SESAME (SEquence Sorter & AMplicon Explorer): genotyping based on high-throughput multiplex amplicon sequencing

Summary: Characterizing genetic diversity through genotyping short amplicons is central to evolutionary biology. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies changed the scale at which these type of data are acquired. SESAME is a web application package that assists genotyping of multiplexed individuals for several markers based on NGS amplicon sequencing. It automatically assigns reads to loci and individuals, corrects reads if standard samples are available and provides an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) for allele validation based on the sequences and associated decision-making tools. The aim of SESAME is to help allele identification among a large number of sequences

Achieving Food System Resilience Requires Challenging Dominant Land Property Regimes

Although evidence continues to indicate an urgent need to transition food systems away from industrialized monocultures and toward agroecological production, there is little sign of significant policy commitment toward food system transformation in global North geographies. The authors, a consortium of researchers studying the land-food nexus in global North geographies, argue that a key lock-in explaining the lack of reform arises from how most food system interventions work through dominant logics of property to achieve their goals of agroecological production. Doing so fails to recognize how land tenure systems, codified by law and performed by society, construct agricultural land use outcomes. In this perspective, the authors argue that achieving food system “resilience” requires urgent attention to the underlying property norms that drive land access regimes, especially where norms of property appear hegemonic. This paper first reviews research from political ecology, critical property law, and human geography to show how entrenched property relations in the global North frustrate the advancement of alternative models like food sovereignty and agroecology, and work to mediate acceptable forms of “sustainable agriculture.” Drawing on emerging cases of land tenure reform from the authors’ collective experience working in Scotland, France, Australia, Canada, and Japan, we next observe how contesting dominant logics of property creates space to forge deep and equitable food system transformation. Equally, these cases demonstrate how powerful actors in the food system attempt to leverage legal and cultural norms of property to legitimize their control over the resources that drive agricultural production. Our formulation suggests that visions for food system “resilience” must embrace the reform of property relations as much as it does diversified farming practices. This work calls for a joint cultural and legal reimagination of our relation to land in places where property functions as an epistemic and apex entitlement

Achieving food system resilience requires challenging dominant land property regimes

International audienceAlthough evidence continues to indicate an urgent need to transition food systems away from industrialized monocultures and toward agroecological production, there is little sign of significant policy commitment toward food system transformation in global North geographies. The authors, a consortium of researchers studying the land-food nexus in global North geographies, argue that a key lock-in explaining the lack of reform arises from how most food system interventions work through dominant logics of property to achieve their goals of agroecological production. Doing so fails to recognize how land tenure systems, codified by law and performed by society, construct agricultural land use outcomes. In this perspective, the authors argue that achieving food system “resilience” requires urgent attention to the underlying property norms that drive land access regimes, especially where norms of property appear hegemonic. This paper first reviews research from political ecology, critical property law, and human geography to show how entrenched property relations in the global North frustrate the advancement of alternative models like food sovereignty and agroecology, and work to mediate acceptable forms of “sustainable agriculture.” Drawing on emerging cases of land tenure reform from the authors' collective experience working in Scotland, France, Australia, Canada, and Japan, we next observe how contesting dominant logics of property creates space to forge deep and equitable food system transformation. Equally, these cases demonstrate how powerful actors in the food system attempt to leverage legal and cultural norms of property to legitimize their control over the resources that drive agricultural production. Our formulation suggests that visions for food system “resilience” must embrace the reform of property relations as much as it does diversified farming practices. This work calls for a joint cultural and legal reimagination of our relation to land in places where property functions as an epistemic and apex entitlement

De Polynésie à l’Europe des Lumières. Représentation raciale d’Aotourou et d’Omai en Europe 1769-1776

Cet article analyse les manières selon lesquelles fut faite la construction raciale de deux Polynésiens, Aotourou et Omai, ramenés respectivement en France et en Angleterre entre 1769-1776. Plutôt que de considérer les indigènes sur des critères morphologiques, leur représentation raciale est fondée sur la confrontation entre l’expérience de l’altérité et les attentes des contemporains envers Aotourou et Omai. À un point tel que la conjoncture socioculturelle de l’aristocratie européenne devint essentielle au processus de racialisation. Finalement, afin d’être racialisés en un « bon sauvage », les Polynésiens se devaient d’être vertueux et de respecter les pratiques sociales de l’élite aristocratique. Dans le cas contraire, ils seraient associés à une représentation bien inférieure nommée « ignoble sauvage ».This article analyzes the ways by which the racial construction of two Polynesians, Ahutoru and Omai, has taken place in France and England between 1769-1776. Instead of considering the indigenous through morphological criteria, most of Europeans racial representations were founded on the confrontation between the experience of alterity and the growing expectations toward Aotourou and Omai. To which extent the sociocultural conjecture of the European aristocracy became crucial in the racialization process. If one indigenous showed marks of virtue and was respectful of the European elites’ socio-cultural practices, he was associated to the idealist “noble savage” representation, while the contrary led to a much inferior representation named “ignoble savage”

Le site de la médiathèque Entre Dore et Allier à Lezoux (Puy-de-Dôme) : des traces papillaires antiques en contexte d’atelier de potiers

International audienceA Roman settlement specializing in the production of ceramics was discovered during the rescue excavation prior to the construction of the library of Lezoux. Thousands of fingerprints and palm marks belonging to manufacturers who worked in the pottery workshops were discovered there. Such discoveries are not uncommon in archaeological contexts, but studies of them are rare. We studied the best preserved fingerprints on the site, on objects intended for ceramic kiln loading, and defined a recording and survey protocol. Questions about the identification of individuals, age and sex determination were discussed in order to collect as much information as possible about the owners of the traces. The results obtained are positive. However, they could be enhanced with improved techniques. This analysis provided original data about the workforce of the discovered potters’ workshops and enabled us to discuss social aspects, which are rarely documented by other archaeological data.Un établissement antique spécialisé dans la production de céramique a été découvert lors de la fouille préventive réalisée préalablement à la construction d’une médiathèque à Lezoux (Puy-de-Dôme). Des milliers de traces papillaires appartenant aux artisans ayant travaillé dans les ateliers de potiers y ont été mises au jour. Si de telles découvertes ne sont pas rares en contexte archéologique, elles ne font quasiment jamais l’objet d’analyses spécialisées. Les traces digitales et palmaires les mieux conservées sur le site, c’est-à-dire celles identifiées sur le mobilier d’enfournement, ont été étudiées et un protocole d’enregistrement et de relevé a été défini. Dans le but de recueillir un maximum d’informations sur les propriétaires des traces, les questions de leur identification, de la détermination de leur âge et de leur sexe ont été abordées. Les résultats obtenus sont concluants, bien qu’ils gagneraient à être exploités à l’aide de moyens techniques supérieurs. Ces analyses ont apporté des informations inédites sur la main-d’oeuvre des ateliers de potiers. Elles permettent d’aborder des aspects sociétaux rarement documentés par les autres données archéologiques

[…]lagvncvlaria nvnc facis[…] : être potier à Pompéi en 79 apr. J.-C.

International audienc

[…]lagvncvlaria nvnc facis[…] : être potier à Pompéi en 79 apr. J.-C.

International audienc

[…]lagvncvlaria nvnc facis[…] : être potier à Pompéi en 79 apr. J.-C.

International audienc

¿PROPIEDAD AGRÍCOLA PARA LOS INVERSIONISTAS O LAS INVERSIONES SOCIALES? LA TRANSFORMACIÓN DE LA PROPIEDAD DE LA TIERRA EN SASKATCHEWAN, CANADÁ/Propriedade agrícola para investidores ou investimentos sociais? A transformação da propriedade da terra em Saskatchewan, Canadá

Cada vez más se reconoce que el acaparamiento de tierras es un fenómeno global. En Canadá los inversionistas están especialmente interesados en las tierras de Saskatchewan, la provincia donde se encuentra el 40 por ciento de la tierra agrícola del país. Este artículo examina cómo el contexto político, económico y legal neoliberal ha cambiado y configurado los patrones de la propiedad de la tierra entre 2002 y 2014 en Saskatchewan. Nuestra investigación indica que la cantidad de tierra en propiedad de inversionistas se multiplicó en 16 veces en ese período. La concentración de la propiedad de la tierra también está en aumento; y la proporción de tierra en propiedad de los cuatro terratenientes privados más grandes se multiplicó en seis veces. Nuestra metodología aborda algunas de las críticas levantadas en la literatura sobre el acaparamiento de tierras. Al usar información sobre los títulos de tierra, hemos identificado a los inversionistas de tierra y determinado sus predios con mucha precisión. Esto nos permite proveer un análisis más refinado de los actuales patrones de la propiedad de la tierra. A pesar que este artículo analiza los cambios en la propiedad de la tierra en un contexto histórico, cultural y legislativo específico, también sirve de base para una discusión más amplia acerca de los valores y prioridades que reflejan las políticas de la propiedad de la tierra. Concretamente, contrastamos un enfoque de “apertura para los negocios” que prioriza la inversión financiera con otro basado en la soberanía de la tierra que pone en el centro a la inversión social. Esta última tiene un enorme potencial si el objetivo de la política es el de la sostenibilidad ecológica y la soberanía alimentaria