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- Convenors:
-
Anamaria Iuga
(National Museum of the Romanian Peasant)
Corina Sirbu (National Museum of the Romanian Peasant)
Bogdan Iancu (National School of Political Studies and Public Administration Bucharest Museum of Romanian Peasant)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Stream:
- ENVIRONMENT
- Location:
- Room H-207
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 15 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
Our panel invites papers that present good practices in the process of re-membering, re-framing and re-covering of the traditional ecological knowledge in Europe.
Long Abstract:
Traditional ecological knowledge is still an important aspect of the intangible heritage in many regions in Europe (especially in the Eastern Europe), connecting man with nature for centuries. In the general economy of the human-nature relationship, the full exploitation of nature without producing waste (difficult or impossible to reuse), is one of the characteristics of traditional peasant life. In the past centuries this knowledge is menaced by the quick modernisation that occurred in the whole continent. In different stages of societal modernization there has been constant recourse to the old craft, agricultural, orchard practices, or in general related to natural resources of all kinds. Thus, there is more and more active a process of re-membering, re-framing and re-covering, this knowledge, by means of researches (interdisciplinary usually) conducted in regions where it is still alive, but also in the local or national archives, or in the archives of the media, each of these researches focusing on its practicability.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 15 June, 2022, -Paper short abstract:
Through the lens of ethnological research and media, this presentation focuses on the ReNewal and ReVitalizaton of TEK and ReStoration of Natural-Cultural Landscapes among indigenous peoples from four distinct communities in the United States and Scandinavia.
Paper long abstract:
In a time of rapid climate change, the increasing loss of animal and plant habitats and persistent food and economic insecurities, the preservation and practice of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is being carried on in the Food, Culture and ReVitalization practices of indigenous peoples. To this end, my presentation focuses in on the video testimonies of women artists from a Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) community of western New York State and the story of a young Navajo man from the Southwestern part of the United States who underscore the links between natural and cultural landscapes and relate how heritage corn and TEK are reflected in their cultural beliefs, practices and rituals. The presentation also underscores how cultures are tied to landscapes by examining the struggles and activism of Anishinaabe (Ojibway) “Water Protectors” in the Great Lakes area of the United States fighting for the preservation of manoomin ( wild rice) against the intrusion of pipelines. Their efforts of the Sami of Sweden to preserve their way of life and knowledge of reindeer herds.
My connection to the issues is based on my own real-life experience, research and mentorship by Haudenosaunee peoples and subsequent teaching of indigenous studies in western New York. My ReTurn and ReNewal to the region where I was born occurred after studies at Uppsala university in Sweden and teaching Scandinavian folklore in the State of Minnesota where I first worked with indigenous peoples on burial rights issues.
Paper short abstract:
The presentation explores the strategies (living or already in the passive memory) that a community is taking to diminish the negative effects of the drought.
Paper long abstract:
As a result of the global warming, weather changes have a more rapid effect on the climate of different regions, and the local population must confront them. One of the problems they are facing is the drought. During the centuries there have been developed local responses known by locals, the bearers of a long and lasting tradition of ecological knowledge. The year 2012 was, for example, in Northern Romania at least, a very dry one, and had affected on different levels the crops, the pastures and the hay production. The presentation is based on a research made during several years (2009-2019) in a small community in a mountain village of Maramures region, where the young generation is mainly involved into migration (in the closest cities, or in other countries). The paper will focus on the investigation of the actions taken to diminish the effects of the drought, but also on the memories (recovered by the research) of the older population who has more experience with the drought.
Paper short abstract:
The making of ritual objects including vegetal elements requires the observance of specific rules. The most interesting phenomenon is the way in which traditional knowledge is enriched, and not deprived, by the progress of science. The paper analyses the case of the citron, etrog.
Paper long abstract:
Jewish traditional knowledge does not fall into the category of lost or forgotten knowledge. The very notion of traditional knowledge can be questioned with regard to Jewish culture, insofar as what is considered "tradition" is the product of an intellectual elite. In the field of what might be called ecology, that of environmental control, Jewish traditional knowledge is instrumental especially in the ritual field. The making of ritual objects including vegetal elements, such as the bouquet of the four species and the Sukkot hut, requires the observance of a certain number of rules, such as identifying each of the four species, ensuring that its freshness is maintained throughout the festival, etc. The most interesting phenomenon to study with regard to this traditional knowledge is the way in which it is enriched, and not deprived, by the progress of science. In my paper I will present the case of the citron, etrog, in terms of how contemporary biological research is helping the practice of ritual. The etrog is the species that, among the four that must compose the ritual bouquet, raises the most questions about its production and preservation. The work of the researcher Eliezer E. GOLDSCHMIDT, a specialist in plant genetics, will be used as a starting point for an anthropology of Jewish knowledge at the crossroads of the past and the present.