Within the natural resource management disciplines, there has been a growing recognition of the need to incorporate traditional knowledge into management, as well as adopting co-management approaches. This is especially true when Indigenous cultures are involved. While use of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and co-management has definite philosophical benefits, there are, in practice, significant difficulties. Many of these arise from the epistemological lenses that trained natural resource managers wear intersecting with distinctly different ways of ‘knowing’. Some of the well-known efforts have been characterized as particularly insidious forms of cultural appropriation. This combination of knowledge from different knowledge systems is a difficult aspect of wildlife management that is trying to incorporate TEK.
Literature Cited
Houde, N. 2007. The six faces of traditional ecological knowledge: challenges and opportunities for Canadian co-management arrangements. Ecology and Society 12(2): 34. http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol12/iss2/art34/
Rathwell, K.J., D. Armitage, and F. Berkes. 2015. Bridging knowledge systems to enhance governance of the environmental commons: a typology of settings. International Journal of the Commons 9(2):851-880.
For this discussion, based on your viewing of the Vimeo, the week’s readings, and outside material, provide your thoughts on the use of TEK and co-management by natural resource managers. In particular, Houde (2007) describes TEK as having six aspects (‘faces’), three of which deal with knowledge generation and three of which are based on underlying values and belief systems. In your post, make sure to specifically deal with the three faces based on underlying value systems. In addition, Rathwell et al (2015) provide a framework consisting of four large categories to guide managers wishing to inform management with knowledge from both scientific and traditional sources. Please address the following prompts and utilize additional literature resources to support your statements.
- Which of the three ‘faces’ of TEK that deal with the underlying value system, as described by Houde (2007), do you find most challenging to address and acknowledge as a wildlife manager? For each, address why they present a challenge.
- What process might a wildlife manager use to incorporate TEK into management actions and decision-making? Utilize the ideas of Rathwell et al (2015) to inform your proposed approach.