The Environmental and Cultural Importance of the Metropolitan Park of Abaeté-Bahia from its Vegetation Formations / A Importância Ambiental e Cultural do Parque Metropolitano de Abaeté-Bahia a partir das suas Formações Vegetais

The Abaeté Metropolitan Park is one of the largest ecological leisure centers in the Northeast of Brazil, built on 225 hectares of urbanized area, located in the city of Salvador, Bahia, in the neighborhood of Itapuã and bordering the municipality of Lauro de Freitas , and the Deputed Luis Eduardo Magalhães International Airport is integrated into the Park, following the beach line. Due to its location, the predatory patterns of recent years, in the way of dealing with environmental issues, have grown on a geometric scale. Characterized by a rich hydrological complex and a diversified Phyto physiognomic mosaic whose religiosity is linked to the Afro-indigenous culture; this park demands effective actions for the conservation of its remaining natural resources.This rich forest remnant, an important national and world heritage, presented in this article, needs to be protected and for this it is necessary to spread the dynamics of this ecosystem, the functioning of its fauna and flora and its local relations with its water and geological resources.

D. A. Ọbasá: The Man and the Significance of his Cultural Activism

Tis essay explores Adenrele ́ ́ Adetí mi ̀ ́kan Ò basa ̣ ’s creative ingenuity and ́ how he put that into use as a poet, cultural activist, journalist, printer, and publisher of a bilingual newspaper, The Yorùba News. The essay traces Obasa’s history; right from his birth to the period he became a renowned Yorùbá intellectual. The cultural identity theory which studies a person’s sense of belonging to a particular culture and accepting the traditions, heritage, language, religion, and social structures of such culture is adopted for the analysis in this study. The study shows how Obasa ̣ ́ projects himself as a unique individual who used Yorùbá culture to connect people. The essay concludes that Obasa ̣ ́ is a lover of his indigenous culture and language.

Perceptions of authenticity towards Māori Branding: Congruence as determinator?

<p>Increasingly, both local and global organisations are implementing indigenous branding in their market offerings, regardless of whether they have ancestral connections to indigenous culture. However, numerous criticisms and claims of cultural appropriation have been raised in response to organisations’ commercialisation and commodification of indigenous culture through indigenous branding. This raises questions about the authentic and appropriate use of indigenous culture, language and iconography in commerce, particularly with regards to consumers perceptions of authenticity towards this use. As such, the purpose of this study was to understand consumers’ perceptions of authenticity in the context of indigenous (Māori) branding and organisational values. In this study, a 2x2x2 between-subjects experimental design was conducted using an online questionnaire. Subjects in the study were presented with a scenario communicating information about a brands values (either conventional or tikanga Māori), and their proposed brand concept (either orthodox or Māori branding). As the purpose of the study was to investigate both Māori and non-Māori perspectives, the sample was comprised of 570 adult Māori and non-Māori consumers currently living in New Zealand. These subjects were randomly distributed to one of the eight experimental conditions. Data from the questionnaire was analysed using a factorial ANOVA. The findings indicate that congruence among branding, organisational values and consumers’’ ethnic identification exerts the most leverage on consumers’ authenticity perceptions. Although, Māori consumers also perceived congruent (conventional) organisational values and (orthodox) branding as highly authentic. Interestingly, consumers, in general, found incongruent Māori branding and conventional values to be the least authentic, a finding attributed to issues of cultural appropriation. The results of the analyses contribute to the current understanding of perceived authenticity and indigenous brands. Moreover, this indigenous branding congruence effect extends social identity theory as it illuminates the fluidity of indigenous consumers social experiences and understandings. Managerially, marketers should be cognizant of the effects of congruence among branding, values and their target market, and make efforts to achieve congruence among these factors. If congruence cannot be achieved, then marketers should make efforts to be perceived as congruent through only communicating those factors which are congruent.</p>

Perceptions of authenticity towards Māori Branding: Congruence as determinator?

<p>Increasingly, both local and global organisations are implementing indigenous branding in their market offerings, regardless of whether they have ancestral connections to indigenous culture. However, numerous criticisms and claims of cultural appropriation have been raised in response to organisations’ commercialisation and commodification of indigenous culture through indigenous branding. This raises questions about the authentic and appropriate use of indigenous culture, language and iconography in commerce, particularly with regards to consumers perceptions of authenticity towards this use. As such, the purpose of this study was to understand consumers’ perceptions of authenticity in the context of indigenous (Māori) branding and organisational values. In this study, a 2x2x2 between-subjects experimental design was conducted using an online questionnaire. Subjects in the study were presented with a scenario communicating information about a brands values (either conventional or tikanga Māori), and their proposed brand concept (either orthodox or Māori branding). As the purpose of the study was to investigate both Māori and non-Māori perspectives, the sample was comprised of 570 adult Māori and non-Māori consumers currently living in New Zealand. These subjects were randomly distributed to one of the eight experimental conditions. Data from the questionnaire was analysed using a factorial ANOVA. The findings indicate that congruence among branding, organisational values and consumers’’ ethnic identification exerts the most leverage on consumers’ authenticity perceptions. Although, Māori consumers also perceived congruent (conventional) organisational values and (orthodox) branding as highly authentic. Interestingly, consumers, in general, found incongruent Māori branding and conventional values to be the least authentic, a finding attributed to issues of cultural appropriation. The results of the analyses contribute to the current understanding of perceived authenticity and indigenous brands. Moreover, this indigenous branding congruence effect extends social identity theory as it illuminates the fluidity of indigenous consumers social experiences and understandings. Managerially, marketers should be cognizant of the effects of congruence among branding, values and their target market, and make efforts to achieve congruence among these factors. If congruence cannot be achieved, then marketers should make efforts to be perceived as congruent through only communicating those factors which are congruent.</p>

Drawing to Tell Versus Drawing to Intrigue?

The article “Drawing It Out” by Haidy Geismar (2014) in Visual Anthropology Review (Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 97–113) focused on the use of images in early anthropology. The drawings by Arthur Bernard Deacon (1903–1927), which he made during his field studies in Vanuatu, New Hebrides from 1926 until his sudden death caused by blackwater fever in 1927, are the starting point of Geismar’s inquiry. The author discusses Deacon’s drawings and infers the potential of drawing as a methodology for anthropology. Deacon was a young PhD candidate who was sent to Vanuatu from the University of Cambridge. It was his intention to continue the studies of the indigenous culture of the New Hebrides at the time, which had been started by the Department of Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. In contrast to his expectations, Deacon found a culture in the process of decay. The subject of his study, the indigenous culture, had been threatened by diseases and cultural influences that settlers, missionaries, and traders imported with them since they landed in the middle of the nineteenth century. Deacon described the impossibility of protecting the indigenous culture and critically reflected on his role as an anthropologist (Geismar 2014, p. 102).

Ibiebe Alphabet and Ideograms as Motifs for Fabric Embellishment

The invented Bruce Onobrakpeya’s Ibiebe alphabet and ideogram (writing system) have not been explored maximally and redesigned as recurring motifs to embellish contemporary fabric. These are artistic codified graphical images that represent the visual translation of myths, legends, ideal concepts, and the philosophies of the Urhobo cultural heritage from Delta State. They are mostly explored in paintings and sculptural pieces for aesthetic and refinement purposes. Whereas, it is pertinent to encourage the integration of the creative potential of indigenous culture as visual concepts into contemporary works, since art is a potent medium for cultural dialogue. Therefore, this paper seeks to redesign the versatility and ingenuity embedded in Bruce Onobrakpeya’s formation as a recurring motif for fabric embellishment. It is essentially to provoke creativity, the development of knowledge, skills, in-studio experimentation/exploration, and the creation of new design possibilities with a diverse visual relationship. The Aesthetic theory propounded by Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714-1762) and the Modern Creativity theory by Kanematsu, H. and Barry, D. M. (2016) were adopted. The approach is exploratory and descriptive and relies on literal information. It will serve as an encyclopedia of redesigned motifs that cut across visual history.