Cross-cultural Conflicts in Fire Management in Northern Australia: Not so Black and White

dc.contributor.authorAndersen, Alanen_US
dc.coverage.countryAustraliaen_US
dc.coverage.regionPacific and Australiaen_US
dc.coverage.regionEuropeen_US
dc.date.accessioned2009-07-31T14:52:39Z
dc.date.available2009-07-31T14:52:39Z
dc.date.issued1999en_US
dc.date.submitted2008-09-02en_US
dc.date.submitted2008-09-02en_US
dc.description.abstract"European ('scientific') and Aboriginal ('experiential') perspectives on fire management in northern Australia are often contrasted with each other. For Europeans, management is portrayed as a science-based, strategically directed and goal-oriented exercise aimed at achieving specific ecological outcomes. In contrast, landscape burning by Aboriginal people is more of an emergent property, diffusely arising from many uses of fire that serve social, cultural, and spiritual, as well as ecological, needs. Aboriginal knowledge is acquired through tradition and personal experience, rather than through the scientific paradigm of hypothesis testing. Here I argue that, in practice, science plays only a marginal role in European fire management in northern Australia. European managers often lack clearly defined goals in terms of land management outcomes, and rarely monitor the ecological effects of their management actions. Management is based primarily on tradition, intuition, and personal experience rather than on scientific knowledge, and there is often a reluctance to accept new information, particularly when it is provided by 'outsiders.' In these ways, the processes by which European land managers acquire and utilize information are actually similar to those of indigenous Australians, and can be considered characteristic of a management culture. In this context, the conventional European vs. Aboriginal contrast might be more accurately described as a conflict between scientists on one hand and land managers in general, both black and white, on the other. That is not to say that science has all the answers and that researchers always deliver useful research outcomes. Cultural tensions between Australia's colonists and its original inhabitants rank highly on the national agenda, particularly in relation to land access and ownership. For the effective management of such land, another difficult but rewarding challenge lies in reconciling tensions between the cultures of science and management, black and white."en_US
dc.identifier.citationjournalEcology and Societyen_US
dc.identifier.citationmonthJuneen_US
dc.identifier.citationnumber1en_US
dc.identifier.citationvolume3en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10535/2685
dc.subjectAboriginesen_US
dc.subjectadaptive systemsen_US
dc.subjectconflicten_US
dc.subjectindigenous institutionsen_US
dc.subjectfire ecologyen_US
dc.subjectland tenure and useen_US
dc.subject.sectorSocial Organizationen_US
dc.subject.sectorLand Tenure & Useen_US
dc.titleCross-cultural Conflicts in Fire Management in Northern Australia: Not so Black and Whiteen_US
dc.typeJournal Articleen_US
dc.type.publishedpublisheden_US

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