Intergenerational Transmission Of Knowledge Research Articles

Important intergenerational transmission of knowledge in promotion of well-being and cultural identity in Greenland

ABSTRACT The “Kinguaariit Inuunerissut” (KI) camps, meaning “generations in well-being” in Greenlandic, was a pilot initiative designed to enhance cultural identity and intergenerational connections through culturally relevant activities. The outcomes of the KI-camps have informed the development of a broader KI-concept aiming at tailoring and implementing elements from KI-camps into early childhood education services, after-school programmes, and schools. In this paper we present the results from three workshop held in January 2024 in Sisimiut, Greenland where 28 older participants and 28 professionals were asked about essential knowledge and skills to be passed down to younger generations. The focus was on songs, storytelling/myths, the spiritual world, animals, plants, skills in nature/home, and handicrafts. Results shows that older people and professionals agree on the importance of passing down cultural knowledge through all the different categories and support the need to integrate these elements into educational programmes to preserve cultural heritage and strengthen community cohesion. The findings will guide the integration of intergenerational activities into municipal institutions and contribute to culturally relevant health promotion strategies in Greenland.

Children at play: The role of novices in the production of Europe's earliest Upper Paleolithic ceramics.

Although archaeologists are learning more about the lives of Upper Paleolithic children, the significant contributions they made to the welfare of their communities, including their role in craft production, remain understudied. In the present study, we use high resolution photographs of 489 ceramic artifacts from Dolní Věstonice I and II, Pavlov I and VI, and Předmostí, five archaeological sites in Czechia (ca. 30,000 BP) to address two questions: 1. Can the ceramic products of novices be distinguished from those made by experts? 2. If so, can we tell if these novices were children? To address these questions, we documented variables known ethnographically and archaeologically to be associated with learners in a sample from these five sites. The sample is composed of fired ("ceramic") and unfired ("sedimentary") anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines, non-diagnostic figurine fragments and a sample of the so-called "pellets" from one site, Pavlov I. Our results support the hypothesis that ceramic objects are the products of novices, and in many cases, these novices are children. Our findings have implications for inter-generational knowledge transmission, the role of children in craft production and the importance of learning through play.

Fostering fisheries futures: the promise of localized stewardship education in Nunatsiavut

Nunatsiavut is a self-governing Inuit territory in northern coastal Labrador, where cultural knowledge and social values are incorporated into co-managed subsistence and commercial fisheries. Snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio), known as Putjotik in Inuttitut (the Nunatsiavut dialect of Inuktitut), is a co-managed fishery through the Torngat Joint Fisheries Board (TJFB) and plays a crucial role in sustaining the community of Makkovik. Arctic Char (IKaluk) is also harvested in co-managed subsistence and commercial fisheries, and is a staple in local economies and culture. In 2022, the TJFB partnered with Inuit educators to foster youth stewardship in a project called Paigitsiaguk. The Paigitsiaguk project bridges Inuit and scientific knowledge to nurture cultural values and environmental stewardship through providing place and land-based resources to educators. The project team created a comprehensive database of curriculum outcomes required by the Newfoundland and Labrador school system, and then designed culturally relevant learning activities that presented Inuit knowledge with science and social studies for students in Nunatsiavut. These resources include learning activities that are organized into education kits: one of which is centered on Putjotik and another on IKaluk. The Putjotik kit has 23 activities tailored to meet grade-specific learning outcomes, while the IKaluk kit provides 12 place-based learning activities appropriate for multiple grade levels. By providing localized and culturally relevant education resources to teachers that revolve around stewarding local fish species and their ecosystems, youth are connecting to their communities and to the coastal environment. Educational resources and learning activities reflect Inuit and scientific knowledge systems, and position teachers as facilitators to encourage students to learn from the land and Elders, knowledge holders, fishers, scientists, and managers. This paper reflects the promising futures that this work can contribute to; from facilitating intergenerational knowledge transmission from knowledge holders to youth, to encouraging self-determined stewardship activities that encourage care for the ocean and its fisheries.

Relationality in Indigenous Climate Change Education Research: A Learning Journey from Indigenous Communities in Bangladesh

Abstract This article explores my relational learning reflections with the Laitu Khyeng Indigenous community in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), Bangladesh, focusing on Indigenous perspectives on climate change education. Implementing a relational theoretical framework, I share my reflections on relational learning in this research as part of being accountable to the Indigenous community. Through exploring Indigenous land-based climate change research, five central themes emerge Indigenous land rights, relationship with the environment, community-led relationality as collaboration, intergenerational relational knowledge and relationality as ethical reciprocity. The findings explore the intrinsic connection between Indigenous communities and their ancestral territories, emphasising the significance of upholding Indigenous sovereignty over land for sustainable adaptation to climate change. In this article, I highlight the importance of relational learning as a form of education, fostering resilience rooted in preserving traditional practices and spaces. Relationality with the environment is central to Indigenous climate education, promoting understanding and reciprocity with the land. In my learning, I learned that community dynamics and collaborative learning are essential for effective climate education, emphasising collective action and diverse perspectives. In relational learning, inter-generational knowledge transmission ensures the preservation and sharing of traditional land-based knowledge across generations, forming the foundation for sustainable adaptation strategies. Ethical engagement and reciprocity guide research interactions, emphasising mutual respect and cultural sensitivity. By centring Indigenous perspectives and knowledge systems, this study advocates for community-led approaches to climate change education, fostering resilience and environmental stewardship within Indigenous communities.

Supporting Traditional Foodways Knowledge and Practices in Alaska Native Communities: The Elders Mentoring Elders Camp.

The transmission of generational knowledge in Alaska Native communities has been disrupted by colonization and led to declining health among Alaska Natives, as evidenced by the loss of knowledge regarding traditional foods and foodways and increasing rates of cardiometabolic disorders impacting Alaska Natives. Elders play a central role in passing down this generational knowledge, but emerging Elders may have difficulty in stepping into their roles as Elders due to the rapid social and cultural changes impacting their communities. The Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR) and the Denakkanaaga Elders Program are partnering with the Center for Indigenous Innovation and Health Equity to uplift and support traditional food knowledge and practices to promote health in Alaska Native communities. Guided by a decolonizing and Indigenizing framework, researchers at CANHR are working with Athabascan Elders in the Interior of Alaska to strengthen and protect the intergenerational transmission of cultural knowledge and practices for emerging Elders. This community-academic partnership will implement and evaluate an Elders Mentoring Elders Camp to focus on repairing and nurturing relationships through the practice and preservation of cultural knowledge and practices, including traditional foodways. This initiative contributes to the intergenerational transmission of knowledge, which is necessary to keep culture alive and thriving.

Vrikshayurveda - A Capital for Conservative Agronomy

Nature conservation has changed from an idealistic philosophy to a serious technology understanding of the nature of plant conservation is very much need of the hour that has elaborately mentioned in the literatures of Ayurveda. The interrelationships between conservation and sustainable use are considered, as well as the impact of the development of the discipline of conservation biology should be understood by the common man to save the Plant Kingdom. Traditional knowledge is vital for sustainability of natural resources including medicinal plants. Biodiversity conservation can be learnt from the context - specific local knowledge and intergenerational transmission of knowledge, skills and strategies, concern for well-being of future generations. The ancient text of Vrikshayurveda consists of about 170 different plant species including herbs, shrubs and trees. The text deals with Agri horticulture, home gardening, intercropping and storage etc. This paper intends to understand the traditional knowledge on biodiversity, practices and principles of Varahamihira’s, Brhat Samhita - Vrikshayurveda the text of 9th century AD in Growth, Conservation, Pest control and in-turn to check the diseases in Medicinal plants.

Culturally sustaining pedagogy in an outdoor environmental science education program to support high school students’ identities as Indigenous people and scientists

This collaboration between the Nez Perce Tribe and the University of Idaho aimed to address the unique needs and perspectives required for Tribal Natural Resources Management (TNRM). TNRM involves the governance and caretaking of the land and waters, emphasizing the recognition of cultural significance, sovereignty, self-determination, and traditional knowledge systems. A workforce development program was created, focusing on Fisheries, Forestry, and Fire Management, while being grounded in Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous STEM identities, and culturally sustaining pedagogy. The philosophical foundations of the program emphasized the importance of integrating Indigenous knowledge and learning approaches alongside technical skills. By broadening the conceptions of “what counts” in science, students were encouraged to recognize the value of Indigenous knowledge and develop a sense of responsibility toward caring for the Land and waters. Data collected from the program revealed its success in helping students connect Indigenous ways of knowing to their understanding of STEM. Students found meaning in Indigenous knowledge as a means to perpetuate Nimiipuu lifeways, while also recognizing the utility of Western STEM. The involvement of Elders and Native professionals as teachers in the STEM curriculum highlighted the importance of intergenerational knowledge transmission. By combining Indigenous ways of knowing with technical skills, the program successfully laid the groundwork for students to become future leaders in Tribal Natural Resources Management, equipped with the necessary cultural, environmental, and scientific expertise to caretake Lands and waters effectively.

Knowledge Transmission and Skills Building Relating to Child Sexual Abuse in China

ABSTRACT Parents play a key role in child CSA prevention, but the mechanisms underlying the intergenerational knowledge transmission are not fully understood. This study explores the role of two parenting practices – parent-child communication and parent’s protective behavior – as mediating factors in the relation between parents’ knowledge and their children’s knowledge and skills. Four hundred and ten dyads of early adolescents and their mother or father from rural China participated in the study. Parents were surveyed on their knowledge, protective behaviors, and parent-child communication regarding CSA, while children answered questions on relevant knowledge and skills. Results revealed that parental knowledge was positively and significantly related to communication and protective behavior, protective behavior was positively related to children’s knowledge and skills, but the coefficient between communication and children’s knowledge and skills was insignificant. The findings highlight direct parental protection as one of the most important mechanism for intergenerational knowledge transmission.

The role of Acehnese women in enhancing community preparedness through the inter-generational transmission of local and indigenous knowledge

Intergenerational transmission of traditional knowledge plays an important role. The involvement of women shows a significant impact on building family and community preparedness. However, limited attention paid to the unique contributions of Acehnese women has identified an erosion of traditional knowledge systems in the local context. This study explores the role and involvement of Acehnese women in the intergenerational transmission of knowledge about disaster preparedness based on local wisdom. A qualitative study in Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar involving interviews with key informants namely where they live, victims or non-victims of the 2004 Aceh tsunami, and career women or housewives. Acehnese ethnic women living in coastal areas were sampled randomly and purposively. Ten agreed to participate and were interviewed. The face-to-face interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using an analytical framework. The interviews revealed that the role and involvement of women in the transmission of local knowledge and practices was hampered by cultural and political factors which caused the erosion of this knowledge.

Rethinking intergenerational knowledge transmission in the era of Industry 4.0

Inspired by a human-centered perspective on technological changes of work, this paper presents a theoretical effort of bridging two distinct fields: Industry 4.0 and intergenerational knowledge transmission. It contributes to the literature on knowledge management with an analysis of how Industry 4.0, as one of the new objects of the 21st century management, challenges and transforms practices of intergenerational knowledge transmission. Based on a narrative literature review, we identify four facets representing the main managerial considerations on Industry 4.0, discuss their implications for intergenerational knowledge transmission and outline avenues for future research.

The return of the kinga (saltwater crocodile): Population ‘bust then boom’ shapes shifting baselines in Indigenous biocultural knowledge in northern Australia

The saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) can be regarded as a cultural keystone species for many Indigenous societies around the world, including for many Aboriginal clans in northern Australia. Here the regional population of Crocodylus porosus suffered a decline, almost to extinction, with unregulated commercial hunting between the 1940s to the early 1970s. Following protected status, saltwater crocodile populations made a rapid recovery. This research documents the perceptions and experiences of this rapid (within living memory) ‘bust then boom’ saltwater crocodile population change, among a regional group of Indigenous Australians (comprising several clans) from the Alligator Rivers Region of western Arnhem Land and Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory. Using semi-structured interviews, archival work and on-Country (place-based) learning, significant influences on the continuity of Aboriginal people's contemporary engagement with freshwater Country were identified. In particular, the loss of access to freshwater customary harvesting sites and to key harvested species, and as a driver of adaptive changes in harvesting methods and consumption preferences for saltwater crocodile meat and eggs. Importantly, the experiential losses from restricted access to waterbodies were found to have significant impact on opportunities for inter-generational knowledge transmission, according with more recent applications of the Shifting Baseline Syndrome to Indigenous Ecological Knowledge. Findings demonstrate the need for monitoring and management programs of cultural keystone species, like the saltwater crocodile, to include Indigenous-led biocultural knowledge programs as a means of supporting local and Indigenous Knowledge systems. This is particularly critical in cross-cultural, First Nations, and joint-management contexts.

"On behalf of the family"

This article examines themes of collaboration and stewardship, the importance of cultural protocols, and the intergenerational transmission of knowledge in the context of a Haida totem pole raising ceremony held at the Denver Art Museum in November 2019. Collaborating with members of the Wallace family, direct descendants of the original owners of the house frontal and memorial poles in its collection, the Denver Art Museum organized the event to honor the family’s legacy and the history of the poles. In this article, we outline the planning process, events, and outcomes of the event, and situate this within the context of Haida cultural practices. Combined with an analysis of Haida oratory, song, and dance, we demonstrate the ways in which collaborations that honor Haida cultural protocols can engender meaningful relationships between institutions and originating communities.

Expanding the biocultural benefits of species distribution modelling with Indigenous collaborators: Case study from northern Australia

Urgent calls for biocultural conservation highlight the need to engage with Indigenous peoples, whose lands cover some of the most biodiverse regions on Earth. In these places, Indigenous knowledge can be strong, especially for culturally significant species; however, this knowledge tends to be overlooked and deemed incompatible with dominant Western systems of conservation decision-making. The practical mechanics of how Indigenous and Western knowledge systems can be respectfully synergized to inform species conservation decision-making on a regional scale are not well documented. In collaboration with Yolŋu Indigenous rangers from northern Australia, we used a ‘multiple evidence based’ approach to synergize knowledge from senior Yolŋu custodians with Western scientific species distribution modelling (SDM) to explore distribution shifts and biocultural knowledge of two culturally significant, near threatened (critical weight range) mammals: wan'kurra, (Northern Brown Bandicoot, Isoodon macrourus) and marrŋu/rupu (Common Brushtail Possum, Trichosurus vulpecula). Historical Yolŋu species sightings and seasonal observations and the SDM revealed spatial contractions of both species to the northern and mesic regions of the Laynhapuy Indigenous Protected Area over the last 50 years. Knowledge custodians were concerned about the loss of these species and associated cultural knowledge in younger generations. Such cross-cultural knowledge gathering can guide biocultural conservation decision-making and facilitate intergenerational knowledge transmission of threatened cultural knowledge. This approach to collaborative cross-cultural fauna research can be applied globally, and we argue is imperative in contexts where: species and cultures are under threat, and where Indigenous knowledge and peoples can provide insight to inform inclusive biocultural conservation strategies.

An Unwavering Passion: Doran Ross's Scholarship on Asafo Flags

An Unwavering Passion: Doran Ross's Scholarship on Asafo Flags

“From the beginning of time”: The colonial reconfiguration of native habitats and Indigenous resource practices on the British Columbia Coast

Indigenous Peoples’ lives, cultures, and values are defined largely by their long-term relationships with the lands, waters, and lifeforms of their territories. Their stories, names, ceremonies, and connections with the plants and animals on which they have depended over countless generations are cornerstones of their knowledge systems, systems of governance and decision-making, traditions of intergenerational knowledge transmission, and values and responsibilities associated with natural and human domains alike. For First Nations of North America’s Northwest Coast, as for many other Indigenous Peoples, the arrival of European newcomers disrupted both the natural world and associated cultural practices in interconnected ways. The industrial exploitation of lands and resources had wide-ranging effects: traditional land and resource appropriation; impacts on culturally significant habitats by industrial-scale fishing, logging, and mining; and discrimination and marginalization contributing to resource alienation. This paper documents some experiences of Kwakwaka’wakw and other Coastal First Nations in coping with the cultural effects of environmental loss. It highlights their concern for the ecological integrity of lands and waters formerly under their stewardship but reshaped by non-Native extractive economies, and describes how these losses have affected the cultural, social, and physical health of Kwakwaka’wakw peoples up to the present time.

“The Strengths of Our Community and Our Culture”

While cultural continuity has been identified as an important Indigenous determinant of health, there is limited qualitative research that has sought to understand the meaning and context of cultural continuity for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people in Canada. Specifically, despite reported disparities in mental health for the Métis population in British Columbia (BC) and elsewhere—as well as challenges that many Métis people face in maintaining cultural connectedness—cultural continuity research with Métis communities remains largely ignored. This qualitative study explores Métis people’s experiences and conceptualizations of mental health and cultural continuity through conversational interviews, analyzed to understand the overarching themes within a Métis worldview. From this analysis, three themes are presented within the scope of this paper: Métis stories of culture, identity, and mental health; the importance of community; and intergenerational knowledge transmission. This research speaks to the important role that cultural continuity plays in shaping Métis journeys with mental health. There is a need for continued support for the maintenance of Métis cultural practices, language revitalization, and Elder-youth engagement opportunities for increased cultural continuity for Métis people, families, and communities in BC.

‘Our children are neither here nor there’: an ethnographic look at children’s right to education in Southern Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Knowledge about how social changes affect children’s access to education in Africa is still limited. Intending to bridge this gap, this article discusses the effect of the emerging social changes on children’s right to indigenous knowledge and formal education among the Guji people− the agro-pastoral society in Ethiopia. The article demonstrates how children’s present realities deprive their right to not only school education but also the indigenous ways of learning. It presents that the fast-changing social realities among the agro-pastoral society impacted children’s right to education in two ways. Firstly, the changes affect the indigenous ways of intergenerational knowledge transmission. Secondly, the changes constrained the quality of children’s learning in school and limited the relevance of formal education for children’s local ways of life. Data discussed in this article were collected through six months of ethnographic fieldwork among the Guji people in southern Ethiopia.

Academic Genealogy Analysis Based on Knowledge Graph

[Background] In the process of development of science, scientific theories are constantly improved and evolved, and technologies are constantly changed. The process of passing on and developing knowledge, technology, and culture from generation to generation of scientists and technologists, as well as the process of the new generation of scientists and technologists stepping on the shoulders of their predecessors and creating new knowledge, has had a positive and facilitating influence on the development of science. From this perspective, it is necessary and urgent to sort out disciplinary genealogical relationships, clarify the lineage of knowledge transmission, and study the academic genealogy of contemporary Chinese scientists.[Purpose/significance] Through the study of academic genealogical reproduction capacity, it is possible to understand the evolutionary process of knowledge transformation and innovation in the intergenerational transmission of knowledge, to explore the impact on the intergenerational transmission of knowledge, to promote knowledge transformation, and to cultivate modern scientific and technological talents. [Method/process] This paper applies the theories and methods of bibliometrics, social network analysis, and co-word analysis, a visualization technique is used to construct a model for analyzing the factors influencing the reproductive capacity of scientists' academic genealogy. [Results/conclusions] The analysis targets senior scholar Qiu Junping and his descendants, constructs a knowledge map of the academic genealogy of scientists, and discusses the factors influencing the reproductive capacity of academic genealogy.

Neural Mechanisms of Parental Communicative Adjustments in Spoken Language

During cultural transmission, caregivers typically adjust their form of speech according to the presumed characteristics of an infant/child, a phenomenon known as infant/child directed speech (IDS/CDS) or “parentese.” Although ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) damage was previously found to be associated with failure in adjusting non-verbal communicative behaviors, little is known about the neural mechanisms of verbal communicative adjustments, such as IDS/CDS. In the current study, 30 healthy mothers with preschool-age children underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing a picture naming task which required them to name an object for either a child or an adult. In the picture naming task, mothers exhibited a longer naming duration in the toward-child condition than the toward-adult control condition. Naming an object for a child, compared with naming it for an adult, resulted in greater involvement in the vmPFC and other regions (e.g., cerebellum) in the global caregiving network. In particular, the vmPFC exhibited task-related deactivation and decreased functional connectivity with the supplementary motor, precentral, postcentral, and supramarginal regions. These findings suggest that the vmPFC, which is included in the default mode network, is involved in optimizing communicative behaviors for the inter-generational transmission of knowledge. This function of the vmPFC may be considered as a prosocial drive to lead to prosocial communicative behaviors depending on the context. This study provides a better understanding of the neural mechanisms involved in communicative adjustments for children and insight into related applied research fields such as parenting, pedagogy, and education.

Environmental interactions between people and birds in semiarid lands of the Zapotitl\xe1n Valley, Central Mexico

BackgroundBirds have been among the most important element in lives of humans around the world, due to their presence and abundance in practically all ecosystems. Zapotitlán Salinas, a community of the Tehuacán Valley, has been a site of interest for studying ecology of bird communities, but no previous studies addressing the relationship between humans and birds have been conducted in the area. Based on their local knowledge, people of the area shape the use and conservation of local bird fauna diversity, which is being maintained or lost under the influence of factors like commerce, tourism, agriculture intensification or abandonment, public policies for conservation, environmental changes, among others. This study aims to analyze the patterns of interactions between humans and birds in a context of high biocultural diversity with a long history and facing the environmental and social challenges of semiarid areas.MethodsEcological sampling for documenting bird species richness was conducted from November 2015 to May 2017 in three transects that included agroforestry systems, forests, and fallow agricultural land. The method of counting by fixed radius points at 16 points within the study systems was used. Thirty in-depth interviews were conducted with local people who own land in the study areas by random sampling and choosing experts of Zapotitlán Salinas, Puebla, a semiarid natural protected area and, since 2019, recognized as Mixed World Heritage. Some visitor guides of the Helia Bravo Hollis Botanical Garden who are member of the community and local people who dedicated part of their time to catching birds were considered as local experts. They have experience in identifying birds through bird watching and listening to bird songs, as well as their knowledge on behavior and habits of the bird species occurring in their locality. We in addition conducted free listing of bird species recognized by people and interviews on ecological aspects, forms of use, and management of birds using a photographic catalog as visual stimulus. The following aspects were addressed with local people: (i) the bird species of Zapotitlán recognized by them; (ii) the biological, ecological, and behavioral knowledge about these species; (iii) the description of practices of use and management of these animals; (iv) the perceived changes regarding presence and abundance of the wild birds recognized; and (v) the regulations of these practices and uses.ResultsThrough the ecological sampling, we identified 89 bird species, a number representing nearly 68% of all species reported for the Zapotitlán Valley. The species recorded belong to 61 genera, 26 families, and 11 orders. Local people interviewed recognized 62 morphospecies occurring in their territory, and designated them with 50 local names. The interactions of local people with birds and the knowledge related to habitats and habits varied according to people’s daily life activities and the ways of inter-generational transmission of knowledge. The interactions identified respond to several motivations. The most intense are those of utilitarian nature (three types of use are recognized: nutritional, medicinal, and ornamental), while other less notorious but equally relevant are those related to the awareness and conservation of biological diversity, and aesthetic appreciation of nature. Also relevant are those interactions shaped by the people’s worldview since some species are interpreted as climatic environmental predictors, amulets, or omens.ConclusionsTo understand the various human-bird environmental interactions, it is necessary not only to address the utilitarian assessment that species have in a specific place but also those associated with cultural expressions and the connection between these aspects. Lifestyles, traditions, and beliefs model intangible forms of use, such as the interpretation of climate predictors. Ancient roles of birds in local culture are ongoing, and new demand of ornamental birds from cities influences catching activities but local and regional regulations have contributed to maintain them below a critical level.