Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: An Examination of the Role of Inter-generational Interactions and Learning Contexts in the Process of TEK Loss in the Sonoran Desert

博士论文改进补助金：对索诺兰沙漠 TEK 损失过程中代际互动和学习背景的作用的检验

• 批准号: 0550204
• 负责人: Brent Berlin
• 金额: $ 1.06万
• 依托单位: University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-02-15 至 2008-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0550204&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Examination

In the past, knowledge about the natural world, often referred to as traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), was learned through interaction with others who are more knowledgeable, such as grandparents, parents or siblings. Recent research suggests that such interactional learning experiences are becoming less common for children. Today, a greater number of children acquire biological and ecological knowledge in formal classroom settings, or rely on television, books, or videos for instruction. Research conducted over a decade ago in Arizona revealed that there has been a loss of TEK when comparing Tohono Oodham children to their grandparents. This dissertation research by a cultural anthropologist from the University of Georgia will test the proposition that the acquisition of TEK requires a learning context based on social interactions. The focus will be on the role of inter-generational contact and instruction, specifically the social relationships between children and a grandparent or elder. This research will contribute to theory on the loss or transformation of TEK. The will help to understand and predict changes in the process of knowledge acquisition in populations undergoing social and environmental transformations. Research results will provide baseline data for conducting future longitudinal studies on the loss of cultural knowledge among Tohono Oodham, and comparative data for research on loss of TEK in other locations. Research results will be applied to current biocultural education efforts in local schools and in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The research also will provide ethnographic research training for two Tohono Oodham collaborators and will create an electronic library of traditional ecological knowledge about Sonoran Desert plants and animals to be distributed to local schools.

在过去，关于自然世界的知识，通常被称为传统生态知识，是通过与其他更有知识的人，如祖父母、父母或兄弟姐妹的互动来学习的。最近的研究表明，这种互动学习体验对于儿童来说越来越不常见。今天，越来越多的儿童在正规的课堂环境中获得生物和生态知识，或依靠电视、书籍或录像进行教学。十多年前在亚利桑那州进行的一项研究表明，当将Tohono Oodham的孩子与他们的祖父母进行比较时，TEK已经丢失。本论文研究的文化人类学家从格鲁吉亚大学将测试的命题，即TEK的收购需要一个学习环境的基础上的社会互动。重点将是代际接触和指导的作用，特别是儿童与祖父母或长辈之间的社会关系。这一研究将有助于对TEK的损失或转换的理论。这将有助于了解和预测经历社会和环境变革的人口在获取知识过程中的变化。研究结果将提供基线数据，用于今后对Tohono Oodham的文化知识损失进行纵向研究，并提供比较数据，用于研究其他地点的TEK损失。研究结果将应用于当地学校和风琴管仙人掌国家纪念碑目前的生物文化教育工作。这项研究还将为两名Tohono Oodham合作者提供民族志研究培训，并将创建一个关于索诺兰沙漠植物和动物的传统生态知识电子图书馆，分发给当地学校。