N C Kawa
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 69391 |
|---|---|
| NOME | N C Kawa |
| PRENOMES | N C |
| SOBRENOME | Kawa |
| ASSINATURA | KAWA N C |
| AFILIAÇÕES | The Ohio State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0246-4445 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 31 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 163 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 31 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2008 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 8 |
Welcome to the Anthropozine! DIY Booklets as an Alternative to the Peer‐Reviewed Publication
Peer‐reviewed publications remain the most accepted form of knowledge production and distribution in academia today. But such formal publications are often deeply exclusionary, especially for undergraduate and early graduate students as well as scholars tackling highly stigmatized subjects. This essay highlights the value of zines—do‐it‐yourself booklets that mix art and text in an eclectic assemblage—as an alternative. Drawing from my personal D…
Changing the Landscape of Archaeological Publishing
Disseminating research is a key component of scholarly labor, but the costs and benefits of the current structure of academic publishing are underexamined within anthropology. This paper brings together a range of authors from across archaeology and cultural anthropology to summarize current issues in archaeological publishing and offer potential interventions at multiple scales. The paper is divided into five core topics. “Ideology” discusses th…
Spatiotemporal Impacts of Drug Crop and Commodity Agriculture on Cultural Ecosystem Services
In recent decades, drug crop eradication and drug trafficking interdiction have pushed drug crop cultivation into new areas of the Amazonian rain forest. The presence of the drug industries in these regions—followed by alternative development programs that aim to substitute illicit drug crops with commodity crops like cacao—has transformed forest ecologies, risking loss to both biodiversity and cultural ecosystem services (CES) for surrounding co…
Five Key Concepts for Human Inquiry Into Plant Lifeworlds
What can humans learn from plants in this time of widely perceived ecological disruption? And how can concepts drawn from ethnobotanical and ethnobiological inquiry help to guide understanding of interspecies relations in this historical moment? This essay departs from these basic questions by centering five key concepts derived from contemporary social theory for examining human understanding of plant lifeworlds: translation, equivocation, refus…
Who Gets to Be an Author
Who gets to be an author in contemporary anthropology and who does not? How do both questions about authorship expose problems surrounding academic labor and scholarly knowledge production, which have become normative features of the discipline? This essay examines how inherited logics and practices of anthropological authorship allow for the accumulation of intellectual capital for select academic laborers while excluding others, most notably fi…
Training wicked scientists for a world of wicked problems
Humanity faces a number of wicked problems, from global climate change and the coronavirus pandemic to systemic racism and widening economic inequality. Since such complex and dynamic problems are plagued by disagreement among stakeholders over their nature and cause, they are notoriously difficult to solve. This commentary argues that if humanity truly aspires to address the grand challenges of today and tomorrow, then graduate education must be…
Making sense of sewage sludge as a renewable resource in the urban U.S
Prior to industrialization, human excrement was commonly employed as a resource for agricultural fertilization. Following the advent of the hydraulic sanitation system, however, it became increasingly channeled into waterways rather than reincorporated into terrestrial agro-ecosystems. To counter this trend, more and more industrial cities are seeking to utilize treated sanitation waste, or “biosolids,” as a renewable resource that can be applied…
Placing the Anthropos in Anthropocene
In this article, we review the place of “the human” in influential approaches to the Anthropocene to expose the diverse conceptualizations of humanity and human futures. First, we synthesize current research on humans as landscape modifiers across space and time, making a key distinction between the “old Anthropocene” (beginning with human food production) and the “new Anthropocene” (coinciding with the start of the Industrial Revolution). Second…
A "Win-Win" for Soil Conservation? How Indiana Row-Crop Farmers Perceive the Benefits (and Trade-offs) of No-Till Agriculture
To address problems of soil degradation, industrial farmers across the United States have converted to no-till agriculture, which can mitigate the effects of soil erosion and reduce operating costs without necessarily compromising agricultural output. However, producers still debate the benefits of this practice. Through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 14 row-crop farmers in central Indiana, this study examines farmer …
Porkopolis
Plants that Keep the Bad Vibes Away
Throughout Amazonia, people keep plants in their home gardens to ward off unwanted presences - from bad vibes and thieves to pests and disease. In this article, I show that such plants are not arbitrarily selected but rather have long histories of human use for mediating relations with unwanted others. I contend that these plants' capacities for corporeal and territorial boundary maintenance - attributed in the scientific literature to bioactive …
Open air laboratories
Using Rich Pictures to Model the ‘Good Life’ in Indigenous Communities of the Tumucumaque Complex in Brazilian Amazonia
Climate change, uncertainty and allostatic load
CONTEXT: Humans constantly respond to environmental stressors challenging their somatic stability. Allostasis, an evolved neuroendocrine/physiological stressor response system, is our main pathway for doing so. Effective allostasis returns somatic systems to their current optima; over a lifetime of stressor responses, related systems fail, effectiveness declines, and physiological dysregulation (i.e. allostatic load) increases. Global Climate Cha…
Night Soil
For millennia, people have relied on human excrement or “night soil” as a source of agricultural fertilization. Following industrialization, however, the use of this resource became considerably limited. In this article, we provide a brief overview of the historical use of human excreta for agricultural application at varying scales of management, from early Amazonian farming middens to regional networks of night soil trade in imperial China. We …
The Social Network of US Academic Anthropology and Its Inequalities
Anthropologists often call attention to the problems posed by social inequality, but academic anthropology also reproduces many of the very inequalities that its practitioners work to critique. Past research on US academic hiring networks has shown evidence of systematic inequality and hierarchy, attributed in significant part to the influence of academic prestige, which is not necessarily a reflection of merit or academic productivity. Using ant…
Primer Viaje de Regreso a Casa
A pretext for plunder? Environmental change and state-led redevelopment in the Peruvian Amazon
In 2014, the Peruvian federal government declared the low-income neighbourhood of Pueblo Libre de Belén in the Amazonian city of Iquitos to be in a state of emergency. A federal decree stated that 'constant inundation' from the Itaya River had put residents and their homes in jeopardy. Following this declaration, the federal government proposed to resettle residents in a planned community, 13 km outside the city. Drawing from interviews with 77 h…
El tunchi en la casa de Sandra
How Religion, Race, and the Weedy Agency of Plants Shape Amazonian Home Gardens
Across Brazilian Amazonia, it is common to find rural households that keep plants with magico-medicinal properties in their home gardens. Despite widespread occurrence of such plants, some Amazonians-especially in Evangelical communities-openly criticize their use as incongruent with Christian belief and practice. In this article, I offer ethnographic observations that indicate divergent attitudes toward magico-medicinal plants between Evangelica…
Trail Trees
Living trees historically modified by human populations, oftentimes referred to as “culturally modified trees” (CMTs), are found throughout the North American landscape. In eastern North America specifically, indigenous populations bent thousands of trees to mark trails, and some of these still exist in the region today. In this article, we present a synthesis of current knowledge on trail trees, including their speculated functions, formation, a…
Household Agrobiodiversity Management on Amazonian Dark Earths, Oxisols, and Floodplain Soils on the Lower Madeira River, Brazil
Saving the Amazon’
Many justifications have been made for ‘saving the Amazon’ from preserving the ‘lungs of the world’ to protecting unknown botanical wonders that might yield cures to deadly diseases. However, Amazonians have responded to these claims with charges of ‘international covetousness’, interpreting such foreign interest as a thinly‐masked desire to take control of the region's natural resources. In this article I examine some of the counter‐claims that …
Na Primeira Margem do Rio
Review of Na Primeira Margem do Rio: Território e Ecologia do Povo Xavante de Wedezé. James R Welch, Ricardo Ventura Santos, Nancy M. Flowers, and Carlos E. A. Coimbra Jr. 2012. Museu do Índio/FUNAI, Rio de Janeiro. Pp. 244. ISBN 978-85-85986-46-9
Manioc Varietal Diversity, Social Networks, and Distribution Constraints in Rural Amazonia
Social exchange networks play a critical role in the maintenance and distribution of crop diversity in smallholder farming communities throughout the world. The structure of such networks, however, can both support and constrain crop diversity and its distribution. This report examines varietal distribution of the staple crop manioc among rural households in three neighboring caboclo communities in Brazilian Amazonia. The results show that the ce…
The Social Network of US Academic Anthropology and Its Inequalities
Anthropologists often call attention to the problems posed by social inequality, but academic anthropology also reproduces many of the very inequalities that its practitioners work to critique. Past research on US academic hiring networks has shown evidence of systematic inequality and hierarchy, attributed in significant part to the influence of academic prestige, which is not necessarily a reflection of merit or academic productivity. Using ant…
Crop Diversity on Anthropogenic Dark Earths in Central Amazonia
Manioc Varietal Diversity, Social Networks, and Distribution Constraints in Rural Amazonia
Social exchange networks play a critical role in the maintenance and distribution of crop diversity in smallholder farming communities throughout the world. The structure of such networks, however, can both support and constrain crop diversity and its distribution. This report examines varietal distribution of the staple crop manioc among rural households in three neighboring caboclo communities in Brazilian Amazonia. The results show that the ce…
Placing the Anthropos in Anthropocene
In this article, we review the place of “the human” in influential approaches to the Anthropocene to expose the diverse conceptualizations of humanity and human futures. First, we synthesize current research on humans as landscape modifiers across space and time, making a key distinction between the “old Anthropocene” (beginning with human food production) and the “new Anthropocene” (coinciding with the start of the Industrial Revolution). Second…
How Religion, Race, and the Weedy Agency of Plants Shape Amazonian Home Gardens
Across Brazilian Amazonia, it is common to find rural households that keep plants with magico-medicinal properties in their home gardens. Despite widespread occurrence of such plants, some Amazonians-especially in Evangelical communities-openly criticize their use as incongruent with Christian belief and practice. In this article, I offer ethnographic observations that indicate divergent attitudes toward magico-medicinal plants between Evangelica…
Night Soil
For millennia, people have relied on human excrement or “night soil” as a source of agricultural fertilization. Following industrialization, however, the use of this resource became considerably limited. In this article, we provide a brief overview of the historical use of human excreta for agricultural application at varying scales of management, from early Amazonian farming middens to regional networks of night soil trade in imperial China. We …
Useful Species Richness, Proportion of Exotic Species, and Market Orientation on Amazonian Dark Earths and Oxisols1
Who Gets to Be an Author
Who gets to be an author in contemporary anthropology and who does not? How do both questions about authorship expose problems surrounding academic labor and scholarly knowledge production, which have become normative features of the discipline? This essay examines how inherited logics and practices of anthropological authorship allow for the accumulation of intellectual capital for select academic laborers while excluding others, most notably fi…
Trail Trees
Living trees historically modified by human populations, oftentimes referred to as “culturally modified trees” (CMTs), are found throughout the North American landscape. In eastern North America specifically, indigenous populations bent thousands of trees to mark trails, and some of these still exist in the region today. In this article, we present a synthesis of current knowledge on trail trees, including their speculated functions, formation, a…
Household Agrobiodiversity Management on Amazonian Dark Earths, Oxisols, and Floodplain Soils on the Lower Madeira River, Brazil
A "Win-Win" for Soil Conservation? How Indiana Row-Crop Farmers Perceive the Benefits (and Trade-offs) of No-Till Agriculture
To address problems of soil degradation, industrial farmers across the United States have converted to no-till agriculture, which can mitigate the effects of soil erosion and reduce operating costs without necessarily compromising agricultural output. However, producers still debate the benefits of this practice. Through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 14 row-crop farmers in central Indiana, this study examines farmer …
Plants that Keep the Bad Vibes Away
Throughout Amazonia, people keep plants in their home gardens to ward off unwanted presences - from bad vibes and thieves to pests and disease. In this article, I show that such plants are not arbitrarily selected but rather have long histories of human use for mediating relations with unwanted others. I contend that these plants' capacities for corporeal and territorial boundary maintenance - attributed in the scientific literature to bioactive …
Open air laboratories
Na Primeira Margem do Rio
Review of Na Primeira Margem do Rio: Território e Ecologia do Povo Xavante de Wedezé. James R Welch, Ricardo Ventura Santos, Nancy M. Flowers, and Carlos E. A. Coimbra Jr. 2012. Museu do Índio/FUNAI, Rio de Janeiro. Pp. 244. ISBN 978-85-85986-46-9
Saving the Amazon’
Many justifications have been made for ‘saving the Amazon’ from preserving the ‘lungs of the world’ to protecting unknown botanical wonders that might yield cures to deadly diseases. However, Amazonians have responded to these claims with charges of ‘international covetousness’, interpreting such foreign interest as a thinly‐masked desire to take control of the region's natural resources. In this article I examine some of the counter‐claims that …
Playing by the Rules
The Chocolate Tree
Playing by the Rules
Useful Species Richness, Proportion of Exotic Species, and Market Orientation on Amazonian Dark Earths and Oxisols1
My Uncle Sandy
Crop Diversity on Anthropogenic Dark Earths in Central Amazonia
Magic Plants of Amazonia and Their Contribution to Agrobiodiversity
This article relies on ethnographic and household survey data to examine the contribution of magic plants to the overall diversity of plant species managed by rural households in the municipality of Borba, Amazonas state, Brazil. The resulting analysis shows that more than 27 percent of the species managed in smallholder farming communities in Borba are believed to have symbolic powers or magical properties. Furthermore, while households that man…
Manioc Varietal Diversity, Social Networks, and Distribution Constraints in Rural Amazonia
Social exchange networks play a critical role in the maintenance and distribution of crop diversity in smallholder farming communities throughout the world. The structure of such networks, however, can both support and constrain crop diversity and its distribution. This report examines varietal distribution of the staple crop manioc among rural households in three neighboring caboclo communities in Brazilian Amazonia. The results show that the ce…
Saving the Amazon’
Many justifications have been made for ‘saving the Amazon’ from preserving the ‘lungs of the world’ to protecting unknown botanical wonders that might yield cures to deadly diseases. However, Amazonians have responded to these claims with charges of ‘international covetousness’, interpreting such foreign interest as a thinly‐masked desire to take control of the region's natural resources. In this article I examine some of the counter‐claims that …
Na Primeira Margem do Rio
Review of Na Primeira Margem do Rio: Território e Ecologia do Povo Xavante de Wedezé. James R Welch, Ricardo Ventura Santos, Nancy M. Flowers, and Carlos E. A. Coimbra Jr. 2012. Museu do Índio/FUNAI, Rio de Janeiro. Pp. 244. ISBN 978-85-85986-46-9
Trail Trees
Living trees historically modified by human populations, oftentimes referred to as “culturally modified trees” (CMTs), are found throughout the North American landscape. In eastern North America specifically, indigenous populations bent thousands of trees to mark trails, and some of these still exist in the region today. In this article, we present a synthesis of current knowledge on trail trees, including their speculated functions, formation, a…
Household Agrobiodiversity Management on Amazonian Dark Earths, Oxisols, and Floodplain Soils on the Lower Madeira River, Brazil
How Religion, Race, and the Weedy Agency of Plants Shape Amazonian Home Gardens
Across Brazilian Amazonia, it is common to find rural households that keep plants with magico-medicinal properties in their home gardens. Despite widespread occurrence of such plants, some Amazonians-especially in Evangelical communities-openly criticize their use as incongruent with Christian belief and practice. In this article, I offer ethnographic observations that indicate divergent attitudes toward magico-medicinal plants between Evangelica…
El tunchi en la casa de Sandra
Primer Viaje de Regreso a Casa
A pretext for plunder? Environmental change and state-led redevelopment in the Peruvian Amazon
In 2014, the Peruvian federal government declared the low-income neighbourhood of Pueblo Libre de Belén in the Amazonian city of Iquitos to be in a state of emergency. A federal decree stated that 'constant inundation' from the Itaya River had put residents and their homes in jeopardy. Following this declaration, the federal government proposed to resettle residents in a planned community, 13 km outside the city. Drawing from interviews with 77 h…
Using Rich Pictures to Model the ‘Good Life’ in Indigenous Communities of the Tumucumaque Complex in Brazilian Amazonia
Climate change, uncertainty and allostatic load
CONTEXT: Humans constantly respond to environmental stressors challenging their somatic stability. Allostasis, an evolved neuroendocrine/physiological stressor response system, is our main pathway for doing so. Effective allostasis returns somatic systems to their current optima; over a lifetime of stressor responses, related systems fail, effectiveness declines, and physiological dysregulation (i.e. allostatic load) increases. Global Climate Cha…
Night Soil
For millennia, people have relied on human excrement or “night soil” as a source of agricultural fertilization. Following industrialization, however, the use of this resource became considerably limited. In this article, we provide a brief overview of the historical use of human excreta for agricultural application at varying scales of management, from early Amazonian farming middens to regional networks of night soil trade in imperial China. We …
The Social Network of US Academic Anthropology and Its Inequalities
Anthropologists often call attention to the problems posed by social inequality, but academic anthropology also reproduces many of the very inequalities that its practitioners work to critique. Past research on US academic hiring networks has shown evidence of systematic inequality and hierarchy, attributed in significant part to the influence of academic prestige, which is not necessarily a reflection of merit or academic productivity. Using ant…
Training wicked scientists for a world of wicked problems
Humanity faces a number of wicked problems, from global climate change and the coronavirus pandemic to systemic racism and widening economic inequality. Since such complex and dynamic problems are plagued by disagreement among stakeholders over their nature and cause, they are notoriously difficult to solve. This commentary argues that if humanity truly aspires to address the grand challenges of today and tomorrow, then graduate education must be…
Making sense of sewage sludge as a renewable resource in the urban U.S
Prior to industrialization, human excrement was commonly employed as a resource for agricultural fertilization. Following the advent of the hydraulic sanitation system, however, it became increasingly channeled into waterways rather than reincorporated into terrestrial agro-ecosystems. To counter this trend, more and more industrial cities are seeking to utilize treated sanitation waste, or “biosolids,” as a renewable resource that can be applied…
Placing the Anthropos in Anthropocene
In this article, we review the place of “the human” in influential approaches to the Anthropocene to expose the diverse conceptualizations of humanity and human futures. First, we synthesize current research on humans as landscape modifiers across space and time, making a key distinction between the “old Anthropocene” (beginning with human food production) and the “new Anthropocene” (coinciding with the start of the Industrial Revolution). Second…
A "Win-Win" for Soil Conservation? How Indiana Row-Crop Farmers Perceive the Benefits (and Trade-offs) of No-Till Agriculture
To address problems of soil degradation, industrial farmers across the United States have converted to no-till agriculture, which can mitigate the effects of soil erosion and reduce operating costs without necessarily compromising agricultural output. However, producers still debate the benefits of this practice. Through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 14 row-crop farmers in central Indiana, this study examines farmer …
Porkopolis
Plants that Keep the Bad Vibes Away
Throughout Amazonia, people keep plants in their home gardens to ward off unwanted presences - from bad vibes and thieves to pests and disease. In this article, I show that such plants are not arbitrarily selected but rather have long histories of human use for mediating relations with unwanted others. I contend that these plants' capacities for corporeal and territorial boundary maintenance - attributed in the scientific literature to bioactive …
Geography (16 obras) · Ecology (15 obras) · Amazon rainforest (11 obras) · Biology (11 obras) · Political science (11 obras) · Sociology (11 obras) · Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory (9 obras) · Agroforestry (7 obras) · Computer Science (7 obras) · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management (7 obras)