Indigenous Knowledge

I was both totally confused and very interested in the article on Indigenous Knowledge. I understood enough of it to want to read further, but not enough that I didn't have to do further research on my own. After viewing this site I had a much greater picture of how IK was applied in real situations. I felt like the article was very confusing to me because I had a hard time grasping all of the jargon amidst long complicated sentences.I do think the author had a good point about IK and Western knowledge being closer than declared by neo-indiginistas. I feel like IK should be applied to politics in a much larger way, as suggested in the article. I feel like it can be a powerful tool to create an argument for conservation when it supports the main lifestyles of the people in the community. It seems to me that if the IK style was combined with the use of Western technological knowledge environmental change could be achieved faster and with the support of many local political and social interest groups. It seems like common sense to apply IK to the application of change in any situation. The author also pointed that idea out in his article when establishing the links between both IK and Western knowledge. I would like to explore the practicality of this method more in class. 

The Hatchet and Seed at Home.

I'm still settling in to the idea of Political and non-political aspects of Political Ecology. It seems that despite the name Robbins spends much time on theory and future potentials of environmental changes of a third world area, but the political change that Kraft desired is left to the side. Obviously, the hatchet and seed represent Robbin's idea of this relationship. I feel like just as it may be used in developing nations it may be applied with the same fervor in the United States. I am a Baltimore historian and devote my outside school time to research and lectures on the city. It seems to me that a Political Ecology model in the downtown ghettos of the city could do well as the hatchet and seed. In fact it is happening as we speak. Certainly the urban citizens could be guided and inspired to create a cleaner area filled with gardens and parks for the community and push the city government to clean up industrial mess from decades ago. I love the use of Robbin's real life examples and would love to talk more about the first-world applications. As much as I love healing the world I feel like I want to start with my hometown. Political Ecology with a big hatchet and determined seed could really work here I think.