tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/indigenous-peoples-22907/articlesIndigenous peoples – The Conversation2024-03-20T15:40:03Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2257422024-03-20T15:40:03Z2024-03-20T15:40:03ZIndigenous consultation is key to the Ring of Fire becoming Canada’s economic superpower<p>Many of the 30,000 attendees of the March 2024 <a href="https://www.pdac.ca/convention">Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention</a> harbour a “wild desire” to extract the mineral riches of <a href="https://www.wsj.com/story/fight-heats-up-over-canadas-ring-of-fire-where-67-billion-of-rare-minerals-is-buried-07f56a23">Canada’s $67 billion Ring of Fire</a>, in the words of Johnny Cash’s well-known song of the <a href="https://www.songfacts.com/lyrics/johnny-cash/ring-of-fire">same name</a>.</p>
<p>While some might be attracted by the desire to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/ring-of-fire-trillion-dollar-claim-1.6778551">make money</a>, others could be driven by concern for our planet and the belief that the region’s minerals can help reduce carbon emissions and support a <a href="https://www.pentictonherald.ca/spare_news/article_58422893-2145-5a9d-a077-b2410dee4b4a.html">just energy transition</a>.</p>
<p>As some Indigenous groups have pointed out, however, the construction of roads and mining in the Ring of Fire represents a significant disruption to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ring-of-fire-mining-may-not-benefit-first-nations-as-hoped-1.1374849">traditional ways of life and fragile ecosystems</a>. </p>
<p>Some environmental groups have argued that mining activities in the region could result in a net increase of carbon emissions due to the removal or severe degradation of the vital <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/canada-mining-push-puts-major-carbon-sink-and-indigenous-lands-in-the-crosshairs/">carbon sinks sustained by peat lands and trees</a>. </p>
<p>Despite the significant economic and environmental impacts surrounding the development of the Ring of Fire, this focus overlooks another crucial issue: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14662043.2017.1422418">the potential for Indigenous/non-Indigenous conflict in northern Ontario</a>.</p>
<h2>The importance of Indigenous treaties</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2022.2157105">recent study</a> on the prospects for Indigenous/non-Indigenous conflict in relation to Québec’s <a href="https://www.environnement.gouv.qc.ca/communiques_en/2012/c20120205-nord.htm">Plan Nord</a> has compelling parallels with Ontario’s <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontarios-ring-fire">Ring of Fire</a>. </p>
<p>Both regions are located in the mineral-rich and ecologically sensitive northern reaches of the provinces that are home to numerous Indigenous Peoples. </p>
<p>Like Ontario, Québec’s Indigenous groups have a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/oka-crisis-timeline-summer-1990-1.5631229">fraught history with government interventions</a> and are often suspicious of plans to develop natural resources. </p>
<p>Our study reveals that if an Indigenous group has signed a modern treaty, there is a reduced risk of conflict related to proposed resource developments since there’s less uncertainty surrounding land tenure rights. Given the fundamental importance of land to Indigenous Peoples, threats to these rights — perceived or real — represent an understandable source of grievance that can spark conflict.</p>
<p>Although there will likely be procurement of services from local Indigenous communities and companies in the Ring of Fire region, the vast majority of its development activities will attract non-Indigenous workers and businesses to the area. </p>
<p>Our study also demonstrates that an influx of non-Indigenous workers can produce tensions with Indigenous groups that can rapidly escalate and lead to contentious interventions by the RCMP.</p>
<h2>Uncritical media coverage</h2>
<p>Given the potential economic windfalls associated with the development of the Ring of Fire, it’s easy to assume support among local residents. Politicians at all levels have called for the rapid development of the region as part of a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-ev-battery-materials-plant-1.6519260">broader investment strategy</a> to cast Canada as a critical minerals leader.</p>
<p>These political leaders highlight the dangers of climate change to encourage companies and consumers to embrace energy sources that reduce carbon emissions. In 2020, the Canadian government announced its <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/innovation/greening-government/strategy.html">Greening Government Strategy</a> aimed at achieving net-zero operations by 2050. </p>
<p>Reducing carbon emissions is also a key element of Canada’s <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/campaign/critical-minerals-in-canada/canadian-critical-minerals-strategy.html">Critical Minerals Strategy</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, media coverage of political pronouncements regarding mineral supply chains is often uncritical.</p>
<p>Another <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2021.2020663">recent study</a> of ours reveals that media coverage in Canada in both French and English rarely includes the perspectives of Indigenous people. Instead, reporters prefer to focus on the more sensational aspects of roadblocks and standoffs, which tend to marginalize the position of Indigenous Peoples.</p>
<p>Little consideration is given to assessing the complex impacts of natural resource development projects on Indigenous communities. </p>
<p>Take the case of the quip by Ontario Premier Doug Ford that “<a href="https://www.timminspress.com/news/local-news/you-will-see-me-on-that-bulldozer">you will see me on that bulldozer</a>” to underscore his government’s pledge to build road access to the Ring of Fire.</p>
<p>Although <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2021-0033">roads can certainly generate positive impacts for local communities</a> (for example, greater mobility and connectivity; better access to public services such as health care; lower prices for consumer goods), they can also lead to negative outcomes (for example, they can degrade the natural environment, they’re expensive to build and they can serve as a route for criminal networks). </p>
<p>Roads also lead to <a href="https://irpp.org/research-studies/affordable-safe-transportation-options-remote-communities/">greater inflows of people in these previously remote communities</a>. Federal and provincial environmental impact assessments of the proposed <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/northern-road-link-project">Northern Road Link</a> to the Ring of Fire are already underway, and there’s reason to believe that a regulatory green light could dramatically transform northern Ontario’s demographics — and thus increase probabilities for future conflict.</p>
<h2>Three recommendations</h2>
<p>What can be done to prevent conflict in the Ring of Fire? We propose three recommendations.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Respect existing treaties with Indigenous communities in the region. Where appropriate, negotiate side agreements that align with modern legal approaches to land use and property rights, thereby reducing uncertainty. Canadian governments could justify the investment in political capital to secure these agreements with Indigenous groups given the importance they’ve placed on promoting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (<a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/declaration/index.html#:%7E:text=The%20Action%20Plan-,The%20United%20Nations%20Declaration%20on%20the%20Rights%20of%20Indigenous%20Peoples,Assent%20and%20came%20into%20force">UNDRIP</a>) and <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/innovation/greening-government/greening-gov-fund.html">reducing carbon emissions</a> to facilitate a just energy transition.</p></li>
<li><p>The Ontario government should begin a new round of consultations with Indigenous communities and stakeholders that are inclusive, transparent, extensive and responsive. The previous round of consultations were <a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/ring-of-fire-first-nations-queens-park/">criticized for being rushed and perfunctory</a>. Truly consultative engagement would reduce grievances and signal to the world that sub-national governments can be global leaders in forging positive relationships with Indigenous Peoples.</p></li>
<li><p>Although the environmental impact of road construction is already mediated by regulatory <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/preparing-environmental-assessments">impact assessment legislation</a>, the effects of an influx of workers must be addressed. Federal and provincial governments — together with input from relevant Indigenous groups and municipalities — should revise existing <a href="https://wcsringoffire.ca/regional-planning-new/">urban planning</a> and <a href="https://wcsringoffire.ca/communities/">zoning by-laws</a> so that hamlets and small towns that are sure to grow do so in an economically, socially, and politically sustainable fashion. Incorporating all levels of governments in producing thoughtful urban planning measures would go a long way toward mitigating the negative impacts associated with increased migration to the region. </p></li>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-environment-minister-is-headed-for-trouble-if-ottawa-doesnt-correct-course-on-the-ring-of-fire-175616">Canada's environment minister is headed for trouble if Ottawa doesn't correct course on the Ring of Fire</a>
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<p>Critical minerals can serve as Canada’s <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781487522452/corporate-social-responsibility-and-canada-and-x2019s-role-in-africa-and-x2019s-extractive-sectors/">superpower</a>, generating economic benefits domestically and boosting its <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cag.12472">reputation as an environmental leader</a> in the just energy transition. </p>
<p>But if Canada fails <a href="https://opencanada.org/resources-and-canadas-first-nations/">in the governance</a> of the Ring of Fire, and ignores the real prospects for serious conflict around the projects, these critical minerals could become Canada’s kryptonite by jeopardizing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and tarnishing its <a href="https://opencanada.org/canadas-long-legacy-of-multilateral-sustainable-development/">reputation abroad</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225742/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Grant has received grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Badriyya Yusuf has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She is a fellow for the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) Digital Policy Hub.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dimitrios Panagos has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew I. Mitchell receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Ontario’s Ring of Fire could make Canada a minerals superpower, but Indigenous consultation is essential to ensure doing so does not harm reconciliation or Canada’s global reputation.Andrew Grant, Associate Professor of Political Studies, Queen's University, OntarioBadriyya Yusuf, PhD Candidate/Researcher in International Relations, Queen's University, OntarioDimitrios Panagos, Associate Professor, Political Philosophy, Memorial University of NewfoundlandMatthew I. Mitchell, Associate Professor, Political Studies, University of SaskatchewanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2217672024-02-12T14:14:08Z2024-02-12T14:14:08ZThe San people of southern Africa: where ethics codes for researching indigenous people could fail them<p>There is a long and often complicated history of researchers studying Indigenous people. In 1999, the education scholar Linda Tuhiwai-Smith, in her book <a href="https://www.google.nl/books/edition/Decolonizing_Methodologies/Nad7afStdr8C?hl=en&gbpv=0">Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples</a>, emphasised the colonial character of much research. She warned that it</p>
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<p>brings with it a new wave of exploration, discovery, exploitation and appropriation.</p>
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<p>Well into the <a href="https://www.google.nl/books/edition/Anthropology_and_the_Bushman/bUUHEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0;%20https://www.google.nl/books/edition/The_Bushman_Myth/BPZKDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0;%20https://www.google.nl/books/edition/Ethnologists_in_Camouflage/qGhezwEACAAJ?hl=nl">20th century</a>, researchers depicted groups like the Indigenous San of southern Africa in a racist fashion, fixating on their physical characteristics and writing of their “savage” or “primitive” state. </p>
<p>Historically, many researchers did not care about their study participants’ consent or agency, or how they could benefit from the research, for instance through improving their position in society. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-im-righting-the-wrongs-of-my-early-research-and-sharing-my-scientific-data-with-local-communities-191713">Why I'm righting the wrongs of my early research and sharing my scientific data with local communities </a>
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<p>This has gradually shifted over the past 50 years. Global organisations such as the Ethical Research Partnership <a href="https://trust-project.eu/">TRUST</a>, the <a href="https://americananthro.org/about/policies/statement-on-ethics/">American Anthropological Association</a> and most, if not all, credible academic institutions, have created ethical rules and guidelines to protect vulnerable populations from exploitation and promote their role in research.</p>
<p>But, as I and a group of fellow ethnographers, together with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/San">San people</a> from all over southern Africa, show in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02101-0">a recent paper</a>, such ethical guidelines have flaws. </p>
<p>Today there are <a href="https://peabody.harvard.edu/video-traces-and-tracks-journeys-san#:%7E:text=But%20just%20to%20give%20you,%2C%20Botswana%2C%20and%20South%20Africa.">about 130,000 San people</a> in Angola, Botswana, <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6096/">Namibia</a>, South Africa and Zimbabwe. They were historically nomadic hunter gatherers; in the past century or so their lives have become more settled, based on agriculture and wage labour.</p>
<p>The pitfalls we identified in the guidelines manifest mainly in three ways: by oppressing vulnerable groups; by being ambiguous about potential benefits to the participants; and by being difficult to follow in practice.</p>
<h2>Three issues</h2>
<p>There are several reasons why ethical conduct in scientific research is so important. Ethical rules are there to prevent what’s known as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01423-6">“ethics dumping”</a>, in which unethical research practices are used in lower-income countries that would not normally be allowed elsewhere. They also guard against <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01423-6">“helicopter research”</a>, when scientists from high-income countries conduct their research without involving local scientists or communities.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/african-ubuntu-can-deepen-how-research-is-done-190076">African ubuntu can deepen how research is done</a>
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<p>In 2017 a <a href="https://trust-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/San-Code-of-RESEARCH-Ethics-Booklet-final.pdf">code of conduct</a> was created by academics and San leaders working with and for the South African San Institute, the South African San Council and TRUST. The <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02101-0">paper</a> discussed in this article, as well as <a href="https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/hgr.2023.4">one other</a>, analysed problems with this code and similar instruments, and individual contracts unique to a particular piece of research.</p>
<p>These were:</p>
<p><strong>1. Oppression of opinions:</strong> Authorities (often NGOs) sometimes want to push their agenda by keeping unwelcome ideas out of the research. In South Africa, a colleague of mine encountered dubious gatekeepers who claimed to represent the community she hoped to study and who wanted to dictate whom she could interview.</p>
<p>An instrument intended to promote ethical research was used to exclude particular people, or their ideas. </p>
<p><strong>2. An over-emphasis on immediate benefits:</strong> Most codes of conduct and contracts include a clause that research must be “beneficial”. This ignores the essence of what most scientific research is: fundamental and not applied. Fundamental knowledge is not immediately practical but it is crucial to make research potentially beneficial. </p>
<p>I have worked on <a href="https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3197/np.2019.230104">research</a> about a land claim by the San in northern Namibia. Knowledge similar to the sort reflected in my research <a href="https://doi.org/10.3366/ajicl.2020.0339">has helped San groups</a> in other parts of southern Africa <a href="https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/BieseleJu/1000">regain or retain land</a>. Will my research do the same? I have no idea, because that takes time – the research doesn’t instantly benefit the participants.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-steps-every-researcher-should-take-to-ensure-participants-are-not-harmed-and-are-fully-heard-191430">Five steps every researcher should take to ensure participants are not harmed and are fully heard</a>
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<p>A focus on benefits also ignores different interests and perceptions within communities. A benefit for some may be detrimental to others. For instance, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280233612_Local_impacts_of_community-based_tourism_in_southern_Africa">research</a> can support wildlife management and the creation of tourism jobs for some. But these activities may constrain other livelihoods in the same community. In a <a href="https://journals.lww.com/coas/fulltext/2017/15020/ju__hoansi_lodging_in_a_namibian_conservancy_.2.aspx">Namibian case study</a>, some San complained about restrictions on hunting, small-scale farming, or keeping livestock. </p>
<p><strong>3. Practical limitations:</strong> In southern Africa it is often unclear in advance whom you need to contact to discuss and sign something, and what the legal status of codes and contracts is. In our experiences, e-mails often go unanswered. Many local San do not even know – or, in some cases, care – that these instruments exist. For most, researchers’ needs and aims are not a priority in their ordinary lives. </p>
<p>In such cases research codes and contracts mainly legitimise the researchers’ and gatekeepers’ role in research, but not necessarily that of the people being studied. </p>
<p>This is not an exhaustive list of potential issues. Others include the imposition of a red tape culture, illiteracy among participants and a lack of clear consequences if researchers behave unethically even after signing a contract.</p>
<h2>Paper is no panacea</h2>
<p>We are not opposed to instruments that can empower research participants, but they are not a panacea. Researchers need to scrutinise such codes’ inherent and complex challenges. They also need to put collaboration at the heart of their work.</p>
<p>Examples of such scrutiny and collaboration already exist. Some San groups, such as the <a href="https://anadjeh.wordpress.com/">||Ana-Djeh San Trust</a>, have created initiatives to increase their participation in research, including community training to raise awareness about research. In such cases they like to collaborate with researchers they trust, normally because they have been in contact with them for many years already. Such trust is at the heart of good collaborations and is, we would argue, much more important than paper agreements.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221767/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stasja Koot does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are several reasons why ethical conduct in scientific research is so important.Stasja Koot, Assistant Professor, Wageningen UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2146912024-01-19T13:40:18Z2024-01-19T13:40:18ZLatin America’s colonial period was far less Catholic than it might seem − despite the Inquisition’s attempts to police religion<p>One of the most pervasive myths about colonial Latin American society is that it was Catholic, full stop. </p>
<p>It’s a familiar story: As history books tell it, the Europeans brought their religion to the New World, and none were as zealous in their attempts to convert Indigenous people as the Spaniards. Indeed, in the Spanish view, the quest to spread Catholicism to every corner of the world was a central pillar of colonization.</p>
<p>A quick glance at how deeply Catholic much of the region still is – <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/996386/latin-america-religion-affiliation-share-type/">some 57% of Latin Americans</a> – seems to reinforce the idea of Spanish missionaries’ success.</p>
<p>In truth, Spanish control in the Americas was far from absolute. Despite the sweeping proclamations of missionaries who claimed to convert thousands of souls every day to Christianity, spiritual life in the colonies would have made the pope do a double take. </p>
<h2>Far from the Vatican</h2>
<p>Spain’s colonies were a vast <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477315835/">patchwork of borderlands</a> built over the smoldering infrastructure of Indigenous civilizations such as <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/fifth-sun-9780197577660">the Mexica</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-lived-at-machu-picchu-dna-analysis-shows-surprising-diversity-at-the-ancient-inca-palace-210287">the Inca</a>. Even at the centers of colonial control, like Mexico City and Lima, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2390824">Spanish power was decentralized</a>, meaning that virtually no policy, order or law was consistently implemented. The reach of the Spanish crown depended as much on the whims of low-ranking administrators as on the king’s own advisers.</p>
<p>The unevenness of colonial authority held true <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/tam.2021.46">in the realm of religion</a>, as well – a focus of <a href="https://as.tufts.edu/history/people/faculty/diego-luis">my historical research</a>.</p>
<p>Oftentimes, “conversion” simply meant baptism. Priests would sprinkle water on the convert’s head, give them a “Christian” – i.e., Hispanic – name, and encourage them to attend Mass on Sundays. However, attendance was often spottier than in a post-COVID classroom.</p>
<p>There are many reasons why this was the case. First, the cruelty of some Spaniards hardly made them attractive advertisements for Christianity. The <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/261052/a-short-account-of-the-destruction-of-the-indies-by-bartolome-de-las-casas-edited-and-translated-by-nigel-griffin-introduction-by-anthony-pagden/">legendary last words</a> of Hatüey, an Indigenous Taíno leader who led a rebellion in what is now Cuba, suffice to make the point.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white drawing of a man being burned at a stake as a priest holds out a small crucifix to him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Bartolome de las Casas’ writings, such as his description of Hatuey’s execution, helped record colonizers’ violence against Indigenous people in the Americas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://jcb.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/JCB~1~1~4492~7050007:-Man-burned-at-the-stake-?qvq=q:hatuey;lc:JCBMAPS~2~2,JCB~3~3,JCBBOOKS~1~1,JCBMAPS~1~1,JCBMAPS~3~3,JCB~1~1&mi=1&trs=2">Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>In the moments before Hatüey was burned at the stake, a priest urged him to convert so that his soul would go to heaven. Hatüey asked if Spaniards went to heaven, too. When the priest responded that “the good ones do, (Hatüey) retorted, without need for further reflection, that if that was the case, then he chose to go to Hell to ensure that he would never again have to clap eyes on those cruel brutes.” </p>
<p>Bartolomé de las Casas, a 16th century missionary,
documented this incident <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/261052/a-short-account-of-the-destruction-of-the-indies-by-bartolome-de-las-casas-edited-and-translated-by-nigel-griffin-introduction-by-anthony-pagden/">to condemn the violence</a> of Spanish colonizers in the Americas.</p>
<p>Second, Indigenous spiritual practices got an unwitting boost from the pope himself. Paul III, pope from 1534-1549, conceded <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667590/">special religious exemptions</a> to Indigenous people in the Americas, since they were new converts, or “neophytes,” in the faith. Effectively, this status meant that they were forgiven for not observing all Catholic practices correctly – not celebrating all holidays, not fasting often, marrying cousins, and so on.</p>
<p>This somewhat flexible – but no less violent – approach to conversion meant that Indigenous spiritual practices often melded with Spanish ones. Perhaps the best example of this <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195176322.001.0001/acref-9780195176322-e-1336">religious syncretism</a> is <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=1104">Our Lady of Guadalupe</a>, whom many Catholics revere as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-virgin-of-guadalupe-is-more-than-a-religious-icon-to-catholics-in-mexico-151251">an apparition of the Virgin Mary</a>, including Indigenous Catholics. Yet many Indigenous people also <a href="https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tonantzin">identify Guadalupe with Tonantzin</a>. The word means “Our Mother” in Nahuatl, the language of the Mexica, and could refer to multiple goddesses.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A wide, ornate golden frame surrounds an illustration of a woman in a blue cloak with a halo-like ring of light around her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An altar inside the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Guzman in Oaxaca, Mexico, depicts the Virgen of Guadalupe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/our-lady-of-guadalupe-shrine-royalty-free-image/1207063275?phrase=virgen+de+guadalupe&searchscope=image%2Cfilm&adppopup=true">Gabriel Perez/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Third, as the <a href="https://www.slavevoyages.org/">transatlantic slave trade</a> intensified during the 16th century, spiritual systems from West and West-Central Africa entered the mix. For example, many Africans and their descendants used protective amulets <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/fc11/e548799876ee8da4c29c2dc6694c248f010a.pdf?_gl=1*k4basm*_ga*MTE1NDExODM4Ny4xNzA1NTI0MDYx*_ga_H7P4ZT52H5*MTcwNTUyNDA2MC4xLjEuMTcwNTUyNDA3NC40Ni4wLjA">called “nóminas</a>” and “<a href="https://academic.oup.com/jaar/article-abstract/88/2/460/5828949?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false">bolsas de mandinga</a>,” and they adapted African healing rituals and medical knowledge to New World environments.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the lesser-known <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-south-asia-to-mexico-from-slave-to-spiritual-icon-this-womans-life-is-a-snapshot-of-spains-colonization-and-the-pacific-slave-trade-history-that-books-often-leave-out-214692">transpacific slave trade</a> brought thousands of Asians to colonial Mexico and further complicated the religious landscape. My 2024 book, “<a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674271784">The First Asians in the Americas</a>,” demonstrates that Asians used a wide variety of beliefs and practices to navigate and even resist the conditions of their enslavement. They made potions, learned enchantments and even publicly renounced their faith in God, Jesus and the saints in order to call attention to unjust treatment.</p>
<h2>Paperwork and torture</h2>
<p>Spanish authorities were eager to clamp down on these spiritual beliefs and founded new branches of the <a href="https://www.fondodeculturaeconomica.com/Ficha/9786071631657/F">Inquisition in Lima and Mexico City</a> in the late 1500s. The Spanish Inquisition had been around for nearly a century by this point, policing the boundary between accepted and heretical Catholic practices and beliefs. </p>
<p>While the Inquisition in Europe is infamous for having tried and murdered thousands, the Inquisition in Mexico City reserved execution for only <a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/10254/inquisition-new-spain-1536-1820">a few dozen cases</a>. Whippings, exiles, imprisonments and public shaming were the norm. Still, the United States carceral system <a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/executions-overview">executes more people every few years</a> than the Inquisition in Mexico did over more than two centuries. </p>
<p>Most Indigenous people were exempted from being denounced to the Inquisition, since they were considered Christian neophytes and prone to errors. However, Africans and Asians, as well as their descendants, people of mixed ethnicities, “Moriscos” (converted Muslims), “conversos” (converted Jews), Protestants and even Catholic Spaniards frequently ran afoul of inquisitors.</p>
<p>Inquisition trials generated mountains of paperwork, in part because scribes were obsessive in their thoroughness. Occasionally, they even recorded every exclamation a prisoner cried out in the Inquisition’s notorious <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fj6rt.15?seq=1">torture chambers</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The stone and brick facade of an old, two-story building on a street with tall streetlamps." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The facade of the colonial Palace of the Inquisition in Mexico City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FacadeInquisDF.JPG">Thelmadatter/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, these cases provide rare insights into the <a href="https://libros.uv.mx/index.php/UV/catalog/book/AB108">spiritual cultures</a> of colonial society’s most marginalized subjects. Non-Europeans were often accused of committing blasphemy and concocting love potions to seduce sailors, soldiers and merchants. They conducted rituals with hallucinogens such as peyote to find stolen objects and lost people. They fashioned charms to shield friends, family and clients from harm.</p>
<p>Though Spaniards punished divination and other unapproved practices, it wasn’t because they considered such rituals pointless or ineffective. Quite the opposite: They believed that they worked but were powered by the devil, and were therefore a force of evil.</p>
<h2>Spiritual mosaic</h2>
<p>One of the most enigmatic cases <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674271784">I have written about</a> is that of an enslaved South Asian man from Malabar, in southern India, named Antón. In 1652, he appeared before the Inquisition in Mexico City for the “spiritual crimes” of palm reading and divination. He was 65 years old and lived in one of the textile mills infamous for its poor working conditions in Coyoacán, just south of the city. </p>
<p>According to multiple witnesses, Antón attracted a large, multiethnic clientele who sometimes traveled a day in each direction to ask him their pressing questions about the future. By reading palms, Antón would predict “if (someone) would find love, when a baby would be born, if a woman would become a nun, and so on.” Each consultation earned him a few coins, which he split with two weavers who translated from Spanish into Nahuatl for him.</p>
<p>When the inquisitors questioned him, Antón claimed to have learned how to read palms in Malabar and insisted that he had done nothing wrong. In all, divination was not considered as serious a religious infraction as, say, practicing Judaism or Islam, so Antón was condemned to the relatively light punishment of proclaiming his sins publicly after 245 days in prison.</p>
<p>Inquisitorial records from the colonial period are filled with vibrant characters like Antón. There was <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469609751/domingos-alvares-african-healing-and-the-intellectual-history-of-the-atlantic-world/">Domingos Álvares</a>, who became a renowned healer in Brazil, and <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469630878/the-experiential-caribbean/">Antonio Congo</a>, who was said to control storms in what is now Colombia.</p>
<p>They created worlds of knowledge and faith often out of alignment with the strictures of Catholic doctrine. Many of these beliefs have persisted against the odds, surviving into the present. For example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814722343.003.0005">the Afro-Cuban Santería, Palo Monte</a>, <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/ifa-divination-system-00146">Ifá</a> and other religions are <a href="https://cuba.miami.edu/arts-culture/afro-cuban-religion-surviving-and-thriving-underground/index.html">thriving in Cuba today</a> despite centuries of discrimination and repression.</p>
<p>Labeling Latin America and its colonial period uniformly “Catholic” silences this rich history. There were, of course, thousands of Catholics in the colonies, and Catholicism was a central tenet of Spanish colonialism. But that is not the full story: Other beliefs thrived and became new realities of colonial life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214691/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diego Javier Luis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Conversion was often a violent affair, but that doesn’t mean it was 100% successful. Colonial Latin America was home to many different spiritual traditions from Indigenous, African and Asian cultures.Diego Javier Luis, Assistant Professor of History, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2201332024-01-16T13:41:06Z2024-01-16T13:41:06ZLong after Indigenous activists flee Russia, they continue to face government pressure to remain silent<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568943/original/file-20240111-17-c8ekoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pavel Sulyandziga, a Russian Indigenous activist, poses with his family in 2017 in Yarmouth, Maine, where he awaits a decision on political asylum. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pavel-sulyandziga-a-russian-indigenous-leader-is-filing-for-news-photo/669416946?adppopup=true">Derek Davis/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pavel Sulyandziga, an Indigenous activist and member of the Udege people of Russia’s far eastern region, arrived in the United States in 2017 to seek political asylum.</p>
<p>Sulyandziga joined his wife and their five children, who were already living in Maine. They left following numerous threats to Sulyandziga’s personal safety, as well as to his family members and colleagues, because of his political activism. </p>
<p>Sulyandziga’s request for <a href="https://help.unhcr.org/usa/applying-for-asylum/what-is-asylum/">political asylum</a> in the U.S. is still pending, part of a large backlog of asylum cases before immigration judges. </p>
<p>Today, however, Sulyandziga, 61, and his family members continue to be harassed by the Russian government.</p>
<p>Sulyandziga is one of among <a href="https://www.iwgia.org/en/russia/4682-iw-2022-russian-federation.html">260,000 people who are recognized as Indigenous</a> and who are from Russia. Indigenous peoples living in Russia have <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501761317/galvanizing-nostalgia/">long fought for recognition</a> of their rights as native peoples and to protect their traditional territory, which is often located in areas that are used for natural resource extraction, such as mining. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2021.2002629">recent research</a> shows that Indigenous activists are fleeing Russia because of growing repression. Sometimes, they are being charged with working on behalf of foreign governments, or they are facing false accusations of corruption. </p>
<p>Beyond repression at home, the Russian government is increasingly trying to silence activists like Sulyandziga even after they leave Russia. </p>
<p>This kind of harassment is called <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/transnational-repression">transnational repression</a>, and it means that Indigenous activists are vulnerable in exile as well as at home.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568945/original/file-20240111-15-xmdht8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man with a grey beard sits on a red couch and watches young children run around." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568945/original/file-20240111-15-xmdht8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568945/original/file-20240111-15-xmdht8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568945/original/file-20240111-15-xmdht8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568945/original/file-20240111-15-xmdht8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568945/original/file-20240111-15-xmdht8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568945/original/file-20240111-15-xmdht8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568945/original/file-20240111-15-xmdht8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pavel Sulyandziga watches his children play in his living room at home in Maine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pavel-sulyandziga-a-russian-indigenous-leader-is-filing-for-news-photo/669416920?adppopup=true">Staff photo by Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Indigenous people of Russia</h2>
<p>The Soviet Union officially recognized the many identities and languages of Indigenous peoples living within its borders. But Soviet officials also pressured Indigenous people to abandon their <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801481789/arctic-mirrors/#bookTabs=1">traditional, religious and livelihood practices</a> in order to more easily incorporate them in the Communist regime. </p>
<p>Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has legally recognized <a href="https://docs.cntd.ru/document/901757631?ysclid=lmxoe1ky4c246489387">47 Indigenous peoples</a>, though <a href="https://www.iwgia.org/en/russia.html">more than 150 groups claim Indigenous status</a>.</p>
<p>There was a flowering of Indigenous activism in Russia during the more open politics of the 1990s. Between 1999 and 2001, the government passed several <a href="https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/2336/4826">new laws</a> ensuring Indigenous rights, such as cultural autonomy and access to territories traditionally used for hunting and pastureland. </p>
<p>But Indigenous peoples remain among the most socially and economically marginalized groups in Russia. </p>
<p>Socioeconomically, their <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/SR/COVID-19/IndigenousCSOs/RUSSIA%20-%20Aborigen%20Forum%20position%20.docx">health</a>, <a href="https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article/8/1/445/116784/Socio-cultural-characteristics-of-the-Russian">educational and economic outcomes</a> are significantly worse than the average Russian citizen. They face <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/1/23/in-russia-indigenous-land-defenders-face-intimidation-and-exile">extensive dislocation and pollution from natural resource extraction</a>, including oil and gas drilling. </p>
<p>Many also live in areas particularly <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-arctic-indigenous-peoples-losing-traditional-way-life-climate-change/30973726.html">vulnerable to climate change</a>.</p>
<h2>Indigenous activism and Russia’s war in Ukraine</h2>
<p>Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has created new problems for Indigenous communities in Russia. </p>
<p>Driven by poverty and patriotic appeals, young men from Indigenous communities enlist in the military in <a href="https://www.iwgia.org/en/russia/5186-iw-2023-russia.html#_edn8">disproportionately high numbers</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/socarx/s43yf.html">Preliminary research</a> indicates that soldiers from impoverished and remote regions and from ethnic minority groups die in the conflict in disproportionately high numbers. </p>
<p>Government harassment of Indigenous activists from Russia has also <a href="https://batani.org/archives/2156">intensified since 2022</a>. </p>
<p>Like Sulyandziga, a number of Indigenous activists have left Russia over the past few years <a href="https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/new-report-highlights-indigenous-rights-violations-russia">to protect themselves and their families</a>. </p>
<p>Some Indigenous exiles have exercised their new freedoms by <a href="https://indigenous.taplink.ws/">protesting Russia’s war in Ukraine</a>. Sulyandziga has also been vocal in <a href="https://polarconnection.org/international-committee-of-indigenous-peoples-of-russia/">his opposition to the war</a>. </p>
<p>However, an activist’s decision to go into exile to escape persecution does not always mean the end of repression. </p>
<h2>The Russian government’s pressure on Indigenous people</h2>
<p>The Russian government <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/transnational-repression/russia">uses the tools of transnational repression</a> against Indigenous activists who have left Russia. These include damaging activists’ reputations in media coverage, initiating spurious legal cases, confiscating their property and harassing relatives and colleagues who remain in Russia. </p>
<p>By increasing the risks of speaking out, the government discourages Indigenous activists from trying to influence the political situation back home and attempts to silence their concern about the survival of their people. </p>
<p>Ruslan Gabbasov, an activist from the Bashkir ethnic minority in the Russian region of Bashkortostan, left his homeland in 2021 due to increasing pressure on his activism. He was the leader of an organization to protect Bashkir cultural and language rights that the government labeled as “extremist.” </p>
<p>Gabbasov received political asylum in Lithuania, where he started a new organization – the Committee of the Bashkir National Movement Abroad. His half brother, Rustam Fararitdinov, has never been involved in political activism. </p>
<p>But in November 2023, Fararitdinov was <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/bashkortostan-terrorist-list-russia-activist/32770297.html">arrested by Russian security agents</a>. Gabbasov <a href="https://kyivindependent.com/exiled-russian-activist-reports-detention-of-brother-in-bashkortostan/">reports that he has heard</a>, “If I return to Russia, they will release him; if not, they will imprison him.”</p>
<p>In Sulyandziga’s case, a Russian regional court charged him in November 2023 with an <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/08/1140147">increasingly widely used</a> charge of “discrediting the Russian military.” The court cited an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaTSgj-cYtE">online lecture by Sulyandziga</a>, in which he criticized the Russian government’s historical treatment of Indigenous communities. </p>
<p>Following the charge, Sulyandziga said that his adult son, who lives in Vladivostok, has been chronically harassed by the Federal Security Service in relation to the case, subjected to repeated questioning and threatening language. </p>
<h2>A foreign policy concern</h2>
<p>What motivates the Russian government to continue to try to repress Indigenous activists abroad? In part, repression is a response to activists’ international efforts to <a href="https://www.hudson.org/events/new-architecture-northern-eurasia-sixth-free-nations-post-russia-forum">draw attention to their causes</a>, including through the creation of new organizations like the <a href="https://www.freeburyatia.org/">Free Buryatia</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/freeyakutiafoundation/">Free Yakutia</a> foundations. These anti-war groups compare Russia’s violence toward Ukrainians with their own <a href="https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/indigenous-anti-war-initiatives-russia-are-inherently-anti">histories of oppression</a> and call for decolonization in the region. </p>
<p>Repression also is designed to <a href="https://polarconnection.org/international-committee-of-indigenous-peoples-of-russia/">drive a wedge</a> between Indigenous communities in Russia and activists abroad who maintain connections via online platforms such as Telegram. </p>
<p>Finally, <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/transnational-repression/russia">transnational repression</a> is a high-profile way to scare other Indigenous activists. </p>
<p>That tactic has not been effective, though, in intimidating Sulyandziga and others. </p>
<p>Sulyandziga, who also worked as an environmental activist in Russia, reestablished his <a href="https://batani.org/">nonprofit organization</a> in the U.S. The Russian government had labeled his original organization a foreign agent, even before he fled to the U.S. He now works to unite Indigenous communities across borders.</p>
<p>Sulyandziga also recently <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/russia-indigenous-communities-lobby-tesla-not-to-get-its-nickel-from-major-polluter/">participated in a campaign</a> to discourage Tesla from buying nickel for its cars from the Russian company Norilsk Nickel, <a href="https://www.iwgia.org/en/news/3790-russian-oil-spill-exposes-history-of-indigenous-peoples%E2%80%99-right-violations.html">a major polluter of Indigenous lands</a>.</p>
<p>Sulyandziga vows to continue his activism, despite the pressure. </p>
<p>Along with fellow Indigenous activist Dmitry Berezhkov, Sulyandziga continues to call for Indigenous citizens in Russia to have “access to their traditional lands and traditional resources, that Indigenous cultures and languages are preserved, and that Indigenous peoples have an opportunity to pursue the realization of their <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/09/09/what-decolonization-means-for-russias-indigenous-peoples-a82387">political, economic, and social potential”</a>. </p>
<p><em>Pavel Sulyandziga, president of the Batani International Indigenous Fund for Solidarity and Development and visiting scholar at Dartmouth College, contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220133/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura A. Henry does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More than six years after Pavel Sulyandziga, an Indigenous activist from Russia, left the country to seek political asylum in the US, he continues to face harassment by the Russian government.Laura A. Henry, Associate Professor of Government and Legal Studies, Bowdoin CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2154182023-11-21T13:22:20Z2023-11-21T13:22:20Z‘Time warp’ takes students to Native American past to search for solutions for the future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560486/original/file-20231120-22-litds7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C8%2C5699%2C3819&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students become more emotionally engaged with history when it's presented in an interactive way, research shows.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/hispanic-elementary-students-using-computer-in-royalty-free-image/503690720?phrase=classroom+students+slides&adppopup=true">SDI Productions via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The eyes of the fifth graders in Ms. Evans’ class widened as they saw a dazzling light on the classroom smartboard and the phrase, “Let’s do the Time Warp!”</p>
<p>Ms. Evans, who teaches at a large suburban school in central Ohio, told her students that they were about to take a trip to a Native American community as it existed in the 19th century.</p>
<p>“We are now traveling back in time to Florida in the 1800s to visit a village of the Seminole,” Ms. Evans told her class excitedly as she began to read aloud the story of Seminole leader <a href="https://www.tribalnationsmaps.com/store/p1512/Native_American_Heroes%3A_Osceola%2C_Tecumseh_%26_Cochise_-_-_Grades_%3A_3_-7_-_GIFT_SHOPS_ONLY_%285_books%29.html">Osceola</a>. </p>
<p>In the story, Osceola says, “The white man wants our groves of orange trees, our fine harbors, our full forests, and warm fertile lands. But they are ours. Here are our fish and birds and animals, the graves of our fathers, the grounds of our children.”</p>
<p>Immediately, a beautiful village appears on their Chromebooks. The students are welcomed by the Seminole before they engage with a series of interactive slides. They are introduced to the foods the Seminole eat, the clothes they wear and their daily experiences. They are invited to stay and live with the Seminole while they visit. However, on this first day of the history unit, students do not yet know that soon Osceola will face captivity by U.S. troops, who trick him into meeting for a truce. </p>
<p>The experience exemplifies the kinds of social studies lessons that our research group – <a href="http://digitalciviclearning.com/">Digital Civic Learning</a> – has been developing since 2020 to enable students to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565231199967">use immersive storytelling</a> to better understand different perspectives on complex historical issues, as well as current social ones. We’ve been working with elementary school teachers from several school districts in Ohio.</p>
<h2>Overcoming a narrow view of history</h2>
<p>Whereas other curricula may emphasize <a href="https://woodrow.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/WW-American-History-Report.pdf">memorization of facts and dates</a>, our approach emphasizes dialogue among students to make learning history more exciting. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Awl0ddQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">our view</a> as <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ON0HRQoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">educational psychologists</a>, the need for such an approach is made clear by national data, which shows that American teenagers’ <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/">knowledge of U.S. history</a> has been <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/ushistory/2022/">declining for the past decade</a>. </p>
<p>Some of the history curricula currently used in schools are rooted in <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?redir=http%3a%2f%2fwww.societyforhistoryeducation.org%2fpdfs%2fF19_Krueger.pdf">settler colonialism</a>, which focuses on the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/settler_colonialism#:%7E:text=Settler%20colonialism%20can%20be%20defined,with%20a%20new%20settler%20population.">displacement of Indigenous populations</a> with new settlers, and often minimizes the perspectives of underrepresented populations. </p>
<p>Our approach integrates technology, immersive learning – such as an up-close look at the daily lives of the Seminole – and collaborative small-group discussions into daily social studies instruction.</p>
<p>The interactive experiences that students have with the Seminole were created using <a href="https://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Presentation-Using-Google-Slides">Google Slides</a>. The slides consist of illustrations, story narrations, easy-to-read texts and interactive activities developed by our team. Beyond history, we also created units in geography, government and economics. Each unit was designed for upper elementary school students and delivered to students over two weeks. </p>
<h2>Discussing dilemmas</h2>
<p>Students actively participate in <a href="https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/bjep.12442">small-group discussions</a> on the third and ninth day of each unit.</p>
<p>In our Seminole example, students are asked to reflect on the <a href="https://dos.fl.gov/florida-facts/florida-history/seminole-history/the-seminole-wars/">Treaty of Payne’s Landing</a>, signed in 1832. The treaty required the Seminole to give up their land in Florida in exchange for new land in the West.</p>
<p>They discuss the dilemma that Osceola faced when deciding whether to accept the treaty in order to maintain peace, or to refuse to agree to the new treaty so that the Seminole could stay on their land.</p>
<p>Our approach to teaching history also emphasizes connections with current events, such as the <a href="https://daplpipelinefacts.com/">Dakota Access Pipeline</a>. The construction of the pipeline will help the economy by creating jobs and making the U.S. less dependent on foreign oil. However, the pipeline will be built on land owned by Native Americans who are deeply concerned that the pipeline will lead to contamination of <a href="https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/plains-treaties/dapl">groundwater and soil</a>.</p>
<p>Students learn about a related situation in which the federal government has been debating whether to approve the construction of <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/pipeline-battle-brews-in-minnesota-between-indigenous-tribes-and-a-major-oil-company">another pipeline in Minnesota</a> that would go directly through Native American land. Working in groups, students come up with reasons for being either for or against the construction of the pipeline.</p>
<p>Based on our <a href="http://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/enriching-civic-learning-experiences-elementary/docview/2864853496/se-2?accountid=9783">analysis of student discussions and essays over the course of this unit</a>, we’ve found that through these immersive learning and interactive practices, students work more collaboratively and are more likely to consider multiple perspectives in civic debates.</p>
<p>Surveys also found that students who participated in the curriculum became <a href="https://aera22-aera.ipostersessions.com/Default.aspx?s=9E-F9-32-3D-E1-BC-2B-6B-84-59-77-28-08-61-DA-5D">more emotionally engaged with learning history</a> – in part by making emotional connections with story characters – as they developed a deeper understanding of how historical events affect people’s lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215418/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric M. Anderman receives funding from The Institute of Education Sciences.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tzu-Jung Lin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rather than have students memorize names and dates, this history curriculum invites students to grapple with real-life issues faced by people from the past.Eric M. Anderman, Professor of Educational Psychology and Quantitative Research, Evaluation, and Measurement, The Ohio State UniversityTzu-Jung Lin, Professor of Educational Psychology, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2135172023-11-20T13:18:15Z2023-11-20T13:18:15ZThanksgiving stories gloss over the history of US settlement on Native lands<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560223/original/file-20231118-17-87anep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C361%2C2389%2C2070&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Native Americans depicted at the first Thanksgiving feast, in a 1960 film about the Pilgrims’ first year in America.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MoviesEducationalFilms/6e19fb0444d146fdb6f09520e734f7a7/photo?Query=thanksgiving%20dinner%20native%20americans&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=546&currentItemNo=9&vs=true&vs=true">AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Too often, K-12 social studies classes in the U.S. <a href="https://theconversation.com/where-are-the-voices-of-indigenous-peoples-in-the-thanksgiving-story-51089">teach a mostly glossed-over story of U.S. settlement</a>. Textbooks tell the stories of adventurous European explorers founding colonies in the “New World,” and stories of the “first Thanksgiving” frequently portray happy colonists and Native Americans feasting together. Accounts of the colonies’ battle for independence frame it as a righteous victory. Native American removal might be mentioned as a sad footnote, but the triumph of the pioneer spirit takes center stage. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://english.utk.edu/people/lisa-king/">scholar of Native American and Indigenous rhetorics</a>, I argue that this superficial story hides the realities of what many historians and activists call “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/2201473X.2011.10648799?needAccess=true">settler colonialism</a>.” Historian <a href="https://www.swinburne.edu.au/research/our-research/access-our-research/find-a-researcher-or-supervisor/researcher-profile/?id=lveracini">Lorenzo Veracini</a> asserts that colonial activity isn’t just about a nation sending out explorers and bringing back resources, or what scholars refer to as “classical colonialism.” It’s also about what happens when a new people moves in and attempts to establish itself as the “superior” community whose culture, language and rights to resources and land supersede those of the Indigenous people who already live there. </p>
<p>When U.S. history, culture and politics are understood through the lens of settler colonialism, it’s easier to understand how, as <a href="https://www.vu.edu.au/library/about-the-library/special-collections-archives/patrick-wolfe-collection">historian Patrick Wolfe</a> wrote, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14623520601056240">settler colonizers come to stay: invasion is a structure, not an event</a>.” </p>
<h2>US policies and why they matter</h2>
<p>While settler colonial policies can include genocide, they take many forms. </p>
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/if-BOZgWZPE?si=Hp8OH6fRYz85pVqG">Deceptive and broken treaties</a> forced Native American nations to give up vast portions of their homelands. For example, in eastern Tennessee, the Treaty of Holston, signed in 1791, was made in theory to help establish clear boundaries between Cherokee and settler communities. </p>
<p>The U.S. government would receive land, and the Cherokee would receive annual payments, goods and the promise of the government’s protection in return. Instead, settlers moved onto Cherokee land and the U.S. government did not intervene. By 1798, the First Treaty of Tellico forced the Cherokee to give up the land the settlers had illegally taken, plus some. Year by year, the Cherokee and other tribes were pushed out.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/if-BOZgWZPE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">How the U.S. acquired Native land.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/indian.html#:%7E:text=The%20Indian%20Removal%20Act%20was,many%20resisted%20the%20relocation%20policy.">Forced outright removal</a> beyond treaties further deprived Native American nations of their land and attempted to erase them. Instead of supporting any kind of coexistence, legislation such as the <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/indian-treaties">1830 Indian Removal Act</a> called for the complete removal of all tribes east of the Mississippi River. </p>
<p>Though the Cherokee and others fought such legislation in the courtroom, the result was the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/trte/learn/historyculture/what-happened-on-the-trail-of-tears.htm#:%7E:text=Between%201830%20and%201850%2C%20about,Many%20were%20treated%20brutally.">displacement of 100,000 Native people</a> from the eastern U.S. between 1830-1850 and the deaths of thousands of Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee and Seminole people on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-long-history-of-separating-families-in-the-us-and-how-the-trauma-lingers-98616">Trail of Tears</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2018/02/09/583987261/so-what-exactly-is-blood-quantum">Blood quantum systems of identification</a> attempted to make Native American people “disappear” by assigning Native American identity through counting the fractional amount of “Indian blood” and encouraging intermarriage with non-Native people. Once a certain degree of intermarriage was reached, a person was no longer considered Native and was not eligible for tribal enrollment.</p>
<p>As scholar and citizen of the Chickasaw Nation <a href="http://www.elizabethrule.com">Elizabeth Rule</a> notes, many Native nations today have adopted the use of blood quantum as a form of identification, which remains a controversial issue inside and outside Native communities. At the same time, she observes, it is the sovereign right of those nations to make these choices. However, the problem of erasure through this system remains, as blood quantum requirements can deny citizenship to clear lineal descendants and complicate discussions about <a href="https://www.hcn.org/articles/indigenous-affairs-communities-7-questions-about-freedmen-answered">Freedmen</a>.</p>
<p>Alongside these policies, <a href="https://www.bia.gov/service/federal-indian-boarding-school-initiative">education was used as a tool</a> to eradicate Native American languages and cultures by removing Native children from their families and forbidding them to speak their languages or practice their cultures. As the founder of the first boarding school, <a href="https://carlisleindianschoolproject.com/">Carlisle Indian Industrial School</a>, Richard Henry Pratt is well known for arguing to “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” Abuse of students was not uncommon. Many boarding school survivors experienced the trauma of losing connections to their families and cultures, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/native-american-boarding-schools-victims-3f927e5054b6790cef1c6012d8616ad6">a pain that is still felt today</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560224/original/file-20231118-31-6mz01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman protestor, standing with others, holding a sign that says 'This is Native America.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560224/original/file-20231118-31-6mz01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560224/original/file-20231118-31-6mz01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560224/original/file-20231118-31-6mz01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560224/original/file-20231118-31-6mz01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560224/original/file-20231118-31-6mz01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560224/original/file-20231118-31-6mz01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560224/original/file-20231118-31-6mz01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Native Americans and their allies hold a demonstration for Indigenous Peoples Day in 2015, in Seattle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if-BOZgWZPE">AP Photo/Elaine Thompson</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Twentieth-century U.S. policies of <a href="https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/11/01/uprooted-the-1950s-plan-to-erase-indian-country">relocation and political termination</a> further attempted to absolve the federal government of its treaty responsibilities to Native nations. If the U.S. government could “terminate” tribal nations by disbanding them as nations, then all obligations to tribes would legally disappear and all remaining tribal land would revert to government ownership. </p>
<p>After the passing of House Concurrent Resolution 108 in 1953, more than 100 tribes and 13,000 Native people <a href="https://americanarchive.org/exhibits/native-narratives/termination-relocation-restoration">experienced termination</a>, and more than 1 million acres of land were lost. Further federal policies such as the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 encouraged tribal members to permanently leave reservations and relocate to cities to find work and thus assimilate into U.S. society. </p>
<p>Overall, these policies were not fully carried out, and many tribal nations advocated for their status to be restored. Yet real damage was done to the tribal nations that endured termination, and relocated tribal members faced discrimination and disconnection. </p>
<h2>Reducing harm</h2>
<p>It isn’t possible to simply undo all of these policies and their impact. Yet scholars <a href="https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18630">Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang</a> acknowledge that challenging those policies and reducing their influence, known as settler harm reduction, is a first step toward change. But for change to happen, those who benefit from the settler colonial system – whether original settlers or anyone today who gains advantage from these policies – need to work with Native American nations and communities toward finding active ways to do better. </p>
<p>The starting point is identifying the stories that still circulate in the U.S. about Native Americans and finding ways to <a href="https://rnt.firstnations.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/MessageGuide-Allies-screen.pdf">change settler colonial assumptions</a> that still reinforce Native American erasure. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I believe teaching the <a href="https://www.mayflower400uk.org/education/who-were-the-pilgrims/2019/july/the-story-of-thanksgiving-and-the-national-day-of-mourning/">Thanksgiving story</a> alongside the Wampanoag peoples of today is an easy place to start. The past cannot be undone, but it doesn’t have to dictate the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213517/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Michelle King does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar of Native American and Indigenous rhetorics writes about the harm done to Native American nations through colonization and what can be done to reduce it.Lisa Michelle King, Associate Professor of English, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2169562023-11-17T13:28:07Z2023-11-17T13:28:07ZUnthanksgiving Day: A celebration of Indigenous resistance to colonialism, held yearly at Alcatraz<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559724/original/file-20231115-23-6hallp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C8%2C2951%2C1902&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Teo Kali, an Aztec cultural group, participates in a sunrise "Unthanksgiving Day" ceremony with Native Americans on Nov. 24, 2005, on Alcatraz Island.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/san-francisco-united-states-the-teo-kali-aztec-cultural-news-photo/56269934"> Kara Andrade/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each year on the fourth Thursday of November, when many people start to take stock of the marathon day of cooking ahead, Indigenous people from diverse tribes and nations gather at sunrise in <a href="https://www.iitc.org/event/indigenous-peoples-thanksgiving-sunrise-gathering-on-alcatraz-island-2023/">San Francisco Bay</a>. </p>
<p>Their gathering is meant to mark a different occasion – the Indigenous People’s Thanksgiving Sunrise Ceremony, an annual celebration that spotlights 500 years of Native resistance to colonialism in what was dubbed the “New World.” Held on the traditional lands of the <a href="https://pehc.colostate.edu/plhc-blog/indigenizing-alcatraz/">Ohlone people</a>, the gathering is a call for remembrance and for future action for Indigenous people and their allies. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://udayton.edu/directory/artssciences/english/toll-shannon.php">scholar of Indigenous literary and cultural studies</a>, I introduce my students to the long and enduring history of Indigenous peoples’ pushback against settler violence. The origins of this sunrise event are a particularly compelling example that stem from a pivotal moment of Indigenous activism: the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/exploring-hate/2021/11/16/today-in-history-occupation-of-alcatraz/">Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island</a>, a 19-month-long takeover that began in 1969. </p>
<h2>Reclaiming of Alcatraz Island</h2>
<p>On Nov. 20, 1969, led by Indigenous organizers Richard Oakes (Mohawk) and LaNada War Jack (Shoshone Bannock), roughly 100 activists who called themselves “<a href="https://www.nps.gov/alca/learn/historyculture/we-hold-the-rock.htm">Indians of All Tribes,” or IAT</a>, traveled by charter boat across San Francisco Bay to reclaim the island for Native peoples. Multiple groups had done smaller demonstrations on Alcatraz in previous years, but this group planned to stay, and it maintained its presence there until June 1971. </p>
<p>Before this occupation, Alcatraz Island had served as a military prison and then a federal penitentiary. <a href="https://www.bop.gov/about/history/alcatraz.jsp">U.S. Prison Alcatraz was decommissioned in 1963</a> because of the high cost of its upkeep, and it was essentially left abandoned. In November 1969, after a fire destroyed the American Indian Center in San Francisco, local Indigenous activists were looking for a new place where urban Natives could <a href="https://muscarelle.wm.edu/rising/alcatraz/">gather and access resources, such as legal assistance and educational opportunities</a>, and Alcatraz Island fit the bill.</p>
<p>Citing a federal law that stated that “<a href="https://lakotalaw.org/news/2019-11-19/alcatraz">unused or retired federal lands will be returned to Native American tribes</a>,” Oakes’ group settled in to live on “The Rock.” They elected a council and established a school, a medical center and <a href="https://www.nps.gov/alca/learn/historyculture/we-hold-the-rock.htm">other necessary infrastructure</a>. They even had a pirate radio show called “<a href="https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip_28-5717m0482m">Radio Free Alcatraz</a>,” hosted by Santee Dakota poet John Trudell. </p>
<p>The IAT did offer – albeit satirically – to purchase the island back, proposing in the 1969 proclamation “<a href="https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/photos-from-alcatraz-island-indigenous-peoples-thanksgiving-sunrise-gathering">twenty-four dollars (US$24) in glass beads</a> and red cloth, a precedent set by the white man’s purchase of a similar island about 300 years ago,” referring to the purchase of Manhattan Island by the Dutch in 1626. </p>
<p>On behalf of IAT, Oakes sent the <a href="https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/alcatrazproclamationandletter.html">following message</a> to the regional office San Francisco office of the Department of the Interior shortly after they arrived:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The choice now lies with the leaders of the American government – to use violence upon us as before to remove us from our Great Spirit’s land, or to institute a real change in its dealing with the American Indian … We and all other oppressed peoples would welcome spectacle of proof before the world of your title by genocide. Nevertheless, we seek peace.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>After 19 months, the occupation ultimately succumbed to internal and external pressures. Oakes left the island after a family tragedy, and many members of the original group returned to school, leaving a gap in leadership. Moreover, the government cut off water and electricity to the island, and a mysterious fire destroyed several buildings, with the Indigenous occupiers and government officials <a href="https://www.nps.gov/alca/learn/historyculture/we-hold-the-rock.htm">pointing the blame at one another</a>. </p>
<p>By June 1971, President Richard Nixon was ready to intervene and ordered federal agents to <a href="https://www.nps.gov/alca/learn/historyculture/we-hold-the-rock.htm">remove the few remaining occupiers</a>. The occupation was over, but it helped spark an Indigenous political revitalization that continues today. It also pushed Nixon to put an official end to the “<a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2013-08/documents/president-nixon70.pdf">termination era</a>,” a legislative effort geared toward ending the federal government’s responsibility to Native nations, as articulated in treaties and formal agreements.</p>
<h2>Solidarity at sunrise</h2>
<p>In 1975, “Unthanksgiving Day” was established to both mark the occupation and advocate for Indigenous self-determination. For many participants, Unthanksgiving Day was also a reiteration of the original declaration released by IAT, which called on the U.S. to <a href="https://libguides.uml.edu/c.php?g=945022&p=6942272">acknowledge the impacts of 500 years</a> of genocide against Indigenous people. </p>
<p>These days, the event is conducted by the International Indian Treaty Council and is largely referred to as the Indigenous Peoples Thanksgiving Sunrise Gathering. </p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Sunrise ceremony on Alcatraz celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Participants meet on Pier 33 in San Francisco before dawn and board boats to Alcatraz Island, bringing Native peoples and allies together in the place that symbolizes a key moment in the <a href="https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/photos-from-alcatraz-island-indigenous-peoples-thanksgiving-sunrise-gathering">long history of Indigenous resistance</a>. </p>
<p>At dawn, in the courtyard of what was once a federal penitentiary, sunrise ceremonies are conducted to “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/22/thanksgiving-native-american-sunrise-ceremony-alcatraz-occupation-protest">give thanks for our lives, for the beatings of our heart</a>,” said Andrea Carmen, a member of Yaqui Nation and executive director of the International Indian Treaty Council, at the 2018 gathering. </p>
<p>Songs and dances from various tribal nations are performed in prayer and as acts of collective solidarity. At the same gathering, Lakota Harden, who is a Minnecoujou/ Yankton Lakota and HoChunk community leader and organizer, <a href="https://www.peoplepowermedia.org/social-justice/unthanksgiving-ceremony-alcatraz">emphasized that</a> “those voices and the medicine in those songs are centuries old and our ancestors come and they appreciate being acknowledged when the sun comes up.” Through the sharing of song and dance, they enact culturally resonant resistance against the erasure of Native peoples from these lands.</p>
<p>The Indigenous Peoples Thanksgiving Sunrise Gathering also gives people the chance to bring greater community awareness to current struggles facing Indigenous people across the globe. These include the intensifying impacts of climate change, the widespread violence against Native women, children and <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-anti-transgender-laws-will-hurt-indigenous-peoples-rights-and-religious-expression-205742">two-spirit</a> individuals, and ongoing threats to the integrity of their <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/11/unthanksgiving-day-50-anniversary-native-occupation-alcatraz-island-scene/">ancestral homelands</a>. </p>
<h2>Resistance beyond The Rock</h2>
<p>Indigenous Peoples Thanksgiving Sunrise Gathering lands near the end of Native American Heritage Month, which is dedicated to celebrating the vast and diverse Indigenous nations and tribes that exist in the United States. Professor Jamie Folsom, who is Choctaw, <a href="https://www.keloland.com/keloland-com-original/sdsu-professor-explains-native-american-heritage-month/">describes this month</a> as a chance to “present who we are today … (and) to present our issues in our own voices and to tell our own stories.” </p>
<p>The people who will meet on Pier 33 on the fourth Thursday of November continue this story of Indigenous political action on the Rock and, by extension, in North America. The more than 50-year history of this gathering is a testament to the endurance of the original message from Oakes and Indians of All Tribes. It is also part of a larger network of resistance movements being led by Native peoples, particularly young people. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.peoplepowermedia.org/social-justice/unthanksgiving-ceremony-alcatraz">As Harden says</a>, the next generation is asking for change. “They’re standing up and saying we’ve had enough. And our future generations will make sure that things change.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216956/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shannon Toll does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The origins of the Indigenous People’s Thanksgiving Sunrise Ceremony, held on the traditional lands of the Ohlone people, go back to 1969, a pivotal moment of Indigenous activism.Shannon Toll, Associate Professor of Indigenous Literatures, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2124852023-11-09T16:40:01Z2023-11-09T16:40:01Z‘Bluewashing’: how ecotourism can be used against indigenous communities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549588/original/file-20230921-25-y63803.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C28%2C3840%2C2517&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The idea of vacation spots that are a "paradise on earth" can sometimes overlook uncomfortable truths. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/infinity-pool-near-beach-3155666/">Pexels</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the notion of “ecotourism” was introduced in the late 1970s, it was intended to be ecologically responsible, promote conservation, benefit local populations and help travellers foster a <a href="https://law.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Picchio.pdf">“reconnection with biocultural diversity”</a>. It’s now more of a marketing term, used to give mass adventure-tourism packages a more “responsible” sheen. Visitors might get a nature walk, but interactions with local residents are limited to souvenir sellers at best, and international consortiums arrange everything and <a href="https://ecobnb.com/blog/2019/10/giants-global-tourism/">keep the profits for themselves</a>.</p>
<p>While it’s no surprise that the original concept of ecotourism has been obscured by less virtuous projects, they become more problematic when they block local communities from ancestral lands or even involve their forced relocation. A recent case on the eviction of <a href="https://theconversation.com/victims-of-the-green-energy-boom-the-indonesians-facing-eviction-over-a-china-backed-plan-to-turn-their-island-into-a-solar-panel-ecocity-214755">16 villages on Rempang Island, Indonesia</a> to build a solar panel factory and “eco-city” illustrates this. While the need to increase renewable energy production is urgent, it’s harder to justify when it comes at the expense of local residents’ lives and territorial sovereignty.</p>
<p>To explore such questions, in June 2023 a group of researchers at Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uux4Ca5Mueo">organised a dialogue</a> with members of the Mbyá Guaraní community from Maricá, Brazil. Our motivation was to explore the relationship between business schools and the behaviour of multinational corporations toward indigenous peoples and their land rights. That questionable dealings can advance under the cover of “sustainable” or “responsible” social development – a practice referred to as <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/timothyjmcclimon/2022/10/03/bluewashing-joins-greenwashing-as-the-new-corporate-whitewashing/">“bluewashing”</a> – demonstrates how many firms have become adept at implying that their work is virtuous, whatever the reality.</p>
<h2>Maraey: a “sustainable” hotel complex in a biological reserve</h2>
<p>In Maricá, residents of the Mbyá Guaraní village of <em>Ka’Aguy Hovy Porã</em> (known in Portuguese as <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mataverdebonitaoficial/">Aldeia Mata Verde Bonita</a>) are now facing the possibility of being pushed aside for a massive resort branded as <a href="https://www.maraey.com/en/home-3/">“Maraey”</a>. The name is taken from a sacred Guaraní concept signifying “land without evil”, and according to community representatives, it was chosen by the developers without securing authorisation from the Guaraní themselves.</p>
<p>The project is being led by the Spanish firm Cetya, commercialised locally as IDB do Brasil. It has support from two industry heavyweights – US-based <a href="https://news.marriott.com/news/2023/01/17/maraey-signs-agreement-with-marriott-international-to-build-three-distinct-hotels-in-marica-on-rio-de-janeiros-sun-coast">Marriott Hotels</a> and Germany’s <a href="https://siila.com/news/siemens-maraey-closed-deal-smart-destination-rio/389/lang/en">Siemens</a> – as well as the Swiss hospitality school <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/maraeyrj_andre-mack-ehl-activity-7064669504617742336-75j2/">EHL in Lausanne</a>.</p>
<p>While billed as “development with an environmental conscience”, the project would include three luxury hotels with a total of 1,100 rooms. The tagline on the project’s website is “paradise living”. The site being targeted is a narrow strip of coastal wetlands in a <a href="https://antigo.mma.gov.br/areas-protegidas.html">biological reserve</a>, established in 1984, 41 kilometres south of Rio de Janeiro.</p>
<p>As part of the dialogue organised by GEM, we interviewed Tupã Nunes, leader of the Mbyá Guaraní community, coordinator of the <a href="https://www.yvyrupa.org.br/">Comissão Guarani Yvyrupa</a> (CGY), and president of the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/instituto_nhandereko/">Instituto Nhandereko</a>. Also interviewed was Delphine Fabbri-Lawson, co-founder of the institute. Both described the difficulties that the community faces to preserve its land and traditions.</p>
<h2>Divide and conquer?</h2>
<p>While IDB do Brasil asserts that it has the required legal permits to move ahead, in such areas <a href="https://www.equaltimes.org/in-brazil-a-nature-reserve-near">building rights remain ambiguous and relatively permissive</a>. It should be noted that corruption has been a frequent problem in the past and legal battles often pit municipalities, state governments against national courts, and even divide indigenous families.</p>
<p>When asked to provide specific information on the company’s interactions with the community, Maraey’s CEO, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilio-izquierdo/">Emilio Izquierdo</a>, shared that an agreement was signed in December 2021 between the company and the indigenous community’s <em>cacique</em> or main representative, Chief Jurema. Izquierdo insures that as part of the agreement, the municipality agreed that it would “look for a public area that would guarantee the permanent establishment of the village”. Maraey representatives stated that such an area was purchased in December 2022, but declined to provide additional information on the transaction.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G2oFazqPCOA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Emilio Izquierdo reacting to critics in July 2023, proposing that Maraey is an appropriate solution for the protected natural reserve.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tupã Nunes stipulated that he had “no knowledge” of the 2022 agreement signed with the chief Jurema, who does not appear to have shared any news of it with her community. According to the Guarani tradition of governance, doing so is a crucial obligation of the <em>cacique</em>, and ambiguous dealings of this sort have fostered deep fractures within the community itself. Members discovered the extent of the local government’s involvement and the advanced state of the project only when the bulldozers arrived to clear the land.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AFJhmxfLuGQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Tupã Nunes declaring, in April 2023, the illegality of the construction equipment present on what he asserts are his community’s lands.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It should be noted that the International Labor Organization’s <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f">C169 agreement on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples</a>, signed by both Spain and Brazil, requires at least a dialogue with indigenous communities prior to launching projects that would affect them.</p>
<p>The discovery of a number of irregularities as well as confrontations between the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q-RawXPgtU">community and the construction workers</a> in April 2023 led local courts to <a href="https://maricainfo.com/2023/05/26/stj-0rdena-par4lisacao-das-obras-do-resort-na-restinga-de-marica.html">suspend the project</a>. A 26 May 2023 Superior Court of Justice document <a href="https://processo.stj.jus.br/processo/dj/documento/?&sequencial=189597232&num_registro=20210">listed a number of determining factors</a>, including “incessant pressures” on the
lagoon’s system and water table and the “illegality of the environmental licensing process”. Maraey representatives have asserted that all licenses were obtained after a “rigorous process” with the State Environmental Institute (INEA).</p>
<h2>Virtue signalling through collective messaging</h2>
<p>IDB do Brazil maintains that the 54-hectare project will be <a href="https://www.jornaldogolfe.com.br/em-destaque/marica-no-rio-de-janeiro-tera-um-novo-campo-de-golfe-sustentavel-e-inclusivo/">“sustainable and inclusive”</a>, and the promised facilities would include a hospital and schools. However, there will also be mall and an 18-hole golf course, and 150,000 to 300,000 tourists are <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CyMVk6oPcnR/">projected to visit annually</a>. Given that the project is also <a href="https://diariodoporto.com.br/maraey-comeca-obras-de-complexo-turistico-em-marica/">forecasted to generate 1 billion reales</a> in tax revenue (197 million US dollars), there is a lot more than environmental and social concerns at stake.</p>
<p>Bolstered by the work of <a href="https://inpresspni.com.br/">PR and marketing firm</a>, Maraey has mobilised a rallying message and woven its story to garner collective support. Using the hashtags such as #JuntosPorMaraey, #VivaMaraey and #TogetherForMaraey, the project has promoted, with increasing intensity, what is presented as local support and commitment to sustainability. Maraey’s promoters even proclaim that the project, despite its size and density, will help <a href="https://www.maraey.com/en/maraey-the-project/">preserve fauna and flora</a>.</p>
<p>The Maraey website and communications are silent on the Guarani communities now living in the reserve, despite a crescendo of protests and declarations against the legality of their operations.</p>
<p>Coverage in Spain’s <a href="https://elpais.com/internacional/2023-04-28/el-ladrillo-de-un-resort-espanol-cerca-una-de-las-ultimas-aldeas-indigenas-de-rio-de-janeiro.html"><em>El País</em></a>, on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxeWJfioyMU">France 24</a> and other <a href="https://www.equaltimes.org/in-brazil-a-nature-reserve-near">international sources</a> has laid bare the tensions behind the Maraey project. Local political opposition <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CzFw-lGOwqI/">recently asserted</a> that “this company has been trying to occupy Maricá’s reserve for almost 20 years. The resistance of civil society and environmentalists to denounce this massacre of fauna and flora is what allowed its partial preservation.” Summed up in <a href="https://www.equaltimes.org/in-brazil-a-nature-reserve-near">words of one local resident</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“They say it will create jobs. But fishermen don’t want jobs in the hospitality industry. Can you imagine a fisherman on a golf course? Golf is for millionaires, for people with money. Fishermen want a healthy, clean lagoon. It’s our livelihood.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Native lands are not just a habitat</h2>
<p>The significance of the Amazon rainforest and Atlantic coastal forest for indigenous peoples such as the Guarani Mbyá goes far beyond a simple habitat. They derive their culture, language and social order from the natural structure of the forest, as explained by anthropologist <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/anthropology/people/eduardokohn">Eduardo Kohn</a> in his book <a href="https://www.academia.edu/43472285/How_forests_think_Toward_an_anthropology_beyond_the_human_Eduardo_Kohn"><em>How Forests Think</em></a>.</p>
<p>The International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation has recently called for <a href="https://www.ifrs.org/news-and-events/news/2023/04/issb-prepares-to-consult-on-future-priorities-and-international-applicability-of-sasb-standards">greater scrutiny on non-climate-related reporting</a>, in particular societal and social issues. For multinationals, however, the temptation will always be there to find ways to minimise risks and <a href="https://www.allens.com.au/insights-news/insights/2023/07/bluewashing-risks-and-challenges/">continue business as usual</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/psj.12085">Research has shown</a> that lax reporting and the lack of enforcement mechanisms have led firms to shirk social sustainability and human rights requirements and favour bluewashing strategies. This regulatory environment has enabled MNCs to increasingly follow what <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14623520601056240">historian Patrick Wolfe called a “logic of elimination”</a> that erases natives from the land.</p>
<p>However, there is reason to think that attitudes can shift over time. A <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/americas_victory-brazil-tribe-hotel-group-cancels-plans-luxury-resort/6179721.html">2019 victory in Bahía</a> of the <em>Tupinamba de Olivença</em> tribe over the Portuguese hotel giant Vila Gale created a legal precedent demonstrating that if local authorities license projects without involving federal agencies, it can backfire. <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/americas_victory-brazil-tribe-hotel-group-cancels-plans-luxury-resort/6179721.html">For Juliana Batista</a>, human rights lawyer for the Brazilian NGO <em>Instituto Socio-Ambiental</em> involved in the case, it is a matter of understanding the nature of indigenous land rights which, for her “take precedence over any other rights.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212485/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Mielly est membre de Grenoble Ecole de Management.</span></em></p>As detailed in a June 2023 event in Grenoble, France, business schools hold partial responsibility for the longstanding behaviour of multinational corporations (MNCs) in indigenous territories.Michelle Mielly, Professor in People, Organizations, Society, Grenoble École de Management (GEM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077002023-10-16T12:32:54Z2023-10-16T12:32:54ZGangsters are the villains in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ but the biggest thief of Native American wealth was the US government<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552605/original/file-20231006-21-4xdn37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C3639%2C2842&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An Osage delegation with President Calvin Coolidge at the White House on Jan. 20, 1924. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/washington-dc-osage-indians-in-washington-regarding-their-news-photo/514689540">Bettman via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Director Martin Scorsese’s new movie, “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG0si5bSd6I">Killers of the Flower Moon</a>,” tells the true story of a string of murders on the <a href="https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/">Osage Nation</a>’s land in Oklahoma in the 1920s. Based on David Grann’s <a href="https://www.davidgrann.com/book/killers-of-the-flower-moon/">meticulously researched 2017 book</a>, the movie delves into racial and family dynamics that rocked Oklahoma to the core when oil was discovered on Osage lands.</p>
<p>White settlers targeted members of the Osage Nation to steal their land and the riches beneath it. But from a historical perspective, this crime is just the tip of the iceberg. </p>
<p>From the early 1800s through the 1930s, official U.S. policy displaced thousands of Native Americans from their ancestral homes through the policy known as <a href="https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/removal/pdf/related-facts.pdf">Indian removal</a>. And throughout the 20th century, the federal government collected billions of dollars from sales or leases of natural resources like timber, oil and gas on Indian lands, which it was supposed to disburse to the land’s owners. But it <a href="https://narf.org/cases/cobell/">failed to account for these trust funds</a> for decades, let alone pay Indians what they were due.</p>
<p>I am the manager of the University of Arizona’s <a href="https://law.arizona.edu/academics/programs/indigenous-governance-program">Indigenous Governance Program</a> and a <a href="https://naair.arizona.edu/person/torivio-fodder">law professor</a>. My ancestry is Comanche, Kiowa and Cherokee on my father’s side and Taos Pueblo on my mother’s side. From my perspective, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is just one chapter in a much larger story: The U.S. was built on stolen lands and wealth.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553328/original/file-20231011-15-91wp92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Tribal members, some in traditional garb, on a stage" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553328/original/file-20231011-15-91wp92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553328/original/file-20231011-15-91wp92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553328/original/file-20231011-15-91wp92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553328/original/file-20231011-15-91wp92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553328/original/file-20231011-15-91wp92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553328/original/file-20231011-15-91wp92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553328/original/file-20231011-15-91wp92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of the Osage Nation attend the premiere of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ on Sept. 27, 2023, in New York City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/julie-okeefe-addie-roanhorse-osage-nation-princess-lawren-news-photo/1705095795">Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Westward expansion and land theft</h2>
<p>In the standard telling, the American West was populated by industrious settlers who eked out livings from the ground, formed cities and, in time, created states. In fact, hundreds of Native nations already lived on those lands, each with their own unique forms of government, culture and language.</p>
<p>In the early 1800s, eastern cities were growing and dense urban centers were becoming unwieldy. Indian lands in the west were an alluring target – but westward expansion ran up against what would become known was “the Indian problem.” This <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/trail-of-tears">widely used phrase</a> reflected a belief that the U.S. had a God-given mandate to settle North America, and Indians stood in the way.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/if-BOZgWZPE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">In the early 1800s, treaty-making between the U.S. and Indian nations shifted from a cooperative process into a tool for forcibly removing tribes from their lands.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Starting in the 1830s, Congress pressured Indian tribes in the east to sign treaties that required the tribes to <a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/indian-removal-act/">move to reservations in the west</a>. This took place over the objections of public figures such as <a href="https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/removal/pdf/related-facts.pdf">Tennessee frontiersman and congressman Davy Crockett</a>, humanitarian organizations and, of course, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/fosm/learn/historyculture/storiestrailoftears.htm">the tribes themselves</a>. </p>
<p>Forced removal touched every tribe east of the Mississippi River and several tribes to the west of it. In total, <a href="https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/removal/pdf/lesson-0-full.pdf">about 100,000 American Indians were removed</a> from their eastern homelands to western reservations. </p>
<p>But the most pernicious land grab was yet to come.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552609/original/file-20231006-29-gfecbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing tribes displaced from the eastern U.S." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552609/original/file-20231006-29-gfecbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552609/original/file-20231006-29-gfecbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552609/original/file-20231006-29-gfecbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552609/original/file-20231006-29-gfecbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552609/original/file-20231006-29-gfecbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552609/original/file-20231006-29-gfecbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552609/original/file-20231006-29-gfecbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eastern Native American tribes that were forced to move west starting in the 1830s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/removal/img/Removal-MAP-20170124.jpg">Smithsonian</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The General Allotment Act</h2>
<p>Even after Indians were corralled on reservations, settlers pushed for more access to western lands. In 1871, Congress formally ended the policy of treaty-making with Indians. Then, in 1887, it passed the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/dawes-act">General Allotment Act</a>, also known as the Dawes Act. With this law, U.S. policy toward Indians shifted from separation to assimilation – forcibly integrating Indians into the national population.</p>
<p>This required transitioning tribal structures of communal land ownership under a reservation system to a private property model that broke up reservations altogether. The General Allotment Act was designed to divvy up reservation lands into allotments for individual Indians and open any unallotted lands, which were deemed surplus, <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/dawes-act#">to non-Indian settlement</a>. Lands could be allotted only to male heads of households. </p>
<p>Under the original statute, the U.S. government held Indian allotments, which measured roughly 160 acres per person, in trust for 25 years before each Indian allottee could receive clear title. During this period, Indian allottees were expected to <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.utulsa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1034&context=fac_pub">embrace agriculture, convert to Christianity and assume U.S. citizenship</a>. </p>
<p>In 1906, Congress amended the law to allow the secretary of the interior to issue land titles whenever an Indian allottee was deemed capable of managing his affairs. Once this happened, the allotment was subject to taxation and could immediately be sold.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tHdSZnoDREE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A 2021 study estimated that Native people in the U.S. have lost almost 99% of the lands they occupied before 1800.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Legal cultural genocide</h2>
<p>Indian allottees often had little concept of farming and even less ability to manage their newly acquired lands.</p>
<p>Even after being confined to western reservations, many tribes had maintained their traditional governance structures and tried to preserve their cultural and religious practices, including communal ownership of property. When the U.S. government imposed a foreign system of ownership and management on them, many Indian landowners simply sold their lands to non-Indian buyers, or found themselves subject to taxes that they were unable to pay.</p>
<p>In total, allotment <a href="https://iltf.org/land-issues/history/">removed 90 million acres of land</a> from Indian control before the policy ended in the mid-1930s. This led to the destruction of Indian culture; loss of language as the federal government <a href="https://www.hcn.org/issues/51.21-22/indigenous-affairs-the-u-s-has-spent-more-money-erasing-native-languages-than-saving-them">implemented its boarding school policy</a>; and imposition of a myriad of regulations, as shown in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” that affected inheritance, ownership and title disputes when an allottee passed away. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552606/original/file-20231006-22-gax5ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Antique map with oil production tracts marked" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552606/original/file-20231006-22-gax5ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552606/original/file-20231006-22-gax5ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552606/original/file-20231006-22-gax5ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552606/original/file-20231006-22-gax5ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552606/original/file-20231006-22-gax5ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552606/original/file-20231006-22-gax5ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552606/original/file-20231006-22-gax5ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1917 map of oil leases on the Osage Reservation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/map-of-osage-indian-reservation-gas-and-oil-leases-1917-news-photo/1371414745">HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A measure of justice</h2>
<p>Today, <a href="https://revenuedata.doi.gov/how-revenue-works/native-american-ownership-governance/">about 56 million acres</a> remain under Indian control. The federal government owns title to the lands, but holds them in trust for Indian tribes and individuals.</p>
<p>These lands contain many valuable resources, including oil, gas, timber and minerals. But rather than acting as a steward of Indian interests in these resources, the U.S. government has repeatedly failed in its trust obligations.</p>
<p>As required under the General Allotment Act, money earned from oil and gas exploration, mining and other activities on allotted Indian lands was placed in individual accounts for the benefit of Indian allottees. But for over a century, rather than making payments to Indian landowners, the government routinely mismanaged those funds, failed to provide a court-ordered accounting of them and <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2318591">systematically destroyed disbursement records</a>. </p>
<p>In 1996, Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana, filed a class action lawsuit seeking to force the government to provide a historic accounting of these funds and fix its failed system for managing them. After 16 years of litigation, the suit was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/us/elouise-cobell-65-dies-sued-us-over-indian-trust-funds.html">settled in 2009 for roughly US$3.4 billion</a>. </p>
<p>The settlement provided $1.4 billion for direct payments of $1,000 to each member of the class, and $1.9 billion to consolidate complex ownership interests that had accrued as land was handed down through multiple generations, making it <a href="https://www.doi.gov/ocl/hearings/111/CobellvsSalazar_121709">hard to track allottees and develop the land</a>. </p>
<p>“We all know that the settlement is inadequate, but we must also find a way to heal the wounds and bring some measure of restitution,” said Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians, as the organization <a href="https://www.ncai.org/news/articles/2010/06/23/ncai-passes-resolution-to-support-immediate-passage-of-the-cobell-settlement-legislation">passed a resolution in 2010</a> endorsing the settlement.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553330/original/file-20231011-15-h5ezb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman and man shake hands in a crowded hearing room." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553330/original/file-20231011-15-h5ezb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553330/original/file-20231011-15-h5ezb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553330/original/file-20231011-15-h5ezb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553330/original/file-20231011-15-h5ezb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553330/original/file-20231011-15-h5ezb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553330/original/file-20231011-15-h5ezb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553330/original/file-20231011-15-h5ezb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Elouise Cobell shakes hands with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at a Senate hearing on the $3.4 billion Cobell v. Salazar settlement. Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, led the suit against the federal government for mismanaging revenues derived from land held in trust for Indian tribes and individuals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/elouise-cobell-shakes-hands-with-interior-secretary-ken-news-photo/94711236">Mark Wilson/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Who are the wolves?</h2>
<p>“Killers of the Flower Moon” offers a snapshot of American Indian land theft, but the full history is much broader. In one scene from the movie, Ernest Burkhart – an uneducated white man, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who married an Osage woman and <a href="https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=OS005">participated in the Osage murders</a> – <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG0si5bSd6I&t=4s">reads haltingly from a child’s picture book</a>.</p>
<p>“There are many, so many, hungry wolves,” he reads. “Can you find the wolves in this picture?” It’s clear from the movie that the town’s citizens are the wolves. But the biggest wolf of all is the federal government itself – and Uncle Sam is nowhere to be seen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207700/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Torivio Fodder is an enrolled member of the Taos Pueblo, and of Comanche, Kiowa and Cherokee descent.</span></em></p>The Osage murders of the 1920s are just one episode in nearly two centuries of stealing land and resources from Native Americans. Much of this theft was guided and sanctioned by federal law.Torivio Fodder, Indigenous Governance Program Manager and Professor of Practice, University of ArizonaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2112522023-10-06T13:06:23Z2023-10-06T13:06:23ZBison are sacred to Native Americans − but each tribe has its own special relationship to them<p>The American bison, or American buffalo as they are commonly called, were once close to extinction. Their numbers dropped from <a href="https://www.nps.gov/gosp/learn/nature/where-the-buffalo-roamed.htm">30-60 million</a> to around 500 because of overhunting in the 19th century.</p>
<p>But they made an unlikely comeback and continue to captivate people. At Yellowstone National Park – home to the largest bison herd in the U.S., with almost 6,000 head of wild bison – they are a major attraction for visitors. In 2023 the park attracted <a href="https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/management/delivering-a-world-class-visitor-experience.htm">more than 3 million people</a>.</p>
<p>Conservationists and Indigenous people successfully saved the American bison from complete annihilation in the 20th century, increasing their numbers from less than 500 to <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/president-bidens-investing-america-agenda-help-restore-bison-populations-and-grassland">more than 15,000 wild bison</a>, which does not include the thousands of bison living on ranches. The U.S. even designated it as the “<a href="https://www.doi.gov/blog/15-facts-about-our-national-mammal-american-bison">national mammal</a>” in 2016. </p>
<p>Over thousands of years and across diverse landscapes, Indigenous peoples developed traditional ecological knowledge about the bison and their ecosystems. Meanwhile, they also developed religious customs and sacred places important to their relationship with bison. </p>
<p>As an <a href="https://www.rosalynlapier.com/">Indigenous scholar</a> and an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe and Métis, I am interested in how Native Americans understand the natural world. <a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496201508/">I learned from my Blackfeet grandparents</a> that bison emerged from the supernatural underwater realm and were given to humans by the Divine to use as food and as material. In return, humans are to respect and revere the bison.</p>
<h2>Thousands of years of history</h2>
<p>The modern-day American bison evolved around 10,000 years ago during the end of the Pleistocene Epoch from an ancient bison species. Over these several thousand years, according to environmental historian <a href="https://www.umt.edu/history/people/emeriti-faculty.php?ID=628">Dan Flores</a>, <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324006169">Indigenous peoples and bison “co-evolved”</a> – meaning they influenced the others’ actions and behaviors. </p>
<p>Indigenous peoples used bison meat and fat for food; hides for clothing, footwear and covering for their lodges; bones for tools; and other parts of the bison for rope, thread, glue or dyes. Along with the longtime use of bison for practical purposes, religious rituals and ceremonies also emerged. </p>
<p>Environmental historian <a href="https://history.illinois.edu/directory/profile/rmorriss">Robert Morrissey</a> writes in “<a href="https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295750880/people-of-the-ecotone/">People of the Ecotone</a>” that Indigenous peoples in what is now Illinois ritualized running, a skill necessary for hunting bison. They developed coming-of-age ceremonies that tested the ability of young people to run long distances, as well as fast, to prepare for bison hunting. </p>
<p>Indigenous peoples in what is now Alberta, Canada, constructed shrines out of rocks to offer prayers to divine entities <a href="https://www.aupress.ca/books/120137-imagining-head-smashed-in/">connected to bison hunting</a>. They left offerings of tobacco or other items at these shrines during their seasonal hunts. Some of these rock shrines still exist and are viewed as sacred places.</p>
<h2>Bison origins and sacred places</h2>
<p>Indigenous people continued to remember and revere bison in rituals and ceremonies. Every tribe on the Great Plains has its own “deep individual <a href="https://www.charkoosta.com/news/the-american-buffalo-reviews-history-renews-hope/article_0cdf03c8-0b9d-11ee-9fe1-3b4276296e25.html">connection to bison</a>,” says Whisper Camel-Means, a Salish-Kootenai tribal member and wildlife biologist working at the <a href="https://bisonrange.org/">tribe’s bison range</a>. “We are all connected, but we all have a different relationship. Native people are not all the same.”</p>
<p>The Blackfeet believe that certain <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-native-americans-a-river-is-more-than-a-person-it-is-also-a-sacred-place-85302">lakes and rivers are sacred areas</a> because they are the home of the Suyiitapi, the supernatural underwater persons, and the place where bison emerged from underneath the water. </p>
<p>The Lakota, similar to the Blackfeet, consider bison sacred and a gift from the Divine. For the Lakota, however, bison did not come out of water, they came from inside the earth.</p>
<p>According to anthropologist <a href="https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/alber033">Patricia Albers</a>, the Lakota believe that both bison and humans emerged <a href="https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/natlpark/158/">onto the Great Plains</a> from what is now <a href="https://www.nps.gov/wica/index.htm">Wind Cave National Park</a> in the Black Hills in South Dakota.</p>
<p>The Lakota believe this landscape to be their “most sacred and culturally significant” area because it is a place of genesis for humans and bison. </p>
<p>Gerard Baker, an elder from the Mandan-Hidatsa tribes, shared in a <a href="https://kenburns.com/films/the-american-buffalo/">new PBS documentary film</a> on the American bison, “When you look at a buffalo you just don’t see a big shaggy beast. You see life, you see existence, you see hope. Those are our relatives. They are a part of us.” </p>
<h2>New efforts to revive the bison</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552367/original/file-20231005-23-4oag72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A few bison Bison graze near a stream." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552367/original/file-20231005-23-4oag72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552367/original/file-20231005-23-4oag72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552367/original/file-20231005-23-4oag72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552367/original/file-20231005-23-4oag72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552367/original/file-20231005-23-4oag72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552367/original/file-20231005-23-4oag72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552367/original/file-20231005-23-4oag72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bison are a major attraction for visitors at Yellowstone National Park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/YellowstoneBisonEncounters/ab14e1b88dc140ce94e260a6f2f1f5af/photo?Query=bison%20yellowstone%20park&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=448&currentItemNo=16&vs=true">AP Photo/Robert Graves, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This year, the U.S. federal government <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-department-announces-significant-action-restore-bison-populations-part-new">added US$25 million</a> to “restore wild and healthy populations” of American bison on federal lands and $5 million toward accomplishing the same goal on <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/president-bidens-investing-america-agenda-help-restore-bison-populations-and-grassland">tribal lands</a>. And new legislation this fall seeks to further “<a href="https://www.heinrich.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/indian_buffalo_management_act_bill_text.pdf">develop the capacity of tribes</a>” to manage bison and bison habitat.</p>
<p>“The restoration of buffalo back to our tribes and communities and reservations is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/04/us/native-american-tribes-bison.html">part of our healing</a>,” Jason Baldes, a member of the Eastern Shoshone from Wyoming, and the tribal buffalo coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation, told The New York Times, emphasizing why this kind of funding is necessary. </p>
<p>As more bison are returned to tribal communities, I believe, as my grandparents did, that bison are a gift from the Divine. It is a reminder also of how Native peoples relate to and understand the natural world and its deep religious meaning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211252/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosalyn R. LaPier served as an advisor and was interviewed for the PBS documentary film "The American Buffalo". </span></em></p>Efforts are being made to develop the capacity of Native tribes to manage bison and bison habitats. An Indigenous scholar explains their sacred significance.Rosalyn R. LaPier, Professor of History, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2144332023-10-03T12:33:07Z2023-10-03T12:33:07ZIndigenous Peoples Day offers a reminder of Native American history − including the scalping they endured at the hands of Colonists<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551087/original/file-20230929-27-skb8wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The first encounters between European settlers and Native Americans are captured on a wood engraving in this 1888 image.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/europeans-arrive-on-the-american-coast-wood-royalty-free-illustration/1211820679?phrase=native+americans+columbus&adppopup=true">DigitalVision Vectors</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the third year, the United States will officially observe Columbus Day alongside Indigenous Peoples Day on Oct. 9, 2023. </p>
<p>In 2021, the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/10/08/a-proclamation-indigenous-peoples-day-2021/">Biden administration declared</a> the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.uml.edu/fahss/history/faculty/strobel-christoph.aspx">I am a scholar of</a> Colonial-Indigenous relations and think that officially recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day – and, more broadly, Native Americans’ history and survival – is important.</p>
<p>Yet, Indigenous Peoples Day and Columbus Day should also serve as a reminder of the violent past endured by Indigenous communities in North America. </p>
<p>This past – complete with settlers’ brutal tactics of violence – is often ignored in the U.S. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.routledge.com/War-and-Colonization-in-the-Early-American-Northeast/Strobel/p/book/9781032223285">My research on New England examines</a> the important role that settlers’ wars against Native Americans played in their colonization of the region.</p>
<p>This warfare often targeted Native American women and children and was often encouraged through scalp bounties – meaning people or local governments offering money in exchange for a Native American’s scalp. </p>
<h2>Understanding scalping</h2>
<p>Scalping describes the forceful removal of the human scalp with hair attached. The violent act is usually performed with a knife, but it can also be done by other means. Someone can scalp victims who are already dead, but there are also examples of people being scalped while they are still alive.</p>
<p>Different groups have historically <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/scalping">used scalping to terrorize people</a>. </p>
<p>Native Americans certainly scalped white settlers dating back to the 1600s. Popular culture is <a href="https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/native/homepage.htm">full of examples</a> of <a href="https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=native+american+scalping+in+popular+american+culture&qpvt=Native+American+scalping+in+popular+american+culture&form=IGRE&first=1">Native Americans scalping white settlers</a>. </p>
<p>In several Indigenous cultures in North America, scalping was part of human trophy taking, which involves claiming human body parts as a war trophy. Scalps were taken during warfare as displays of military prowess or for ceremonial purposes. But just because scalping was practiced by some Native American societies, it does not mean that it was practiced by all.</p>
<p>Eyewitness accounts, histories and even art and popular films about the American West have perpetuated the false idea that scalping is a uniquely indigenous practice.</p>
<p>White settlers’ wide use of scalping against Indigenous peoples is far less acknowledged and understood. In fact, Colonists’ use of scalping against <a href="https://apnews.com/article/penobscots-indigenous-history-scalping-colonial-america-adf590d261599302207b8c377b711169">Native American people likely accelerated</a> this practice. </p>
<p>Various European American colonizers also scalped Native American people from at least the 17th through the 19th centuries. It was a way to provide proof that someone killed a Native American person. Several North American colonial powers, from the British to the Spanish empires, paid bounties to people who turned in scalps of killed Native Americans.</p>
<h2>Scalp bounties in New England and California</h2>
<p>Colonies, territories and states in what is now the U.S. used scalp bounties widely from the 17th through the 19th centuries. </p>
<p>Colonial governments in New England issued over 60 scalp bounties from the 1680s through the 1750s, typically during various conflicts between Colonists and Native Americans. </p>
<p>Massachusetts made the widest use of scalp bounties among the New England Colonies in the 1700s. </p>
<p>Massachusetts’ lieutenant governor issued one of the most notorious scalp bounty declarations in 1775. This declaration, called the <a href="https://upstanderproject.org/learn/guides-and-resources/first-light/phips-bounty-proclamation#:%7E:text=In%201755%2C%20Spencer%20Phips%2C%20lieutenant,pursuing%2C%20captivating%2C%20killing%2C%20and">Spencer Phips Proclamation of 1755</a>, provides a glimpse into how this brutal system worked. </p>
<p>“For every scalp of such Female Indian or male Indian under the Age of Twelve Years, that shall be killed and brought in as Evidence of their being killed …, Twenty Pounds,” the declaration reads. </p>
<p>This reward was a large amount of money for Colonists, equivalent to more than <a href="https://www.officialdata.org/uk/inflation/1755?amount=20">5,000 pounds</a>, or US$12,000 in today’s currency. The scalp of a male Native American could fetch two and a half times this amount. </p>
<p>In the Colonial era, such violence was normalized by anti-Native American sentiment and a sense of racial superiority among Colonists. </p>
<p>And the violent trend was long-standing. <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300230697/an-american-genocide/">As several historians point out</a>, violence against and scalping of Native Americans also played a significant role in the conquest of California in 1846. </p>
<p>One historian has called California <a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9780803224803/">“the murder state”</a> in the 1800s, as the scalping and massacres of Native Americans accompanied white settlers’ taking Native American land. State and federal officials, as well as several businesses, supported this genocide by paying bounties to scalp hunters.</p>
<p>From a contemporary perspective, the United Nations would consider the targeted killing of Indigenous <a href="https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf">women and children to be genocide</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551178/original/file-20230929-15-zadmu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A yellow, faded paper has text that spells out a bounty for a Native American's scalp" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551178/original/file-20230929-15-zadmu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551178/original/file-20230929-15-zadmu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551178/original/file-20230929-15-zadmu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551178/original/file-20230929-15-zadmu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551178/original/file-20230929-15-zadmu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551178/original/file-20230929-15-zadmu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551178/original/file-20230929-15-zadmu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Spencer Phips Proclamation offered a bounty for Native Americans’ scalps in 1755. The town of Spencer, Mass., is named after this Spencer Phips, the former lieutenant governor of the colony.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://allthingsliberty.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Phipps_Proclamation_BEST.jpg">Journal of the American Revolution</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Memory and violence</h2>
<p>Centuries later, California and Massachusetts have had different responses to their role in these sordid histories. </p>
<p>California has acknowledged “historic wrongdoings” and the violence committed against the Indigenous people who live in the state. In 2019, California Gov. Gavin Newsom set up a a <a href="https://tribalaffairs.ca.gov/cthc/">Truth and Healing Council</a> <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/6.18.19-Executive-Order.pdf">to discuss and examine the state’s historical</a> relationship with Native Americans. </p>
<p>In Massachusetts, state officials have largely been silent on this issue. This places Massachusetts more in line with much of the United States. </p>
<p>This is true even as Massachusetts, under the leadership of then-Gov. Charlie Baker, put a special emphasis on genocide education in the <a href="https://www.masslive.com/politics/2021/12/a-commonwealth-free-of-pain-and-bigotry-genocide-education-will-now-be-required-in-massachusetts-schools-as-gov-charlie-baker-signs-bill-into-law.html">school curriculum</a>. </p>
<h2>Legacies of scalping</h2>
<p>The legacies of violence and scalping are deeply rooted and can be observed in numerous parts of U.S. society today. </p>
<p>For instance, various communities, including <a href="https://ictnews.org/archive/native-history-scalping-of-10-abenaki-celebrated-where-did-it-begin">Lovewell, Maine</a>, and Spencer, Massachusetts, are named after scalp bounty hunters. Locals are often not aware of the history behind these names. Such town names, and the history of violence connected to them, often hide in plain sight.</p>
<p>But if you look closely, from the writings of early Euro-American colonizers and American literature to <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-2128-native-american-mascots-people-arent-talking-about/">popular sport mascots</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-massachusetts-flag-glorifies-the-violence-committed-by-colonizers-native-americans-want-it-changed-173626">state and town seals</a>, the brutality wrought upon Indigenous people remains at the forefront of U.S. culture more than five centuries after it began.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214433/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christoph Strobel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Popular culture often describes scalping − the forceful removing of a person’s scalp − as an indigenous practice. But white settlers accelerated this form of violence against Native Americans.Christoph Strobel, Professor and Chair of History, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2116042023-08-31T14:09:55Z2023-08-31T14:09:55ZHow our ancestors viewed the sky: new film explores both indigenous and modern cosmology<p>Something remarkable is happening in a remote part of South Africa’s Northern Cape province, in a semi-desert area called the Karoo. In the past 15 years 64 radio receiving dishes have appeared on the landscape. These constitute the <a href="https://www.sarao.ac.za/gallery/meerkat/">MeerKAT telescope</a>, a precursor to the <a href="https://www.skao.int/en/about-us/skao">Square Kilometre Array Observatory</a> (SKAO), which will – when it is completed and fully functional in 2030 – be the world’s largest radio telescope.</p>
<p>The SKAO will receive signals emanating from the dark regions between the stars and galaxies. This data, studied by <a href="https://www.skao.int/en/resources/what-radio-astronomy">radio astronomers</a>, has the capacity to inform us about dark matter and could change our conception of the universe irrevocably.</p>
<p>In his new, award-winning documentary, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2g7eGjWGCk">!Aitsa</a>, filmmaker Dane Dodds explores the intellectual background and science of the SKAO alongside indigenous conceptions of the cosmos held by ancient <a href="http://lloydbleekcollection.cs.uct.ac.za/">ǀXam San people</a> and their Afrikaans-speaking descendants living in the Karoo today. As the film’s advisor I saw my task as bringing into focus the hidden assumptions that must be recognised in any encounter between knowledge, traditions and cosmology.</p>
<p>!Aitsa (a South African exclamation of praise or surprise) explores the SKAO’s approach to understanding the universe through big data made comprehensible by the techniques of empirical science, machine learning, artificial intelligence and instrumentation. The film also examines <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08949468.2023.2168962?journalCode=gvan20">Karoo star-lore</a> as it is shared and spread by an interwoven tapestry of oral traditions. Conventional ideas about the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01436597.2018.1447374">nature of science</a> are challenged and the dominant structures of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02533952.2020.1850626">knowledge creation</a> are questioned as a result.</p>
<p>To the ǀXam and San people, being in the world as a person includes “the sky’s things” – an understanding of and deep connection with the cosmos. In an age progressively dominated by digital and automated knowledge it was important that the film hold space for this notion.</p>
<h2>Inflected with star-lore</h2>
<p>Through <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dBUudaAAAAAJ&hl=en">my own research</a> in the fields of archaeoacoustics, rock art and oral tradition I have come to understand that there is a profound multiplicity of connections within the ǀXam knowledge tradition. In a ǀXam conception of the universe there is no alienating distance between inner and outer, person, stars and space. That’s because their cultural understanding of reciprocities encourages ecological and cosmic connection. </p>
<p>!Aitsa strives to express astronomy as a lived-body experience. One person interviewed in the film says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When I look up into the sky and look at how my star is positioned, and look up at the star’s direction, I know which way to walk.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another describes the Milky Way as being “right at the centre of a person’s spirituality.”</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z2g7eGjWGCk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for !Aitsa.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Animism and animation</h2>
<p>The instruments of modern science deliver facts, innovation and technical advancement. But all this comes with societal entanglements and colonial dynamics, a part of the <a href="https://archive.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu05se/uu05se00.htm">intellectual history</a> of scientific endeavour that assumes authority and stands aloof from the kinds of sensory perceptions and lived experience that are central to ǀXam San cosmology.</p>
<p>!Aitsa investigates a modern pre-disposition that considers <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/200061">animistic knowledge</a> and reasoning as inherently flawed. Animism is the notion that any living thing has a distinct spiritual essence. It’s a mistake to dismiss ǀXam cultural expression as a mythology that is intrinsically animistic and therefore quaint.</p>
<p>The ǀXam and San people are known as “<a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/People_of_the_Eland.html?id=D_wwAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">the people of the eland</a>” and so, to illustrate the way their beliefs animate “things”, an eland antelope is a key character in !Aitsa. The animal’s presence compels the viewer to consider the importance of relationship and relatedness. </p>
<h2>Soundscapes</h2>
<p>Sound plays a crucial role in the film, and was another opportunity to showcase an element of |Xam San culture. The soundtrack (you can hear a preview <a href="https://soundcloud.com/s_i_l_v_a_n/aitsa-film-ost-preview">here</a>) draws on composer Simon Kohler’s musical creativity and the archaeoacoustic research I have done on lithophones, otherwise known as gong rocks, which produce sounds not dissimilar to that of a bell when it is struck.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-music-of-an-ancient-rock-painting-was-brought-to-life-185475">How the music of an ancient rock painting was brought to life</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Sound is the most ephemeral and transitory of presences but in the film the gong rock sound is a thread linking voices and images, past and present. Collecting the sound required two trips into the Karoo. There we recorded a variety of rock sounds – deep bass-vibrations through to light metallic tinkles. We brought these recordings back into the Cape Town sound studio where the sound was “composed” to create the soundtrack that viewers will hear throughout the film.</p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.aitsafilm.com/">!Aitsa</a> had its world premiere at <a href="https://cphdox.dk/film/aitsa/">CPH:DOX</a> in Denmark in 2023, with sold out screenings and <a href="https://mubi.com/en/lists/cph-dox-2023-best-to-worst">rave reviews</a>. The film won the Grand Prize at Estonia’s <a href="https://www.chaplin.ee/">Pärnu International Film Festival</a> and was voted Best of the Fest at the Encounters Film Festival in Cape Town. !Aitsa is selected to screen in Canada at <a href="https://planetinfocus.org/">planetinfocus</a> and in October 2023 at the <a href="https://psff.cz/">Prague Science Film Fest</a> and is up for selection at the <a href="https://www.idfa.nl/en">idfa Festival</a> in the Netherlands in November.</p>
<p>In 2024 !Aitsa will go on a road trip, visiting remote places in the Karoo where the film will be screened to audiences who do not have the means for or access to cinemas. </p>
<p>We also hope to take the film to Australia so that the Wajarri Yamaji Aboriginal people can see, listen and connect with their counterparts in the Karoo. This is an important connection because the Wajarri Yamaji live in the Murchison region in Western Australia where the low-frequency component of the SKAO is <a href="https://www.skao.int/en/partners/skao-members/133/australia">currently under construction</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211604/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil Rusch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To the ǀXam and San people, being in the world as a person includes “the sky’s things” - an understanding of and deep connection with the cosmos.Neil Rusch, Research Associate, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2065542023-07-26T19:17:50Z2023-07-26T19:17:50ZPlants of the boreal forest: Using traditional Indigenous medicine to create modern treatments<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528931/original/file-20230529-29-adcxy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C0%2C1902%2C1414&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Indigenous cultures possess ancestral knowledge and an in-depth understanding of plants that deserves to be recognized, preserved and promoted for the benefit of society as a whole.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Olivier Fradette)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Natural health products and phytomedicines (plant-based medicines) are used in many countries as the first choice of treatment. This market represents a significant proportion of the total market for health products, particularly in developing countries where a large proportion of the population depends on these products for treatment.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>This article is part of <em>La Conversation Canada’s</em> series <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca-fr/topics/foret-boreale-138017">The boreal forest: A thousand secrets, a thousand dangers</a></strong></p>
<p><br><em>La Conversation Canada invites you to take a virtual walk in the heart of the boreal forest. In this series, our experts focus on management and sustainable development issues, natural disturbances, the ecology of terrestrial wildlife and aquatic ecosystems, northern agriculture and the cultural and economic importance of the boreal forest for Indigenous peoples. We hope you have a pleasant — and informative — walk through the forest!</em></p>
<hr>
<p>These products are deeply rooted in ancestral knowledge and traditions and are passed down from generation to generation in Indigenous communities. This knowledge represents an invaluable source of information for scientific research.</p>
<p>By exploring this knowledge, researchers can discover new medicinal molecules. Some molecules isolated from plants have become major therapeutic agents in modern medicine. One example is <em>paclitaxel</em>, an anti-cancer agent used in chemotherapy that was isolated from ground hemlock (<em>Taxus canadensis</em>), a shrub used by Indigenous peoples to treat a variety of health problems.</p>
<p>For several years, the <a href="https://creb-uqac.ca/en/recherches/laboratoire-danalyse-et-de-separation-des-essences-vegetales-laseve/">LASEVE laboratory</a>, located at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, has been using its expertise in phytochemical, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4204033/">pharmacognostic</a> and pharmacological research to explore the active compounds of plants endemic to Canada, based on the ancestral knowledge of Indigenous peoples. The laboratory’s expertise ranges from identifying plants with high therapeutic potential, to determining their chemical composition, developing extraction methods, isolating compounds and assessing their biological activity.</p>
<h2>The boreal forest: a source of natural medicines</h2>
<p>The LASEVE team has studied a number of plant species from the boreal forest that are used in traditional Indigenous medicine.</p>
<p>The bunchberry (<em>Cornus canadensis</em>), for example, is traditionally used as an antiviral remedy by First Nations peoples. Our research on this species has shown that the leaf extract has <a href="https://bmccomplementmedtherapies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12906-017-1618-2">therapeutic activity against herpes simplex type 1 (HSV-1)</a>, a virus responsible for cold sores. Thanks to an in-depth chemical analysis, we isolated around ten molecules from this extract. These molecules, which belong to the polyphenol family, are natural substances with antioxidant properties that are found in many foods and help to protect the body against damage caused by <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3249911/">free radicals</a>. Among them, the tannin named Tellimagrandin 1 has been identified as the most active polyphenolic molecule in the extract for inhibiting the HSV-1 virus.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514307/original/file-20230308-14-rpxzth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514307/original/file-20230308-14-rpxzth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514307/original/file-20230308-14-rpxzth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514307/original/file-20230308-14-rpxzth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514307/original/file-20230308-14-rpxzth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514307/original/file-20230308-14-rpxzth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514307/original/file-20230308-14-rpxzth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Four-count is traditionally used as an antiviral remedy by First Nations people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Jacques Ibarzabal), Provided by author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other studies in our laboratory have looked at the traditional use of balsam poplar (<em>Populus balsamifera</em>) buds to combat inflammatory problems and infections. Several molecules found in the buds have been identified, and some belonging to the chemical family of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040403912021338?via%3Dihub">balsacones</a> have shown interesting <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31681206/">antibacterial properties</a>, particularly against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, also known as <em>SARM</em>. This bacterium can cause very serious infections that are difficult to treat because of their resistance to several antibiotics, including methicillin. Other molecules in this same family have shown promising effects in the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6981943/">treatment of psoriasis</a>, due to their ability to reduce inflammation and oxidative damage.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514305/original/file-20230308-18-5c07sc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514305/original/file-20230308-18-5c07sc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514305/original/file-20230308-18-5c07sc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514305/original/file-20230308-18-5c07sc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514305/original/file-20230308-18-5c07sc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514305/original/file-20230308-18-5c07sc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514305/original/file-20230308-18-5c07sc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514305/original/file-20230308-18-5c07sc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Balsam poplar buds are used to combat inflammatory problems and infections.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Jacques Ibarzabal), Provided by the author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A number of compounds with anti-inflammatory properties, including <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S187439002100077X">new molecules known as nudicaulosides</a>, have been isolated from the sarsaparilla plant (<em>Aralia nudicaulis</em>), known to Indigenous people for its many benefits. The extract obtained from the underground stem (or rhizome) showed promising antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. These indicate potential protective effects against sun-induced oxidative stress on skin cells. This activity is due to the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34361611/">high content of phenolic compounds</a> in the extract.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514306/original/file-20230308-24-1zojpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514306/original/file-20230308-24-1zojpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514306/original/file-20230308-24-1zojpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514306/original/file-20230308-24-1zojpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514306/original/file-20230308-24-1zojpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514306/original/file-20230308-24-1zojpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514306/original/file-20230308-24-1zojpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sarsaparilla is a plant known by Indigenous people for its multiple benefits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Jacques Ibarzabal), Provided by the author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Adaptogenic plants from the boreal forest</h2>
<p>In today’s fast-paced society, stress has become a scourge that can have serious repercussions on health. Faced with this public health problem, it has become crucial to find ways of strengthening our ability to resist stress and preserve our well-being. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8398443/">Adaptogenic plants</a> are attracting attention from researchers as a response to this challenge.</p>
<p>These plants have a regulating effect, particularly on our immune system, which improves the body’s ability to adapt to environmental stress. Echinacea, astragalus and the famous ginseng are just a few examples of adaptogenic plants.</p>
<p>As the demand for these plants is constantly increasing, we have chosen to explore the adaptogenic potential of two species of arali native to North America, <em>Aralia nudicaulis</em> and <em>Aralia hispida</em>. These two plants, which are in the same family as ginseng, have been little studied until now, even though they are frequently used in traditional medicine. We have begun chemical and biological characterization of these plants in our laboratories and have already identified several bioactive molecules.</p>
<p>In conclusion, our research group has been working for several years to explore the therapeutic potential hidden in boreal forest plants. In this context, the traditional medicine of the First Nations is a precious asset. </p>
<p>These cultures possess ancestral knowledge and an in-depth understanding of plants that deserves to be recognized, preserved and promoted for the benefit of society as a whole.</p>
<p>It is important to remember that caution is the watchword when it comes to natural products. These products are not always safe, since they contain a mixture of compounds, only some of which have beneficial properties, while others may cause undesirable effects or interfere with other medicines. </p>
<p>It is therefore important to consult a health professional before taking any natural remedy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206554/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>André Pichette is a member of the Ordre des chimistes du Québec (OCQ). He has received funding from Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé (FRQS), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) - Alliance - Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems (MITACS), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean Legault is a member of the Ordre des chimistes du Québec. He has received funding from the FQRNT, FRQS, NSERC and Mitacs.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marianne Piochon et Vakhtang Mshvildadze ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur poste universitaire.</span></em></p>New scientific discoveries are being made by drawing on Indigenous peoples’ ancestral knowledge about medicinal plants.Marianne Piochon, Assistante de recherche, MSc, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)Andre Pichette, Professeur en chimie des produits naturels, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)Jean Legault, Professeur-chercheur en biochimie et pharmacologie, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)Vakhtang Mshvildadze, Professeur de Pharmacognosie, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2075512023-07-13T15:25:19Z2023-07-13T15:25:19ZSan and Khoe skeletons: how a South African university sought to restore dignity and redress the past<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536517/original/file-20230710-23-mw77lw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C144%2C2326%2C2008&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A facial reconstruction of one of the Sutherland Nine, a woman named Saartje.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reconstruction by Dr Kathryn Smith/Professor Caroline Wilkinson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It has been nearly 100 years since the skeletonised remains of nine people were removed from their graves on a farm near the town of Sutherland in South Africa’s Northern Cape province. They were donated to the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) anatomy department by Carel Gert Coetzee, who had unearthed them and was a medical student at the university.</p>
<p>The remains belonged to <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/khoisan">San and Khoekhoe people</a>, two groups indigenous to South Africa. Their families were not consulted about the removal and donation. </p>
<p>This, sadly, was not unusual for the time. Anatomy departments and museums around the world <a href="http://www.northern-cape.gov.za/index.php/component/content/article?id=769:reburial-of-mr-and-mrs-klaas-and-trooi-pienaar">collected</a> human skeletal remains during the colonial era and into the first half of the 20th century. They were displayed in museums or studied for scientific purposes, often with <a href="https://theconversation.com/science-and-race-in-south-africa-lessons-from-old-bones-in-boxes-179774">a racial lens</a> depicting indigenous people as primitive and inferior. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/science-and-race-in-south-africa-lessons-from-old-bones-in-boxes-179774">Science and race in South Africa: lessons from 'old bones in boxes'</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>I am an associate professor in what is today the Division of Clinical Anatomy and Biological Anthropology. In 2017, after encouragement by other museums and universities in South Africa, I completed an archival record review with the aim to identify remains that had been unethically obtained. That was when I came across the Sutherland collection; and immediately realised that, as UCT, we had a moral and ethical duty to return them to their community. </p>
<p>A public participation advisor Doreen Februarie was appointed to approach the community. Myself and UCT’s senior leadership represented by DVC Professor Loretta Feris thought they would merely request the return of the remains for reburial. They did – but first, the descendent families asked the university to study the remains with a view to learning more about their ancestors’ lives. </p>
<p>We recently <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0284785">presented</a> those research results in a single, large, multi-authored publication. </p>
<p>We traced historical records, conducted archaeological field work, analysed the physical remains and conducted biomolecular analyses. Facial reconstructions were completed for eight of the nine people – now known as the Sutherland Nine. </p>
<p>The Sutherland example may set a global precedent for a process of restitution and restorative justice in combination with community-driven science. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197607695.013.29?">My hope</a> is that more curators and custodians of human skeletal remains elsewhere in the world will attempt to redress some of the wrongs of the past.</p>
<h2>Beginning the process</h2>
<p>To ensure that we reached the right people in Sutherland, a public participation advisor was chosen to lead a process with the community. By then, I had studied the archival records related to the donation; these revealed names and two surnames. The community elected those carrying the same surnames as their representatives.</p>
<p>People were shocked and dismayed at the situation. But they also wanted to know who the nine had been and how their remains came to be at the university. </p>
<p>Our answers were limited. When I realised in 2017 that they had been unethically obtained, the department placed a moratorium on studying them. The community requested that this be lifted: they wanted the remains studied to understand the people and the situation. Once this was done they wanted the remains returned so the nine could be reburied properly. </p>
<p>As our research unfolded, we decided to present the results in a single publication. The more common approach would have been to publish several individual papers, focusing on the science. We decided instead to tell the story of the Nine with science as the background. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-scholars-have-created-global-guidelines-for-ancient-dna-research-169284">Why scholars have created global guidelines for ancient DNA research</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We obtained informed consent from the community at every step of the process. The family members wrote in their own words what research they wanted and why, along with their restrictions on data use. For instance, they didn’t want any photos of the actual bones to be published – only digital renderings could be used. They also asked that the DNA sequences obtained from each of the Nine be kept private after scientific verification through peer review. And if anyone wants to conduct future research they must approach the families to begin a new process. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536520/original/file-20230710-21-2lt3b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536520/original/file-20230710-21-2lt3b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536520/original/file-20230710-21-2lt3b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536520/original/file-20230710-21-2lt3b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536520/original/file-20230710-21-2lt3b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536520/original/file-20230710-21-2lt3b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536520/original/file-20230710-21-2lt3b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536520/original/file-20230710-21-2lt3b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of the descendent community viewing the facial reconstructions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Je’nine May</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The families of the nine were also asked whether they wanted to be listed as authors in the eventual publications. Collectively, they chose formal acknowledgement in lieu of authorship. </p>
<h2>Hard lives</h2>
<p>It is impossible to summarise all our research findings here. Overall, though, we found that life was physically hard and violent for the Sutherland Nine. One died as recently as 1913; the remaining seven died in the 1870s or 1880s. </p>
<p>When the late professor of anatomy MR Drennan took delivery of the remains in the 1920s, he also noted what little the donor knew about the people’s lives. Most adults were identified by first names (Cornelius, Klaas, Saartje, Jannetje, Voetje, Totje). For two, surnames were also specified – Cornelius Abraham and Klaas Stuurman. </p>
<p>The descendent families have collaborated with the National San Council to rename the unnamed individuals.</p>
<p>The younger boy child (four to six years of age) has been named G!ae, from the N/uu language; it translates to “springbok” – an animal symbolising the San’s pride in their culture and future prosperity. The older girl child (six to eight years of age) has been named Saa, which translates to “eland”, a sacred and spiritual animal in San culture. </p>
<p>The ninth individual did not live at the same time as the others. He was an unnamed adult said by the donor to have been buried 40 years earlier near Sutherland, although the precise burial location was unrecorded. <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0284785">We used</a> radiocarbon dating to show that he actually died about 700 years ago.</p>
<p>There is no evidence that this individual was directly related to the other eight, but his remains came to the institution from the same donor. He has been named Igue We, meaning “blessing”, to symbolise acceptance and blessing by San ancestors for his reburial. </p>
<h2>Painful legacy</h2>
<p>The principal message of this collaborative approach is how community-driven research can benefit processes of restitution when grappling with painful legacy collections. </p>
<p>The reburial of the remains in Sutherland is likely to take place later this year, though no date has yet been set.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207551/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Gibbon receives funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa and for this research also from National Geographic.</span></em></p>Hopefully more curators and custodians of repositories of human skeletal remains will attempt to redress some of the wrongs of the past.Victoria Gibbon, Associate Professor in Biological Anthropology, Division of Clinical Anatomy and Biological Anthropology, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2083832023-07-13T13:27:35Z2023-07-13T13:27:35ZStreet gangs in South Africa and Canada are worlds apart - but they have a great deal in common<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534820/original/file-20230629-25-xiuneg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A former gang member in Cape Town, South Africa, shows off his tattoos.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy Dariusz Dziewanski</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At first glance, it would appear that there’s little in common between the vast plains of the Canadian Prairies and the mountainous swells of South Africa’s southernmost coastline. But take a closer look into cities like Calgary, Winnipeg, and Saskatoon, on one hand, and Cape Town, on the other, and you’ll come across the gangs in each city. </p>
<p>Although they exist in different socioeconomic, historical, and geographic contexts, our <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10612-022-09659-4">recent paper</a> finds that street gangs in Cape Town have key things in common with those in Prairie cities. Both are subcultural groups seeking empowerment and protection in areas defined by structural oppression and exclusion. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-cape-town-gangsters-who-use-extreme-violence-to-operate-solo-143750">The Cape Town gangsters who use extreme violence to operate solo</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As a criminologist with extensive research experience in South Africa and a <a href="https://www.metisnation.org/culture-heritage/#:%7E:text=Who%20are%20the%20M%C3%A9tis%3F,Nations%20women%20and%20European%20men.">Métis</a> professor of Indigenous studies in Canada, we’ve both studied how and why individuals become engaged in street gangs in our respective countries of interest. </p>
<p>Researchers often overlook the similarities between street gang involvement and its connection to marginalisation and colonisation in South Africa and Canada. Our paper compared the life histories of 24 gang members from Cape Town to those of 53 members in Prairie cities. Our findings are represented through the accounts of two former gang members, Gavin and Roddy, in South Africa and Canada.</p>
<p>Whether in South Africa, Canada, or elsewhere, gangs are an embedded, systemic feature of unequal and exclusionary urban landscapes. They are often an indication of larger problems in the societies in which they exist. The deep-rooted contours of discrimination, disenfranchisement, and disempowerment – past and present – shape social life in Cape Town and on the Canadian Prairies. They create the conditions in which many young <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Coloured">Coloured</a> and Indigenous men and women turn to gangs. </p>
<h2>Gavin and Roddy</h2>
<p>The paper presented in this article adds to a small but growing body of <a href="https://academic.oup.com/minnesota-scholarship-online/book/21312">gang literature</a> that draws comparisons across international contexts.</p>
<p>Gavin, a long-time member of the Mongrels gang, grew up with an abusive father in an impoverished informal settlement on the outskirts of Cape Town. He explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There’s no jobs, right. It’s the gangsters here that have the money. They put food on the table … It’s what I was attracted to. </p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-some-of-cape-towns-gangsters-got-out-and-stayed-out-170485">Street cultural gang research</a> suggests that, for those living in tough circumstances, aggression and violence are a sure way to get respect – or “street cred”. Says Gavin:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The reason (gangsters) shoot constantly – that they do it every day – is they want to … make a statement and become famous – put their name out. Then he has the power…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For Roddy, a member of the Native Syndicate in Winnipeg, Manitoba, respect was associated with <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.anthro.32.061002.093426">“acting crazy”</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>At the time, being crazy gave you that status and people knew you.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Roddy also spoke about the same challenges Gavin faced, and how being in a gang provided a solution:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>No water, no money, no brotherhood … the identity of something (the gang) made you feel important … I felt so awesome when I joined the gang, I felt like: wow your problems are over. I didn’t even know what I was getting into. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Although Gavin and Roddy grew up on different sides of the world, each saw gangs and street culture as a way to gain access to the basic amenities of life where legitimate opportunities were not afforded.</p>
<h2>Mapping marginality</h2>
<p>Cape Town’s most powerful street gangs are found in <a href="https://africasacountry.com/2019/09/john-w-fredericks-1946-2019">communities</a> that are predominantly Cape Coloured – a multiracial ethnic category in South Africa – and often beset by <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/688371/south-africas-unemployment-rate-ticks-higher/">joblessness</a> and <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/lifestyle/407087/cape-town-now-ranks-as-the-8th-most-violent-city-in-the-world/">violence</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534823/original/file-20230629-13286-3tbalc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A block of apartments and a parking lot in a modest area." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534823/original/file-20230629-13286-3tbalc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534823/original/file-20230629-13286-3tbalc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534823/original/file-20230629-13286-3tbalc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534823/original/file-20230629-13286-3tbalc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534823/original/file-20230629-13286-3tbalc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534823/original/file-20230629-13286-3tbalc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534823/original/file-20230629-13286-3tbalc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A housing project in a peripheral part of Cape Town where gangs are common.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy Dariusz Dziewanski</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Winnipeg and other Prairie cities, gang membership is dominated by <a href="https://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/settler-city-limits">Indigenous youth</a> living in marginalised neighbourhoods that are seen as gang controlled. </p>
<p>Gang membership in each research context has long colonial roots linked to historical struggles of Coloured and Indigenous populations to endure successive state campaigns directed at their cultural erasure through institutionalised violence. </p>
<p>For example, in South Africa, the term “Coloured” was produced through colonial efforts to force people of diverse geographical and cultural origins into a single <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02582479208671739">racial classification</a>. Later, <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/cape-town-segregated-city#:%7E:text=Between%201957%20and%201961%2C%20an,proclaimed%20for%20%27white%27%20people.">forced relocations</a> under the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a> regime violently tore apart Coloured communities – as well as other racialised groups – to make space for white-owned real estate in the city centre. This encouraged the <a href="https://theconversation.com/cape-towns-bloody-gang-violence-is-inextricably-bound-up-in-its-history-121384">formation of gangs</a> that provided adrift youth with a sense of belonging, purpose and empowerment.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535549/original/file-20230704-20097-jom9rr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A building with graffiti on the roof, reading " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535549/original/file-20230704-20097-jom9rr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535549/original/file-20230704-20097-jom9rr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535549/original/file-20230704-20097-jom9rr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535549/original/file-20230704-20097-jom9rr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535549/original/file-20230704-20097-jom9rr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535549/original/file-20230704-20097-jom9rr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535549/original/file-20230704-20097-jom9rr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gang graffiti in Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy Robert Henry</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similarly across the Prairies, street gangs have emerged due to the fragmentation of Indigenous families and identities. This occurred first through the <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1450124405592/1529106060525">Indian residential school policy</a>, which removed children from their families, placing them in state and church run schools. Here they were stripped of their cultures and languages, and many children died. It later also happened through <a href="https://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/settler-city-limits">child welfare policies</a> which <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sixties-scoop">scooped</a> children away from their families and placed them in non-Indigenous homes. Settler colonial policies such as these have created the social conditions and inequities that enable Indigenous street gangs to emerge and expand. </p>
<h2>What this means</h2>
<p>Actions taken in the streets can seem random or senseless to the outside observer. But consistently acting “crazy” and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-cape-town-gangsters-who-use-extreme-violence-to-operate-solo-143750">seeking violent confrontation</a> expands a gang member’s social and personal esteem by conforming to gang ideals of toughness and fearlessness. </p>
<p>Gang membership was a calculated move that provided Gavin, Roddy, and others in our study with what they believed to be their best chance to survive.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534825/original/file-20230629-19-cww47l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man without a shirt pictured from behind, a prominent tattoo on his shoulders reads " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534825/original/file-20230629-19-cww47l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534825/original/file-20230629-19-cww47l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534825/original/file-20230629-19-cww47l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534825/original/file-20230629-19-cww47l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534825/original/file-20230629-19-cww47l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1340&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534825/original/file-20230629-19-cww47l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534825/original/file-20230629-19-cww47l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1340&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Prairie gang member in Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy Robert Henry</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Denied access to legal sources of income and other forms of human capital, marginal populations turn to the streets and to violence. Gang membership helps them construct defiant identities. In the short term street culture gives gang members some hope for empowerment and connections to underground economies. </p>
<p>However, long-term prospects for gang membership are not promising. Most literature on street gangs has shown that involvement is often <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1748895815603774">short-lived and highly violent</a>. Although gang members like Gavin and Roddy do make it out, it’s not easy and can be deadly. </p>
<p>More needs to be done to create equitable and just societies in which young men and women do not feel that the gang is their only choice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208383/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Henry receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dariusz Dziewanski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More than being the social problem they are often made out to be, gangs are an indication of larger problems present in their societies.Dariusz Dziewanski, Honorary research affiliate, Centre of Criminology, University of Cape TownRobert Henry, Assistant professor, Indigenous Studies, University of SaskatchewanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1964722023-07-12T12:40:09Z2023-07-12T12:40:09ZRemoving dams from the Klamath River is a step toward justice for Native Americans in Northern California<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535134/original/file-20230701-19-wvds62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C0%2C3000%2C1989&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Water spills over the Copco 1 Dam on the Klamath River near Hornbrook, Calif.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/DemolishingtheDams/2bf34b6d43764403a7f7dff2d117b3bd/photo">AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Klamath River runs over 250 miles (400 kilometers) from southern Oregon to the Pacific Ocean in Northern California. It flows through the steep, rugged Klamath Mountains, past slopes of redwood, fir, tanoak and madrone, and along pebbled beaches where willows shade the river’s edge. Closer to its mouth at Requa, the trees rising above the river are often blanketed in fog. </p>
<p>The Klamath is central to the worldviews, history and identity of several Native nations. From headwaters in <a href="https://klamathtribes.org/history/">Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin-Paiute lands</a>, it flows through <a href="https://www.shastaindiannation.org/">Shasta</a>, <a href="https://www.karuk.us/index.php/departments/land-management">Karuk</a>, <a href="http://www.hoopatepa.org/">Hupa</a> and <a href="https://www.yuroktribe.org/our-history">Yurok</a> homelands. The Yurok Tribe has <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/09/29/765480451/tribe-gives-personhood-to-klamath-river">legally recognized the personhood of the river</a>. </p>
<p>Historically, the Klamath was the third-largest Pacific salmon-producing river on the West Coast. The river supported <a href="https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8446(2005)30%5B10:DOAFIT%5D2.0.CO;2">abundant and diverse runs of native fish</a>, including Chinook and coho salmon, steelhead trout, Pacific lamprey, green sturgeon, eulachon smelt and coastal cutthroat trout. Most of the Klamath in California has been designated since 1981 as “<a href="https://www.rivers.gov/rivers/klamath-ca.php">wild and scenic</a>” – the strongest level of protection for free-flowing rivers.</p>
<p>People and fish of the Klamath River have been interconnected for millennia. But dams and irrigation systems built before the 1960s – along with other pressures, such as logging, mining and overharvesting – have separated fish from their spawning habitats and Indigenous cultures from sacred fish. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535132/original/file-20230701-43706-zd4b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map shows locations of the four dams on the Klamath." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535132/original/file-20230701-43706-zd4b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535132/original/file-20230701-43706-zd4b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535132/original/file-20230701-43706-zd4b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535132/original/file-20230701-43706-zd4b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535132/original/file-20230701-43706-zd4b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535132/original/file-20230701-43706-zd4b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535132/original/file-20230701-43706-zd4b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Four hydropower dams on the Klamath River are being removed to restore habitat for endangered salmon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/study-reach-klamath-river-dam-removal-sediment-study">USGS</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recognizing this harm, state, federal and tribal agencies now are <a href="https://wildrivers.lostcoastoutpost.com/2023/jun/23/klamath-river-dam-removal-project-commences-krrc-s/">removing four of the Klamath’s six dams</a> to let fish migrate farther upstream to historical habitats. The target completion date is 2024. This <a href="https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/civil-engineering-magazine/article/2023/05/construction-begins-on-removal-of-4-klamath-river-dams#:%7E:text=Involving%20the%20simultaneous%20removal%20of,in%202016%20to%20oversee%20the">US$450 million project</a> is the <a href="https://www.americanrivers.org/2022/11/five-key-lessons-as-worlds-biggest-dam-removal-project-will-soon-begin-on-the-klamath-river/">largest dam removal in the world</a>. </p>
<p>Dam removals have catalyzed ecological rebound in other rivers, including the <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/dam-removals-elwha-river">Elwha in Washington state</a> and the <a href="https://www.mainepublic.org/environment-and-outdoors/2019-07-02/20-years-later-conservationists-celebrate-edwards-dam-removal">Kennebec and Penobscot in Maine</a>. As scholars working in <a href="https://nas.ucdavis.edu/people/beth-middleton">Native American studies</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ulp58GcAAAAJ&hl=en">freshwater ecology</a>, we see the Klamath dam removal as an opportunity to right historical wrongs, improve depleted native fish populations and strengthen an understanding of the relationships between fish and Indigenous peoples.</p>
<h2>People, fish and infrastructure</h2>
<p>Resident fishes of the upper Klamath are <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/endemic-species">highly endemic</a>, meaning that they do not occur anywhere else in the world. They represent a unique collection of species from an ancient river that historically flowed into the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Great-Basin">Great Basin</a> – a swath of arid lands across present-day Nevada and western Utah – before connecting to the lower Klamath River <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/10838/chapter/1">about 1.8 million years ago</a>. Many fishes, particularly Chinook salmon, steelhead and coho salmon, annually migrated to or near the headwaters of the Klamath River to spawn. </p>
<p>As early as 1895, hydroelectric operations began to change the Klamath’s hydrology. In the early 1900s, multiple small regional hydroelectric companies consolidated to form California Oregon Power Co., or Copco, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation began developing <a href="https://www.usbr.gov/history/">water storage and diversion projects</a>. </p>
<p>White settlers in California had already been <a href="https://www.history.com/news/californias-little-known-genocide">violently attempting to eradicate Native Americans</a> since the mid-1800s. Dam building ushered in a <a href="https://books.google.com.et/books?id=kdHmDShCUZgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">new phase of attempted removal</a> for tribes whose lives and cultures were centered along the rivers. Farming communities and lumber companies invaded the ancestral homelands of the Yurok and Karuk peoples. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535140/original/file-20230701-93898-1gg2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A river flows past evergreen trees with mountains in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535140/original/file-20230701-93898-1gg2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535140/original/file-20230701-93898-1gg2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535140/original/file-20230701-93898-1gg2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535140/original/file-20230701-93898-1gg2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535140/original/file-20230701-93898-1gg2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535140/original/file-20230701-93898-1gg2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535140/original/file-20230701-93898-1gg2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Klamath River runs from Oregon’s high desert interior through the Cascades and the Klamath Mountains, entering the Pacific Ocean in Northern California.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/WBCmEX">Bob Wick, BLM/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Declining fisheries</h2>
<p>Permitting processes in the heyday of Western dam construction did not consider impacts on Indigenous nations or fisheries. Construction of Copco 1 blocked all fish migration to the Klamath’s upper reaches starting in 1912. Subsequently, Copco 2, J.C. Boyle and Iron Gate dams further shortened fish migrations, cutting off access to approximately 400 miles (650 kilometers) of productive spawning and rearing habitat. None of these dams included <a href="https://www.pnnl.gov/explainer-articles/fish-passage">passage systems</a> to help fish access upstream habitats.</p>
<p>Today, wild spring-run Chinook are largely absent from the basin, except for a small population associated with the Salmon River and another population released from a hatchery on the Trinity River. Wild spring-run Chinook have <a href="https://www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/CRP/docs/klamath_reintroduction_plan/ODFW%20and%20The%20Klamath%20Tribes_Upper%20Klamath%20Basin%20anadromous%20reintroduction%20implementation%20plan_Final%202021.pdf">declined by 98% from historical baselines</a>. </p>
<p>Fall-run Chinook still return to the basin in moderate to small numbers, partly because two hatcheries on the Klamath produce and release <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/10838/chapter/1">up to 12 million juveniles annually</a>. According to a <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520227545/inland-fishes-of-california">2002 estimate</a>, between 20,000 and 40,000 wild fall-run Chinook salmon now return from the ocean annually, down from approximately 500,000 historically.</p>
<p>Other native fishes in the Klamath Basin are also in severe decline. The Coho salmon, shortnose sucker, Lost River sucker, bull trout and euchalon all are <a href="https://www.fws.gov/program/endangered-species">federally listed</a> as threatened or endangered. Conservationists have petitioned regulators to list other species, including spring-run Chinook, steelhead and lamprey. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535141/original/file-20230701-38139-emghe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man examines a felled redwood roughly seven feet in diameter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535141/original/file-20230701-38139-emghe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535141/original/file-20230701-38139-emghe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535141/original/file-20230701-38139-emghe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535141/original/file-20230701-38139-emghe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535141/original/file-20230701-38139-emghe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535141/original/file-20230701-38139-emghe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535141/original/file-20230701-38139-emghe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dave Severns, a member of the Yurok Tribe, uses traditional methods to craft canoes from hollowed redwood trunks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/klamath-ca-thursday-june-10-2021-the-yurok-tribe-offers-news-photo/1233879225">Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Impacts on tribal nations</h2>
<p>Development in the Klamath Basin has pitted agricultural interests against tribal nations and fish, particularly during dry years. Lack of fish passage systems and lower river flow have contributed to fish declines and disease. </p>
<p>Losing salmon along the Klamath is traumatic for Native nations, which see the fish as <a href="https://www.hcn.org/issues/53.9/indigenous-affairs-klamath-basin-the-familial-bond-between-the-klamath-river-and-the-yurok-people">a cultural and spiritual keystone</a>. For them, working to remove the dams and protect the salmon is a commitment and a responsibility. </p>
<p>As Yurok tribal member Brook Thompson, a restoration engineer, stated in a recent article:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“My people have lived on the Klamath for thousands of years, and I know that the salmon today are the descendants of those my ancestors managed. These salmon are a direct tie to my ancestors – the physical representation of their love for me. <a href="https://www.hcn.org/issues/53.9/indigenous-affairs-klamath-basin-the-familial-bond-between-the-klamath-river-and-the-yurok-people">The salmon are my relatives</a>.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Tribes have legal rights to protect their fisheries and, ultimately, their cultural survival. In Western water law, rights often follow a first-in-time logic, meaning that the first party to claim or appropriate water <a href="https://www.watereducation.org/aquapedia/water-rights-california">holds the right to it</a>. According to the Winters doctrine, established in a <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/207/564/">1908 Supreme Court ruling</a>, tribal water rights extend back to the dates when reservations were created. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/skokfZFMwI0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Native American communities in the Pacific Northwest have fought for decades to remove hydroelectric dams that harm salmon migration.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Klamath River Reservation was established primarily for Yurok <a href="https://media.fisheries.noaa.gov/dam-migration/yurok_klamath_doi_2011.pdf">on the lower Klamath in 1855</a>, long before water development upstream. Upriver, lands were <a href="https://treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-klamath-etc-1864-0865">recognized for the Klamath tribes in 1864</a>. </p>
<p>In 1954 Congress <a href="https://klamathtribes.org/history/">terminated federal recognition</a> for the Klamath Tribe. Three decades later, however, in the 1983 case <a href="https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-adair-3">U.S. v. Adair</a>, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit recognized that the tribe retained enough water rights to protect its treaty-guaranteed hunting and fishing rights on former reservation land. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/owrd/programs/waterrights/adjudications/klamathriverbasinadj/pages/default.aspx">state quantification process</a> affirmed in 2012 and reaffirmed in 2021 that tribes had the <a href="https://narf.org/cases/klamath-tribes-water-rights/">most senior water rights in the upper Klamath Basin</a>. The federal government is responsible for ensuring in-stream flows that will sustain the Klamath tribes’ fishing rights, as well as agricultural deliveries to upstream farmers – whose rights generally date to the establishment of the <a href="https://www.usbr.gov/projects/index.php?id=470">federal Klamath Project in 1906</a>. </p>
<p>Downstream, a series of court cases and a 1993 legal opinion from the Department of the Interior <a href="https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.opengov.ibmcloud.com/files/uploads/M-36979.compressed.pdf">affirmed Yurok and Hoopa fishing rights</a>. Tribes have legal priority, both upriver and downriver. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CsZn-cSOjOQ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\u0026igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Welcoming salmon home</h2>
<p>Removing the dams will begin to address the terms of the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110110/witnesses/HMTG-116-CN00-Wstate-MyersF-20191022.pdf">Yurok Tribe’s 2019 Resolution 19-40</a>, which recognizes the rights of the Klamath River itself “to exist, flourish, and naturally evolve; to have a clean and healthy environment free from pollutants; to have a stable climate free from human-caused climate change impacts …” and the tribe’s right to “protect the Klamath River, its ecosystem, and species for the continuation of the Yurok people and the Tribe for future generations.”</p>
<p>Dam removal will encourage native and endemic fishes to return to the upper basin and access important spawning and rearing habitats. Fish population responses will probably vary, particularly during the first several years after removal. </p>
<p>However, salmon and trout have evolved to migrate upstream and access important headwater spawning and rearing habitats. Making this possible will support long-term recovery of these ecologically and culturally important species. </p>
<p>It also will promote the recovery of Indigenous peoples’ homelands and lifeways. In Yurok restoration engineer Brook Thompson’s words, “We’re all focused on finding solutions to bringing our salmon back home and creating a healthy life for them. Creating a healthy life for salmon means creating <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skokfZFMwI0">a healthy life for us as people</a>.”</p>
<p><em>The authors thank Barry McCovey Jr., Director of the Yurok Tribal Fisheries Department, for reviewing this article and providing comments.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196472/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beth Rose Middleton Manning receives funding from the Resources Legacy Fund (Open Rivers Fund) to study tribal participation in and leadership in dam removal projects.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Lusardi receives funding from Resource Legacy Fund (Open Rivers Fund) to study the effects of dam removal on river ecology. </span></em></p>The largest dam removal project is moving forward on the Klamath River in California and Oregon. Tribal nations there have fought for decades to protect native fish runs and the ecology of the river.Beth Rose Middleton Manning, Professor of Native American Studies, University of California, DavisRobert Lusardi, Assistant Professor of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology and California Trout-UC Davis Coldwater Fish Scientist, University of California, DavisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077622023-06-14T15:01:47Z2023-06-14T15:01:47ZHow traditional Indigenous education helped four lost children survive 40 days in the Amazon jungle<p>The discovery and rescue of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/four-missing-colombian-children-found-alive-jungle-sources-2023-06-10/">four young Indigenous children</a>, 40 days after the aircraft they were travelling in crashed in the remote Colombian rainforest, was hailed in the international press as a “<a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/06/11/miracle-in-the-jungle-colombia-celebrates-rescue-of-children-lost-in-amazon-rainforest_6030840_4.html">miracle in the jungle</a>”. But as an anthropologist who has spent more than a year living among the Andoque people in the region, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/100474974/Amazonian_visions_of_Visi%C3%B3n_Amazon%C3%ADa_Indigenous_Peoples_perspectives_on_a_forest_conservation_and_climate_programme_in_the_Colombian_Amazon">conducting ethnographic fieldwork</a>, I cannot simply label this as a miraculous event. </p>
<p>At least, not a miracle in the conventional sense of the word. Rather, the survival and discovery of these children can be attributed to the profound knowledge of the intricate forest and the adaptive skills passed down through generations by Indigenous people.</p>
<p>During the search for the children, I was in contact with Raquel Andoque, an elder <em>maloquera</em> (owner of a ceremonial longhouse), the sister of the children’s great-grandmother. She repeatedly expressed her unwavering belief the children would be found alive, citing the autonomy, astuteness and physical resilience of children in the region.</p>
<p>Even before starting elementary school, children in this area accompany their parents and elder relatives in various activities such as gardening, fishing, navigating rivers, hunting and gathering honey and wild fruits. In this way the children acquire practical skills and knowledge, such as those demonstrated by Lesly, Soleiny, Tien and Cristin during their 40-day ordeal.</p>
<p>Indigenous children typically learn from an early age how to open paths through dense vegetation, how to tell edible from non-edible fruits. They know how to find potable water, build rain shelters and set animal traps. They can identify animal footprints and scents – and avoid predators such as jaguars and snakes lurking in the woods.</p>
<p>Amazonian children typically lack access to the sort of commercialised toys and games that children in the cities grow up with. So they become adept tree climbers and engage in play that teaches them about adult tools made from natural materials, such as oars or axes. This nurtures their understanding of physical activities and helps them learn which plants serve specific purposes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A youg girl holding up an insect as her family works alongside" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A local Indigenous girl on an excursion to gather edible larvae.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image courtesy of Eliran Arazi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Activities that most western children would be shielded from – handling, skinning and butchering game animals, for example – provide invaluable zoology lessons and arguably foster emotional resilience.</p>
<h2>Survival skills</h2>
<p>When they accompany their parents and relatives on excursions in the jungle, Indigenous children learn how to navigate a forest’s dense vegetation by following the location of the sun in the sky. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of the Middle Caqueta region of Colombia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map showing where in Colombia the four lost children are from.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Gadiel Levi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since the large rivers in most parts of the Amazon flow in a direction opposite to that of the sun, people can orient themselves towards those main rivers. </p>
<p>The trail of footprints and objects left by the four children revealed their general progression towards the Apaporis River, where they may have hoped to be spotted.</p>
<p>The children would also have learned from their parents and elders about edible plans and flowers – where they can be found. And also the interrelationship between plants, so that where a certain tree is, you can find mushrooms, or small animals that can be trapped and eaten.</p>
<h2>Stories, songs and myths</h2>
<p>Knowledge embedded in mythic stories passed down by parents and grandparents is another invaluable resource for navigating the forest. These stories depict animals as fully sentient beings, engaging in seduction, mischief, providing sustenance, or even saving each other’s lives. </p>
<p>While these episodes may seem incomprehensible to non-Indigenous audiences, they actually encapsulate the intricate interrelations among the forest’s countless non-human inhabitants. Indigenous knowledge focuses on the interrelationships between humans, plants and animals and how they can come together to preserve the environment and prevent irreversible ecological harm. </p>
<p>This sophisticated knowledge has been developed over millennia during which Indigenous people not only adapted to their forest territories but actively shaped them. It is deeply ingrained knowledge that local indigenous people are taught from early childhood so that it becomes second nature to them. </p>
<p>It has become part of the culture of cultivating and harvesting crops, something infants and children are introduced to, as well as knowledge of all sort of different food sources and types of bush meat.</p>
<h2>Looking after each other</h2>
<p>One of the aspects of this “miraculous” story that people in the west have marvelled over is how, after the death of the children’s mother, the 13-year-old Lesly managed to take care of her younger siblings, including Cristin, who was only 11 months old at the time the aircraft went down.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three Indigenous people in western clothes stood under trees in front of a wide building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Iris Andoque Macuna with her brother Nestor Andoque and brother-in-law Faustino Fiagama after the two men returned from the search team.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Iris Andoque Macuna.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But in Indigenous families, elder sisters are expected to act as surrogate mothers to their younger relatives from an early age. Iris Andoke Macuna, a distant relative of the family, told me: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>To some whites [non-Indigenous people], it seems like a bad thing that we take our children to work in the garden, and that we let girls carry their brothers and take care of them. But for us, it’s a good thing, our children are independent, this is why Lesly could take care of her brothers during all this time. It toughened her, and she learned what her brothers need. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The spiritual side</h2>
<p>For 40 days and nights, while the four children were lost, elders and shamans performed rituals based on traditional beliefs that involve human relationships with entities known as <em>dueños</em> (owners) in Spanish and by various names in native languages (such as <em>i'bo ño̰e</em>, meaning “persons of there” in Andoque). </p>
<p>These owners are believed to be the protective spirits of the plants and animals that live in the forests. Children are introduced to these powerful owners in name-giving ceremonies, which ensure that these spirits recognise and acknowledge relationship to the territory and their entitlement to prosper on it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman in pink t-shirt sat on chair inside." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Raquel Andoke, a relative of the missing children and friend of the author.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image courtesy of Eliran Arazi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the search for the missing children, elders conducted dialogues and negotiations with these entities in their ceremonial houses (<em>malocas</em>) throughout the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Middle-and-Lower-Caqueta-River-region-State-of-Amazonas-Colombia-Map-from_fig1_255580310">Middle Caquetá</a> and in other Indigenous communities that consider the crash site part of their ancestral territory. Raquel explained to me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The shamans communicate with the sacred sites. They offer coca and tobacco to the spirits and say: “Take this and give me my grandchildren back. They are mine, not yours.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These beliefs and practices hold significant meaning for my friends in the Middle Caquetá, who firmly attribute the children’s survival to these spiritual processes rather than the technological means employed by the Colombian army rescue teams. </p>
<p>It may be challenging for non-Indigenous people to embrace these traditional ideas. But these beliefs would have instilled in the children the faith and emotional fortitude crucial for persevering in the struggle for survival. And it would have encouraged the Indigenous people searching for them not to give up hope. </p>
<p>The children knew that their fate did not lie in dying in the forest, and that their grandparents and shamans would move heaven and earth to bring them back home alive.</p>
<p>Regrettably, this traditional knowledge that has enabled Indigenous people to not only survive but thrive in the Amazon for millennia is under threat. Increasing land encroachment for agribusiness, mining, and illicit activities as well as state neglect and interventions without Indigenous consent have left these peoples vulnerable. </p>
<p>It is jeopardising the very foundations of life where this knowledge is embedded, the territories that serve as its bedrock, and the people themselves who preserve, develop, and transmit this knowledge.</p>
<p>Preserving this invaluable knowledge and the skills that bring miracles to life is imperative. We must not allow them to wither away.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207762/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eliran Arazi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Indigenous children are taught jungle lore and survival skills from an early age.Eliran Arazi, PhD researcher in Anthropology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (Paris)., Hebrew University of JerusalemLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2049122023-05-23T20:11:01Z2023-05-23T20:11:01ZDrinking fountains in every town won’t fix all our water issues – but it’s a healthy start<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526698/original/file-20230517-19-mq87we.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C24%2C3244%2C2418&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/boy-drinking-fountain-61239514">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Water plays a significant role in Aboriginal culture. The <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/parks-heritage/heritage/places/national/brewarrina#:%7E:text=The%20story%20of%20Baiame's%20Ngunnhu&text=The%20intricate%20design%20of%20the,high%20and%20low%20river%20flows.">Fish Traps in Brewarrina, Baiame’s Ngunnhu</a>, for example, were built by eight clan groups and continue to sustainably fish the Barwon River. </p>
<p>Respect for and <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/social_justice/nt_report/ntreport08/pdf/chap6.pdf">understanding of water</a> has enabled Aboriginal people to thrive for millennia in very hot and remote places. The <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07900627.2020.1868980">impacts of colonisation</a> including introduced species of plants and animals, farming and overuse of rivers and ground water, compounded by global warming, has dramatically reduced water access and quality, and in some places threatened the water supply.</p>
<p>Recent coverage of the quality of <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/residents-of-nsw-town-forced-to-drink-bottled-water/105752a7-1bec-4ac2-840d-336d74bc2924">drinking water in Walgett</a> in New South Wales again highlights that clean, safe drinking water is not a right in Australia. Walgett residents say the water is unsafe to drink and they’re backed by <a href="https://www.georgeinstitute.org.au/media-releases/aboriginal-organisations-demand-action-walgett-drinking-water-health-threat">scientists from the George Institute</a> who report an urgent need to address drinking water quality. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/countless-reports-show-water-is-undrinkable-in-many-indigenous-communities-why-has-nothing-changed-194447">Countless reports show water is undrinkable in many Indigenous communities. Why has nothing changed?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Supply is only half the issue</h2>
<p>The reasons for poor or limited water supply vary. They include river flows and environmental health issues, infrastructure, and insufficient skilled, credentialed staff available to conduct water quality checks. But understanding the causes is one thing. Taking active steps to address them is another. </p>
<p>When clean, safe water doesn’t flow to communities, they are more likely to drink sugar-sweetened beverages. Our 2020 <a href="https://www.cdhjournal.org/issues/37-2-june-2020/1027-outcomes-of-a-co-designed-community-led-oral-health-promotion-program-for-aboriginal-children-in-rural-and-remote-communities-in-new-south-wales-australia">study</a> visited three remote schools with high proportions of Aboriginal students. Our initial results, gathered in 2014, found 64% of children regularly drank sugary drinks. Some 5% thought drinking water was “unhealthy”. In some places in Australia that’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/travelling-around-australia-this-summer-heres-how-to-know-if-the-water-is-safe-to-drink-196294">true at least some of the time</a>. </p>
<p>The availability of safe drinking water impacts tooth decay, obesity and <a href="http://www.fizz.org.nz/pdf/research/6%20Sugar%20Sweetened%20Beverages,%20Obesity,%20Diabetes%20and%20Oral%20Health.pdf">diseases like diabetes</a>. Australia has <a href="https://www.waterquality.gov.au/guidelines/drinking-water">drinking water quality guidelines</a> but they are not mandatory.</p>
<p>We installed cold, filtered water fountains through a structured, collaborative process and, as a result, found in 2018 that 84% of children at those same schools drank water every day. The percentage who regularly drank sugary drinks shrank to 33% in the intervening four-year period. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/PY/PY21119">follow up study</a> found towns of lower socioeconomic status were less likely to have access to community drinking water and more likely to have a high Aboriginal population. So, Aboriginal people are particularly disadvantaged by this issue. It also found that in many towns the cheapest drink is soft drink.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526650/original/file-20230516-49756-sd9byh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Outdoor view of river with traditional Indigenous fish traps in the water." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526650/original/file-20230516-49756-sd9byh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526650/original/file-20230516-49756-sd9byh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526650/original/file-20230516-49756-sd9byh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526650/original/file-20230516-49756-sd9byh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526650/original/file-20230516-49756-sd9byh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526650/original/file-20230516-49756-sd9byh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526650/original/file-20230516-49756-sd9byh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Brewarrina fish traps in action.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Making a difference through codesign</h2>
<p>We have been working with NSW communities to install refrigerated water fountains in rural and remote places. We collaborate with local Aboriginal land councils, traditional owners, and local government using <a href="https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp3222215">codesign principles</a>. Together we confirm the need, identify a suitable location and then select the right model of water fountain. We also negotiate local responsibility for ongoing maintenance and provide water bottles, education resources and spare filters.</p>
<p>In most cases we work with schools and preschools to embed positive health messages and reinforce water as the best drink. As Kim Cooke, Director Little Yuin Preschool in Wallaga Lake says, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The water fountain is a wonderful asset to the preschool outdoor learning environment. For us, as educators, it is central to the children’s health to be able to hydrate their bodies ready for learning; and having access to fresh water to drink everyday has led to an increase in their independence and learning about the importance of drinking water throughout the day. </p>
</blockquote>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1658616139377934336"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/travelling-around-australia-this-summer-heres-how-to-know-if-the-water-is-safe-to-drink-196294">Travelling around Australia this summer? Here's how to know if the water is safe to drink</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Meeting local need</h2>
<p>We recently <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/py/fulltext/PY21119">conducted a survey</a> of towns across Australia with a population of fewer than 5,000 people and Aboriginal population greater than 3%. We estimated that 222 places out of 612 small towns nationally do not have community drinking water.</p>
<p>Providing drinking water to every Australian town requires a place-by-place approach so that communities get a say about how and where fountains are installed and they meet local needs. Schools and preschools can participate in health promotion too. A national approach that overcomes the policy “ping pong” of responsibility for water safety, quality and infrastructure between local, state and the federal governments is also required. A national approach would enable:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>high quality infrastructure to be purchased at reasonable price</p></li>
<li><p>professional and timely installation </p></li>
<li><p>local responsibility for maintenance</p></li>
<li><p>codesign so that each town gets the infrastructure they need, where it’s needed.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>We estimate it would cost A$5 million to solve this problem nationally, based on our installation costs in NSW communities to date – a small investment in the prevention of chronic disease. </p>
<p>Water fountains in every town won’t solve all of our water issues. But they could ensure everyone can access free, cold drinks and reduce sugar consumption. </p>
<p>As community member, Brewarrina and Brewarrina Shire Councillor Aunty Trish says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Having cold water available after you finish your sports or on our hot days will mean a lot for the community, fresh water helps with the health and wellbeing of the community.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/drinking-water-can-be-a-dangerous-cocktail-for-people-in-flood-areas-178028">Drinking water can be a dangerous cocktail for people in flood areas</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p><em>The authors wish to acknowledge Uncle Boe Rambaldini and Professor Chris Bourke, our project ambassadors. Aboriginal communities and local government authorities that have participated in our research and the implementation of water fountains. Our partners at the Alliance for a Cavity Free Future, Australian Dental Association NSW Branch, NSW Council of Social Service, Public Interest Advocacy Centre and Australian Red Cross.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204912/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Charles Skinner has consulted to Colgate Palmolive Pty Ltd and the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW. He receives funding from Asthma Australia for research. He is affiliated with Charles Sturt University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kylie Gwynne receives funding from NHMRC and various charities/foundations for research. She is affiliated with the Resolution Institute. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Calma receives funding from a consultancy on tackling Indigenous smoking from the Department of Health and Aged Care, an academic appointment with the University of Sydney and various other consultancies. He is affiliated with the University of Canberra and University of Sydney. </span></em></p>We estimate more than 200 communities across Australia do not have community drinking water fountains. That must change.John Charles Skinner, Senior Research Fellow, Indigenous Health, Macquarie UniversityKylie Gwynne, Senior Lecturer, Health Leadership, Macquarie UniversityTom Calma, Chancellor, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2002052023-05-04T12:10:11Z2023-05-04T12:10:11ZVagrant, machine or pioneer? How we think about a roving eagle offers insights into human attitudes toward nature<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523517/original/file-20230430-2790-u17iy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C20%2C3484%2C1943&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The roaming Steller's sea eagle in Georgetown, Maine, Jan. 1, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/2mV4kjv">Dominic Sherony/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://ebird.org/species/stseag">Steller’s sea eagle</a> is one of the largest and most aggressive raptors in the world. With an 8-foot wingspan and striking white markings, these birds tower over their bald eagle cousins. </p>
<p>Steller’s are sublime, but they aren’t beautiful in the way people often sentimentalize animals. Most adult Steller’s survived by <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/29774180">beating their weaker sibling to death</a> in the nest within weeks of birth and were rewarded for their aggression by nurturing parents. No wonder they can <a href="https://www.nhbs.com/stellers-sea-eagle-book">fight off brown bears</a> and hunt on the sea ice of the Russian Arctic. </p>
<p>Since mid-2020, one individual Steller’s sea eagle has drawn <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/05/science/stellers-sea-eagle.html">national media attention</a> because of the <a href="https://www.audubon.org/news/inside-amazing-cross-continent-saga-stellers-sea-eagle">vast distances</a> it has traveled – from Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula to Alaska, then to Texas, eastern Canada, New England, and most recently, a <a href="https://media.ebird.org/catalog?taxonCode=stseag&regionCode=CA-NL&mediaType=photo">reported sighting on May 2, 2023 in Newfoundland</a> – and the extreme lengths to which <a href="https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/local/once-in-a-lifetime-birders-flock-to-see-extremely-rare-stellers-sea-eagle-georgetown-maine-russia-bird-wildlife-maine/97-7c82e9af-fcce-427c-9aee-863672a92dc7#">birders are going to glimpse it</a>.</p>
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<p>Biologists have learned remarkable things about migratory birds’ <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691224886/vagrancy-in-birds">navigational skills</a> and how they can malfunction because of weather or illness. But these discoveries cannot answer the questions that most interest me. Can a bird travel for curiosity or pleasure, and not just for necessity or instinct? And if it can, how would we know it? </p>
<p>This last question is important, because it’s possible that humans are oblivious to the agency of the nonhuman world around us. In my view, anomalies like this Steller’s can open brief windows beyond our <a href="https://www.britannica.com/search?query=anthropocentrism">anthropocentrism</a>. </p>
<p>I research <a href="https://www.bu.edu/english/profile/adriana-craciun/">environmental humanities and the social dimensions of science</a>, and these questions are currently at the heart of these fields. I believe the extraordinary voyage of this raptor invites us to ask pressing questions about epistemology – how science knows what it knows. It also reveals hidden assumptions on which we rely when we presume that humans alone have the capacity to act for reasons that biology or environment cannot entirely explain. </p>
<h2>The language of vagrancy and belonging</h2>
<p>When migratory birds like this sea eagle appear outside their typical range, ornithologists call them “vagrants.” The scientific language of belonging draws on a shared cultural vocabulary for both human and nonhuman beings. Terms like vagrant, native, invasive, migrant and colonist all emerge from <a href="https://www.academia.edu/462808/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Biotic_Nativeness_A_Historical_Perspective">centuries of political discourses</a> describing which persons belong where. </p>
<p>Vagrancy laws <a href="https://www.londonlives.org/static/Vagrancy.jsp">punished the itinerant poor</a> beginning in Elizabethan times, scapegoating “vagabonds” for spreading disease, disorder and idleness. In the 19th-century U.S., a new wave of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1rfsq2g">vagrancy laws</a> targeted freed Black Americans and then migrant laborers from southeastern Europe. The latter were known as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793916636094">birds of passage</a>,” the original term for migratory birds. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523310/original/file-20230427-14-ch4yn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Painting of a woman with children, surrounded by police on a snowy street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523310/original/file-20230427-14-ch4yn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523310/original/file-20230427-14-ch4yn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523310/original/file-20230427-14-ch4yn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523310/original/file-20230427-14-ch4yn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523310/original/file-20230427-14-ch4yn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523310/original/file-20230427-14-ch4yn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523310/original/file-20230427-14-ch4yn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In ‘What is Called Vagrancy’ (1854), Belgian artist Alfred Stevens depicts police leading a mother and her ragged children to prison.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_is_Called_Vagrancy#/media/File:Alfred_Stevens_What_is_Called_Vagrancy.jpg">Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An 18th-century naturalist studying bird migration, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstl.1746.0078">Mark Catesby</a>, described what modern ornithologists call exploratory migratory behavior by comparing the birds to his contemporaries: “Analogous to the lucrative searches of man through distant regions, birds take distant flights in quest of food, or what else is agreeable to their nature.” </p>
<p>Writing in the age of exploration and colonization, Catesby simultaneously humanized birds’ inquisitive flights and naturalized Europeans’ exploration and colonization. Today, scientists and birders do the same thing. We describe birds’ anomalous movements through the dominant paradigms of our time: <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691224886/vagrancy-in-birds">instinct, mechanized responses to environmental cues and genetics</a>.</p>
<h2>Birds as machines</h2>
<p>I turned to two bird biologists to ask whether this Steller’s could be traveling for reasons of volition, not just instinct or necessity. In response, both ornithologists used the same word to describe the birds they study and admire: machines. </p>
<p>Ultimately, it seems, no matter how far you fly, there is no escaping the “hard-wired” mechanism that confines the nonhuman world in most experts’ view. As biologist <a href="https://theconversation.com/e-o-wilsons-lifelong-passion-for-ants-helped-him-teach-humans-about-how-to-live-sustainably-with-nature-150045">E.O. Wilson</a> summarized, “All animals, while capable of some degree of specialized learning, are <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/191841/consilience-by-edward-o-wilson/">instinct driven, guided by simple cues</a> from the environment that trigger complex behavior patterns.”</p>
<p>But reducing nonhuman animals to machines lacking agency ignores the surprising history of machines. Historian of science <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo21519800.html">Jessica Riskin</a> argues that the tradition of seeing all biological life – humans included – as clocklike machines includes an overlooked dimension in which “machine-like meant forceful, restless, purposeful, sentient, perceptive.” Machines were seen by some scientists from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Enlightenment-European-history">Enlightenment period</a> as lifelike: self-organizing, unpredictable and restless mechanisms driven by a vital inner agency. </p>
<p>Machines have always been more than just machines. This “contradiction … at the heart of modern science” – the restless vitality of mere “machines” – is precisely what this eagle’s singular behavior manifests for us. As a fugitive from the confines of our knowledge, this raptor is as much a machine as you or I, and just as capable of surprising.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Historian Jessica Riskin discusses centuries of debate about whether living things have agency and can transform themselves.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Birds as persons</h2>
<p>Although scientists have traditionally reduced many aspects of animal life to biological mechanisms, new research is challenging this perspective. Recent studies show that animals exhibit <a href="https://iupress.org/9780253222039/queer-ecologies/">remarkable ranges of sexual expression</a> as well as <a href="https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/wild-things/five-surprising-animals-play">playing</a> and <a href="https://news.uchicago.edu/do-animals-dream-david-m-pena-guzman">dreaming</a> behaviors. These findings are driving exciting investigations into animals’ inner lives and their capacity for joy and spontaneity. </p>
<p>However, even when researchers study individual bird personality as a possible explanation for why “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691224886/vagrancy-in-birds">bold and aggressive bird individuals</a>” are more prone to vagrancy than shy individuals, they reduce personality to particular genes. </p>
<p>By suggesting that the wide-ranging sea eagle may be willfully exploring, some might say I am anthropomorphizing her. But the problem of anthropomorphism is culturally and historically specific. Not all cultures do it, or do it in the same way. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523299/original/file-20230427-299-vnsrxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C0%2C4267%2C2853&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large black and white raptor soars over a snowy field." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523299/original/file-20230427-299-vnsrxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C0%2C4267%2C2853&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523299/original/file-20230427-299-vnsrxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523299/original/file-20230427-299-vnsrxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523299/original/file-20230427-299-vnsrxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523299/original/file-20230427-299-vnsrxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523299/original/file-20230427-299-vnsrxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523299/original/file-20230427-299-vnsrxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A Steller’s sea eagle near Sapporo, Japan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/2458L7V">Sascha Wenninger/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>In contrast to Western cultures, many Indigenous peoples – along with <a href="https://theconversation.com/animism-recognizes-how-animals-places-and-plants-have-power-over-humans-and-its-finding-renewed-interest-around-the-world-181389">believers in animism</a> – live in a world shared with diverse persons, only some of them human. In these cultures, anthropomorphism is not an issue: All living organisms like plants and animals – and even <a href="https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/braiding-sweetgrass-excerpt/">nonliving ones, like glaciers or mountains</a> – may be considered as animate persons – subjects and agents that merit ethical consideration, not merely objects to be cared for or used. A global “<a href="https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2021/04/22/rights-of-nature-lawsuits/">rights of nature</a>” movement is gaining ground as a legal strategy rooted in such Indigenous ideas of relating to nonhuman persons.</p>
<p>In the Steller’s sea eagle’s home of <a href="https://brill.com/display/title/31825">Kamchatka and the Amur estuary</a>, myths abound of giant eagles that carry off whales and hunters. Before Christian conversion three centuries ago, people there described the creator of the world, and of humans, as a raven called Kutkkh, a powerful being across the North Pacific to be feared and respected – a person to be reckoned with.</p>
<h2>Symbol or anomaly?</h2>
<p>The roaming sea eagle’s initial journey from Alaska to Texas in March 2021 followed a record-breaking southward plunge of Arctic air in February 2021. This deadly event sent temperatures <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-texas-electricity-system-produced-low-cost-power-but-left-residents-out-in-the-cold-155527">plummeting below freezing in Texas</a> and U.S. Sen. <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/18/ted-cruz-cancun-power-outage/">Ted Cruz fleeing to Cancún</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523314/original/file-20230427-18-n2e3x3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Image of the globe showing a cold air mass spilling south from the Arctic." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523314/original/file-20230427-18-n2e3x3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523314/original/file-20230427-18-n2e3x3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523314/original/file-20230427-18-n2e3x3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523314/original/file-20230427-18-n2e3x3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523314/original/file-20230427-18-n2e3x3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523314/original/file-20230427-18-n2e3x3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523314/original/file-20230427-18-n2e3x3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A potent arctic weather system chilled much of the U.S. in February 2021. Many scientists believe climate change contributes to such events by altering atmospheric circulation patterns.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/147000/147941/northamerica_geos5_2021046_lrg.png">NASA Earth Observatory</a></span>
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<p>The Arctic is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/arctic-report-card-2022-the-arctic-is-getting-rainier-and-seasons-are-shifting-with-broad-disturbances-for-people-ecosystems-and-wildlife-196254">fastest-warming zone on Earth</a>. Only <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330925199_Masterov_V_B_Romanov_M_S_Sale_R_G_2018_Steller's_Sea_Eagle_Snowfinch_Publishing_Coberley_UK">some 6,000 Steller’s remain</a>, because of climate change and human disturbance – especially <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russias-sakhalin-1-near-full-oil-output-after-exxon-exit-source-2023-01-09/">Russian oil production around Sakhalin</a>. The extraordinary movements of Arctic air and of this singular eagle bring the distant consequences of climate change far south, into the Texas oilfields.</p>
<p>Scientists now think that vagrants may be playing an important role as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.06.006">first responders” to environmental changes</a>, and “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.06.006">vanguards” of range shifts</a>. This shift from vagrant to vanguard may be a radical and welcome change. But it also highlights the tenacious power of anthropocentrism in always seeing animals as human analogs. </p>
<h2>Beyond categories</h2>
<p>For the past two winters, I have trekked to Maine hoping to spot the roving Steller’s. In February 2023 I ended up on the same frozen bridge on Maine’s Back River as in 2022, along with my teenage son and dozens of birders from across the continent. </p>
<p>One birder who had flown from Minnesota to see the eagle – and, like me, never did – offered to nail a nickel to the bridge as a reward for the first of us to spot the elusive prey. He was referring to a scene in Herman Melville’s “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2701/2701-h/2701-h.htm">Moby-Dick</a>” in which Ahab nails a gold doubloon to the mast as a promised reward for being first to spot the white whale. </p>
<p>In the scene, each crew member reads the symbols on the coin in a highly subjective way. As Ahab says, “every man but mirrors back his own mysterious self”: The act of interpreting an image or animal is deeply subjective. This theme is central to “Moby-Dick” and is why the book inspires more <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/08/the-endless-depths-of-i-moby-dick-i-symbolism/278861/">symbolic readings</a> than perhaps any other novel.</p>
<p>Philosophers <a href="https://files.libcom.org/files/A%20Thousand%20Plateaus.pdf">Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari</a> read the white whale as a provocation to see beyond dualistic categories and symbols. They see the whale as “The Anomaly” – a dangerous flight from normative categories like normal/abnormal, human/nonhuman. Like this sea eagle, Moby-Dick “is neither an individual nor a genus; he is the borderline.” He resists the very possibility of categorization, not merely the categories themselves. </p>
<p>To embody “a phenomenon of bordering” in this way is to test and hopefully evade the powers of symbol-making animals like ourselves. Keeping the mind open to this Steller’s sea eagle as an anomaly in this sense is freeing for eagles and other persons, including humans. I believe this rare bird’s fugitive journey offers an even rarer glimpse of the mysterious intentions of animals as individuals, traveling at the borderline of our imaginations and beyond.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200205/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adriana Craciun does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A Steller’s sea eagle, native to the Asian Arctic, has traveled across North America since 2021. A scholar questions whether the bird is lost – and how well humans really understand animals’ actions.Adriana Craciun, Professor of English and Emma MacLachlan Metcalf Chair of Humanities, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2005312023-05-02T03:26:47Z2023-05-02T03:26:47Z‘Too much money is spent on jails and policing’: what Aboriginal communities told us about funding justice reinvestment to keep people out of prison<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521235/original/file-20230417-20-qdjdas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C4000%2C2592&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Justice reinvestment emerged in the United States more than 20 years ago as a way to reduce mass incarceration and its vast costs by addressing the social drivers of imprisonment.</p>
<p>Through justice reinvestment, communities identify and develop responses to issues that feed high rates of re-incarceration locally, resourced through a “reinvestment” of funds drawn from prison budgets. The focus is often on better access for ex-prisoners to essentials such as accommodation and reducing inequity at a community level in health, education and other outcomes. </p>
<p>The Albanese government is currently implementing its 2022 commitment to A$81 million in funding to support justice reinvestment initiatives in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.</p>
<p>The New South Wales government also recently pledged $9.8 million for Aboriginal-led justice reinvestment initiatives in Kempsey and Nowra. </p>
<p>But what does “reinvestment” mean in practice? Who decides what gets funded and how?</p>
<p>To find out more, we spoke with Aboriginal communities in the NSW towns of Bourke, Moree and Mount Druitt. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.justreinvest.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/JRNSW-I-Reinvestment-Forum-I-Report.pdf">report</a>, produced alongside these Aboriginal communities, aims to convey their understanding of justice reinvestment.</p>
<p>This work invites government to co-design with community what “reinvestment” means, led by those Aboriginal communities where local solutions are already underway.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-life-changing-experience-how-adult-literacy-programs-can-keep-first-nations-people-out-of-the-criminal-justice-system-195715">'A life changing experience': how adult literacy programs can keep First Nations people out of the criminal justice system</a>
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<h2>Investing in Aboriginal-led solutions</h2>
<p>We heard that current criminal justice approaches are not working in Aboriginal communities like Moree and Mt Druitt. Far too many Aboriginal people are taken off-country to be locked up away from family, employment and schooling. </p>
<p>This fractures community and cultural connections and other elements of a healthy, thriving Aboriginal community. The scale at which this occurs does more harm than good and drives re-incarceration. As one Moree community member told us:</p>
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<p>They just come out worse. It’s like setting them up to fail. Like, it doesn’t fix it at all. Do you know anyone that’s gone to jail and come out and been good, like better?</p>
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<p>Aboriginal people in Moree and Mount Druitt know what’s needed to turn this around. One Moree community member said:</p>
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<p>As we’ve been saying for years, we’re the only ones that can tell people what’s wrong, what’s the best way to fix it. And we’re the only ones that can actually do it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These communities have developed Aboriginal-led justice reinvestment governance structures and programs that strengthen culture and self-determination. They aim to improve life opportunities to keep more Aboriginal people – particularly young people – out of custody. </p>
<p>In Mount Druitt, justice reinvestment includes <a href="https://www.justreinvest.org.au/mountyyarns">Mounty Yarns</a>, a project led by local young people with both lived experience of incarceration and ideas about how to reduce contact with the justice system that they want heard:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We don’t want the next generation to go through what we went through. We want to be a voice so others don’t have to keep repeating their stories.</p>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522941/original/file-20230426-22-cfbj29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522941/original/file-20230426-22-cfbj29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522941/original/file-20230426-22-cfbj29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522941/original/file-20230426-22-cfbj29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522941/original/file-20230426-22-cfbj29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522941/original/file-20230426-22-cfbj29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522941/original/file-20230426-22-cfbj29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Mounty Yarns leaders speaking out in Mount Druitt about their experiences of the justice system and ideas for change.</span>
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<p>Aboriginal communities like Moree and Mount Druitt need increased access to resources and decision-making to implement their solutions. </p>
<p>They are calling for backing to put their ideas in motion, including partnerships, programs and interventions they identify as crucial to preventing offending. </p>
<p>These ideas, once implemented, may work well quickly, take time to succeed or perhaps struggle. Increasing community agency is a crucial outcome in itself, regardless. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Bni2BDutOgo?wmode=transparent&start=36" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Mounty Yarns. Just Reinvest NSW.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Funding justice reinvestment</h2>
<p>Diverting funding from prisons to resource justice reinvestment in communities like Moree or Mount Druitt is appealing to Aboriginal people. They want divestment from what they see as highly punitive institutions that have long caused significant harm.</p>
<p>One idea for a source of funding might be a state-level mechanism requiring the NSW government to deposit an annual levy into a justice reinvestment fund. </p>
<p>Funds could potentially be drawn from justice spending allocations, calculated on the basis of the number of Aboriginal people imprisoned in NSW in the year in question. </p>
<p>Aboriginal people would determine where this money is spent, with priority given to justice reinvestment and other Aboriginal community-led and prevention-focused approaches likely to reduce over-representation.</p>
<p>As this is achieved, the levy will reduce, as will justice and related costs for government. </p>
<p>Importantly, the enormous social and economic costs for Aboriginal people of mass incarceration would also be averted. As one Mount Druitt community member told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What’s the outcome of prison spending? A criminal record. There’s lots of things they can do before they chuck them into jail but that’s the first option out here. Help him reconnect with his family, his culture. You could do a lot of things with that money.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Aboriginal people in Mount Druitt and Moree told us of other ways to “invest” in community-led ideas for change. </p>
<p>They want funding decisions to be informed by community knowledge of which services and programs will best contribute to outcomes likely to help keep Aboriginal people out of prison. </p>
<p>One Mount Druitt community member told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We’ve got no control here in Western Sydney. We need to have more of a say when we’re getting in funding here. How is that funding going to be distributed?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They have also identified “tipping points” that push Aboriginal people into the justice system. These include inappropriate or biased police decisions about bail, inadequate post-release support and school exclusions for younger people. They are calling for government reform in these areas.</p>
<h2>Achieving change</h2>
<p>The message from our report is clear: Aboriginal communities want to determine their own priorities for change and to lead that change. This is crucial to reducing Aboriginal over-representation.</p>
<p>Commitment by governments to funding justice reinvestment initiatives is definitely a positive step in the right direction. </p>
<p>Alongside funding, reform to government ways of working and policy will also be essential to ensuring justice reinvestment has the best chance of success.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-governments-should-follow-the-acts-lead-in-building-communities-not-prisons-111990">Australian governments should follow the ACT's lead in building communities, not prisons</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200531/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiona Allison completed research on reinvestment as a consultant for Just Reinvest NSW. As an academic at Jumbunna, she is also involved in the co-design process informing implementation of the federal government commitment to justice reinvestment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Daylight works for JustReinvest NSW.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Duncan works for JustReinvest NSW.</span></em></p>What does ‘justice reinvestment’ mean in practice? Who makes funding decisions? To find out more, we consulted Aboriginal communities in Bourke, Moree and Mount Druitt.Fiona Allison, Research Fellow, Jumbunna Institute of Indigenous Education and Research, University of Technology SydneyDaniel Daylight, Community Manager Mt Druitt JustReinvest NSW, Indigenous KnowledgeThomas Duncan, Manager of community-led change, Just Reinvest NSW, Indigenous KnowledgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1983492023-04-24T16:18:12Z2023-04-24T16:18:12ZFrom horseback to motorbike: inside the motorcycle boom in Indigenous South America<p>With their tropical climate, flowing rivers and dense forests, the vast plains and basins that make up <a href="https://www.berose.fr/article2131.html?lang=fr#:%7E:text=Since%20the%20first%20contacts%2C%20the,Patagonia%20and%20the%20Atlantic%20coast.">South America’s lowlands</a> cover a significant portion of the continent’s surface. Indeed, the Amazon rainforest covers approximately seven million square kilometres or around 40% of the total land area of South America.</p>
<p>These lowlands are primarily located in the eastern part of South America, stretching from the Andes mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. Two of the main lowland regions are the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Amazon-Basin">Amazon basin</a> and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Gran-Chaco">Gran Chaco</a> – both diverse landscapes that are home to a wide variety of Indigenous cultures and communities.</p>
<p>As varied as the region is, much of its exuberant landscape has been drastically changed over the past 150 years by the arrival of mechanical machinery. And this is especially the case in territories inhabited by Indigenous people, who have been forced to adapt to new ways of living, with their traditional life transformed or disrupted. </p>
<p>Steamships, railways and trucks used for transportation arrived over the last century – followed by guns, used for both hunting and warfare. The arrival of bulldozers and chainsaws, used by the logging industry, has changed the rainforest forever. Meanwhile, electric generators hum constantly in the background. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Chacobo man works on his motorbike.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p><a href="https://www.isrf.org/fellows-projects/motoboom/">Motorbikes</a> are one of the latest machines to hit the lowlands. Over the last two decades, there has been a huge motorbike boom in Indigenous South America, with more and more people buying bikes from the money they make trading rubber, <a href="https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-are-hearts-of-palm-4777298">palm hearts</a> (the pale white inner core from the palm tree), and Brazil nuts. And I have seen firsthand how motorbikes have drastically changed Indigenous people’s lives.</p>
<p>I have spent the last 20 years working with the Chacobo – an Indigenous group from Bolivia – and have seen how for them, having a motorcycle is more than just a way to get around. It represents a sense of belonging and citizenship. </p>
<p>Owning a motorcycle is a symbol of how Indigenous people have adapted successfully to the changing world around them. The motorbike is considered such an icon of development and progress that in the Bolivian city of Riberalta, you can even find a monument of a motorbike. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Monument to the Motorbike, Riberalta, Bolivia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>For many people, motorbikes are more than just a way to travel. In South America, especially in regions like the Bolivian Amazon, motorcycles have become a way of life. </p>
<h2>Bikes and beliefs</h2>
<p>In the past, the Indigenous people of these regions spent hours decorating body ornaments, bows and arrows. Now they spend most of their free time polishing, dismantling or reassembling their motorcycles. </p>
<p>Most of these bikes are cheap Chinese brands (Dayun, Wanxin, TianMa, Haojue), while their Japanese equivalents (Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki) remain a lusted-after status symbol. </p>
<p>At the same time, the arrival of the motorbike has led to these local landscapes being littered with mechanical “ruins” or “fossils”. Wheels, handlebars, fuel tanks and exhaust pipes all line the villages, gathering dust. </p>
<p>With proper spare parts not easily available, the inevitable repairs and upgrades must rely on “cannibalization” – using parts of old vehicles or whatever items are at hand to sort the issue. This obviously changes the way the lowland motorbikes look.</p>
<p>Bikes are named and considered to have a gender. Indigenous people also believe their motorbikes can be influenced by spiritual or supernatural forces that can cause them to behave in unusual or unexpected ways. </p>
<p>For instance, according to these <a href="https://theconversation.com/shamanism-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-fastest-growing-religion-in-england-and-wales-196438">beliefs</a>, a motorbike may suddenly accelerate or stop working altogether without any physical or mechanical explanation. It’s thought that such episodes happen sometimes with the intent of causing harm or misfortune to the owner of the bike. </p>
<h2>Passion v safety</h2>
<p>The motorcycle boom has also led to a rise in traffic accidents. Road accidents involving motorbikes are now a leading cause of death among the Chacobo – even more so since Chinese companies began paving the road that runs across their territory. </p>
<p>Things that many of us take for granted, such as insurance, speed limits, regular MOTs or services alongside helmets and protective clothing, do not figure here. So, a lot of the <a href="https://velocidades.sciencesconf.org/">road accidents</a> that happen in this region end up being fatal. </p>
<p>This has led to a number of communities forming road blockades and burning commercial trucks that have run over motorcyclists. Local authorities are starting to demand legal compensation for the families of the dead or injured. Dealing with road accidents has become an increasingly important topic for Indigenous leaders and communities.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A burnt-out truck that ran over an Indigenous motorcyclist in Bolivia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>At the same time, motorbikes have significantly transformed the relationship Indigenous people have with nature and society. They have made hunting, fishing and horticultural work much easier and more productive. And it’s not just the men: many Indigenous women have become motorbike riders and are using their bikes to challenge traditional gender roles.</p>
<p>While the increasing amount of motorbike accidents is concerning, it’s clear that this passion for motorcycles has become an integral part of Indigenous people’s lives that will likely be passed down through generations. Indeed, it’s quite common to see whole Indigenous families on bikes – including pets and tiny children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198349/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diego Villar has received funding for this article from Independent Social Research Foundation (Small Group Projects) and Horizon Europe programme (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship).</span></em></p>It’s quite common to see whole Indigenous families on bikes – including pets and tiny children.Diego Villar, Marie-Skłodowska Curie Fellow in Anthropology, Ca' Foscari University of VeniceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2021372023-04-10T20:02:42Z2023-04-10T20:02:42ZFirst Nations people have made a plea for ‘truth-telling’. By reckoning with its past, Australia can finally help improve our future<p><em>This is the third article in our series explaining Voice, Treaty and Truth. Read the other articles in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/voice-treaty-truth-explainers-134797">here</a>.</em> </p>
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<p>Australia has never been good at listening to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Despite the truths that have already been told in processes like the <a href="https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/first-australians/royal-commission-aboriginal-deaths-custody">Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody</a> or the <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/bringing-them-home-report-1997">Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families</a>, time and again governments have ignored recommendations designed to address the impacts of Australia’s settler-colonial past and present.</p>
<p>State refusals to respond to truth have led to renewed calls for processes that will detail the impacts of colonisation in the everyday lives of Indigenous people. These calls were an important part of the <a href="https://ulurustatement.org/the-statement/">Uluru Statement from the Heart</a>, which sought “the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution”, complimented by “a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history”. </p>
<p>As legal scholars Gabrielle Appleby and Megan Davis have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1031461X.2018.1523838?journalCode=rahs20">commented</a>, the call for truth-telling in the Uluru Statement is just one part of a wider call for structural reform intended to ensure improvement in the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-actually-is-a-treaty-what-could-it-mean-for-indigenous-people-200261">What actually is a treaty? What could it mean for Indigenous people?</a>
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<h2>Why truth?</h2>
<p>Beginning in the 1980s, formal truth-telling processes (usually called truth commissions) emerged as a method of reckoning with the past in deeply divided societies around the world. Perhaps the most famous example is the <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/">South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a>, which aimed to address the gross violations of human rights that happened under apartheid. </p>
<p>Truth commissions like this are generally temporary, state-sanctioned inquiries that typically last from one to five years, with a remit to investigate particular events and examine specific violations over a defined period of time. This typically involves collecting testimony from victims and (sometimes) perpetrators. </p>
<p>It is only relatively recently that truth-telling processes have been used as a response to settler colonial violence, most notably via Canada’s <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1450124405592/1529106060525">Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a>, which arose after a class action lawsuit on behalf of the roughly 150,000 First Nations children taken from their familes and placed in residential schools. </p>
<p>The Uluru Statement isn’t the first time First Nations on this continent have called for truth-telling. Since colonisation, Indigenous peoples have insisted that Australia must not look away from their experiences of dispossession and survival. </p>
<p>When these truths have been told, however, they have all too often been met with denial, defensiveness or even aggression. For example, when the Stolen Generations inquiry pointed to evidence of the forcible removal of Indigenous children that, it charged, constituted a breach of the UN Convention on Genocide, there was an immediate conservative backlash. The Howard government rejected the findings of the inquiry in one of the earliest salvos against what conservatives have termed a <a href="https://api-network.com/main/pdf/scholars/jas75_clark.pdf">“black armband” view of Australian history</a>.</p>
<p>There is a reason settler governments have been reluctant to engage in truth-telling. First Nations often seek truth as a means of changing an untenable status quo, reshaping society’s attitudes so as to improve their own future prospects and reaffirm their distinct sovereignties and their right to self-determination. </p>
<p>As the non-Indigenous Canadian political scientist Courtney Jung has <a href="https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/aprci/295/">argued</a>, while settler governments may try to use the conclusion of a truth commission to “draw a line through history”, First Nations seek to build “not a wall but a bridge”, using truth-telling to “draw history into the present, and to draw connections between past policy, present policy, and present injustices”. </p>
<h2>Whose truths? What truths?</h2>
<p>Broadly speaking, First Nations peoples seek truths that address three key themes: narrative and memory; trauma and healing; and responsibility and justice. </p>
<p>We have <a href="https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/6491">described</a> this potential as “the promise of truth”, in which truth-telling leads to a kind of agreement between Indigenous and settler peoples, rather than being a process centred on the state and its violence. </p>
<p>The promise of truth is that it will change national narratives and produce a new, shared collective memory that acknowledges crimes of the past; it will contribute to the healing and recovery of Indigenous people who have been harmed by colonisation and dispossession; and it will compel settlers and their institutions to take responsibility for the harms of colonisation.</p>
<p>This approach stands in contrast to what we have called the “colonisation of truth”, through which truth-telling is seen primarily as rehabilitative of the settler colonial state while obscuring ongoing injustices. When truth is colonised, it may reproduce narratives that restore aspects of settler legitimacy and treat injustices as being solely in the past. Alternatively, this version of truth may treat First Nations people merely as victims, telling stories of harm and trauma without delivering reparation. Or it may suggest that the demand for responsibility and justice has been fulfilled simply by engaging in the truth-telling process, rather than treating the telling of truth as a starting point for a fairer future. </p>
<p>Truth, then, is complex, and what it may achieve in the Australian context is not yet clear. As treaty processes progress in several Australian jurisdictions, the commitment to truth-telling seems likely to be a part of future negotiations. This close connection between treaty and truth is unique to the Australian case and confirms the strongly held belief that truth has transformative potential. We do not yet know whether the linking of truth and treaty will produce the transformation in relationships that is so urgently needed.</p>
<p>Victoria, which announced a commitment to treaty in 2016, is the jurisdiction most advanced in testing this proposition. In 2022, Victoria established the <a href="https://yoorrookjusticecommission.org.au/">Yoorrook Truth and Justice Commission</a> (Yoorrok is a Wemba Wemba word meaning “truth”), marking a new era in Australian truth-telling focused on the history of invasion and colonisation of First Nations’ territories. Until the creation of Yoorrook, no previous commission, royal commission or inquiry into colonisation in Australia has included the word “truth” in its official title.</p>
<p>Yet still, truth is not a straightforward proposition. “Truth burns,” as Indigenous academic Marcia Langton <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2023/mar/23/truth-burns-marcia-langton-warns-media-against-parroting-scare-campaigns-video">recently put it</a>. Sometimes, truth-telling is painful and connects directly to harm and injustice. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-voice-what-is-it-where-did-it-come-from-and-what-can-it-achieve-202138">The Voice: what is it, where did it come from, and what can it achieve?</a>
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<p>Truth is tricky. It can appear to open spaces for new understandings, while simultaneously shutting these spaces down and reinforcing the colonial status quo. </p>
<p>Ultimately, truth-telling is uncomfortable but necessary, as change in any relationship inevitably is. But this is where the possibility lives. As new truth-telling takes place across this continent we have an opportunity to imagine what it might mean to be in a relationship that does not deny the truth of First Nations’ lives, or the truth of how Australia has come to be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202137/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Uluru Statement from the Heart calls for truth-telling as a crucial step towards reconciliation. What does this process involve, and what are the potential promises and pitfalls?Julia Hurst, Faculty of Arts Indigenous Postdoctoral Fellow, Indigenous and Settler Relations Collaboration, The University of MelbourneSarah Maddison, Professor, School of Social and Political Sciences, Director, The (so-called) Australian Centre, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2006912023-03-22T12:38:29Z2023-03-22T12:38:29ZThe Amazon is not safe under Brazil’s new president – a roads plan could push it past its breaking point<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516477/original/file-20230320-2823-r24sy7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=78%2C365%2C3071%2C1950&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fires are often set to clear land near roads in the Amazon.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-aerial-view-the-red-dust-of-the-br230-highway-known-news-photo/1166452675">Johannes Myburgh / AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Conservationists <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/lula-cheered-new-climate-policies-after-brazil-election-2022-10-31/">breathed a sigh of relief</a> when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Brazil’s presidential election in the fall of 2022. His predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03038-3">opened large parts of the Amazon region to business</a> by crippling enforcement of environmental laws and turning <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-amazon-land-grab-how-brazils-government-is-clearing-the-way-for-deforestation-173416">a blind eye to land grabbing</a>. It should come as no surprise that deforestation showed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03038-3">a sharp uptick</a>.</p>
<p>However, while Lula oversaw a more than <a href="http://terrabrasilis.dpi.inpe.br/app/dashboard/deforestation/biomes/legal_amazon/rates">70% drop in deforestation</a> during his first run as president in the early 2000s, the rainforest’s future remains deeply uncertain. </p>
<p>That’s in part because Brazilian administrations, whether of the right or left, have all promoted an ambitious project to boost exports and the economy called the Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.12610">or IIRSA</a>.</p>
<p>The initiative focuses on new roads, dams and industry that can threaten the region’s fragile rainforest ecosystem – and harm the world’s climate in the process.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Trucks are lined up on a road bending between a burned area and trees, with a smaller road winding off to the side." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516475/original/file-20230320-2896-c7n9r5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516475/original/file-20230320-2896-c7n9r5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516475/original/file-20230320-2896-c7n9r5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516475/original/file-20230320-2896-c7n9r5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516475/original/file-20230320-2896-c7n9r5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516475/original/file-20230320-2896-c7n9r5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516475/original/file-20230320-2896-c7n9r5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trucks along the BR163 highway, a major transport route that has contributed to deforestation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/aerial-view-of-trucks-queueing-along-the-br163-highway-in-news-photo/1174358903">Nelson Almeida / AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The problem with infrastructure in the forest</h2>
<p>At first glance, IIRSA might sound like progress. Its <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2019.09.009">goal is to improve</a> Amazonia’s economy by developing its resources and establishing better access to global markets. To accomplish this, the initiative plans to rehabilitate and extend the existing highway system and build dams, ports, industrial waterways and railroads.</p>
<p>However, evidence from my research in the Amazon over the past 30 years and by other scientists shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9787.2007.00502.x">new roads lead to more deforestation</a>, putting extreme pressure on the rainforest. Outside of protected areas, nearly 95% of all deforestation occurs within <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2014.07.004">3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) of a road</a> or less than two-thirds of a mile (1 km) from a river. </p>
<p>Deforestation <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1182108">rates fell</a> during Lula’s first presidency, primarily because Brazil <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/6/2/024010">expanded its protected areas program</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2014.06.026">enforced environmental laws</a>. However, deforestation began to rise again during the administration of his protégé, President Dilma Rousseff. </p>
<p><iframe id="KG9l7" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/KG9l7/5/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Both Lula and Rousseff furthered the IIRSA agenda by building dams on the Madeira River and <a href="https://theconversation.com/satellites-over-the-amazon-capture-the-choking-of-the-house-of-god-by-the-belo-monte-dam-they-can-help-find-solutions-too-182012">on the Xingu River</a>, where the Belo Monte dam diverted streamflow <a href="https://theconversation.com/satellites-over-the-amazon-capture-the-choking-of-the-house-of-god-by-the-belo-monte-dam-they-can-help-find-solutions-too-182012">vital to the survival of Indigenous communities</a>. </p>
<p>They also downsized protected areas to make way for their projects. Rousseff even <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/43964662.pdf">downsized Amazon National Park</a>, the first such park in Amazonia. In all, 181 square miles (469 square kilometers) were removed, close to 5% of the total area. The most scenic park landscape along the Tapajos River shoreline was taken to make way for dam construction. </p>
<p>Now back in office, Lula has signaled his approval of a key IIRSA project: the <a href="https://amazonasreporter.com.br/2023/02/com-articulacao-do-governador-wilson-lima-demandas-do-amazonas-sao-prioridade-no-plano-de-100-dias-do-governo-federal/">revitalization of BR-319</a>, a federal highway between Porto Velho and Manaus.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516159/original/file-20230318-6597-vvwfn5.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An animation shows primarily the highway in 2000 but deforestation quickly expanding off of it over the following years." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516159/original/file-20230318-6597-vvwfn5.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516159/original/file-20230318-6597-vvwfn5.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=667&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516159/original/file-20230318-6597-vvwfn5.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=667&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516159/original/file-20230318-6597-vvwfn5.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=667&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516159/original/file-20230318-6597-vvwfn5.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516159/original/file-20230318-6597-vvwfn5.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516159/original/file-20230318-6597-vvwfn5.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Satellite images from 2000 to 2019 show how deforestation spread out from Highway BR-163 over 10 years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145888/making-sense-of-amazon-deforestation-patterns">Lauren Dauphin/NASA Earth Observatory</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If this project is completed, it will open the central Amazon basin <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-022-01718-y">to even more deforestation</a>.</p>
<p>I believe this should cause alarm. Research shows too much deforestation could push the forest <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/2373566X.2022.2132978">over a tipping point</a> from which it can’t recover. No one knows exactly where the line is, but the vast Amazon that people picture today with its extraordinary biodiversity and dense forests would be no more. Such a catastrophe once seemed the bad dream of doomsayers, but there is mounting evidence that the forest is in trouble.</p>
<h2>The Amazonian tipping point</h2>
<p>The tropical rainforest sustains itself by <a href="https://leaf.leeds.ac.uk/news/recycle-rain-models/">recycling rain</a> to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration, which makes more moisture available. Rainfall recycling <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat2340">accounts for about 50%</a> of the basin’s precipitation today.</p>
<p>Too much deforestation could leave too little rainfall recycling to sustain the forest.</p>
<p>Scientists initially estimated the tipping point would occur <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2009.07.003">once about 40%</a> of the Amazon was deforested. That estimate has slipped downward over time given the <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-brazils-rainforests-the-worst-fires-are-likely-still-to-come-122840">intensification of fires</a> and the onset of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2018.00228">observable climate change in the basin itself</a>. Moreover, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01287-8">the forest shows diminishing resilience</a>, meaning it is less able to recover from climate extremes. Scientists have already observed widespread <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14413">shifts to more drought-tolerant tree species</a>.</p>
<p>Given the evidence, scientists have revised the tipping point to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat2340">deforestation as low as 20% to 25%</a>. Even if only a fifth of the forest is lost, the remainder could quickly degrade into an ecosystem of fire-adapted grasses and shrubby trees that look nothing like the massive ones native to the rainforest. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c4-KpR1HrNs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">NASA satellite images show the expansion of deforestation as roads are built in the Amazon.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Deforestation across all the Amazonian nations now stands <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2019.09.009">at a little over 16%</a>. In my view, this is far too close for comfort, especially with the momentum of the IIRSA program.</p>
<h2>More than one tipping point?</h2>
<p>The deforestation problem isn’t the only pressure on the forest – the Amazon is also dealing with the heat and drought of global warming. </p>
<p>Evidence suggests that global climate change may be enough to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0705414105">push large parts of the rainforest to the brink</a>. One concern is that the dry season is getting longer, a shift that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1302584110">appears to be driven by global warming</a>. This affects annual precipitation by reducing the number of rainy days and makes fire more damaging by extending the season when trees can easily burn.</p>
<p>Currently, dry season lengthening is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1302584110">most pronounced in the Southern Basin</a>. However, changes in the southern rainfall pattern can reduce precipitation in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep41489">wettest parts of the basin to the west</a>. One estimate suggests dry season lengthening <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2021.1842711">could cause a tipping point transition by 2064</a>.</p>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>Averting Amazonia’s looming tipping point catastrophe will require effort by the global community. In the past, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1248525">Brazil has controlled deforestation</a> through its forest code and by designating protected areas. </p>
<p>To step back from the brink, Lula would have to begin enforcing the forest code again, which limits deforestation on private property. He would also have to persuade the Brazilian Congress to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-amazon-land-grab-how-brazils-government-is-clearing-the-way-for-deforestation-173416">stop creating incentives for land grabs</a> – the taking of public land for private uses. </p>
<p>Although Lula would have a difficult time reclaiming already grabbed land, expanding protected areas could reduce deforestation. Obviously, downsizing Amazonia’s existing protected areas would have to stop. </p>
<p>Finally, Lula would need to revisit the IIRSA program and pursue only those projects that bring economic development without excessive deforestation. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516485/original/file-20230320-3119-r24sy7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A road with soybean fields on both sides and the edge of the dense Amazon rainforest in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516485/original/file-20230320-3119-r24sy7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516485/original/file-20230320-3119-r24sy7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516485/original/file-20230320-3119-r24sy7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516485/original/file-20230320-3119-r24sy7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516485/original/file-20230320-3119-r24sy7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516485/original/file-20230320-3119-r24sy7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516485/original/file-20230320-3119-r24sy7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The edge of a soy plantation shows the Amazon before and after deforestation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/soy-plantation-in-amazon-rainforest-near-santarem-news-photo/462376826">Ricardo Beliel/Brazil Photos/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research I am currently working on with colleagues in the Ecuadorian Amazon focuses on a particular type of protected area, <a href="http://www.indigenousterritories.com/">the Indigenous Territory</a>. We argue that safeguarding Indigenous territorial rights provides Amazonia’s national governments with effective conservation allies. This is because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2018.1418994">Indigenous peoples want to defend their homelands</a>. Unfortunately, <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/fighting-extractive-industries-in-ecuador-qa-with-indigenous-activist-maria-espinosa/">national governments are not always supportive of Indigenous rights</a>, especially when their territories contain mineral wealth.</p>
<p>Slowing global climate change, however, will require international collaboration on an unprecedented scale. Luckily, a forum for this already exists with the <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement">Paris Agreement</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516567/original/file-20230321-20-sx6yvp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing the states and how hot spots show up along highways" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516567/original/file-20230321-20-sx6yvp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516567/original/file-20230321-20-sx6yvp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516567/original/file-20230321-20-sx6yvp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516567/original/file-20230321-20-sx6yvp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516567/original/file-20230321-20-sx6yvp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516567/original/file-20230321-20-sx6yvp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516567/original/file-20230321-20-sx6yvp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Areas with intense deforestation in 2021 largely aligned with major roadways.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://maaproject.org/2021/amazon-hotspots-2021/">Finer M, Mamani N, Spore J (2020) Amazon Deforestation Hotspots 2021. MAAP: 147</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><iframe id="p7Iuw" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/p7Iuw/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>The people of the Amazon</h2>
<p>The Amazon Basin is home to 35 million people, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2019.09.009">many of whom live in poverty</a>. They have every right to desire a better life, and that’s one reason that IIRSA has a great deal of local support. </p>
<p>However, while the initiative might bring short-term benefits, it also risks destroying the very resources it was intended to develop. And that could leave the region in a state of poverty that cannot be alleviated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200691/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert T. Walker receives funding from The U.S. National Science Foundation. He is affiliated with The University of Florida, Center for Latin American Studies. </span></em></p>Nearly 95% of deforestation in the Amazon occurs within 3.5 miles of a road or near a river. Brazil’s plans to ramp up exports may be on a collision course with the forest.Robert T. Walker, Professor of Latin American Studies and Geography, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1988122023-02-22T15:32:01Z2023-02-22T15:32:01ZRock art as African history: what religious images say about identity, survival and change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510268/original/file-20230215-15-yt0qm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After colonial contact, indigenous Africans acquired horses and guns, and raided settlers as a means of resistance.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy Sam Challis</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>To “read” the history of times before writing, scholars have traditionally used excavated evidence. Remains like dwellings, burials and pots can reveal a lot about how people lived long ago. In southern Africa, there is another archive to “read” too: rock art. Rock art is primarily a record of spiritual beliefs – but also reflects the events that these beliefs made sense of.</p>
<p>Hunter-gatherers in the region, ancestors of today’s San or BaTwa, made rock art for thousands of years before African herders and farmers arrived from the north 2,000 years ago and European colonists followed by sea 350 years ago.</p>
<p>As a result of these contacts between groups of people, ethnic and economic boundaries became increasingly blurred. Rock art changed too, in technique and subject matter.</p>
<p>Rock art tells a tale of people meeting, negotiating, fighting, trading with and marrying one another. The tale is told not in simple narrative, but in spiritual beliefs. Our recent <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/722260">paper in Current Anthropology</a> outlines the nature, scale and effects of contact between people in southern Africa, and the ways in which indigenous people produced images that engaged with change. It shows that contact and colonisation, in time, created a “disconnect” with the past that can be understood by looking at changes in rock art. </p>
<p>The disconnect apparent in the rock art reflects the disconnect in indigenous society more generally. It reveals the mixing and changing – and survival – of different people’s beliefs about the universe. It charts southern African history and, although it is “written” in terms of spiritual beliefs, it is the only record that shows what happened from the San perspective.</p>
<p>It often shows the struggle to resist subjugation, and it depicts beliefs about the forces that could be summoned to resist.</p>
<h2>Shifts in rock art</h2>
<p>What the San painted or engraved on rock was their vision of what happened in a trance state. The artists entered this trance state in order to establish <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/12/1099">connections with animals and spirits in the landscape</a>, to influence their movements, and to derive the power to make rain and heal the sick. </p>
<p>Rock art was never unchanging, but new traditions and styles appeared when African farmers arrived in southern Africa from about 2,000 years ago, and when pastoralism was later introduced. Further changes came with the <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0134215">arrival of Khoe-speakers about 1,000 years ago</a>. These Khoe-speaking herders were themselves descended from earlier mixing between hunter-gatherers and east African pastoralists.</p>
<p>Changes appeared in the rock art’s content – for example the animals and materials portrayed – and in the artistic techniques used.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507048/original/file-20230130-24-3evymd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two images of antelope painted on rock surface" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507048/original/file-20230130-24-3evymd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507048/original/file-20230130-24-3evymd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=180&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507048/original/file-20230130-24-3evymd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=180&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507048/original/file-20230130-24-3evymd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=180&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507048/original/file-20230130-24-3evymd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507048/original/file-20230130-24-3evymd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507048/original/file-20230130-24-3evymd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eland antelope, painted (probably) before and after contact between San and other groups.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of Sam Challis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Eland antelope (the one with the most spiritual power for the San) were once lovingly drafted and shaded. Later they appeared in bright, chalky and vivid colours, rendered in a posterlike and blocky fashion. The drop in pigment quality was likely due to the breakdown of trade networks brought about by marginalisation, then <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262547793_The_forgotten_killing_fields_San_genocide_and_Louis_Anthing's_mission_to_Bushmanland_1862-1863">slaughter</a>, of indigenous people, but still they called on the power of the eland to help them. </p>
<p>We see pictures of cattle and sheep appearing in rock art, and finger-painted and engraved patterns associated with girls’ initiation, common to pastoralist and hunter-gatherer societies. The images show that people’s identity (ethnicity) and the way they survived (economy) weren’t divided into clear groups. Hunters were not necessarily all San, and all San were not necessarily hunters. The blurring of boundaries between groups increased with time. </p>
<p>As time went on, all these people became subject to extermination policy, slavery and marginalisation. But rather than being passive receptors of change, they used their religion, comprising multicultural beliefs, to survive. This can be seen in the rock art they created.</p>
<h2>Spiritual concepts of water</h2>
<p>Conceptions of the rain, in the form of images of water bulls and water snakes, are particularly useful for examining cross-cultural influences. </p>
<p>For African farmers, snakes were associated with water. Hunter-gatherers and herders with whom they came into contact acknowledged this because they, too, already had beliefs about water and the animal entities embodied by it. </p>
<p>People from different language groups may have gathered together for girls’ initiation ceremonies at sites where the great water snake emerged. At these locations, this spiritual creature’s body, the <a href="http://www.driekopseiland.itgo.com/">undulating rock</a>, is covered with markings to appeal to it – the markings that also appear on the initiates’ tattoos, face paint, clothing and bags. </p>
<p>The control of water, to make rain for pasture and crops, was traded (bartered for cattle) between groups, very likely for centuries. Rock art images of water snakes, water bulls and domestic cattle intertwine and superimpose one another; sometimes water snakes have cattle horns. Often, water bulls or water snakes were depicted being killed to make their blood – the rain – fall. </p>
<p>Water was also extremely important to those wishing to combat the encroaching colonists. By this time the people of southern Africa, regardless of background, held many <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280623580_Binding_beliefs_the_creolisation_process_in_a_%27Bushman%27_raider_group_in_nineteenth-century_southern_Africa">beliefs in common</a>. The people or entities that lived underwater could be called upon to influence situations: torrential rain to wash away the tracks of stolen animals, for example. </p>
<h2>Raiding and escape</h2>
<p>By the time colonists arrived, hunter-gatherers had sheep, and <a href="https://dsae.co.za/entry/sintu/e06478">isiNtu-speakers</a> (African farmers) had adopted aspects of hunter-gatherer beliefs, and vice versa. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510269/original/file-20230215-4182-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Painted image of human with some animal features" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510269/original/file-20230215-4182-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510269/original/file-20230215-4182-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510269/original/file-20230215-4182-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510269/original/file-20230215-4182-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510269/original/file-20230215-4182-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=729&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510269/original/file-20230215-4182-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=729&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510269/original/file-20230215-4182-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=729&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Xhosa warrior painted in the Windvogelberg mountains of the Eastern Cape, possibly as a ‘commission’ including war medicine obtained from the San.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of Brent Sinclair-Thomson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>San were increasingly marginalised from well-watered pasture suitable for domestic herds of African herders and farmers. Some became herders themselves, some mixed with farmers and some became raiders. Then, with the expansion of settler farms in the 18th century (which they also raided) they were <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-bandit-slaves-and-the-rock-art-of-resistance-165107">decimated, hunted and enslaved</a>.</p>
<p>In the rock art, baboons became a symbol of protective power to enable raiders to escape unharmed. The root of a powerful medicine, <em>so-|oa</em> or <em>mabophe</em> – closely associated with baboons – enabled stock thieves to pass unnoticed, and “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15740773.2017.1487122">turned bullets to water</a>”. We see this in the paintings of people taking on the power and features of baboons, appearing alongside horses and cattle.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-bandit-slaves-and-the-rock-art-of-resistance-165107">South Africa's bandit slaves and the rock art of resistance</a>
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<p>Horses, the magical vehicles of violence, passage and escape, were kept and cared for by their new owners – the raider groups. They painted themselves in scenes before, during and after raids, not as a diary entry but as part of the [<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sam-Challis/publication/280623828_Re-tribe_and_resist_the_ethnogenesis_of_a_creolised_raiding_band_in_response_to_colonisation/links/5efb0cf6299bf18816f37af0/Re-tribe-and-resist-the-ethnogenesis-of-a-creolised-raiding-band-in-response-to-colonisation.pdf">ritual</a>] of ensuring the outcome was favourable and the memory made positive. </p>
<p>We can now see changes in rock art, from “traditional” animals like rhebok and eland, to those showing rain bulls being killed, rain snakes captured, people with shields and spears, or riding horses alongside baboons, <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/722260">in a new light</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198812/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sam Challis receives funding from the South African NRF African Origins Platform and is a member of the Bradshaw Foundation Rock Art Network</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brent Sinclair-Thomson received funding for this research from the South African National Research Foundation African Origins Platform. </span></em></p>Changes in southern African rock art reflect the mixing of groups of people after they came into contact with each other.Sam Challis, Senior Researcher, University of the WitwatersrandBrent Sinclair-Thomson, Support staff, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1867292023-02-03T13:46:44Z2023-02-03T13:46:44ZNative Americans have experienced a dramatic decline in life expectancy during the COVID-19 pandemic – but the drop has been in the making for generations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498814/original/file-20221204-56201-iupj03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5292%2C2981&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Indigenous patients who live in rural areas often have limited access to medical care. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/intense-navajo-man-portrait-in-monument-valley-utah-royalty-free-image/1434301879">THE PALMER/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Six and one-half years.</p>
<p>That’s the decline in life expectancy that the COVID-19 pandemic wrought upon American Indians and Alaska Natives, based on an August 2022 <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr023.pdf">report from the National Center for Health Statistics</a>. </p>
<p>This astounding figure translates to an overall drop in average living years from 71.8 years in 2019 to 65.2 by the end of 2021.</p>
<p>Although the pandemic is a major reason for this decline, it’s not the whole story. Even before COVID-19 emerged, life expectancy for Indigenous men <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256307">was already five years lower</a> than for non-Hispanic white men in the United States.</p>
<p><iframe id="Mr8hc" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Mr8hc/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>The grim reality</h2>
<p>As a <a href="https://und.edu/directory/allison.kelliher">Native American physician and board-certified M.D.</a>, I am all too familiar with the health challenges that Indigenous Americans face. </p>
<p>Growing up in remote rural Alaska as a member of the <a href="https://www.alaskan-natives.com/637/koyukuk-native-village/">Koyukon Athabascan tribe</a>, I heard stories of how infectious diseases like flu, smallpox and tuberculosis threatened our survival. My cultural group descends from three families that survived the <a href="https://theconversation.com/1918-flu-pandemic-upended-long-standing-social-inequalities-at-least-for-a-time-new-study-finds-195718">1918 flu pandemic</a>. </p>
<p>This history inspired me to become a traditional healer. Along with my training in Western medicine, I have also studied <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurpra.2010.03.016">plant-based medicine and earth-based science</a>, which was taught to me by my elders – practitioners who passed down thousands of years of accumulated knowledge to me. </p>
<p>Through both my medical and traditional practices, I have learned there are many reasons for the decline in life expectancy and the divide between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health outcomes. But this gap – if the government and the medical system will act – can be narrowed. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SM8WZ0ztMuc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">“Young and Native American,” a short documentary produced by BBC News.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Poverty, unemployment and lack of health care</h2>
<p>American Indians and Alaska Natives die from diabetes at <a href="https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=33">more than twice the rate of non-Indigenous populations</a>. A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows Native Americans have <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6747a4.htm#">significantly higher rates of obesity</a>, high blood pressure, cancers and general poor health status than other Americans. The suicide rate in Indigenous communities is <a href="https://www.nicoa.org/national-american-indian-and-alaska-native-hope-for-life-day/">about 43% higher</a> than that of non-Indigenous communities. And Native American women <a href="https://vawnet.org/sc/gender-based-violence-and-intersecting-challenges-impacting-native-american-alaskan-village-1">experience sexual violence far more often</a> than non-Hispanic white women.</p>
<p>There are many reasons for these disparities. For starters: Native Americans have the highest poverty rate among all minority groups, <a href="https://ncrc.org/racial-wealth-snapshot-native-americans/">perhaps as high as 25%</a>. </p>
<p>Unemployment among American Indians and Alaska Natives in <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/11/01/native-american-unemployment-rate-near-record-low/10652104002/">November 2022 was 6.2%</a>, compared to <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2022/unemployment-rate-3-7-percent-in-november-2022.htm">3.7% in the general population</a>. Many Indigenous people, working only seasonally, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/race-and-ethnicity/2020/">are also woefully underemployed</a>. </p>
<p>American Indians and Alaska Natives are also <a href="https://med.und.edu/publications/biennial-report/_files/docs/sixth-biennial-report.pdf">underserved in the U.S. health care system</a>. The <a href="https://www.ihs.gov/">Indian Health Service</a> – the federal agency that provides medical care to Indigenous Americans – is funded at about US$6 billion per year. That translated to only <a href="https://www.nihb.org/docs/09072022/FY%202024%20Tribal%20Budget%20Formulation%20Workgroup%20Recommendations.pdf">$4,078 per person in 2021</a>. </p>
<p>The result is that there are fewer physicians, nurses and therapists seeing Indigenous patients, particularly those who live in rural areas. Those providing care have fewer technologies available to them, such as MRI and ultrasound machines, to help diagnose and treat disease earlier. Such shortages mean <a href="https://med.und.edu/publications/biennial-report/_files/docs/sixth-biennial-report.pdf">less access to either primary or emergency care</a>, which contributes to lower life expectancy.</p>
<h2>Historical trauma</h2>
<p>A shaky health care system is only part of the problem. <a href="https://theconversation.com/effects-of-childhood-adversity-linger-during-college-years-163157">Adverse childhood experiences</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/brain-scans-of-black-women-who-experience-racism-show-trauma-like-effects-putting-them-at-higher-risk-for-future-health-problems-165511">social marginalization </a> and toxic, relentless stress also contribute to shorter lives.</p>
<p>Then there are the effects of <a href="https://tpcjournal.nbcc.org/examining-the-theory-of-historical-trauma-among-native-americans/#:%7E">unresolved historical trauma</a> – the cumulative <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2020.110263">emotional and psychological trauma within a specific group</a> that spans generations. </p>
<p>This kind of collective trauma cannot be overstated. A growing body of evidence <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2011.628913?">is documenting its effects on Indigenous people</a>. Historical trauma <a href="https://ssw.smith.edu/about/news-events/dr-maria-yellow-horse-brave-heart-returns-smith-give-rapoport-lecture">can produce physiological stress</a>, striking not just individual people, but entire families. There is recent evidence to suggest that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14091074">the body’s stress response</a> has caused epigenetic changes – meaning <a href="https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01419">changes in gene expression caused by the environment</a> – in Native Americans that can affect one’s health even before birth. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Historical trauma and racism continue to contribute to the health disparities experienced by Native Americans.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To this day, the U.S. government has consistently created policies that sanctioned inequality – actions that have likely contributed <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr023.pdf">to the historical trauma and health disparities</a> present today. American Indian and Alaska Native communities have suffered from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01466">disease, war, internment and starvation</a> for centuries.</p>
<p>Not only were Indigenous people displaced <a href="https://guides.loc.gov/indian-removal-act#:">from the lands that were once our home</a>, the U.S. government even made it <a href="https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1053/american-indian-religious-freedom-act-of-1978-as-amended-in-1994">illegal for us to practice their traditions</a>. Throughout most of the 20th century, the U.S. government placed Indigenous children into <a href="https://theconversation.com/christianity-was-a-major-part-of-indigenous-boarding-schools-a-historian-whose-family-survived-them-explains-187339">boarding schools that separated them from their families</a>.</p>
<h2>Breaking the cycle</h2>
<p>It’s clear that Indigenous communities need new or upgraded hospitals and clinics, more and better diagnostic technology, more specialty services in dental care, obstetrics, pediatrics and oncology, and more alcohol and substance abuse treatment programs. </p>
<p>There is some good news: The Biden administration’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/11/15/fact-sheet-one-year-into-implementation-of-bipartisan-infrastructure-law-biden-%E2%81%A0harris-administration-celebrates-major-progress-in-building-a-better-america/">2022 infrastructure bill</a> makes $13 billion available <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Bipartisan-Infrastructure-Law-Tribal-Playbook-053122-.pdf">to address some of these needs</a> for Native American tribes. And an additional <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-11/how-native-tribes-are-using-20-billion-in-pandemic-aid">$20 billion appropriation for COVID-19 relief</a> will also provide help for some of the most immediate challenges.</p>
<p>But even with this aid, there is still a funding gap. The <a href="https://www.nihb.org/">National Indian Health Board</a>, a nonprofit advocacy group representing federally recognized tribes, recommends a commitment of $48 billion for the 2024 fiscal year <a href="https://www.nihb.org/docs/09072022/FY%202024%20Tribal%20Budget%20Formulation%20Workgroup%20Recommendations.pdf">to fully fund the health needs of Indigenous people</a>. The current budget, $9.3 billion, <a href="https://www.ihs.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/2022-press-releases/statement-from-ihs-acting-director-elizabeth-fowler-on-the-presidents-fiscal-year-2023-budget/#:">is less than one-fifth of that</a>. </p>
<p>The recent increases in funding are certainly a step in the right direction. But the factors contributing to the shorter lives of Native Americans started generations ago, and they are still reverberating among the youngest of us today. </p>
<p>Both from a professional standpoint – as well as one that is very personal to me and my ancestors – more work in this area cannot come soon enough.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186729/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Allison Kelliher receives funding from NSF EPSCoR and NIDA. </span></em></p>Unrelenting poverty, underemployment and historical trauma all contribute to the health challenges faced by Indigenous Americans.Allison Kelliher, Assistant Professor, Department of Family & Community Medicine, University of North DakotaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.