Tribal Identification Research Articles

Ethnomedicinal knowledge among the Malayali tribal of Chitteri hills, Eastern Ghats, Tamil Nadu, India

The present study was aimed to document the ethnomedicinal knowledge among the Malayali tribal of Chitteri hills Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India. Field visits were made to the Chitteri hills every month covering all seasons. Interviews with traditional healers and other knowledgeable inhabitants and farmers were conducted. The Malayali tribal people of Chitteri hills use 320 plant species for their day-to-day life, this ethnobotanical exploration revealed they were the habit of using around 216 species of medicinal plants belonging to 200 genera under 45families. Malayali tribes use morphological characters such as bark surface, leaf colour, leaf taste and exudates, underground plant parts and ecology of species as criteria for identification of 135 species belongs to 105 genera under 46 families. The documentation of the knowledge of Malayali tribal identification of plants of Chitteri hills is to be accorded top priority in the preservation of our ancient traditional knowledge.

Hope as a means of social identity

The article describes the main aspects of the formation of identity in the process of creating hope through temporal migration of the self and multi-vector identification. Temporal identification defined as the totality of the possibilities of awareness of the self-participation of the participant of hope in social time. The author of the article emphasizes the importance of a joint future as a component of social identity. Collective integrity comes from the presence of a dominant vector for the prospect of further coexistence.The basic components of identification in the hope are the formation of the «I» regarding age-related changes and the formation of the «I – Others» interaction, which is revealed in the complex of the self, role and tribal identification. Special attention should be paid to the problem of transferring the ideas of the Council of Trent to the non-religious plane, which envisages the creation of a «factory of hope» based on the use of the interaction «identity – otherness». The self is the search for the hero of the future in himself through the behavior of others, which allows identification and finding within the limits of the living space now. It is the means and the ultimate goal of hope, which moves man to the edge of the desired being.As a result, in the process of analyzing identity, the sensual and mental components of hope highlighted, which serve as the basis and evaluation modification of awareness of the relationship «people – the world of the future». The intelligible identity of social hope given by meaningful images of the future, even when using a different operational tool of mental activity.It has been determined that carriers of social hopes may encounter non-identity, which manifests itself in apotropy in relation to the projection of the future, other designers and the conditions of the surrounding public environment. The benefits of this study are to determine the direction of overcoming the barriers of apotropy by transferring the identification intention, which should enrich the content of hope for the holistic perception of future changes and their proper adoption.

Return of the Beast: From Pre-Islamic Ode to Contemporary Novel

Can the exile ever return? And if so, how? This question has consumed literature from the times of Gilgamesh. Focusing on works by the Jāhilī poet al-Shanfarā (d. 70/525) and the contemporary Lebanese author Hudā Barakāt, this essay reads the metamorphosis of the exile and the outcast as a critique of tribal identification. I argue that while the moment of exilic departure is confounded and erased, the return (al-ʿawdah) operates as a form of revenge (raiding, haunting, possessing) that emerges from experiences of tawaḥḥush (becoming wild, beastly) and tagharrub (estrangement, alienation). This vengeful return harnesses beastliness and alienation as both destructive and productive forces that dismantle communal rituals of inclusion and exclusion, death and burial, while opening up the human/beast relation to multiple social and political configurations. Drawing on classical and contemporary theoretical frameworks, I examine the function of cruelty in the exile’s transformation and return, reading it as a survival mechanism and aesthetic device.

Recapturing Traditional Culture - A Survey of Uvinmi Body Tattoo as a Curative Procedure in Esanland, Edo State, Nigeria

Body tattooing in traditional Nigerian culture was basically believed to be used for identification as well as aesthetic purposes. In some cultures, such as seen amongst the traditional ethnic Hausa and Fulani people, permanent facial marks were used to identify slaves within a community and also used to enhance the beauty and appearance of the women folk especially. In the southern part of Nigeria, amongst the Yorubas, it is used as a tribal identification symbol that provides information about the individual, as well as some culturally-related beliefs. The use of tattoos among the Esan ethnic people transcends the purposes of identification and enhancement of physical appearance as discovered. Thus this study examines the use of tattoo as a curative process for the illness called Udeh among the Esan ethnic people of Edo state Nigeria. Udeh is an illness associated with infection of the spleen. Data was collected through visitation of traditional healing venues, oral interview of some traditional doctors and elders as well as direct observation of the treatment processes. Findings indicated that the practice of Uvinmi has been in existence from time immemorial and it is a familial profession inherited from generation to generation as the most effective medium for treating spleen related diseases among the Esan people. It was also discovered contemporarily modern medical anaesthesia is employed to help reduce the agony felt in the process of blade incision as practiced by one of the traditional doctors. Recommendation made include an indebt study of the herbs used during and after treatment to gauge its efficacy on Western medicinal practices as well as proper sterilisization processes on incision equipments and procedures amongst others.

Cultural adaptation, psychometric properties, and outcomes of the Native American Spirituality Scale.

Spirituality is central to many Native Americans (NAs) and has been associated with recovery from substance use disorders (SUDs). However, no published questionnaire uniquely taps tribal-specific spiritual beliefs and practices. This hinders efforts to integrate traditional NA spirituality into SUD treatment and track spiritual outcomes. As part of a randomized controlled trial examining SUD treatment for NAs, we adapted the Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES) in collaboration with members of a Southwest tribe to create the Native American Spirituality Scale (NASS) and measured changes in the NASS over the course of treatment. The 83 participants (70% male) were from a single Southwest tribe and seeking SUD treatment. They completed the NASS at baseline, 4, 8, and 12 months. Exploratory factor analysis of the NASS was conducted and its temporal invariance, construct validity, and longitudinal changes in the factor and item scores were examined. The NASS yielded a 2-factor structure that was largely invariant across time. Factor 1 reflected behavioral practices, while Factor 2 reflected more global beliefs. Both factors significantly increased across 12 months, albeit at different assessment points. At baseline, Factor 1 was negatively related to substance use and positively associated with measures of tribal identification while Factor 2 was unrelated to these measures. Given the importance of tribal spirituality to many NAs, the development of this psychometrically sound measure is a key precursor and complement to the incorporation of tribal spirituality into treatment, as well as research on mechanisms of change for SUD treatment among NAs and assessment of NA spirituality in relation to other aspects of health.

Indigeneity and Mestizaje in Ana Castillo'sThe Mixquiahuala Lettersand Leslie Marmon Silko'sAlmanac of the Dead

This article argues that conceptions of indigeneity and mestizaje conveyed in Ana Castillo's The Mixquiahuala Letters and Leslie Marmon Silko's Almanac of the Dead are influenced (differentially) by the very colonialist assumptions the novels otherwise aim to dismantle. I compare how indigeneity and mestizaje are defined in Letters and Almanac (with particular attention to their oppositional features), addressing relationships between these definitions, popular colonialist discourse, and anti-colonial articulations of identity that have developed in American Indian and Chicana/o communities. Significantly (and tragically), Letters' Chicana protagonist, Teresa, envisions her recovery of a cohesive cultural identity as a return to a distant indigenous past (via traveling from the U.S. to Mexico) — which, I demonstrate, places Letters in conversation with Mexican indigenismo, the myth of the Vanishing Indian, and the myth of Mexico as an Infernal Paradise. Almanac's Menardo, by contrast, grows up with a strong sense of Mexican indigenous ideologies but cuts his family ties and conceals his cultural identity after discovering that identification as Indian will disqualify him for entrance into Mexican high society. Through Menardo, introduced as “the mestizo,” Almanac critiques Mexican mestizaje as a cultural construct, and I consider whether this critique functions as the sort of exclusionary gesture Castillo has ascribed to some North American Indians when it comes to Chicana/o claims to indigeneity. At the same time, I consider how Teresa's inherited presuppositions about indigeneity perpetuate discourses that have functioned to bar indigenous peoples from the full rights of citizenship and self-determination. That Menardo eschews what Teresa strives to recover can best be understood, I argue, in the context of the different national circumstances in which they grow up, the consequences of Chicana/o diaspora, and traditional versus colonially influenced American Indian standards for tribal identification.

Genetic heritage and native identity of the Seaconke Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts.

The name "Wampanoag" means "Eastern People" or "People of the First Light" in the local dialect of the Algonquian language. Once extensively populating the coastal lands and neighboring islands of the eastern United States, the Wampanoag people now consist of two federally recognized tribes, the Aquinnah and Mashpee, the state-recognized Seaconke Wampanoag tribe, and a number of bands and clans in present-day southern Massachusetts. Because of repeated epidemics and conflicts with English colonists, including King Philip's War of 1675-76, and subsequent colonial laws forbidding tribal identification, the Wampanoag population was largely decimated, decreasing in size from as many as 12,000 individuals in the 16th century to less than 400, as recorded in 1677. To investigate the influence of the historical past on its biological ancestry and native cultural identity, we analyzed genetic variation in the Seaconke Wampanoag tribe. Our results indicate that the majority of their mtDNA haplotypes belongs to West Eurasian and African lineages, thus reflecting the extent of their contacts and interactions with people of European and African descent. On the paternal side, Y-chromosome analysis identified a range of Native American, West Eurasian, and African haplogroups in the population, and also surprisingly revealed the presence of a paternal lineage that appears at its highest frequencies in New Guinea and Melanesia. Comparison of the genetic data with genealogical and historical information allows us to reconstruct the tribal history of the Seaconke Wampanoag back to at least the early 18th century.

Seamus Heaney and the place of writing

This study examines the attitude toward place and home in the works of Seamus Heaney. O'Brien looks at the political role of Heaney's writing, arguing that his complex engagement with these issues creates a pluralist and emancipatory sense of Irish identity predicated on the future, not the past. O'Brien's book traces an isolated theme in Heaney's work - the creation of a politics of place, language and identity. Unlike chronological studies of Heaney's poetry, O'Brien explores important elements in his entire oeuvre, from his poetry and prose to translations, such as Beowulf, that relate to the issue of writing and identity - strident nationalism, tribal identification, political ideology and post-colonial poetics in particular. A sustained engagement between literary theory and the work of Heaney, the book connects the ethical projects of Heaney and Derrida in terms of their views on the relationship between self and other, and between the past and present. A result of this reading of Heaney's poems is some innovative arguments: for example, O'Brien's examination of the poet's most famous book, North, views it as opening a dialogue with other traditions. Another emphasis is the Viking influences in his work. Finally, O'Brien examines the relationship between Heaney's texts and the violence in Northern Ireland that has been the environment of much of his writing.

Identifying an Advertisement Presenter's Tribe

ABSTRACT In African countries it is generally important to identify another person's tribe when meeting that person for the first time. A similar process of identification also seems to take place when a consumer sees a presenter in an advertisement. This paper identifies the cues that are used in tribal identification, demonstrates that multiple cues are employed, and shows that nonvisual cues are generally more important than visual ones. It also finds that audience members notice a presenter's tribe more frequently in advertisements appearing on television than in those appearing in print or outdoor media. The managerial implications of these findings are discussed.

Introduction: Aboriginal Peoples: The Changing Face of Canada

This theme issue of American Review of Canadian Studies deals with the People of Canada. To begin, some background information is in order; it may make your reading of the issue more productive. Defining the people of Canada is somewhat problematic. In the United States, the situation is pretty straightforward: if you carry a tribal identification or have one issued to you through the Bureau of Affairs, you are an Indian. Without the card, you can call yourself an Indian, but governmental agencies will not recognize you as such. In Canada, by contrast, and as Ovide Mercredi, former Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, has pointed out, the Canadian government recognizes seventeen different categories of under the Act. [1] Without detailing these seventeen categories--a daunting task in any case--in Canada there are Status Indians which, more or less, corresponds to the U.S. definition of Indian; that is, they all carry a tribal identification. Ot her in Canada who are Aboriginals without specific tribal membership are called Non-status Indians. In addition to these First Nations people, there are those people who are of mixed Indian and European descent--called Metis. And to complete the official governmental recognition scheme, Canada certainly includes the Inuit of the Arctic under the Aboriginal umbrella. As our legal scholar Kent McNeil reminds us here: The peoples are defined by the Canadian Constitution as including 'the Indian, Inuit and Metis peoples of Canada': as found in section 35(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982, (U.K.) c.11. Exploring the differences further, the Canadian Constitution says that, The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed (section 35[1]). It is up to the courts to define just what those rights are and how they are to be exercised. current fishing-rights problems in the Maritimes--recognized by the Canadian Supreme Court--are certainly testing that Constitutional rights recognition. While it is true that the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that government/Native treaties are indeed the supreme Law of the Land (Article Vi, U.S. Constitution), in contrast to the Canadian experience, the U.S. offers no Constitutional protection to (or explanation of) the aboriginal rights of Native people outside what maybe expressed within a treaty. Instead, the U.S. Constitution gives Congress plenary power over the regulation of affairs (Article 1, section 8). Another notable difference in the history of people in North America is that of war. Native people of the U.S. were subjected to four centuries of genocidal war; the people of Canada--the Beothuk people of the Maritimes being the most egregious exception--were generally spared the ravages of outright genocide. Furthermore, people of Canada did not face the devastating policy of Removal as did their brethren south of the border. But while not facing Removal, the people of Canada certainly suffered (and continue to suffer) through the policy of relegating people to lives of official neglect on reserves. …

An Annotated History of Craniofacial Surgery and Intentional Cranial Deformation

The history of craniofacial surgery and the use of intentional cranial deformation is a long and varied one. Researching some of the earliest medical writings and reviews of early terracotta and stone figures from throughout the world clearly revealed that these two forms of treatment were widely extant. Intentional cranial deformation was used for a number of reasons including beautification, tribal identification, and social stature. The development of craniofacial surgery is a more modern practice and its historical evolution is reviewed in the context of techniques and the personalities involved.

Alienation and Broken Narrative in "Winter in the Blood"

The narrator of James Welch's Winter in Blood suffers malaise of modern man; he is alienated from his family, his community, his land, and his own past. He is ineffective in relationships with people and at odds with his environment, not because he is deliberately rebellious, or even immaturely selfish, but because he has lost story of who he is, where he has come from. Welch's narrator is an American Indian, but one who suffers more than tensions of living on margins of conflicting societies. He is an Indian who has lost both tribal identification and personal identity because he is cut off from tradition of oral narration which shapes consciousness, values, and self-worth. He is a man whose story is confused, episodic, and incomplete because he has never received story of those who came before and invested landscape and people with significance and meaning. Storytelling keeps things going, creates a cultural matrix that allows a continuum from past to present and future; but for deliberately nameless narrator of Winter in Blood, there is no past, no present, and certainly no future, only chaos of disconnected memories, desperate actions, and useless conversation. His dilemma is clear from beginning of novel. Welch is blunt as he reveals barrenness of narrator's perceptions of himself and his environment. As he walks toward his mother's ranch narrator reflects, Coming home was not easy anymore (p. 2). The land he crosses is empty and abandoned: the Earthboys were gone (p. 1). The ranch buildings have caved in. Even at this own ranch, there is a sense of emptiness, especially in his relationships with his family: none of them counted; not one meant anything to me. And for no reason. I felt no hatred, no love, no guilt, no conscience, nothing but a distance that had grown through years (p. 2). In fact, he reveals he no longer has feelings even about himself. There is little for him to feel but pain. His injured knee aches; he is bruised and hung over; his woman has run off, taking his rifle and razor; his mother is

The Redbird Focus: Cranial Evidence in Tribal Identification

The Redbird Focus was defined in 1956, and was initially (Wood 1956) related to both Lower Loup and historic Pawnee Focus materials. Wood (1965) later took the position that Redbird was a more prob...

DEGREES AND DIMENSIONS OF SOCIAL INTERACTION IN TRIBAL GROUPINGS: A SOCIOMETRIC STUDY

ABSTRACTThis study reports the results of administering an inventory of 15 sociometric questions to 11 groups of students, 274 in all, in primary, secondary, teacher‐training and mine youth schools on the Copperbelt of Zambia. Choices made were analysed with tribal identification as a classification within class groupings and over all respondents. Two conclusions emerge. First, tribal identity represents a significant category for social interaction within institutionalised groups when social distance is pronounced. Second, the inventory's dimensions, when subjected to factor analysis based on the tribal groupings of the respondents, lay on three axes. They were hypothesised as leadership within an institutionalised system, social acceptance by peers, and ethnic identity. The results, when discussed with reference to other work in social distance, suggest modifications of current theory.