From isohn@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Date: Wed, 26 Oct 94 20:49:43 -0700 From: Isabel M Sohn Reply to: indknow@u.washington.edu To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Ecosophies Dear Gleb: I read your post in the list and I found it incredible interesting. I could tell you that I come from a similar position as the one you described. I am Mexican, I studied Agronomy in Mexico and now I am working on my graduate degree in the Sustainable Agriculture Program at Ohio State Univ. I am planning to do my project for the dissertation in Mexico, dealing with two indigenous communities and their agroecosystems. Despite the really hard science perspective that we are tought at the university, I am trying to integrate the social component of the agroecosystems as a basis for the scientific comparisons. Finally my question boils down to what role does soil organic matter play in the traditional agroecosystems. This has a very strong cultural part: what is the conception of soil organic matter from the point of view of the indigenous knowledge and what role it plays (and has played for centuries), and taking this as a starting point, what changes need to be done on their perspective (to fit their goals and conceptions) on the management of soil organic matter in order to adjust to the rapidly changing times and needs. And after the participatory (farmers and researchers) design of alternative systems, these will be scientifically compared and evaluated against the practicing systems. I want to base the project largely on antropological methods to understand the models of what you define "ecosophie" (I love the word) - qualitative research - of the communities on SOM and fertility and general management of the agroecosystem and culture, set out the "meta-models" and then start the quantitative research (both these as analytical tools for the system) and synthezise the outcomes into the systems again (this also done with participation of the farmers). So I found myself today going to the library to get out a big bunch of books on qualitative research and indigenous knowledge, to start learning about how to do that... I still don't know... Please tell me about the ecosophies that you have come up with, if you have any good reference of material on the methods or content that you can recommend, and I would like to know about yourself too... Many greetings... Isabel From hunn@u.washington.eduThu Oct 27 13:30:55 1994 Date: Thu, 27 Oct 94 10:08:30 -0700 From: Eugene Hunn Reply to: indknow@u.washington.edu To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: Ecosophies Dear Isabel, You may or may not know of a new organization in Mexico, the Asociacion Etnobiologica Mexicana, A.C. They held the Primer Congreso Mexicano de Etnobiologia in Toluca this past August. 400 Mexican and foreign scholars attended and over 120 papers were presented, the vast majority on the broad topic of indigenous knowledge of the environment -- including some on soil classifications, I believe. The first president of the organization is Dra. Julieta Ramos-Elorduy B. of the Instituto de Biologia, UNAM, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico 04510, DF. You might also be interested in the Journal of Ethnobiology published by the Society of Ethnobiology. They have published articles on Purepecha (Tarascan) environmental knowledge and practice, e.g., "Gathering and Subsistence Patterns among the Purhepecha Indians of Mexico" by Javier Caballero N and Cristina Mapes S. (Vo. 5, No. 1, pp. 31-50, 1985). Eugene Hunn (hunn@u.washington.edu) On Wed, 26 Oct 1994, Isabel M Sohn wrote: > Dear Gleb: > > I read your post in the list and I found it incredible interesting. I could > tell you that I come from a similar position as the one you described. I am > Mexican, I studied Agronomy in Mexico and now I am working on my graduate > degree in the Sustainable Agriculture Program at Ohio State Univ. I am planning > to do my project for the dissertation in Mexico, dealing with two indigenous > communities and their agroecosystems. Despite the really hard science > perspective that we are tought at the university, I am trying to integrate the > social component of the agroecosystems as a basis for the scientific > comparisons. Finally my question boils down to what role does soil organic > matter play in the traditional agroecosystems. This has a very strong cultural > part: what is the conception of soil organic matter from the point of view of > the indigenous knowledge and what role it plays (and has played for centuries), > and taking this as a starting point, what changes need to be done on their > perspective (to fit their goals and conceptions) on the management of soil > organic matter in order to adjust to the rapidly changing times and needs. And > after the participatory (farmers and researchers) design of alternative > systems, these will be scientifically compared and evaluated against the > practicing systems. I want to base the project largely on antropological > methods to understand the models of what you define "ecosophie" (I love the > word) - qualitative research - of the communities on SOM and fertility and > general management of the agroecosystem and culture, set out the "meta-models" > and then start the quantitative research (both these as analytical tools for > the system) and synthezise the outcomes into the systems again (this also done > with participation of the farmers). So I found myself today going to the > library to get out a big bunch of books on qualitative research and indigenous > knowledge, to start learning about how to do that... I still don't know... > > Please tell me about the ecosophies that you have come up with, if you have any > good reference of material on the methods or content that you can recommend, > and I would like to know about yourself too... > > Many greetings... Isabel >