Law for Country: The Structure of Warlpiri Ecological Knowledge and Its Application to Natural Resource Management and Ecosystem Stewardship

dc.contributor.authorHolmes, Miles C. C.
dc.contributor.authorJampijinpa, Wanta
dc.coverage.countryAustraliaen_US
dc.coverage.regionPacific and Australiaen_US
dc.date.accessioned2013-11-12T16:24:59Z
dc.date.available2013-11-12T16:24:59Z
dc.date.issued2013en_US
dc.description.abstract"Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK) is deeply encoded in social processes. Our research shows that from an Indigenous perspective, IEK is a way of living whose core aim is to sustain the healthy functioning of people and country through relationships of reciprocity. However, IEK is often portrayed more prosaically as a body of knowledge about the environment. We introduce a framework, called ngurra-kurlu, that enables appreciation of indigenous perspectives on IEK. The framework was identified from the collaborative work of the authors with Warlpiri aboriginal elders in the Tanami Desert region of central Australia. Ngurra-kurlu facilitates cross-cultural understanding by distilling, from a complex cultural system, the five distinct conceptual categories that comprise IEK: law, skin, ceremony, language, and country. The framework enables engagement with nuanced environmental knowledge because it synthesizes, for cross-cultural audiences, all the key areas of knowledge and practice in which IEK is located. In particular, the framework highlights how social systems mediate the transmission, deployment, and regulation of environmental knowledge in on-ground situations, including collaborative natural resource management. Although the framework was generated in relation to one indigenous group, the epistemological structure of Warlpiri IEK is relevant throughout Australia, and the framework can be applied internationally to the emerging interest in fostering ecosystem stewardship in which the cultural connections between people and place are an integral part of ecosystems management."en_US
dc.identifier.citationjournalEcology and Societyen_US
dc.identifier.citationmonthSeptemberen_US
dc.identifier.citationnumber3en_US
dc.identifier.citationvolume18en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10535/9168
dc.languageEnglishen_US
dc.subjectanthropologyen_US
dc.subjectindigenous knowledgeen_US
dc.subjectsocial-ecological systemsen_US
dc.subjectnatural resourcesen_US
dc.subjectecosystemsen_US
dc.subjectland tenure and useen_US
dc.subject.sectorSocial Organizationen_US
dc.titleLaw for Country: The Structure of Warlpiri Ecological Knowledge and Its Application to Natural Resource Management and Ecosystem Stewardshipen_US
dc.typeJournal Articleen_US
dc.type.methodologyCase Studyen_US
dc.type.publishedpublisheden_US

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