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Southwest Center Series
Ethnobiology for the Future: Linking Cultural and Ecological Diversity
Ethnobiology holds a special place in the hearts and minds of many because of its dedication to celebrating the knowledge and values of some of the most distinctive cultural practices in some of the most distinctive places on Earth. Yet we live in a world of diminishing natural and linguistic diversity. Whether due to climate change or capitalism, homogeneity is trumping the once-resplendent heterogeneity all around us.
In this important new collection, Gary Paul Nabhan puts forth a call for the future not only of ethnobiology but for the entire planet. He articulates and broadens the portfolio of ethnobiological principles and amplifies the tool kit for anyone engaged in the ethnobiosphere, those vital spaces of intense interaction among cultures, habitats, and creatures.
The essays are grouped into a trio of themes. The first group presents the big questions facing humanity, the second profiles tools and methodologies that may help to answer those questions, and the third ponders how to best communicate these issues not merely to other scholars, but to society at large. The essays attest to the ways humans establish and circumscribe their identities not only through their thoughts and actions, but also with their physical, emotional, and spiritual attachments to place, flora, fauna, fungi, and feasts.
Nabhan and his colleagues from across disciplines and cultures encourage us to be courageous enough to include ethical, moral, and even spiritual dimensions in work regarding the fate of biocultural diversity. The essays serve as cairns on the critical path toward an ethnobiology that is provocative, problem-driven, and, above all, inspiring.
In this important new collection, Gary Paul Nabhan puts forth a call for the future not only of ethnobiology but for the entire planet. He articulates and broadens the portfolio of ethnobiological principles and amplifies the tool kit for anyone engaged in the ethnobiosphere, those vital spaces of intense interaction among cultures, habitats, and creatures.
The essays are grouped into a trio of themes. The first group presents the big questions facing humanity, the second profiles tools and methodologies that may help to answer those questions, and the third ponders how to best communicate these issues not merely to other scholars, but to society at large. The essays attest to the ways humans establish and circumscribe their identities not only through their thoughts and actions, but also with their physical, emotional, and spiritual attachments to place, flora, fauna, fungi, and feasts.
Nabhan and his colleagues from across disciplines and cultures encourage us to be courageous enough to include ethical, moral, and even spiritual dimensions in work regarding the fate of biocultural diversity. The essays serve as cairns on the critical path toward an ethnobiology that is provocative, problem-driven, and, above all, inspiring.
- GenresPlants
328 pages, Paperback
Published April 15, 2016
About the author
Gary Paul Nabhan
91 books110 followersGary Paul Nabhan is an internationally-celebrated nature writer, seed saver, conservation biologist and sustainable agriculture activist who has been called "the father of the local food movement" by Utne Reader, Mother Earth News, Carleton College and Unity College. Gary is also an orchard-keeper, wild forager and Ecumenical Franciscan brother in his hometown of Patagonia, Arizona near the Mexican border. For his writing and collaborative conservation work, he has been honored with a MacArthur "genius" award, a Southwest Book Award, the John Burroughs Medal for nature writing, the Vavilov Medal, and lifetime achievement awards from the Quivira Coalition and Society for Ethnobiology.
--from the author's website
--from the author's website
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April 13, 2024
I did thoroughly enjoy reading this book, but I really enjoy most of Nabhan’s work and ethnobiology in general, so I expected more of this book which claims to be a blueprint for the history, current successes and future of ethnobiology as a holistic discipline.
It was lacking in contemporary indigenous voices, with essentially all articles authored exclusiviely or principally by Nabhan (not the best way to sustainably chart the future of a discipline.) Given the preponderance of contemporary indigenous ethnobotanists, ethnobiolgists and other native folks who right on what western world would label under ecology or biology, it is surprising to say the least. Yes there is representation, but it’s hard for anyone to stand out when nearly everything is by Nabhan.
Additionally, I would have expected and welcomed critiques of the originally colonial ethnobotany (ethnbiology being built upon the older colonial discipline of ethnobotany), given that Nabhan is well aware of such a history, and it’s hard to imagine charting a future without adequately atoning for a painful, violent past. It would have then been helpful to address the historic traditions of western/settler led traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) projects, which simply assimilate the pieces of native knowledge systems/stories that are palatable to settler academia, leaving the rest (*cough* intimate relationship-based knowing, collective knowledge, challenges to nature-culture dichotomy and settler power structures *cough*) to the wayside, along with the communities who’s knowledge they supposedly cherish.
The contents are lovely, they just lack a diversity of voices and most critiques of the past. It’s aim (stated in the intro) appears more to argue the validity of ethnobiology as a “serious science,” rather than imbibing the radical aspects of critiques to traditional western scientific knowledge systems and the power of intimate, place-based knowing which does not always distinguish between “ecological” and “social”. These are generalizations, but at the core of how other indigenous knowledge holders express what indigenous knowledge systems/TEK mean to them (see anything by Kimmerer, especially “Weaving Traditional Ecological Knowledge into Biological Education”. Enough of my ranting.
It was lacking in contemporary indigenous voices, with essentially all articles authored exclusiviely or principally by Nabhan (not the best way to sustainably chart the future of a discipline.) Given the preponderance of contemporary indigenous ethnobotanists, ethnobiolgists and other native folks who right on what western world would label under ecology or biology, it is surprising to say the least. Yes there is representation, but it’s hard for anyone to stand out when nearly everything is by Nabhan.
Additionally, I would have expected and welcomed critiques of the originally colonial ethnobotany (ethnbiology being built upon the older colonial discipline of ethnobotany), given that Nabhan is well aware of such a history, and it’s hard to imagine charting a future without adequately atoning for a painful, violent past. It would have then been helpful to address the historic traditions of western/settler led traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) projects, which simply assimilate the pieces of native knowledge systems/stories that are palatable to settler academia, leaving the rest (*cough* intimate relationship-based knowing, collective knowledge, challenges to nature-culture dichotomy and settler power structures *cough*) to the wayside, along with the communities who’s knowledge they supposedly cherish.
The contents are lovely, they just lack a diversity of voices and most critiques of the past. It’s aim (stated in the intro) appears more to argue the validity of ethnobiology as a “serious science,” rather than imbibing the radical aspects of critiques to traditional western scientific knowledge systems and the power of intimate, place-based knowing which does not always distinguish between “ecological” and “social”. These are generalizations, but at the core of how other indigenous knowledge holders express what indigenous knowledge systems/TEK mean to them (see anything by Kimmerer, especially “Weaving Traditional Ecological Knowledge into Biological Education”. Enough of my ranting.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review