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\"Challenges Western academic views on what writing is and explores how these concepts can be improved by analyzing the sophisticated graphic communication systems found in Central Mesoamerica and Andean South America. Exploring and rejecting the Western notion that writing exists only to record the chain of speech\"--Provided by publisher.

Indigenous Graphic Communication Systems challenges the adequacy of Western academic views on what writing is and explores how they can be expanded by analyzing the sophisticated graphic communication systems found in Central Mesoamerica and Andean South America. By examining case studies from across the Americas, the authors pursue an enhanced understanding of Native American graphic communication systems and how the study of graphic expression can provide insight into ancient cultures and societies, expressed in indigenous words. Focusing on examples from Central Mexico and the Andes, the authors explore the overlap among writing, graphic expression, and orality in indigenous societies, inviting reevaluation of the Western notion that writing exists only to record language (the spoken chain of speech) as well as accepted beliefs of Western alphabetized societies about the accuracy, durability, and unambiguous nature of their own alphabetized texts. The volume also addresses the rapidly growing field of semasiography and relocates it more productively as one of several underlying operating principles in graphic communication systems. Indigenous Graphic Communication Systems reports new results and insights into the meaning of the rich and varied content of indigenous American graphic expression and culture as well as into the societies and cultures that produce them. It will be of great interest to Mesoamericanists, students, and scholars of anthropology, archaeology, art history, ancient writing systems, and comparative world history. The research for and publication of this book have been supported in part by the National Science Centre of Poland (decision no. NCN-KR-0011/122/13) and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Contributors: Angélica Baena Ramírez, Christiane Clados, Danièle Dehouve, Stanisław Iwaniszewski, Michel R. Oudijk, Katarzyna Szoblik, Loïc Vauzelle, Gordon Whittaker, Janusz Z. Wołoszyn, David Charles Wright-Carr

\"A contributed volume featuring studies on Latin American art and archaeology by former students and current colleagues of Esther Pasztory, an influential art historian who is now professor emerita at Columbia University\"--Provided by publisher.

Rebecca Janzen brings a unique applied understanding of religion to bear on analysis of Mexican cinema from the Golden Age of the 1930s onward. Unholy Trinity first examines canonical films like Emilio Fernández's María Candelaria and Río Escondido that mythologize Mexico's past, suggesting that religious imagery and symbols are used to negotiate the place of religion in a modernizing society. It next studies films of the 1970s, which use motifs of corruption and illicit sexuality to critique both church and state. Finally, an examination of films from the 1990s and 2000s, including Guita Schyfter's Novia que te vea , a film that portrays Mexico City's Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish communities in the twentieth century, and Carlos Carrera's controversial 2002 film El crimen del padre Amaro , argues that religious imagery-related to the Catholic Church, people's interpretations of Catholicism, and representations of Jewish communities in Mexico-allows the films to critically engage with Mexican politics, identity, and social issues.

The recognition of Flower Worlds is one of the most significant breakthroughs in the study of Indigenous spirituality in the Americas. These worlds are solar and floral spiritual domains that are widely shared among both pre-Hispanic and contemporary Native cultures in Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. Flower Worldsis the first volume to bring together a diverse range of scholars to create a truly multidisciplinary understanding of Flower Worlds. During the last thirty years, archaeologists, art historians, ethnologists, Indigenous scholars, and linguists have emphasized the antiquity and geographical extent of similar Flower World beliefs among ethnic and linguistic groups in the New World. Flower Worlds are not simply ethereal, otherworldly domains, but rather they are embodied in lived experience, activated, invoked, and materialized through ritual practices, expressed in verbal and visual metaphors, and embedded in the use of material objects and ritual spaces. This comprehensive book illuminates the origins of Flower Worlds as a key aspect of religions and histories among societies in Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. It also explores the role of Flower Worlds in shaping ritual economies, politics, and cross-cultural interaction among Indigenous peoples. Flower Worlds reaches into multisensory realms that extend back at least 2,500 years, offering many different disciplines, perspectives, and collaborations to understand these domains. Today, Flower Worlds are expressed in everyday work and lived experiences, embedded in sacred geographies, and ritually practiced both individually and in communities. This volume stresses the importance of contemporary perspectives and experiences by opening with living traditions before delving into the historical trajectories of Flower Worlds, creating a book that melds scientific and humanistic research and emphasizes Indigenous voices. Contributors: Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos, James M. Córdova, Davide Domenici, Ángel González López, Kelley Hays-Gilpin, Michael D. Mathiowetz, Cameron L. McNeil, Felipe S. Molina, Johannes Neurath, John M. D. Pohl, Alan R. Sandstrom, David Delgado Shorter, Karl A. Taube, Andrew D. Turner, Lorena Vázquez Vallín, Dorothy Washburn

Mimetic wing coloration evolves in butterflies in the context of predator confusion. Unless butterfly eyes have adaptations for discriminating mimetic color variation, mimicry also carries a risk of confusion for the butterflies themselves. Heliconius butterfly eyes, which express recently duplicated ultraviolet (UV) opsins, have such an adaptation. To examine bird and butterfly color vision as sources of selection on butterfly coloration, we studied yellow wing pigmentation in the tribe Heliconiini. We confirmed, using reflectance and mass spectrometry, that only Heliconius use 3-hydroxy-DL-kynurenine (3-OHK), which looks yellow to humans but reflects both UV- and long-wavelength light, whereas butterflies in related genera have chemically unknown yellow pigments mostly lacking UV reflectance. Modeling of these color signals reveals that the two UV photoreceptors of Heliconius are better suited to separating 3-OHK from non-3-OHK spectra compared with the photoreceptors of related genera or birds. The co-occurrence of potentially enhanced UV vision and a UV-reflecting yellow wing pigment could allow unpalatable Heliconius private intraspecific communication in the presence of mimics. Our results are the best available evidence for the correlated evolution of a color signal and color vision. They also suggest that predator visual systems are error prone in the context of mimicry.

Noninvasive survey methods may be necessary when studying rare species or when site conditions are likely to result in unintended mortalities during conventional live trapping. Traditional noninvasive methods based on visual and auditory observations, such as stationary point and roaming, time-constrained area surveys, may be prone to error. Remote cameras are primarily used with large mammals but have increasingly been applied to small mammals. We compared survey methods for a rare subspecies of the Colorado chipmunk (Neotamias quadrivittatus oscuraensis) occurring in a remote mountain range in New Mexico using stationary point surveys; roaming, time-constrained area surveys; and remote-camera survey methods. We detected chipmunks at substantially more locations using remote cameras (13%–23%) versus surveys using visual and auditory cues at stationary points (2.6%) or roaming within 2.7-ha plots (5.6%). In addition, remote cameras have additional strengths, such as reducing the risk of false positive and false negative results as well as providing verifiable and archivable evidence that can be used to corroborate study results.

Latin American indigenous media production has recently experienced a noticeable boom, specifically in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia.Indianizing Filmzooms in on a selection of award-winning and widely influential fiction and docudrama shorts, analyzing them in the wider context of indigenous media practices and debates over decolonizing knowledge. Within this framework, Freya Schiwy approaches questions of gender, power, and representation. Schiwy argues that instead of solely creating entertainment through their work indigenous media activists are building communication networks that encourage interaction between diverse cultures. As a result, mainstream images are retooled, permitting communities to strengthen their cultures and express their own visions of development and modernization.Indianizing Filmencourages readers to consider how indigenous media contributes to a wider understanding of decolonization and anticolonial study against the universal backdrop of the twenty-first century.

Predation pressure and energy requirements present particularly salient opposing selective pressures on young fish. Thus, fry are expected to possess sophisticated means of detecting predators and resources. Here we tested the hypotheses that fry of the swordtail fish Xiphophorus birchmanni use chemical and visual cues in detection of predators and conspecifics. To test these hypotheses we presented young (<7 day-old) fry with combinations of visual and chemical stimuli from adult conspecifics and predators. We found that exposure to predator odors resulted in shoal tightening similar to that observed when fry were presented with visual cues alone. In trials with conspecific stimuli, fry were particularly attracted to adult conspecifics when presented simultaneous visual and chemical stimuli compared to the visual stimulus alone. These results show that fry attend to the odors of adult conspecifics, whose presence in a particular area may signal the location of resources as well as an absence of predators. This is one of the first studies to show that such young fish use chemical and visual cues in predator detection and in interactions with conspecifics. Previous research in X. birchmanni has shown that anthropogenic alteration of the chemical environment disrupts intraspecific chemical communication among adults; we suggest that because fry use the same chemosensory pathways to detect predators and conspecifics, alteration of the chemical environment may critically disrupt predator and resource detection.

The aim of the study is to carry out a research on the influence of the Design Thinking as a resource and methodology in educational contexts in order to promote an active learning in preschool students at Mexican multigrade schools. These tools and methodologies will act as a key to transform learning environments in Preschool Education at rural schools. The results reveal that innovation can be introduced at these schools through communication and visual language, increasing the chances of success, without having to increment the number of resources or improve their infrastructures. Training and innovative and creative development of the educator, as well as a proper use of communication and Visual Literacy, as parts and motors of the learning, will help students to develop and strengthen their creative, innovative and critical thinking. Likewise, focusing on educational ways and learning areas promote a bidirectional and highly enriching attention. That's why educators have to be trained in research, discover, imagining and solving problems in a divergent way in real situations, would be the one who lead this learning and transformation process of the classroom of Children Education. O objetivo desse trabalho é realizar um estudo sobre a influência do Design Thinking como recurso e metodologia em contextos educativos, com o objetivo de promover uma aprendizagem ativa dos estudantes pré-escolares nas Escolas multi grau do México. Estas ferramentas e metodologias ativas atuaram como clave para transformar os entornos de aprendizagem na Educação Pré-escolar nas escolas rurais. Os resultados afirmam que se pode introduzir a inovação nessas aulas através da comunicação e a linguagem visual, aumentando as probabilidades de êxito e sem necessidade de incrementar o número de recursos ou melhorar suas infraestruturas. A formação, capacitação e desenvolvimento criativo e inovador do educador, e o uso da comunicação e a Alfabetização Visual como peças e motores de aprendizagem, favoreceram o desenvolvimento e fortalecimento do pensamento criativo, inovador e crítico. Pôr o foco nos estilos e espaços de aprendizagem permitirá uma atenção bidirecional e sumamente enriquecedora. Por isso o docente capacitado para investigar, descobrir, imaginar e resolver problemas de forma divergente e em situações reais, serão os que lideram este processo de aprendizagem e transformação da aula de Educação Infantil. El objetivo del trabajo es realizar un estudio sobre la influencia del Design Thinking como recurso y metodología en contextos educativos, con el objetivo de promover un aprendizaje activo de los estudiantes preescolares en Escuelas Multigrado de México. Estas herramientas y metodologías activas actuarán como clave para transformar los entornos de aprendizaje en la Educación Preescolar en escuelas rurales. Los resultados afirman que se puede introducir la innovación en estas aulas a través de la comunicación y el lenguaje visual, aumentando las probabilidades de éxito y sin necesidad de incrementar el número de recursos o mejorar sus infraestructuras. La formación, capacitación y desarrollo creativo e innovador del educador, y el uso de la comunicación y la Alfabetización Visual como piezas y motores de aprendizaje, favorecerán el desarrollo y fortalecimiento del pensamiento creativo, innovador y crítico. A su vez, poner el foco en los estilos y espacios de aprendizaje permitirá una atención bidireccional y sumamente enriquecedora. Por ello, el docente capacitado para investigar, descubrir, imaginar y resolver problemas de forma divergente y en situaciones reales, ha de ser quien lidere este proceso de aprendizaje y transformación del aula de Educación Infantil.