Native Americans discuss ethnicity and politics in Boston

Jeanne Guillemin. Urban Renegades: The Cultural Strategy of American Indians. New York: Columbia University Press, 1975. viii + 336 pp. Map and index. $10.95.     

试论美国土著民族反对印第安人新政的原因

20世纪30年代的印第安人新政为了维护印第安人的利益、文化和传统,力图实现美国印第安人政策从同化到土著民族自治的转变。然而令人奇怪的是,印第安人新政却遭到美国土著民族的诸多强烈反对。究其原因可以归结为印第安人新政存在三大矛盾(1)印第安人新政的思想基础与被同化印第安人理念之间的矛盾;(2)印第安人新政的政策载体与印第安人传统习俗之间的矛盾;(3)印第安人新政的政策效果与印第安人的期望之间的矛盾。     

Prehistory of Native Americans on the Central American Land Bridge: Colonization,Dispersal, and Divergence

The Central American land bridge has served as a passageway for animals and humans moving between North and South America. Nevertheless, after the first waves of human immigration at the end of the Pleistocene, contact between the native peoples who remained on this isthmus and other peoples living in continental areas where civilization ultimately developed, is characterized, according to the field record, by the transfer of crops, technologies, and goods, until ca.1400 BP when speakers of Mesoamerican languages occupied the northwestern edge (Gran Nicoya). The ancestors of modern-day speakers of Chibchan and Chocoan languages underwent social and cultural diversification mostly within the confines of the land bridge. Some Precolumbian residents altered vegetation immediately after first arrival at least 11,000 years ago, and began to add domesticated crops to their subsistence inventory between 9000 and 7000 BP. Maize and manioc (or cassava), domesticated outside the land bridge, were introduced in Preceramic times, early in the period between 7000 and 4500 BP, and gradually dominated regional agriculture as they became more productive, and as human populations increased and spread into virgin areas. Diversity in material culture is visible ca. 6000 BP, and becomes more apparent after the introduction of pottery ca. 4500 BP. By 2000 BP culture areas with distinctive artifact inventories are discernible. Between 2500 and 1300 BP hierarchies among regions, sites, social groups, and individuals point to the establishment of chiefdoms whose elite members came to demand large numbers of costume and sumptuary goods. A few special centers with stone sculptures and low-scale architecture served a social universe larger than the chiefdom, such as clusters of recently fissioned social groups with memories of a common heritage. Social interactions on the land bridge, endowed with productive bottomlands, highland valleys, and coastal habitats, appear always to have been strongest among neighboring groups.     

Authenticity in tourism and Native Title: Place,time and spatial politics in the East Kimberley

This study examines the concepts of authenticity involved in the production and consumption of tourist experiences in the East Kimberley region of northern Australia. It contrasts the notions of authenticity produced in this domain with those produced in the legal context of indigenous land claims made through the Native Title process (Native Title Act 1993) in Australia. Our aim in making this comparison is to develop a deeper understanding of how the place-images of tourism relate to the politics of land use and land tenure in the East Kimberley. Environment and Aboriginal culture are the two unique aspects of northern Australia most commonly commodified by the tourism industry. We concentrate on relationships between the tourism industry and Aboriginal culture in the East Kimberley using the term 'Aboriginal cultural tourism' to denote the packaging of Aboriginal culture for tourist consumption. We describe experiences and expectations of tourists, tourism operators and Aboriginal people from the Miriuwung and Gajerrong groups regarding Aboriginal cultural tourism. Drawing on a multi-method approach that includes interviews, field observations and survey techniques we examine how ideas of authenticity are formed and promoted and their potential for change. We then compare and contrast ideas of authentic Aboriginal culture produced within the tourism industry with those produced within a Native Title claim. Interrogated in this way, the concept of authenticity is interpreted as a socially constructed value that provides a means to understanding how Aboriginal cultural tourism and tourism more generally connects with broader spatial politics. Cette étude examine les concepts d'authenticité impliqués dans la production et consommation d'expériences touristiques dans la région de Kimberley Est, située dans le Nord de l'Australie. Elle compare les notions d'authenticité issues de ce domaine avec celle produites dans le contexte légal de revendications territoriales aborigènes, menées selon le processus de Status Aborigène (Native Title Act 1993) en Australie. Par cette comparaison, notre but dans est de développer une meilleure compréhension de la façon dont les images touristiques locales sont reliées aux débats politiques concernant la propriété et l'utilisation du sol dans la région de Kimberley Est. L'environnement et la culture aborigène sont les deux aspects uniques du Nord de l'Australie les plus couramment appropriés par l'industrie touristique. Nous nous concentrons sur les relations entre l'industrie touristique et la culture aborigène en utilisant le terme 'tourisme culturel aborigène' afin de dénoter comment la culture aborigène est présentée pour fins de consommation touristique. Nous décrivons les expériences et attentes des touristes, des guides et des aborigènes appartenant aux groupes Miriuwung et Gajerrong envers ce tourisme culturel aborigène. A partir d'une approche multiple incluant entrevues, observations de terrain et différentes techniques d'enquête, nous examinons comment s'effectue la formation et promotion du concept d'authenticité et nous analysons son potentiel de changement. Nous comparons et contrastons ensuite l'idée d'une authenticité culturelle aborigène émergeant de l'industrie touristique avec celle produite par le biais de revendication du Statut Aborigène. Dans cette approche, le concept d'authenticité est envisagé comme étant le résultat d'un processus social capable d'ouvrir des voies d'analyse sur les façons dont le tourisme culturel aborigène, et le tourisme en général, est relié à une politique de l'espace beaucoup plus large. Esta investigación examina los conceptos de autenticidad que corresponden a la producción y el consumo de experiencias turísticas en la región de East Kimberley en el norte de Australia. Compara las nociones de autenticidad producidas en este campo con aquellas producidas en el contexto legal de las reclamaciones de tierra indígena realizadas por el proceso de Título Nativo (Native Title Act 1993) en Australia. Con esta comparación pretendemos llegar a una comprensión más amplia de cómo las imágenes turísticas del lugar encajan con las políticas de uso de tierra y de tenencia de tierra en el East Kimberley. El medio ambiente y la cultura aborígena son los dos aspectos únicos del norte de Australia más frecuentemente mercanceados para el turismo. Enfocamos en la relación entre la industria turística y la cultura aborígena en el East Kimberley, utilizando el término 'turismo cultural aborígena' para indicar el empacamiento de la cultura aborígena para consumo turístico. Describimos las experiencias y las expectativas de turistas, operadores de viajes y gente aborígena de los grupos Miriuwung y Gajerrong con respecto al turismo cultural aborígena. Haciendo uso de entrevistas, observaciones del campo y encuestas analizamos cómo las ideas de autenticidad son formadas y fomentadas y su potencia para efectuar cambios. Después comparamos las ideas de lo que es la auténtica cultura aborígena generadas en la indústria turística con las ideas producidas en una reclamación de Título Nativo. Así interrogado, el concepto de autenticidad es interpretado como un valor de construcción social que nos ayuda a entender como el turismo cultural aborígena, y el turismo en general, enlaza con una política de espacio más amplia.     

Power,politics and business

The study of business and politics is attracting new interest, perhaps due to changing configurations of power in Western societies undergoing rapid but uneven structural and cultural change. Previous debates have demonstrated the inadequacy of the pressure group model, primarily because of its insensitivity to the socio‐economic foundations of power and the significance of the cultural context. This paper reviews the approach proposed by Charles E. Lindblom's Politics and Markets, examines some attempts to refine that approach and advances some criticisms of a general methodological nature. It is suggested that neo‐marxist perspectives are more likely than post‐pluralist ones to be able to comprehend the articulation of agency and context, or behaviour and structure. A concluding section points to the relative paucity of Australian work on business and politics, notes the contributions of Connell and Irving and Tsokhas, and suggests that the increasingly important and volatile field of banking and finance has been especially neglected.     

Lords,settlers and shifting frontiers in medieval Catalonia

This article examines how settler conditions on formerly Muslim-ruled land in the area known as New Catalonia (in north-eastern Iberia) changed as the territory was consolidated by Christian landlords and migrants from the north, and increasingly buffered from the border with Islam by conquests against Muslim Valencia over several generations following its conquest in the mid-twelfth century. Most landlords responded to the conditions of the local land market, but there is little evidence that the region as a whole, or even favourable sub-markets, experienced a straightforward trajectory from liberal to heavier tenant obligations. While lords in Old Catalonia are known to have limited peasant mobility from the later twelfth century in order to diminish an exodus to territory with more franchises in New Catalonia, lords in New Catalonia from the early thirteenth century were not able to respond to a similar extent to the territorial offerings in northern Valencia. Their overall ability to erode or reformulate exemptions and other privileges was checked by customary practice, insufficient settlement density and increased regulation which accompanied a rise in royal administrative capacity.     

Dental evolution in prehistoric Native Americans of the Ohio valley area. I. Wear and pathology

Temporal patterns of tooth wear rates (loss of crown height) and dental pathologies (caries, abscess, and tooth loss) are estimated for 40 Native American populations of the upper Ohio River valley area ranging in time from the Late Archaic (ca. 3500 years BP ) to Protohistoric times (ca. 350 years BP ). Within this time span three ‘dental cultural ecological environments’ are recognized: high rates of wear, low frequencies of pathology (Late Archaic), low rates of wear, low frequencies of pathologies (Woodland, ca. 2500–1000 years BP ), and low rates of wear and high frequencies of pathologies (Late Prehistoric, ca. post-1000 years BP ). Phenotypic selection acting to maintain tooth size is associated with pre-ceramic, hunter–fisher–gatherers in the first dental environment. The introduction and development of ceramics at the end of the Late Archaic is associated with significant reduction in tooth wear rates and reduction in size of maxillary teeth, most likely due to selection. From at least the Middle Woodland period (ca. 2000 years BP ) to the end of the time sequence considered, tooth size in Ohio Valley Native Americans was stable, with minor fluctuations due to genetic drift. At present there is no evidence that major changes in diet at the beginning of the Late Prehistoric period affected tooth size, even though the frequencies of dental pathologies increased dramatically. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lords,settlers and shifting frontiers in medieval Catalonia

This article examines how settler conditions on formerly Muslim-ruled land in the area known as New Catalonia (in north-eastern Iberia) changed as the territory was consolidated by Christian landlords and migrants from the north, and increasingly buffered from the border with Islam by conquests against Muslim Valencia over several generations following its conquest in the mid-twelfth century. Most landlords responded to the conditions of the local land market, but there is little evidence that the region as a whole, or even favourable sub-markets, experienced a straightforward trajectory from liberal to heavier tenant obligations. While lords in Old Catalonia are known to have limited peasant mobility from the later twelfth century in order to diminish an exodus to territory with more franchises in New Catalonia, lords in New Catalonia from the early thirteenth century were not able to respond to a similar extent to the territorial offerings in northern Valencia. Their overall ability to erode or reformulate exemptions and other privileges was checked by customary practice, insufficient settlement density and increased regulation which accompanied a rise in royal administrative capacity.     

Environmental science, sustainability and politics

Research evidence and pleas that humans are undermining their own survival on a robust and unforgiving planet seem to be falling on deaf ears. The drive for economic and military security remains more powerful than the evidence that both of these objectives are being undermined by environmental damage, social disruption, unjust treatment and forced migration. Yet the signs are growing that environmentally and socially sound futures may be vital prerequisites for economic and military stability. So, at the heart of multi-nationalism, sustainable development is beginning to be recognized as a crucial element in reliable international agreements. The consequence of all this is that environmental science has become highly political, and geographers need to recognize and work within an expanding political process. Examples of new forms of governing via sustainability science for sustainable futures are offered in the latter part of the paper, especially at local government level. The antagonistic pressures of established power and economic hegemony are never far away. Indeed, the confirmation of these established patterns of power still pervades the politics of environmental science. But it is possible that these antagonistic political frameworks are beginning to be transcended by the more influential aspects of sustainability partnerships incorporating new arrangements between government, private capital and civil associations. These partnerships will not be easy to create, for they criss-cross boundaries of familiarity and rules of operation. But geographers can play a critical role in helping to shape them and assess the best circumstances for ensuring their success.     

Frail hope and new frontiers

This guest editorial takes as its starting point the 2021 guest editorial in ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY on the anthropology of blockchain written by Kosmarski and Gordiychuk, in which they discussed the possibilities of blockchain in terms of a ‘frail hope of novel, weird, grassroots, decentralized forms of social life’. They also argued that blockchain brought us to ‘new frontiers’ in politics, economics, capital, votes and subjective feelings. Two years later, in this 2023 guest editorial, the authors take stock of where blockchain technology stands concerning these ‘frail hopes’ and ‘new frontiers’. They distinguish between three articulations of blockchain imaginaries: blockchain-as-discourse, blockchain-as-sociotechnical assemblage and blockchain-as-spectacle. Then, they explore what blockchain means for capital, and whether we are headed towards mass adoption of blockchain technology, concluding that, for now, they see primarily institutional adoption. The authors also discern parallel institutional structures, with traditional finance on one side and blockchain-enabled crypto finance on the other, and they examine the regulated future of crypto assets.     

A question of blood, race, and politics

This article explores the political and intellectual context of a controversy arising from a proposal made at the 1959 meetings of the American Society of Blood Banks to divide the blood supply by race. The authors, a group of blood-bankers and surgeons in New York, outlined difficulties in finding compatible blood for transfusion during open-heart surgery, which they attributed to prior sensitization of their patient, a Caucasian, by a previous transfusion from an African American donor. Examining the statistical distribution of blood-group antigens among the various races, they concluded that risk of adverse hemolytic reactions and the cost of testing could be reduced by establishing separate donor pools. The media reported the suggestion, which, given the political climate of the day, rapidly became a public issue involving geneticists, blood-bankers, physical anthropologists, and the African American medical community. Liberals condemned it, whereas eugenically inclined segregationists used the finding to support their views concerning evolutionary distance between the races and the dangers of miscegenation. Here we examine the contribution of comparative racial serology to this affair, the arguments and background of the main players, and the relevance of the debate to discussions about the role of "race" in post-genomic medicine.     

Immigration, the internet, and spaces of politics

This paper examines the kinds of politics that are enabled by the Internet with respect to immigrants to the United States; its primary concern is whether the political spaces created through the Internet can foster incorporation of immigrants in the political community or whether the political activity on the Internet seems likely to lead to a more fractionalized political community in which the position of immigrants remains marginal. This exploration is based first on a random sample of web-sites about immigration and second on a more targeted sample of sites aimed specifically at two immigrant groups. The analysis of web-sites indicates that there is a great deal of information about immigrants on the Internet, and that most of it seems to be directed to service providers, policy makers, and researchers. There is relatively little discussion by or about immigrants, and beyond a few notable sites, there is almost no sign of mobilization. To the extent that the Internet is used to create new political spaces, it may not be spaces for deliberation and discussion. Rather, the political spaces seem to be informational spaces in which the politics are not easily or directly read.

A-Awda, The Palestine Right to return Coalition, is a broad-based, non-partisan, global, democratic association of grassroots activists and organizational representatives. Our objective is to educate the international community to fulfill its legal and moral obligations vis-à-vis the Palestinian people. Al-Awda develops, coordinates, supports and guides, as needed, global and local grassroots initiatives for action related to Palestinian rights. Al-Awda, http://www.al-awda.org as visited 11 July 2002.

“Why I won’t serve Sharon.”

“Maaad Abu-Ghazalah, Arab-American Candidate for US Congress, San Francisco.”

“A Statement on the ‘War on Terror’ from Prominent Americans.”

“What Bush Doesn’t Know about Palestine.”

“Memorial to 418 Palestinian Villages Which Were Destroyed.”

Headlines on Café Arabica, http://www.cafearabica.com as visited 11 July, 2002.

The Internet is widely heralded as opening spaces for a wide variety of politics and political voices. But as it is praised for its inclusiveness, it is also pilloried for enabling the fragmentation of political opinion without providing a forum in which common political ground can be identified or consensus achieved. In the former view, the Internet fosters greater inclusion in democratic debate and political community. In the latter view, it contributes to a weakening of the bonds that are necessary for a political community to reach consensus and to provide guidance for democratic governance.Consider the examples in the epigraph to the paper. Al-Awda is a political movement devoted to securing the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their families. It organizes marches and demonstrations in cities across the US and Western Europe. One reason for the apparent mismatch between the locations of the “problem” and of the “action” is that many – though by no means all – of the participants in the marches are immigrants from the Middle East or they are of Arab descent. While the organization is based in Massachusetts, most of the mobilization through it occurs on-line, and it is not clear that there is either a permanent staff or regular meetings, other than the marches. Café Arabica provides a venue for discussion of a wide range of topics related to Arab culture and politics. Much like the romanticized café society, discussion can be lively and seems to include a wide range of participants and viewpoints. Café Arabica includes an on-line discussion forum, again with many of the participants apparently either being from the Middle East or the descendants of immigrants from the region. It labels itself as an Arab-American on-line community.These two web-sites were not chosen at random. They both relate to immigrants – social groups that are often not able to participate in political discussion and debate in their host countries. As such, these sites exemplify both the possibilities and the limitations that commentators have identified when they discuss the Internet and its role in fostering political dialogue. Some people would see these sites as signs of a group that wants to use the political process in one country to influence events in another country. Some people will read these sites as a an indication that at least one immigrant group – if not all immigrants – refuse assimilation, which is the basis of incorporation into the American political community. Still others will view these sites as attempts to incorporate a set of political voices and agents into a more inclusive political community. This paper examines the use of the Internet in political debate and mobilization around immigrants in the United States. It considers the nature of political discussion on the Internet and the agents involved in it. The overarching concern is whether the Internet fosters a more inclusive political community or whether it leads to alternative political spaces that remain unincorporated with respect to the political community of the host society.The paper is organized in four sections. The first provides a background for the debates about immigrants, the Internet, and politics. The second section is an overview of the theoretical debates about the public sphere as a political space in which members of a polity can participate and the ways in which the Internet may transform that space. The third section highlights some of the key issues that condition migrants’ acceptance into a polity, focusing primarily on the United States. With these sections serving as background, the final section of the paper explores political discussion on the Internet by and about immigrants. This exploration is based first on a random sample of web-sites about immigration and second on a more targeted sample of sites aimed specifically at two immigrant groups. The goal in these examinations is to evaluate the extent to which the Internet can provide the basis of a political space in which issues related to the incorporation of immigrants can be debated or whether it is a space that fosters a more fractionalized politics unlikely to lead to greater political incorporation of immigrants.