“Things which don’t shift and grow are dead things”: Revisiting Betonie’s Waste-Lands in Leslie Silko’s Ceremony

This article explores the socio-political background that led to widespread Native American urban relocation in the period following World War II – a historical episode which is featured in Leslie Marmon Silko’s acclaimed novel Ceremony (1977). Through an analysis of the recycling, reinterpreting practices carried out by one of Ceremony’s memorable supporting characters, Navajo healer Betonie, Silko’s political aim to interrogate the state of things and to re-value Native traditions in a context of ongoing relations of coloniality is made most clear. In Silko’s novel, Betonie acts as an organic intellectual who is able to identify and challenge the 1950s neocolonial structure that forced Native American communities to either embrace hegemonic practices and lifestyles or else be condemned to cultural reification and abject poverty. Through his waste-collecting and recycling activities, Betonie develops alternative solutions that go beyond a merely spiritual or epistemological dimension of life and materially intervene in the social text. The margins of 1950s urban sprawl functioned as repositories of indigenous cultural and intellectual capital that was being consciously, actively transformed by Native agents such as him. Thus, through Ceremony’s medicine man, Leslie Silko criticizes disempowering attitudes of victimhood and Native self-shame while vindicating indigenous historical territories and unconventional political strategies. She also anticipates the liminal practices of material and cultural recycling we see in countless Western cities today, in the aftermath of the most recent world economic crisis

Wordarrows: The performative power of language in N. Scott Momaday’s non-fiction work

This article focuses on two non-fiction works by Native American author N. Scott Momaday: his 1969 historical memoir The Way to Rainy Mountain and his essay collection The Man Made of Words It specifically tackles performative conceptions of language in the Kiowa storytelling tradition, where words are experienced as speech acts that have the power to intervene in surrounding realities. Taking into account 20th century ethno-cultural and linguistic policies in the United States, the article also reflects on the role indigenous languages may play in contemporary Native American Literature, which has most often been written in English

Native Waterscapes in the Northern Borderlands: Restoring Traditional Environmental Knowledge in Linda Hogan’s Solar Storms

In her novel Solar Storms (1995) Chickasaw novelist and poet Linda Hogan foresees what political geographers today refer to as waterscapes, that is, water-based environments where a multiplicity of human and other-than-human forces interact with each other producing diverse forms of signification. This essay examines Indigenous experiences of water, geography, and social activism as they intersect in Hogan‘s waterscape narrative. I ground my analysis of this visionary novel in recent geographical studies that look at waterscapes from the perspective of cultural politics and which criticize rationalist conceptions of water that reduce it to the sole function of human commodity. Challenging such a reductionist view, Western and non-Western political geographers have begun to take into account traditional environmental knowledge (TEK), local ecologies, and historically rooted, alternative social practices to argue that water environments produce meaning through the ways human and other-than-human beings experience them, and this includes beings such as the earth or water. In this article I contend that such a view is the epistemological backbone sustaining Hogan‘s Solar Storms. While the potential swirling action of water as a form of environmental and spiritual power is strongly highlighted, I also consider how alternative cartographical practices and stories may challenge the boundaries of colonial dominance and propose ways in which Hogan‘s waterscape may contribute to contemporary geographical and political debates concerning home, territory, sovereignty, and sustainability in the Americas.En su novela Solar Storms (1995), la novelista y poeta Chickasaw Linda Hogan anticipa el concepto de waterscape, un entorno natural acuático en el cual (tal y como se empieza a reconocer en el campo de la geografía política contemporánea) una multiplicidad de agentes humanos y no-humanos interactúa entre sí produciendo diferentes niveles de sentido. Este artículo considera el modo en que las comunidades indígenas entienden el agua, la geografía y el activismo social tomando como punto de partida los waterscapes descritos por Linda Hogan. Mi análisis está fundamentado en estudios geográficos recientes, los cuales examinan estos entornos acuáticos atendiendo a las nuevas políticas geoculturales, a la par que critican conceptualizaciones racionales occidentales que reducen el agua a la mera función de mercancía o recurso. Cuestionando esta perspectiva reduccionista, numerosos geógrafos políticos, occidentales y no occidentales, empiezan a reconocer el valor de la sabiduría ecológica tradicional de las comunidades indígenas, las prácticas ecológicas locales, así como una serie de prácticas geosociales alternativas que tienen también un fuerte arraigo histórico. Este grupo creciente de geógrafos alega que los entornos acuáticos cobran también significado a través de las múltiples experiencias que los seres humanos y no humanos tenemos de los mismos y esto incluye a seres naturales como la tierra o el agua. En este artículo defiendo que esta perspectiva orgánica y multivocal constituye el eje fundamental que sustenta la novela de Hogan. Paralelamente, demuestro cómo las historias y prácticas cartográficas alternativas presentadas en la novela, junto a la acción arremolinadora del agua como fuerza medioambiental y espiritual, cuestionan los límites del orden colonial dominante proponiendo maneras de intervención en los debates geopolíticos contemporáneos sobre hogar, territorio, soberanía y sostenibilidad en la América indígena

The Way to Rainy Mountain: Imágenes, historias, y relaciones humanas/más-que-humanas en la memoria Kiowa de Alfred y N. Scott Momaday

Drawing from the pictographic traditions and interspecies relations of the Kiowa as well as from N. Scott Momaday’s own theories of language, vision, and the creative imagination, this article aims to broaden our understanding of the ­­­memoir The Way to Rainy Mountain as a verbal/visual collaboration between Kiowa painter Alfred Momaday and his son, N. Scott. The stories and images rendered in the book strongly establish the Kiowa in relation to a particular cultural landscape, to visual/oral forms of memory, and to the animals and more-than-human beings that endow them with meaning. To further understand these two sets of relations, the sacred interdependence between images/words and human/more-than-human beings in the Kiowa tradition, I first situate the revision of history, place, and ceremony carried out by the Momadays within a tribal-specific intellectual framework. To that end, I consider the visual modes and practices that were traditionally engaged by the Kiowa and which are reinserted by the Momadays in their text as a form of anti-colonial resurgence. Such strategies contributed to decolonizing textual spaces and tribal representation in the late 1960s through their blurring of Western disciplines and through the spiritual interconnection of human, more-than-humans and place at a time when Native American religions were banned. Words and images in The Way to Rainy Mountain are preeminently relational and place-based; they engage with the land and the multiple beings that dwell on it at material and spiritual levels that cannot be set apart. Shaped by traditional Kiowa epistemology and social practice, Rainy Mountain’s illustrations depict more-than-human beings and interspecies relations which, understood as both material and sacred experience, lead to creative vision and cultural resurgence in this groundbreaking text.Partiendo de las tradiciones pictográficas y de las relaciones entre especies asociadas a la cultura kiowa, así como de las teorías sobre el lenguaje, la visión y la imaginación creativa desarrolladas por N. Scott Momaday, en este trabajo propongo ampliar nuestra comprensión de la autobiografía colectiva The Way to Rainy Mountain entendida como colaboración visual y verbal entre el pintor kiowa Alfred Momaday y su hijo N. Scott. Las historias e imágenes plasmadas en esta obra contribuyeron a establecer a los kiowa en relación a un paisaje cultural concreto, a unas formas de memoria visual/oral, así como a los animales y seres más-que-humanos que les dan sentido. Para entender estos dos tipos de relación, la sagrada interdependencia entre las imágenes y las palabras y los seres humanos y más-que-humanos en la tradición kiowa, sitúo la revisión histórica, geográfica y ceremonial practicada por los Momaday en un marco intelectual tribal. Para ello considero los modos y prácticas visuales que caracterizan a la cultura kiowa y que son reinsertados por los Momaday en su obra como estrategia de resurgimiento anti-colonial. Estas estrategias contribuyeron a descolonizar los espacios textuales y la representación tribal a finales de los años 60 al cuestionar la rigidez de los campos de conocimiento occidentales e interconectar telúrica y espiritualmente a seres humanos y más-que-humanos en un momento histórico en el que las prácticas religiosas amerindias estaban prohibidas. Las palabras e imágenes plasmadas en The Way to Rainy Mountain son preeminentemente relacionales y están centradas en el territorio; apelan a la tierra y a los múltiples seres que la habitan de un modo material y spiritual que los hace inseparables. Las ilustraciones de Rainy Mountain muestran una clara influencia de la epistemología, historiografía visual y prácticas sociales kiowa y presentan relaciones entre especies que, entendidas como experiencia material y sagrada, llevan a la visión creativa y al resurgimiento cultural en esta obra pionera

Evaluating the effect of various bacterial consortia isolated from arid wild legumes on heat stress tolerance of Pisum sativum

High-temperature stress affects the growth and developmental process of cool-season grain legumes. We hypothesized that endophytic bacteria associated with arid plants could be a potential resource to ensure the tolerance of cold-season legumes to high temperature stress events. To test our hypothesis, Phyllobacterium salinitolerans (PH), Starkeya sp. (ST) and Pseudomonas turukhanskensis (PS) endophytes of different spontaneous legumes localised in Tunisian arid regions were selected to evaluate their potential in improving Pisum sativum growth and pea-rhizobia symbiosis under a heat stress event. Three consortia (containing different combinations of endophytes) were used along with the pea microsymbiont Rhizobium leguminosarum 128C53 (WT) or with its ΔacdS mutant derivative (MT) (Ma et al., 2003). Uninoculated plants without or with nitrogen supplement were used as negative (NC) or positive controls (PC), respectively. The heat stress event was applied 2 weeks after sowing for a period of 2 weeks with consecutive cycles of 30-35°C/16h and 20°C/8h. Interestingly, the shoot dry weight (SDW) of all plants co-inoculated with WT and any of the consortia containing PH increased significantly compared to that of plants inoculated with WT alone. A similar effect was observed on the root dry weight (RDW) in the treatments WT+ST+PH and WT+PS+PH. On the other hand, the best results either in terms of SDW or RDW with the mutant strain was the treatment that included all endophytes (MT+ST+PS+PH), even overcoming all treatments inoculated with WT and equalling the PC. As expected, plants inoculated with the MT had a lower number of nodules (NN) compared to plants inoculated with WT, except for MT+ST+PS+PH with similar NN. A significant increase in the NN was observed in plants co-inoculated with WT+ST+PH and WT+PS+PH compared to those in WT. The highest total chlorophyll content was in WT+ST+PS, which was significantly different from all other treatments while no differences were observed in phenolic compounds content among the inoculated treatments. Overall, our results suggest that endophytic isolates from arid leguminous plants are good candidates for increasing the resilience of plants not adapted to heat stress

Endophytic bacteria associated with spontaneous legumes in arid zones of Tunisia: Genetic diversity, metabolic functionalities and potential application to mitigate the impact of climate change

Legumes naturally adapted to harsh climate environments represent a new source of plant growth promoting (PGP) bacteria that can be used to improve crop resilience to climate change. However, the diversity and functionality of endophytic bacteria associated with endemic wild legumes in Tunisia are almost unknown. To study the taxonomic and functional diversity of these species, we conducted a study on root nodules of 15 spontaneous legumes, some of which studied for the first time, growing in three different Tunisian bioclimates (arid, semi-arid and Saharan). More than 210 strains, corresponding to 78 different phylotypes, were isolated. Sequencing of the 16S rDNA revealed the presence of rhizobial isolates belonging to the genera: Rhizobium, Sinorhizobium, Bradyrhizobium, Mesorhizobium, Neorhizobium, Agrobacterium, Phyllobacterium, Cupriavidus and Burkholderia. Other non-rhizobial bacteria assigned to Microbacterium, Pseudomonas, Paenibacillus, Starkeya, Kocuria among others, were also obtained. In addition, the nucleotide similarity of housekeeping genes suggested the presence of new species in our collection. Indeed, the genomic sequencing analysis identified a new species of Mesorhizobium (PRJNA800673), a microsymbiont of Retama raetam, which is one of the most important Tunisian shrubs. Regarding PGP-screening abilities, several strains stood out for possessing several PGP traits, phosphate solubilization, indole acetic acid and siderophores production, along with high tolerance to abiotic stress (> 45°C; > 0.4M NaCl). For rhizobia, whole genome sequencing of the Saharan isolate Sinorhizobium meliloti IRAM:0087 (PRJNA842649) revealed the existence of several gene clusters coding for different PGP activities, rhizosphere competitiveness and stress tolerance, some of which were confirmed in vitro assays. Based on the evaluation of the PGP potential of non-rhizobial strains, three bacteria P. salinitolerans, P. turukhanskensis and Starkeya sp. were selected to improve Pisum sativum, a cold season crop, tolerance to a heat stress event. Our preliminary results suggest that endophytic isolates from arid legumes represent a promising resource of biofertilizers/biostimulants to increase plant resilience to heat stress. Future studies to explore the adaptative responses of these endophytes to different types of stress will allow to better understand their stress tolerance mechanisms and contribute to select strains for nature-based solutions towards the establishment of new agricultural technologies in drylands

La dimensión afectiva olvidada del conocimiento didáctico del contenido de los profesores de ciencias

Shulman se refería al paradigma olvidado de la investigación sobre el profesor el que no se hubiese considerado el contenido de la materia específica, lo que le llevó a desarrollar el Conocimiento Didáctico del Contenido (CDC). Sin embargo la dimensión afectiva y emocional podemos considerarla la parte olvidada del CDC. Shulman consideraba que el CDC es una forma de razonamiento y de acción didáctica por medio de la cual los profesores transforman el contenido en representaciones comprensibles a los estudiantes. Investigaciones recientes indican que no hay acción humana, sin una emoción que la haga posible. Desde esta perspectiva es indudable que las emociones del profesor formarían parte del CDC. En el simposio mostraremos la relación entre lo cognitivo y lo afectivo del profesor y la necesidad de incluir la dimensión afectiva en el CDC de los profesores de ciencias

Introduction of exogenous AMF species alters the biological diversity and functionality of AMF communities associated with cowpea

The salinity in arid and semi-arid areas of the world is rapidly expanding due to climate change and anthropogenic activities. The use of inoculants containing beneficial microbes (e.g. arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and rhizobia) is a promising alternative to improve plant production in these regions. Here, we investigated the effect of common agricultural practices such as the use of beneficial microbes as inoculum and crop rotation on cowpea growth and on its association with soil microbes under non- and salt-stressed conditions. Plant experiments were carried out using non-sterilized soil (supplemented or not with NaCl) under greenhouse conditions. Bradyrhizobium yuanmingense BR 3267 strain and a commercial mixture of AMF (Endoplant Riego) were used as inoculants. In parallel, we assessed cowpea growth following succession of buffelgrass (Cenchrus ciliaris) with or without prior soil disturbance. Plant and symbiotic parameters, nutrient content in leaves and AMF and root nodule communities through DNA metabarcoding were evaluated. Under non-stressed conditions, inoculation with AMF and/or BR 3267 strain led to significant increase of cowpea biomass production and higher N or P content in leaves. The imposed saline condition affected the cowpea growth although without significantly affecting the symbiotic parameters. Moreover, the increase of AMF propagules available in the soil at buffelgrass sowing through the inoculation of commercial AMF was a determining factor to mitigate the effects of soil tillage and salinity on cowpea growth. The bacterial communities in the root nodules were affected by AMF communities rather by rhizobia inoculation. Benefits of commercial AMF could be explained by changes in the biological and functionality of the AMF communities associated with cowpea. This study reveals that microbial inoculation and crop rotation are effective practices for improvement of cowpea growth and on mitigating the harmful effects of salt

Las emociones en la enseñanza de las ciencias

En la primera part de l'article, s'incideix en la importància de l'estudi de les emocions des de la didàctica de les ciències, així com en la necessitat d'establir programes d'intervenció metacognitivos i metaemocionales, tant en l'aprenentatge com en la formació del professorat, perquè alumnes i professors puguin conèixer les seves emocions, controlar-les i autorregularlas. En la segona part, ens centrem en les emocions en el coneixement didàctic del contingut del professorat de ciències, incloent alguns resultats tant del diagnòstic emocional del professorat, segons diferents variables, com del programa d'intervenció de la Universitat d'Extremadura.The first part of this communication highlights the importance of studying emotions in the context of science teaching. It also examines the need for programs of meta-emotional and metacognitive intervention in learning and teacher education that are aimed at both the future teachers’and their pupils’ gaining awareness of, and then controlling and self-regulating, their emotions. The second part focuses on the role emotions play in science teachers’ pædagogical content knowledge, with the presentation of some results concerning the University of Extremadura’s intervention program and the emotional diagnosis of teachers.En la primera parte del artículo, se incide en la importancia del estudio de las emociones desde la didáctica de las ciencias, así como en la necesidad de establecer programas de intervención metacognitivos y metaemocionales, tanto en el aprendizaje como en la formación del profesorado, para que alumnos y profesores puedan conocer sus emociones, controlarlas y autorregularlas. En la segunda parte, nos centramos en las emociones en el conocimiento didáctico del contenido del profesorado de ciencias, incluyendo algunos resultados tanto del diagnóstico emocional del profesorado, según distintas variables, como del programa de intervención de la Universidad de Extremadura

Processo agroindustrial: obtenção de pó de casca de coco verde.

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