Getting a grasp on the social organization of Local Ecological Knowledge transmission: insights from a case study with the Rabari nomadic pastoralists (Gujarat)
Getting a grasp on the social organization of Local Ecological Knowledge transmission: insights from a case study with the Rabari nomadic pastoralists (Gujarat)
Abstract: Previous research has shown that social organization may affect the distribution of Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) within local communities of natural resource users in multiple ways. However in this line of research the potential role of informal relationships has mostly been overlooked. In this paper, we contribute towards filling this research gap by studying how two types of informal relationships, namely migration partnership and friendship, affect the distribution of LEK within a community of seminomadic pastoralists from the Kutch area (Gujarat, India). Using social network analysis, we map three networks (migration, male and friendship, female friendship) and compare with similarity-based quantitative approaches the clusters extracted from these networks in relation to four domains of LEK: knowledge about soils, about ethnoveterinary practices, about sheep breeds, and in ethnobotany.
Our results show that 1) migration clusters are associated with significant variations in LEK across three domains of knowledge, while 2) friendship clusters are associated to minor variations. We relate these results to the importance of common practical experiences involved by joint migration. Moreover, kin relations are shown to strongly underlie friendship ties and the formation of migration groups, and as such appear as a potential driver of the dynamics of the local LEK system.
About the speaker: Matthieu Salpeteur is an anthropologist trained at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (Paris). His research interests mainly revolves around (a) the interrelations between ritual