Course Overview

This course will acquaint participants with the approaches, methods and analyses used by ethnoecologists who are researching various contemporary issues in biocultural diversity, including:

• Community-based management of natural resources
• Co-evolution of cultural diversity and agrobiodiversity
• Ethnobiological classification and cultural history
• Gender and biodiversity conservation and management
• Historical ecology and landscape modification
• Indigenous peoples and protected areas
• Transmission of traditional ecological knowledge
• Wildlife trade and community livelihoods

The course will draw on the instructors’ field research in North Africa, Mesoamerica and Southeast Asia, and on case studies of researchers who are active in other parts of the world. We will explore a variety of approaches that guide data collection including consensus modeling, cultural domain analysis, and social network analysis. We will experiment with some techniques for collecting ethnobiological data in the field, including freelisting, paired comparisons, rankings, pile sorting, specimen identification and triad tests. We will also review methods that take an ecological perspective, such as landscape valuation, plots, transects, and diversity indices. We will address the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data using statistical software packages appropriate for ethnoecology.

Complementary topics that will be covered include: (1) obtaining prior informed consent for ethnoecological studies and negotiating community research agreements; and (2) ethical approaches to making ethnoecological data public.

Course Requirements

It is highly recommended that all participants come with a laptop that has the ability to run Windows-based software programs. Participants may be asked to install additional demo or free software during the course. Appropriate clothes and footwear may be needed during short outings to the field.