Synopsis
Dr Berkes approaches traditional ecological knowledge as a knowledge-practice-belief complex. This complex considers four interrelated levels: local knowledge (species specific); resource management systems (integrating local knowledge with practice); social institutions (rules and codes of behavior); and world view (religion, ethics, and broadly defined belief systems). Divided into three parts that deal with concepts, practice, and issues, respectively, the book first discusses the emergence of the field, its intellectual roots and global significance. Substantive material is then included on how traditional ecological and management systems actually work. At the same time it explores a diversity of relationships that different groups have developed with their environment, using extensive case studies from research conducted with the Cree Indians of James Bay, in the eastern subarctic of North America. The final section examines traditional knowledge as a challenge to the positivist-reductionist paradigm in Western science, and concludes with a discussion of the potential of traditional ecological knowledge to inject a measure of ethics into the science of ecology and resource management.
Booknews
Berkes (natural resources, U. of Manitoba) bases his theories on the ecological relationships he observed while researching among the Cree Indians in northeastern North America. He uses case studies from this research to demonstrate how the ecological knowledge of indigenous peoples can teach the Western World about how to respect our natural resources. He argues that by incorporating traditional ecological knowledge, Western science and resource management can gain a measure of ethics. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)