Tzotzil Maya Folkbiology: A Cultural Account of Difference

[0216762] ross这个项目研究的是关于自然世界的文化、活动相关的专业知识与民间生物知识的结构、内容和群落内分布之间的相互作用。研究社区是墨西哥恰帕斯州Zinacantan的Tzotzil玛雅小镇。本研究将探讨近年来在社区中发生的许多经济和社会变化对民间生物知识的分布和内容的影响。几套正式的任务将完成探索的内容，组织和分布知识的植物和动物，以及当地的宗教仪式。此外，PI将从事日常生活的民族志研究，非正式访谈和调查。研究结果将与先前研究的数据进行比较，以评估变化（任何观察到的关于环境的事实知识的丧失将与任何观察到的宗教知识的丧失进行比较）。这项研究将有助于我们理解人类群体认知模型的本质、稳定性和变异性的来源。更广泛的影响将包括培训本地学生掌握社会科学研究方法。

0216762RossThis project studies the interaction between culture, activity-related expertise about the natural world, and the structure, content and intra-community distribution of folk biological knowledge. The study community is the Tzotzil Maya township of Zinacantan, Chiapas, Mexico. The research will explore the effects of the many economic and social changes that have occurred in the community in recent times on the distribution and content of folk biological knowledge. Several sets of formal tasks will be accomplished exploring the content, organization and distribution of knowledge about plants and animals as well as local religious rituals. In addition the PI will engage in ethnographic studies of daily life, informal interviews and surveys. The results will be compared with data from previous studies, to assess the changes (any observed loss of factual knowledge about the environment will be compared to any observed loss of religious knowledge). This research will contribute to our understanding of the nature of cognitive models in human populations, their stability and sources of variability. The wider impacts will include the training of local students in social science research methods.