scholarly journals Making Sovereignty Mean Something: Native Nations and Creative Adaptation

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-22
Author(s):  
Michelle Watts
Keyword(s):  
Alaska Native ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Federal Legislation ◽  
Federal Policies ◽  
Indian Gaming ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Economic Tools ◽  
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act

Scholarship regarding Native Nations has often focused on the problems of Native Nations caused by a brutal history of genocide, repression and forced assimilation. Relatively little attention has been paid to how Native Nations creatively adapt to their circumstances in a continual process of reinvention. This article provides insights into Native Nations through examples in the lower 48 states and Alaska. This study, based on 16 interviews the author conducted with Native Nations leaders in Alaska and the lower 48 states, demonstrates how Native Nations adapt to their unique circumstances to make sovereignty meaningful, because of and in spite of federal legislation that seeks to govern Nation Nations. Ultimately, I argue that many Native Nations today are purposefully modernizing by creatively adapting to their circumstances, transforming systems of governance, and leveraging economic tools, integrating their own evolving cultural practices. While modernization implies following a Western developmental path, purposeful modernization is driven by the choices of the people. While change was forced upon Native Nations in numerous, often devastating, ways since colonization, they have nevertheless asserted agency and formed governments and economic institutions that reflect and reinforce their own cultural norms. This article highlights examples of how Native Nations and the lower 48 have adapted given the very different circumstances created in part by state and federal policies such as the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) and Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).

scholarly journals Museum cultural collections: pathways to the preservation of traditional and scientific knowledge

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 618-634
Author(s):  
Angela J. Linn ◽  
Joshua D. Reuther ◽  
Chris B. Wooley ◽  
Scott J. Shirar ◽  
Jason S. Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Alaska Native ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of The University ◽  
The University

Museums of natural and cultural history in the 21st century hold responsibilities that are vastly different from those of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the time of many of their inceptions. No longer conceived of as cabinets of curiosities, institutional priorities are in the process of undergoing dramatic changes. This article reviews the history of the University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks, Alaska, from its development in the early 1920s, describing the changing ways staff have worked with Indigenous individuals and communities. Projects like the Modern Alaska Native Material Culture and the Barter Island Project are highlighted as examples of how artifacts and the people who constructed them are no longer viewed as simply examples of material culture and Native informants but are considered partners in the acquisition, preservation, and perpetuation of traditional and scientific knowledge in Alaska.

The Second Life of Judaism: A History of Religious Community and Practice in Virtual Spaces

2019 ◽  
pp. 235-260
Author(s):  
Julian Voloj ◽  
Anthony Bak Buccitelli
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Digital World ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Religious Cultures

This chapter talks about San Francisco-based company Linden Lab who launched Second Life (SL), which is described as an online digital world that is built, shaped, and owned by its participants. It discloses how SL was seen as the next big internet phenomenon and was the focus of attention by investors and media alike for a short period of time. It also explains SL's complex relationship with 'real life', which is defined both by the encoded parameters of the virtual space and by the social and cultural practices of the people who use the platform. The chapter discusses SL as a broad platform that encompassed many cultural constructions and developed a rich and diverse set of religious cultures. It recounts how dozens of Jewish sites across the grid emerged and were created both by individual users and by offline institutions that established SL presences.

Intangible Cultural Heritage in a Modernizing Bhutan: The Question of Remaining Viable and Dynamic

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Lees
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Intangible Cultural Heritage ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Gross National Happiness ◽  
The People ◽  
Cultural Isolation ◽  
Cloth Production ◽  
History Of

AbstractThis article considers the measures being taken in Bhutan to support the cultural practices and traditions of weaving as Bhutan rapidly moves to modernize. Woven cloth is one of a number of artisan practices in Bhutan that contribute to a unique body of intangible cultural heritage, and a distinctive and instantly recognizable Bhutanese identity. Cloth and cloth production have come to have significant influence on the cultural, socioeconomic and political, as well as the ceremonial and religious life of the people of Bhutan. However with modernization and an increasingly global outlook, many socioeconomic transformations are taking place, challenging traditional cultural practices to remain relevant and viable to younger generations. Bhutan offers a unique case study as a country engaging only relatively recently with globalization after a long history of cultural isolation. Bhutan also offers up a unique policy response to modernization, its Gross National Happiness (GNH) measure, which attempts to embody a strong social, cultural, and environmental imperative within the development process. This article will analyze the various measures taking place to maintain cultural identity and cultural practices within the context of development policy and practice, and will link this discussion to measures and approaches taking place at an international level by agencies such as UNESCO.

Characterizing Rock Art Pigments

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilie Chalmin ◽  
Jillian Huntley
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Physicochemical Characterization ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
History Of Research ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
Important Evidence

The materials used to make rock art contain important evidence about the cultural practices of the people who created it: their technologies, movements, and social interactions. The number of studies of archaeological pigments in the recent literature demonstrates how fruitful such enquiries can be. In this chapter, the authors discuss the physicochemical characterization of rock art pigments, outline the history of research in this area, differentiate key concepts and terminology, and describe principal methods. They conclude with illustrative case studies from France, South Africa, and Australia to demonstrate the kinds of archaeological information that can be preserved in rock art pigments.

scholarly journals The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and Its Effects on American Indian Economic Development

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall K. Q. Akee ◽  
Katherine A. Spilde ◽  
Jonathan B. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
American Indian ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Indian Reservations ◽  
Indian Gaming ◽  
Tribal Government ◽  
The Us ◽  
Tribal Governments ◽  
History Of ◽  
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act ◽  
American Indian Reservations

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), passed by the US Congress in 1988, was a watershed in the history of policymaking directed toward reservation-resident American Indians. IGRA set the stage for tribal government-owned gaming facilities. It also shaped how this new industry would develop and how tribal governments would invest gaming revenues. Since then, Indian gaming has approached commercial, state-licensed gaming in total revenues. Gaming operations have had a far-reaching and transformative effect on American Indian reservations and their economies. Specifically, Indian gaming has allowed marked improvements in several important dimensions of reservation life. For the first time, some tribal governments have moved to fiscal independence. Native nations have invested gaming revenues in their economies and societies, often with dramatic effect.

Tuberculosis in Western Alaska, 1900–1950

Polar Record ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 23 (145) ◽  
pp. 383-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas E. Flanders
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Alaska Native ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
The Public ◽  
Moral Beliefs ◽  
The People ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Medical Articles

ABSTRACTTuberculosis was the major cause of death among Alaska Native peoples during the first half of the twentieth century, with a crude death rate estimated at 810 per 100,000. Apart from a few medical articles, not much is known of the impact of the disease on the people. This paper reviews published articles, unpublished reports by government teachers, hospital records and other materials for several Native villages in western Alaska from the period 1900–50. These archival sources suggest that tuberculosis was prevalent at the start of the century, that tuberculosis morbidity and mortality increased until the public health efforts of the 1950s and '60s, and that highest mortality rates were found among women between the ages of 15 and 35. Traditional cultural practices that brought people together for fatiguing activities in confined areas may have contributed to the spread of the disease. Public health efforts of federal teachers aimed to improve personal hygiene, household cleanliness and ventilation. Their efforts were thwarted by environmental and economic factors, primarily the limited amount of wood. Ultimately, the comments of these public officials may have reflected more their own moral beliefs than the actual etiology of the disease.

scholarly journals “ZEFA CAFÉ”: A MULHER QUE BORDOU A MINHA HISTÓRIA /“ZEFA COFFEE”: THE WOMAN THAT EMBROIDERED MY STORY

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
José Wanderley Alves SOUSA
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Old People ◽  
History And Memory ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
The People ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
History Of ◽  
Methodological Bias

RESUMO: O presente trabalho toma como base teórica os postulados da Análise de Discurso de Orientação Francesa, a fim de discursivizar as histórias cotidianas que circulam nos discursos de velhos. Busca, especificamente, analisar as estratégias discursivas utilizadas pelos velhos na reconstituição de suas histórias de vida, para entender a interrelação que se estabelece entre discurso, história cotidiana e memória. A partir das lembranças de velhos, pelo viés metodológico da história oral, a pesquisa possibilitou a reconstituição de momentos significativos da história de São José da Lagoa Tapada-PB/BR. Realçou-se, assim, que as lembranças de velhos possibilitam a representação e construção da diversidade cultural e as identidades do povo que se efetivam pelos discursos, a exemplo da história de Dona Zefa Café, uma das colaboradoras da pesquisa. Constatou-se, portanto, neste trabalho, o diálogo que se fia entre discurso, práticas culturais, história cotidiana e memória. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Discurso. História. Memória.ABSTRACT: The present work takes as its theoretical basis the postulates of the Discourse Analysis of French Orientation, in order to discursivizar the everyday stories that circulate in the discourses of old people. It seeks, specifically, to analyze the discursive strategies used by the elders in the reconstitution of their life histories, to understand the interrelationship between discourse, daily history and memory. From the memories of old people, due to the methodological bias of oral history, the research made possible the reconstitution of significant moments in the history of São José da Lagoa Tapada-PB. It was emphasized, therefore, that the memories of old people allow the representation and construction of cultural diversity and the identities of the people that are effected by the speeches, as in the history of Dona Zefa Café, one of the collaborators of the research. Therefore, in this work, we verified the dialogue between discourse, cultural practices, daily history and memory. KEYWORDS: Discourse. Story. Memory 

The Barelvī School of Thought

2022 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Theological Interpretation ◽  
Colonial India ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sunni Islam

The Barelvī movement or school is a theological interpretation within South Asian Sunnī Islam with roots in developments in the late 19th and early 20th centuries spanning colonial India and into the post-independence history of the subcontinent. Most of its adherents are found today in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, but also in educational and religious institutions in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and other parts of Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States. The Sunnī Ḥanafī scholar Aḥmad Raẓā Khān of Bareilly (d. 1921) was born in Uttar Pradesh during British colonial rule. Typically, his interpretations of certain doctrines of Sunnī Islam are seen as a response to the Deoband school and its theological ancestry that was formed in 1866-7, found in the northern Indian town of Deoband. The Barelvī school of thought is defined by a set of theological positions that revolve around the persona of the Prophet Muhammad and his special, if not exceptional, relationship and status with God. The Barelvī movement defines itself as the most authentic representative of what is known as Sunnī Islam and thus adopts the generic moniker, Ahl-i-Sunnat wa-al-Jamāʿat (The people who adhere to the Prophetic Tradition and preserve the unity of the community). Some describe the movement as first spreading among rural Muslims immersed in a selection of Sufi and shared Indian cultural practices. Today, it has its own franchise of seminaries (madrasas), scholars, and a robust industry of publications that engage in polemics with other theological sects prevalent in South Asia. It keeps its sights trained on the Deobandi movement and the global Muslim evangelical group known as the Tablīghī Jamāʿat and continuously exposes what it believes to be its doctrinal errors. Other adversaries are the anti-canonical school tradition, known as the Ahl-i-Ḥadīs, the variant doctrines of the Aḥmadis and Qādianis, as well as the Shīʿa. Aḥmad Raẓā Khān declared aspects or, all of these sects to be worthy of anathematization (takfīr) because they doctrinally depart from the true tradition and its interpretation of Islam. It would be a mistake to think of the Barelvī theological positions as paradigmatically Sufi. Indeed, the Deobandis, the Shīʿa, and even the Aḥmadis also accept variant teachings of Sufism, though they might diverge from the Barelvīs on precisely what the detailed doctrines of Sufism entails (Tareen 2020 [cited under General Overviews]).

Whiteness on the Green

2021 ◽  
Vol 90 (4) ◽  
pp. 448-474
Author(s):  
Stanley Fonseca
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Social Engineering ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Coachella Valley ◽  
The People ◽  
Palm Springs ◽  
History Of

Between the early 1950s and 1970s, Palm Springs, California, a leisure and resort community in the Coachella Valley, entered into a dramatic era of growth driven by an unlikely factor: golf. Exclusive and elite country clubs employed new forms of environmental and social engineering as they transformed the arid landscape into lush, emerald fairways. The rapid rate of growth meant that courses were built without concern for significant social and ecological side effects. In particular, golf’s arrival brought new power dynamics to the valley that displaced and disenfranchised local communities of color, including the Agua Caliente band of Cahuilla Indians and a neighborhood of low-income African Americans and Mexican Americans who lived in the path of development. This expansion-oriented program of development is an example of what we might call the “leisure-industrial complex,” in which private enterprise, public policy, and cultural norms combined to create an economic machinery that soon commanded the Coachella Valley. As such, the history of Coachella golf is not just the history of a sport, but the history of how leisure came to dominate the landscape, the environment, and the people of the California desert.

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