What Women Know that Men Do Not about Chestnut Trees in Turkey: A Method of Hearing Muted Knowledge

Abstract

Decades of ethnobotanical observations have shown that knowledge varies significantly according to the identity attributes of participants, such as their religion, occupation, status, income level, geographic origin, and gender. Ethnobiology shares the imperative of all social science disciplines in tailoring gender-responsive methodologies and operating epistemologies. Particularly, researcher identity, performance, and preference for kinds of knowledge may have significant consequences. Here, we present a study centered around an extra effort to engage women's knowledge of sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) in Turkey. In Turkey's Black Sea, Marmara, and Aegean regions, we conducted 142 extended ethnobotanical interviews with chestnut-utilizing participants using three distinct protocols: gender-unaddressed, men-only, and women-only. Based on participant contributions, we developed and analyzed a dataset which accounted for total reported uses, chestnut material typologies, direct and indirect plant traits, as well as unique and cultural reports. We compared the findings from these distinct protocols using Correspondence Analysis and two-way Analysis of Variance. Our results show that the knowledge reported by women-only was significantly more diverse than knowledge reported under men-only and gender-unaddressed protocols. This significant difference was most readily attributed to the higher frequency of unique and cultural knowledge shared during women-only interviews. Also, considering the routinely mixed-gender conditions under the gender-unaddressed protocol, our findings suggest that male presence, in any form, can mute, or render inadmissible, women's ethnobotanical testimony. These findings challenge the community consensus model of ethnobotanical knowledge and field methodologies that do not account for in-field gender dynamics. In conclusion, we articulate a way to amplify insights from intersectionality theory using ethnobotanical approaches.

Medicines in the Kitchen: Gender Roles Shape Ethnobotanical Knowledge in Marrakshi Households

“…The strategic significance of wild food plants in ethnomedicine was overlooked by traditional ethnobotanical practice that did not take into account the gendered nature of knowledge and practice, because such medicinal foods are commonly harvested and consumed by women and children [66]. We echo long-standing claims that women's inclusion in socio-ecological studies is key and can be achieved through the acknowledgement and valorisation of their knowledge, activities, and perspectives [30,37,67,68].…”

“…and women were interviewed by a female researcher (S.E. ), facilitating participants to feel at ease and freely express themselves during interviews [37]. Each of these 57 participants were from a different household (i.e., we did not interview two people from the same household), and interviews were individual (Table S1).…”

Scientists' Warning to Humanity on Threats to Indigenous and Local Knowledge Systems

“…Policies and initiatives seeking to maintain and revitalize ILK should pay attention to the importance of gender relations in defining access, use, and knowledge of natural resources (Pfeiffer and Butz 2005); this entails acknowledging that people of different genders often interact with nature in different ways and, thus, will hold different aspects of ILK (e.g., Peluso 1991;Voeks 2007). Recognizing gender-specific knowledge and expertise can help promote equity and social justice from a biocultural perspective, thereby contributing to reduce gendered inequalities (Díaz-Reviriego et al 2016;Wall et al 2018). 7.…”

Food sovereignty, gender and everyday practice: the role of Afro-Colombian women in sustaining localised food systems

“…Around the world, women often play distinct and important roles in provisioning economies. Women tend to have specialised traditional ecological knowledge and are often primarily responsible for and engaged in distinct activities that vary between cultures and life stages, but are often linked with reproductive labour, household management and food provisioning, processing and sharing (Howard 2003;Leung, Zietsma, and Peredo 2014;Wall et al 2018). Women's contributions and knowledge, however, are often under-recognised, undervalued and under-accounted for in policy and economic analyses (PWESCR 2011;IPES-Food 2016;Wall et al 2018).…”