Abstract
The common believe of a single successful form of knowing the reality is misleading. A brief analysis of many human activities reveals a pluralistic perspective of several coexisting conceptual schemes that underlie the form in which women and men know and constitute the world in which we live. Here, I will discuss the necessity of taking seriously this pluralistic perspective when developing conceptual frameworks of human activities. As an example of great interest and importance, I will consider the case of resource management that has to contemplate the conservation and the response of ecosystems to human activities that may lead to irreversible damage. Ecosystems’ activity occurs over a wide range of space and time scales and, hence, policies and proposals of solutions to ecological problems should avoid narrow and monochromatic approaches. Specifically, the Pemon perspective of fire is a good example to show that for more robust and flexible resource management we need the knowledge and experience of different cultural and disciplinary groups.
Highlights
An instrumental stance on natural resources has offered us a vision according to which there is a total separation between human beings and nature, and the latter could be manipulated by men for any purpose. This stance conflicts with the lifestyles of indigenous communities in which the world is understood as a living space rather than mere property
In the particular case of Pemon indigenous people, respect for cultural diversity is important because it is in indigenous communities and towns where coexistence with regional biodiversity has led to the experimentation and development of the use of plants, insects and animals as food, medicine, clothing, personal hygiene and housing (Castillo & Toledo, 2000; Toledo & Barrera-Bassols, 2008)
Indigenous Peoples who live off wildlife, fish, and forests, create knowledge from their own observations and ecological understanding, based on the accumulation of generations of trial-and-error experience (Berkes & Folke, 2002)
Summary
An instrumental stance on natural resources has offered us a vision according to which there is a total separation between human beings and nature, and the latter could be manipulated by men for any purpose. In the particular case of Pemon indigenous people, respect for cultural diversity is important because it is in indigenous communities and towns where coexistence with regional biodiversity has led to the experimentation and development of the use of plants, insects and animals as food, medicine, clothing, personal hygiene and housing (Castillo & Toledo, 2000; Toledo & Barrera-Bassols, 2008) The knowledge of these communities can improve and help promote the conservation of ecosystems and help us survive (Berkes & Berkes, 2009; Berkes et al, 2000; Olsson et al, 2004; Turner et al, 2003). Damage occurs whenever a global-scale strategy is applied to a wide range of contexts without considering the small-scale existence conditions
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