عنوان

Biodiversity and Sacred Sites:

Number

LA129494

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Biodiversity and Sacred Sites:

General Material Designation

[Article]

Other Title Information

Vernacular Conservation Practices in Northwest Yunnan, China

First Statement of Responsibility

Christopher Hakkenberg

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill

Text of Note

Biodiversity conservation strategies around the world have been criticized when the goals of international organizations clash with the needs and traditions of local people. While the characterization of global conservation initiatives as a clash between scientifically-informed environmental policies and indigenous knowledge may retain discursive value in explaining the interaction of contending epistemologies, it is nonetheless an over-simplification of a dynamic, complicated and sometimes opaque and contradictory process. This paper sheds light on some of the conservation programs in southwest China as a case where these seemingly distinct knowledge regimes lie not in stark contrast, but in fact coexist within a localized discourse on biological and cultural diversity. In the example of the sacred site tradition of northwest Yunnan, disparate knowledge regimes have been negotiated and reinterpreted at the local, and even individual level to form dynamic and unique motivations for a conservation ethic. In this negotiation of indigenous and global epistemologies, classic distinctions separating global and local interests prove erroneous, or at the very least, unnecessary. Biodiversity conservation strategies around the world have been criticized when the goals of international organizations clash with the needs and traditions of local people. While the characterization of global conservation initiatives as a clash between scientifically-informed environmental policies and indigenous knowledge may retain discursive value in explaining the interaction of contending epistemologies, it is nonetheless an over-simplification of a dynamic, complicated and sometimes opaque and contradictory process. This paper sheds light on some of the conservation programs in southwest China as a case where these seemingly distinct knowledge regimes lie not in stark contrast, but in fact coexist within a localized discourse on biological and cultural diversity. In the example of the sacred site tradition of northwest Yunnan, disparate knowledge regimes have been negotiated and reinterpreted at the local, and even individual level to form dynamic and unique motivations for a conservation ethic. In this negotiation of indigenous and global epistemologies, classic distinctions separating global and local interests prove erroneous, or at the very least, unnecessary.

Date of Publication

2008

Physical description

74-90

Title

Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology

Volume Number

12/1

International Standard Serial Number

1568-5357

Subject Term

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

Subject Term

CHINA

Subject Term

GLOBALIZATION

Subject Term

INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE

Subject Term

NORTHWEST YUNNAN

Subject Term

SACRED GEOGRAPHY

Christopher Hakkenberg

Call Number

10.1163/156853508X276842

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y