Intercultural science education as a trading zone between traditional and academic knowledge

Intercultural science education requires negotiations between knowledge systems and of tensions between them. Building on ethnographic fieldwork and educational interventions in two farming communities in the Northeast of Brazil, we explore the potential of science education to mediate between traditional and academic knowledge. While traditional knowledge shapes agricultural practices and interactions with the environment in the villages of Coração de Maria and Retiro, academic knowledge is emphasized in biology education. On the basis of philosophical debates about "partial overlaps" between epistemologies, ontologies and value systems, we analyze relations between traditional and academic ecological knowledge in these communities and argue that they can inform reflective practices in intercultural dialogue. By investigating biology education as a "trading zone" between knowledge systems, we analyze how partial overlaps become negotiated in educational practices in rural Brazil and provide the basis for educational interventions that foster intercultural dialogue.

Changing Home: Experiences of the Indigenous when Receiving Care in Hospital

OBJECTIVES

To understand the meaning of the experience of the indigenous when receiving care in a low-complexity hospital.

METHODS

Qualitative study with ethnographic approach conducted in a hospital of Antioquia, Colombia. The study had 12 indigenous participants who underwent semi-structured interviews. Observation was carried out in hospitalization wards, emergency, and outpatient services of the institution during 40 hours. The analysis process was performed descriptively. The methodological rigor was maintained by applying criteria of confirmability, credibility, transferability, and consistency. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee and authorized by the indigenous authorities to enter the field.

RESULTS

Five themes emerged: the context of caring for the indigenous, the need to consult the hospital, changes experienced by the indigenous in the hospital, experiences in relation with treatments, and relations established within the hospital. The meaning is constructed from a dichotomous perspective based on the favorable or unfavorable aspects of the situations and experiences, which for the indigenous is like "changing home".

CONCLUSIONS

The meaning of the experience of receiving care in hospital for the indigenous is constructed from the context in which they live and receive health services, the changes they live in the dimension of space by virtue of their traveling from their vital space to another space that, due to their physical characteristics, results strange and different, even not healing. Upon the difficulties, the indigenous develop strategies and actions to overcome limitations, whether through adaptation and learning.

Culturally shared metaphors expand contemporary concepts of resilience and post-traumatic growth: contrasting an indigenous Brazilian community and a Swiss rural community

The metaphorical concepts resilience and post-traumatic growth (PTG) reflect the contemporary Western understanding of overcoming highly challenging life events. However, it is known that across different cultures, a broad range of metaphorical idioms for describing adaptive responses to severe adversity exists. This study aimed to explore and contrast two distinct cultural groups' culturally shared metaphors for overcoming severe adversities. Fieldwork was conducted in two rural communities: an indigenous Brazilian community that has experienced severe collective adversity and a mountain village in Switzerland that has survived a natural disaster. We carried out separate qualitative metaphor analyses of semistructured interview data from each community. There were some similarities in the metaphorical narratives of the two cultural groups, for example, in metaphors of balance, changed perspective, collective cohesion and life as a journey The main variations were found in metaphors of magical thinking, equilibrium and organic transformation used by the Brazilian group and metaphors of work, order and material transformation used by the Swiss group. Results from this study suggest that the Western-devised concepts of resilience and PTG can be further expanded, which is highlighted by the variety of culturally shared metaphors. Metaphorical idioms for overcoming severe adversity may be determined by the type of trauma as well as by the sociocultural and historical context. Our findings indicate potential approaches to the cultural adaptation of psychological interventions.

Racial degeneration, mental hygiene, and the beginning of Peruvian psychiatry, 1922-1934

Between 1922 and 1934, three pamphlets and a series of articles on mental hygiene were published in important newspapers in Lima, Peru. Their authors were Hermilio Valdizán and Honorio Delgado, two members of the first generation of psychiatrists in the country. These mass publications aimed to educate the population on what mental illness was, as well as its causes and symptoms. In addition, they sought to promote the figure of the psychiatrist as a specialist in "madness" whose recommendations should be heeded in family life. To that end, these publications contained true cases, related in melodramatic language, in order to reach a broader audience. Beyond their educative intention, these publications used ideas that Peruvian elites held about racial differentiation, because they were aimed at White and mestizo readers and had the express intention of preventing racial "degeneration." The analysis of this primary source material is complemented with other texts by Valdizán that sought to comprehend the manifestations of insanity among Native Peruvians, for which he used degeneration theory to explain the degree of "backwardness" observed among the races that were considered inferior. This article seeks to analyze the viewpoints held on racial differences by the most significant members of Peru's first generation of psychiatrists, in which degeneration theory was key in explaining the differences between human groups and in justifying the superiority of Whites and Western culture in the Peruvian state's mestizo identity initiative. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

[Meanings regarding the development of problematic consumption and alcohol dependence in rural Mapuche communities of the Araucanía region, Chile, 2016-2017]

This research looks in to the conceptions, meanings and practices involved in the development of problematic consumption and alcohol dependence in rural Mapuche communities in southern Chile in the years 2016-2017. It characterizes the meanings surrounding at-risk consumption as well as scenarios and processes that protect health and those that facilitate risk, and identifies sociocultural elements to potentiate preventive actions. The methodology used was qualitative-ethnographic. Nine in-depth interviews were conducted with adults with at-risk consumption, recovered alcohol users, and non-consumers of alcohol, and ethnographic observations were carried out in participatory workshops with the community. The results link processes of transculturation, loss and cultural vitality with socio-relational dynamics that are at the base of the development of problematic alcohol consumption, marking a scenario of high complexity that requires overcoming the traditional dichotomy of risk/protection factors.

Localizing Global Medicine: Challenges and Opportunities in Cervical Screening in an Indigenous Community in Ecuador

This participatory research study examines the tensions and opportunities in accessing allopathic medicine, or biomedicine, in the context of a cervical cancer screening program in a rural indigenous community of Northern Ecuador. Focusing on the influence of social networks, the article extends research on "re-appropriation" of biomedicine. It does so by recognizing two competing tensions expressed through social interactions: suspicion of allopathic medicine and the desire to maximize one's health. Semistructured individual interviews and focus groups were conducted with 28 women who had previously participated in a government-sponsored cervical screening program. From inductive thematic analysis, the article traces these women's active agency in navigating coherent paths of health. Despite drawing on social networks to overcome formidable challenges, the participants faced enduring system obstacles-the organizational effects of the networks of allopathic medicine. Such obstacles need to be understood to reconcile competing knowledge systems and improve health care access in underresourced communities.

Meanings of 'Tuberculosis' in Rural Indigenous Communities from a Municipality in the Colombian Amazon

OBJECTIVES

The purpose herein was to describe the meanings on tuberculosis (TB) in rural indigenous communities from a municipality in the Colombian Amazon.

METHODS

This was an ethnographic study with theoretical reference of dialectical hermeneutics, which created focus groups, one for each rural community of Puerto Nariño, for a total of 15 focus groups. The participants were community leaders and health referents.

RESULTS

Seventy-nine subjects participated, mostly midwives, kurakas, traditional physicians, and shamans. The analysis yielded four categories: knowledge of TB, attitudes regarding TB, community practices of TB, and the intervention proposal on TB by the participants. It was found that community leaders recognize TB as a disease that can cause death, but which can be cured if timely care is secured. The study also identified the need to conjugate western medicine with traditional medicine.

CONCLUSIONS

It is recognized that meanings may impact upon knowledge, attitudes, and practices that affect early detection and treatment of the disease. In addition, this work corroborates the need to strengthen and develop educational programs on tuberculosis supported by the real needs of the communities to enhance their knowledge, attitudes, and practices on the disease.

Childhood Vaccine Acceptance and Refusal among Warao Amerindian Caregivers in Venezuela; A Qualitative Approach

Objectives

Acceptance of childhood vaccination varies between societies, affecting worldwide vaccination coverage. Low coverage rates are common in indigenous populations where parents often choose not to vaccinate their children. We aimed to gain insight into reasons for vaccine acceptance or rejection among Warao Amerindians in Venezuela.

Methods

Based on records of vaccine acceptance or refusal, in-depth interviews with 20 vaccine-accepting and 11 vaccine-declining caregivers were performed. Parents’ attitudes were explored using a qualitative approach.

Results

Although Warao caregivers were generally in favor of vaccination, fear of side effects and the idea that young and sick children are too vulnerable to be vaccinated negatively affected vaccine acceptance. The importance assigned to side effects was related to the perception that these resembled symptoms/diseases of another origin and could thus harm the child. Religious beliefs or traditional healers did not influence the decision-making process.

Conclusions

Parental vaccine acceptance requires educational programs on the preventive nature of vaccines in relation to local beliefs about health and disease. Attention needs to be directed at population-specific concerns, including explanation on the nature of and therapeutic options for side effects.

Who Cares about Forests and Why? Individual Values Attributed to Forests in a Post-Frontier Region in Amazonia

Understanding the multiple ways people value forests is important, as individual values regarding nature have been shown to partly determine willingness to participate in conservation initiatives. As individual values are influenced by past experiences, the way people value forests may be related to the ecosystem services they use and receive. We here aim to investigate if people value forests because of material and non-material benefits forest provide (material and non-material values), and if these values are defined by previous experiences associated with using forest resources and having frequent contact with forests. By interviewing 363 residents across 20 landscapes varying in forest cover in a post-frontier region in Amazonia, we evaluated: (1) if the use of forest resources-especially bushmeat, important for sustenance and cash income in virtually all tropical forests-is associated with attributing higher material value to forests; (2) whether the contact with forest (estimated by local forest cover and visits to forests) is associated with attributing higher non-material value to forests. As expected, respondents from households where hunting occurs and bushmeat consumption is more frequent attributed higher material value to forests, and those living in more deforested landscapes and that visited forests less often attributed lower non-material value to forests. The importance of bushmeat in shaping the way people value forests suggests that encouraging the sustainable use of this product will encourage forest conservation. Results also point to a potential dangerous reinforcing cycle: low forest cover and the loss of contact with forests may erode forest values and facilitate further deforestation. Engaging rural communities in forest conservation initiatives is challenging yet urgent in degraded landscapes, although harnessing appreciation for bushmeat could offer a starting point.

[Strengths and difficulties in emotional adjustment of Aymara children from the perspective of children, parents and teachers]

OBJECTIVE

To describe capabilities and difficulties in emotional adjustment experienced by children living in the Chilean Aymara city of Arica.

PATIENTS AND METHOD

610 students between 5th and 8th grade, in addition to their parents and teachers were surveyed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), comparing Aymara children to those without indigenous heritage. 25 items divided into five scales were evaluated: Emotional, behavioral problems, hyperactivity, relationship problems with peers and prosocial behaviors, classifying the respondents into three levels, Normal, Border and Abnormal.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences among the groups studied, where discrepancies in almost all cases show a slight effect (d≥|0.2|). Also, no relevant effects were observed regarding the type of assessor on the assessment of each dimension. Despite this, it was observed that Aymara children showed lower scores than their peers in "behavioral problems" according to their teachers, but this difference was also mild (partial η2>0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Aymara Children showed similar strengths and difficulties than non-Aymara students in situations that require emotional adjustment.

Influence of depression, anxiety and stress on cognitive performance in community-dwelling older adults living in rural Ecuador: results of the Atahualpa Project

AIM

To assess the relationship between cognitive status and self-reported symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress of older adults living in an underserved rural South American population.

METHODS

Community-dwelling Atahualpa residents aged ≥60 years were identified during a door-to-door census, and evaluated with the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). We explored whether positivity in each of the DASS-21 axes was related to total and domain-specific MoCA performance after adjustment for age, sex and education.

RESULTS

A total of 280 persons (59% women; mean age, mean age 70 ± 8 years) were included. Based on established cut-offs for the DASS-21, 12% persons had depression, 15% had anxiety and 5% had stress. Mean total MoCA scores were significantly lower for depressed than for not depressed individuals (15.9 ± 5.5 vs 18.9 ± 4.4, P < 0.0001). Depressed participants had significantly lower total and domain-specific MoCA scores for abstraction, short-term memory and orientation. Anxiety was related to significantly lower total MoCA scores (17 ± 4.7 vs 18.8 ± 4.5, P = 0.02), but not to differences in domain-specific MoCA scores. Stress was not associated with significant differences in MoCA scores.

CONCLUSION

The present study suggests that depression and anxiety are associated with poorer cognitive performance in elderly residents living in rural areas of developing countries.

The influence of Christian conversion in Mapuche traditional medicine in Temuco, Chile: toward a cultural syncretism or a form of ideological assimilation?

The Mapuche communities living in the urban areas of Chile have undergone radical cultural changes due to Christian conversion. This article analyzes the influence of these changes on the Mapuche ideas and practices of the traditional healers (machi) and patients in Temuco (IX Region), Chile, and the changes and adaptations in the perceptions of healing practices and rituals by the patients. The paper shows how, despite some evident challenges, the encounter with the religion of Christianity can create a process of cultural and spiritual syncretism and push traditional medicine toward an increased specialization in the therapeutic practices.

"All my tears were gone": suffering and cancer pain in Southwest American Indians

CONTEXT

Although minority patients with cancer are more likely to be undermedicated for cancer pain than non-Hispanic whites, little is known about the experience of cancer pain in American Indians (AIs).

OBJECTIVES

To describe the experience of cancer and cancer pain in a sample of southwestern AIs.

METHODS

Ethnographic interviews were conducted with 13 patients and 11 health care providers, caregivers, and community members; two questionnaires were used to collect demographic and pain data.

RESULTS

Barriers to pain control among AIs included difficulties describing pain, a belief that cancer pain is inevitable and untreatable, and an aversion to taking opioid pain medication. Prescriber inexperience also was cited as a barrier to pain management. AIs described a strong desire to protect their privacy regarding their illness, and many felt that expressing pain was a sign of weakness. The inability to participate in spiritual and cultural activities caused AIs distress, and some discontinued treatment or missed chemotherapy appointments to engage in these activities.

CONCLUSION

Results revealed new knowledge about the cancer pain experience in AIs. The observation of the close relationship between treatment compliance and the patient's ability to participate in ceremonial and spiritual activities provides new insight into the problem of incomplete cancer treatment in this population. The finding that AI patients have a multidimensional conceptualization of pain will assist clinicians with obtaining more detailed and informative pain assessments.

Flexible intuitions of Euclidean geometry in an Amazonian indigene group

Kant argued that Euclidean geometry is synthesized on the basis of an a priori intuition of space. This proposal inspired much behavioral research probing whether spatial navigation in humans and animals conforms to the predictions of Euclidean geometry. However, Euclidean geometry also includes concepts that transcend the perceptible, such as objects that are infinitely small or infinitely large, or statements of necessity and impossibility. We tested the hypothesis that certain aspects of nonperceptible Euclidian geometry map onto intuitions of space that are present in all humans, even in the absence of formal mathematical education. Our tests probed intuitions of points, lines, and surfaces in participants from an indigene group in the Amazon, the Mundurucu, as well as adults and age-matched children controls from the United States and France and younger US children without education in geometry. The responses of Mundurucu adults and children converged with that of mathematically educated adults and children and revealed an intuitive understanding of essential properties of Euclidean geometry. For instance, on a surface described to them as perfectly planar, the Mundurucu's estimations of the internal angles of triangles added up to ~180 degrees, and when asked explicitly, they stated that there exists one single parallel line to any given line through a given point. These intuitions were also partially in place in the group of younger US participants. We conclude that, during childhood, humans develop geometrical intuitions that spontaneously accord with the principles of Euclidean geometry, even in the absence of training in mathematics.

[Food satisfaction in Mapuche persons in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile]

Although the study and measurement of satisfaction with life has generated great interest in the last 15 years, there are few works which address satisfaction with food-related life. In order to identify variables which have an influence on satisfaction with food-related life among Mapuche persons, a survey was applied to 400 Mapuche subjects in the Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile. The scales evaluated in the questionnaire included: SWFL (Satisfaction with Food-related Life), lifestyles, food, and Mapuche acculturation. It was found that 41.0% were extremely satisfied, 40.5% satisfied, 17.2% somewhat satisfied and 1.2% dissatisfied with their food-related life. To identify variables which have an influence on satisfaction with food, an ordinal multinomial logit model was proposed, which was significant (p < 0.01) as a whole. The probability of high satisfaction with food-related life increases as there are fewer children in the household, the person's expenditure on food increases, the person consumes some Mapuche foods, is aged 55 or more, consumes red meat in moderation, consumes foods without additives, try to balance work and private life, does not read the labels of products, and if he/she had Mapuche friends at school. Thus satisfaction with food-related life in Mapuche persons in the Metropolitan Region is related to demographic variables, expenditure on food, consumption of Mapuche foods and life-style.

The demise of the American Indios

This symposium takes as its point of departure two books by Massimo Livi Bacci, Conquest and El Dorado in the Marshes, published in English in 2008 and 2010. Livi Bacci assesses widely varying estimates of the demographic dimensions of the collapse of the Native populations following their contact with Europeans and elucidates the proximate causes of that catastrophe. Drawing on models that combine production potential with demography, environment, and technology, Shripad Tuljapurkar discusses analogous historical experiences of the populations of Polynesia and the social transformation they entailed. David S. Reher argues that explanations of the estimated demographic dynamics need to take into account the negative fertility responses of the Indigenous population to the disruption of their traditional way of life. Focusing on the biological aspects of immunity to diseases such as smallpox, Andrew Noymer demonstrates that infectious diseases alone could not account for the Indios' population collapse. The contributions to this symposium are based on presentations at a session at the 2010 annual meeting of the Population Association of America, held in Dallas, Texas, that examined the demographic consequences of the Spanish conquest of the Caribbean region and of South America in light of the two books.

Putting the market in its place: food security in three Mapuche communities in southern Chile

This article analyzes the impact of state policies since the 1970s on household food security in several Mapuche communities in the Araucanía region of Chile (Region IX). The author highlights key transformations in the national economy and food system and endeavors to link those to local phenomena, in particular the absorption of the local livelihood strategies and food systems into capitalist markets and the high incidences of food insecurity. The article concludes that a reconceptualization of macroeconomic and indigenous policies are required to rebuild the material and social foundations of rural Mapuche communities that provide the bases from which their inhabitants can reconstruct a mutually beneficial relationship with the broader Chilean society and avert the continued acceleration of tension and violence.

¿Qué es racismo?: awareness of racism and discrimination in Ecuador

In the national consciousness, Ecuador is a mestizo nation. However, it is also an ethnically diverse nation with sizable minorities of indigenous and Afrodescended peoples. In national surveys, there is also a considerable minority who self-identify as blanco (white). Although there is strong evidence of continuing discrimination and prejudice toward both indigenous and Afro-descended peoples, there is little public discussion or political action addressing such issues. The emergence of a powerful and resilient indigenous movement in the late 1980s gained international interest and acclaim in the 1990s, in part because of the peaceful mobilization efforts and effective bargaining tactics of the movement. However, indigenous leaders usually have not engaged in a discourse of racismo and/or discriminación. There has been much less social movement solidarity and activism among Afro-Ecuadorians, but their leaders commonly employ a discourse of racismo and discriminación. In August and September 2004, a survey of more than eight thousand adult Ecuadorians was conducted in regard to racism and related topics. In this research, we use several measures from this survey that focus on awareness of and sensitivity to issues of racism, prejudice, and discrimination. Self-identification of respondents enables us to contrast the responses of whites, mestizos, Indians, and Afro-Ecuadorians to the measures. Other independent variables of interest are level of education, the region in which the respondent resides, and whether the respondent lives in an urban or rural area. Regression results show differences among the ethnic groups in levels of awareness of racism, but more powerful predictors are level of education and rural residence.

"We have always lived here": indigenous movements, citizenship and poverty in Argentina

This article explores the nexus between indigenous mobilisation, citizenship, and poverty in Argentina. A subnational comparison of land struggles among the Diaguita Calchaqu in Tucumn and the Mbya Guaran in Misiones shows that changing global and national opportunity structures, most prominently a new multicultural citizenship regime, set the stage for indigenous mobilisation. In turn, local transformations of capitalist development motivate indigenous mobilising efforts, whereas leadership patterns and state-movement relations shape the capacity to mobilise. Diaguita and Mbya mobilisation reveals that indigenous movements play a central role in the activation of formal citizenship rights and the contestation of dominant notions of poverty. At the same time, the current design of multicultural citizenship and the adverse socioeconomic incorporation of indigenous communities also counteract indigenous mobilising efforts in Argentina.

Ethnicity, development and gender: Tsáchila indigenous women in Ecuador

In recent decades, indigenous populations have become the subjects and agents of development in national and international multicultural policy that acknowledges poverty among indigenous peoples and their historic marginalization from power over development. Although the impact of these legal and programmatic efforts is growing, one persistent axis of disadvantage, male–female difference, is rarely taken into account in ethno-development policy and practice. This article argues that assumptions that inform policy related to indigenous women fail to engage with indigenous women's development concerns. The institutional separation between gender and development policy (GAD) and multiculturalism means that provisions for gender in multicultural policies are inadequate, and ethnic rights in GAD policies are invisible. Drawing on post-colonial feminism, the paper examines ethnicity and gender as interlocking systems that structure indigenous women's development experiences. These arguments are illustrated in relation to the case of the Tsáchila ethno-cultural group in the South American country of Ecuador.

We are Originarios …"we just aren't from here": coca leaf and identity politics in the Chapare, Bolivia

This article first examines the ways in which coca leaf acquired an important symbolic value in forging a counter-hegemonic discourse that wove together various strands of class and cultural identity struggles in the Chapare province, Bolivia. The second line of enquiry that runs through this article deals with the conflicts that arose when the coca union mutated into a governing political party. Now that the coca growers' leader, Evo Morales, is President of the Republic he is obliged by the international community to reduce the amount of land under coca cultivation. To do this President Morales has had to rhetorically pull coca leaf apart from Andean tradition. This presents a challenge to the integrity of indigenous-peasant based movements in the Chapare because it brings attention to their constructed nature and thus questions the authenticity of the originario identity.

[Hygiene and health preservation in the Luso-Brazilian medicine of the 18th century]

The present article analyzes the problematic of hygiene in the Luso-Brazilian medicine during the second half of 18th century. The chosen context to analysis is related to the changes of medical thought in Portugal along the period related to the appropriation of medical theories that circulated around the Enlightenment Europe. Besides, this paper approaches the ideas presented in medicine treatises of that time related to body care and health conservation, calling attention to the central role of hygiene along that period.

Cooperatives for “fair globalization”? Indigenous people, cooperatives, and corporate social responsibility in the Brazilian Amazon

Cooperatives and socially responsible corporations are being hailed as possible correctives to the socioeconomic and ecological exploitation of transnational capitalism. AmazonCoop—a cooperative linking indigenous Brazil nut harvesters and the multinational firm The Body Shop through trade and development projects—capitalized on indigenous symbolism to generate significant material benefits for both parties. At the same time, however, it made indigenous people more vulnerable and dependent, failed to promote participatory development, masked the effects of unfavorable state policies, and perpetuated discriminatory distinctions among indigenous people. Furthermore, the cooperative did not provide an organizational framework to ameliorate the vulnerabilities of indigenous identity politics or transform symbolic capital into enduring political-economic change. This case strongly supports arguments that cooperatives must be rooted in participation, democratic member control, and autonomy if they are to promote “fair globalization” or social transformation rather than institutionalize existing patterns of exploitation.

Health and indigenous people: intercultural health as a new paradigm toward the reduction of cultural and social marginalization?

The precarious socio-economic and health conditions of indigenous populations legitimize claims of marginalization and attest to the inherent inequality that indigenous groups suffer. In the last few years, advocates have urged the use of traditional indigenous health practices as more culturally fitting for most indigenous populations. An intercultural health program can reduce the conditions of social and cultural marginalization in an indigenous population. However, accepting and integrating indigenous medicine into a westernized health system presents a major challenge to intercultural healthcare in Latin America. The objective of this paper is to analyze the case of Makewe hospital, one of the first and few examples of intercultural health initiatives in Chile. The paper will examine the implementation of this initiative and the main challenges in creating an effective intercultural health program.

Marcos Zapata's "Last Supper": a feast of European religion and Andean culture

In Marcos Zapata's 1753 painting of the Last Supper in Cuzco, Peru, Christian symbolism is filtered through Andean cultural tradition. Zapata was a late member of the Cuzco School of Painting, a group comprised of few European immigrants and handfuls of mestizo and Indian artists. The painters in Cuzco learned mostly from prints of European paintings, and their style tends to blend local culture into the traditional painting of their conquistadors. Imagery was the most successful tool used by the Spaniards in their quest to Christianize the Andean population. By teaching locals to paint Christian subjects, they were able to infuse Christianity into Andean traditions. Zapata's rendering of the Last Supper utilizes this cultural blending while staying true to the Christian symbolism within the subject. Instead of the traditional lamb, Zapata's Last Supper features a platter of cuy, or guinea pig, an Andean delicacy stocked with protein as well as cultural significance. Cuy was traditionally a sacrificial animal at Inca agricultural festivals and in this way it offers poignant parallel to the lamb, as a traditional Christian sacrificial animal.

[When, how, and what to drink: alcoholism among Indian peoples in the Upper Rio Negro, Brazil]

This paper analyzes the development of alcoholism among Indian peoples in the Upper Rio Negro, Amazonas State, Brazil. Based on a comprehensive approach to what, how, and when individuals drink, this ethnography emphasizes the socio-cultural and historical context in which alcohol is consumed and interpretation of the issue by Indian people themselves. The article discusses historical transformations in the forms of drinking and their correlations with the status quo and changes in social standards of living. The article concludes that current forms of alcohol consumption are linked to the behaviors and values emerging on the frontier of interethnic relations and the resignification of the traditional culture, currently experiencing difficulties in offering parameters for action and symbolization of social life by the younger generations as they deal with challenges from the modern world.

An anthropological study about epilepsy in native tribes from Central and South America

PURPOSE

Epilepsy was a well-recognized disease in pre-Columbian cultures. However, anthropological studies about epilepsy in native cultures living at the present time are scarce. The objective of this paper was to study native perception and myths about epilepsy, their magic-religious healing rites and ceremonies, and the natural treatments that archaic cultures used.

METHODS

An anthropological fieldwork was performed in Central and South America with Tzeltal Maya (Chiapas, Mexico, 1995), Kamayurá (Matto Grosso, Brazil, 1999) and Uru-Chipaya people (Bolivian Andes, 2004). We collected information from shamans and medicine men about epilepsy beliefs and the use of traditional treatments.

RESULTS

Epilepsy is called tub tub ikal by Tzeltal people. It is caused by an attack suffered by the animal spirit who accompanies the person, after a fight between the spirits who serve the forces of good and evil. People with chronic epilepsy are considered witches. Epilepsy is called teawarup by Kamayurá, and is caused by the revenge of the spirit (mama'e) of the armadillo killed by a huntsman. It is treated with two roots, tsimó and wewurú, kneaded and diluted in water. Epilepsy is called tukuri by the Chipaya people, and is originated by a witchcraft that enters into the nose and the head, as a wind. Tukuri is treated with a ritual animal sacrifice called willancha, and by taking several dried insect infusions and bird's blood.

CONCLUSION

These American native cultures have developed a system of orally transmitted knowledge about epilepsy based on magic-religious traditions.

Nxwisen, ntzarrin or ntzo'lin? Mapping children's respiratory symptoms among indigenous populations in Guatemala

Estimating the prevalence of asthma is an epidemiologic challenge, particularly in rural areas of lesser-developed countries characterized by low literacy and poor access to health care. To avoid under or over reporting of symptoms, questionnaires must use terminology familiar to participants and that accurately describes the triad of cough, wheeze and breathlessness characteristic of asthma. In preparation for a large longitudinal cohort study entitled Chronic Respiratory Effects of Early Childhood Exposure to Respirable Particulate Matter (CRECER) that will examine the effects of variable early lifetime woodsmoke exposure on the respiratory health of Mam-speaking children residing in communities in the western highlands of Guatemala, we conducted individual interviews (n=18) and five focus groups (n=46) with indigenous women from 17 of these communities to elicit and define local Mam and Spanish terms for common respiratory symptoms used to describe their own and their children's respiratory symptoms. Focus group participants were also shown an International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) video of wheezing children and adults. We developed a conceptual framework that can be used as an efficient model for future studies investigating health and/or disease terminology in isolated communities, an integral step in the development of standardized questionnaires. Among this Mam-speaking population, wheeze was best described as nxwisen or ntzarrin, "breathing sounds that are heard in the neck but come from the chest." The variation in understanding of terms between women with and without children with a history of wheeze (such that for those without wheezing children some terms were virtually unrecognized), has important implications for large-scale population surveys within countries and comparative surveys such as ISAAC. It is important to use linguistically and culturally appropriate terminology to describe wheeze in prevalence studies of asthmatic symptoms among relatively isolated communities in lesser-developed countries.

Plants with possible psychoactive effects used by the Krahô Indians, Brazil

OBJECTIVE

In spite of the richness of the Brazilian biodiversity, no phytomedicines have been developed from this flora with the purpose of being used in psychiatric treatments. The objective of the present study was to document the use of plants with possible psychoactive effects in rituals performed by the Krahô Indians, who live in the cerrado savannahs biome in the central region of Brazil. Also, the present data were compared with the data obtained during a review of the literature on the use of psychoactive plants by 25 Brazilian indigenous groups.

METHOD

The study was carried out during two years of fieldwork during which anthropological and botanical methods were employed.

RESULTS

Seven local shamans were interviewed and they indicated 98 formulas, consisting of 45 plant species that appear to have psychoactive properties and were used in 25 different treatments. Some of the psychoactive properties were "prevention of madness", "stimulant effect", "tranquilizing effect", "prevention of tremors", "longer sleeping period", "open mind" and "induction of sleep". This article also describes the review of literature, which recorded 58 plants that may have psychoactive effects used by 25 Brazilian Indian cultures.

CONCLUSION

The treatment of psychological/psychiatric disorders based on the plants used by the Krahô Indians is very rich. It is also observed among other Brazilian indigenous groups. Future phytochemical and pharmacological studies on these plants may develop new medicines to treat psychiatric disorders.

How long does it take to become a proficient hunter? Implications for the evolution of extended development and long life span

Human hunting is arguably one of the most difficult activities common to foraging peoples now and in the past. Children and teenagers have usually been described as incompetent hunters in ethnographies of hunter-gatherers. This paper explores the extent to which adult-level competence is limited more by the constraints of physical capital, or body size, and brain-based capital, or skills and learning. The grandmother hypothesis requires that production is an increasing function of size alone, while the embodied capital model stipulates that production is a function of both size and delayed learning. Tests based on observational, interview, and experimental data collected among Tsimane Amerindians of the Bolivian Amazon suggest that size alone cannot explain the long delay until peak hunting productivity. Indirect encounters (e.g., smells, sounds, tracks, and scat) and shooting of stationary targets are two components of hunting ability limited primarily by physical size alone, but the more difficult components of hunting--direct encounters with important prey items and successful capture--require substantial skill. Those skills can take an additional ten to twenty years to develop after achieving adult body size.

Whorf versus Socrates, round 10

A recent paper by Dehaene, Izard, Pica and Spelke examined geometric concepts among the Munduruku, an Amazonian group without many linguistic terms for spatial relations, and without maps or formal schooling. Their profile of strengths and weaknesses provides new insights into the nature of the human mind and the importance of culture and language to the development of thought.

Core knowledge of geometry in an Amazonian indigene group

Does geometry constitute a core set of intuitions present in all humans, regardless of their language or schooling? We used two nonverbal tests to probe the conceptual primitives of geometry in the Mundurukú, an isolated Amazonian indigene group. Mundurukú children and adults spontaneously made use of basic geometric concepts such as points, lines, parallelism, or right angles to detect intruders in simple pictures, and they used distance, angle, and sense relationships in geometrical maps to locate hidden objects. Our results provide evidence for geometrical intuitions in the absence of schooling, experience with graphic symbols or maps, or a rich language of geometrical terms.

Suicide among Guaraní Kaiowá and Nandeva youth in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Information on morbidity and mortality are critical for developing appropriate prevention and health promotion programs. This study summarizes data on the Guaraní (Kaiowá and Nandeva) communities in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, about which little addressing suicide has been documented. Epidemiologic and anthropological data were used to examine suicidal behavior in these indigenous communities. Several findings in this report about the Guaraní Kaiowá and Nandeva communities were remarkable: the rates of suicide among these communities appear higher than the national average; suicide deaths disproportionately affect adolescents and young adults; and suicide rates among young males appear to be increasing. Data in this report highlight the need for health information data specific to a community in order to identify emerging health problems.

Menopausal transition in Movima women, a Bolivian native-American

BACKGROUND

Although it is well accepted that socio-cultural influences may affect the onset of menopause and the symptoms experienced, there are scant data related to native indigenous populations.

OBJECTIVE

Our purpose was to study in a native population of South America (The Movima, Bolivia) the menopausal transition.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

In this cross-sectional survey a total of 125 Movima women between 35 and 54 years old was included. All of them answered a questionnaire and a face-to-face interview focused on the menopausal experiences of middle-aged Movima women and additionally, history and physical examination, demographic and socio-economic information were obtained.

RESULTS

The onset of natural menopause in the Movima was at 42.3+/-6.17 years. Loss of libido was the main complaint of the menopause, occurring in a 51% of interviewed women, hot flushes in a 45%, genital itching in a 40.8% and dyspareunia in a 40% were also frequently reported.

CONCLUSION

This is the first data recorded on menopausal transition of the Movima natives. The age of menopause and the symptoms experienced are different to those from women of developed countries. Data related to minority groups are important to adapt the health system to their particular requirements.

[Ethnographic study of neurological and mental diseases among the Uru-Chipaya peoples of the Andean Altiplano]

INTRODUCTION

The Uru-Chipaya people are an ethnic group of about 2,500 people, descendants of primitive Andean cultures. Their isolation (they live at an altitude of 4,000 metres in southern Bolivia), their non-written language (Chipaya-Puquina) and their traditional way of life, clothing and customs, which are similar to those used for thousands of years, make this an unusual culture. The aim of our work was to carry out an ethnographic study of the neurological diseases experienced by these people, the way they conceive such disorders and their therapeutic approaches to them.

DEVELOPMENT

An ethnographic field study was conducted in June 2004. A structured interview was held with a yatiri, or Chipaya healer, to allow classification of the neurological or mental diseases. Epilepsy (tukuri) is interpreted as being a consequence of an evil spirit entering through the nose. Treatment consists in drinking an infusion containing dried powdered butterfly (jesko), birds or curupancho. Achamixi (headache) is common and is treated by drinking the yatiri's fermented urine, herb tea made from the chachacoma plant and by blowing, which is done by the yatiri over the patient's head. Fright, the symptoms of which are similar to those of a post-traumatic stress disorder, is treated by a wilancha, that is, the ritual sacrifice of a llama offered to the Pachamama. Sadness, the cultural equivalent to depression, is treated with infusions made from ayrampo, a plant found in the Andean Altiplano. Psychosis (sumsu), which is treated by means of a wilancha, and mental retardation/static encephalopathy (pustkis), which are considered to be a result of a fright suffered by the mother during pregnancy, also exist. No mention was made of the existence of extrapyramidal or vascular pathologies.

CONCLUSION

The cultural equivalents of certain neurological pathologies (headache, epilepsy, mental retardation, anxiety and depression) are present in this ancestral culture.

Use of medicinal plants and pharmaceuticals by indigenous communities in the Bolivian Andes and Amazon

OBJECTIVE

To investigate, by means of household surveys, the use of medicinal plants and pharmaceuticals in Apillapampa, a large Andean community of Quechua peasants, and in six small communities of Yuracaré-Trinitario "slash-and-burn" cultivators of the National Park Isiboro-Secure (the NPIS) in the Bolivian Amazon.

METHODS

A total of 12% of households in Apillapampa and nearly all households in the NPIS were interviewed about their use of medicinal plants and pharmaceuticals for treating illnesses. Informants were also asked to name any medicinal plants they knew.

FINDINGS

In spite of the presence of a primary health care service (PHC) with medical doctor in Apillapampa, an equal number of informants used medicinal plants and pharmaceuticals. In the NPIS, the prevalent use of medicinal plants or pharmaceuticals in any community depended on the distance of the community from the nearest village and from a PHC with medical doctor (r = 0.85 and r = -0.96; both P = 0.05. The NPIS communities' knowledge of plants expressed as the average number of medicinal plants mentioned correlated positively and negatively with distance from the nearest village and use of pharmaceuticals, respectively (r= 0.95, P < 0.005 and r = -0.90, P < 0.05, respectively).

CONCLUSION

The cultural importance of traditional medicine and the physical isolation of communities, both in general and from PHCs, are factors that influence the use of and knowledge about medicinal plants.

Regional variation in Latino descriptions of susto

Susto, a folk illness not recognized by biomedical practitioners as a disease, is now formally part of the diagnostic classification system in psychiatry as a "culture-bound syndrome." Susto has been reported among diverse groups of Latin Americans, but most of those reports are several decades old and many were conducted in Indian communities. This study focuses on contemporary descriptions of susto and uses a cross-cultural, comparative design to describe susto in three diverse Latino populations. Mestizo/ladino populations were interviewed in Guatemala, Mexico, and south Texas. An initial set of open-ended interviews was conducted with a sample of "key" informants at each site to obtain descriptive information about susto. A structured interview protocol was developed for use at all three sites, incorporating information from those initial interviews. A second set of structured interviews was then conducted with a representative sample at each site. Results indicate a good deal of consistency in reports of what susto is: what causes it, its symptoms, and how to treat it. There appear to be, however, some notable regional variations in treatments and a difference between past descriptions and contemporary reports of etiology.

Widows' rights questioned: Indians, the state, and fluctuating gender ideas in central highland Ecuador, 1870-1900

This essay uses court disputes over indigenous widows’ land rights to examine the impact of an expanding national state on indigenous peasant interpersonal relations in late nineteenth-century Ecuador. In doing so, it offers a response to historian Carmen Ramos Escandón's recent call for historical studies of changing family life in order “to know how this domestic web is related to social processes in a broader sense and how the organization of the family contradicts or reflects society's structures.” Specifically, the confrontations under scrutiny reveal the extent to which indigenous peasants’ notions of marriage and widowhood rights adhered to, diverged from, or were influenced by state views of gender relations. Most court cases from the central highland province of Chimborazo in this period uncover parallels between indigenous and state views of marriage and widowhood; yet the three focal cases here, in which widows’ privileges came under question, highlight differences between indigenous and state understandings of gender relations. In the first case, an Indian woman's father-in-law recognized her right as a widow to inherit a portion of her former mother-in-law's lands; court officials, however, decided to uphold patriarchal legal standards when they granted the land in question to the woman's second husband rather than to her. In two other cases, widows’ claims were undermined not by state authorities themselves, but by Indian men in their own communities. Calling upon patriarchal notions that were at the center of the state's marriage laws, these men wrested control of property from women whose customary claims to it were stronger than theirs. Though cases like these rarely appeared in the court data from Chimborazo, they are illuminating because they promote an exploration of the relevance of ethnically distinct gender ideologies.