Dominant narratives of the green revolution focus on the top-down dissemination of technology produced by global scientific networks into developing regions or nations, but comparatively little scholarship has been produced regarding the forms of local knowledge which were transferred during the same process. This thesis will examine several important sites of interaction between formal scientific networks and indigenous knowledge with a focus on moments of historical transition in methodology. A main contention of this thesis is that this dissemination was not just a top-down flow of Western technology into Indian villages, but was rather a dialectical process by which class interest and reductionist science moulded the interaction between disparate knowledge systems. The focus will be an exposition of changes in research methodologies pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation’s Indian Agriculture Program, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, and the founder of an indigenous knowledge database NGO, Anil Gupta.

This research considers a person’s ontological fabric woven from experiences of and in (trans)formative childhood and adolescent places through three conceptual frameworks: complexity theory, endogeny, and i/Indigenous ways of knowing. By re-visiting the (trans)formative places of four exemplary citizens with them, creating an interactive website and iBook, and exploring ten online public participants’ posts, I gained an understanding of how childhood and adolescent outdoor places act as catalysts of community, ecological, and civic environmental engagement. To achieve this, I asked the question: Does learning that occurs in childhood and adolescent outdoor places inform civic, emotional, physical, and/or spiritual engagement or connectedness over the course of people’s lives? If so, how? Tsartlip (Coast Salish First Nations) Elder, May Sam, Hua Foundation co-founder Claudia Li, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Wade Davis, and former Lieutenant Governor of BC, Iona Campagnolo, all exemplary individuals, shared personal relationships with their childhood and adolescent places. They engaged though participatory action research by taking me to these places, contributing to the interview process, and supporting the analysis of the results. As a way to engage decolonizing methodologies and encourage authentic voice within this research, I took great care in using interview and discourse techniques that were respectful, engaging, and empowering. Each of these visits were filmed and appropriate sections were shared through online social media as a way to invite participation from the larger North American public (www.transformativeplaces.com). Ten more participants’ experiences were analyzed based on their submissions to this website. Data were explored through a hybrid of phenomenological and participatory analysis and participants were invited to help discern meaning through post-filming interviews and dialogue. The concept (trans)formative places was defined as sites that engage humans in biophysical, emotional, spiritual, and civic engagement. Major notions included the development of a memetic group of concepts that help describe the processes, characteristics, and relationships that occur from, in, and with (trans)formative places. I found that my participants’ relationship to places were formed through family and community bonds, where learning occurs through shared stories, collective healing, and respect-building. Places transformed my participants through identity development, memory and anxiety, resiliency behaviour, nostalgia, and loss. Finally, my participants related to places through connective processes like knowing a place and being home, engendering bliss and appreciation, development of pride and hope and emotionality. The final section of this dissertation is articulated as a manifesto for creating, sustaining, and engaging in (trans)formative places. To download the interactive iBook of this dissertation search for it in iTunes. / Graduate / 0350 / 0525 / 0534 / 0740 / 0768 / 0620 / 0727 / nstanger@nicholasstanger.ca

Land degradation is a process that causes the reduction in resource potential of natural rangelands and occurs widespread throughout southern Africa. This process is mainly characterized by the loss in vegetation cover, which leads to the occurrence of bare and denuded patches, increased soil erosion, changes in species composition as well as bush encroachment by indigenous and alien invasive plant species in savannah areas. Degradation of rangelands has drastically extended at an alarming rate during the last few decades with the main causes being overstocking, extended periods of drought, global climate change, overgrazing and general mismanagement of the land. Many researchers, however, feel that rangeland degradation is mainly caused by a combination of changes in land use practices and climate variability. Land users have, however, been applying a variety of technologies over the years in order to restore affected rangelands and mitigate the effect of degradation. These technologies include passive and active intervention methods, aimed at restoring bare and denuded areas and controlling indigenous bush and alien plant species encroachment. Bush control can be carried out by applying different technologies, involving chemical, mechanical, manual or biological control. The focal point of this study is on bush encroachment, the factors causing the problem, the possible ways of controlling this phenomenon and lastly the incorporation of such information into a user-friendly Decision Support System (DSS). The Decision Support System comprises of two databases as well as a related expert system. Bush encroachment is a matter of great concern in most southern African countries. This study therefore mainly included data from Namibia and to a lesser extent, South Africa, as the main study areas, seeing that this form of degradation greatly influences the biodiversity of rangelands in both these countries. The Namibia Agricultural Union (NLU) identified the need for the development of a user-friendly Decision Support System, in which case studies concerning the different bush control technologies could be stored in a database. Restoration technologies, regarding the occurrence of bare and denuded areas, that have been applied by the land users over a period of time and in a specific environment in the past, have been captured in a computerized database and expert system, serving as a Decision Support System (DSS) and user-friendly consulting tool in a similar study, carried out by Mr. Van der Merwe (1997). This DSS was based on CBR (Case Based Reasoning) methodologies by which a number of case studies, that have previously been stored in the database, can be searched by means of an expert system approach to advise the land user concerning the most appropriate solution (action) to similar degradation problems. The DSS developed by Mr. Van der Merwe was never published or made accessible to the land user in a format that could be consulted by either CD-ROM or the internet. Seeing that the NLU identified the need for a similar DSS containing bush control technologies, it was decided to incorporate both these databases into a single DSS, concerning bush control as well as the restoration of bare and denuded patches. The newly converted DSS is currently known as EcoRestore and consists on two databases: Grass Expert, which focuses on technologies to reclaim degraded rangelands, and Bush Expert, which is more focused on the control of bush encroachment and combating of alien invasives. As mentioned, this study focussed on the development of the Bush Expert database and will therefore only include results, discussions and conclusions of these case studies. The case studies in the Bush Expert database consist of results obtained by means of a questionnaire completed by the land user, in collaboration with the agricultural extension officer, as well as a quantitative vegetation assessment, to determine the success rate of the applied technology. The Bush Expert questionnaire, comprises of questions concerning personal information of the land user (e.g. location of the farm), the situation on the farm before bush control was applied (e.g. information on the environmental factors, such as density of problem trees), as well as the type of control technology applied and the situation of the rangeland after control (e.g. establishment of the herbaceous species). The quantitative vegetation assessments involved the sampling of the woody and herbaceous components in the area where a specific control technology was applied. The density and height classes of the woody component were determined by means of the belt-transect method. By using the descending-point method, the herbaceous component was surveyed to determine the abundance/frequency of the annual and perennial grass species. In order to increase the success of any restoration project, it is important to take the existing indigenous knowledge of local land users, concerning the problem of degradation and mitigation thereof, into consideration. By doing so, the local people and communities have greater control and responsibility over their resources and are able to command a greater range and level of resourcefulness. Taking indigenous knowledge into consideration finally enables the local land users to actively participate in and influence higher-level decision-making processes by which they are affected. A total of 175 case studies in Namibia and nine case studies in South Africa were surveyed. The Namibian case studies were surveyed in the central and northern arid and semi-arid regions, and South African case studies in a limited location within the Limpopo Province. Only 100 of the Namibian case studies have thus far been incorporated into the Bush Expert database. Multivariate data analyses techniques, analysis of variance and correlation analyses were used to analyse the data obtained from the questionnaires and quantitative vegetation surveys. Results were represented in the form of histogrammes, tables and multivariate analysis ordinations. From the results obtained for the Bush Expert database, it was clear that chemical control technologies were most often applied in Namibian and South African case studies (61%). The herbicides most commonly applied as chemical control technology in Namibia included Grazer (20%) and Savana (15%), whilst in South Africa these included Access (33.3%) and Tordon Super (33.3%). Herbicides were mostly applied by means of aerial application (46%) methods in Namibia and as cut-stump treatment (55.5%) by means of knapsack spraying or with a brush in South Africa. The dominant woody species causing bush encroachment problems in Namibia were found to be Acacia mellifera, Acacia reficiens and Dichrostachys cinerea, whereas in South Africa these species included Dichrostachys cinerea, Acacia erubescens and Acacia karroo. The wood of the controlled problem species (dead woody material) is mostly not utilized after control, but rather left on the land to disintegrate and thus contribute to the organic material content in the soil. Dead branches are also used for brush packing, which forms and ideal micro-climate for the germination and establishment of grass seeds, which serves as an erosion control medium and protects grass seedlings against grazing impacts. Some land users do however produce charcoal from certain controlled woody species, in order to recover some of the input costs of bush control. The majority of the case study sites (68%) in Namibia occurred within the 300-450 mm short- and long-term rainfall zones and in South Africa the majority of case study sites occurred within the short-term rainfall zone of 550-600 mm (66.6%) and 400- 500 mm long-term rainfall zone (55.5%). Case studies where chemical and manual bush control technologies were applied indicated the highest success rates after control (81.7% and 75.2% respectively). Success rate as an entity was greatly influenced by the type of control technology applied, the density of the problem woody species after bush control as well as environmental variables such as rainfall and soil clay percentage. No definite trend could be determined concerning the application of a specific bush control technology and a certain problem species. Land users tend to apply a chosen control technology, according to the resources available, such as labour, mechanical implements and finances. The only positive correlation between control technologies and the type of problem species could be found regarding Dichrostachys cinerea. This species was mainly chemically controlled by means of the application of certain herbicides. The most important lesson to be learnt from the surveys completed in the two countries is that it is an absolute necessity to apply a proper after-care programme as a management practice following the initial control of problem woody species. The implementation of after-care determines the final success rate of any applied bush control technology as a restoration practice within a rangeland. Only 11% of the case studies surveyed for Namibia and South Africa indicated the implementation of an after-care programme, which usually involved biological control (e.g. browsing by boer goats or the use of controlled or accidental natural veld fires). The EcoRestore Decision Support System is currently available as an online webversion (www.puk.ac.za/EcoRestore), as well as a CD-ROM version. The CD-ROM version is available in a package containing the CD and user's manual. An example of the package is included in this dissertation. In consulting the databases through question-and-answer procedures, the best action will be proposed to the land user for future rangeland restoration, either the reclamation of denuded areas or the control of bush encroachment. Since the case studies are based on past and existing experiences and research, the land user will have an indication of the expected outcome, should the same advised technology be applied. The EcoRestore DSS does not only offer a consulting tool for extension workers and technicians, but also creates networking and participation between land users and researchers, both locally and between neighbouring countries. The DSS is linked to other national and international websites and databases, to offer users a wider range of information and technologies with regard to agricultural and conservation practices. Better awareness is created amongst land users concerning the problem of rangeland degradation, which might encourage closer monitoring of the degradation and mitigation processes. The EcoRestore DSS was developed in such a way for it to be as user-friendly as possible, in order to reach as many parties involved in current or future restoration programmes. This study involved the development of the first version of the DSS (Version 1.0) and is thus only the prototype system. It is proposed that the Bush Expert database of the EcoRestore DSS, will be expanded in future and additional bush control case studies from other southern African countries will be included. The addition of such case studies will ultimately increase the effectivity of this DSS. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Botany))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

Dominant narratives of the green revolution focus on the top-down dissemination of technology produced by global scientific networks into developing regions or nations, but comparatively little scholarship has been produced regarding the forms of local knowledge which were transferred during the same process. This thesis will examine several important sites of interaction between formal scientific networks and indigenous knowledge with a focus on moments of historical transition in methodology. A main contention of this thesis is that this dissemination was not just a top-down flow of Western technology into Indian villages, but was rather a dialectical process by which class interest and reductionist science moulded the interaction between disparate knowledge systems. The focus will be an exposition of changes in research methodologies pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation’s Indian Agriculture Program, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, and the founder of an indigenous knowledge database NGO, Anil Gupta.

There has been an increasing realization of the significance of Indigenous knowledge (IK) in achieving sustainability. Education is also considered a primary agent in moving toward sustainability. However, research that explores education focused on sustainability in Malawi is sparse, especially where the roles of IK and youth perspectives have been considered. This research draws on the concepts of uMunthu, Sankofa, and postcolonial theory to enable a “third space” (Bhabha, 1994) centred on culturally appropriate Malawian ways of knowing working in tandem with non-Indigenous knowledge and practice. Three main questions guide the study: (1) How do participants understand place and environmental sustainability in relation to knowledge and practice (both Indigenous and non-Indigenous)?; (2) Within the context of Chinduzi village, the Junior Farmer Field and Life Skills School (JFFLS) program, and its engagement with issues of environmental sustainability, what forms of knowledge and practice are evident (both Indigenous and non-Indigenous)?; and (3) What are participants’ views on how environmental sustainability should be further engaged in the JFFLS program in relation to knowledge and practice (both Indigenous and non-Indigenous)? Data collection methods included focus groups, place mapping, individual conversations, observations, and archival documents review. The data were coded using inductive analysis and the research employed aspects of participatory research and Indigenous research methodologies. The research findings reveal that while there is general consensus among the participants supporting youth learning IK in school, others are not supportive because they consider IK to be inferior. In considering place and environmental sustainability, the findings revealed that participating Elders describe their sense of place in terms of historical agriculture-related knowledge and practice. On the other hand, participating youth express their sense of place in drawings of their favourite places. The drawings revealed that youth are largely rooted in their social-cultural interactions within their community, but also influenced by global culture. The study results show that the JFFLS curriculum includes both Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledge and practice in both agriculture-related and life skills lessons. To achieve environmental sustainability in the community, participants recommend all youth in the community learn local Indigenous knowledge and practices for protecting the environment.

This thesis argues for a more expansive historiography rooted in Indigenous peoples’ oral, social and land-based modes of sharing knowledge. Such an approach may help to decolonize the practices and narratives of history in British Columbia, which have too often excluded or undermined Indigenous peoples' perspectives. Over the past several centuries, Indigenous knowledge-keepers have used their languages to maintain their oral traditions and other modes of sharing, despite colonial policies in Canada aimed at destroying them. This thesis gives careful consideration to ethical approaches to cross-cultural engagement, including researcher’s position in discourse and colonial paradigms, as well as modes of listening that emphasize attitudes of respect, flexibility, responsibility and trust-building. I travelled to Syilx (Okanagan) territory in south central British Columbia to interview five knowledgeable Upper Nicola band members about their knowledge practices. Their views, combined with those of others (from Nlaka’pamux, to Coast Salish, to Maliseet peoples and more) pointed to the importance of a vibrant Indigenous historiography at the local community level. Interviewees discussed the ways speaker/listener relationships, as well as timing and life experience, shape knowledge passed on. They also explained the ways Indigenous knowledge practices are linked to particular territories, as knowledge may help to sustain or may be sustained by particular places. Lastly, all touched on how colonial policies have impacted their knowledge practices. This thesis proposes some decolonizing approaches for engaging with Indigenous knowledge and knowledge practices. By accounting for Indigenous knowledge 'institutions' that have long existed outside of colonial frameworks, we can move one step closer to decolonization. / Graduate

This research considers a person’s ontological fabric woven from experiences of and in (trans)formative childhood and adolescent places through three conceptual frameworks: complexity theory, endogeny, and i/Indigenous ways of knowing. By re-visiting the (trans)formative places of four exemplary citizens with them, creating an interactive website and iBook, and exploring ten online public participants’ posts, I gained an understanding of how childhood and adolescent outdoor places act as catalysts of community, ecological, and civic environmental engagement. To achieve this, I asked the question: Does learning that occurs in childhood and adolescent outdoor places inform civic, emotional, physical, and/or spiritual engagement or connectedness over the course of people’s lives? If so, how? Tsartlip (Coast Salish First Nations) Elder, May Sam, Hua Foundation co-founder Claudia Li, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Wade Davis, and former Lieutenant Governor of BC, Iona Campagnolo, all exemplary individuals, shared personal relationships with their childhood and adolescent places. They engaged though participatory action research by taking me to these places, contributing to the interview process, and supporting the analysis of the results. As a way to engage decolonizing methodologies and encourage authentic voice within this research, I took great care in using interview and discourse techniques that were respectful, engaging, and empowering. Each of these visits were filmed and appropriate sections were shared through online social media as a way to invite participation from the larger North American public (www.transformativeplaces.com). Ten more participants’ experiences were analyzed based on their submissions to this website. Data were explored through a hybrid of phenomenological and participatory analysis and participants were invited to help discern meaning through post-filming interviews and dialogue. The concept (trans)formative places was defined as sites that engage humans in biophysical, emotional, spiritual, and civic engagement. Major notions included the development of a memetic group of concepts that help describe the processes, characteristics, and relationships that occur from, in, and with (trans)formative places. I found that my participants’ relationship to places were formed through family and community bonds, where learning occurs through shared stories, collective healing, and respect-building. Places transformed my participants through identity development, memory and anxiety, resiliency behaviour, nostalgia, and loss. Finally, my participants related to places through connective processes like knowing a place and being home, engendering bliss and appreciation, development of pride and hope and emotionality. The final section of this dissertation is articulated as a manifesto for creating, sustaining, and engaging in (trans)formative places. To download the interactive iBook of this dissertation search for it in iTunes. / Graduate / 0350 / 0525 / 0534 / 0740 / 0768 / 0620 / 0727 / nstanger@nicholasstanger.ca

Free-roaming horses (Equus ferus caballus L.) – also called wild or feral – have been present in the Chilcotin region of British Columbia, Canada and part of Tsilhqot’in First Nations’ culture for over 250 years. The horses, naŝlhiny in Tsilhqot’in, have also been a focal point for controversy and power struggles over land use in the same region for at least 120 years. Recently, the wild horses of the Brittany Triangle (called Tachelach’ed, near the Nemiah Valley in the territory of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation) have been used by local First Nations and some non-governmental organizations as an iconic symbol to gain support for wilderness conservation. To some other residents and government agencies, free-roaming horses are invasive pests that threaten forage availability for cattle, range health, and native wildlife habitat. Little peer-reviewed research exists to elucidate the actual ecological impacts and social relationships of free-roaming horses in the particular ecological, cultural and political context of the Brittany Triangle, or to support management decisions concerning the horses. This research explores how scientific analysis, local knowledge, and socio-cultural perspectives regarding the ecology and cultural role of free-roaming horses in the Brittany Triangle can be integrated to inform conservation planning and land use management. The primary objectives were: 1) to determine and quantify the species of vegetation where horses are feeding; 2) to document local socio-cultural knowledge and perceptions of free-roaming horses; and 3) to determine how ecological information and socio-cultural perspectives can be integrated to inform conservation planning and land use management. This transdisciplinary, mixed-methods study took an exploratory, adaptive approach over six years of site visits, including two preparatory field visits (2006-2007), four field seasons over two years of formal data collection (2008-2009), and two follow-up visits (2010-2011). A line-point intersect method and statistical analysis were used to assess plant community composition and variance in eight sample sites that are grazing habitat of free-roaming horses. Qualitative research involved literature review, participant observation among host communities, semi-structured key informant interviews, and extensive observation of free-roaming horses and other wildlife in the Brittany Triangle. Results demonstrate that the free-roaming horses are part of a social-ecological complex, one of many disturbance factors in a system with multiple drivers of ecological and social change. Grazing and disturbance of vegetation by horses are patchy and heterogeneous in distribution, but no statistically significant difference was found in plant community composition or heights between sample sites. Qualitative research demonstrates that while the horses are currently remote from much human contact, they and the landscape are part of a rich history of interaction with people in Chilcotin society and cultures, particularly in Xeni Gwet’in and other Tsilhqot’in communities. Disagreements over free-roaming horses reveal deeper differences in ways of knowing that underlie management actions, including differing perceptions of “the wild” in relation to humans, and a history of power struggles over land use between First Nations and government authorities from colonial and settler cultures. As well, vegetation communities in sample meadow habitats did not show signs of ecologically significant structural variance or ubiquitous damage on a spatial scale large enough to warrant management intervention in horse populations within the Brittany Triangle at this time. Local knowledge and livelihood practices among Xeni Gwet’in and other local people have functioned as an informal management system for free-roaming horses in the Brittany Triangle and Nemiah Valley. Broadly, this study suggests a partial rather than full integration of diverse ways of knowing may sometimes be desirable in order to maintain the epistemological and contextual depth and richness of different knowledge systems. Effective integration of diverse ways of knowing in management warrants not only the integration of information into knowledge products (i.e. reports, studies, proposals, etc.), but also the equitable inclusion of knowledge holders in processes and decisions. Narrative can be an effective means of conveying complexity in situations of conflict or controversy. This research also finds that a recognition of the agency that wild animals and the land itself have in relationships with humans, and the sense of collective responsibility towards the land and wild animals are two elements that indigenous perspectives can contribute to management and planning frameworks. This research indicates that it is possible and desirable to maintain a population of free-roaming horses in the Brittany Triangle as part of a functional social ecological system, in ways that are appropriate to, and expressive of the culture, identity and livelihood practices of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation. The success of localized stewardship and management depends on: 1) culturally-appropriate means of limiting horse populations including maintaining predator populations; 2) defining management zones based on ecosystems, political and cultural boundaries, and horse sub-populations; 3) basing actions and decisions on systemic, not segmented, ecological indicators; 4) encouraging people to spend time on the land moving cattle more frequently on grazed open range; 5) cultivating stewardship and monitoring activities; 6) including socio-cultural values and goals in management objectives; 7) recognizing diverse people and ways of knowing in land use and management decisions; and 8) encouraging traditional activities as part of dynamic and changing local livelihoods.

Master of Science / The objective of this research is to employ Geographical Information Systems to fisheries management in the Mekong River Basin. The study uses artisanal fisheries practices in Khong district, Champasack province Lao PDR as a case study. The research focuses on integrating indigenous and scientific knowledge in fisheries management; how local communities use indigenous knowledge to access and manage their fish conservation zones; and the contribution of scientific knowledge to fishery co-management practices at village level. Specific attention is paid to how GIS can aid the integration of these two knowledge systems into a sustainable management system for fisheries resources. Fieldwork was conducted in three villages in the Khong district, Champasack province and Catch per Unit of Effort / hydro-acoustic data collected by the Living Aquatic Resources Research Centre was used to analyse and look at the differences and/or similarities between indigenous and scientific knowledge which can supplement each other and be used for small scale fisheries management. The results show that GIS has the potential not only for data storage and visualisation, but also as a tool to combine scientific and indigenous knowledge in digital maps. Integrating indigenous knowledge into a GIS framework can strengthen indigenous nowledge, from un processed data to information that scientists and decision-makers can easily access and use as a supplement to scientific knowledge in aquatic resource decision-making and planning across different levels. The results show that when scientific and indigenous knowledge are both stored digitally in GIS databases, a variety of analysis can be done. Multiple layers or visualising functions in ArcGIS are an example of ways in which indigenous and scientific knowledge can be combined in GIS. Maps of deep pools and important fishing grounds gathered using GPS and indigenous knowledge provide base maps of aquatic resources in the study area. The attribute table associated with the map links characteristics of each point, including fishing gear and species found in each pool as well as spawning grounds and migration periods. This information is useful for management and planning purposes. This research illustrates that mental maps and GIS digital maps can be used for fisheries management at different levels. Where mental maps are suitable for communicating with the local community and have the potential for use in fisheries co-management in small-scale fisheries; GIS may be appropriated for data storage and analysis at provincial and national levels, it can be used as a communication tool amongst stakeholders to monitor and understand the aquatic environment.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2004. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.