“Useful to Us in Unknown Ways”: Seed Conservation and the Quest for Novel Human-Plant Relationships for the 21^stCentury

Abstract

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Philosophy of Ethnobiology: Understanding Knowledge Integration and Its Limitations

“…Consider what Holden et al (2014) describe as the four primary dimensions of sustainable development in the Brundtland report (WCED 1987): “safeguarding long-term ecological sustainability, satisfying basic human needs, and promoting intragenerational and intergenerational equity.” As much as these dimensions suggest overlaps with value systems of TEK, there are also salient differences. One difference is that TEK often assumes a complex web of mutual responsibilities between human and non-human actors (Lewis-Jones 2016; Rose 2002) that is not adequately reflected in satisfying basic human needs or human-focused equity concerns. If non-human actors are incorporated into the values of TEK, with both responsibilities and rights, normative reasoning about environmental issues will often depart from Western discourses about sustainable development.…”

Introduction

“…Yet it has become clear that learning to "see" plants is a cultural endeavor. How we choose to frame this understanding, whether in anthropocentric, utilitarian, or ecocentric terms may have very tangible impacts on both them and us (Chan 2008;De Luca et al 2012;Lewis-Jones 2016;Lidskog 2011;Jepson and Canney 2003;Sullivan 2009;Vucetich et al 2015).…”