An empirical comparison of knowledge and skill in the context of traditional ecological knowledge

Kightley, Eric P.; Reyes‐García, Victoria; Demps, Kathryn; Magtanong, Ruth; Ramenzoni, Victoria C.; Thampy, Gayatri; Guèze, Maximilien; Stepp, John Richard

doi:10.1186/1746-4269-9-71

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 51 publications

(123 reference statements)

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“…In the few studies that empirically examine the relationship between these two knowledge forms, results have been mixed. Knightley et al (2013) examined the relationship between the types of wood and feathers used for arrow shafts and fletching and the peer evaluations of arrow quality made by Tsimane participants. They also examined the relationship between plants used for dyes and peer evaluations of bags produced by the participants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Life History of Learning Subsistence Skills among Hadza and BaYaka Foragers from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo

Lew‐Levy

Ringen

Crittenden

et al. 2021

Hum Nat

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Aspects of human life history and cognition, such as our long childhoods and extensive use of teaching, theoretically evolved to facilitate the acquisition of complex tasks. The present paper empirically examines the relationship between subsistence task difficulty and age of acquisition, rates of teaching, and rates of oblique transmission among Hadza and BaYaka foragers from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo. We further examine cross-cultural variation in how and from whom learning occurred. Learning patterns and community perceptions of task difficulty were assessed through interviews. We found no relationship between task difficulty, age of acquisition, and oblique transmission, and a weak but positive relationship between task difficulty and rates of teaching. While same-sex transmission was normative in both societies, tasks ranked as more difficult were more likely to be transmitted by men among the BaYaka, but not among the Hadza, potentially reflecting cross-cultural differences in the sexual division of subsistence and teaching labor. Further, the BaYaka were more likely to report learning via teaching, and less likely to report learning via observation, than the Hadza, possibly owing to differences in socialization practices.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Life History of Learning Subsistence Skills among Hadza and BaYaka Foragers from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo

Lew‐Levy

Ringen

Crittenden

et al. 2021

Hum Nat

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Of the few studies empirically examining the relationship between these two knowledge forms, results have been mixed. Knightley et al (2013) examined the relationship between the types of wood and feathers used for arrow shafts and fletching, and peer evaluations of arrow quality made by Tsimane participants. They also examined the relationship between plants used for dyes, and peer evaluations of participant produced bags.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The life history of learning subsistence skills among Hadza and BaYaka foragers from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo

Lew‐Levy¹,

Ringen²,

Crittenden³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Aspects of human life history and cognition, such as our long childhoods and extensive use of teaching, theoretically evolved to facilitate the acquisition of complex tasks. The present paper empirically examined the relationship between subsistence task difficulty and age of acquisition, rates of teaching, and rates of oblique transmission among Hadza and BaYaka foragers from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo. We further examined cross-cultural variation in how and from whom learning occurred. Learning patterns and community perceptions of task difficulty were assessed through interviews. We found no relationship between task difficulty, age of acquisition, and oblique transmission, and a weak but positive relationship between task difficulty and rates of teaching. While same-sex transmission was normative in both societies, tasks ranked as more difficult were more likely to be transmitted by men among the BaYaka, but not among the Hadza, potentially reflecting cross-cultural differences in the sexual division of subsistence and teaching labor. Further, the BaYaka were more likely to report learning via teaching, and less likely to report learning via observation, than the Hadza, possibly due to differences in socialization practices. These findings suggest that patterns of transmission are highly variable across cultures.

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“…We used ‘agreement with experts’ techniques to verify response accuracy and to more objectively assign knowledge scores (Davis & Wagner 2003, Reyes-García et al 2006, Kightley et al 2016). Only two participants correctly identified all nine specimens, so participants scoring ≥3.5 for plant ID averaged across all nine orchid taxa were treated as experts (14 in total).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding knowledge threatened by declining wild orchid populations in an urbanizing China (Sichuan)

Seyler

Gaoue

et al. 2019

Envir. Conserv.

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SummaryWith rapid urbanization worldwide, most people now live in cities, but the effects of urbanization on knowledge about the natural environment is not well studied. Due to the importance of Cymbidium to Chinese traditional culture, we tested how urbanization influences the distribution of orchid knowledge across various knowledge domains at risk of loss due to declining orchid populations. Participants in the Cymbidium trade were interviewed in three distinct urbanization-level jurisdictions in Sichuan, China: Puge (low urbanization), Huili (moderate urbanization) and Chengdu (high urbanization). Using photographic cue-cards of nine Cymbidium taxa, we assessed aggregate and specific knowledge held by 91 orchid collectors/traders across the urbanization gradient. Contrary to expectations, we found that urbanization and orchid knowledge were positively related, but this varied by knowledge type, with moderate urbanization showing significantly higher knowledge in two domains. Our findings suggest that a generalizable understanding of how urbanization affects knowledge must account for differences in knowledge types and geographic/cultural scales, with implications for biocultural diversity conservation in an increasingly urban world.

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An empirical comparison of knowledge and skill in the context of traditional ecological knowledge

Cited by 8 publications

References 51 publications

The Life History of Learning Subsistence Skills among Hadza and BaYaka Foragers from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo

The Life History of Learning Subsistence Skills among Hadza and BaYaka Foragers from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo

The life history of learning subsistence skills among Hadza and BaYaka foragers from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo

Understanding knowledge threatened by declining wild orchid populations in an urbanizing China (Sichuan)

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