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The International Society of Ethnobiology
- Ninth International Congress
Hosted by the Department of Anthropology
at the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, 13th - 17th June, 2004
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Plenaries
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Plenaries
The Opening Keynote addess will be given by Sir Iain Prance, formerly Director
of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Plenary Sessions sponsored by the the International Society of Ethnobiology will
focus on the following themes:
Speculations on the First Congress of Ethnozoological Nomenclature,
to be given by Brent Berlin of the University of Georgia
Monday 14th June Gulbenkian Theatre 09.00 - 10.00 Abstract
Ethnobiology and Food Security to be given by Ganesan Balachander,
of the Ford Foundation South Asia
Tuesday 15th June Gulbenkian Theatre 09.00 - 10.00 Abstract
The Politics of Ethnobiological Knowledge, to be given by Arun Agrawal
of McGill University
Wednesday 16th June Gulbenkian Theatre 09.00 - 10.00 Abstract
Patterns in Human-Plant Interaction: an evolutionary perspective, to be
given by Javier Caballero of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Botanical Garden
Thursday 17th June Gulbenkian Theatre 09.00 - 10.00 Abstract
In addition there will be Plenary Sessions sponsored and organised by the International
Society of Ethnopharmacology and the Society for Economic Botany.
The Rise and Fall of Human Dietary Diversity: an overview of archaeobotanical
evidence from Western Eurasia and of experiments with some of the key food plants,
to be given by Gordon Hillman of University College, London (sponsored
by the Society for Economic Botany)
Tuesday 15th June Gulbenkian Theatre 13.40 - 14.40 Abstract
The WHO Global Atlas on Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine
(TCAM), to be given by Gerard Bodeker of Oxford University (sponsored
by the International Society of Ethnopharmacology)
Wednesday 16th June Gulbenkian Theatre 13.40 - 14.40 Abstract
BERLIN, BRENT.
Laboratories of Ethnobiology, Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia,
Athens, GA 30602, USA.
obberlin@uga.edu.
SPECULATIONS ON THE FIRST CONGRESS OF ETHNOZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE
One of the least controversial components of Berlin’s theory of ethnobiological classification
is the claim that there exists a specifiable and partially predictable set of living
things that represent the "…the smallest fundamental biological discontinuities
[of plants and animals] easily recognized in any particular habitat" (Berlin
1992;53). These immediately obvious chunks of local biological reality have been
variously referred to as folk genera (Bartlett), folk generics (Berlin), speciemes
(Bulmer), basic (level) categories or objects (Rosch, Taylor, Posey, Ellen), generic-specieme
or generic-species (Atran), and specific plant types (Conklin), to mention the most
well-known designations. Since the times of Theophrastus, folk names for these fundamental
categories have been shown to be governed by regular nomenclatural principles. Two
principles at work in ethnozoological nomenclature–onomatopoeia and metaphorical
description of some observable property of the organism–are fairly well established
as the basis for naming many folk genera. A third but less understood principle is
that associated with what has been called sound symbolism, where, as Sapir noted
three quarters of a century ago, specific speech sounds "…have a certain feeling-significance,
… have a certain meaning in themselves" (Sapir 1929). In the languages of traditional
peoples, semantically opaque names for animals often exhibit sound symbolic properties
that humans unconsciously recognize as capturing some aspect of the fundamental essence
or nature of the creature being named. How is this to be explained, in spite of the
changes that have taken place in human verbal communication since the beginnings
of what one might call full-blown language? In what ways are these principles related
to more general principles of natural classification based on shape and movement?
If verbal mimesis (Paget, Foster, Donald, Mithen) represents a critical stage in
the evolution of human cognition, what informed speculations can be brought to bear
on what might be called the first congress of ethnozoological nomenclature?
BALACHANDER, GANESAN.
Ford Foundation, South Asia.
g.balachander@fordfound.org
ETHNOBIOLOGY AND FOOD SECURITY
The Rio convention on bio-diversity in 1992 was a wake up call to the world on the
real threat of extinction of global bio-diversity, both wild and cultivated. With
the modernization of agricultural practices (Green Revolution) and government policies
towards public food distribution systems (emphasizing hybrids), the importance and
role of bio-diversity has been undermined. Now there is also a growing concern about
the environmental, economic and social impacts of commercial agriculture, which emphasizes
monocultures. However, for many communities who depend on small land holdings, diversity
equates to security. It is a well established fact that genetic diversity provides
security to the farmer against pests, diseases and the vagaries of weather. Traditional
agriculture in India, while seemingly low on productivity, is also low on the input
side and has proven to be inherently sustainable over a long period of time. It rates
high in aspects of production, self reliance, diversity and depth of indigenous knowledge.
Traditional practices were the result of a good understanding of the mechanisms of
nature. Ecological agriculture revolves around three important interrelated factors
- namely soil, water and the seed - and that is the basis of sustainable farming.
Much of the understanding of this relationship is reflected in the traditional practices
developed over the centuries.
AGRAWAL, ARUN.
2409 Vinewood Blvd. Ann Arbor MI 48104, USA.
arunagra@umich.edu.
THE POLITICS OF ETHNOBIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE
The central political issue facing indigenous groups and individuals who possess
what is conveniently called ethnobiological knowledge is control over their knowledge.
Nowhere is the centrality of this goal more manifest than under conditions of mobility,
social change and displacement. But it is precisely under these conditions that indigenous
people's ability to marshal resources in defense of their knowledge is most fragile
and attenuated. Using examples of migrant populations from three different contexts
in India, West Africa, and Mexico, this paper illustrates the political mechanisms
through which people undergoing displacement are able effectively to manage their
life chances. An analysis of these strategies underscores the importance of reconceptualizing
power and its workings in unconventional ways by drawing on insights from poststructuralist
theory. Two especially crucial aspects of the reconceptualization are a focus on
mechanisms rather than outcomes, and on strategy-centred rather than actor-centred
notions of power.
CABALLERO, JAVIER.
Jardin Botanico, Instituto de Biologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
jcaballero@ibiologia.unam.mx.
PATTERNS IN HUMAN-PLANT INTERACTION: AN EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE
The comparative analysis of the forms of use and management of plants by local peoples
has a high theoretical relevance in ethnobiology. Human-plant interactions are dynamic.
They respond to particular changing ecological, social and cultural scenarios. This
has resulted in impressive ethnobiological diversity. Despite the spatial and temporal
specificity of human-plant interactions, the comparison of useful floras of Mesoamerica
and other regions of the world reveal common patterns in plant use and management.
These patterns include the use of a higher number of plant species for some types
of uses than for others. Certain botanical families and genera are more frequently
utilized than others. Useful plants are managed in a variety of forms that represent
different degrees of domestication. Degree of domestication seems to be related to
the biological characteristics of the plant species involved as well as to their
form of use and their cultural importance. This paper suggests that the analysis
of these patterns may contribute to understanding the principles that regulate human-plant
interactions and their evolution.
HILLMAN, GORDON.
Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London,
WC1H 0PY, UK.
g.hillman@ucl.ac.uk.
THE RISE AND FALL OF HUMAN DIETARY DIVERSITY: AN OVERVIEW OF ARCHAEOBOTANICAL EVIDENCE
FROM WESTERN EURASIA, AND OF EXPERIMENTS WITH SOME OF THE KEY FOOD PLANTS
The paper makes the base-line assumption that the dietary spectrum of even the earliest
of our bipedal, tool-wielding homonid ancestors was at least as broad as that of
modern Chimpanzees and Benobos. Starting with Homo habilis (‘handy man’), the paper
explores how this dietary diversity (particularly in the range of useable plant staples)
would have been impacted by each of a series of technological advances. It then traces
the earliest material evidence in the archaeological record for each of these advances
and concludes that the full suite of core skills necessary for broad—spectrum utilization
of local food plants were possibly already in use at sites such as Doura Cave in
Syria by some point between 150,000 to 250,000 years ago. However, for actual remains
of most of the plant foods theoretically useable by that point, we have to turn to
later sites with vastly better preservation; e.g. Kebara Cave (ca. 55,000 bp) and
the remarkable site of Ohalo II (23,000 bp), both in Israel, and both representing
points on a ‘plateaux’ of high dietary diversity which lasted many millennia. The
paper next explores how the eventual emergence of sedentism among some of these hunter-gatherers
would have started to restrict diversity and make them more vulnerable to environmental
change. The ensuing summary of evidence from Abu Hureyra in Syria (11,500 bp) shows
how the drought conditions of the Younger Dryas Period eliminated caloric staples
of progressively greater drought tolerance, drastically narrowing dietary diversity
and eventually necessitating the start of cereal cultivation. Finally, data from
a series of Neolithic and later sites show the elimination of yet more of the non-domesticated
components of diet due to a) agricultural intensification, b) the spread of animal
husbandry, and probably c) exorphin-generated cravings for ever greater cereal consumption.
At each step, evidence is drawn from our own experiments with living examples of
the same wild food plants.
BODEKER, GERARD.
University of Oxford Medical School, UK.
gerry.bodeker@green.oxford.ac.uk.
WHO GLOBAL ATLAS ON TRADITIONAL, COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE (TCAM)
Due to rising demand for traditional complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM)
globally, international ministerial groups and professional bodies have been calling
for a global perspective on policy and a means for countries to share information
and policy initiatives with one another. The WHO Global Atlas is designed to: assess
the status of development of the sector; plan for further developments; identify
national and regional partners in the development process; plan further mechanisms
for refining data collection and information sharing. It is a two-volume publication
to be published in late 2004 by Imperial College Press, London. It contains approximately
forty-five maps of different aspects of policy as they occur in different regions
and countries of the world. From this collection of chapters and maps the WHO Global
Atlas on TCAM will make it possible to identify trends in the formalisation of TCAM
around the world, particularly: patterns of legislation and regulation, issues in
professional development, research priority and methodological challenges, and pathways
and pitfalls on the road towards integration of TCAM into mainstream healthcare.
The ICE2004 pages are maintained by Christine Eagle
email: C.M.Eagle@kent.ac.uk
Conference email: ice2004@kent.ac.uk
Last updated: 25.05.04