Scientific Landscape Related to Mapuche Indigenous Peoples and Wallmapu Territory

Factors affecting local plant knowledge in isolated communities from Patagonian steppe: Metacommunity theory is revealed as a methodological approach

The Patagonian steppe is a refuge for several indigenous peoples who live in relatively isolated communities, depending heavily on natural resources for their activities, health, and food security. The local ecological knowledge is a reservoir that generates full wellbeing and for which it must be the object of protection and local development. In this study, we aimed to find which factors can influence local ecological knowledge from a metacommunity on the Patagonian steppe. We analyzed variation in knowledge about cultivated and gathered plants used as medicinal, edible, and firewood according to multiple factors widely discussed in the ethnobiological literature: age, gender, formal education, occupation, indigenous identity, contact with urban centers, use of biomedicine, hunting, and handcrafted textile production. We conducted semi-structured interviews with local experts, accessed by the snowball technique. We found that formal education is a key factor in the variation of local ecological knowledge among people. In addition, we found that knowledge varies between people who practice activities inside and outside the home, concentrating knowledge between cultivated and gathered plants, respectively. Our urbanization proxies did not point to an influence of this factor on local knowledge, but specialists living in a larger community with signs of internal urbanization processes had much less knowledge. Our results allowed us to visualize the importance of studying metacommunities as a whole, to verify complexities and intersections of overlapping factors. Studies in metacommunities open up a range of possibilities for ethnobiological analysis.

Intangible Cultural Heritage in China: A Visual Analysis of Research Hotspots, Frontiers, and Trends Using CiteSpace

In recent years, the development and utilization of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) has become an increasingly significant research topic. Worldwide, however, little research has been systematically and comprehensively conducted to review relevant ICH literature. The application CiteSpace was used to identify the research hotspots, frontiers, and trends in China’s ICH field from 2003 to 2020. The results showed that the quantity of published literature has steadily increased throughout the respective period. Scholars and research institutions alike have shown poor cooperation whereby ICH protection received most of the attention. In addition, the digitalization of ICH is an inevitable trend in ICH protection and inheritance, while the combination of ICH and cultural industries constitutes an important approach to ICH utilization and communication. Hence, the ultimate goal of ICH research consists of seeking ways to achieve its sustainable development to satisfy the increasing cultural demands. Findings furthermore show that ICH for rural revitalization constitutes a unique research topic with Chinese characteristics. This study provides insights for scholars and practitioners worldwide to facilitate a better understanding of ICH in China.