Indigenous science

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Indigenous science is the application and intersection of Indigenous knowledge and science. In ecology, this is sometimes termed traditional ecological knowledge. [1] [2] [3] Indigenous science refers to the knowledge systems and practices of Indigenous peoples, which are rooted in their cultural traditions and relationships to their indigenous context. It follows the same methods of Western science including (but not limited to): observation, prediction, interpretation, questioning. [4] The knowledge and information that Indigenous people have was often devalued by white European and American scientists and explorers. [5] However, there has been a growing recognition of the benefits of incorporating Indigenous perspectives and knowledge particularly in fields such as ecology and environmental management. [6] [7]

Contents

Traditional and scientific

Indigenous knowledge and experiences are often passed down orally from generation to generation. [8] [9] Indigenous knowledge has an empirical basis and has traditionally been used to predict and understand the world. [10] [11] [12] Such knowledge has informed studies of human management of natural processes. [13] [14]

In ecology

Culturally modified trees (CMTs) are when resources from a tree are used in a way that does not kill the tree itself. Culturally modified tree.jpg
Culturally modified trees (CMTs) are when resources from a tree are used in a way that does not kill the tree itself.
Illustration of fish weir, designed to guide salmon in the enclosure to be hand selected as a way to manage the salmon population to ensure healthy runs the following year. FMIB 34566 Salmon Weir, Penobscot River, no1-Fig1; Salmon Weir, Penobscot River, no3-fig3; Salmon Weir, Penobscot River, no2-fig2; Fish.jpeg
Illustration of fish weir, designed to guide salmon in the enclosure to be hand selected as a way to manage the salmon population to ensure healthy runs the following year.

Indigenous science is related to the term "traditional ecological knowledge" or "TEK" which is specific category of Indigenous science. [15]

The study of ecology focuses on the relationships and patterns between organisms in their environment. [16] TEK is place-based, so the information and understanding are context-dependent. [17] One example of such work is ethnobiology which employs Indigenous knowledge and botany to identify and classify species. [18] TEK has been used to provide perspectives on matters such as how a declining fish population affects nature, the food web, and coastal ecosystems. [19]

Indigenous science has helped to address ecological challenges including the restoration of salmon, [20] management of seabird harvests, [21] outbreaks of hantavirus, [22] and addressing wildfires. [23]

Place based sciences

Indigenous science may offer a different perspective from what is traditionally thought of as "science". [24] In particular, Indigenous science is tied to territory, cultural practices, and experiences/teachings in explicit ways that are often absent in normal scientific discourse. [25]

Collaboration between Indigenous communities and research scientists has been described as a kind of "indigenizing" of the scientific method with Indigenous-led projects and community work enacted as a starting point for the collaborations. [26]

Climatology studies have made use of traditional knowledge (Qaujimajatuqangit) among the Inuit when studying long-term changes in sea ice. [27] [28]

As well as in ecology, Indigenous knowledge has been used in biological areas including animal behaviour, evolution, physiology, life history, morphology, wildlife conservation, wildlife health, and taxonomy. [29] [ better source needed ]

Indigenous technologies

The definition of technology is "the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry.". [30] Examples of Indigenous technologies that were developed for specific use based on their location and culture include: clam gardens, fish weirs, and culturally modified trees (CMTs). [31] Indigenous technologies are available in a wide range of subjects such as: agri- and mari-culture, fishing, forest management and resource exploitation, atmospheric, and land based management techniques. [31] Chaco Canyon is an example of land-based Indigenous technologies which show keen insight into the scientific and mathematical underpinnings. [32]

Technology by area

The American Southeast

Agriculture in the southeast was based on a mixed-crop, shifting cultivation system [33] growing corn, beans, and squash together in the same mounds; an inter-cropping system known as the three sisters. [34] In this horticultural technique, each plant offers something to the others, thus improving the crop yield. Corn is the high-caloric food supported by the beans which provide nitrogen from nitrogen-fixing bacteria that live on their roots, and squash provide ground cover (suppresses weeds and keeps soil moist). [34] Other crops incorporated in the inter-cropping system included sunflowers or grains like barley or maygrass. [35]

Notable scholars

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecology</span> Study of organisms and their environment

Ecology is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps with the closely related sciences of biogeography, evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology, and natural history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Invasive species</span> Non-native organism causing damage to an established environment

An invasive species is an introduced species to an environment that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native species that become harmful to their native environment after human alterations to its food web. Since the 20th century, invasive species have become a serious economic, social, and environmental threat worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urban ecology</span> Scientific study of living organisms

Urban ecology is the scientific study of the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings in an urban environment. An urban environment refers to environments dominated by high-density residential and commercial buildings, paved surfaces, and other urban-related factors that create a unique landscape. The goal of urban ecology is to achieve a balance between human culture and the natural environment.

Adaptive management, also known as adaptive resource management or adaptive environmental assessment and management, is a structured, iterative process of robust decision making in the face of uncertainty, with an aim to reducing uncertainty over time via system monitoring. In this way, decision making simultaneously meets one or more resource management objectives and, either passively or actively, accrues information needed to improve future management. Adaptive management is a tool which should be used not only to change a system, but also to learn about the system. Because adaptive management is based on a learning process, it improves long-run management outcomes. The challenge in using the adaptive management approach lies in finding the correct balance between gaining knowledge to improve management in the future and achieving the best short-term outcome based on current knowledge. This approach has more recently been employed in implementing international development programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental resource management</span> Type of resource management

Environmental resource management or environmental management is the management of the interaction and impact of human societies on the environment. It is not, as the phrase might suggest, the management of the environment itself. Environmental resources management aims to ensure that ecosystem services are protected and maintained for future human generations, and also maintain ecosystem integrity through considering ethical, economic, and scientific (ecological) variables. Environmental resource management tries to identify factors affecteconflicts thatd bconflicts thaty conflictthattheorists thaariset arise between meeting needs and protecting resources. It is thus linked to environmental protection, resource management, sustainability, integrated landscape management, natural resource management, fisheries management, forest management, wildlife management, environmental management systems, and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Restoration ecology</span> Scientific study of renewing and restoring ecosystems

Ecological restoration is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed. It is distinct from conservation in that it attempts to retroactively repair already damaged ecosystems rather than take preventative measures. Ecological restoration can reverse biodiversity loss, combat climate change, and support local economies. The United Nations named 2021-2030 the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

Ethnoecology is the scientific study of how different groups of people living in different locations understand the ecosystems around them, and their relationships with surrounding environments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urban prairie</span> Vacant urban land reverted to green space

Urban prairie is a term to describe vacant urban land that has reverted to green space. The definition of an urban prairie, also known as an urban grassland, can vary across countries and disciplines, but at its broadest encompasses meadows, lawns, and gardens, as well as public and private parks, vacant land, remnants of rural landscapes, and areas along transportation corridors.If previously developed, structures occupying the urban lots have been demolished, leaving patchy areas of green space that are usually untended and unmanaged, forming an involuntary park. Spaces can also be intentionally created to facilitate amenities, such as green belts, community gardens and wildlife reserve habitats.Urban brownfields are contaminated grasslands that also fall under the urban grassland umbrella. Urban greenspaces are a larger category that include urban grasslands in addition to other spaces.

Prior to the European colonization of the Americas, indigenous peoples used fire to modify the landscape. This influence over the fire regime was part of the environmental cycles and maintenance of wildlife habitats that sustained the cultures and economies of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. What was initially perceived by colonists as "untouched, pristine" wilderness in North America was the cumulative result of the Indigenous use of fire, creating an mosaic of grasslands and forests across North America, sustained and managed by the peoples indigenous to the landscape.

Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) describes indigenous and other traditional knowledge of local resources. As a field of study in Northern American anthropology, TEK refers to "a cumulative body of knowledge, belief, and practice, evolving by accumulation of TEK and handed down through generations through traditional songs, stories and beliefs. It is concerned with the relationship of living beings with their traditional groups and with their environment." Indigenous knowledge is not a universal concept among various societies, but is referred to a system of knowledge traditions or practices that are heavily dependent on "place". Such knowledge is used in natural resource management as a substitute for baseline environmental data in cases where there is little recorded scientific data, or may complement Western scientific methods of ecological management.

A social-ecological system consists of 'a bio-geo-physical' unit and its associated social actors and institutions. Social-ecological systems are complex and adaptive and delimited by spatial or functional boundaries surrounding particular ecosystems and their context problems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate change and Indigenous peoples</span>

Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples describes how climate change disproportionately impacts Indigenous peoples around the world when compared to non-Indigenous peoples. These impacts are particularly felt in relation to health, environments, and communities. Some Indigenous scholars of climate change argue that these disproportionately felt impacts are linked to ongoing forms of colonialism. Indigenous peoples found throughout the world have strategies and traditional knowledge to adapt to climate change. These knowledge systems can be beneficial for their own community's adaptation to climate change as expressions of self-determination as well as to non-Indigenous communities.

Jan Salick is an American botanist who researches the interaction between humans and plants (ethnobotany) and conservation biology. Her specialisms include alpine environments, climate change, indigenous peoples and traditional knowledge. She is a past-president of the Society for Economic Botany and holds their Distinguished Economic Botanist award. She is also Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and received the Fairchild Medal for Plant Exploration. In 2019 she retired as Senior Curator of Ethnobotany at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and now has emerita status.

Jacqueline Rae Beggs is a New Zealand entomologist and ecologist specialising in biodiversity and biosecurity.

Orville Huntington is an American researcher and educator of Native Alaskan Athabaskans descent.

Collaborative environmental governance is an approach to environmental governance which seeks to account for scale mismatch which may occur within social-ecological systems. It recognizes that interconnected human and biological systems exist on multiple geographic and temporal scales and thus CEG seeks to build collaboration among actors across multiple scales and jurisdictions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Ohu Gon III</span> American scientist and cultural advisor

Samuel M. 'Ohukani'ōhi'a Gon III is an American scientist and cultural advisor for The Nature Conservancy of Hawaiʻi. He was born and raised in Nuʻuanu on the island of Oahu. Gon studied Hawaiian culture under Kumu John Keolamala'āinana Lake. Gon worked to integrate Hawaiian culture, values, and knowledge into conservation efforts. Gon sat on the Office of Hawaiian Affairs panel, the Hawaii Land Board (2006-2014).

<i>Native Science</i> 2001 book by Gregory Cajete

Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence is a 2001 book about traditional ecological knowledge by Gregory Cajete.

References

  1. ↑ Cajete, Gregory (2000). Native science : natural laws of interdependence. Clear Light Publishers. ISBN   1-57416-035-4. OCLC   610678710.
  2. ↑ Huntington, Henry P. (2000). "Using Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Science: Methods and Applications". Ecological Applications. 10 (5): 1270–1274. doi:10.1890/1051-0761(2000)010[1270:UTEKIS]2.0.CO;2. ISSN   1051-0761.
  3. ↑ Cajete, Gregory A. (17 November 2020). "Indigenous Science, Climate Change, and Indigenous Community Building: A Framework of Foundational Perspectives for Indigenous Community Resilience and Revitalization". Sustainability. 12 (22): 9569. doi: 10.3390/su12229569 . ISSN   2071-1050.
  4. ↑ Henri, Dominique A.; Provencher, Jennifer F.; Bowles, Ella; et al. (April 2021). "Weaving Indigenous knowledge systems and Western sciences in terrestrial research, monitoring and management in Canada: A protocol for a systematic map". Ecological Solutions and Evidence. 2 (2). Bibcode:2021EcoSE...2E2057H. doi:10.1002/2688-8319.12057. ISSN   2688-8319. S2CID   235519593. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  5. ↑ Kimmerer, Robin Wall (2013). Braiding sweetgrass (1st ed.). Minneapolis, Minnesota. ISBN   978-1-57131-335-5. OCLC   829743464. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ↑ Battiste, Marie (2005). Hsieh, Jolan (ed.). "Indigenous Knowledge: Foundations for First Nations". International Journal of Indigenous Education Scholarship. 1. Archived from the original on 15 April 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  7. ↑ Berkes, Fikret (29 March 2012). Sacred Ecology (1st ed.). Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203123843. ISBN   978-1-136-34173-1. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  8. ↑ Reynolds, Nathaniel; Romano, Marc (2013). "Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Reconstructing Historical Run Timing and Spawning Distribution of Eulachon through Tribal Oral History". Journal of Northwest Anthropology. 47 (1): 47–70.
  9. ↑ Nimmo, Evelyn R.; Carvalho, Alessandra I. de; Laverdi, Robson; Lacerda, André E. B. (2020). "Oral history and traditional ecological knowledge in social innovation and smallholder sovereignty: a case study of erva-mate in Southern Brazil". Ecology and Society. 25 (4): art17. doi: 10.5751/ES-11942-250417 . ISSN   1708-3087. S2CID   228904326. Archived from the original on 7 August 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
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  11. ↑ Traditional ecological knowledge : concepts and cases. Julian Inglis, International Program on Traditional Ecological Knowledge, International Development Research Centre, International Association for the Study of Common Property. Meeting, Common Property Conference. Ottawa, Ont., Canada. 1993. ISBN   9780889366831. OCLC   137342338. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2022.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. ↑ Kadykalo, Andrew N.; Cooke, Steven J.; Young, Nathan (2021). "The role of western-based scientific, Indigenous and local knowledge in wildlife management and conservation". People and Nature. 3 (3): 610–626. Bibcode:2021PeoNa...3..610K. doi:10.1002/pan3.10194. ISSN   2575-8314. S2CID   233643643. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  13. ↑ Colorado, Pam (1 January 1988). "Bridging Native and Western Science". Convergence. 21 (2). ProQuest   1437894282. Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2022– via ProQuest.
  14. ↑ Johnson, Jay T.; Howitt, Richard; Cajete, Gregory; Berkes, Fikret; Louis, Renee Pualani; Kliskey, Andrew (2016). "Weaving Indigenous and sustainability sciences to diversify our methods". Sustainability Science. 11 (1): 1–11. Bibcode:2016SuSc...11....1J. doi: 10.1007/s11625-015-0349-x . ISSN   1862-4065. S2CID   131199874.
  15. ↑ Snively, Gloria; Corsiglia, John (2000). "Discovering indigenous science: Implications for science education". Science Education. 85 (1): 6–34. doi:10.1002/1098-237x(200101)85:1<6::aid-sce3>3.0.co;2-r. ISSN   0036-8326. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  16. ↑ Odum, Eugene (1971). Fundamentals of Ecology (Vol. 3 ed.). Saunders Philadelphia.
  17. ↑ Alexander, Steven M.; Provencher, Jennifer F.; Henri, Dominique A.; Nanayakkara, Lushani; Taylor, Jessica J.; Berberi, Albana; Lloren, Jed Immanuel; Johnson, Jay T.; Ballard, Myrle; Cooke, Steven J. (July 2021). "Bridging Indigenous and Western sciences in freshwater research, monitoring, and management in Canada". Ecological Solutions and Evidence. 2 (3). Bibcode:2021EcoSE...2E2085A. doi: 10.1002/2688-8319.12085 . ISSN   2688-8319. S2CID   237787345.
  18. ↑ Johnson, Jay T.; Howitt, Richard; Cajete, Gregory; Berkes, Fikret; Louis, Renee Pualani; Kliskey, Andrew (1 January 2016). "Weaving Indigenous and sustainability sciences to diversify our methods". Sustainability Science. 11 (1): 1–11. Bibcode:2016SuSc...11....1J. doi: 10.1007/s11625-015-0349-x . ISSN   1862-4057. S2CID   131199874.
  19. ↑ Díaz, Sandra; Demissew, Sebsebe; Carabias, Julia; Joly, Carlos; Lonsdale, Mark; Ash, Neville; Larigauderie, Anne; Adhikari, Jay Ram; Arico, Salvatore; Báldi, András; Bartuska, Ann; Baste, Ivar Andreas; Bilgin, Adem; Brondizio, Eduardo; Chan, Kai MA (1 June 2015). "The IPBES Conceptual Framework — connecting nature and people". Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. Open Issue. 14: 1–16. Bibcode:2015COES...14....1D. doi: 10.1016/j.cosust.2014.11.002 . hdl: 11336/56765 . ISSN   1877-3435. S2CID   14000233.
  20. ↑ Footen, Brian. "Darkness to Dawn: Columbia River Native Tribes' Science and Salmon Restoration Success". Native Case Studies. Archived from the original on 7 August 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  21. ↑ Moller, H.; Berkes, F.; Lyver, P. O. B.; Kislalioglu, M. (2004). "Combining science and traditional ecological knowledge: monitoring populations for co-management". Ecology and Society. 9 (3). doi: 10.5751/ES-00675-090302 . hdl: 10535/2996 . JSTOR   26267682.
  22. ↑ Stumpff, Linda. "Hantavirus and the Navajo Nation: A Double Jeopardy Disease". Native Case Studies. Archived from the original on 4 July 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  23. ↑ Stumpff, Linda. "Your Tribal Land is Not Secure: Traditional Knowledge and Science Face Wildfire in the Valley of the Wild Roses". Native Case Studies. Archived from the original on 7 August 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  24. ↑ Anto., Johnson, Peter, Indigenous North American cosmological and astronomical knowledge : perspectives & teachings, ISBN   978-1-77369-702-4, OCLC   1333224828 , retrieved 17 April 2023{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  25. ↑ Aikenhead, Glen S.; Ogawa, Masakata (1 July 2007). "Indigenous knowledge and science revisited". Cultural Studies of Science Education. 2 (3): 539–620. Bibcode:2007CSSE....2..539A. doi:10.1007/s11422-007-9067-8. ISSN   1871-1510. S2CID   144674577. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  26. ↑ Hernandez, Jessica; Spencer, Michael (2022). "Weaving Indigenous Science into Ecological Sciences: Culturally Grounding Our Indigenous Scholarship". Human Biology. doi:10.1353/hub.2017.0088. ISSN   1534-6617. S2CID   263508192.
  27. ↑ Nicholas, George (21 February 2018). "When Scientists "Discover" What Indigenous People Have Known For Centuries". Smithsonian. Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  28. ↑ "Enabling Resiliency in the Face of Climate Change: SmartICE is an award-winning technological innovation for the North". SmartIce. Archived from the original on 4 August 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2022. We are the worldʼs first climate change adaptation tool to integrate traditional knowledge of sea ice with advanced data acquisition and remote monitoring technology. Our system combines these approaches to provide invaluable, data-driven insights into sea ice thickness and local ice conditions, in near real-time.
  29. ↑ Jessen, Tyler D; Ban, Natalie C; Claxton, Nicholas XEMŦOLTW; Darimont, Chris T (15 November 2021). "Contributions of Indigenous Knowledge to ecological and evolutionary understanding". Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 20 (2). Wiley: 93–101. doi: 10.1002/fee.2435 . hdl: 1828/13751 . ISSN   1540-9295. S2CID   244164214.
  30. ↑ "Oxford." . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 5 January 2012. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/91810.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  31. 1 2 Gumbo, Mishack T. (2015), Williams, P John; Jones, Alister; Buntting, Cathy (eds.), "Indigenous Technology in Technology Education Curricula and Teaching", The Future of Technology Education, Singapore: Springer, pp. 57–75, doi:10.1007/978-981-287-170-1_4, ISBN   978-981-287-170-1, archived from the original on 17 April 2023, retrieved 17 April 2023
  32. ↑ Hudson, Dee T. (20 August 1972). "Anasazi Measurement Systems at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico". Kiva. 38 (1): 27–42. doi:10.1080/00231940.1972.11757770. JSTOR   30247773.
  33. ↑ Foster, I. H. T (2010). "Risk Management among Native American Horticulturalists of the Southeastern United States (1715-1825)". Journal of Anthropological Research. 66: 69–96. doi:10.3998/jar.0521004.0066.104. S2CID   163611138.
  34. 1 2 Ngapo, Tania M.; Bilodeau, Pauline; Arcand, Yves; Charles, Marie Thérèse; Diederichsen, Axel; Germain, Isabelle; Liu, Qiang; MacKinnon, Shawna; Messiga, Aimé J.; Mondor, Martin; Villeneuve, Sébastien; Ziadi, Noura; Gariépy, Stéphane (3 March 2021). "Historical Indigenous Food Preparation Using Produce of the Three Sisters Intercropping System". Foods. 10 (3): 524. doi: 10.3390/foods10030524 . ISSN   2304-8158. PMC   8001537 . PMID   33802384.
  35. ↑ Scarry, C Margaret; Scarry, John F (June 2005). "Native American 'garden agriculture' in southeastern North America". World Archaeology. 37 (2): 259–274. doi:10.1080/00438243500095199. ISSN   0043-8243. S2CID   132869989.
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