			Home About us Contact

Amazonian Society (amazonian + society)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	75%

Selected Abstracts

Short but catching up: Statural growth among native Amazonian Bolivian children

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2010
Ricardo Godoy
The ubiquity and consequences of childhood growth stunting (<,2 SD in height-for-age Z score, HAZ) in rural areas of low-income nations has galvanized research into the reversibility of stunting, but the shortage of panel data has hindered progress. Using panel data from a native Amazonian society of foragers-farmers in Bolivia (Tsimane'), we estimate rates of catch-up growth for stunted children. One hundred forty-six girls and 158 boys 2 , age , 7 were measured annually during 2002,2006. Annual , height in cm and in HAZ were regressed separately against baseline stunting and control variables related to attributes of the child, mother, household, and village. Children stunted at baseline had catch-up growth rates 0.11 SD/year higher than their nonstunted age and sex peers, with a higher rate among children farther from towns. The rate of catch up did not differ by the child's sex. A 10% rise in household income and an additional younger sibling lowered by 0.16 SD/year and 0.53 SD/year the rate of growth. Results were weaker when measuring , height in cm rather than in HAZ. Possible reasons for catch-up growth include (a) omitted variable bias, (b) parental reallocation of resources to redress growth faltering, particularly if parents perceive the benefits of redressing growth faltering for child school achievement, and (c) developmental plasticity during this period when growth rates are most rapid and linear growth trajectories have not yet canalized. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Cultural consonance and body morphology: Estimates with longitudinal data from an Amazonian society

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
Victoria Reyes-García
Abstract Researchers have hypothesized that the degree to which an individual's actual behavior approximates the culturally valued lifestyle encoded in the dominant cultural model has consequences for physical and mental health. We contribute to this line of research by analyzing data from a longitudinal study composed of five annual surveys (2002,2006 inclusive) from 791 adults in one society of foragers,farmers in the Bolivian Amazon, the Tsimane'. We estimate the association between a standard measure of individual achievement of the cultural model, cultural consonance, and three indicators of body morphology. Drawing on research suggesting that in societies in the early stages of economic development an increase in socioeconomic status is associated with an increase in mean body mass, we expect to find a positive association between cultural consonance and three anthropometric measures. We found the expected positive association between cultural consonance and anthropometric measures,especially for men,only when using ordinary least square (OLS) regression models, but not when using fixed-effects regression models. The real magnitude of the association was low. The comparison of estimates from OLS and fixed-effect regression models suggests that previous findings on the effects of cultural consonance on body morphology using cross-sectional data should be read with caution because the association might be largely explained by fixed characteristics of individuals not accounted in OLS models. Am J Phys Anthropol 143:167,174, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Ashéninka amity: a study of social relations in an Amazonian society

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, Issue 4 2009
Evan Killick
Starting with Ashéninka people's avowed preference for living apart, in nuclear family households, this article analyses Ashéninka social practices within the context of ongoing academic debates over reciprocity, kinship, and the relative importance of similarity and difference in Amazonian thought. I argue that instead of attempting to pull others into fixed and narrowly prescribed relationships, particularly those based on kinship, the Ashéninka prefer for all ties to be based on relations of friendship that remain voluntary, limited, and flexible. I show how these relationships are underpinned by a cultural imperative on unilateral giving that is manifested in masateadas, social gatherings centred on the consumption of manioc beer. Résumé À partir de la préférence déclarée des Ashéninkas pour une vie isolée en maisonnées composées de familles nucléaires, l'article analyse les pratiques sociales dans le contexte des débats académiques actuels sur la réciprocité, la parenté et l'importance relative de la similitude et de la différence dans la pensée amazonienne. L'auteur avance qu'au lieu de tenter de contraindre les autres à des relations fixes et strictement prescrites, notamment sur la base de la parenté, les Ashéninkas préfèrent qu'elles soient tissées à partir de liens d'amitié volontaires, limités et souples. L'auteur montre comment ces relations sont sous-tendues par un impératif culturel de don unilatéral, manifesté dans les masateadas, des rassemblements sociaux centrés sur la consommation de bière de manioc. [source]

The effect of wealth and real income on wildlife consumption among native Amazonians in Bolivia: estimates of annual trends with longitudinal household data (2002,2006)

ANIMAL CONSERVATION, Issue 3 2010
R. Godoy
Abstract Over the last decades, native Amazonians have put increasing pressure on animal wildlife owing to growth in demand. Across societies, household monetary income and wealth shape food consumption; hence, so it is natural to ask what effect might these variables have on the demand for wildlife consumption among native Amazonians, particularly as they gain a stronger foothold in the market economy and increasing de jure stewardship over their territories. Prior estimates of the effects of household monetary income and household wealth on wildlife consumption among native Amazonians have relied on cross-sectional data and produced unclear results. The goal of this research was to improve the precision of previous estimates by drawing on a larger sample and on longitudinal data. The analysis draws on a dataset composed of five consecutive annual surveys (2002,2006, inclusive) from 324 households in a native Amazonian society of foragers and farmers in Bolivia (Tsimane'). Multiple regression analysis is used to estimate the association between wildlife consumption and monetary income and wealth. Wildlife consumption bore a positive association with the level of household wealth and no significant association with household monetary income. Among Tsimane', the main internal threat to wildlife conservation in the short run will likely arise from increases in wealth, probably from the enhanced capacity that selected physical assets (e.g. guns) have in the capture of animal wildlife. [source]