Pub Date : 2019-04-17DOI: 10.14237/EBL.10.1.2019.1521
Nemer E. Narchi
{"title":"Kumeyaay Ethnobotany: Shared Heritage of the Californias. By Michael Wilken-Robertson. 2018. Sunbelt Publications, San Diego. 281 pp.","authors":"Nemer E. Narchi","doi":"10.14237/EBL.10.1.2019.1521","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14237/EBL.10.1.2019.1521","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43787,"journal":{"name":"Ethnobiology Letters","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2019-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45976563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-04-15DOI: 10.14237/EBL.10.1.2019.1427
Daniela Ortega-Meza, María Teresa Pulido-Silva, J. C. Arruda, C. J. Silva
This study was conducted in two villages of El Chico National Park (ECNP), Mexico, to document the uses of Litsea glaucescens (Mexican laurel) by the local population and to identify actors with knowledge about the species using quantitative ethnobotanical techniques. Fifty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain a free-list about the specific uses of the laurel, to analyze its importance among the social group under study, and to use social networking to identify individuals within the community who had particular knowledge about the plant. We found a total of 25 specific uses for the plant, which have different levels of importance for the people of the ECNP. The most common use was seasoning, while medicinal and cultural uses had a lesser importance. Use of the seed of the laurel as a material for handcrafts is recorded for the first time in this study. The social network showed that there was a relationship between the actors interviewed from the two communities. They are identified as having some relationship to the plant or knowledge about it, but the actors who produce it are the most prominent. An analysis of the specific uses of the laurel and those with knowledge about it is considered indispensable for generating specific management and harvesting strategies for the species, which will be able to contribute a local perspective to its conservation.
{"title":"Ethnobotanical Study of the Mexican Laurel in El Chico National Park, Mexico: A Quantitative Perspective","authors":"Daniela Ortega-Meza, María Teresa Pulido-Silva, J. C. Arruda, C. J. Silva","doi":"10.14237/EBL.10.1.2019.1427","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14237/EBL.10.1.2019.1427","url":null,"abstract":"This study was conducted in two villages of El Chico National Park (ECNP), Mexico, to document the uses of Litsea glaucescens (Mexican laurel) by the local population and to identify actors with knowledge about the species using quantitative ethnobotanical techniques. Fifty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain a free-list about the specific uses of the laurel, to analyze its importance among the social group under study, and to use social networking to identify individuals within the community who had particular knowledge about the plant. We found a total of 25 specific uses for the plant, which have different levels of importance for the people of the ECNP. The most common use was seasoning, while medicinal and cultural uses had a lesser importance. Use of the seed of the laurel as a material for handcrafts is recorded for the first time in this study. The social network showed that there was a relationship between the actors interviewed from the two communities. They are identified as having some relationship to the plant or knowledge about it, but the actors who produce it are the most prominent. An analysis of the specific uses of the laurel and those with knowledge about it is considered indispensable for generating specific management and harvesting strategies for the species, which will be able to contribute a local perspective to its conservation.","PeriodicalId":43787,"journal":{"name":"Ethnobiology Letters","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2019-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49248182","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-12-31DOI: 10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1300
Viviana Albarracín, E. Aliaga-Rossel
Conflicts between wildlife and humans are increasing worldwide, especially in areas where they coexist and share resources. To investigate attitudes and opinions of the human population towards human-Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus) conflicts in two indigenous Aymara communities, Chuñavi and Lambate, Bolivia, semi-structured interviews were directed to an adult member of families in the communities. Simultaneously, we registered, monitored, and evaluated 70 farm plots to record evidence of Andean bear and other wildlife damage to the maize crops and plants. We found that the locals thought the bear caused the most damage when, in actuality, the most harmful issues identified for maize crops were environmental factors, followed by parrots and birds. Knowledge of the interactions between wild animals and productive systems can contribute to an understanding of Andean bear-human coexistence.
{"title":"Bearly Guilty: Understanding Human–Andean Bear Conflict Regarding Crop Losses","authors":"Viviana Albarracín, E. Aliaga-Rossel","doi":"10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1300","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1300","url":null,"abstract":"Conflicts between wildlife and humans are increasing worldwide, especially in areas where they coexist and share resources. To investigate attitudes and opinions of the human population towards human-Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus) conflicts in two indigenous Aymara communities, Chuñavi and Lambate, Bolivia, semi-structured interviews were directed to an adult member of families in the communities. Simultaneously, we registered, monitored, and evaluated 70 farm plots to record evidence of Andean bear and other wildlife damage to the maize crops and plants. We found that the locals thought the bear caused the most damage when, in actuality, the most harmful issues identified for maize crops were environmental factors, followed by parrots and birds. Knowledge of the interactions between wild animals and productive systems can contribute to an understanding of Andean bear-human coexistence.","PeriodicalId":43787,"journal":{"name":"Ethnobiology Letters","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45194381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-12-24DOI: 10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1384
C. Whitney
{"title":"Collecting Food, Cultivating People: Subsistence and Society in Central Africa. By Kathryn M. de Luna. 2016. Yale University Press, New Haven. 332 pp.","authors":"C. Whitney","doi":"10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1384","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1384","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43787,"journal":{"name":"Ethnobiology Letters","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41592099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-12-24DOI: 10.14237/ebl.9.2.2018.1404
N. Sault
world (pp. 81–83). The royal rooster has become a commodity and suffers at human hands. The actual costs of factory farmed chicken are hidden by keeping consumers unaware of the inhumane treatment of the chickens, the workers, the farmers who work as sharecroppers living below the poverty line, and the manure that pollutes land and water, leading to dead zones at sea (pp. 84–85). A central problem of the book is that the author does not follow through on the goals he sets and contradicts his stated aim. The preface argues that “It’s time to be more inclusive and more creative, to peer beneath the surface to vastly broaden our scope, to consider other ways of seeing and being in the world, and to reframe our perspective of nature, which will ultimately make us a far more resilient species” (p. xviii). He calls for an ethno-ornithological approach that can deepen our relationship to birds through Indigenous teachings. However, after claiming that birds offer us alternative perspectives on the world and the issues we face, he then expounds on the material benefits birds offer. Although the details of bird anatomy and behavior are intriguing, he justifies appreciation for birds by describing how this knowledge of birds can be used for medicine and engineering, such as understanding brain function and designing better planes and trains or paint (p. 26). He seems to believe people will appreciate birds because they are useful— for search and rescue missions (p. 239), for preventing or treating disease (p. 217), and reducing pests (p. 222). The author also ignores the pet trade This book explores the mystery and beauty of birds. There are chapters full of suspense— exploring avian enigmas such as flocks synchronizing their movements in murmurations, chickadees transferring complex information using calls with syntax, and migrations of Arctic terns traveling 12,000 miles. Other chapters provide fascinating detail on the aerodynamics of feathers that transmit information through skin attachments, avian eyesight with ultraviolet perception and magnetoreception, and extreme physiology that enables birds to endure great heights and depths with freezing temperatures. The author’s love for birds shines throughout the book and he writes in an engaging style. Each chapter begins with an elegant illustration by D.D. Dowden and quotes from Dickinson, Thoreau, John Lennon, and Mehmet Murat Ildan. Unfortunately, the scientific names of the birds are not included. The author describes what birds provide through food, feathers, dispersal of seeds and pollen, reducing insect pests, and guidance to people with advice or warnings. Birds “maintain ecosystem function and resilience” by “balancing the world” (pp. 109; 114). Robbins wants people to understand and appreciate birds because people conserve what they love. He addresses the types of emotional connection people have with birds and their power to heal. Through “Wings Over America,” at-risk teens and imprisoned yout
{"title":"The Wonder of Birds: What They Tell Us About Ourselves, the World, and a Better Future. By Jim Robbins. 2017. Spiegel and Grau, Penguin Random House, New York. 352 pp.","authors":"N. Sault","doi":"10.14237/ebl.9.2.2018.1404","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14237/ebl.9.2.2018.1404","url":null,"abstract":"world (pp. 81–83). The royal rooster has become a commodity and suffers at human hands. The actual costs of factory farmed chicken are hidden by keeping consumers unaware of the inhumane treatment of the chickens, the workers, the farmers who work as sharecroppers living below the poverty line, and the manure that pollutes land and water, leading to dead zones at sea (pp. 84–85). A central problem of the book is that the author does not follow through on the goals he sets and contradicts his stated aim. The preface argues that “It’s time to be more inclusive and more creative, to peer beneath the surface to vastly broaden our scope, to consider other ways of seeing and being in the world, and to reframe our perspective of nature, which will ultimately make us a far more resilient species” (p. xviii). He calls for an ethno-ornithological approach that can deepen our relationship to birds through Indigenous teachings. However, after claiming that birds offer us alternative perspectives on the world and the issues we face, he then expounds on the material benefits birds offer. Although the details of bird anatomy and behavior are intriguing, he justifies appreciation for birds by describing how this knowledge of birds can be used for medicine and engineering, such as understanding brain function and designing better planes and trains or paint (p. 26). He seems to believe people will appreciate birds because they are useful— for search and rescue missions (p. 239), for preventing or treating disease (p. 217), and reducing pests (p. 222). The author also ignores the pet trade This book explores the mystery and beauty of birds. There are chapters full of suspense— exploring avian enigmas such as flocks synchronizing their movements in murmurations, chickadees transferring complex information using calls with syntax, and migrations of Arctic terns traveling 12,000 miles. Other chapters provide fascinating detail on the aerodynamics of feathers that transmit information through skin attachments, avian eyesight with ultraviolet perception and magnetoreception, and extreme physiology that enables birds to endure great heights and depths with freezing temperatures. The author’s love for birds shines throughout the book and he writes in an engaging style. Each chapter begins with an elegant illustration by D.D. Dowden and quotes from Dickinson, Thoreau, John Lennon, and Mehmet Murat Ildan. Unfortunately, the scientific names of the birds are not included. The author describes what birds provide through food, feathers, dispersal of seeds and pollen, reducing insect pests, and guidance to people with advice or warnings. Birds “maintain ecosystem function and resilience” by “balancing the world” (pp. 109; 114). Robbins wants people to understand and appreciate birds because people conserve what they love. He addresses the types of emotional connection people have with birds and their power to heal. Through “Wings Over America,” at-risk teens and imprisoned yout","PeriodicalId":43787,"journal":{"name":"Ethnobiology Letters","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44787901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-12-18DOI: 10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1383
I. Svanberg, Å. Berggren
Research in historical ethnobiology can provide information about little known and seemingly insignificant practices in the past. The utilization of insect products as a foodstuff is a rare custom in Europe and data on this practice are scarce. From Nordic countries, we have information about producing ant schnapps with the help of the red wood ant, Formica rufa L., which has been used both as a remedy and as a drink. Honey and beeswax were once gathered in the forests from wild honey bee colonies, but have been replaced with products from the domestic honey bee, Apis mellifera L. Another product, once a well-known and appreciated sweet, especially among children, was nectar gathered from bumblebee nests. Collecting the nectar from bumblebee nests is an activity that has been practiced within living memory in many parts of the Nordic countries. This seems to be an ancient practice dating back at least a millennium that has survived until recently. It is an example of how methods and sources established within historical ethnobiology can be used to gain knowledge on the past as well as possible future uses of available biological resources.
{"title":"Bumblebee Honey in the Nordic Countries","authors":"I. Svanberg, Å. Berggren","doi":"10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1383","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1383","url":null,"abstract":"Research in historical ethnobiology can provide information about little known and seemingly insignificant practices in the past. The utilization of insect products as a foodstuff is a rare custom in Europe and data on this practice are scarce. From Nordic countries, we have information about producing ant schnapps with the help of the red wood ant, Formica rufa L., which has been used both as a remedy and as a drink. Honey and beeswax were once gathered in the forests from wild honey bee colonies, but have been replaced with products from the domestic honey bee, Apis mellifera L. Another product, once a well-known and appreciated sweet, especially among children, was nectar gathered from bumblebee nests. Collecting the nectar from bumblebee nests is an activity that has been practiced within living memory in many parts of the Nordic countries. This seems to be an ancient practice dating back at least a millennium that has survived until recently. It is an example of how methods and sources established within historical ethnobiology can be used to gain knowledge on the past as well as possible future uses of available biological resources.","PeriodicalId":43787,"journal":{"name":"Ethnobiology Letters","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49402810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-12-09DOI: 10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1374
F. Franco
Fowler’s Biosocial Synchrony on Sumba is a subtle reminder for ethnobiologists/anthropologists to view indigenous beliefs and knowledge systems from the perspective of the respective communities. Are anthropologists also capable of adopting the perspectives of the non-living? Fowler answers her own question by employing what she calls a “manipulation of perspectives” to promote an understanding of biosocial beings from the perspectives of seaworms, their worshippers, the celestial bodies, and human bodies. Fowler’s arguments draw strength from the huge volume of data collected since 1997 in collaboration with the Kodi people of tana nale or the land of seaworms, effectively interweaving ethnography, astronomy, marine biology, and ecology. The crux of the book is based on Ingold’s theory of biosocial becomings, and the author has successfully portrayed how indigenous understandings see no boundaries between the living and the non-living, the close and the distant, or nature and culture.
{"title":"Biosocial Synchrony on Sumba: Multispecies Relationships and Environmental Variations in Indonesia. By Cynthia T. Fowler. 2016. Lexington Books, Lanham. 137 pp.","authors":"F. Franco","doi":"10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1374","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1374","url":null,"abstract":"Fowler’s Biosocial Synchrony on Sumba is a subtle reminder for ethnobiologists/anthropologists to view indigenous beliefs and knowledge systems from the perspective of the respective communities. Are anthropologists also capable of adopting the perspectives of the non-living? Fowler answers her own question by employing what she calls a “manipulation of perspectives” to promote an understanding of biosocial beings from the perspectives of seaworms, their worshippers, the celestial bodies, and human bodies. Fowler’s arguments draw strength from the huge volume of data collected since 1997 in collaboration with the Kodi people of tana nale or the land of seaworms, effectively interweaving ethnography, astronomy, marine biology, and ecology. The crux of the book is based on Ingold’s theory of biosocial becomings, and the author has successfully portrayed how indigenous understandings see no boundaries between the living and the non-living, the close and the distant, or nature and culture.","PeriodicalId":43787,"journal":{"name":"Ethnobiology Letters","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66855423","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-12-02DOI: 10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1399
J. White
conservation. For example, Indigenous conceptualizations of plant domestication and diversification can potentiate multicultural conservation or participatory breeding efforts involving crop or crop wild relative diversity. Similarly vital to such efforts is the discussion of autobiology, or the “ethnobiology of us”, which comprises Chapter 4, in which readers are encouraged to explore the ethnobiological terms and principles that guide their own lives and cultures. Next, the one-size-fits-all approach of certain diets (e.g., the modern Paleolithic diet) is critiqued in Chapter 5, which explores the medically meaningful variation between modern humans and our common ancestors and what this may mean for modern diets. The understudied ethnobiology of microorganisms (e.g., those in fermenting vats, vinegar mothers, human guts) is thoughtfully discussed in Chapter 6. Ethnophenology and climate change are examined in Chapter 7, providing thought-provoking examples of ethnophenological indicators (e.g., gooseberry bushes coming into their full leaves is a sign that it is time to start planting corn) that will likely spark many new research projects.
{"title":"Ethnobiology for the Future: Linking Cultural and Ecological Diversity. Edited by Gary Paul Nabhan. 2016. Arizona University Press, Tucson. 309 pp.","authors":"J. White","doi":"10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1399","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1399","url":null,"abstract":"conservation. For example, Indigenous conceptualizations of plant domestication and diversification can potentiate multicultural conservation or participatory breeding efforts involving crop or crop wild relative diversity. Similarly vital to such efforts is the discussion of autobiology, or the “ethnobiology of us”, which comprises Chapter 4, in which readers are encouraged to explore the ethnobiological terms and principles that guide their own lives and cultures. Next, the one-size-fits-all approach of certain diets (e.g., the modern Paleolithic diet) is critiqued in Chapter 5, which explores the medically meaningful variation between modern humans and our common ancestors and what this may mean for modern diets. The understudied ethnobiology of microorganisms (e.g., those in fermenting vats, vinegar mothers, human guts) is thoughtfully discussed in Chapter 6. Ethnophenology and climate change are examined in Chapter 7, providing thought-provoking examples of ethnophenological indicators (e.g., gooseberry bushes coming into their full leaves is a sign that it is time to start planting corn) that will likely spark many new research projects.","PeriodicalId":43787,"journal":{"name":"Ethnobiology Letters","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45845135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-28DOI: 10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1394
R. Pierotti
Whether individuals hold static or dynamic worldviews underlies a number of contemporary controversies, including evolution/creationist debates, the reality of climate change, and application of treaty rights by Indigenous cultures. In this last case the debate is often framed in terms of whether or not Indigenous cultures are still using traditional methods when engaged in hunting, fishing, or harvesting. My purpose is to evaluate these issues by arguing that traditional means quite different things in different cultural traditions. In Western cultures, whose roots lie in static worldviews, e.g., those put forth by Aristotle and Descartes, traditional tends to mean unchanged or perhaps timeless. In Indigenous cultures, which typically have dynamic worldviews, traditional (a Western concept), implies that technologies employed, knowledge bases, and even ceremonial practices can change when conditions require. Western thinking assumes that use of the word traditional implies that such concepts or knowledge are of the past and thus unchangeable and irrelevant to the contemporary world. Non-Indigenous investigators have contended that traditional and change are contradictory concepts and that “[traditional] carries the unacknowledged connotation that the item in question is in decline, thus in need of being preserved.” In Indigenous thinking, the term traditional implies primarily that such knowledge and its related concepts have been in existence for a lengthy time, precisely because their ability to incorporate new observations and information has kept them fresh and relevant. I discuss these alternative concepts in the contexts of treaty and land rights and contemporary conservation concepts of biodiversity.
{"title":"World Views and the Concept of “Traditional”","authors":"R. Pierotti","doi":"10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1394","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1394","url":null,"abstract":"Whether individuals hold static or dynamic worldviews underlies a number of contemporary controversies, including evolution/creationist debates, the reality of climate change, and application of treaty rights by Indigenous cultures. In this last case the debate is often framed in terms of whether or not Indigenous cultures are still using traditional methods when engaged in hunting, fishing, or harvesting. My purpose is to evaluate these issues by arguing that traditional means quite different things in different cultural traditions. In Western cultures, whose roots lie in static worldviews, e.g., those put forth by Aristotle and Descartes, traditional tends to mean unchanged or perhaps timeless. In Indigenous cultures, which typically have dynamic worldviews, traditional (a Western concept), implies that technologies employed, knowledge bases, and even ceremonial practices can change when conditions require. Western thinking assumes that use of the word traditional implies that such concepts or knowledge are of the past and thus unchangeable and irrelevant to the contemporary world. Non-Indigenous investigators have contended that traditional and change are contradictory concepts and that “[traditional] carries the unacknowledged connotation that the item in question is in decline, thus in need of being preserved.” In Indigenous thinking, the term traditional implies primarily that such knowledge and its related concepts have been in existence for a lengthy time, precisely because their ability to incorporate new observations and information has kept them fresh and relevant. I discuss these alternative concepts in the contexts of treaty and land rights and contemporary conservation concepts of biodiversity.","PeriodicalId":43787,"journal":{"name":"Ethnobiology Letters","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44899015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-21DOI: 10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1115
Justin Raycraft
This paper draws from an ethnographic vignette of dynamite fishing in southeastern Tanzania. I consider the utility of participant observation as a method for examining ecologically destructive practices, especially in contexts where such activities are illegal or prohibited by conservation regulations. I raise self-reflexive critiques, internal to my home discipline of anthropology, and discuss the methodological, ethical, and analytical challenges of attempting to document cases of dynamite fishing and other related phenomena of pressing environmental concern. Ultimately, I maintain that participant observation remains a valuable tool for documenting and explaining environmentally destructive activities.
{"title":"Dilemmas of Representation in Contemporary Environmental Anthropology: Documenting Dynamite Fishing in Southeastern Tanzania","authors":"Justin Raycraft","doi":"10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1115","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14237/EBL.9.2.2018.1115","url":null,"abstract":"This paper draws from an ethnographic vignette of dynamite fishing in southeastern Tanzania. I consider the utility of participant observation as a method for examining ecologically destructive practices, especially in contexts where such activities are illegal or prohibited by conservation regulations. I raise self-reflexive critiques, internal to my home discipline of anthropology, and discuss the methodological, ethical, and analytical challenges of attempting to document cases of dynamite fishing and other related phenomena of pressing environmental concern. Ultimately, I maintain that participant observation remains a valuable tool for documenting and explaining environmentally destructive activities.","PeriodicalId":43787,"journal":{"name":"Ethnobiology Letters","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46027664","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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