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"Ethnoecology."
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Indigenous storytelling and connections to the land : more-than-human worlds
This text builds on the perspective that, for Indigenous peoples, relations to the land are familial, intimate, intergenerational, spiritual, instructive, and life nourishing, and it is these relations that Western societies sought to destroy as part of their colonial projects of territorial conquest and exploitation of resources.
BOOK
Employing Local Ecological Knowledge to reveal interactions between artisanal fishers and Guiana Dolphins (Sotalia guianensis) along the Maranhão coast, northern Brazil
The Guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) is a cetacean found in tropical coastal waters of the Western Atlantic, distributed from Honduras to northern Santa Catarina, Brazil. Its restricted distribution and interaction with human activities, such as artisanal fishing and pollution, make it highly vulnerable to anthropogenic threats, being classified as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and vulnerable by the Brazilian Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment's administrative arm. Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) is essential to understand interactions between fishing communities and this species. In this sense, this study aimed to identify the interactions between artisanal fishers and Guiana dolphins on the coast of Maranhão, aiming to provide relevant information on Guiana dolphins, essential to support conservation efforts for the species. A total of 88 semi-structured questionnaires were applied to fishers from the Tubarão Bay Extractive Reserve and São Marcos Bay, in Maranhão, northern Brazil. The calculated Smith's Salience Index revealed that the most valued ethnospecies are mullet, hake and croaker. Although overlaps between ethnospecies and the Guiana dolphin diet are noted, no direct conflicts were recorded. Some fishers perceive the presence of dolphins in a positive light, associating them with helping them locate fish, while others view the interaction negatively, considering that dolphins feed on fish caught in nets. Most fishers (56.8%) are not bothered by the presence of dolphins during fishing, and 82.95% stated that they do not interfere. Although 45.4% of fishers believe that dolphins can get entangled in fishing gear, there were no records of intentional captures. The importance of conservation and environmental education strategies is highlighted to ensure harmonious coexistence between fishers and Guiana dolphins.
Journal Article
The desert smells like rain : a naturalist in O'odham country
\"Longtime residents of the sonoran desert, the Tohono O'odham people have spent centuries living off the land - a land that most modern citizens of southern Arizona consider totally inhospitable. Ethnobotanist Gary Nabhan has lived with the Tohono O'odham, long known as the Papagos, observing the delicate balance between these people and their environment. Bringing O'odham voices to the page at every turn, he writes elegantly of how they husband scant water supplies, grow crops, and utilize wild edible foods. Woven through his account are coyote tales, O'odham children's impressions of the desert, and observations on the political problems that come with living on both sides of an international border. Whether visiting a sacred cave in the Baboquivari Mountains or attending a saguaro wine-drinking ceremony. Nabhan conveys the everyday life and extraordinary perseverance of these desert people in a book that has become a contemporary classic of environmental literature.\"--Jacket.
BOOK
Under the Shade of Thipaak
The important cultural role of an ancient, endangered
plant
Under the Shade of Thipaak is the first book to explore
the cultural role of cycads, plants that evolved over 250 million
years ago and are now critically endangered, in the ancient and
modern Mesoamerican and Caribbean worlds. This volume demonstrates
how these ancient plants have figured prominently in regional
mythologies, rituals, art, and foodways from the
Pleistocene-Holocene transition to the present.
Contributors discuss the importance of cycads from a variety of
disciplinary perspectives, including biology and population
genetics, historical ecology, archaeology, art history,
linguistics, and conservation and sustainability. Chapters pay
special attention to the enduring conceptual relationships between
cycads and maize. This book demonstrates how a close examination of
cycad-human relationships can motivate conservation of these
threatened plants in ways that engage local communities, as well as
promote the significance of ancient and modern practices that unite
nature and culture .
Contributors : Francisco Barona-Gómez | Emanuel
Bojorquez Quintal | Mark A. Bonta | Edder Daniel Bustos-Díaz |
Dánae Cabrera-Toledo | Michael Calonje | Michael D. Carrasco |
Angélica Cibrián-Jaramillo | Joshua D. Englehardt | Jorge
González-Astorga | Naishla M. Gutiérrez-Arroyo | José Saíd
Gutiérrez-Ortega | Thomas Hart | Jaime R. Pagán-Jiménez | Francisco
Pérez-Zavala | Luis Rojas Abarca | Esteban Sánchez Rodríguez |
Dennis William Stevenson | Amber M. VanDerwarker | Luis R.
Velázquez Maldonado | Andrew P. Vovides
eBook
Disentangling Domestication from Food Production Systems in the Neotropics
The Neolithic Revolution narrative associates early-mid Holocene domestications with the development of agriculture that fueled the rise of late Holocene civilizations. This narrative continues to be influential, even though it has been deconstructed by archaeologists and geneticists in its homeland. To further disentangle domestication from reliance on food production systems, such as agriculture, we revisit definitions of domestication and food production systems, review the late Pleistocene–early Holocene archaeobotanical record, and quantify the use, management and domestication of Neotropical plants to provide insights about the past. Neotropical plant domestication relies on common human behaviors (selection, accumulation and caring) within agroecological systems that focus on individual plants, rather than populations—as is typical of agriculture. The early archaeobotanical record includes numerous perennial and annual species, many of which later became domesticated. Some of this evidence identifies dispersal with probable cultivation, suggesting incipient domestication by 10,000 years ago. Since the Pleistocene, more than 6500, 1206 and 6261 native plant species have been used in Mesoamerica, the Central Andes and lowland South America, respectively. At least 1555, 428 and 742 are managed outside and inside food production systems, and at least 1148, 428 and 600 are cultivated, respectively, suggesting at least incipient domestication. Full native domesticates are more numerous in Mesoamerica (251) than the Andes (124) and the lowlands (45). This synthesis reveals that domestication is more common in the Neotropics than previously recognized and started much earlier than reliance on food production systems. Hundreds of ethnic groups had, and some still have, alternative strategies that do involve domestication, although they do not rely principally on food production systems, such as agriculture.
Journal Article
Metabolomics affirms traditional alcoholic beverage raksi as a remedy for high-altitude sickness
Raksi, a fermented distilled alcoholic beverage, is an ethnic drink consumed in high altitude regions of Singalila Ridge of the Himalayas and in adjoining high altitude places in Nepal, northern and north eastern part of India and Tibetan plateau. Like jaanr, tongba, nigar, chhyang, and other fermented ethnic beverages, raksi is considered as an element of ethnopharmacology of high altitude with claims of medicinal properties. An ethnobiological survey was done in the study area prior to collection and identification of raksi samples. In this research, two raksi samples (khokim raksi and chimphing raksi) of Singalila Ridge of the Himalayas were investigated by metabolite profiling using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. Results of the experiment showed presence of several respiratory protective, cardioprotective, neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant components which have properties to prevent various high altitude illnesses. Moreover, large quantities of bioactive terpenoids, fatty acid derivatives, coumarins, and peptides were detected whose chemotaxonomy and biosynthesis pathways were further studied. This metabolomics investigation not only affirmed Raksi as a remedy for high-altitude sickness but also helped in understanding the importance of this type of ethnic foods in high altitude ethnoecology. This research on raksi in the fields of ethnobiology and metabolomics is a cumulative approach which has opened the door for in-depth investigations on similar ethnic foods. However, further experiments on raksi are surely needed in ethnobiology, microbiology, biochemistry, and food technology. KCI Citation Count: 0
Journal Article
Indigenous economics : sustaining peoples and their lands / Ronald L. Trosper
\"The book explains how Indigenous peoples organize their economies for good living, by developing relationships among people and the natural world. Creating strong relationships is a major alternative to the proposals that urge Indigenous people to individualize their economies\"-- What does \"development\" mean for Indigenous peoples? Indigenous Economics lays out an alternative path showing that conscious attention to relationships among humans and the natural world creates flourishing social-ecological economies. Economist Ronald L. Trosper draws on examples from North and South America, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and Australia to argue that Indigenous worldviews centering care and good relationships provide critical and sustainable economic models in a world under increasing pressure from biodiversity loss and climate change. He explains the structure of relational Indigenous economic theory, providing principles based on his own and others' work with tribal nations and Indigenous communities. Trosper explains how sustainability is created at every level when relational Indigenous economic theory is applied--micro, meso, and macro. Good relationships support personal and community autonomy, replacing the individualism/collectivism dichotomy with relational leadership and entrepreneurship. Basing economies on relationships requires changing governance from the top-down approaches of nation-states and international corporations; instead, each community creates its own territorial relationships, creating plurinational relational states. This book offers an important alternative to classic economic theory. In Indigenous Economics, support for Indigenous communities' development and Indigenous peoples' well-being go hand-in-hand.
eBook
Farmers’ knowledge and use of soil fauna in agriculture
General knowledge of the small, invisible, or hidden organisms that make soil one of the most biodiverse habitats on Earth is thought to be scarce, despite their importance in food systems and agricultural production. We provide the first worldwide review of high-quality research that reports on farmers’ knowledge of soil organisms in agriculture. The depth of farmers’ knowledge varied; some farming communities held detailed local taxonomies and observations of soil biota, or used soil biological activity as indicators of soil fertility, while others were largely unaware of soil fauna. Elicitation of soil biota knowledge was often incidental to the main research goal in many of the reviewed studies. Farmers are rarely deliberately or deeply consulted by researchers on their existing knowledge of soil biota, soil ecology, or soil ecological processes. Deeper understanding of how farmers use and value soil life can lead to more effective development of collaborative extension programs, policies, and management initiatives directed at maintaining healthy, living soils.
Journal Article
Disrupting a socio-ecological system: could traditional ecological knowledge be the key to preserving the Araucaria Forest in Brazil under climate change?
Socio-ecological systems (SESs) hinge on human groups and ecosystems, promoting interdependence and resilience to environmental disturbances. Climate change effects propagate from organism to biomes, likely influencing SES. In southern and relict patches in southeastern Brazil, Araucaria Forest is a typical SES due to the historical interaction between humans and biodiversity. We thus aimed to evaluate empirically and theoretically how climate change could disrupt this system by interviewing 97 smallholders and assessing their traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). We evaluated and measured the following: (i) socioeconomic impact of araucaria’s nut-like seed (pinhão) trade; (ii) ethnoecological knowledge about climate change; and (iii) generated an ecosystem services network. We projected these empiric data with a projected loss of 50–70% of the Araucaria Forest due to climate change to quantify the risks of the potential disruption of this socioecological system. We found evidence that to avoid the disruption of the Araucaria Forests is paramount to value TEK holders, safeguard the historical socioecological interaction, and promote non-mutually exclusive measures in an integrative response to maintain the Araucaria Forests resilient to future disturbances.
Journal Article