Best of the Sámi Film Festival 2008

ABSTRACT  In June of 2008, the American-Scandinavian Foundation and the National Museum of the American Indian presented a screening of selections originally shown at the 12th annual Sámi Film Festival held in Norway. This marked the first time that a version of the festival, which features works by and about the indigenous peoples of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia, was presented in New York. Three of the films shown— Last Yoik in Saami Forests?, Herdswoman, and Calmmis Calbmái ( From an Eye to an Eye) —examined how Sámi communities draw on shared traditions as a productive resource for reimagining Sámi identity in a contemporary context. [Keywords: Sámi, Scandinavia, indigenous media, ethnographic film]     

Haa Aani, Our Land: Tlingit and Haida Land Rights and Use.

Haa Aani, Our Land: Tlingit and Haida Land Rights and Use. Walter R. Goldschmidt and Theodore H. Haas. edited with an introduction by Thomas F. Thornton. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998. 219 pp.     

Complicated colobomatous microphthalmia in the microphthalmic (mi/mi) mouse

A study of the development of the eye in the cinnamon mouse, homozygous for the gene for microphthalmia (mi), has shown that the microphthalmia is due to failure of secondary vitreous formation associated with a coloboma. The retina is dystrophic but there is a residual population of large ganglion cells and the optic nerve also contains ganglion cells. All these ganglion cells have cytoplasm similar to the retinal ganglion cells in the normal controls. It is postulated that they communicate with axons in the optic nerve. In addition, the outer epithelial layer of the eye cup, which normally becomes pigmented, forms retinal tissue in the homozygous mouse and this is also true of the dorsal part of the eyestalk near the eye.     

Same Sámi? A comparison of self-reported Sámi ethnicity measures in 1970 and 2003 in selected rural areas in northern Norway

In post-war Norway, only the 1970 national census has recorded ethnicity information about the indigenous Sámi, however restricted to those living in selected areas in the north. In this study, we combine replies about Sámi ethnicity given by the same individuals in Norway’s 1970 census and in the population-based SAMINOR study in 2003–04, to compare self-reported Sámi ethnicity at two points in time that encompass a period when the effects of a long-standing assimilation policy gradually lost ground in favour of upcoming Sámi revitalization. We found self-reported Sámi ethnicity – measured as (1) Sámi as home language in each of three generations and (2) the respondent’s self-identification as Sámi – to have remained generally stable, but some changes were observed. We argue that the results reflect interplays between societal and individual factors. We conclude that any statistical study involving an indigenous people, when clarifying the ethnicity measures, should also address the issue of ethnic mobility.     

Comparison of bone and parathyroid hormone as stimulators of osteoclast development and activity in calvarial cell cultures from normal and osteopetrotic (mi/mi) mice

Osteoclast development was studied in cell cultures prepared from calvaria of neonatal osteopetrotic (mi/mi) mice or their normal littermates, using tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAPase), as an osteoclast marker. In cultures from normal mice, treatment with 10 nM PTH for 4-5 days stimulated the formation of osteoclasts. However in cultures from mi/mi mice, this response was only 7% +/- 5% that of normal mice and they were significantly smaller than osteoclasts of normal mice. Mineralized bone particles elicited osteoclast development in cultures from both normal and mi/mi mice, and osteoclast size was identical for both genotypes. Seventy-eight to 96% of the TRAPase-positive cells bound 125I-CT, as demonstrated by autoradiography. 125I-CT binding characteristics were identical in cultures from both genotypes treated with bone particles, exhibiting a Kd of 3.3-3.6 x 10(-10) M. Addition of PTH stimulated 45Ca release from the added bone particles only in the case of cultures prepared from normal mice, and CT inhibited this response. Cells from normal mice were capable of excavating bone from the surface of smooth cortical bone wafers, but such excavations were rarely seen in the case of calvarial cells from mi/mi mice. Thus, PTH-driven differentiation of osteoclasts is arrested in calvarial cell cultures from mi/mi mice, but mi/mi preosteoclasts retain the ability to express certain osteoclast markers in response to bone derived signals. We hypothesize that the lack of activity of mi/mi osteoclasts is due to the failure of mi/mi preosteoclasts to respond appropriately to resorptive agents, or to cytokines elicited by these agents.     

Trends and values of ‘Land for Wildlife’ programs for private land conservation

The Land for Wildlife program started in Victoria in 1981 as a voluntary program with the broad aim of supporting landholders in providing habitat for wildlife on their property. The program has since spread across Australia and is implemented in a range of guises, through a variety of governance approaches. This research collected qualitative and quantitative data on Land for Wildlife programs across Australia to conduct the first national review. Data were gathered on changes in program membership to assess different participation trends. In addition, phone interviews with Land for Wildlife coordinators throughout Australia were conducted to explore how the programs are positioned in delivering biodiversity outcomes in a range of different regions. Over 14,000 properties covering 2.3 million ha are currently registered under Land for Wildlife programs. with at least 500,000 ha of habitat managed for conservation. Limited resources present a large challenge faced by a number of programs, with generally low funding and staffing resulting in restricted biodiversity focus and conservation outcomes. We suggest options to enhance the programs and propose future research directions.     

The Land Is Ours

The Land Is Ours. 1997. 56 minutes. video produced by Laurence A. Goldin. For more information contact University of California Extension Center for Media and Independent Learning, 2000 Center Street, Fourth Floor, Berkeley, CA 94704.     

The Land of Prehistory: A Critical History of American Archaeology

The Land of Prehistory:. Critical History of American Archaeology. Alice Beck Kehoe. New York: Routledge, 1998. 288 pp.     

The vit gene maps to the mi (microphthalmia) locus of the laboratory mouse.

The murine model for human vitiligo (the vit/vit mouse) develops progressive depigmentation of the pelage, skin, and eyes. The vit gene is inherited as an autosomal recessive. We have used classical breeding and isozyme marker analysis to map this vit gene that produces a vitiligo-like condition in the mouse. Crossbreeding the C57BL/6J-vit/vit mice with C57BL/6J mice carrying the Miwh and/or miws alleles at the microphthalmia locus resulted in mutant phenotypes, demonstrating absence of complementation. When vit is heterozygous with the Miwh allele, a "blotched" pigment pattern results. When it is heterozygous with the miws allele, a novel expression of the vitiliginous phenotype results. Further mating analysis of these crossbred populations demonstrates allelic inheritance between vit and the alleles at the microphthalmia locus. Other breeding studies using alleles at the agouti, belted, brown, dominant spotting, extension, mahogany, patch, and piebald loci did not demonstrate pigmentation explainable by allelic inheritance with the vit gene. Also, vit was tested for linkage with isozyme markers located on chromosomes 1, 4, 5, 7, 9, and 11, and results were negative. Therefore, the vit (vitiligo) gene of the laboratory mouse has been mapped to the mi (microphthalmia) locus on chromosome 6. The gene properly should be designated as mivit.     

From Black Land to Fifth Sun: The Science of Sacred Sites

From Black Land to Fifth Sun: The Science of Sacred Sites. Brian Fagan. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley Longman, 1998.403 pp.     

Creencias de Nuestros Antepasados

Creencias de Nuestros Antepasados. Maruch Sántiz Gómez. Mexico: Centro de la Imagen, CIESAS, Casa de las Imágenes (distributed in the United Slates by The Latin American Book Store, Ltd., 204 North Geneva St., Ithaca, NY), 1998. 108 pp.     

Land grant and sea grant: Implications and limitations of the model

Abstract

The National Sea Grant College Program was created by Congress in 1966 to assist the development of marine resources through science and technology as well as through education, research, and advisory services. The structure of the program resulted from the explicit effort of early Sea Grant supporters to forge the system as an oceans equivalent of Land Grant colleges. This discussion provides a brief history of the creation of Sea Grant based on the Land Grant analogy; it compares the size, scope, and major concerns of the two systems, including criticisms of the Land Grant program and their relevance to Sea Grant; and it suggests way in which Sea Grant might avoid some of the conditions which led to these criticisms of the Land Grant network.     

Contingent Countryside: Settlement, Economy, and Land Use in the Southern Argolid since 1700.

Contingent Countryside: Settlement, Economy, and Land Use in the Southern Argolid since 1700. Susan Buck Sutton. ed. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000. 391 pp.     

Indigenous Peoples and the State: Politics, Land and Ethnicity in the Malayan Peninsula and Borneo.

Indigenous Peoples and the State: Politics, Land and Ethnicity in the Malayan Peninsula and Borneo. Robert L. Winzeler. ed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Council on Southeast Asia Studies, 1997. 316 pp.     

Matabele Land and the Victoria Falls. A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Interior of South Africa, from the letters and journals of the late Frank Oates. Edited by C. G. Oates. London: C. Kegan Paul & Co. 1881

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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Matabele Land and the Victoria Falls. A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Interior of South Africa, from the letters and journals of the late Frank Oates. Edited by C. G. Oates. London: C. Kegan Paul & Co. 1881

     

Migration of Walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) in the Svalbard and Franz Josef Land area

Thirty-four walruses ( Odobenus rosmarus ) were fitted with satellite transmitters (PTTs) from 1990 to 1993 in order to study the distribution of the population in the Svalbard area. Twenty-eight were caught at Svalbard and six at Franz Josef Land. All were males except one female caught at Franz Josef Land. At Svalbard, one walrus was caught on the west coast of Spitsbergen, while the others were caught at southern Edgeøya. All walruses were caught in the period from mid-July to early September. The PTTs provided information on location for periods ranging from 0 to 212 days. The results of the satellite trackings show that there is a migration of male walruses between most of the walrus areas at Svalbard and Franz Josef Land. In particular, it seems that migration of males from southern Edgeøya to Kvitøya, Viktoria Island, and Franz Josef Land is common. The walruses winter in the southern parts of Svalbard, as well as within the winter pack-ice of north-eastern Svalbard, which contains numerous open leads. The only walrus at Franz Josef Land that was followed to mid-winter stayed in the area and therefore supports the view that walruses also winter in that area. It is assumed that the majority of walruses at Svalbard are males from one common Svalbard-Franz Josef Land stock. The walrus in the Svalbard-Franz Josef Land area today belong to a recovering population. Their current distribution and behaviour may therefore differ from that found in Svalbard in former times.