This thesis explores the role of popular visual representation in the construction of North American Indian and Western Alternative Spiritual identities predominantly within Britain. The thesis falls into two related sections. The first is an ethnographic survey of Western Alternative Spiritual practitioners in the form of spiritual seekers and their North American Indian and non-Native teachers. The second is an analysis of popular visual representation of North American Indian peoples from 1851 to the present, with a focus on the World's Fairs and Wild West shows, colonial era ethnographic portraiture, Western-movies, Native and non-Native web sites, and museum exhibitions. The ethnographic field-work, conducted using participant-observation and guesthood informed conversation, provided the database for the imases analysed in section two, where post-structuralist critique highlights visual representation as an instrument of social power, while post- and de-colonial intertextual analysis foreground both colonialism in visual representation and the role of indigenous agency in identity construction. In contrast with the pervasive negation of indigenous agency in visual representation and identity construction, this thesis demonstrates that the stereotypical Plains-style Indian is not entirely a Western construct, and highlights the value of de-colonial research methodologies in visual representation and identity construction.

Over the last decade, the global struggles of indigenous peoples have become ever more visible. The thesis draws connections stemming from the ongoing existence and challenges of the Maya people of Yucatán in Mexico, not to the evident resistance of ongoing indigenous movements in the Americas, but to their endurance. Here, I examine the multiplicity of events occurring in the Maya solar of Yucatán, a house and garden plot that has historically supported an intricate indigenous system of land, livelihoods and identities. The solar is today under threat of extinction along with the way of life and the people it once fully sustained. This threat is itself a contested terrain as the current and historical endurance of the solar and of Maya peoples may be proof of their resilience. This thesis focuses on the unfolding transformations of the solar and the responses of Maya populations, gathered in Yucatán at different points between November 2013 and May 2015. Based on qualitative research that combines interviews and secondary documentary analysis, the research seeks to recognise and validate the human experience and situated knowledge of Maya populations. The data collected is interpreted through an overarching theoretical and methodological framework drawn from the Decoloniality perspective, which addresses the continuation of colonial powers within the modern world and highlights the historical denial of power, knowledge and being to native societies under the long-term effects of ‘coloniality’. Through the Decoloniality perspective, I contest and rework existing theoretical frameworks of ‘Primitive Accumulation’, ‘Latin American urban studies’, and ‘Indigenous Geographies’ in order to foreground indigenous and colonial questions from a political and epistemological Latin American perspective. Extensively, this research: 1) provides new evidence of the Maya’s plight, bringing to light their realities and their everyday life; 2) decolonises knowledge through further developing the Decoloniality perspective; and, 3) challenges the general understandings of Maya populations as a far more complex and contradictory than their usual dichotomous representation: as urban/rural, modern/traditional and indigenous/non-indigenous.

This thesis is an ethnographic account of the different ritual domains of interaction between the O'dam of Northern Mexico and their gods. For the O'dam, also known as the Southern Tepehuan, gods, divinities, and different types of spirits have an ancestral character since they are considered as the original inhabitants of the world. It is possible to identify three groups of deities which the O'dam interact with within different ceremonial contexts. Firstly, there are the native ceremonial centres known as xiotalh patios, where the O'dam engage with the gods of agriculture, and hunt. Here, children are initiated in maize-eating, young men are initiated in deer hunting, and the kinship groups renew their vows with the gods of maize. Secondly, within the context of the church and the courthouse, the O'dam interact with the Christian deities through a complex organisation inherited from the Spanish cofradías and cabildos. This group of deities is associated with European activities such as breeding livestock, going to school, and participating in local politics. These relationships between the O'dam and the Christian deities are mainly reproduced by the participation in church festivals. And thirdly, in the domain of the forest the O'dam conduct retreats during five weeks in which they interact with deities and spirits associated with different types of diseases. Since this is the context of shamanic initiation, it is here that individuals learn how to master the spirits responsible for inflicting illnesses, emerging from the retreats with stronger souls which are more resilient to harm. In this work, I approach these three different domains of interaction between the O'dam and their deities from the perspective of ceremonial leaders and shamans, as well as from the perspective of what can be defined as an ‘ordinary person'.

No description available.

Indigenous people in Mexico have historically been subjected to subordinate positions in relation to dominant non-indigenous groups. Indigenous people continue to face political exclusion, social discrimination and economic disadvantages compared to the non-indigenous population. Most studies use a universalising approach to conceptualise wellbeing in order to account for these differences among groups, neglecting to consider local indigenous understandings of wellbeing, and how such understandings may be obscured by inter-ethnic power relations at the local level. This research contributes to the larger debate of how asymmetries among social groups are formed, how they are contested through the articulation of discourses, and the implications of mobilising discourses as a political tool at the local level. The dissertation focuses on the case of the Raramuri indigenous people of Northern Mexico, and uses detailed ethnographic evidence to explore how discourses of wellbeing are constructed by the Raramuri people in their daily interactions with the non-indigenous population and how power asymmetries between these groups form and persist. It does so by pursuing three main objectives. The first is to document local understandings of wellbeing which emerge for the Raramuri people in contexts of ethno-political oppression. The second is to uncover underlying power relations that hinder wellbeing and reproduce ethnically differentiated vulnerabilities. Examples of this are land conflicts and institutional arrangements behind land management schemes. The third objective is to analyse resulting mechanisms of resistance employed by the Raramuri indigenous people in order to seek control of practices and customs that promotes ethnic distinction. These three pillars provide a novel framework to explore the formation and perpetuation of asymmetrical social, economic and political relations at the local level. The study finds that the Raramuri people, like other minority groups living in the margins of nation states and global markets, are constrained to act strategically to face political, economic and social exclusion, while at the same time, taking the opportunity of this position to articulate culturally embedded discourses and mechanisms to reinforce their identity and self-definition. It is in the marginal context that the Raramuri discourse of living well develops and makes sense; fluctuating between the tension of having the right to live differently and the need to be part of the larger society. As a result, this discourse, by stressing ethnic membership and differentiation from other groups, appeals to culturally deep-seated homogenising and idealised elements of ethnicity. Consequently, Raramuri people articulate a recurrent strategy of resistance that allows them to consolidate their cultural identity and the internal cohesion of the group. However, this strategy limits political influence and their capacity to challenge the asymmetric power relations they face from dominant, non-indigenous spheres.

Dans le contexte mondial actuel où les échanges sont internationaux et interculturels, il est intéressant de s'interroger sur les conséquences de l'interculturalité dans une perspective ethnologique. Le monde du tourisme est un formidable indicateur du regard qu'une culture porte sur une autre, indicateur aussi de ce que cette interculturalité modifie pour les uns et les autres. Dans ce travail de thèse, l'interculturalité observée se situe à Ittoqqortoormiit, petite ville de la côte nord-est du Groenland. Cette petite communauté inuit connaît des difficultés économiques et le tourisme paraît être une solution pour lui permettre d'améliorer son quotidien. La problématique tourne alors autour de la mise en tourisme de la culture inuit d'Ittoqqortoormiit et des échanges qui s'imposent entre les chasseurs devenus guides et les touristes pour la plupart venus d'Europe ou d'Amérique du Nord. Pour les Groenlandais d'Ittoqqortoormiit, la chasse participe activement à la construction et au maintien de leur identité inuit. La pratique de la chasse est codifiée et répond à des valeurs sociales et culturelles largement partagées par l'ensemble de la population mais en situation interculturelle, la chasse revêt d'autres aspects et ne correspond pas toujours à l'imaginaire touristique polaire que les visiteurs viennent vivre et ressentir. Ainsi, l'identité et la culture inuit sont en renouvellement constant devant l'Autre, tandis que l'interculturalité et la mondialisation jouent sur l'avenir de la pratique de la chasse comme emblème identitaire. / In a global context where nowadays exchanges are international and intercultural, it is interesting to wonder about the consequences of interculturality from an ethnological perspective. The touristic world is a wonderful indicator of one culture's outlook on another and the changes brought by crossculturality. In this thesis, interculturality is examined in a small town named Ittoqqortoormiit in the north-east coast of Greenland. This small Inuit community faces economic difficulties and tourism seems to be a solution to improve day-to-day life. The research question is then naturally oriented towards the integration of tourism in the Ittoqqortoormiit Inuit culture and towards consequent exchanges between hunters turned into guides and tourists mainly from Europe and North America. The Ittoqqortoormiit Greenlanders see hunting as a way to actively build and maintain their Inuit identity. The practice of hunting is normalized and follows social and cultural values shared by all the population. However in a intercultural context, hunting is viewed from other perspectives and the experience by tourists does not always match the touristic polar imagination that visitors expect to others, and at the same time interculturality and globalization influence the future of the hunting practice as an identity symbol.

Les recherches entreprises dans cette thèse visent à définir les processus de formation des anthroposols archéologiques précolombiens sur le territoire guyanais ainsi qu'à participer à la restitution des activités humaines passées. Elles sont fondées sur l'étude et l'analyse des propriétés intrinsèques des sédiments archéologiques, telles que, d'une part, leur nature et leur organisation pédo-sédimentaires, et d'autre part, leurs propriétés physico-chimiques. La possibilité de disposer d'un corpus de sites archéologiques de plein air dans différents contextes géomorphologiques (plaine alluviale, colline latéritique pour les montagnes couronnées), et la mise en place d'une approche géoarchéologique combinant observations micromorphologiques et analyses physico-chimiques, a permis d'investiguer différents types d'anthroposols précolombiens guyanais, et de les caractériser suivant plusieurs marqueurs anthropiques, directs et indirects. L'analyse géoarchéologique révèle que la pédogénèse naturelle a été impactée par l'anthropisation ancienne et indique une certaine résilience des sols. La micromorphologie des sols a permis de mettre en évidence des microtraces anthropiques telles que des charbons (micro et macro) et des céramiques, communs aux deux contextes, ainsi que différents types d'agrégats brûlés provenant de la surface des sols ayant subi la chauffe pour les montagnes couronnées. L'activité anthropique a aussi probablement favorisé les processus de lessivage des argiles par des apports anciens de cendres. La pédofaune a été transformée comme le laisse supposer, en lames minces, la présence de traits rapportés à Pontoscolex corethrurus. Les analyses archéo-environnementales complémentaires mises en place dans ce travail (anthracologie, phytolithes, susceptibilité magnétique) ont permis de compléter les données acquises sur la mise en place des anthroposols étudiés. Ces travaux, précurseurs pour le territoire guyanais, et en s'inspirant des études menées non loin, en Amazonie brésilienne sur les terra preta/mulata ou Amazonian Dark Earth, viennent compléter le référentiel des anthroposols archéologiques développés en Amazonie. Ils ont, en outre, permis d'émettre plusieurs hypothèses quant à l'origine des marqueurs d'activités, directs ou indirects, observés dans les anthroposols archéologiques, et de mettre ainsi en évidence les manifestations humaines anciennes qui auraient pu avoir lieu sur les sites étudiés. Des activités fondamentales telles que les foyers domestiques ou la mise en culture des sols semblent avoir pris place sur ces derniers. Des hypothèses sur les modèles d'occupation de l'espace ont été proposées en s'intéressant aux zones de rejet principalement, situées en retrait des maisons supposées et à proximité du fossé dans le cas des montagnes couronnées. Cette étude s'inscrit typiquement dans une approche archée-environnementale qui vient préciser les liens étroits qu'entretenaient les populations précolombiennes avec leur environnement. / The research undertaken in this thesis, aims to identify the formation processes of the pre­Columbian archaeological anthropogenic soils in the French Guiana territory as well as to contribute to revisiting ancient human activities. lt is based on the study and analysis of the intrinsic properties of archaeological sediments, such as, on the one hand, their nature and their pedo-sedimentary composition, and on the other hand, their physicochemical properties. The availability of a corpus of open air archaeological sites in different geomorphological settings (e.g., floodplain; lateritic hill with circular ditch glossed in French montagne couronnée), and the implementation of a geoarchaeological approach combining micromorphological observations and physicochemical analyses, enabled to investigate different kinds of pre-Columbian anthropogenic soils in French Guiana, and to characterize them according to several anthropogenic markers, both direct and indirect. Geoarchaeological analysis revealed that the natural pedogenesis has been impacted by the ancient anthropization and indicates a certain resilience of soils. The soil micromorphology demonstrated anthropogenic microtraces such as charcoal (micro and macro) and fragments of pottery, common to both contexts, as well as different kinds of heated aggregates originating from the surface of the soils having been burned, only for the montagnes couronnées sites. Anthropogenic activity probably also contributed to the process of leaching of clay via the formed ashes. The pedofaune has been transformed as one may assume, in thin sections, the presence of pedofeatures related to Pontoscolex corethrurus. Additional archaeo-environmental analyses implemented in this study (anthracology, phytoliths, magnetic susceptibility) allowed completing the data acquired on the implementation of the studied anthropogenic soils. These studies, pioneering for French Guiana, though inspired by studies in the near Brazilian Amazon on terra preta/mulata or Amazonian Dark Earth, complement the repository of archaeological anthropogenic soils developed in the Amazon. Furthermore, they allowed several hypotheses about the origins of the activity markers, either direct or indirect, observed in the archaeological anthropogenic soils, and evidenced ancient human events that could have taken place on the sites studied. Fundamental activities such as house tires or the cultivation of the land appear to have taken place on the latter. Assumptions about the models of occupation of space have been proposed mainly by refuse areas behind the supposed houses and near the ditch in the case of the montagnes couronnées. This study is situated in an archaeo-environmental approach demonstrating the close relations between pre-Columbian populations with their environment.