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- Wedel, Johan, 1962
(författare)
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Religious Healing in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua
- 2008
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Ingår i: 33th Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) conference, San Andres, Colombia, May 26-30, 2008.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper inquires into the various forms of healing performed today among the Miskitu people of the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. The Miskitu have a long history of relations with outsiders and with people of African origin. Miskitu cosmology and its ideas about illness and healing is today a mixture of indigenous, Afro-Caribbean, and Christian beliefs. Local healers constantly pick up new healing methods and ideas from other religious traditions in Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. The paper discusses how Miskitu healers, known as curanderos, sukias, and profetas, heal by relating sickness and suffering to a world of spirits which also makes reference to the plural cultural antecedences of contemporary Miskitu worldview.
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| 2. |
- Wedel, Johan, 1962
(författare)
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Spirit possession among the Miskitu of Nicaragua
- 2008
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Ingår i: Paper for the 10th EASA conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia, August 26-29, 2008..
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Miskitu people of Eastern Nicaragua are occasionally troubled by a spectacular illness called grisi siknis or "crazy sickness," said to be caused by spirits. This paper inquires into how Miskitu healers ritually transform the experience of the afflicted through an idiom of the spirit world.
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| 3. |
- Wedel, Johan, 1962
(författare)
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Healing and spirit possession in the Caribbean
- 2009
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Ingår i: Stockholm Review of Latin American Studies. - 1654-0204. ; :4, s. 49-60
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article takes a comparative look at spiritual healing and its implications among followers of Afro-Cuban Santería and among the Miskitu people of Nicaragua. It shows how illness and suffering is located in a sacred domain allowing transformations on social, psychological, and physiological levels. Healing is achieved by creating a sacred reality by means of powerful symbols and spirit possession. In this process, spiritual beings are representations of people’s conditions. At the same time, spirits also represent a model for healing.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Segnestam, Lisa, 1971-
(författare)
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Division of Capitals - What Role Does It Play for Gender-Differentiated
- 2009
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Ingår i: Community Development. Journal of the Community Development Society. - Philadelphia : Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. - 1557-5330. ; 40:2, s. 154-176
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article explores the gender differentiation of vulnerability to the drought situation within a rural community in the dry zone of Nicaragua. Case study work demonstrates that women and men use different strategies to cope with drought in the short term, and to adapt to the recurring El Niño induced events in the longer term. These strategies combined constitute the livelihoods of the rural poor in the dry zone of Nicaragua—livelihoods that change at times of drought to reduce its impacts. The article uses the Community Capitals Framework (CCF) to look at what resources women and men in the case study area have lost and to analyze what capitals are most central for the coping and adaptation capacity. A gender perspective is applied to see what difference in access to capitals between men and women exist and what that means in terms of gender-differentiated vulnerability to drought.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Wedel, Johan, 1962
(författare)
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Bridging the Gap between Western and Indigenous Medicine in Eastern Nicaragua
- 2009
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Ingår i: Anthropological Notebooks. ; 15:1, s. 49-64
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Nicaragua there are attempts, at various levels, to bridge the gap between Western and indigenous medicine and to create more equal forms of therapeutic cooperation. This article, based on anthropological fieldwork, focuses on this process in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region a province dominated by the Miskitu people. It examines illness beliefs among the Miskitu, and how therapeutic cooperation is understood and acted upon by medical personnel, health authorities and Miskitu healers. The study focuses on ailments locally considered to be caused by spirits and sorcery and problems that fall outside the scope of biomedical knowledge. Of special interest is the mass-possession phenomena grisi siknis where Miskitu healing methods have been the preferred alternative, even from the perspective of the biomedical health authorities. The paper shows that Miskitu healing knowledge is only used to compensate for biomedicine’s failure and not as a real alternative, despite the intentions in the new Nicaraguan National Health Plan. This article calls for more equal forms of therapeutic cooperation through ontological engagement by ongoing negotiation and mediation between local and biomedical ways of perceiving the world.
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| 8. |
- Alänge, Sverker, 1951, et al.
(författare)
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Innovation Systems in Latin America: Examples from Honduras, Nicaragua and Bolivia
- 2005
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The main purpose of the study was to identify and analyze the current status of local innovation and cluster activities in three Latin American countries, Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua. This included the goals to identify key stakeholders active in innovation and to analyze the relationships between the various stakeholder and cluster groups. More specifically we were also interested in analyzing the university’s role in innovation activities. Finally, our aim was to identify supports and hinders to innovation activities and the emergence of innovation clusters. The cluster model (based on Sölvell et al. 2003) that was used for analysis was a good starting point – but not sufficient. We needed to adjust and adapt it during our research process and had to add 4 key stakeholders which were missing: Unions; Aid community; Development banks; and Indigenous communities. Using our interview data from Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua for the analysis, it was found that there were many similarities across the three countries. There is limited sharing of research results and lack of diffusion of competence, learning and know-how. There is a lack of research culture (incentives, funding) and research and science is not on the national agenda or connected to industry. Limited resources, risk avoidance and low esteem in locally grown inhibit local innovation and entrepreneurship. Intellectual property rights (IPR) are poorly developed and lack links to business development.Public universities have most of the state research money as well as money from donors but have very limited contact with industry and there is a lack of trust. Some great examples of research being conducted were identified where financing for research and advanced degrees had been provided by international donor organisations. However, the researchers act as islands so research is not visible even internally at the universities. There is a lack of research culture where teachers have no time for research, and promotion/prestige does not value research. The research that exists is not linked to the market and there is no commercialization of research. Private universities are a recent phenomenon, during the last 10 years, primarily focused on education and typically with excellent contacts with industry, but with a few exceptions, without any research tradition. A few examples of well-functioning and market driven research institutes were identified. Industry is in general not making innovation and do not budget for innovation and R & D activities, although we found good examples of innovative activities in all three countries - primarily in organisation innovation and product innovation. Government policies and institutions for Innovation, Science and Technology are either non-existent or weak. Some innovative approaches were identified, e.g. in bidding system to link suppliers and producers in agro business (Bolivia), financing innovation in SMEs and support to cluster development (Nicaragua) and financing of micro businesses (Bolivia, Nicaragua). In the financial sector, traditional banks do not support SMEs and do not give loans for innovation. Instead, international donor agencies are important actors when it comes to financing, but they have their own agendas, which do not necessarily coincide with National goals. Various types of organizations, including NGOs, perform the role of linking organizations and the services provided can include financing which make them a stronger player. Laws and regulations are sometimes creating disincentives for local entrepreneurs, for example tax incentives for foreign investment, Tax free zones create islands of industry, without interaction with the local business or society. The Intellectual Property systems are weak with limited capacity to evaluate intellectual assets, mainly foreigners (90%) apply for patents and universities offer no courses or information to students or teachers on IP and IP processes. The above study provided input for an action learning project with the main goal of introducing and developing a process that will increase awareness, cooperation and debate on the role and opportunity that ‘innovation clusters’ may have in the development of innovations. A sub-goal was to increase the connectivity between the key stakeholders active in innovation activities both locally in within the wider region. As part of this action learning project various stakeholders were invited to meet and discuss the preliminary findings in a workshop at the end of our visit to each of the Latin American countries. Finally, a group of stakeholders from each country were invited to participate in the 7th Global Innovation Cluster Conference in Ottawa, Canada.
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