Lexical Acculturation in Native American Languages

Lexical Acculturation in Native American Languages. Cecil H. Brown. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 259 pp.     

Y chromosome polymorphisms in Native American and Siberian populations: identification of Native American Y chromosome haplotypes

We have initiated a study of ancient male migrations from Siberia to the Americas using Y chromosome polymorphisms. The first polymorphism examined, a C→T transition at nucleotide position 181 of the DYS199 locus, was previously reported only in Native American populations. To investigate the origin of this DYS199 polymorphism, we screened Y chromosomes from a number of Siberian, Asian, and Native American populations for this and other markers. This survey detected the T allele in all five Native American populations studied at an average frequency of 61%, and in two of nine native Siberian populations, the Siberian Eskimo (21%) and the Chukchi (17%). This finding suggested that the DYS199 T allele may have originated in Beringia and was then spread throughout the New World by the founding populations of the major subgroups of modern Native Americans. We further characterized Native American Y chromosome variation by analyzing two additional Y chromosome polymorphisms, the DYS287 Y Alu polymorphic (YAP) element insertion and a YAP-associated A→G transition at DYS271, both commonly found in Africans. We found neither African allele associated with the DYS199 T allele in any of the Native American or native Siberian populations. However, we did find DYS287 YAP+ individuals who harbored the DYS199 C allele in one Native American population, the Mixe, and in one Asian group, the Tibetans. A correlation of these Y chromosome alleles in Native Americans with those of the DYS1 locus, as detected by the p49a/p49f (p49a,f) probes on TaqI-digested genomic DNA, revealed a complete association of DYS1 alleles (p49a,f haplotypes) 13, 18, 66, 67 and 69 with the DYS199 T allele, while DYS1 alleles 8 and 63 were associated with both the DYS199 C and T allele. Received: 18 November 1996 / Accepted: 19 May 1997     

Cahokia: The Great Native American Metropolis

Cahokia: The Great Native American Metropolis. Biloine Whiting Young and Melvin L. Fowler. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2000. 366 pp.     

Native American Sovereignty and Natural Resource Management

The relationship between Native Americans and the Euro-American settlers has evolved from the latter seeking to end the separate identity of the former to one in which the U.S. government uses Native rights to control large-scale resource problems. This new relationship arose out of a need to control water in Western states for irrigation, but has expanded into other areas. The Navajo sheep reductions of the 1930s and 1940s may be seen as an instance of this relationship. Concerns about siltation behind the Hoover Dam justified a program that dramatically transformed the Navajo economy. A second case concerns conflict over a caribou herd in northwestern Alaska. The conflict eventually led to the Federal government taking management of fish and game on Federal lands back from the state government. Both these cases show the development of a technocracy, based on Federal trusteeship over Native resources, concerned with the control of nature similar to that observed in Wittfogel's writings on Chinese irrigation.     

Team Spirits: The Native American Mascot Controversy

Team Spirits: The Native American Mascot Controversy. C. Richard King and Charles Fruehling Springwood. eds. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001. 356 pp.     

Native American Admixture in the Quebec Founder Population

For years, studies of founder populations and genetic isolates represented the mainstream of genetic mapping in the effort to target genetic defects causing Mendelian disorders. The genetic homogeneity of such populations as well as relatively homogeneous environmental exposures were also seen as primary advantages in studies of genetic susceptibility loci that underlie complex diseases. European colonization of the St-Lawrence Valley by a small number of settlers, mainly from France, resulted in a founder effect reflected by the appearance of a number of population-specific disease-causing mutations in Quebec. The purported genetic homogeneity of this population was recently challenged by genealogical and genetic analyses. We studied one of the contributing factors to genetic heterogeneity, early Native American admixture that was never investigated in this population before. Consistent admixture estimates, in the order of one per cent, were obtained from genome-wide autosomal data using the ADMIXTURE and HAPMIX software, as well as with the fastIBD software evaluating the degree of the identity-by-descent between Quebec individuals and Native American populations. These genomic results correlated well with the genealogical estimates. Correlations are imperfect most likely because of incomplete records of Native founders’ origin in genealogical data. Although the overall degree of admixture is modest, it contributed to the enrichment of the population diversity and to its demographic stratification. Because admixture greatly varies among regions of Quebec and among individuals, it could have significantly affected the homogeneity of the population, which is of importance in mapping studies, especially when rare genetic susceptibility variants are in play.     

Beringian standstill and spread of Native American founders

Native Americans derive from a small number of Asian founders who likely arrived to the Americas via Beringia. However, additional details about the initial colonization of the Americas remain unclear. To investigate the pioneering phase in the Americas we analyzed a total of 623 complete mtDNAs from the Americas and Asia, including 20 new complete mtDNAs from the Americas and seven from Asia. This sequence data was used to direct high-resolution genotyping from 20 American and 26 Asian populations. Here we describe more genetic diversity within the founder population than was previously reported. The newly resolved phylogenetic structure suggests that ancestors of Native Americans paused when they reached Beringia, during which time New World founder lineages differentiated from their Asian sister-clades. This pause in movement was followed by a swift migration southward that distributed the founder types all the way to South America. The data also suggest more recent bi-directional gene flow between Siberia and the North American Arctic.     

Toward Comprehensive Obesity Prevention Programs in Native American Communities

Obesity is a particularly important challenge to the health status of Native Americans. This challenge is manifest in the increasing rates of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus among Native Americans. Most studies of Native American infants, preschool children, schoolchildren, and adults have confirmed a high prevalence of over weight Historical studies suggest that for many Native American communities the high rates of obesity are a relatively recent phenomenon. The specific reasons for the increase in obesity among Native Americans have not been determined, although it has been hypothesized that Native Americans have a genetic predisposition to over weight in a “westernized” environment of abundant food and decreased energy expenditure. Few detailed studies of diet or of physical activity levels of contemporary Native Americans have been published. Community-based interventions to modify diet and activity levels to prevent obesity in Native American communities are needed. Preliminary evidence from two formative school-based programs in the Southwest suggest that Native American communities are receptive to school-based interventions, and that such programs may be able to slow the rate of excess weight gain and to improve fitness in schoolchildren. Because of the cultural diversity among Native Americans, future studies should focus on collecting community- and region-specific data, and should emphasize the need for obesity prevention through culturally appropriate community-and school-based behavioral interventions.     

Explanations of Native American Drinking: A Literature Review

Abstract

In behavioral science literature, the drinking patterns of some Native Americans have received considerable attention. Because the modal Indian drinking style has been viewed and characterized as different from the patterns of most other groups in the United States, numerous works have attempted to explain this divergence. In this paper the most common explanations of Indian drinking behavior are described and reviewed: biological, psychoanalytic, anomie and normative. In addition, three common approaches to the study of Indian drinking are described: the ethnography, the social problem approach and the integrative study. Some suggestions for further research are presented in the conclusion.     

Native American Oral Traditions: Collaboration and Interpretation.

Native American Oral Traditions: Collaboration and Interpretation. Larry Evers and Barre Toelken. eds. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2001. 264 pp.     

Native American Representations: First Encounters, Distorted Images, and Literary Appropriations.; Native American Literature: Boundaries & Sovereignties.

Native American Representations: First Encounters, Distorted Images, and Literary Appropriations. Gretchen Bataille. ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001. 252 pp.
Native American Literature: Boundaries & Sovereignties. Kathryn W. Shanley. ed. Vashon Island, WA: Paradoxa, 2002. 312 pp.     

High abundance of introduced plants on ancient Native American middens

Past land uses by humans can have long-term effects on natural communities. To test the hypothesis that past land use can alter patterns of biological invasion for extended times, we predicted that middens abandoned by Native Americans over a century ago would have high abundances of introduced plants. We measured cover of vascular species and soil characteristics on and off the eight remaining middens in grasslands along 20 km of the northern coast of California. Relative cover of introduced plants was about 20% higher on than off middens, and cover of introduced annuals was about 110% higher. Concentration of inorganic N in the upper soil was twice as high on as off middens and explained about 40% of the variation in cover of introduced annuals. Abundance of shells on middens was correlated with inorganic N, suggesting that present invasion was linked to intensity of past land use. Results confirm that ancient land use by Native Americans is associated with present-day invasion by introduced plants and suggest that persistent elevation of soil N is partly responsible. Land use that elevates nutrient levels may promote invasion far into the future.     

Native American Tattoos: Identity and Spirituality in Contemporary America

Influences from counterculture movements and tattooing traditions from around the world have transformed the North American tattoo experience. Consultants' narratives reveal a desire to align with a primal human essence, seen as somehow lost through the process of civilization. Images are intentionally chosen to seek connection with people considered to embody a simpler, truer form of human life; what scholars routinely refer to as the “primitive,” or the Other. In the cases under consideration, an effort is made to connect to a particular so-called primitive, that is, the American Indian. Thus, the current renaissance of tattoo as fine art provides an occasion to reconsider American fascination with “playing Indian” and all things Indian.     

Risk Analysis: Changes Needed from a Native American Perspective

The objective of this article is to help risk assessors and managers step back from paying sole attention to finer and finer detail (e.g., measuring nuances of a single chemical's biochemical action at the molecular level). As professionals, we must always remember that the higher service that risk assessment provides is to improve everyone's long-term well being and survival. It is especially important to note that there are many lessons all Americans should experience as early as possible. For instance, our Native American tribal members are taught from birth that we all live enmeshed within the environment, not isolated from it or superior to it. Our practical every day needs, including basic nutritional, spiritual, and economic needs, are all derived directly from a clean, functioning environment. In return, we must accept the fact that we are not masters or owners of the environment, and that we don't have dominion over ecological processes. Our relationship is best viewed as part of a human-eco-cultural system. The risks to this system as a whole must be reflected in new transparent system-level models that easily show the relationships among, and equality of, all of these elements. Transparent, user-friendly, system-level models must become standard tools in every risk assessors toolbox. Such models are being developed and have already made a difference. Tribal risk information, in particular, needs to be produced at the community and system level, must include eco-cultural metrics, and requires geospatial and temporal integration that most conventional models cannot accomplish. I expect that risk assessors, once enlightened, will insist that such models will become a required part of risk analysis in the near future.     

Laws of the Postcolonial

Laws of the Postcolonial. Eve Darian-Smith and Peter Fitzpatrick. eds. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999. 309 pp.