August 9 is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, and Cultural Survival joins the world in recognizing and honoring of the strength, resilience, dignity, and pride of Indigenous Peoples around the world. Despite our long histories of struggle, we continue to weave our stories, our songs, our rituals and ceremonies into rich, colorful, textured, and beautiful tapestries that portray landscapes of our Indigenous experience and indigeneity.
We continue to pray and give thanks in sacred places for the knowledge and materials offered to us from this earth, and for all the relations that keep us connected to the heavens, earth, each other, and all beings.
We seek to speak our language to our children so that they speak to their children of this ancestral knowledge. We seek to be recognized as Indigenous Peoples with inherent rights, and we fight for those rights. As Indigenous Peoples we stand up and survive and weave our futures.
That spirit is honored each year on the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, and this year Cultural Survival is marking the day by launching a new campaign to support the Telengit people of Russia. Telengit man from Russia. Courtesy of Cultural Survival
The Telengit are resisting the building of a natural gas pipeline from Siberia to China that will cross their lands, undermine their way of life and spiritual traditions, and threaten the delicate ecosystem that has supported their lifeways. The pipeline would bisect the sacred Ukok Plateau and the Golden Mountains of Altai UNESCO World Heritage Site in Russia, and the Kanas National Park in China, all of which are home to endangered wildlife that includes the snow leopard, argali mountain sheep, the black stork. The construction will destroy the sacred lands where the Telengit People have journeyed for thousands of years to give offerings to the spirits of the heavens, the mountains, and the waters, and where they conduct ceremonies to bury their dead.
Your letters and financial support can help the Telengit people defend their lands, their traditions, and their rights. To learn more and support the Telengit click here.
If “monk-politician” strikes you as somewhat of a contradiction… well, you might be right. Meet Samdhong Rinpoche, Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. His title contains within it a sad reminder of the current plight of the Tibetans.
Samdhong Rinpoche discusses the politics of exile at the Elliott School of International Affairs, GW, July 14, 2011. Photo courtesy of Bradley Aaron.
Rinpoche began with an apology for his English skills, which proved to be better than many native speakers. He then declared that he was “not comfortable” with politics. (I am reminded of Plato’s hypothetical philosopher-kings, who would likely be not at all interested in the political position. Perhaps reluctance should be a prerequisite for public office!)
His lecture delved into the history of Tibet and its people. What struck me most, however, was Rinpoche’s constant reiteration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s longstanding position: what is important is not political autonomy, but cultural and religious freedom.
“We are not concerned with who is ruling Tibet,” said Rinpoche, “but how they are ruling Tibet.”
During the Q&A session, a reporter asked how Samdhong Rinpoche felt about President Obama’s failure to meet with the Dalai Lama. With that blend of rigorous logic and holistic wisdom that so-perfectly characterizes Buddhism, Rinpoche pointed out that ascribing such a “failure” to the President before His Holiness had left the country was premature.
Two days later, at the White House:
His Holiness the Dalai Lama with President Barack Obama, July 16 2011. Flickr, Creative Commons
Majid Razvi received his B.A. in 2011 from Virginia Commonwealth University where he majored in Philosophy and Religious Studies. He has a strong interest in Tibetan epistemology, logic, and argumentation. He intends to pursue graduate study in philosophy.
Join language advocates for this annual grassroots gathering founded by the National Alliance to Save Native Languages and leadership from the National Indian Education Association. This year’s summit, Promoting Indigenous Language Rights in Practice: Language Rights Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill aims to educate each member of the U.S. House and Senate appropriations committees about Native American language leaders who are using extremely limited federal funding for urgent local tribal language revitalization projects. You can help reach out to congressional appropriators: Read more.
It’s not over yet for thousands of indigenous people of the Brazilian Amazon and thousands of acres of rainforest. One more document needs to be signed before plans can proceed to build the world’s third largest dam.
The David and Goliath battle between indigenous people/environmentalists and big corporate/government interests has been going on for thirty years. The Washington Post, and many other mainstream media covered the step toward approval of the dam project.
In the photo below, James Cameron, the director of the film Avatar, is joined by activists at a rally to stop Belo Monte Dam.
James Cameron joined by activists at a rally to stop Belo Monte Dam. Flickr/International Rivers.
In 1980, a Mauritian sociologist friend confidently told me that a branded fast food culture as found in North America and Europe would never take off in his homeland. He reasoned that the population was already well served by street sellers, who produced classic Mauritian snacks like vegetable samosas, pakora and gateaux piment, the small marble sized balls of crushed yellow lentil, spring onions and herbs including a good amount of fresh, green chilli, which are deep fried and have a wonderful crunchy texture.
Two decades later the street sellers or “hawkers”, as they are called by government bureaucrats, are still around. Most of them are Hindu or Muslim men. Some have fixed spots by the roadside, where they used bottled gas canisters to heat vegetable oil and cook their products, while others use mopeds or motorbikes, with a box attached at the back to carry already cooked items, so that they can better locate customers at bus stations, especially at morning and evening rush hour, and coastal areas.
RedCape. Credit: James Guppy, Creative Commons, Flickr
But the street sellers are no longer the only game in town. The idea that branded fast food would not take off in Mauritius was a highly plausible theory at one stage of the country’s development; however, it wasn’t long before it was disproved, undone by a growing middle class in pursuit of a marker of their steadily growing affluence. And what better way to celebrate rising status than by adopting the fast food culture of the world’s advanced economies? In 1983, Kentucky Fried Chicken (now KFC) opened its first outlet in Mauritius. The company, which now has 14 stores spread across the palm-fringed Indian Ocean island targets the local population rather than the near one million tourists, who visit each year and are largely catered for by the hotels in which they reside. Over the years, the steadily expanding KFC chain has been joined by Burger King, Nando’s and Pizza Hut, as well as a wide variety of local competitors.
Interestingly, McDonald’s was a relatively late entrant to the Mauritian fast food market. It opened its first store in the capital, Port Louis, in 2001 but it is only now that it has firm plans to open a second store in a shopping mall, Jumbo Phoenix, in the Vacoas-Phoenix conurbation, a predominantly Hindu area. Moreover, its choice of location near an International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) temple (mandir) has stirred up a great deal of controversy not only in the neighbourhood but throughout the island.
European and North American-born Hare Krishnas, who had first arrived in Mauritius in 1974 to target local Hindus, the descendants of indentured labourers who make up just under half of the island’s near 1.3 million population, went on to establish a three-story settlement just off the main road in Phoenix in 1984, on a six-acre plot of former agricultural land. But while some ISKCON temples use locations in big cities – the building in London’s Soho is a good example – to illustrate to potential converts the stark contrast between a spiritual and a materialistic lifestyle, those in rural or semi-rural areas consciously use the tranquillity as an important element in creating a sacred space.
Hot & Crispy. Credit: Velkr0, Creative Commons, Flickr
Moreover, given the significance of the ritual purity/pollution rule, which as Louis Dumont pointed out in his anthropological classic, Homo Hierachicus (1966), is central to traditional Hinduism, including its sannyasin-led sectarian movements, it is hardly surprising that ISKCON devotees in their semi-rural Mauritian location object to the sale and smell of cooked tabooed animal products near its premises.
ISKCON has now received the backing of most Hindu institutions on the island, including Arya Saba, Mauritius Marathi Mandali Federation, Ram Sena, the Sanatan Dharma Temples Federation, and Hindu House. A crowd of several hundred people, some holding placards in either French or English, held a demonstration outside the proposed 150-seater McDonald’s on 9 February (see a video clip from the demonstration here.) The secretary of the ISCKON society, Srinjay Das, stated that his organisation was not against economic development “but we are only asking for respect of our culture. We venerate cows and a McDonald’s outlet selling beef burgers in front of our sacred land is not correct.” He went on to say ISKCON intended to go to court in an attempt to block the opening of the new store (an injunction was duly lodged at the Mauritius Supreme Court on 11 February). Perhaps more ominously, the President of Hindu House, Veerendra Ramdhun, said that it was important that both parties come to terms and agree a solution. He issued this warning: “We are living in a democratic country. We need to make sure that there is peace. We do not want to create disorder. We only want to agree on a solution.”
In anticipation of the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics, the Royal Anthropological Institute’s Education Outreach Programme has launched an Anthropology of Sport Photo Contest.
The photo contest is open to anyone interested in anthropology, photography and sport.
Deadline for submissions is December 10, 2010.
For further information and submission guidelines please click here.
Fiji is going for the big three and it’s not lions, tigers and bears. It’s firewalking, water, and casinos.
The government of Fiji recently advertised for “expressions of interest” in the development and operation of its first casino (Economist Nov 13). According to the ad, the government seeks to engage “internationally successful full-casino developers/operators who would enhance Fiji’s brand.”
So now entire countries, perhaps especially small ones, must have a brand.
Bottle of Fiji Water; Photo Credit: brianjmatis, Creative Commons licensed on Flickr
And the Fijian route to creating a brand is to look both inside at “traditional” cultural practices that are economically profitable and outside to the global marketplace. Cultural anthropologists have insights on the Fijian “big three.”
On firewalking and the branding of Fiji, read a journal article entitled “We Branded Ourselves Long Ago: Intangible Cultural Property and Commodification of Fijian Firewalking” by Guido Carlo Pigliasco of the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Pigliasco writes about how Fijian firewalking has managed to indigenize the power of the foreign though a Maussian principle of the social gift: “The gift of firewalking has allowed its custodians to locally sustain their community, to gain a reach and respect across the nation and beyond, and to intensify the group’s social sentiment and social capital.” In other words, so far, firewalking is maintaining its value to Fijians as more than just a revenue earner.
On Fijian water, read a journal article entitled “Fijian Water in Fiji and New York: Local Politics and a Global Community” by Martha Kaplan of Vassar College. Kaplan discusses how Coca Cola first came to Fiji with American soldiers during World War II, and how Fijian water now flows out. Starting with a case study of local water bottling company in Fiji, she traces the changing commodity career of Fijian water.
On casinos: As Fiji invites the arrival of casinos, it should consider seriously what cultural anthropologists have learned from their studies of casinos elsewhere in terms of how to steer benefits to the local people and protect local people and their culture from possible negative effects. For one, Kate Spilde Contreras has written extensively on the economic and social impacts of American Indian casinos in California. There are lessons to be learned in the anthropological literature.
Brewing ayahuasca,
Credit: Ayahuasca Pix, Creative Commons Licensed on Flickr
Ayahuasca, a beverage brewed from the roots of an Amazonian plant and consumed under the guidance of a shaman, reportedly provides mind-opening experiences and relief from symptoms of stress, depression and other afflictions. Ayahuasca has long been used in healing rituals in the Amazon region of Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil.
Recently the Guardian carried an article about the use of ayahuasca by members of several Indie groups such as the Klaxons. Then the Washington Post described a healing tour company that connects Westerners to ayahuasca sessions.
Here are other anthropological sources on ayahuasca, healing, and ritual (with apologies, as they are not open access):
Arévalo Valera, Guillermo. 1986. Ayahuasca y El Curandero Shipibo-Conibo Del Ucayali (Perú). América Indígena 46(1):p.147-161.
Baer, G., and W. W. Snell. 1974. An Ayahuasca Ceremony among the Matsigenka (Eastern Peru). Zeitschrift Fur Ethnologie V 99(1/2):63-80.
Balzer, Carsten. 2005. Ayahuasca Rituals in Germany: The First Steps of the Brazilian Santo Daime Religion in Europe. Curare 28(1):53-66, 119.
Benjamin, Craig. 2000. Trademark on Traditional Knowledge: Slim Ayahuasca Win. Native Americas 17(1):30-33.
Callaway, J. C. 1995. Pharmahuasca and Contemporary Ethnopharmacology. Curare 18(2):395-398.
Desmarchelier, C., A. Gurni, G. Ciccia, and A. M. Giuletti. 1996. Ritual and Medicinal Plants of the Ese’Ejas of the Amazonian Rainforest (Madre De Dios, Perú). Journal of Ethnopharmacology 52(1):45-51.
This post is an analytical literature review, with bibliography, of recent sources that use anthropological methods to explore threats to indigenous peoples, the implications of the threats/factors, and the responses of indigenous groups. It was originally prepared for a graduate seminar at George Washington University on “Culture, Risk and Security” in spring 2009.
A broad range of factors — including those alleged to threaten land, identity, rights, reputation — and a broad geographic scope — ranging from Siberia to Papua New Guinea — are featured in this essay. This breadth illustrates the diversity of threats faced by indigenous peoples and how indigenous people perceive and respond to these threats in widely divergent contexts. Trends and themes will be discussed with regard to who assesses or identifies threat, the nature of the threat, and the subsequent threat-response strategy of indigenous communities.
Who Assesses Threat?
With regard to factors that affect indigenous peoples, what is perceived as threatening by one party may be benign to another. Non indigenous actors such as indigenous rights activists, NGOs, or anthropologists may be quick to raise alarms over the very same factor indigenous peoples actively seek out (Donahoe 2008, Errington and Gewertz 1996). Anthropologists, for example, may assess the practice of neo-shamanism by Anglo Americans and Europeans as a form of cultural appropriation and thus a threat to the cultural integrity of shamanist indigenous groups (Wallis 1999), while an indigenous shaman may assess the phenomenon as neutral or even beneficial for the visibility of their traditions. Vice versa, unconcerned outsiders or those with a different stake in an issue may not recognize the risks associated with a given factor, while indigenous peoples see it as a clear threat (Collaredo-Mansfield 2002). Even among indigenous peoples, a single factor may be assessed differently, as is the case with ethnic policy and identity-based land/resource legislation in Siberia (Donahoe 2008), or the arrival of an extractive industry in indigenous territory in Brazilian Amazonia (Turner 1995), which are perceived as threats by some indigenous groups and individuals and as opportunity by others.
The factors explored in this essay may be understood by evaluating them in terms of themes about who assesses them as threatening, and the level of ambiguity or consolidation of that assessment. A factor that is perceived as a threat uniformly by all members of an indigenous group, and by a variety of distinct outside agents might be classified as a “clear threat,” whereas a factor that is ambiguously assessed among indigenous groups and individuals or among outside entities may be a “potential threat” or “threat-opportunity.” Environmental degradation, for example, might fall under the former, while at the same time, mining activities may fall under the latter (Turner 1995). The term “projected threat” may be appropriate for factors assessed as being threatening by an outsider but benign or even attractive to an indigenous group. This is the case with commercialization of ritual associated with “modernity” for the Chambri in Papua New Guinea (Errington and Gewertz 1996).
From the official press release:
Among the presenters are your AMIA-list associates Jennifer Jenkins, University of Arizona; Ross Lipman, UCLA Film & Television Archive; J. Fred MacDonald, and Paul Spehr.
The NHF Summer Symposium is a multi-disciplinary gathering devoted to the history, theory, and preservation of moving images. Registration is open to the public and to media professionals, teachers, and students. The evening programs and day-long sessions provide the opportunity to exchange opinions and insights with participants from all over North America, including students from the NYU Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program.
The event will begin for registrants on Thursday, July 22 with a reception and screening of Wabanaki Film and Video, archival selections from Northeast Historic Film. The closing session on Saturday afternoon is Language Keepers, a National Science Foundation-funded Documenting Endangered Languages Program. The Language Keepers series captures current conversations in Passamaquoddy-Maliseet at the Pleasant Point Reservation in Eastport, Maine. grams to an online dictionary.
Symposium organizers are Snowden Becker, School of Information at the University of Texas, Austin; and Janna Jones and Mark Neumann, School of Communication, Cinema and Visual Culture Program at Northern Arizona University.
Who Assesses Threat?
anthropologyworks 