Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge

气候变化和其他人类影响对生物多样性的威胁日益增加，迫使科学家认识到承认和利用数千年来与各自生态系统一起生活并在各自生态系统内生活的土著人民的传统生态知识和战略的重要性。在保护生物学家中，对传统生态知识的研究和纳入越来越受欢迎，他们与许多土著群体的传统家园合作并在其内部工作。然而，这些成功在很大程度上是在没有完全了解这些不同形式的知识如何协同工作的情况下发生的。此外，大多数保护倡议都是由非土著团体和机构制定的。该项目使用土著学者开发的研究方法，以了解土著机构如何制定和执行自己的保护目标和政策。同样重要的结果将是了解保护政策如何与传统的土著生活方式相结合，特别是那些以畜牧业为基础的生活方式。为此，该项目将利用与土著学者合作制定的访谈和调查相结合的方式，评估不同群体如何利用其知识和经验实现保护和农业目标。数据收集将集中在纳瓦霍民族鱼类和野生动物部和纳瓦霍民族农业部，它们是模拟这种知识交流和翻译如何发生的理想机构。这些机构拥有100多年的综合经验，使用传统的纳瓦霍知识和科学知识来制定和实现对国家成员重要的保护和管理成果。将通过明确呼吁纳瓦霍世界观独有的知识类别和类型来分析回应。通过通过特定于单个土著群体的视角来模拟科学和土著知识的协同效应，未来在这些领域的合作将更加公平、公正，并维护土著群体的自治权和代理权。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Increasing threats to biodiversity from climate change and other human impacts are forcing scientists to realize the importance of acknowledging and utilizing the Traditional Ecological Knowledge and strategies of Indigenous peoples who have lived with and within their respective ecosystems for millennia. Research on and incorporating Traditional Ecological Knowledge has become increasingly popular among conservation biologists who collaborate with and work within the traditional homelands of many Indigenous groups. However, these successes have largely occurred without a complete understanding of how these different forms of knowledge can work synergistically. Furthermore, most conservation initiatives are developed by non-Indigenous groups and institutions. This project uses research methods developed by Indigenous scholars to understand how Indigenous institutions develop and implement their own conservation goals and policies. An equally important outcome will be understanding how conservation policies interface with traditional Indigenous lifeways, specifically those based in animal agriculture. To this end, the project will use a combination of interviews and surveys developed in collaboration with Indigenous scholars to gauge how different groups leverage their knowledges and experiences to achieve conservation and agricultural goals. Data collection will focus on Navajo Nation Department of Fish and Wildlife and Navajo Nation Department of Agriculture, which are ideal institutions for modeling how this kind of knowledge exchange and translation occurs. These institutions have more than 100 years of combined experience using both traditional Navajo knowledge and scientific knowledge to develop and achieve conservation and management outcomes that are important to the members of the Nation. Responses will be analyzed by appealing explicitly to categories and types of knowledge that are exclusive to Navajo worldviews. By modeling the synergies of scientific and Indigenous knowledge through perspectives specific to individual Indigenous groups, future collaborations in these areas will be more equitable, just, and preserve the autonomy and agency of Indigenous groups.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.