Search Results (49)

The Roma population is one of Europe’s largest ethnic minorities, often living in inadequate living conditions, worse than those of the majority population. They frequently lack access to essential services, even in high-income countries. This lack of basic services—particularly in combination with proximity to (stray) animals and human and solid waste—significantly increases environmental health risks, and leads to a higher rate of endoparasitic infections. Our study sheds light on the living conditions and health situation in Roma communities in Slovakia, focusing on the prevalence of intestinal endoparasitic infections across various settlement localisations. It highlights disparities and challenges in access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and other potentially disease-exposing factors among these marginalised populations. This study combines a comprehensive review of living conditions as per national data provided through the Atlas of Roma communities with an analysis of empirical data on parasitological infection rates in humans, animals, and the environment in settlements, applying descriptive statistical methods. It is the first study in Europe to provide detailed insights into how living conditions vary and cause health risks across Roma settlements, ranging from those integrated within villages (inside, urban), to those isolated on the outskirts (edge, sub-urban) or outside villages (natural/rural). Our study shows clear disparities in access to services, and in health outcomes, based on where people live. Our findings underscore the fact that (i) place—geographical centrality in particular—in an already challenged population group plays a major role in health inequalities and disease exposure, as well as (ii) the urgent need for more current and comprehensive data. Our study highlights persistent disparities in living conditions within high-income countries and stresses the need for greater attention and more sensitive targeted health-promoting approaches with marginalised communities in Europe that take into consideration any and all of the humans, ecology, and animals affected (=One Health). Full article

The “hand-waving sacrifice” is a large-scale sacrificial ceremony with more than 2000 years of history. It was passed down from ancient times by the Tujia ethnic group living in the Wuling Corridor of China, and it integrates religion, sacrifice, dance, drama, and other cultural forms. It primarily consists of two parts: ritual content (inviting gods, offering sacrifices to gods, dancing a hand-waving dance, etc.) and the architectural space that hosts the ritual (hand-waving hall), which together constitute Tujia’s most sacred ritual space and the most representative art and culture symbol. Nonetheless, in existing studies, the hand-waving sacrifice ritual, hand-waving hall architectural space, and hand-waving dance art are often separated as independent research objects, and little attention is paid to the coupling mechanism of the mutual construction of space and ritual in the process of historical development. Moreover, with the acceleration of modernization, the current survival context of the hand-waving sacrifice has undergone drastic changes. On the one hand, the intangible cultural heritage protection policy and the wave of tourism development have pushed it into the public eye and the cultural consumption system. On the other hand, the changes in the social structure of traditional villages have led to the dissolution of the sacredness of ritual space. Therefore, using the interaction of “space-ritual” as a prompt, this research first uses GIS technology to visualize the spatial geographical distribution characteristics and diachronic evolution process of hand-waving halls in six historical periods and then specifically analyzes the sacred construction of hand-waving hall architecture for the hand-waving sacrifice ritual space throughout history, as well as the changing mechanism of the continuous secularization of the hand-waving sacrifice space in contemporary society. Overall, this study reveals a unique path for non-literate ethnic groups to achieve the intergenerational transmission of cultural memory through the collusion of material symbols and physical art practices, as well as the possibility of embedding the hand-waving sacrifice ritual into contemporary spatial practice through symbolic translation and functional extension in the context of social function inheritance and variation. Finally, this study has specific inspirational and reference value for exploring how the traditional culture and art of ethnic minorities can maintain resilience against the tide of modernization. Full article

This paper critically examines the consequences of land grabs for livelihoods and agrarian change, based on a case study of rubber plantations in ethnic minorities in the uplands in Northwest Vietnam. Building upon Scoones’ agrarian political economy of livelihood framework, an integrated conceptual framework of a ‘livelihood pathway’ is developed to analyze the impact of rubber plantation land grabs on livelihoods and the agrarian political economy. Drawing on qualitative analysis and survey data from 205 households across six villages inhabited by Thai, Hmong, and Kho Mu communities, this study finds that rubber plantation land grabs have led to differentiated livelihood strategies—ranging from subsistence farming and wage labor to commercial agriculture—shaped by each group’s socioeconomic status, political connections, and access to resources. Consequently, the land grabbing undertaken by a domestic state-owned enterprise has caused the emergence of a set of distinctive livelihood pathways within a complex web of intersections across class and ethnicity in the upland area. This study concludes by arguing that an integrated conceptual framework of a ‘livelihood pathway’ offers a useful tool for analyzing the long-term socio-political consequences of land grabbing in similar contexts across developing countries and beyond. Full article

The site selection and spatial arrangement of rural settlements embody the ethnic characteristics and cultural heritage of ethnic minority groups. Investigating their spatial layout features and underlying determinants can provide both theoretical foundations and practical methodologies for the conservation and development planning of these settlements. This paper takes the representative ethnic minority villages in the first batch of key traditional villages in Liuzhou, Guangxi, as the example, and employs a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to study the spatial layout characteristics of ethnic minority villages in southern China. This study utilizes GIS-based analytical methods to calculate quantitative indicators based on planar graphs and digital elevation model (DEM) of ethnic minority settlements. The research results show that the spatial distribution of ethnic minority villages in southern China is closely correlated with natural geographical conditions. To be specific, ethnic minority villages in southern China generally distribute in accordance with the terrain and form specific spatial relationships with roads, topography, mountains, and water. Regardless of whether minority residents live on mountain tops or in valleys, they generally prefer gently sloping terrain. In addition, factors such as natural environment (sunshine and water sources, etc.) and traffic conditions are considered comprehensively in the settlement location. On this basis, the spatial layout features of rural settlement are extracted, and corresponding characteristic maps are constructed. The construction framework of the spatial characteristics map established based on “overall layout, architecture, roads and architecture-natural pattern” in this paper can be applied to general rural settlements. The findings can provide both theoretical foundations and practical references for the planning and development of rural settlements across different regions and ethnic groups. Full article

This article examines the influence of local government on the folk rituals of Rebgong in China’s Amdo Tibetan region, by highlighting the example of Wutu, a tiger festival held in one Tu minority village. In particular, it encapsulates the impact of local government intervention through the changed meaning of the “magic” bread in the ritual. Originally, the dough was rubbed on sick parts of the villagers’ bodies, and the bread was subsequently removed from the village by the Wutu performers as a medium for the elimination of sickness. In recent years, however, the bread has become one of the important positive symbols of the festival, and, during one dance performance in the 2018 ceremony, was actively promoted for consumption as “healthy for old people and good for healing diseases!” This intervention on the materiality at the heart of the festival has influenced its meaning away from that of a negative shamanic rite concerned with the expulsion of evil towards a more positivist celebration of China’s minority ethnic cultural heritage. Full article

Traditional villages are irreplaceable cultural heritage sites, and studying their architectural spatial networks is key to preserving both the villages and their culture. This research focuses on four Bouyei villages in Central Guizhou, using social network analysis, spatial gene theory, and diversity analysis to explore their architectural spatial network characteristics. Findings include the following: (1) Zhenshan Village has the best network condition, while that or the others is average; (2) all the villages show low vulnerability Cp-1 genes; (3) Bouyei architectural networks are stable and continuous; and (4) the network is influenced by military culture, feng shui, agricultural culture, Buyi ethnic spiritual beliefs (Mo Belief Culture), topographical conditions, and modern planning interventions. The study aims to deepen the understanding of the cultural values and spatial layout characteristics of traditional villages, while preserving the cultural heritage of traditional settlements and ethnic minorities. Full article

The geographical environment and economic conditions that influence the spatial distribution of minority villages vary significantly, particularly in mountainous regions where they face different levels of disaster risks. Environmental suitability assessment can help us gain a deeper understanding of the differences and degrees of differences among different villages and provide a basis for resource allocation and planning. This study focuses on 499 national level and 68 provincial level minority villages in Fujian province and evaluates the environmental suitability of their spatial distribution using analysis tools such as ArcMap and GeoDetector. The research findings indicated: (1) The ratio between the influence strengths of natural geographical, socioeconomic, and disaster constraint indicators on the environmental suitability of minority villages in mountainous areas is 5:10:7, with the highest influence being the regional gross domestic product (RGDP) in the socioeconomic indicator (0.509) and the lowest influence being flood sensitivity (0.011). (2) Areas with high suitability values are in the southeast coastal and central regions. From east to west, the suitability values gradually decrease. The suitable areas cover 87.2% of the total region, including 91.9% of the minority villages. (3) The geographical correlation coefficient between the spatial distribution of minority villages and environmental suitability is 86.87, indicating a high degree of spatial interaction and fit between the two. This validates the rationality of the multi-factor evaluation model for assessing the environmental suitability of ethnic village spatial distribution in mountainous areas. (4) There is an inverse “U” relationship between environmental suitability and the distribution of national and provincial level minority villages. With the increase in the suitability index, the number of national level minority villages tends to increase, while the number of provincial level minority villages tends to decrease. The research findings have significant implications for promoting the sustainable development of minority villages in Fujian province and provide reference for the regional development and protection of minority villages in other mountainous areas. Full article

In 2005, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China introduced a strategic plan to advance the construction of a new socialist countryside, thereby providing a policy foundation for the robust development of rural tourism. Against this policy backdrop, the present study investigates the impact of rural tourism policies on the spatial evolution of ethnic minority villages in Yanbian Prefecture, utilizing data from the period 2004–2023. As a representative region in China where ethnic minorities coexist, Yanbian Prefecture exhibits distinctive cultural and spatial features in its Korean villages, making it a key pilot area for rural tourism development. This study utilizes the PMC index model, the coupled coordination degree model, and the vector autoregressive model to analyze the implementation effects of rural tourism policies and to establish an index system for rural spatial construction. By examining the spatial evolution of representative ethnic minority villages in Yanbian Prefecture, the research explores the dynamic interactions between tourism policies and rural construction, as well as the underlying causal mechanisms. The findings indicate that: (1) in ethnic minority villages, geographic characteristics and various constraints contribute to delayed initial policy effects, with negative fluctuations observed, highlighting a distinct lag effect in the policy implementation process; and (2) a significant Granger causality exists between tourism policies and rural spatial construction, with varying effects observed across different dimensions. The study centers on ethnic minority settlements, systematically analyzing the dynamic effects of tourism policies in the context of their spatial evolution characteristics. It offers sustainable development policy recommendations tailored to the unique attributes of ethnic minority villages. lt is suggested that the actual needs of village construction and long-term development goals should be fully considered when formulating and implementing policies to promote the sustainable development of ethnic minority areas. Full article

Traditional villages (TVs) are clusters for the conservation of farming civilization heritage with multiple values. Studying their spatial distribution and driving mechanisms is conducive to formulating conservation and development strategies. In this study, 777 TVs in Yunnan Province were examined. Spatial analysis methods such as the nearest neighbor index (NNI), kernel density estimation (KDE), and Moran’s I were used to investigate their spatial distribution patterns. Twelve driving factors were selected from natural, spatial, social, and cultural aspects. The driving mechanisms affecting the distribution of TVs were explored by employing the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model and Geodetector combined with mathematical and statistical methods to systematically study the spatial autocorrelation and heterogeneity of TVs in Yunnan. The results of this study indicate that: (1) The 777 TVs in Yunnan Province are evidently clustered in the overall distribution, presenting a contiguous and concentrated distribution pattern of “3 high-density areas + multiple medium-density belts”. However, the distribution of TVs is unbalanced. The spatial distribution is significantly positively correlated globally, and there exist three types of clustering in local areas. (2) The spatial layout of TVs in Yunnan Province is jointly influenced by multiple factors, with obvious spatial heterogeneity. Regional cultural factors are the key ones. TVs tend to be distributed in areas with medium–high elevation, flat slops, sunny slopes, moderate precipitation and temperatures, and a certain distance from water sources and roads. A large number of TVs are distributed in areas with a high proportion of ethnic minorities. (3) The main factors affecting the distribution of national-level TVs in Yunnan are intangible cultural heritage, cultural relic protection units, followed by factors such as transportation, slope, and elevation. The interaction between intangible cultural heritage (X11) and cultural relic protection units (X12) reveals the strongest interactive driving force. This study reveals the diverse characteristics of the spatial distribution of national-level TVs in Yunnan and their influencing mechanisms, which can provide a scientific decision-making basis for the future protection and development of TVs in Yunnan and guide the sustainable development of TV cultural heritage clusters. Full article

Enhancing the livelihood resilience of livestock farmers in the old revolutionary base areas helps them to cope with the increasingly complex external risk shocks of recent years and promotes the sustainable development of regional agriculture. This study is based on survey data from 1047 livestock farmers in the Ningxia and Gansu provinces of the northwest old revolutionary base area. It incorporates the characteristics of livestock farmers and the elements of psychological capital into the sustainable livelihood analysis framework to construct a livelihood resilience index system. After measuring livelihood resilience, this paper uses a general linear regression model and a probit model to explore the impact and mechanism of digital literacy on the livelihood resilience of livestock farmers. The results show the following: (1) digital literacy has a significant positive effect on the livelihood resilience of livestock farmers, and the impact of different dimensions of digital literacy on different dimensions of livelihood resilience also varies. Additionally, this effect also shows the heterogeneity in different village clustering forms and different income groups. In areas inhabited by ethnic minorities and among moderate-income groups, the role of digital literacy on the livelihood resilience of livestock farmers is more significant. (2) The improvement of digital literacy has a significant positive impact on livelihood resilience through three different pathways: the “differential mode of association”, learning channels, and types of income. (3) Digital literacy has led to the psychological aspects of rural hollowing-out problems among livestock farmers, which is particularly evident in families with only one type of caregiving burden (either only left-behind elderly people or only left-behind children). This problem is more evident. Therefore, this paper poses that the advancement of agricultural and rural economic development in China should not only focus on the cultivation of farmers’ digital literacy but also accelerate the construction of digital infrastructure to ensure the long-term effective mechanism of improving digital literacy. At the same time, in the process of promoting digital rural areas, attention should be paid to the psychological isolation issues that the network era brings to farmers. Full article

Understanding the spatial morphological characteristics and driving factors of rural settlements in ethnic minority areas is crucial for the conservation and tourism development of ethnic villages. Accordingly, this study employs Shuanglang Town, China as a case study, adopting an integrated approach that combines spatial syntax analysis, the optimal parameter geodetector model, and GIS spatial analysis techniques. This comprehensive methodology systematically investigates the spatial morphological features, differentiation characteristics, and influencing factors of ethnic villages. The findings reveal the logical lineage and formation mechanisms underlying the overall layout, street network, and public spaces of the villages. Specifically, the results demonstrate (1) a discernible gradation in spatial configurations, transitioning from compact “back mountain villages” in the northeast to more dispersed “seaside villages” in the southwest, with notable disparities in accessibility among different villages; (2) topography, water distribution, and water quality as the dominant factors shaping village spatial patterns; (3) the interactive and heterogeneous effects of multiple natural and anthropogenic factors, including topography, water resources, agricultural practices, and ethnic cultural traditions, significantly influencing the spatial morphology of villages; and (4) common principles governing the site selection of different ethnic village typologies, reflecting the villagers’ understanding and intelligent utilization of the natural environment. This study contributes to comprehending the spatial characteristics of rural settlements in ethnic minority areas and provides a theoretical and practical foundation for advancing analogous rural revitalization initiatives. The findings offer insights into the spatial logic and formation processes of ethnic villages, informing conservation efforts and sustainable tourism development strategies. Full article

Growing concerns regarding health and eco-safety have led to a resurgence in the recognition of natural products. Although plant colorants are often mentioned in ethnobotanical studies in northern Thailand, they have not been comprehensively examined. This study aims to (i) investigate the colorant plants used by ethnic minorities in northern Thailand and (ii) compare colorant plants used among the groups in northern Thailand with other regions worldwide. Data on colorant plants used by ten ethnic groups across 142 villages in northern Thailand were extracted in a systematic review of 42 published references. The importance of the colorant plant species was evaluated using the ethnobotanical index “use value” (UV), and the homogeneity of knowledge was assessed using the “information consensus factor” (ICF). The similarity of colorant plants used among the ethnic minority groups and beyond was evaluated using Jaccard’s index. The 42 published references included information about 104 colorant plant species belonging to 85 genera and 43 families from seven provinces in northern Thailand. This represents nearly half of the 212 colorant plant species reported across all 72 provinces in Thailand. The most important species were Strobilanthes cusia and Morinda angustifolia, which are sources of blue and red colors. Fabaceae, Rubiaceae, and Lamiaceae were the plant families with most species used as colorants. The colorant plant species yielded ten different color shades, with blue being the most prevalent. The Jaccard’s index varied from 0 to 0.27 among the northern Thai ethnic minorities and from 0 to 0.13 for regions outside of northern Thailand. The regions located closest to northern Thailand exhibited the highest degree of similarity. This study provides valuable insights into the traditional knowledge and usage of dye plants in northern Thailand, contributing to preserving the cultural heritage and providing basic knowledge for the sustainable use of natural colorants for modern applications. Full article

Alexander’s A Pattern Language is an important text and focuses on the theory of diverse environmental spatial sustainability. With the contemporary digital development of villages, it is urgent that village spatial patterns are analyzed in a scientific and quantitative way in order to determine heritage village diversity. The village settlements in the Diqing region are typical representatives, having a changeable terrain, being large in number, and being multi-ethnic in China; in recent years, they have also faced slow development and limited conditions. However, few studies have focused on the multiple quantitative analysis of the diverse spatial patterns of village settlements in an ethnic minority region. Therefore, this study selects 2486 village settlements in Diqing and, using KED, NNI SSIA, etc., proposes a spatial pattern analysis framework (SPAF) based on pattern language theory. According to the spatial influencing factors, spatial analysis criteria are constructed to analyze the village spatial pattern types and subtypes. The results show that the region’s topographic conditions are the dominant factors that form the diversified village spatial patterns existent in the Diqing Prefecture. Among them, the dominant pattern of building villages along slopes with a small-population scale and large-dispersed settlements achieves a healthy and sustainable living environment that is oriented well, cost-saving, and conforms to nature. Meanwhile, the dominant pattern is also the reason for the inhibition of development due to inconvenient transportation and difficult management. Therefore, sustainable strategies should strike a balance between the two opposites. Based on the SPAF, spatial patterns can be effectively extracted for diverse village spaces, providing digital and visual references for the regeneration of contemporary rural areas. Full article

Taking Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, a typical ethnic border area with rapid tourism development, as an example, this study uses a coupling coordination degree model to quantitatively analyze tourism and urbanization, two subsystems in Xishuangbanna, and measure the level of coordinated development between tourism and urbanization in Xishuangbanna. This study provides a theoretical basis for building famous tourist cities and for improving the urbanization efficiency and level in areas such as Xishuangbanna with abundant tourism resources but insufficient urbanization. The following results were obtained: (1) Xishuangbanna’s tourism plays a strong role in promoting urbanization, and its tourism urbanization response coefficient, tourism industry location entropy, and tourism urbanization level indicator all show clear upward trends; tourism has become a local advantage industry and has a significant positive correlation with urbanization. (2) In the evaluation system for tourism urbanization quality, the weights are ranked in the order of social indicators > economic indicators > population indicators > spatial indicators > eco-environmental indicators; over time, social indicators and economic indicators show clear fluctuating upward trends, population indicators fluctuate greatly, and spatial indicators and eco-environmental indicators fluctuate little. (3) The top five indicators influencing tourism urbanization are the number of the incoming individuals, the number of travel agencies, the number of corporate enterprises in the catering industry, the forest coverage rate, and the number of ethnic minority villages. (4) In the evaluation of the coupling coordination degree, the comprehensive evaluation indicator is low, resulting in an overall low coupling coordination degree of tourism urbanization quality in Xishuangbanna, and three types of coupling coordinated development (i.e., severe, moderate, and mild imbalances) are observed. Full article

This paper aims to analyze the distribution patterns of the Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guizhou rocky desertification area, and provide efficient protection and development strategies. This region has a complex geographical environment, and it is distinguished by hosting China’s largest ethnic minority population and the highest concentration of autonomous ethnic counties among contiguous impoverished areas, with numerous traditional villages. Thus, it is significant to conduct a comprehensive study of traditional villages within this domain, with a particular focus on their centralized preservation and strategic utilization. This research employed ArcGIS and Geodetector software for a rigorous analysis of the spatial distribution characteristics and influential factors of traditional villages in the Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guizhou rocky desertification area. The key findings can be summarized as follows. (1) The traditional villages in this region predominantly exhibit an agglomerative distribution pattern, with pronounced concentrations in southeast Guizhou and secondary concentrations in Anshun and Guilin. (2) Natural environmental factors, social economic factors, and national cultural factors impact the distribution of traditional villages synthetically by positive, median, or negative correlation. (3) The results of the Geodetector show that, significantly, social economic and national cultural factors exert a more pronounced influence than natural environmental factors, especially population density and intangible heritage quantity. The interaction of multiple factors shows an enhanced trend. (4) From the perspective of formation mechanism, natural environmental factors serve as foundational elements shaping the original distribution pattern; national cultural factors act as dominant determinants, accentuating spatial distribution distinctions across various regions and social economic factors emerge as critical catalysts for the sustainable development of traditional villages. The interaction factors can have a more profound impact. Furthermore, it is expected that this study will contribute to the effectiveness of ecology and economy in this area and more analogous regions. Full article