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

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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.