How an Egalitarian Polity Structures Tourism and Restructures Itself Around It

ABSTRACT

Korowai of Papua, Indonesia, are famous in tourism and mass media circles for their ‘tree houses’, and for other ways they match globally circulating stereotypes of primitive humanity. This article examines how tourism intersects with Korowai egalitarian politics. Korowai spatial dispersion and concern with equality mean that tourists' visits to the land of certain people and not others is politically sensitive. I describe new forms of differentiation arising around tourism, such as emergence of clans specializing in hosting tour groups, and of individual Korowai specializing as tourism mediators. Across these and other areas, what is most striking is how Korowai people's egalitarian political sensibilities have fostered complex forms of interlocal cooperation around tourist visits, innovated and agreed upon in a decentralized manner. This case illustrates a broader pattern that intersocietal articulations are often mediated by the social organization of difference and heterogeneity in people's home locations.     

Environmental drivers of Cheirogaleidae population density: Remarkable resilience of Madagascar’s smallest lemurs to habitat degradation

AimGlobal animal populations are in decline due to destruction and degradation of their natural habitat. Understanding the factors that determine the distribution and density of threatened animal populations is therefore now a crucial component of their study and conservation. The Cheirogaleidae are a diverse family of small‐bodied, nocturnal lemurs that are widespread throughout the forests of Madagascar. However, many cheirogaleid lemurs are now highly threatened with extinction and the environmental factors that determine their distribution and population density are still little known. Here, I investigated the environmental drivers of Cheirogaleidae population density at genus level.LocationVarious forest sites across Madagascar.MethodsI investigated how six environmental variables affect Cheirogaleidae population density at the genus level via random‐effect meta‐analyses. I then used a generalized linear mixed‐effects model to identify the primary predictors of Cheirogaleidae population density. Finally, I investigated how the population density of this family of lemurs varies between protected and unprotected areas of Madagascar via a GLM analysis.ResultsMy results indicate that the relationships between the tested environmental factors and population density are genus‐specific among the Cheirogaleidae. Rather remarkably, the density of Microcebus appears to have a profoundly positive relationship with anthropogenic disturbance and a negative relationship with forest cover, a finding that is also reflected by larger population densities within unprotected areas in comparison with localities within Madagascar''s protected area network.Main ConclusionsThe results of this study are highly encouraging for the conservation of the Cheirogaleidae and highlight the remarkable resilience of these lemurs to habitat degradation and anthropogenic activity. However, this study also outlines the dearth of knowledge that we have for many species, and why these data are urgently needed to understand the biogeography and ecology of threatened animal populations and implement successful conservation.     

Cross sectional study of young people's awareness of and involvement with tobacco marketing

ObjectivesTo examine young people''s awareness of and involvement with tobacco marketing and to determine the association, if any, between this and their smoking behaviour. DesignCross sectional, quantitative survey, part interview and part self completion, administered in respondents'' homes.SettingNorth east England.ParticipantsStratified random sample of 629 young people aged 15 and 16 years who had “opted in” to research through a postal consent procedure.ResultsThere was a high level of awareness of and involvement in tobacco marketing among the 15-16 year olds sampled in the study: around 95% were aware of advertising and all were aware of some method of point of sale marketing. Awareness of and involvement with tobacco marketing were both significantly associated with being a smoker: for example, 30% (55/185) of smokers had received free gifts through coupons in cigarette packs, compared with 11% (21/199) of non-smokers (P<0.001). When other factors known to be linked with teenage smoking were held constant, awareness of coupon schemes, brand stretching, and tobacco marketing in general were all independently associated with current smoking status.ConclusionsTeenagers are aware of, and are participating in, many forms of tobacco marketing, and both awareness and participation are associated with current smoking status. This suggests that the current voluntary regulations designed to protect young people from smoking are not working, and that statutory regulations are required.     

Detection of Alzheimer's disease and dementia in the preclinical phase: population based cohort study

ObjectivesTo evaluate a simple three step procedure to identify people in the general population who are in the preclinical phase of Alzheimer''s disease and dementia.DesignThree year population based cohort study.SettingKungsholmen cohort, Stockholm, Sweden.Participants1435 people aged 75-95 years without dementia.AssessmentsSingle question asking about memory complaints, assessment by mini-mental state examination, and neuropsychological testing.ResultsNone of the three instruments was sufficiently predictive of Alzheimer''s disease and dementia when administered separately. After participants had been screened for memory complaints and global cognitive impairment, specific tests of word recall and verbal fluency had positive predictive values for dementia of 85-100% (95% confidence intervals range from 62% to 100%). However, only 18% of future dementia cases were identified in the preclinical phase by this three step procedure. Memory complaints were the most sensitive indicator of Alzheimer''s disease and dementia in the whole population, but only half the future dementia cases reported memory problems three years before diagnosis.ConclusionThis three step procedure, which simulates what might occur in clinical practice, has a high positive predictive value for dementia, although only a small number of future cases can be identified.

What is already known on this topic

Alzheimer''s disease is characterised by a preclinical phase, during which cognitive deficits are seen before diagnosisElderly people with subjective memory complaints and objective global cognitive impairment have a high risk of developing Alzheimer''s disease and dementia

What this study adds

This three step procedure (self report of memory complaints, test of global cognitive functioning, and then domain specific cognitive tests) has a positive predictivity of 85-100% for Alzheimer''s disease and dementia at three yearsHowever, only 18% of people in the preclinical phase can be identified using this procedureAbout half of the people in the preclinical phase of Alzheimer''s disease and dementia do not report problems with their memory three years before diagnosis     

Difference and the I/Eye of the Beholder: Revisioning America through Travelogues

Drawing from and modifying elements of visual travelogues, Ellen Spiro's 1993 film Greetings from Out Here and Renee Tajima-Peña's 1996 film My America ( or honk if you love Buddha) explore contemporary Southern gay and Asian-American lives from minority perspectives. In this article I examine the extent to which the filmmakers use travelogue conventions to draw viewers into a trip of discovery about other Americans. I discuss the filmmakers' standpoints and use of narrative, the ways in which they build on American ideology about travel and visual imagery, and the associations Spiro and Tajima-Peña make between tourism and the American road movie genre.     

Primitivist tourism and anthropological research: awkward relations★

Many anthropologists dislike the tourism depicted in the film Cannibal tours (1988), which values visited people for their supposed embodiment of an archaic mode of life, isolated from capitalist modernity. Here I approach such tourism through how its participants relate to anthropology, based on research into encounters between tourists and Korowai of Indonesian Papua. I juxtapose three patterns. First, Korowai sometimes assimilate me to ‘tourist’ or ‘tour guide’. Second, tourists often embrace ‘anthropology’ as an adjunct to their primitivist goals. Third, certain tourists investigate their own primitivism, in ways that parallel my research on that topic. This diversity of alignments of tourist, anthropologist, and Korowai calls for an analytic strategy not of seeking out the ultimate basic relations between these character-types, but of understanding categorization as a practice of its own, through which categorizers grapple with broader historical conditions.     

Do patients wish to be involved in decision making in the consultation? A cross sectional survey with video vignettes

ObjectiveTo determine patients'' preferences for a shared or directed style of consultation in the decision making part of the general practice consultation.DesignStructured interview, with video vignettes of acted consultations.Setting5 practices in Lothian, Scotland.Participants410 patients (adults and adults accompanying children) attending surgery appointments.ResultsPatients varied in their preference for involvement in decision making in the consultation. Under multiple regression analysis, patients'' preference was found to be independently predicted by the problem viewed (patients presented with physical problems preferred a directed approach), patients'' age (patients aged 61 or older were more likely to prefer the directed approach), social class (social classes I and II were more likely to prefer the shared approach), and smoking status (smokers more likely to prefer the shared approach). Those patients who were able to answer (or who thought their doctor''s style similar to those in the vignettes) were more likely to describe their own doctor''s style as similar to their preferred style. No major association in preference was found with sex, frequency of attendance, or perceived chronic ill health.ConclusionPatients may vary in their desire for involvement in decision making in consultations. Although this variation seems to depend on the presenting problem, age, social class, and smoking status, these associations are not absolute, with large minorities in each group. Doctors need the skills, knowledge of their patients, and the time to determine on which occasions, with which illnesses, and at which level their patients wish to be involved in decision making.     

Multitasking discoidin domain receptors are involved in several and specific hallmarks of cancer

ABSTRACT

Discoidin domain receptors, DDR1 and DDR2, are two members of collagen receptor family that belong to tyrosine kinase receptor subgroup. Unlike other matrix receptor-like integrins, these collagen receptors have not been extensively studied. However, more and more studies are focusing on their involvement in cancer. These two receptors are present in several subcellular localizations such as intercellular junction or along type I collagen fibers. Consequently, they are involved in multiple cellular functions, for instance, cell cohesion, proliferation, adhesion, migration and invasion. Furthermore, various signaling pathways are associated with these multiple functions. In this review, we highlight and characterize hallmarks of cancer in which DDRs play crucial roles. We discuss recent data from studies that demonstrate the involvement of DDRs in tumor proliferation, cancer mutations, drug resistance, inflammation, neo-angiogenesis and metastasis. DDRs could be potential targets in cancer and we conclude this review by discussing the different ways to inhibits them.     

The Use and Nonuse of Companion Animals by Volunteers in Nursing Homes: A Comparative Study

Abstract

This report compares motivation and satisfaction of volunteers who visited residents in nursing homes accompanied by a dog with volunteers who visited the same residents but without a dog. The sample consisted of 40 people, 21 of whom were accompanied by a pet. A questionnaire of 111 items were developed and administered to all participants. Both groups of volunteers had equivalent volunteer experience and their reasons for volunteering were almost identical. No significant differences between the two groups were identified, possibly because of the small size of the sample, but an increased level of staff-volunteer interaction was reported for the pet group.     

Contesting Patrimony: Cusco's Mystical Tourist Industry and the Politics of Incanismo

The Peruvian state's neoliberal policies include its mission to modernize Peru through international tourism and foreign investment, and tourism promoters and politicians increasingly invoke Andean mysticism and Inca patrimony (or incanismo) as a marketing strategy. This paper argues that Cusqueño citizens invoke the same representations, with competing claims of authenticity and authority, as they construct their own versions of Incanist identification in populist movements against the state and its enforcement of the global neoliberal order, as well as in their attempts to survive in the tourist economy. In Peru, criticism of the tourist industry is often grounded in incanismo and seems to take aim at the neoliberal order. However, closer analysis reveals a more complicated set of relationships between resistance and liberalism. Friction emerges not because cultural identity is being commodified or inequalities persist, but because local desires for access to the market are frustrated by state and municipal agencies.     

Are Dogs Children,Companions, or Just Animals? Understanding Variations in People's Orientations toward Animals

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the variations in dog owners' attitudes toward, treatment of, and interactions with, animals. Based on 28 in-depth interviews with dog owners from a county in the Midwestern United States, I demonstrate that pets are an important part of many people's lives, often providing companionship, entertainment, and meaningful interactions; however, there are notable, distinct variations in how people relate to them. Pet owners typically exhibit one of three orientations toward pets: “dominionistic,” “humanistic,” or “protectionistic.” The dominionistic have relatively low regard for their pets, valuing them primarily for the uses they provide, such as protection. Those employing the humanistic orientation elevate their pets to the status of surrogate humans and value their pets primarily for the affective benefits they enjoy from their close attachments. The protectionistic have high regard for both pets and animals more generally. They view pets as valuable companions and as creatures with their own interests. This typology offers insights for understanding the source and variety of the often ambiguous and contradictory relations between people and pets. I argue that individual characteristics and experiences impact how people understand and relate to animals, in large part, because they represent exposure to different cultural messages. I suggest that these orientations represent three sets of distinct cultural logics, each with distinct histories and contemporary sources.     

The Authentic (In)Authentic: Bushman Anthro‐Tourism

Focusing on tourism ventures that market contact with so‐called bushmen, this paper examines some of the current dynamics and consequences of cultural tourism in Namibia, where the Government has instituted a series of progressive policies to promote local control over tourism development. While notions of primitive cultural otherness continue to feature centrally in tourist demand for contact with “bushmen,” the community‐based and collaborative tourism’ ventures currently being developed in Namibia teach tourists to see their “bushman” hosts as modernizing producers of tourism in their own right, and not just as objects of touristic commodification. Drawing from the anthropological literature on tourism and authenticity, and on the work of Slavoj Zizek on the workings of modern ideology, we argue that such ventures encourage tourists to practise a sort of “meta‐tourism,” in which the authenticity of “traditional bushmen” is replaced by the meta‐authenticity of a tourism experience that thematizes its own effects on the lives of those being visited. For the “bushman” participants in such ventures, we contend, the financial and political benefits of tourism, substantial as they can sometimes be, are ultimately offset by the developmentalist underpinnings of meta‐tourist discourse, which casts “bushmen” as forever not‐quite‐yet fully modern, in perpetual contrast to the tourists who visit them.     

The Noble Savage Reconfigured: Paradox and Mimesis on Safari in the Okavango Delta,Botswana

ABSTRACT

Tourists to Africa covet close encounters with dangerous wildlife, revelling in the simulation of the primal risks of the savannah, and yet they expect to be kept safe. Similarly, many tourists wish to engage with exotic local people, but in ways that ensure they feel comfortable socially and physically. Safari guides in the Okavango Delta fulfil these desires by facilitating close encounters with wildlife during luxury camping safaris, while becoming objects of fascination themselves as they perform the role of the ecologically noble savage. The exoticness of a number of these Botswana citizens is, however, rendered familiar and comfortable for tourists through the fact of their whiteness. In this paper, I explore the paradoxes evident within Okavango Delta tourism, with a focus on the ‘familiar exotics’ guiding tourists through landscapes constructed around notions of ‘safe danger’. In making sense of this paradigm, I argue that mimesis is at play within white citizens’ embodiment and commodification of cultural values and practices normatively associated with indigenous peoples. This case demonstrates that within the tourism nexus, the ecologically noble savage trope evident in romanticised global imaginaries of indigeneity has largely failed to empower Botswana’s indigenous Bushmen communities, while perpetuating white privilege.     

Māori Culture on Stage: Authenticity and Identity in Tourist Interactions1

Cultural tourism is often described as inciting visited populations to adapt elements of their culture to the visitors' tastes instead of displaying their real way of life or identity. Even when researchers adopt a constructivist approach to authenticity, they often assume that it is defined according to the criteria or expectations of the tourists. In this paper, I analyse three Māori cultural shows in New Zealand, and explore the way cultural authenticity is defined in tourist interactions. I review the arguments in favour of rejecting the opposition between ‘inauthentic’ staged culture and ‘authentic’ daily life. My study tends to indicate that if authenticity is better described as a social construction, the host society might be more active in this process than visitors.     

Tourism and Infant-Directed Aggression in Tibetan Macaques (Macaca thibetana) at Mt. Huangshan,China

ABSTRACT

Previous studies of habituated Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) at Mt. Huangshan, China demonstrated the negative impact that some tourism management strategies had on monkeys' annual infant mortality, but data on precise causes and perpetrators of infant injuries were not available. We worked at the same site and recorded rates of aggression that older monkeys directed toward group infants as a function of tourist numbers and proximity. We found a negative correlation between the number of people on the viewing platform and the frequency of monkeys' aggression toward the group's infants, but the effect is slight. We noted that infant-directed aggression (IDA) was more likely to occur in the provisioning zone where tourists bounded the monkeys on two sides, despite the fact that infants spent very little time in that location. The alpha and beta males engaged in more IDA than expected, while the other three adult males, adult females, and juveniles exhibited less IDA than expected. Males' IDA included biting, chasing, grabbing, and pushing. Adult females bit and grabbed mostly their own infants in the contexts of punishment and weaning. Juveniles' IDA was uncommon and consisted mostly of open-mouth threats. To minimize the severity and frequency of male-toinfant IDA, we recommend that sections of the tourist viewing platform be closed off so that tourists do not surround the monkeys, particularly when infants are near the viewing platforms and tourist numbers are few. The rule against tourists feeding monkeys should also be strictly enforced, so that altercations between the highest-ranked males and other group members, particularly infants, are less likely to occur.     

“I Try and Smile,I Try and Be Cheery,I Try Not to Be Pushy. I Try to Say ‘I'm Here for Help’ but I Leave Feeling… Worried”: A Qualitative Study of Perceptions of Interactions with Health Professionals by Community-Based Older Adults with Chronic Pain

Background

Over 50% of community-dwelling older adults experience chronic pain, which threatens their quality of life. Of importance to their pain management is older people''s interaction with health professionals that, if unsatisfactory, may impair the outcome.

Aims

To add to the limited research specific to older people living with chronic pain in the community, we explored how they perceive their experiences of interacting with health professionals, seeking factors that might optimise these interactions.

Methods

Purposive sampling was used to recruit men and women >65 years with self-reported musculoskeletal chronic pain. Qualitative individual interviews and one group interview were undertaken with 23 participants. Data were transcribed verbatim and underwent Framework Analysis.

Results

Three themes were identified. Seeking help illustrates issues around why older people in the community may or may not seek help for chronic pain, and highlights the potential involvement of social comparison. Importance of diagnosis illustrates the desire for professional validation of their condition and an aversion to vague explanations based on the person''s age. Being listened to and being heard illustrates the importance of empathic communication and understanding expectations, with due respect for the person''s age.

Conclusions

In common with people of all ages, an effective partnership between an older person in pain and health professionals is essential if pain is to be reported, appropriately assessed and managed, because of the subjective nature of pain and its treatment responses. For older people with pain, perception about their age, by both parties in the partnership, is an additional factor that can unnecessarily interfere with the effectiveness of this partnership. Health professionals should engage with older adults to clarify their expectations about pain and its management, which may be influenced by perceptions about age; and to encourage expression of their concerns, which may also be affected by perceptions about age.     

Pollinator behaviour and the evolution of Louisiana iris hybrid zones

Pollinator preference may influence the origin and dynamics of plant hybrid zones. Natural hybrid populations between the red‐flowered Iris fulva and the blue‐flowered Iris brevicaulis are found in southern Louisiana. The genetic structure of these populations reflects a lack of intermediate genotypes. We observed pollinator behaviour in an experimental array with five plants each of I. fulva, I. brevicaulis, their F₁, and the first backcross generation in each direction, to obtain data on flower type preferences and transitions between flower types. The most abundant visitors were Ruby‐throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) and workers of the bumblebee Bombus pennsylvanicus. Hummingbirds visited I. fulva twice as often as I. brevicaulis and visited hybrids at intermediate frequencies. Bumblebee workers preferred the purple‐flowered F₁s and visited plants of I. fulva and the backcross to I. fulva more often than I. brevicaulis and its backcross. Overall, F₁ flowers were visited most frequently. Both hummingbirds and bumblebees visited nearest neighbours in almost 80% of the interplant movements. This meant that a majority of movements were between different flower types, rather than between plants of the same type. Findings from the present study suggest that pollinator preference is not a major causal factor for the lack of intermediate genotypes in natural iris hybrid populations. Instead, pollinator behaviour in our array promoted mixed mating between flower types belonging to different pollination syndromes. However, owing to predominant nearest‐neighbour visitation, the spatial distribution of parental and hybrid genotypes (in concert with pollinator behaviour) will have a strong influence on mating patterns and thus the genotypic structure and evolution of Louisiana iris hybrid zones.     

Evaluating reasons for biased sex ratios in Crustacea

ABSTRACT

While equal ratios of males and females are normal, crustacean sex ratios are frequently biased. Here I review potential reasons for sex ratio biases in animals, and evaluate how likely they apply to crustaceans. I introduce crustacean examples and highlight promising crustacean taxa for future studies where examples are lacking. I conclude that ecological differences between the sexes appear to be the dominant reason for sex ratio bias in crustaceans. Major life history patterns limit the importance of evolutionary drivers to sedentary taxa with limited dispersal. Still largely unresolved is the question whether females can bias their offspring sex ratio, and given the diversity of sex determining systems, answers will vary from case to case.

Abbreviations: LMC: local mate competition; LSC: local sperm competition.