Knowing the weather in Namibia: observing, recognizing and understanding

了解纳米比亚的天气：观察、识别和理解

• 批准号: 423280253
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Michael Schnegg
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Ethnologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2018-12-31 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/423280253?language=en
• 关键词: Knowing; weather; Namibia; observing; recognizing

Indigenous and scientific ways of knowing the weather typically express different ontologies. In arid northwestern Namibia, the rainfall is the most salient weather event. While the Khoekhoegowab-speaking inhabitants (ǂnūkhoen) of the region explain the rainfall as an interaction of loving winds, meteorologists perceive the rotation of the earth around the sun as the cause. Climate campaigns, weather forecasts and weather apps bring those types of knowing into dialogue. The aim of the project is, firstly, to describe these ways of knowing and their underlying ontological assumptions ethnographically and, secondly, to explore what happens when they enter into dialogue. To understand these dynamics, I make use of Heidegger’s phenomenology and his hermeneutic realism. I argue that different ways of knowing coexist in an environmental pluralism and that people draw on specific knowledge in specific situations. To study this empirically, I propose a methodological approach that combines techniques from cognitive anthropology with an analysis of knowledge in-the-place and on-the-move. Through travelling and talking, I attempt to explore, whether and how knowledge is constituted in places and movements. This will also allow showing, if and how it changes. The overall theoretical aim of the project is to contribute to understand how partly contradicting knowledge systems combine and which theoretical models are suitable for describing those processes.

了解天气的土著和科学方法通常表达不同的本体论。在干旱的纳米比亚西北部，降雨是最突出的天气事件。虽然该地区说Khoekhoegowab语的居民（Khoekhoegowab）将降雨解释为风的相互作用，但气象学家认为地球绕太阳旋转是原因。气候运动、天气预报和天气应用程序将这些类型的知识带入对话。该项目的目的是，首先，以人种学的方式描述这些认识方式及其基本的本体论假设，其次，探索当他们进入对话时会发生什么。为了理解这些动态，我利用海德格尔的现象学和他的解释学现实主义。我认为，不同的方式知道共存的环境多元主义，人们在特定的情况下借鉴特定的知识。为了从经验上研究这一点，我提出了一种方法论的方法，结合了认知人类学的技术与分析知识的地方和移动。通过旅行和交谈，我试图探索知识是否以及如何在地点和运动中构成。这也将允许显示，如果和如何改变。该项目的总体理论目标是帮助理解部分矛盾的知识系统如何结合联合收割机，以及哪些理论模型适合于描述这些过程。