Mukurtu Mobile: Empowering Knowledge Circulation Across Cultures

This project will implement Mukurtu Mobile (mukurtumobile.org), an innovative iPhone application that empowers indigenous communities to collect, share and preserve their cultural and environmental resources. Mukurtu Mobile provides a platform for individuals to bring their own knowledge base to the common concerns of local, traditional and indigenous communities worldwide. With an interface directly to Mukurtu CMS, Mukurtu Mobile will link the power of a robust, culturally responsive CMS to the direct collection of knowledge on-the-ground. Adopted by communities globally, Mukurtu CMS (mukurtu.org) was built to address the specific needs of indigenous communities to manage, share and preserve their digital heritage. From citizen archivists to citizen scientists Mukurtu Mobile will enable the connection of local sets of knowledge and data to fuel research hubs and educational environments that unite local communities around global issues such as natural and cultural resource management

Weaving Together Indigenous and Western Knowledge in Science Education: Reflections and Recommendations

The Culturally Responsive Indigenous Science (CRIS) project was a collaborative effort between three Tribal communities in the Pacific Northwest and faculty and students from Washington State University, many of who are Tribal citizens. The project was designed to integrate Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK) and Western Knowledge into science curricula and professional learning opportunities. At the end of the 5-year grant project, members of the CRIS team (including Tribal and university partners) gathered to reflect on the work accomplished and the lessons learned about the process of integrating ITEK within science education. In this conceptual paper, the authors discuss four key takeaways from their reflections: 1) Creating relational space for cultural values and practices, 2) Indigenous science education requires many educators with diverse expertise, 3) Respecting Tribal and individual autonomy and timelines, and 4) Remembering who the work is meant to serve. In summary, the authors highlighted important recommendations to be considered when weaving together ITEK and Western science to better serve and engage Native American youth

Introduction: After the return

As a topic, repatriation has ignited debates for years amongst scholars, local communities, and collecting institutions. The digital age has intensified and changed these discussions in ways that are sometimes unpredictable. One such shift is away from legal definitions and assumptions about repatriation to more inclusive notions of digital return and community stewardship. There are ever more stakeholders involved in the circulation of culture, often collaborating in innovative ways to manage, preserve, use and re-use digitally returned materials in mutually beneficial and meaningful ways. The articles in this special issue explore this critical field and extend the emerging discussion

Anthropology of/in Circulation: The Future of Open Access and Scholarly Societies

In a conversation format, seven anthropologists with extensive expertise in new digital technologies, intellectual property, and journal publishing discuss issues related to open access, the anthropology of information circulation, and the future of scholarly societies. Among the topics discussed are current anthropological research on open source and open access; the effects of open access on traditional anthropological topics; the creation of community archives and new networking tools; potentially transformative uses of field notes and materials in new digital ecologies; the American Anthropological Association’s recent history with these issues, from the development of AnthroSource to its new publishing arrangement with Wiley-Blackwell; and the political economies of knowledge circulation more generally

Circulating HMGB1 is elevated in veterans with Gulf War Illness and triggers the persistent pro-inflammatory microglia phenotype in male C57Bl/6J mice

Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a chronic, multi-symptom peripheral and CNS condition with persistent microglial dysregulation, but the mechanisms driving the continuous neuroimmune pathology are poorly understood. The alarmin HMGB1 is an autocrine and paracrine pro-inflammatory signal, but the role of circulating HMGB1 in persistent neuroinflammation and GWI remains largely unknown. Using the LPS model of the persistent microglial pro-inflammatory response, male C57Bl/6J mice injected with LPS (5 mg/kg IP) exhibited persistent changes in microglia morphology and elevated pro-inflammatory markers in the hippocampus, cortex, and midbrain 7 days after LPS injection, while the peripheral immune response had resolved. Ex vivo serum analysis revealed an augmented pro-inflammatory response to LPS when microglia cells were cultured with the 7-day LPS serum, indicating the presence of bioactive circulating factors that prime the microglial pro-inflammatory response. Elevated circulating HMGB1 levels were identified in the mouse serum 7 days after LPS administration and in the serum of veterans with GWI. Tail vein injection of rHMGB1 in male C57Bl/6 J mice elevated TNFα mRNA levels in the liver, hippocampus, and cortex, demonstrating HMGB1-induced peripheral and CNS effects. Microglia isolated at 7 days after LPS injection revealed a unique transcriptional profile of 17 genes when compared to the acute 3 H LPS response, 6 of which were also upregulated in the midbrain by rHMGB1, highlighting a distinct signature of the persistent pro-inflammatory microglia phenotype. These findings indicate that circulating HMGB1 is elevated in GWI, regulates the microglial neuroimmune response, and drives chronic neuroinflammation that persists long after the initial instigating peripheral stimulus

Blackfeet innovation pathways to food sovereignty: sustainability through indigenous-led research partnerships

The Blackfeet Nation in northwestern Montana, United States, is implementing its Agriculture Resource Management Plan (ARMP), an Indigenous-led, sustainable agriculture plan prioritizing economic development for Indigenous producers, intergenerational health and well-being of Amskapi Piikani Blackfeet people, and ecological and cultural sensitivities within this sovereign nation and its traditional territories. Since the passage of the American Indian Agricultural Resource Management Act of 1993, only three Tribes have drafted and finalized Agricultural Resource Management Plans (ARMPs). The Blackfeet ARMP is now being held up as a national model of Tribal sovereignty. “Blackfeet Innovation Pathways to Food Sovereignty,” an Indigenous-led research project, emerged from the Blackfeet Nation’s community-based strategic planning process identifying gaps, systemic barriers and impactful solutions for achieving Blackfeet food sovereignty through the implementation of the Blackfeet Nation ARMP, along with research influenced by the ARMP. This paper provides a community case study of the ongoing process and offers a translational model of sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty within Indigenous lands to improve the economic futures of producers and their families, as well as health outcomes for Native communities

Pf7: an open dataset of Plasmodium falciparum genome variation in 20,000 worldwide samples

We describe the MalariaGEN Pf7 data resource, the seventh release of Plasmodium falciparum genome variation data from the MalariaGEN network.  It comprises over 20,000 samples from 82 partner studies in 33 countries, including several malaria endemic regions that were previously underrepresented.  For the first time we include dried blood spot samples that were sequenced after selective whole genome amplification, necessitating new methods to genotype copy number variations.  We identify a large number of newly emerging crt mutations in parts of Southeast Asia, and show examples of heterogeneities in patterns of drug resistance within Africa and within the Indian subcontinent.  We describe the profile of variations in the C-terminal of the csp gene and relate this to the sequence used in the RTS,S and R21 malaria vaccines.  Pf7 provides high-quality data on genotype calls for 6 million SNPs and short indels, analysis of large deletions that cause failure of rapid diagnostic tests, and systematic characterisation of six major drug resistance loci, all of which can be freely downloaded from the MalariaGEN website

Culture At the Interface: Collaborative Design and Information Management with Indigenous Communities

Digital technologies provide the platform for both preserving and producing cultural knowledge and materials. Indigenous and other subaltern cultural perspectives on access, authority, and accountability in relation to cultural materials and knowledge are often marginalized in dominant narratives about the possibilities of digital technologies. Mainstream notions of ???search??? and ???open access??? ???guided by Google???s mantra of providing universal access to everything???often leave out, or too easily blur, the lines between the multiple forms of technological translations and ???other??? knowledge/property systems. While digital technologies have much to offer to museums and other archival institutions and their many publics, their use needs to call in to question the viability of universal logics of search and access. Since the mid 1990s, museums, archives, libraries and especially land grant universities in the United States have recognized the need to direct their energies towards outreach to the indigenous communities whose materials they hold. Many archives have signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with indigenous communities promising access and support in retrieving materials. Digital technologies have allowed archives to produce online databases and expand their physical catalogs with digital repositories. At the same time, archival mandates to preserve information intersect with the capabilities of digital technologies to distribute information over networks. In the context of ???information freedom??? rhetoric and appeals for ???access to knowledge??? archives have found themselves at the center of information management debates and strategies for new models for information indexing and distribution. Museums and archives, now enlivened by the possibilities afforded by digital technologies, are at a crossroads in dealing with emergent information management systems and the cultural, ethical, and legal commitments they have to their multiple stakeholders. Making their materials ???open??? on the one hand, and working with divergent protocols for access and distribution on the other, In addition, physical distances, educational and linguistic barriers, and high levels of poverty have all made traditional archives unapproachable places for indigenous communities whose cultural materials and institutional histories are preserved within them. However, in the last ten years there has been a groundswell of activity lead by local indigenous communities in conversation with museums, archives, and technologists to incorporate indigenous cultural protocols into the parameters of archival sensibilities, design, and infrastructure. Projects around the world are seeking to integrate indigenous protocols into their informatics. The papers in this panel focus on collaborative efforts between museums, archives and local indigenous communities in Australia and Native North America to create digital archival systems informed by indigenous practices and protocols. The panel members come from diverse academic and technological backgrounds representing the Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Their work is informed by interdisciplinary concerns shaping scholars' understandings of the practical uses of digital technologies for underrepresented groups and the collaborative ways in which technology can be leveraged in service of cultural differences. The first paper (co ???presented by the principal investigator and software designer) based on ten years of collaborative work with Warumungu community members in Australia???s Northern Territory, examines the production of an indigenous community digital archive and its internal search functionality. The Mukurtu Wumpurrarni-kari archive, installed in the community in August 2007, leverages Warumungu protocols for the reproduction, distribution, and access to cultural materials and their associated knowledge within the design and structure of the archive. A series of restrictions and ???sharing protocols??? ???designated by the Warumungu community???drives the searching, sorting and sharing of all materials in the system. The archive, thus, challenges dominant narratives of openness and accessibility in relation to intangible cultural materials and acts as a practical solution to issues of preservation, access, and distribution that face indigenous people globally. The second paper describes a NSF-funded initiative which involves a direct partnership with the Zuni nation of New Mexico and the Cambridge (UK) Digital Museum Initiative. This partnership involves the study of how digital objects of excavated cultural materials can become the bases for indigenous engagement, and stimulate the release of indigenous and cross-cultural voices into the larger world of how digital systems are developed. It questions the assumptions that all ???information is free??? and should be widely disseminated without a sense of bounds, authorship, or culturally-specific forms of reception. Moreover, it questions the pre-existing classification systems for digital libraries and museums and argues for a more participatory model. Finally, it investigates the possibilities of creating information commonses based around diverse voices that indigenize processes of tagging, blogging, and commenting