Lecture | Dan Weiskopf | The Myth of Natural Categories: Representing and Coordinating Ethnobiological Knowledge

Groups adopt strikingly different attitudes and practices centered on how humans and other living beings relate to their environment. These bodies of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) have been the focus of extensive research in ethnobiology. Understanding TEK is important both theoretically and for advancing political projects such as ecological conservation and cooperative resource management. However, attempts to integrate insights from TEK with scientific biological thought often misconstrue its content and function. Ethnobiology frequently represents TEK as a cultural module that can be cleanly separated from religious, symbolic, or mythic beliefs, rites and practices, and material culture. Drawing on case studies of Indigenous botanical and zoological TEK, I argue that knowledge of the natural world does not constitute a cultural domain that can be carved off and represented in isolation. This claim is bolstered by psychological studies of belief in ritual efficacy and causal explanations of natural phenomena. In everyday cognition, natural and “supernatural” ontologies are thoroughly entwined. I propose some heuristics for advancing piecemeal ontological coordination among Indigenous stakeholders, ethnobiologists, and conservationists. These heuristics aim at facilitating cooperation while preserving difference across systems of knowledge and value.VIDEO LINKCLICK HERE FOR LINKS TO RELATED PAPERS:  http://cmbc.emory.edu/events/lectures/index.html   If you would like to become an AFFILIATE of the Center, please let us know.Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get updates on our latest videos.Follow along with us on Instagram |  Facebook NOTE:  The views and opinions expressed by the speaker do not necessarily reflect those held by the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture or Emory University.