#FinishedReading this fascinating look at how indigenous people around the world (but with particular focus on Australia) understand #astronomy , both for storytelling and for practical matters like navigation and tracking seasons - these are not separate concerns, as the stories act in part as mnemonics for the vital skills. Always nice to see references to ANU scientists, in this case indigenous astronomers @karlienoon and Peter Swanton. #Bookstodon @bookstodon #IndigenousKnowledge

Great privilege to visit the Centre for #AgroEcology in #SantaCruz earlier this week, and learn about all its great work over the last few decades, from #AlanChadwick first start-up to today’s real commitment to providing #FoodSecurity for #UCSC students as well as employment and education work with local schools. Also really good discussion around #IndigenousKnowledge #SettlerColonialism in the context of AgroEcology. Thank you!

https://agroecology.ucsc.edu/

This fantastic news article in #Science describes the commonalities between biogeography, ecology, and Indigenous knowledge and the distribution of key plant species (like black beans and bunya pines).

#IndigenousKnowledge #Australia

https://www.science.org/content/article/indigenous-people-shaped-australias-curious-geography-plants

#makanApaToday
This morning at Rimba Ilmu Botanic Garden open day. Breakfast was an edible exhibit of Southeast Asian styles of wrapping food in banana leaves. From top clockwise is a pyramid fold, cylinder fold and what I call the rectangle double wrap. The names of the kuih are kuih koci, pulut pangang and lepat pisang.

#IndigenousKnowledge #sustainability

New paper out! #EpistemicJustice #Biocolonialism #Bioeconomy #IndigenousKnowledge #Bioepistemicide #Amazon #SettlerColonialism

https://t.co/BNqG2il3li
• Bioeconomy may drive knowledge appropriation that further settler colonialism.
• Addressing the colonial engagements is central to avoid epistemicide.
...
Forms of knowledge that differ from dominant ‘Western’ knowledge are either not recognized, or are misused for land reoccupation and knowledge appropriation.

Ancient #Maya masons had a smart way to make #plaster stronger

Up close, the Mayas' timeless recipe from #Copán looks similar to mother-of-pearl.

By Rahul Rao, Apr 19, 2023

[Recent discoveries] "seemed to confirm past archaeological and written records suggesting that ancient Maya masons mixed plant matter into their plaster. The other standard ingredients (lime and water) wouldn’t account for complex carbon chains.

"To follow this lead, the authors decided to make the historic plaster themselves. They consulted living #masons and Maya descendants near #Copán. The locals referred them to the #chukum and #jiote #trees that grow in the surrounding #forests—specifically, the sap that came from the trees’ bark.

"The authors tested the sap’s reaction when mixed into the plaster. Not only did it toughen the material, it also made the plaster insoluble in water, which partly explains how Copán survived the local climate so well.

"The microscopic structure of the plant-enhanced plaster is similar to nacre or mother-of-pearl: the iridescent substance that some molluscs create to coat their shells. We don’t fully understand how #molluscs make nacre, but we know that it consists of crystal plates sandwiching elastic proteins. The combination toughens the sea creatures’ exteriors and reinforces them against weathering from waves.

"A close study of the ancient plaster samples and the modern analog revealed that they also had layers of rocky calcite plates and organic sappy material, giving the materials the same kind of resilience as nacre. 'They were able to reproduce what living organisms do,' says Rodríguez Navarro."
#IndigenousKnowledge #IndigenousNews #Honduras

Source: https://www.popsci.com/science/ancient-maya-plaster/

How can libraries, archives, & museums preserve indigenous knowledge, asks Adetoun Oyelude (who'll defend her PhD when she returns to Ibadan!).

Regrettably:
- Knowledge owners or holders are disrespected
- Indigenous knowledge is not always properly preserved due to its oral nature
- Inadequate attention is paid to preservation

Concepts of authorship can be a barrier, e.g., libraries claiming ownership of stories.

#OpenAccess to #IndigenousKnowledge is not always appropriate.

#UKSG2023

How to #climate-proof the Ethiopian breadbasket? Combine #genomics and farmer knowledge.

#indigenousknowledge #triticum #agriculture

https://phys.org/news/2023-03-climate-proof-ethiopian-breadbasket-combine-genomics.html

"“You ask me to plow the ground. Shall I take a knife and tear my mother’s bosom? Then when I die, she will not take me to her bosom to rest” (Wilkinson, Blood Struggle, 49). It isn’t the first time that I read or hear about the practice of tilling as something so incredibly destructive. There is so much to tease out there, but just a few thoughts put very briefly that I will ask you to pull apart as reflections…

"The act tilling:

- removes histories from the land
- The layers of strata that hold pottery, bones, the ancestral parts of us are destroyed
- the landforms that were created to honour the spirits of lands are plowed flat
- the very history of the land is disrupted and destroyed
- removes and displaces indigenous seeds and plants, and leaves the land broken and open for invasive plants – destroys potential for trees and regeneration as well as any natural protection provided by the plants that existed there
- exposes the soil to intense solar radiation, baking it, drying it
- increases erosion significantly
- destroys mycorrhizal networks – and on this I will expand.

"I have often though about how violent the process of tilling is. Traditional agriculture, vs that which was brought here by Europeans. .... I have also been told about ceremony that determines which trees to harvest, which to leave to grow. These things we learn over time, over connection. It is generations of knowing to know a single tree, never mind a grove of living, thinking, feeling beings. The result was more of a curatorial relationship of relationality between that which grew on its own and that which we either planted or fostered. The result was a bountiful land that provided everything needed within short, short distances and surprisingly minimal amounts of labour."

portage – "the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water." (https://wikiless.tiekoetter.com/wiki/Portage)

"Soil is not a “dead” or neutral thing. It is teeming with life. From insects and crawlers, to bacteria and fungal networks… and then the roots and life systems of trees and plants, this is a place of high activity and a total life system. we are intimately connected to these places through all our being."

from https://giiwedinanaang.wordpress.com/2023/03/14/ancient-memories-through-our-very-own-skin/ – recommended if you have time and energy
#noTill #naturalFarming #soil #fungi #IndigenousKnowledge

I'm late to the game because I don't know what I'm doing, so a brief #introduction:

I take care of my disabled brother full-time and stress about it the rest of the time. When I have the capacity I like to read and think about #Zhuangzi, #Thoreau, #animism, and #indigenousknowledge like the work of Tyson Yunkaporta and VF Cordova. I also drink too much tea (#gongfucha), am a former classical and folk musician, and wish I could sit under more trees

#disability #caregiver #introductions #daoism​

On the euro-centric calendar we're entering #Autmn, but here in the south of #Sydney we're still in the time of 'Burran' according to #Dharrawal seasons. This is a season characterised as hot and dry, when the male kangaroos start to be aggressive and #fires should not be lit. #weather #IndigenousKnowledge http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/calendars/dharawal.shtml

https://yourforestpodcast.com/good-fire-podcast - a podcast about tending the land with fire and other natural wisdom by experienced elders, younger native people, and scholars, mostly indigenous. I was a little curious about how people traditionally used fire in their farming. Now, I'm a believer.

I learned that some native people do a "cultural" burn after they know the land and for something specific in the landscape, e.g., a species or just the whole system, but not all native people do a "cultural" burn. A human-managed forest has trees that are spaced out. One thing this does is allow precipitation to reach the soil and the roots.

I also learned that intentional fires are not just for preventing catestrophic burns that ruin the topsoil. Burning an area causes native plants and grasses to emerge. I bet you can easily raise plants from seed in a swidden. A burned area stays thinned out for eight years. They burn next to something green, next to water, or when rain is imminent. Those with traditional experience say it will go out eventually. People also burn to prevent ticks.

I had to search for a video that they mentioned in season 2, episode 3, but I'm not sure if I found it. Here is what I found: Gathering Voices Society on Vimeo, https://vimeo.com/user105935556.

Here's a fire-related quote that I've posted before:

"low-intensity fires were created in such a way that they did not get out of hand and did not harm trees and other large vegetation. Burning released nutrients to the soil, stimulated regrowth—which provided forage for game and other wildlife—and prevented a buildup of fuel, which would otherwise result in disastrous wildfires. It also created and maintained prairies and meadows, increased the abundance of food-producing bulbs and grasses, enhanced the density and diversity of plants, reduced competition, and helped control insects and disease."

"The effect of these practices ... was to maintain large and small areas at a mid-succession stage by simulating natural disturbance. The disturbances often reduced the dominance of existing communities, creating openings for colonization by other species. While the biomass was reduced temporarily, it was more than made up for by the increased vigor of the new growth. Some areas were burned every two or three years, others every five or six, while others were burned every fifteen years or so." (One-Straw Revolutionary, chapter five)

A similar podcast is The Big Burn, https://laist.com/podcasts/the-big-burn, but only the third and fourth episodes contain indigenous knowledge.

I read that southeast North "American" natives used to burn underbrush, grass, and weeds, too. ("Native American 'Garden Agriculture' in Southeastern North America" by C Margaret Scarry and John F Scarry from World Archaeology, Vol 37, No 2 (Jun 2005) jstor.org/stable/40024233)

#agroforestry #indigenousAustralia @indigenousauthors #IndigenousKnowledge #indigenousPeoples #indigenousPeople #IndigenousAustralians #Aboriginal #FirstNations #LandBack #IndigenousAuthors #NativeAmericans #ClimateChange #NationalParks #CrownLand

"Practices for considering and applying #Indigenous Knowledge in a manner that respects Tribal sovereignty and provides beneficial outcomes for Tribal and Indigenous communities. It also serves as a guide to growing and maintaining relationships with Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples necessary to including #IndigenousKnowledge into planning efforts."

Important guidelines just released by the U.S. White House.

https://www.usgs.gov/programs/climate-adaptation-science-centers/news/casc-science-featured-white-house-indigenous

@emergencemagazine

Wonderful listen. Emergence curates such beautifully relevant and meaningful stories! 🌱

#mosstodon #IndigenousKnowledge #evolution #ClimateChange

White House Releases First-of-a-Kind Indigenous Knowledge Guidance for Federal Agencies
https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2022/12/01/white-house-releases-first-of-a-kind-indigenous-knowledge-guidance-for-federal-agencies/
#GoodNewsFriday #IndigenousKnowledge #Learning #Equity #Data #Research @sociology @economics

https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/old-pascua-community-land-acquisition-act-passes-u-s-senate

In the 1910s my grandparents and great-aunts and great- uncles were born in a state of fugitivity, as their families fled a genocide against our people in Mexico. To strengthen the Yaqui Nation, they, along with others, established a community called Old Pascua in Tucson, Arizona, and continued in privacy our ancestral religion and mother tongue, hiak noki. Yesterday, to prevent urban encroachment, the Senate passed the Old Pascua Community Land Acquisition Act. #yaqui #tribalsovereignty #pascuayaquitribe #indigenousknowledge Congratulations to everyone who helped support this effort. #ancestralwillpower

RT @POGO_Ocean
Excellent new @PLOSBiology publication, which includes outcomes from #IndigenousKnowledge discussion sessions at the last two POGO annual meetings. Many thanks to all involved! https://twitter.com/Ocean_Networks/status/1603090190037573632

In a 2-for-1 Jenn Walkus & Megan Adams discussed their work w/the #Wuikinuxv Nation to demonstrate how uniting #IndigenousKnowledge & western science can drive changes in stewardship #policy https://www.watershedfuturesinitiative.com/jennifer-walkus-and-megan-adams-presentation

Acorns, indigenous stewardship of the land with fire, and European cooking bias.

https://ecolology.substack.com/p/acorns-and-empire

#foraging #indigenousknowledge #foodways #colonialism #ecology #wildcrafting

Acorns, indigenous stewardship of the land with fire, and European cooking bias.

https://ecolology.substack.com/p/acorns-and-empire

#foraging #indigenousknowledge #foodways #colonialism #ecology #wildcrafting