El dilema antropocéntrico. Notas sobre la economía política de la naturaleza de la cultura indígena

En este texto se exponen algunas reflexiones sobre la relación de los pueblos indígenas con aquella esfera de la realidad que en occidente llamamos "naturaleza" y se hace una crítica a la dicotomía oposicional naturaleza/cultura del racionalismo antropocéntrico occidental-que ha justificado y sigue justificando la opresión y explotación de los indígenas- a través de un recorrido sobre de las bases morales de la territorialidad indígena y de la relación cultura-naturaleza que sustentan la vida socio-biológica de los pueblos indígenas. En las comunidades indígenas de la Amazonia el sector de la econmía de subsistencia (economía social) con sus reglas culturales estrictas de reciprocidad, complementariedad, diversidad, formalización ritual y sacramental, y densidad espiritual tiene un papel hegemónico que da forma a toda la red de relaciones sociales internas en términos de una "economía moral" que involucra a la totalidad de los organismos y personas en la red dinámica de relaciones

Amazonian Communities: Shaping the Ethics of Cosmocentrism

During millennia Amazonia has shaped herself as an integrated cosmos of tangible and intangible beings interweaved as a totality of relatives. This indigenous non-anthropocentric civilizational construction can be better defined by the neologism cosmocentric rather than contemporary ecological terms such as biocentric or geocentric, which emphasize exclusively the materialistic component of the whole system. Colonial and capitalist occupation of Amazonia portrayed and actively reconfigured a manageable “social reconstruction” of Peru’s Amazon Rainforest –La Selva, imposing a new ontology devoid of any ethical concerns. This article will explore the ethnic and political journey of Indigenous Amazonian Communities since the early 1960s to restore a pre-modern and post-modern environmental, cultural, social and ethical conception and practice of Amazonia.During millennia Amazonia has shaped herself as an integrated cosmos of tangible and intangible beings interweaved as a totality of relatives. This indigenous non-anthropocentric civilizational construction can be better defined by the neologism cosmocentric rather than contemporary ecological terms such as biocentric or geocentric, which emphasize exclusively the materialistic component of the whole system. Colonial and capitalist occupation of Amazonia portrayed and actively reconfigured a manageable “social reconstruction” of Peru’s Amazon Rainforest –La Selva, imposing a new ontology devoid of any ethical concerns. This article will explore the ethnic and political journey of Indigenous Amazonian Communities since the early 1960s to restore a pre-modern and post-modern environmental, cultural, social and ethical conception and practice of Amazonia.During millennia Amazonia has shaped herself as an integrated cosmos of tangible and intangible beings interweaved as a totality of relatives. This indigenous non-anthropocentric civilizational construction can be better defined by the neologism cosmocentric rather than contemporary ecological terms such as biocentric or geocentric, which emphasize exclusively the materialistic component of the whole system. Colonial and capitalist occupation of Amazonia portrayed and actively reconfigured a manageable “social reconstruction” of Peru’s Amazon Rainforest –La Selva, imposing a new ontology devoid of any ethical concerns. This article will explore the ethnic and political journey of Indigenous Amazonian Communities since the early 1960s to restore a pre-modern and post-modern environmental, cultural, social and ethical conception and practice of Amazonia

El estado oligárquico y las naciones indígenas en el Perú neoliberal

The article presents an overview of the ethical foundations of indigenous territoriality and the nature/culture relationship that underpin the socio-biological life of Indigenous Peoples in contrast to the claim of universality of the Western theory of knowledge, which claims a single epistemology and which is econocentric, monetised, marketised. It is also insufficient to explain the complexity of most of the knowledge systems and practices of indigenous peoples in the Americas. This paper thus proposes an epistemological paradigm shift and an ethical shift that allows us to recognise the legitimacy of indigenous peoples’ argument for an ethical order of Buen Vivir/Sumak Kawsay/Kametsa Asaike based on a deeper and more spiritual understanding of humanity’s place in the cosmic order.El artículo plantea un recorrido de los fundamentos éticos de la territorialidad indígena y de la relación naturaleza/cultura que sustentan la vida socio-biológica de los Pueblos Indígenas en contraste con la pretensión de universalidad de la teoría occidental del conocimiento, que reclama una sola epistemología y que es econocéntrica, monetizada, mercantilizada. Esta es, además, insuficiente para explicar la complejidad de la mayoría de los sistemas y prácticas de conocimiento de los pueblos indígenas de las Américas. Este trabajo propone, así, un cambio de paradigma epistemológico y un cambio ético que nos permita reconocer la legitimidad del argumento de los pueblos indígenas de un orden ético del Buen Vivir/Sumak Kawsay/Kametsa Asaike basado en una comprensión más profunda y espiritual del lugar de la humanidad en el orden cósmico

El dilema antropocéntrico : notas sobre la economía política de la naturaleza de la cultura indígena

En este texto se exponen algunas reflexiones sobre la relación de los pueblos indígenas con aquella esfera de la realidad que en occidente llamamos "naturaleza" y se hace una crítica a la dicotomía oposicional naturaleza/cultura del racionalismo antropocéntrico occidental-que ha justificado y sigue justificando la opresión y explotación de los indígenas- a través de un recorrido sobre de las bases morales de la territorialidad indígena y de la relación cultura-naturaleza que sustentan la vida socio-biológica de los pueblos indígenas. En las comunidades indígenas de la Amazonia el sector de la econmía de subsistencia (economía social) con sus reglas culturales estrictas de reciprocidad, complementariedad, diversidad, formalización ritual y sacramental, y densidad espiritual tiene un papel hegemónico que da forma a toda la red de relaciones sociales internas en términos de una "economía moral" que involucra a la totalidad de los organismos y personas en la red dinámica de relaciones.This article presents some refections on the relationship of indigenous peoples with that sphere of reality called "nature" in the West, and develops a critique of the oppositional nature / culture dichotomy in Western anthropocentric rationalism -which has justifed and continues to justify the oppression and exploitation of indigenous peoples- through a tour of the moral basis of indigenous territoriality and the relationship between culture and nature that sustains the socio-biological life of indigenous peoples. In the indigenous communities of Amazonia, the subsistence economy (social economy), with its strict cultural norms of reciprocity, complementarity, diversity, ritual and sacramental formalization, and spiritual density has a hegemonic role that shapes the entire network of internal social relations in terms of a "moral economy" involving all organisms and people in a dynamic network of relationships

The essentials of marine biotechnology.

Coastal countries have traditionally relied on the existing marine resources (e.g., fishing, food, transport, recreation, and tourism) as well as tried to support new economic endeavors (ocean energy, desalination for water supply, and seabed mining). Modern societies and lifestyle resulted in an increased demand for dietary diversity, better health and well-being, new biomedicines, natural cosmeceuticals, environmental conservation, and sustainable energy sources. These societal needs stimulated the interest of researchers on the diverse and underexplored marine environments as promising and sustainable sources of biomolecules and biomass, and they are addressed by the emerging field of marine (blue) biotechnology. Blue biotechnology provides opportunities for a wide range of initiatives of commercial interest for the pharmaceutical, biomedical, cosmetic, nutraceutical, food, feed, agricultural, and related industries. This article synthesizes the essence, opportunities, responsibilities, and challenges encountered in marine biotechnology and outlines the attainment and valorization of directly derived or bio-inspired products from marine organisms. First, the concept of bioeconomy is introduced. Then, the diversity of marine bioresources including an overview of the most prominent marine organisms and their potential for biotechnological uses are described. This is followed by introducing methodologies for exploration of these resources and the main use case scenarios in energy, food and feed, agronomy, bioremediation and climate change, cosmeceuticals, bio-inspired materials, healthcare, and well-being sectors. The key aspects in the fields of legislation and funding are provided, with the emphasis on the importance of communication and stakeholder engagement at all levels of biotechnology development. Finally, vital overarching concepts, such as the quadruple helix and Responsible Research and Innovation principle are highlighted as important to follow within the marine biotechnology field. The authors of this review are collaborating under the European Commission-funded Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action Ocean4Biotech – European transdisciplinary networking platform for marine biotechnology and focus the study on the European state of affairs

Clinical features and outcomes of elderly hospitalised patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure or both

Background and objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart failure (HF) mutually increase the risk of being present in the same patient, especially if older. Whether or not this coexistence may be associated with a worse prognosis is debated. Therefore, employing data derived from the REPOSI register, we evaluated the clinical features and outcomes in a population of elderly patients admitted to internal medicine wards and having COPD, HF or COPD + HF. Methods: We measured socio-demographic and anthropometric characteristics, severity and prevalence of comorbidities, clinical and laboratory features during hospitalization, mood disorders, functional independence, drug prescriptions and discharge destination. The primary study outcome was the risk of death. Results: We considered 2,343 elderly hospitalized patients (median age 81 years), of whom 1,154 (49%) had COPD, 813 (35%) HF, and 376 (16%) COPD + HF. Patients with COPD + HF had different characteristics than those with COPD or HF, such as a higher prevalence of previous hospitalizations, comorbidities (especially chronic kidney disease), higher respiratory rate at admission and number of prescribed drugs. Patients with COPD + HF (hazard ratio HR 1.74, 95% confidence intervals CI 1.16-2.61) and patients with dementia (HR 1.75, 95% CI 1.06-2.90) had a higher risk of death at one year. The Kaplan-Meier curves showed a higher mortality risk in the group of patients with COPD + HF for all causes (p = 0.010), respiratory causes (p = 0.006), cardiovascular causes (p = 0.046) and respiratory plus cardiovascular causes (p = 0.009). Conclusion: In this real-life cohort of hospitalized elderly patients, the coexistence of COPD and HF significantly worsened prognosis at one year. This finding may help to better define the care needs of this population