Introduction: conceptual, methodological, practical, and ethical challenges in studying and applying indigenous knowledge

Abstract

For over a half a century, indigenous knowledge systems have captured the attention of anthropologists (Hunn 2007). Recently, interest has intensified both inside and outside the discipline among scholars and practitioners in a wide variety of contexts ranging from international development, resource management, sustainability and resilience, disaster response, climate change, ethnobotany, ethnomedicine, and ethnoveterinary studies (ReyesGarcia et al. 2009, UNESCO 2009, Maffi and Woodley 2010. Simultaneously, sophisticated conceptual and methodological approaches have been developed, such as cultural consensus analysis and participatory mapping. Many of these recent advances tend to rely on theories of knowledge that focus attention on mental models and discrete, encapsulated, and abstracted aspects of knowledge that can be documented using formal interview methods (e.g., freelists, triads, pile sorts, surveys) (Zent 2009). However, a growing number of anthropologists have found that these approaches and techniques constrain descriptions and obscure the hybrid and heterogeneous nature of indigenous or local knowledge and modes of understanding (see Spoon 2014, Carothers et al. 2014. For example, as Lauer and Aswani (2009) note, "More research is needed to develop approaches and methods that can empirically record aspects of knowledge and understanding that are commonly ignored in indigenous knowledge studies," in order to, "more fully explore, comprehend, and appreciate indigenous people‛s lives and perspectives in a rapidly changing world (Lauer and Aswani 2009: 327)." In keeping with this call, many recent approaches to the study of knowledge converge on the recognition that knowledge is embedded in multiple systems of practice, beliefs, values, and power across all scales. As such, new concepts and methods are needed for studying and representing contemporary indigenous knowledge that traverses many different systems of understanding.This special feature, based on an invited session of papers presented at the 2012 American Anthropological Association (AAA) annual meeting, explores key conceptual, methodological, practical, and ethical challenges and opportunities in studying indigenous knowledge systems and applying insights from such knowledge systems in scholarly, resource management, and local community venues across the globe. The papers in this feature represent geographic and topical diversity, while converging on several important themes facing anthropology and other fields that study knowledge systems.First, to better describe and understand indigenous knowledge systems, several papers use a practice-oriented approach, a framework that enters the analysis assuming that knowledge involves social, dynamic, performative, and improvisational dimensions in addition to cognitive models and classification systems. Schareika (2014) Second, several papers discuss multiple ways of representing knowledge. Case studies by Carothers et al. (2014) and Spoon (2014) demonstrate that knowledge systems show contradic...

Integration of ethnoscience in problem-based learning to improve contextuality and meaning of biology learning

“…Ethnoscience and local knowledge or indigenous knowledge of a community are inseparable. Carothers et al (2014) convey that the Indigenous Knowledge (IK) system can be described and comprehended using an approach oriented to collaborative practices, case studies, and research. In other words, implementing ethnoscience in a community or ethnicity can be conducted by integrating into their life practices or making a case study or collaborative research.…”

Epistemologies of Resistance: Knowledge in the Peruvian Amazon

“…But knowledge also includes more fundamental questions related to how we see the world. Carothers, Moritz, and Zarger (2014) highlight the importance of asking deeper ethnographic questions here: "What is knowledge? What is knowing?…”

“…The questions Carothers, Moritz, and Zarger (2014) raise become important in this context. "What is knowledge?…”

Etnobotánica aplicada a la conservación en el "Parque Regional Quebradas del Norte", Rivera, Uruguay

“…Algunos estudios han buscado comprender las características de los conocimientos generados en las comunidades indígenas o aisladas y cómo estos se ven influidos dentro de un nuevo orden mundial (sensu Alexiades 2003, Carothers et al 2014. Una parte importante de estos trabajos han abordado la temática acerca del manejo que realizan estos pueblos del recurso vegetal (Reyes-Garcia et al 2007, Pautasso et al 2012, así como la manera en que el conocimiento botánico tradicional (sensu Johannes 1989) es apropiado, utilizado, compartido e intercambiado dentro y fuera de las comunidades (Cotton 1996, McClatchey 2005.…”