Shuar People’s Healing Practices in the Ecuadorian Amazon as a Guide to State Interculturality: An Epistemic Case for Indigenous Institutions

What do we understand by the principle of state interculturality? What would be the full implications of making Latin American states culturally representative, rather than agents of modernisation on the European model? Could the state reflect the distinctive local cultures within the various particular regions of its sovereign territory? This project takes the example of state healthcare in Ecuador, an ‘intercultural state’ according to its 2008 constitution, as a point of entry to answering these questions. By presenting an epistemological critique of biomedicine as culturally specific and historically contingent, it argues for intercultural health as a break with taking western knowledge systems as the universal arbiters for social policy. Instead, it proposes that the health-seeking preferences of indigenous minority groups–working with the example of the Shuar nationality in the south-eastern Amazonian province of Zamora-Chinchipe–become the basis for culturally representative state healthcare within their territory. I argue that this is a question of indigenous justice, in light of the evident dramatic disconnects in meaning and disappointed expectations of many Shuar people in their engagement with clinical healthcare. However for non-indigenous society, too, intercultural health would lead to the further development of health practices founded on distinct epistemological and ontological assumptions from those of western biomedicine, thereby bringing a new diversity of approaches with which intercultural societies could address universal social problems. Yet the effort to put forward a medical ethnographic representation of Shuar culture understood as a set of present-day practices and preferences, rather than a body of essentialised tradition, raises the question of how meaningful it is today to speak of cultural groups, when these are inevitably cross-cut by transnational economic, religious and political-discursive forces to different extents in different locations. The thesis thus concludes with a suggestion for what we mean when we say we value cultural diversity

¿Interculturalidad o ‘cultura’ a lo occidental? El rechazo indígena hacia la educación intercultural bilingüe

A pesar de ser un principio constitucional, la interculturalidad se encuentra en crisis en Ecuador. Un síntoma de esta crisis es el rechazo o indiferencia hacia la educación intercultural bilingüe (EIB) por parte de varios pueblos indígenas. A través de un estudio de caso de esta actitud por parte del pueblo shuar que reside en la provincia Zamora Chinchipe, Ecuador, propongo que esta tiene sus orígenes en las políticas eurocéntricas de interculturalidad, en las que presumen en qué consiste la diferencia cultural y a qué aspira la familia indígena en cuanto educación, desatendiendo la lucha para la movilidad social en contextos de desigualdad material como parte central de las culturas actuales. Concluyo que resulta indispensable llevar a cabo una descentralización de las políticas públicas para lograr una verdadera interculturalización del Estado desde las experiencias contemporáneas y a partir de las necesidades reales de las comunidades indígenas

Mediterranean winter rainfall in phase with African monsoons during the past 1.36 million years

Mediterranean climates are characterized by strong seasonal contrasts between dry summers and wet winters. Changes in winter rainfall are critical for regional socioeconomic development, but are difficult to simulate accurately1 and reconstruct on Quaternary timescales. This is partly because regional hydroclimate records that cover multiple glacial–interglacial cycles2,3 with different orbital geometries, global ice volume and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations are scarce. Moreover, the underlying mechanisms of change and their persistence remain unexplored. Here we show that, over the past 1.36 million years, wet winters in the northcentral Mediterranean tend to occur with high contrasts in local, seasonal insolation and a vigorous African summer monsoon. Our proxy time series from Lake Ohrid on the Balkan Peninsula, together with a 784,000-year transient climate model hindcast, suggest that increased sea surface temperatures amplify local cyclone development and refuel North Atlantic low-pressure systems that enter the Mediterranean during phases of low continental ice volume and high concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases. A comparison with modern reanalysis data shows that current drivers of the amount of rainfall in the Mediterranean share some similarities to those that drive the reconstructed increases in precipitation. Our data cover multiple insolation maxima and are therefore an important benchmark for testing climate model performance

A principal component meta-analysis on multiple anthropometric traits identifies novel loci for body shape

Large consortia have revealed hundreds of genetic loci associated with anthropometric traits, one trait at a time. We examined whether genetic variants affect body shape as a composite phenotype that is represented by a combination of anthropometric traits. We developed an approach that calculates averaged PCs (AvPCs) representing body shape derived from six anthropometric traits (body mass index, height, weight, waist and hip circumference, waist-to-hip ratio). The first four AvPCs explain >99% of the variability, are heritable, and associate with cardiometabolic outcomes. We performed genome-wide association analyses for each body shape composite phenotype across 65 studies and meta-analysed summary statistics. We identify six novel loci: LEMD2 and CD47 for AvPC1, RPS6KA5/C14orf159 and GANAB for AvPC3, and ARL15 and ANP32 for AvPC4. Our findings highlight the value of using multiple traits to define complex phenotypes for discovery, which are not captured by single-trait analyses, and may shed light onto new pathways

A principal component meta-analysis on multiple anthropometric traits identifies novel loci for body shape

Large consortia have revealed hundreds of genetic loci associated with anthropometric traits, one trait at a time. We examined whether genetic variants affect body shape as a composite phenotype that is represented by a combination of anthropometric traits. We developed an approach that calculates averaged PCs (AvPCs) representing body shape derived from six anthropometric traits (body mass index, height, weight, waist and hip circumference, waist-to-hip ratio). The first four AvPCs explain >99% of the variability, are heritable, and associate with cardiometabolic outcomes. We performed genome-wide association analyses for each body shape composite phenotype across 65 studies and meta-analysed summary statistics. We identify six novel loci: LEMD2 and CD47 for AvPC1, RPS6KA5/C14orf159 and GANAB for AvPC3, and ARL15 and ANP32 for AvPC4. Our findings highlight the value of using multiple traits to define complex phenotypes for discovery, which are not captured by single-trait analyses, and may shed light onto new pathways.Peer reviewe

Contemporary Shuar beliefs: The indigenous use of a vexed anthropological concept in post-conversion Amazonia

The critique of belief as an analytical tool in anthropology has overshadowed belief as an ethnographic reality. This article short-circuits these debates over the politics of belief by elaborating ethnographically the indigenous use of the concept—literally the Spanish “creer” and “creencia”—in Shuar territory in post-conversion Amazonia. It shows that contemporary Shuar “belief” supersedes assumptions about belief as an epistemic commitment. The Shuar concept combines the Christian emphasis on conversion with a relatively stable ancestral notion about the meaning and social significance of knowledge, one that emphasizes its instrumentality, as opposed to the ideology of the truth-seeking cogito striving to make accurate representations of the world. These arguments are advanced by presenting ethnographic material from two distinct sites in Shuar territory in southeastern Ecuador: one in which most people claim to “believe” in shamanic healing and ancestral visionary practices, and one in which they do not

Antropologia ontológica e interculturalidade da saúde no povo Shuar de Zamora-Chinchipe

This article shows the connections between Anglophone anthropology and the political philosophy of interculturality, to which little attention has been given in Latin America. Specifically, the contributions of the so-called ‘ontological turn’ are detailed in order to develop a theory of interculturality that addresses the differences between Indigenous peoples and Western societies. It is argued that the concept of “culture” constitutes an “ambivalence”, and that from this turn and its critics one can understand better interculturality as a positive proposal from Indigenous intellectuals. The debates on the representation of difference that followed the ontological turn point toward the importance of intracultural diversity; therefore, it is crucial to develop nuanced representations of Indigenous and Western cultures, considering different characteristics that distinguish the communities and individuals of each group. This argument is developed based on intercultural health through the case study of health practices and preferences in the shuar population of the Ecuadorian province of Zamora-Chinchipe. It is concluded that an interculturality is required that does not mean the ethnicization of public policies, but rather their localization and adaptation to the preferences of people in every distinct zone within national territories.En este artículo se exponen aquellas conexiones entre la antropología anglosajona y la filosofía política de la interculturalidad, a las que se han prestado poca atención en América Latina. Específicamente, se detallan los aportes del llamado giro ontológico para desarrollar una teoría de la interculturalidad que abarque las diferencias entre pueblos indígenas y sociedades occidentales. Se argumenta que el concepto de “cultura” constituye un “equívoco”, y que a partir de dicho giro y sus críticas se logra un entendimiento más adecuado de la interculturalidad como propuesta positiva de la intelectualidad indígena. Los debates sobre la representación de la diferencia, que siguieron al giro ontológico, apuntan a la importancia de la diversidad intracultural; por tanto, es imprescindible matizar tales representaciones de las culturas indígenas y la occidental, al considerar los rasgos disímiles que distinguen a comunidades e individuos de un mismo grupo. Este argumento se desarrolla con base en la salud intercultural, a través del estudio de caso de las prácticas y preferencias sanitarias de la población shuar de la provincia ecuatoriana de Zamora-Chinchipe. Se concluye que se requiere una interculturalidad que no signifique la etnitización de las políticas públicas, sino su localización y adaptación a las preferencias de la gente en cada una de las zonas particulares de los territorios nacionales.Este artigo expõe as conexões entre a antropologia anglo-saxônica e a filosofia política da interculturalidade, às quais pouca atenção tem sido dada na América Latina. Especificamente, as contribuições da chamada virada ontológica são detalhadas para desenvolver uma teoria da interculturalidade que englobe as diferenças entre os povos indígenas e as sociedades ocidentais. Argumenta-se que o conceito de "cultura" constitui um "mal-entendido", e que a partir desse deslocamento e de suas críticas se consegue uma compreensão mais adequada da interculturalidade como proposta positiva da intelectualidade indígena. Os debates sobre a representação da diferença, que seguiram a virada ontológica, apontam para a importância da diversidade intracultural, portanto, é fundamental esclarecer tais representações das culturas indígenas e ocidentais, ao considerar as dissimilaridades que distinguem comunidades e indivíduos de um mesmo grupo. Este argumento é desenvolvido com base na saúde intercultural, por meio de um estudo de caso das práticas e preferências sanitárias da população Shuar da província equatoriana de Zamora-Chinchipe. Conclui-se que é necessária uma interculturalidade que não signifique a etnicização das políticas públicas, mas a sua localização e adaptação às preferências das pessoas em cada uma das áreas particulares dos territórios nacionais

Office space supply restrictions in Britain: the political economy of market revenge

Office space in Britain is the most expensive in the world and regulatory constraints are the obvious explanation. We estimate the ‘regulatory tax’ for 14 British office locations from 1961 to 2005. These are orders of magnitude greater than estimates for Manhattan condominiums or office space in continental Europe. Exploiting the panel data, we provide strong support for our hypothesis that the regulatory tax varies according to whether an area is controlled by business interests or residents. Our results imply that the cost of the 1990 change converting commercial property taxes from a local to a national basis – transparently removing any fiscal incentive to permit local development – exceeded any plausible rise in local property taxes