Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledge: Cross-Cultural Perspectives

Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledge: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Robbie E. Davis-Floyd and Carolyn F. Sargent. eds., with. foreword by Rayna Rapp. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997 510 pp.     

Readings in African Popular Culture; Perspectives on Africa: A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation

Readings in African Popular Culture. Karin Barber. ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997.184 pp.
Perspectives on Africa:. Reader in Culture, History, and Representation. Roy R. Grinker and Christopher B. Steiner. eds. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1997.736 pp.     

The Gondwanan and South American Episodes: Two Major and Unrelated Moments in the History of the South American Mammals

The first steps in the history of South American mammals took place ca. 130 Ma., when the South American plate, still connected to the Antarctic Peninsula, began to drift away from the African-Indian plate. Most of the Mesozoic history of South American mammals is still unknown, and we only have a few enigmatic taxa (i.e., a Jurassic Australosphenida and an Early Cretaceous Prototribosphenida) that pose more evolutionary and biogeographic questions than answers. The best-known Mesozoic, South American land-mammal fossils are from Late Cretaceous Patagonian beds. These fossils represent the last survivors of non- and pre-tribosphenic Pangaean lineages, all of them with varying endemic features: some with few advanced features (e.g., ?Eutriconodonta and “Symmetrodonta”), some very diversified as endemic groups (e.g., ?Docodonta Reigitheriidae), and others representing vicariant types of well known Laurasian Mesozoic lineages (e.g., Gondwanatheria as vicariant of Multituberculata). These endemic mammals lived as relicts (although advanced) of pangeic lineages when a primordial South American continent was still connected to the Antarctic Peninsula and, at the northern extreme, near the North American Plate. By the beginning of the Late Cretaceous, the volcanic and diastrophic processes that finally led to the differentiation of the Caribbean region and Central America built up transient geographic connections that permitted the initiation of an overland inter-American exchange that included, for example, dinosaurian titanosaurs from South America and hadrosaurs from North America. The immigration of other vertebrates followed the same route, for example, polydolopimorphian marsupials. These marsupials were assumed to have differentiated in South America prior to new discoveries from the North American Late Cretaceous. The complete extinction of endemic South American Mesozoic mammals by the Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene, and the subsequent and in part coetaneous immigration of North American therians, respectively, represent two major moments in the history of South American mammals: a Gondwanan Episode and a South American Episode. The Gondwanan Episode was characterized by non- and pre-tribosphenic mammal lineages that descended from the Pangeic South American stage (but already with a pronounced Gondwanan accent, and wholly extinguished during the Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene span). The South American Episode, in turn, was characterized only by therian mammals, mostly emigrated from the North American continent and already with a South American accent obtained through isolation. The southernmost extreme of South America (Patagonia) remained connected to the present Antarctic Peninsula at least up until about 30 Ma., and both provided the substratum where the primordial cladogenesis of “South American” mammals occurred. The resulting cladogenesis of South American therian mammals followed Gould's motto: early experimentation, later standardization. That is to say, early cladogenesis engendered a great variety of taxa with scarce morphological differentiation. After this early cladogenesis (Late Eocene-Early Oligocene), the variety of taxa became reduced, but each lineage became clearly recognizable distinctive by a constant morphologic pattern. At the same time, those mammals that underwent the “early experimentation” were part of communities dominated by archaic lineages (e.g., brachydont types among the native “ungulates”), whereas the subsequent communities were dominated by mammals of markedly “modern” stamp (e.g., protohypsodont types among the native “ungulates”). The Gondwanan and South American Episodes were separated by a critical latest Cretaceous-earliest Paleocene hiatus, it is as unknown as it is important in which South American land-mammal communities must have experienced extinction of the Gondwanan mammals and the arrival and radiation of the North American marsupials and placentals (with the probable exception of the xenarthrans, whose biogeographic origin is still unclear).     

Epithelial crypts: A complex and enigmatic olfactory organ in African and South American lungfish (Lepidosireniformes,Dipnoi)

African lungfish (Protopterus ) seem unique among osteognathostomes in possessing a potential vomeronasal organ homolog in form of accessory epithelial crypts within their nasal cavity. Many details regarding structural and functional properties of these crypts are still unexplored. In this study, we reinvestigate the issue and also present the first data on epithelial crypts in the South American lungfish Lepidosiren paradoxa . The nasal cavities of L. paradoxa and Protopterus annectens were studied using histology, scanning electron microscopy, and alcian blue and PAS staining. In both species, the epithelial crypts consist of a pseudostratified sensory epithelium and a monolayer of elongated glandular cells, in accordance with previously published data on Protopterus . In addition, we found a new second and anatomically distinct type of mucous cell within the duct leading into the crypt. These glandular duct cells are PAS positive, whereas the elongated glandular cells are stainable with alcian blue, suggesting distinct functions of their respective secretions. Furthermore, the two lungfish species show differently structured crypt sensory epithelia and external crypt morphology, with conspicuous bilaterally symmetrical stripes of ciliated cells in L. paradoxa . Taken together, our data suggest that stimulus transport into the crypts involves both ciliary movement and odorant binding mucus.     

The Impact of Traditional Lifestyle, Provenance and Contact History on Plant Use Knowledge and Management: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Two Small-Scale Societies from the Bolivian Amazon

It is well known that ethnobotanical knowledge can vary significantly among societies. However, it often remains difficult to fully capture the factors underlying differences in perceptions of usefulness. A quantitative ethnobotanical study was conducted in Indigenous Territory and National Park Isiboro-Sécure (TIPNIS), Bolivia, to compare the plant use knowledge and management of the Yuracarés and Trinitarios, two indigenous groups that share the same living environment. Results show that the Trinitarios have higher knowledge of plants from anthropogenic environments and maintain a significantly larger pharmacopoeia than the Yuracarés. By contrast, the Yuracarés are more knowledgeable of wild flora and particularly excel in their knowledge of wild food plants. I relate these differences to: (1) cultural heritage, customs and practices; (2) ethnomedicinal system; (3) (historical) mode of subsistence; (4) provenance; (5) history of contact with Western society; and (6) modernization and social position. I argue that although contemporary Yuracarés are semi-sedentary, their plant use knowledge and management reflect their previous semi-nomadic foraging lifestyle. Similarly, Trinitarios’ current plant use knowledge and management reflects their legacy of having developed one of the most advanced pre-Colombian agricultural societies in the tree savannahs of Moxos.     

Young Children's Probability of Dying Before and After Their Mother's Death: A Rural South African Population-Based Surveillance Study

Background

There is evidence that a young child''s risk of dying increases following the mother''s death, but little is known about the risk when the mother becomes very ill prior to her death. We hypothesized that children would be more likely to die during the period several months before their mother''s death, as well as for several months after her death. Therefore we investigated the relationship between young children''s likelihood of dying and the timing of their mother''s death and, in particular, the existence of a critical period of increased risk.

Methods and Findings

Data from a health and socio-demographic surveillance system in rural South Africa were collected on children 0–5 y of age from 1 January 1994 to 31 December 2008. Discrete time survival analysis was used to estimate children''s probability of dying before and after their mother''s death, accounting for moderators. 1,244 children (3% of sample) died from 1994 to 2008. The probability of child death began to rise 6–11 mo prior to the mother''s death and increased markedly during the 2 mo immediately before the month of her death (odds ratio [OR] 7.1 [95% CI 3.9–12.7]), in the month of her death (OR 12.6 [6.2–25.3]), and during the 2 mo following her death (OR 7.0 [3.2–15.6]). This increase in the probability of dying was more pronounced for children whose mothers died of AIDS or tuberculosis compared to other causes of death, but the pattern remained for causes unrelated to AIDS/tuberculosis. Infants aged 0–6 mo at the time of their mother''s death were nine times more likely to die than children aged 2–5 y. The limitations of the study included the lack of knowledge about precisely when a very ill mother will die, a lack of information about child nutrition and care, and the diagnosis of AIDS deaths by verbal autopsy rather than serostatus.

Conclusions

Young children in lower income settings are more likely to die not only after their mother''s death but also in the months before, when she is seriously ill. Interventions are urgently needed to support families both when the mother becomes very ill and after her death. Please see later in the article for the Editors'' Summary     

From Types to Populations: A Century of Race, Physical Anthropology, and the American Anthropological Association

In the 1960s, U.S. physical anthropology underwent a period of introspection that marked a change from the old physical anthropology that was largely race based to the new physical anthropology, espoused by Washburn and others for over a decade, which incorporated the evolutionary biology of the modern synthesis. What actually changed? What elements of the race concept have been rejected, and what elements have persisted, influencing physical anthropology today? In this article, I examine both the scientific and social influences on physical anthropology that caused changes in the race concept, in particular the influence of the American Anthropological Association. The race concept is complicated but entails three attributes: essentialism, cladistic thinking, and biological determinism. These attributes have not all been discarded; while biological determinism and its social implications have been questioned since the inception of the field, essentialism and the concomitant rendering of populations as clades persists as a legacy of the race concept. [Keywords: race, essentialism, physical anthropology]     

Ecology and Impacts of the Invasive Species, Lantana camara, in a Social-Ecological System in South India: Perspectives from Local Knowledge

We explored how the forest-dwelling Soliga community of South India views and explains biological invasions, and how local knowledge can inform scientific knowledge on biological invasions. We used an interview schedule with open-ended questions to solicit Soliga opinion on Lantana camara (lantana) invasion. The Soliga cited three reasons for lantana spread: its prolific fruit output and wide seed dispersal, change in fire management, and historical extraction of grass and bamboo. The Soliga believe that lantana invasion has had negative effects on the ecosystem and their livelihoods. Tabling scientific knowledge with local knowledge has improved our understanding of lantana invasion. The role of existing lantana in colonizing neighboring areas, and the response of native tree communities to lantana were common to both local and scientific sources. However, the Soliga view provides a more nuanced perspective of the lantana-fire relationship (contextually based on lantana density) with fires suppressing lantana when lantana density was low. This is contrary to views held by foresters and biologists, that fires are uniformly detrimental and promote lantana. Our study shows that examining Soliga observations has improved understanding of the invasion process and presents avenues for future lantana management.     

A layover stop in the African American great migration: identity,ruination, and memory

Gone Home challenges dominant representations of Appalachia as white, placing in the foreground the life histories of African Americans who hail from the coalfields of eastern Kentucky. The book reveals how mass migration shapes subjectivities, examining two generations of African Americans who migrated into and out of the coalfields between 1910 and 1970. The coalfields were a layover stop in an intergenerational migration from the rural South to urban centres in the North, Midwest, and West. This review reflects on the significance of the layover stop, both empirically and conceptually. One of the key contributions of Gone Home is to show how the layover stop was important not only in terms of time and place, but also in terms of collective identity. The review concludes by reflecting on interconnected themes of industrial ruination and intergenerational memory.     

The Chrysanthemum and the Song: Music, Memory and Identity in the South American Japanese Diaspora; Strangers in the Ethnic Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Return Migration in Transnational Perspective

The Chrysanthemum and the Song: Music, Memory and Identity in the South American Japanese Diaspora . Dale A. Olsen. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2004. 323 pp.
Strangers in the Ethnic Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Return Migration in Transnational Perspective . Takeyuki Tsuda. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003. 431 pp.     

Naturalists and Natural History Institutions of the American West: A Preview

SYNOPSIS. The nineteenth century was a time of active explorationof the American West. This symposium details the individualsand institutions that initiated the natural history studiesassociated with the accumulation of the geographic informationand relates the natural history studies to the growth and developmentof science and the scientific community.     

Emotion Socialization and Ethnicity: An Examination of Practices and Outcomes in African American,Asian American,and Latin American Families

The current review paper summarizes the literature on parental emotionsocialization in ethnically diverse families in the United States. Models ofemotion socialization have been primarily developed using samples of EuropeanAmerican parents and children. As such, current categorizations of “adaptive”and “maladaptive” emotion socialization practices may not be applicable toindividuals from different ethnic backgrounds. The review examines currentmodels of emotion socialization, with particular attention paid to thedemographic breakdown of the studies used to develop these models. Additionally,the review highlights studies examining emotion socialization practices inAfrican American, Asian American, and Latin American families. The review issynthesized with summarizing themes of similarities and differences acrossethnic groups, and implications for culturally sensitive research and practiceare discussed.     

A South American Prehistoric Mitogenome: Context,Continuity, and the Origin of Haplogroup C1d

Based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), it has been estimated that at least 15 founder haplogroups peopled the Americas. Subhaplogroup C1d3 was defined based on the mitogenome of a living individual from Uruguay that carried a lineage previously identified in hypervariable region I sequences from ancient and modern Uruguayan individuals. When complete mitogenomes were studied, additional substitutions were found in the coding region of the mitochondrial genome. Using a complete ancient mitogenome and three modern mitogenomes, we aim to clarify the ancestral state of subhaplogroup C1d3 and to better understand the peopling of the region of the Río de la Plata basin, as well as of the builders of the mounds from which the ancient individuals were recovered. The ancient mitogenome, belonging to a female dated to 1,610±46 years before present, was identical to the mitogenome of one of the modern individuals. All individuals share the mutations defining subhaplogroup C1d3. We estimated an age of 8,974 (5,748–12,261) years for the most recent common ancestor of C1d3, in agreement with the initial peopling of the geographic region. No individuals belonging to the defined lineage were found outside of Uruguay, which raises questions regarding the mobility of the prehistoric inhabitants of the country. Moreover, the present study shows the continuity of Native lineages over at least 6,000 years.