- S04 - Title: Stories from the ancestors: Uncertainty and ...congress-ise2012.agropolis.fr/ftpheb.agropolis.fr/en/Congress_4... · 13th Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology

13th Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology

1

- S04 -

Title: Stories from the ancestors: Uncertainty and resilience in a vulnerable world

Co-Chairs:

Simone Athayde

[email protected]

Elaine Sponholtz

[email protected]

Description

This workshop brings ancestry stories from our past to Montpellier for the purpose of developing an

increased capacity for social-ecological resilience in our future. The objective of the workshop is to

explore innovative ways to learn and share knowledge through interactive storytelling, weaving arts

and sciences.

Building on the workshop developed in the last ICE in Tofino, Canada, we will present an exploration

of the message and the role played by myths and traditional stories in coping with uncertainty in a

world of increased risk and vulnerability. The workshop is a relevant to the theme of the Congress,

which relates to ways of exploring the past and building the future. We will explore how stories and

teachings from our past can inform our collective future.

The participants will have the opportunity to experience a diversity of interdisciplinary tools and

methods for cultural interaction (such as participatory games and activities, role playing, musical

instruments, hands-on activities, craft making, storytelling, theatre, multimedia), the exploration of

myths, storytelling and divination.

The organizers and scholars conducting the workshop will creatively share scientific knowledge of

characters, themes, elements and symbols brought out by the myths and stories. The participants

will receive handouts and resources for the application of the approach and methods developed in

the workshop for their own work, including the education of ethnobiology and related fields. The

three hour workshop, which will be organized in two 90 minute time periods with an intermission,

will be for a limited number of participants (20-25). Those unable to participate due to the limited

number of spots can watch as audience members.

Main questions that will be addressed in the workshop

• What is are the role of stories in teaching traditions and our common cultural heritage?

• What is the role of myths and symbols in indigenous peoples’ cultural resilience?

• What are the ways in which myths and traditional stories bridge the gap between humans

and nature?

• Can powerful stories help us cope with uncertainty?

13th Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology

2

• What do traditional stories have to offer humanity in an age of increased uncertainty and

risk?

• How can new technologies support and enhance cultural interaction and learning?

How might scientists, artists and local people work together to improve the human condition on Earth?

Part 1: Traditional stories of creation, vulnerability and divination

Interactive introduction of participants

Introduction to session and themes

The Contribution of Socio-ecological Meaning in Greco-Roman, Biblical and Polynesian Myths

to Climate Change Education

Sonia Vougioukalou, Maria Kokolaki, Evangelos Kyriakidis, Gerald McCormack

Abstract: Climate change education is based on western scientific paradigms and regularly subjected to

scrutiny as a new science (i.e. debates on whether global warming is a cyclical phenomenon irrespective

of human action, accuracy of calculations and prediction models on temperature rises etc). Even though

‘climate change science’ is becoming very well-established as a new discipline within higher education, it

remains largely marginal in secondary education and community-based education.

We propose to develop an open educational resource that uses socio-ecological meanings in Graeco-

roman, Biblical and Polynesian myths to raise awareness on climate change. We will test whether these

myths provide a suitable medium to teach the cultural representations of historical environmental

change, the relationship between humans and nature and the environmental consequences of human

action. We will pilot the uses of this resource in educational arts based initiatives in secondary and

community-based education in Greece, England and the Cook Islands and assess their relevance for

anthropological and archaeological curricula in higher education.

Health, Sangoma Divination and Vulnerability in South Africa

Ayesha Ahmad

Abstract: The notion of storytelling in rituals surrounding health, illness, disease, and cure by Sangomas,

traditional spiritual healers, in South Africa is engrained in an ancient system. In this presentation, I

construct a viewpoint on what I will call 'story-curing'; this is the notion that narratives embodied during

healing practices facilitate the experience of cure. In order to explore these phenomena, I will present on

the ways that narrative is used by sangomas, its role and purpose for Medicine, and expound on a holistic

notion of cure. For a Sangoma, a story is significant because it is a 'means of instruction, healing, and

enlightenment' (Pratt 2007), and the notion of healing is underpinned by an ability to be creative. In the

latter part of the presentation, I contextualize the discussion so far in the sangoma-patient relationship,

focusing on vulnerability as an element of making one susceptible to the power of an individual story and

the hope for the future as an example of enlightenment from healing.

13th Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology

3

The Epic of Gilgamesh as a Cautionary Tale: Mesopotamia, Mythopoetics, and Media

Elaine Sponholtz

Abstract: Regarded as the oldest recorded story, Gilgamesh was written in Mesopotamia/ Ancient Iraq

approximately 4000 years ago. It begins with the semi-divine king of Uruk terrorizing his subjects. To

achieve balance, the gods create the wild man Enkidu. The pair travels to the Cedar Forest to conquer its

protector, the giant Humbaba. Though the “monster,” begs them to reconsider, they kill him, cut down

the sacred cedars, and return to Uruk with the precious timber. This act of aggression brings about

retribution by the gods, and the death of Enkidu. Grieving and fearing death, Gilgamesh searches for the

secret of immortality. He journeys to the underworld, meeting a survivor of the Great Flood, who tells

him of a plant that offers immortality. Losing it to a serpent, he returns home to Uruk, a wiser man.

A visual and spoken word presentation using digital media will draw a parallel between elements of this

ancient story and current environmental and geopolitical issues. The idea of “the Other” will be brought

into contemporary context by comparing Humbaba to modern day activists like Wangari Maathai, and

other protectors of the forest.

Discussion and Closure of Part 1

Part 2: Indigenous cosmologies and socio-ecological resilience in ancestral and contemporary

times

Introduction of second part and participants

Air & Water, Forest & Rice in Today’s Cosmogonic View of the Palawan Highlanders

Confronted to Nickel Rush (Philippines)

Nicole Revel

Abstract: I shall present a brief synthesis on the cosmogonic view of the Palawan Highlanders about air

and water, forest and rice. Myths manifest an empirical knowledge by the naked eye together with an

ethical relationship to one another and the world they live in the south of the island by the same name on

South China Sea. In this cosmos that is theirs, I perceived them as wise caretakers of nature as they are

not cut off from it by subjectivity. Any unethical or greedy behavior is refrained by a connection between

all beings in the phenomenal world, by a relationship of parity in exchanging and a moral code of non-

excess.

In the future, demographic pressures by poor peasants and fishermen will not stop, new ideas on land

ownership are prevailing, related development policies are starting to implement gigantic mining

extractions in the central cordillera (nickel, cobalt, laterite and gold,) with multinational companies for

the benefit of China, palm oil plantations are extending on the coastal areas, climate warming seems

ineluctable, what is the future of the Palawan and their worldview in the 21st century? Will ancestral

knowledge be able to counteract the rampant forces of destruction?

13th Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology

4

The Forest has Eyes: The Role of Traditional Stories in Biodiversity Conservation and Cultural

Resilience

Bruce Hoffman, Charlotte van t' Klooster

Abstract: In the ancestral myths and stories of neotropical forest cultures, spiritual dimensions of local

biodiversity play a central role. Worldview, values, ecological data and consequences of culturally-

inappropriate behavior are conveyed through interactions with forest spirits, whom often represent or

appear as cultural keystone plants and animals. The cast of biotic species and associated bio-spirits in

traditional stories varies widely across the neotropics, although there are some notably ubiquitous

players.

In this presentation we invite the audience to explore and compare biodiversity elements in stories from

two distinct cultures living in the lowland tropical forests of Suriname, the Carib-speaking Trio and the

Afro-American Saramacca Maroons of Suriname. One Trio myth reveals how community greed for ineku,

a magical liana/boy, made fish-poison lianas (Lonchocarpus spp.) hard to find and process. Saramacca

traditions teach that dangerous forest spirits reside within fig trees (Ficus spp.), and thus it is taboo to

injure or kill these ecological keystone species. When maintained as part of a living cultural tradition, such

stories can bolster cultural resilience in the face of contemporary livelihood threats by promoting an

attitude of respect and cautious use of the forest and critical resources.

From Nature to Culture and Back: Indigenous Knowledge on Bees and Contemporary

Challenges for Socio-ecological Resilience in the Amazon

Simone Athayde, Vivian Zeidemann, Lianne Guerra Jepson

Abstract: In this interactive presentation, we explore concepts of ancestral knowledge, cosmology and

socio-ecological resilience through indigenous myths and contemporary knowledge and management

practices related to stingless bees and the Africanized honeybee in the Brazilian Amazon. We apply the

educational method of experiential learning, in which the learning process starts with an experience,

followed by reflection, theorization, and application.

The participants will experience a sensory garden from the perspective of a bee, and review indigenous

myths related to native and exotic bee species from the Kaiabi, the Yudja, the Ikpeng and the Kayapó

indigenous peoples in Brazilian Amazon. For many Amazonian peoples, nature beings have spirits, who

control seasonal cycles, animal reproduction, and honey production, for instance. In Kayapó cosmology,

an ancient shaman called “wayanga” taught their ancestors how to live, work and defend themselves

like social insects, gaining his knowledge observing bee, wasp and ant behavior. Honey, wax and bees are

also associated with the heavens, thunderstorms and rains.

To further interpret and compare indigenous mythology on bees, we will work with theoretical

contributions by Claude Lévi-Strauss, reviewing his structural approach to the study of myths, presented

in the collection of books entitled “Mythologiques.” We conclude by discussing past beliefs and present

challenges for the cultural and environmental resilience of indigenous peoples in times of globalization

and of the supremacy of western knowledge over other knowledge systems.

Discussion and theoretical implications

Evaluation and Closure of session

13th Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology

5

Session Presenters Bios:

Chairs:

Athayde, Simone

E-mail: [email protected]

Simone is an environmental anthropologist and a Postdoctoral Research Associate for both the Amazon Conservation Leadership Initiative (ACLI) and the Tropical Conservation and Development Program (TCD), in the Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida. She is also a Research Associate for Instituto Socioambiental – ISA, a Brazilian NGO. In the last several years, her work has been recognized with awards from the Center for Latin American Studies and TCD Programs and from the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) at the University of Florida; from the Ministry of Culture in Brazil, and from the International Society of Ethnobiology. She has worked for roughly 20 years in the fields of environmental education, conservation and development of the Atlantic Forest and Amazonian regions in Brazil, with a focus on indigenous knowledge systems, participatory development, and collaborative management of socio-ecological systems in the Amazon.

Sponholtz, Elaine

E-mail: [email protected]

Elaine Sponholtz is an artist and writer with an interest in creative uses of technology related to Art, theatrical performance, mythopoetics, storytelling, and whimsy. With a background in Graphic Design, Painting, and Jewelry Design, she is also a scholar and playwright who holds Master of Arts degrees in Library and Information Science with a concentration in Children and Youth Services, and a Master of Arts in Digital Arts and Sciences. She is a member of the Center for Children’s Literature and Culture at the University of Florida, the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

13th Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology

6

Presenters: (by alphabetical order)

Ahmad, Ayesha

E-mail: [email protected]

Philosopher of medicine, ethicist, and writer. Tutor, University College London Medical School; Visiting Research Fellow, University of Durham, United Kingdom; Honorary Research Fellow, University of Fort Hare, South Africa.

Guerra Jepson, Lianne

E-mail: [email protected]

Lianne Guerra Jepson is an architect and designer with a large interest in the relationship between design, societies, and the

natural environment. She believes art and design can play a significant role in education and society at large and aspires to provide sensibility in every project she works on. She is a media designer at the University of Florida College of Education Office

of Distance Learning, where she works on the design and marketing of educational websites, is Adjunct Professor of Branding and Identity at the University of Florida College of Journalism, and has worked on architectural and diverse art

and design projects in Florida, Washington State, and Pernambuco, Brazil. She holds a degree in Design and a Master’s Degree in Architecture, where she focused on outdoor living spaces of low-income housing. She has a

certificate in Sustainable Design and another in Green Building. Most importantly, she is always ready to embark on new

artistic adventures!

13th Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology

7

Hoffman, Bruce

E-mail:

[email protected]

Bruce is a botanist, ethnobotanist and post-doctoral Research Associate at NCB Naturalis - National Herbarium Netherlands. For the past twenty years, Bruce has worked in the Guianas region of South America with a focus upon biodiversity and biocultural conservation. He began his career in Guyana as a botanist for the Smithsonian Institution and conducted research there on the harvest impact and marketing of hemi-epiphytic plants used to produce rattan-like furniture. During the 2000s, Bruce worked with local communities as a scientific collaborator on biocultural conservation projects (traditional medicine, indigenous mapping, NTFPs) for the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) in Suriname. He completed his doctorate in 2009 at the University of Hawaii, comparing forest plant classification and use between Afro-American Saramacca and Carib-speaking Trio communities in Suriname. Bruce is currently working on a practical field guide to the identification and use of woody vines entitled "Lianas of the Guianas".

Kokolaki, Maria

E-mail: [email protected]

Dr. Maria Kokolaki is a researcher and educator with a background in Classical, Medieval and Modern Greek Literature, Folk Studies and Anthropology. She works for the Institute of Educational Policy in Greece and specializes in multicultural education. She is an Honorary Research Associate at the School of Anthropology and Conservation at the University of Kent and Vice President of the Greek Society for Ethnology. She has conducted ethnographic research in several parts of Greece, especially Crete. Maria has also worked in secondary education and has employed and developed online tools to support literature and language teaching and learning.

13th Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology

8

van t’ Klooster, Charlotte

E-mail: [email protected]

Charlotte studied Biology at the Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences (1994-2000) at the Free University of Amsterdam. After completing this Master program she has been working as a researcher at the National Herbarium of the Netherlands at Utrecht University branch were she wrote the book “Vernacular Plant Names of Suriname.” To improve her knowledge and skills in the field of Anthropology she followed the Master program in Medical Anthropology at the Faculty of Anthropology and Sociology (2008-2009) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), which she completed with honors. Since 1998 she has been conducting fieldwork in Suriname among the Carib Indians and Saramacan people. Among the Saramacan she studied medical plants for local health care and bio-cultural conservation. In 2011 she accepted a research position at the AISSR (UvA). Within the MUTHI project (Multi-disciplinary University Traditional Health Initiative) she is responsible for the work package on Medical Anthropology & Ethnobotany to build sustainable research capacity on plants for better public health in Africa (Mali, South-Africa and Uganda).

Kyriakidis, Evangelos

E-mail: [email protected]

Evangelos is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology with a specialty in Minoan Archaeology. He is currently director of the Initiative for Heritage Conservancy which he set up in 2008. He is the editor of the IHC series in Heritage Management, and is responsible for teaching and research in the new MA in Heritage Management offered through the University of Kent and the Athens University of Economics and Business, which he founded. Evangelos has conducted archaeological excavations and ethnographic research in Crete for the past 14 years, working exclusively in the relatively high altitudes on that island. He was educated at University College London and St. John's College, Cambridge, and has taught at numerous institutions including Durham University, UCL, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, UCLA, University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University.

13th Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology

9

McCormack, Gerald

E-mail: [email protected]

Gerald McCormack has worked for the Cook Islands

Government since 1980. In 1990 he became the director and

researcher for the Cook Islands Natural Heritage Project - a

Trust since 1999. He is the lead developer of the Biodiversity

Database, which is based on information from local and

overseas experts, fieldwork and library research

(http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org). In addition, he is an

accomplished photographer.

Revel, Nicole

E-mail: [email protected]

As a linguist-anthropologist on the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian Family, Nicole dedicated her lifelong research to the conservation of endangered languages and cultures of the Philippines. From 1991 to 2001, she coordinated the international seminar on ‘Epics’ in a Program of the Decade for Cultural Development through Unesco, the ‘Integral Study of Silk Roads:

Roads of Dialogue’. Following the digital revolution, she set her vision of a multimedia archive for long song narratives into motion: the Philippines Epics and Ballads Archive. Since 1992, this collection (34 volumes and 5 hard disks) accessible on the web since January 2011, has been progressively housed at the Rizal Library, Ateneo de Manila University, while a copy for long lasting conservation is archived at the Audiovisual Department of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF) in Paris. Her monographic work focuses on Palawan language description (1978), lexicography, semantics and poetics: Palawan Verbal Arts is her present multimedia work in progress. The Highlanders’ knowledge about Nature, Fleurs de parole Histoire naturelle palawan (3 vol.,1990-91-92) is her major work in Ethnoscience. She coordinated Le riz en Asie du Sud-Eest. Alas du vocabulaire de la

plante on 5 linguistic families of continental and islands Southeast Asia. She received the Bronze medal of the CNRS in General Linguistics (1975). Today she is Emeritus Senior Researcher at the CNRS and after several awards in the Philippines, she received a Doctorate Honoris Causa in Humanities from Ateneo de Manila University (2009).

13th Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology

10

Vougioukalou, Sonia

E-mail: [email protected]

Sonia Vougioukalou is an interdisciplinary researcher and educator with a background in Biology, Anthropology and Medical Ethnobotany. Her research and teaching experience has focused on the diversity of perceptions of illness and health, links between cultural and biological diversity and the role of gardens and medicinal plants within therapeutic contexts. She has conducted ethnographic and ethnobotanical research in Greece, the Cook Islands (Polynesia) and the UK. She has taught at King’s College London, University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University and piloted the use of online tools and multimedia to enhance teaching and learning, research and knowledge exchange. Her more recent work has focused on the evaluation of outcomes, social impact, and economic sustainability of public, private, third sector and cross-sector services in health and social care. She is also a public engagement ambassador in Health and Life Sciences for the National Coordinating Centre of Public Engagement and a core team member of the Open Science Network in Ethnobiology, an NSF-funded international network of ethnobiology educators (http://www.opensciencenetwork.net).

Zeidemann, Vivian

E-mail:

[email protected]

Vivian Zeidemann has had diversified work experiences that ranges from environmental education, to marine conservation, soil geochemistry, human health, Third Sector administration, and community-based natural resources management. She received a Teaching degree in biology from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil; a Master’s in Natural Resources and Tropical Biology from the National Institute of Amazonian Research, Manaus, Brazil, and completed her doctorate of Philosophy in the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Florida. In the past 15 years, Vivian has been working with several aspects of conservation and development with different indigenous groups and riverine communities in the Brazilian Amazon.