direct and indirect connections and collated individual factors into categories using inductive thematic analysis. Well-equipped local medical facilities and services, community birthing centres run by Inuit midwives, and Inuit perinatal traditions had the strongest influence on experiencing birth in a good way in Nunavik. Inuit youth perspectives featured instrumental and emotional support for mothers and families, along with health and self-care in pregnancy as the most influential factors on maternal and family perinatal wellness. Prominent protective factors for community birth in Nunavik included maternal-infant health and wellness, local Inuit midwifery services, and well-resourced medical facilities. Fuzzy cognitive mapping was helpful in informing community visioning of local childbirth and maternal and family perinatal wellness in Nunavik. Inuit-led midwifery services are essential to continued local childbirth in the region.

The relationship between social order and crime in Nottingham, England

AbstractStudies of organized crime in cities have traditionally concentrated on the global south or ethnic enclaves and traditional mafia territories within the global north. Here this study turns its attention to governance-type organized crime in the English city of Nottingham, where the main protagonists are white and British born. It investigates whether such a gang can govern communities by reducing ordinary crimes. We conduct in-depth interviews with local officials and analyze a novel dataset of the public’s phone calls to the Nottingham police from 2012 to 2019, encompassing spatio-temporal information and police-labeled crime types. We identify Nottingham’s ward of Bestwood as the site of an entrenched, governance-type organized crime group, whereas its most similar ward, Bulwell, is not. Further comparative analyses indicate that certain ordinary crime rates are significantly lower in Bestwood than in Bulwell. We conclude that governance-type organized crime can emerge in a country with a high capacity to police and in a nonimmigrant, less affluent community. Our findings suggest that traditional explanations of the emergence of criminal governance in cities need to be revisited.

Tradisi Seren Taun berbasis Kearifan Lokal Masyarakat AdatKasepuhan (Suatu Kajian Holistik Antropologi Hukum)

Seren Taun is a series of agricultural activities carried out every year by a traditional community in atraditional area which is usually called a traditional traditional ritual, as a form of respect for the ancestors andthe Goddess Sri with all forms of rituals and cultural arts performances of the Kasepuhan indigenouscommunity from very from long ago to modern art displayed by indigenous peoples. The rice was brought,paraded, accompanied by everyone present to be stored in the Leuit Si Jimat communal barn. The local wisdomof the Kasepuhan traditional community of Banten Kidul is a community that still upholds and carries outtraditions with the supervision of the Abah as the Traditional Leader. Kasepuhan residents are devoutfollowers of the Islamic religion, but in their daily lives they are characterized by mythical and animist beliefsor they still maintain ancestral beliefs such as burning incense, giving offerings, traditional ceremonies, placingfences on doors, and other ancestral beliefs. The Holistic Study of Legal Anthropology illustrates that traditionalrituals based on local wisdom are a manifestation of the behavior or actions of indigenous people in an effort toget closer to God. Because rituals are ceremonies carried out by indigenous people throughout their lifetime,they are carried out by every indigenous community in their traditional territory, because they are ceremoniesfor the life cycle of an individual's life as a member of society (the universal circle of life).Keywords: Seren Taun Tradition, Local Wisdom of the Kasepuhan Indigenous Community, Holistic Study ofLegal Anthropology

Leadership as Métissage: Seeking to Indigenize our faculty of education

As a faculty of education, we have ethical, professional, and legal commitments that compel us to make meaningful and significant contributions to reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. This work is long overdue, justice has too long been denied, the ongoing legacies of colonization that play out through education need to be disrupted now. Yet this work must be done in a good way, decolonization is required, many complexities exist stemming from the past and present dominance of Eurocentric knowledge in our society, K-12, and post-secondary education systems. The authors of this paper made up all of the full-time staff members in a faculty of education. We used a collaborative scholarship of teaching and learning research project and a Métissage methodology to seek to collectively lead the Indigenization of learning, teaching, leadership, and scholarship in our faculty. In braided narrative vignettes, we situate ourselves in relationship to this work, explore tensions and complexities, wrestle with axiological considerations, reflect on practices we have engaged in, share how we have taken up this work with our students, colleagues, and school partners, identify questions and steps in front of us, and reflect on how Métissage has served as a shared leadership process to support the Indigenization of our faculty and our University as a whole. Our stories are situated in a Bachelor of Education after degree program that serves approximately 120 students located in the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Tsuut’ina Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda Nations.

Tracking mercury sources in the Wabigoon River: Use of stable mercury isotopes in bioindicator organisms

Mercury concentrations remain elevated in sediments and biota of the Wabigoon River downstream from Dryden, Ontario, the home of a former chlor-alkali plant. Understanding the current extent and severity of mercury contamination downstream of this industrial legacy site is of great importance in managing the mercury contamination within the traditional territory of Asubpeeschoseewagong Anishinabek (Grassy Narrows First Nation), located downstream of Dryden. The objective of this study was to use mercury stable isotope ratio analysis to distinguish between legacy mercury from the former chlor-alkali plant and mercury from geogenic sources. Mercury concentrations in surface sediments and biota downstream of the historical source of mercury discharge are elevated relative to the chosen reference location, Wabigoon Lake (WL). Mean sediment mercury levels were as high as 3.27 μg/g at the hydroelectric dam location compared to 0.05–0.10 μg/g at Wabigoon Lake sediments. Isotope ratios in aquatic biota and sediments collected from within the system were distinct from Wabigoon Lake, indicating that anthropogenic mercury contamination is distinguishable from geogenic mercury. Average δ202Hg values of −2.46 ± 0.41 observed in sediments of WL were consistently more negative compared to downstream values, which varied from −1.34 to 0.30 ‰. Young-of-the-year Yellow Perch and Hexagenia were found to have significantly more positive δ202Hg values downstream from Wabigoon Lake.

Heritage and identity: returning to ancestral pathways of the Siraya indigenous archaeology

ABSTRACTIn recent years, Taiwan's Indigenous community has been actively demanding the repatriation and reburial of ancestral remains, seeking historical justice for colonial wrongs, asserting the community's rights to traditional territories, and pushing for recognition of their long‐standing existence and legal status as Indigenous peoples. In 2022, archeologists consulted and cooperated with the Siraya people, proposing “The Siraya Indigenous Archaeological Action Plan.” The aim is to re‐balance the power relations between archeologists and Indigenous peoples, seek a diversity of voices and methods, and put the social practice of archaeology at the trowel's edge into practice. The action plan was carried out within the Siraya Soulangh abandoned settlement, with the Siraya people joining the investigation and excavation work, physically touching important parts of their ancestral cultural heritage. Other efforts include reviving the traditional Siraya systems of the male age‐set organization and the national assembly, consolidating the ethnic identity of the contemporary Siraya people, and sustaining their societal and cultural systems. These endeavors have helped fill the huge historical gap left by colonizers, empowering the Siraya people to claim ownership over the abandoned settlement cultural heritage that has a direct cultural connection with their community, push for recognition of their long‐standing and continuous existence in Taiwan, and acquire legal status as Indigenous peoples.

Enacting Parts

I have lived in Mohkínstsis/Calgary for four years, most of which have been marked by the pandemic that is ongoing as I write this. I highlight this here because my physical, social, and cultural connections with this city are limited. However, given the circumstances, I had the privilege and opportunity to connect with the land and the non-human world around me. Walking, a privilege that allowed me to engage with places I have visited and lived in throughout my life, has been particularly significant during the pandemic. Walking through the northwest suburbs of this city has allowed me to foster a relationship with the land, which now animates my practice. In the spirit of respect, reciprocity, and truth, I acknowledge that I am an uninvited white settler occupying this land, which forms the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Piikani, Kanai First Nations), the Tsuut’ina First Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda (Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Wesley First Nations). This territory is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3. I am grateful to be situated here, and through my work, I aim to honour the land and all its forms, taking greater responsibility for my presence and potential future in this place.

Blackfeet innovation pathways to food sovereignty: sustainability through indigenous-led research partnerships

The Blackfeet Nation in northwestern Montana, United States, is implementing its Agriculture Resource Management Plan (ARMP), an Indigenous-led, sustainable agriculture plan prioritizing economic development for Indigenous producers, intergenerational health and well-being of Amskapi Piikani Blackfeet people, and ecological and cultural sensitivities within this sovereign nation and its traditional territories. Since the passage of the American Indian Agricultural Resource Management Act of 1993, only three Tribes have drafted and finalized Agricultural Resource Management Plans (ARMPs). The Blackfeet ARMP is now being held up as a national model of Tribal sovereignty. “Blackfeet Innovation Pathways to Food Sovereignty,” an Indigenous-led research project, emerged from the Blackfeet Nation’s community-based strategic planning process identifying gaps, systemic barriers and impactful solutions for achieving Blackfeet food sovereignty through the implementation of the Blackfeet Nation ARMP, along with research influenced by the ARMP. This paper provides a community case study of the ongoing process and offers a translational model of sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty within Indigenous lands to improve the economic futures of producers and their families, as well as health outcomes for Native communities.

Using a Cultural Keystone Species in Participatory Monitoring of Fire Management in Indigenous Lands in the Brazilian Savanna

There is a consensus that fire should be actively managed in tropical savannas to decrease wildfire risks, firefighting costs, and social conflicts as well as to promote ecosystem conservation. Selection and participatory monitoring of the effects of fire on cultural keystone species may be an efficient way to involve local stakeholders and inform management decisions. In this study, we investigated the effects of different fire regimes on a cultural keystone species in Central Brazil. With the support of diverse multiethnic groups of local fire brigades, we sampled Hancornia speciosa (Apocynaceae) populations across a vast regional range of 18 traditional territories (Indigenous Lands and Quilombola Territories) as well as four restricted Protected Areas. We considered areas under wildfires (WF), prescribed burns (PB) and fire exclusion (FE) and quantified tree mortality, canopy damage, loss of reproductive structures and fruit production following a simplified field protocol. Areas with H. speciosa populations were identified and classified according to their fire history, and in each sampled area, adult plants were evaluated. We hypothesized that WF would have larger negative impact on the population parameters measured, while FE would increase plant survival and fruit production. We found that tree mortality, canopy damage, and loss of reproductive structures were higher in areas affected by wildfires, which also had the lowest fruit production per plant compared to PB and FE areas, corroborating our hypotheses. However, we also found higher mortality in FE areas compared to PB ones, probably due to plant diseases in areas with longer FE. Considering these results and that the attempts to exclude fire from fire-prone ecosystems commonly lead to periodic wildfires, we argue that the Integrated Fire Management program in course in federal Protected Areas in Brazil—based on early dry season prescribed fires—is a good management option for this, and likely other, cultural keystone species in the Brazilian savanna.

Quantifying impacts of recreation on elk (Cervus canadensis) using novel modeling approaches

AbstractRecreation is known to impact wildlife by displacing and sometimes contributing to the extirpation of sensitive species, underscoring a need for policies that balance wildlife and recreation. This is especially pressing when Indigenous rights necessitate ecological integrity and sustainable populations of wildlife throughout traditional territories. In the Cascade Mountain Range of Washington, USA, Indigenous harvest of elk (Cervus canadensis) is declining, concurrent with increases in recreation. Yet, the nature and magnitude of the effects of recreation on elk are unknown, which prevents land managers from developing informed policies regarding recreation and wildlife management. Here, we use camera traps alongside visitation models that incorporate geolocated social media to quantify the impacts of recreation on elk in western Washington. Random forest models show elk detection rates are relatively constant at low levels of recreation (0–11 people/day), but decrease by over 41% when recreation increases from 12 to 22 people/day. Activity overlap analysis also revealed a shift toward increased evening activity by elk at cameras with higher‐than‐average recreation (∆ = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.61–0.88; χ2 = 7.79, p = 0.02). Generalized additive modeling confirms that elk are more crepuscular or nocturnal at camera locations with more than 10 hiker detections per day. We compare methods for estimating recreation, showing model‐based estimates are more informative than camera‐based estimates. This indicates that recreational intensity along and in the immediate vicinity of trails may be a better predictor of impacts on wildlife than camera‐based estimates that quantify recreational intensity at specific locations along trails. We stress the importance of examining the impacts of recreation on wildlife across multiple spatiotemporal scales and underscore how novel approaches can provide land managers valuable tools to develop management strategies that balance recreation and wildlife. We hope that our work can also serve as a strong example of collaboration between universities, state agencies, and sovereign Indigenous nations toward the broader goal of mitigating the negative impacts of recreation on wildlife.

A negotiated sovereignty: Surfacing Indigenous geopolitics within settler colonialism

This paper examines Indigeneity within the less-explored settler colonial context of Taiwan in the face of China’s increasing irredentism. I review two processes of Indigenous reconciliation developing in Taiwan and frame them as Indigenous geopolitics – the survey and legislation of traditional territory and the instrumentalization of Indigeneity to assert the island’s autonomy from China. I highlight that Indigenous political struggles that have otherwise often been contained within a stable conception of the settler nation-state can have outward facing effects and suggest that Indigenous rights won can be seen within a spectrum of Indigenous sovereignty in varying degrees, from mere recognition in history books to the extent of making representations to other states. Noting the highly visible process of reconciliation that has thus far yielded limited legislative outcomes in Taiwan, I propose that Indigenous geopolitics should not be considered independent of or in opposition to the settler state. Rather, Indigenous representatives necessarily negotiate their politics within the framework of the settler state in an unequal relationship that nonetheless hold benefits for both sides.

Community Displacement and Language Shift (In Reference to the Khamyang Community of Assam)

Language extinction has become a global crisis at the present time. Linguists and sociologists across the world have shown concern about this matter. A report says that every fourteen days, a language vanishes. However, language extinction does not always mean that native speakers of the languages are dead. Language Shifting is another cause of language extinction. The root cause of language shift is mainly discussed from a social perspective. Language endangerment may result from external forces, such as military, economic, religious, cultural, or educational subjugation. Thus, negative attitudes towards one’s own language may be an internal cause of a community. Sociolinguists have found that various factors seem to correlate with language shifting and diminishing in size. Voluntary or forced migration to a location outside their traditional territory has been a major cause for a community to change their language. Generally, minority people who migrate to other places sooner or later shift to the new dominant language. The present paper is a study on a small minority group, named Khamyang, living in Upper Assam, to discuss how the displacement compelled them to shift their language.

Introduction to the Special Issue: Indigenous Self-determination in Health System Reforms

Across Canada, First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and communities live in rural, remote, Northern and reserve places, as well as urban places, and experience health inequities when compared with non-Indigenous peoples. These inequities are founded by pervasive colonial ideologies, policies, systems, and practices, many of which persist today resulting in multiple disparities in health as well as social, political, and economic areas (Adelson 2005; Allan and Smylie 2015). In Canada, the federal government’s role in the provision of health services is primarily through the limited public health and prevention services offered by the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB), now Indigenous Services Canada (ISC). Services are offered to status (registered) First Nations living on-reserve and to Inuit living in their traditional territories. They provide non-insured health benefits (NIHB) such as prescription drugs, dental, and vision coverage to all status/registered First Nations and Inuit, regardless of where they live; however, non-insured health benefits are not offered to Métis or non-status First Nations. As a result of historical legislative vagueness, and the multiplicity of authorities that has resulted, the First Nations, Inuit and Métis legislation and health policy framework is very complex, which itself results in a great deal of diversity in health service provision across provinces and territories. The framework fails to adequately address the health care needs of the Métis or First Nations and Inuit people who are either not registered or not living on reserve or in their traditional territory (Lavoie and Gervais 2012). [continued in PDF / HTML]

Preface

Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Ion Sources, Victoria, BC, Canada, 2023ICIS’23 was the 20th event in a biennial series of conferences that are dedicated to Ion Sources and their applications, and the first in-person conference of this series after the COVID 19 pandemic. The conference was hosted by TRIUMF (www.triumf.ca), Canada’s Particle Accelerator Centre in Victoria, BC, Canada, September 17 to September 22, 2023. The ICIS series covers the physics and technology of ion sources for scientific research and applications. With the conference being the main event within the ion sources community it offers a forum for exchanging of new ideas and establishing of collaborations.The conference was held at the Victoria Conference Centre in Victoria BC, Canada, with support from the adjacent Fairmont Empress hotel. The venue is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Lkwungen People, also known as the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations communities.The biennial conference series covers the physics and technology of ion sources for scientific research and applications. New developments and advancements have been presented and discussed. As in previous conferences of this series, all aspects of ion sources have been covered in the categories:• Fundamental processes in ion sources and plasmas• Production of high intensity ion beams• Production of highly charged ion beams• Negative ion sources• Ion sources for fusion• Radioactive ion sources, charge breeders and polarized beams• Beam formation, extraction, transport, and diagnostics• Applications of ion sources• Key technologies for ion sourcesThe conference was organized in a hybrid mode and a zoom link was made available to participants, who could not attend in person. A total of 178 participants have registered for the conference, of whom 20 were students and 23 attended from remote. Fifty contributions have been presented in plenary sessions of which 20 were invited by the international advisory committee. The remaining 30 have been selected by the Scientific advisory committee. 123 contributions have been presented at 2 poster sessions. The high level and interesting contributions triggered lively discussions during all sessions. Thank you to all who contributed to this.Additional events included a tour of the TRIUMF Laboratory on September 17 just before the conference, and a reception on the same evening. In the afternoon of Wednesday, September 20 delegates were able to enjoy the beautiful surrounding Vancouver Island by either participating in a whale watching tour or a nature hike along the shoreline. In the evening of this day the conference banquet was held in the Fairmont Empress hotel.Fifteen students participated in the student poster competition. Members of both the international advisory committee and the scientific program committee acted as judges. Thank you to all the students who have contributed and the judges. Three winners have been awarded.List of International advisory committee, Scientific program committee, Local organizing committee are available in this pdf.

Adopting Trauma-Informed Approaches to Teaching & Learning in Health & Exercise Sciences: a Case Study

The School of Health & Exercise Sciences at the University of British Columbia Okanagan offers a competency-based undergraduate program that prepares students for professional practice in kinesiology and allied health, clinical exercise physiology, and/or health behaviour change. In delivering this program, we aim to 1) provide a safe and inclusive learning environment for all students, and 2) intentionally prepare students for equity-minded and anti-oppressive professional practice. To support both of these goals, we have recently embarked on a multipronged initiative to implement trauma-informed approaches to teaching and learning across our program. Trauma-informed approaches are critical due to the high prevalence of trauma exposure in both the university student and general adult population. Since people from historically, persistently or systemically marginalized groups are more likely to have experienced trauma, trauma-informed approaches should be considered an essential tool for supporting equity and inclusion in higher education. Finally, trauma-informed practice is especially relevant in a discipline like ours, where learning activities and professional practice commonly involve close examination of the body, touching, and other potentially triggering interactions and events. We have taken several steps to support the adoption of trauma-informed teaching practices in our School. These include characterizing the need for trauma-informed approaches in our laboratory courses, selecting an appropriate framework to guide our recommendations, creating an educator guide for designing and facilitating trauma-informed learning experiences, and developing and launching a training program for instructors and teaching assistants. We have also made progress with integrating learning about trauma-informed approaches into our curriculum. To support backward design, we defined one program-level competency related to trauma-informed practice, with five associated learning outcomes. These learning outcomes have been mapped across the curriculum to support mastery of the competency by graduation. This year, we employed two different instructional approaches (large vs. small group and instructor-led vs. guest expert-led sessions) in one first- and fourth-year course (n=209 and 100 students, respectively). Formative assessments indicate that individual learning outcomes were attained by 72-91% of students. Summative assessments of learning and student evaluations of instruction and perceived learning are forthcoming. Here we describe a comprehensive effort to revise both pedagogy and curriculum in support of trauma-informed teaching and learning in health and exercise sciences. By sharing our process, early successes, and lessons learned, we offer a valuable example for educators and educational designers across disciplines related to human anatomy, physiology, and health. This work is happening on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Syilx Okanagan people and is supported by the UBCO School of Health & Exercise Sciences and the UBCO Sexual Violence Prevention & Response Offce. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Traditional Territory in a Protected Area: Territorial Dynamics and Wildlife Management in the Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve, Amazonas, Brazil

Implementing sustainable management strategies for common-use resources influences the territorialization processes of traditional peoples and communities. This article aims to provide historical context on the use of natural resources in the Amanã Lake region, Maraã-AM. It also seeks to describe the territorial boundaries and hunting areas of one riverine community, presenting a proposal for establishing the sustainable management of subsistence hunting. The data cover a fifty-year period and were obtained through semi-structured interviews, systematic mapping of hunting locations, and participatory mapping of resource use in the region. The proposed zoning for the management of wildlife was based on previously established models in the region and on discussions with the villagers. Over the period, two territorial logics were identified, and their combination has had significant impacts on the territoriality of the studied community. The hunting area used by community members shrinked as its designated use area but at a different pace, leading to overlaps and conflicts over resource use. The proposed spatial wildlife management (of 22.216,22 ha of area) was considered appropriate by the villagers, but there is still a need to develop this wildlife management strategy based on local territorialities.

The Alligator Lake Throwing Dart, Yukon, Canada

On August 25th, 2018, the Yukon Ice Patch Research Group recovered a 6,000-year-old segmented throwing dart from site JcUu-11 (Hare et al. 2004) located in the traditional territories of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation and the Kwanlin Dün First Nation, Yukon Canada. The discovery was the result of a dramatic retreat of an ice patch over a period of 23 days. This discovery is the first entirely complete atlatl throwing dart retrieved from an archaeological site in arctic and subarctic North America. Beyond its remarkably state of preservation, the artifact offers insights on material use and artifact design that may have significant implications for archaeological interpretations of First Nations’ hunting traditions.

Revisiting the historic Métis-Syilx McDougall family in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada

Contentions centering on rights claims on behalf of Métis, an Indigenous group descended from a distinct bicultural political nation in central Canada, continue within the traditional territory of the Syilx, a group Indigenous to the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada. This article revisits earlier work arguing that Métis in Kelowna pre-1900s were mostly absorbed into Syilx community, having no traditional territory within this region. Inclusion took place through marriage and common-law partnerships, but also through social and familial networks formed out of kin connections. Accounting for oral histories, genealogical records, and cultural inheritance and identity practices, Syilx philosophies of inheritance and Métis practices of relationality and matrilocality are cause for the McDougall family’s integration into Syilx communities, despite Canadian Government policies that dictated otherwise. Through decolonization and unlearning, this work acknowledges how colonial interference created and continues to reinforce divisions among First Nations and Métis peoples.

The Earth Is Sweet. On Cottica Ndyuka (De)compositions

AbstractHow can we remain attentive to the scale of the environmental damage caused in traditional Maroon territories by the effects of the Plantationocene and the material vestiges of colonial and racial violence left by capitalism? Dwelling on conversations held with Maroon Cottica Ndyuka women living in Moengo, a small town established on the Cottica River in Eastern Suriname to support a bauxite industrial plant in the early twentieth century, this text seeks to illuminate what Maria Puig de la Bellacasa (2021) calls “elemental affinities,” relationships in which humans and more-than-humans interact in composing body and earth through refractive and diffractive effects. The paper observes how the women mixed and modeled clay, turning it into sculpted balls known as pemba or pemba doti, frequently used as a therapeutical and spiritual substance, and as food. In so doing, the text deals with processes such as creating, composing, undoing, decomposing, and perishing once the earth—as soil—takes part in and renders possible the existence of diverse creatures. This is a contribution toward an ethnography of (de)compositions of the earth that sets out from the affinities between earth and bodies, attentive to certain metamorphic possibilities, the multiplicities of relations in which soils act.

The Development of Recognition and Protection of the Customary Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Indonesia

indigenous people of Indonesia occasionally experience changes to their customary rights. The Dutch East Indies government has had exclusive jurisdiction over the communities with customary law since the time of Dutch colonial rule. Following Indonesia’s independence, Agrarian development saw quite radical transformations, including the establishment of ulayat rights for communities governed by customary law. A groundbreaking law, known as Law No. 5 of 1960 addressing Basic Agrarian Regulations, was created in 1960. Ulayat rights are acknowledged for existing and being put into practice. This essay examines Indonesia’s legal community’ growing acceptance of customary rights. This kind of research refers to the norms found in statutory rules and is normative in nature because it is based on primary and secondary legal materials. The study’s findings demonstrate that for communities governed by customary law or indigenous peoples who have lost their traditional territory, recognition does not always ensure justice. The defense of their customary rights cannot be made based on government rules and legislation.
 Keywords: recognition, protection, indigenous people, Indonesia