Emerging Ethnobiologists: Tofino 2010

1st Pre-Congress Workshop for Emerging Ethnobiologists

“Cultivating Mindfulness in Research”

8 – 9 May 2010, Clayoquot Field Station, Tofino Botanical Gardens, Canada

Mentors

Kelly Bannister (University of Victoria)

Jenne de Beer (NTFP Exchange Program -South and Southeast Asia)

Josie Osborne (Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation)

Florence James (Penelekut First Nation elder)

Lisa Price (Wageningen University)

Will McClatchey (Botanical Research Institute of Texas)

Ina Vandebroek ( The New York Botanical Gardens)

Bernard Moizo (Institut de Rechercher pour le Développement)

Maui Solomon (Moriori Maori barrister)

Yih-Ren Lin (Research Centre of Austronesian Peoples)

Carol Anne Hilton (Cawaaknis Consulting, Hesquiaht First Nation)

Bobo Kadiri (University of Dschang)

Andrea Pieroni (University of Gastronomic Science)

Valerie McClatcheyEdmond Dounias (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement)

Gary Martin (Global Diversity Foundation)

Gisella Cruz (ISE student representative)

Cultivating Mindfulness in Research

Ethnobiological research draws on perspectives and methods from many disciplines such as linguistics, anthropology, taxonomy, ecology, pharmacology, archaeology and others. Regardless of their disciplinary approach, ethnobiologists are key intermediaries between scientific and Indigenous cultures. Their research facilitates access to and use of traditional knowledge and associated biological resources, leading to a diversity of positive and negative outcomes, some intentional and some unintentional.

Mindfulness, a vigilant willingness to evaluate one’s own understandings, actions, and responsibilities to others, is central to the ISE Code of Ethics which advocates for equitable and ethical research relationships. Mindfulness is also essential to guarding against misappropriation of traditional knowledge and ensuring that any use of traditional knowledge, including that with positive conservation, health, economic, and other benefits, is done in respectful and culturally-appropriate ways that benefit, and do not harm, the communities involved. In this way, Ethnobiological research can help to support the interrelationships between biological and cultural diversity.

The workshop aims to create the first ‘International Network of Emerging Ethnobiologists’. This network, and connections made by participants in this Workshop, will help to access a global pool of knowledge, develop comparative perspectives on key social, cultural and environmental issues, and may lead to diverse international collaborative research opportunities.