TEKW Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Wisdom

Web log #4

Entry 4

This paper, Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Aboriginal People in British Columbia is by Nancy Turner, an Ethnobotanist out of UBC. She looks at three main themes of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Wisdom (TEKW), sustainability, world view and communication of knowledge. She charts plant resources like edible mushrooms, seaweeds, alder and cedar and their harvesting practices. Then she takes a couple of specific examples (yellow avalanche lily and balsamroot) and traces the use, knowledge and history of the plant. It gives a non-native a food sense of the scope of knowledge held by Aboriginal Peoples.