Commentary on 'Indigenous Ecological Knowledge as Situated Practices: Understanding Fishers' Knowledgein the Western Solomon Islands' by Matthew Lauerand Shankar Aswani

摘要

We read Matthew Lauer and Shankar Aswani's re-port (AA 1 1 1[4317-329) of Roviana Lagoon fish-ers' ethnoecological knowledge with interest. However, thecritical essay framing their account demonstrates minimalacquaintance with the "cognitive" approach to the study ofindigenous ethnoecological knowledge that they so readilydismiss. According to Lauer and Aswani, "cognitive" studiesemploy a discredited notion of a qualitative contrast betweenan "indigenous," "traditional," or "local" way of knowing andthat of global citizens. Such studies are said to imply a beliefin "primitive minds" and an ethnocentric "Cartesian" dis-junct between mind and body, even as they document thecomprehensive knowledge of local flora, fauna, and land-scapes of such communities. Lauer and Aswani promoteas a more acceptable alternative Ingold's "practice theory,"which seems to us not so much a "theory" as a choice ofwords and emphasis.