Periodic Reporting for period 4 - LOCAL KNOWLEDGE (Local Ecologies of Knowledge: Towards a Philosophy of Ethnobiology)
Berichtszeitraum: 2024-08-01 bis 2025-01-31
The world is grappling with a range of deeply interconnected challenges—from the rapid loss of biodiversity and the degradation of soils to unsustainable models of food production. Effectively addressing these crises demands collaborative efforts that span disciplinary boundaries and engage a wide array of knowledge holders, from laboratory scientists to Indigenous communities. The project Local Ecologies of Knowledge is rooted in this conviction. It brings together diverse actors and foregrounds the ecological knowledge held by local communities.
Through the ethnobiological documentation of local understandings of plants, animals, and ecosystems, the project fosters new forms of dialogue and cooperation. These interactions open up novel strategies for confronting global environmental issues, grounded in both scientific insight and community-based experience. As an interdisciplinary team of philosophers, natural scientists, and social scientists, we have established close collaborations with small-scale fishing communities in Siribinha and Poças (Brazil), as well as with a range of partners in Chiapas and Oaxaca (Mexico).
These partnerships have generated a wide variety of initiatives. Practically, we have co-designed initiatives that recognize the expertise of local communities and respond to their everyday socio-ecological challenges. For instance, we have co-created educational materials that integrate local ecological knowledge into school curricula, helping to preserve and pass on biocultural traditions. We have also produced a policy brief advocating for the inclusion of fishers' experiential knowledge in fisheries governance and have supported grassroots environmental initiatives. On the academic side, we have critically examined the multiple knowledge systems at play in these collaborations and how scientists and local communities can develop meaningful dialogues.
Through the ethnobiological documentation of local understandings of plants, animals, and ecosystems, the project fosters new forms of dialogue and cooperation. These interactions open up novel strategies for confronting global environmental issues, grounded in both scientific insight and community-based experience. As an interdisciplinary team of philosophers, natural scientists, and social scientists, we have established close collaborations with small-scale fishing communities in Siribinha and Poças (Brazil), as well as with a range of partners in Chiapas and Oaxaca (Mexico).
These partnerships have generated a wide variety of initiatives. Practically, we have co-designed initiatives that recognize the expertise of local communities and respond to their everyday socio-ecological challenges. For instance, we have co-created educational materials that integrate local ecological knowledge into school curricula, helping to preserve and pass on biocultural traditions. We have also produced a policy brief advocating for the inclusion of fishers' experiential knowledge in fisheries governance and have supported grassroots environmental initiatives. On the academic side, we have critically examined the multiple knowledge systems at play in these collaborations and how scientists and local communities can develop meaningful dialogues.
The Local Ecologies of Knowledge project has generated a broad spectrum of academic and public contributions that cut across disciplinary boundaries and societal sectors.
On the academic side, we have brought together empirical research and philosophical inquiry to deepen the understanding of knowledge diversity. Our empirical work has focused on documenting the ethnobiological knowledge held by local communities, including culturally specific classifications of animals and nuanced explanations of ecological relationships and phenomena. This work captures the richness and sophistication of community-based understandings of the natural world.
Philosophically, we have explored how these different knowledge systems represent distinct yet equally valuable forms of expertise. We have reflected critically on how divergent worldviews—rooted in place, history, and cultural practice—can be productively engaged, and how disagreements or epistemic tensions might be negotiated rather than erased.
This integrated approach has led to several philosophical contributions that:
(a) advance the concept of epistemic justice, emphasizing fair and respectful engagement between scientific and local knowledge traditions;
(b) contribute to the development of novel transdisciplinary methods that make co-creation of knowledge meaningful and equitable in real-world contexts; and
(c) offer a more nuanced understanding of the political ecology underlying socio-ecological conflicts, shedding light on how knowledge, power, and environmental change intersect.
These academic insights have directly informed a wide range of applied and public interventions. For example, we have collaborated with community members to co-develop educational materials that incorporate local ecological knowledge into school curricula, thereby supporting both cultural continuity and ecological awareness. We have also engaged in policy advocacy, promoting environmental policies that are more responsive to the needs, voices, and knowledge systems of local communities.
In addition, we have convened multi-stakeholder workshops in places such as Oaxaca (Mexico) and Salvador (Brazil), creating inclusive spaces for dialogue and collaboration among scholars, farmers, Indigenous leaders, fishers, and activists. These meetings have fostered mutual learning and forged new alliances for socio-environmental action. We have also organized public lecture series on complex, politically charged topics such as decolonization, with the goal of enabling deliberation across diverse and often unequal publics.
The impact of the project is also reflected in its scholarly output. To date, the team has produced over 20 peer-reviewed articles published in leading journals spanning philosophy and empirical sciences. These contributions are brought together and further developed in our forthcoming monograph, Transformative Transdisciplinarity: An Introduction to Community-Based Philosophy, to be published by Oxford University Press in August 2025.
On the academic side, we have brought together empirical research and philosophical inquiry to deepen the understanding of knowledge diversity. Our empirical work has focused on documenting the ethnobiological knowledge held by local communities, including culturally specific classifications of animals and nuanced explanations of ecological relationships and phenomena. This work captures the richness and sophistication of community-based understandings of the natural world.
Philosophically, we have explored how these different knowledge systems represent distinct yet equally valuable forms of expertise. We have reflected critically on how divergent worldviews—rooted in place, history, and cultural practice—can be productively engaged, and how disagreements or epistemic tensions might be negotiated rather than erased.
This integrated approach has led to several philosophical contributions that:
(a) advance the concept of epistemic justice, emphasizing fair and respectful engagement between scientific and local knowledge traditions;
(b) contribute to the development of novel transdisciplinary methods that make co-creation of knowledge meaningful and equitable in real-world contexts; and
(c) offer a more nuanced understanding of the political ecology underlying socio-ecological conflicts, shedding light on how knowledge, power, and environmental change intersect.
These academic insights have directly informed a wide range of applied and public interventions. For example, we have collaborated with community members to co-develop educational materials that incorporate local ecological knowledge into school curricula, thereby supporting both cultural continuity and ecological awareness. We have also engaged in policy advocacy, promoting environmental policies that are more responsive to the needs, voices, and knowledge systems of local communities.
In addition, we have convened multi-stakeholder workshops in places such as Oaxaca (Mexico) and Salvador (Brazil), creating inclusive spaces for dialogue and collaboration among scholars, farmers, Indigenous leaders, fishers, and activists. These meetings have fostered mutual learning and forged new alliances for socio-environmental action. We have also organized public lecture series on complex, politically charged topics such as decolonization, with the goal of enabling deliberation across diverse and often unequal publics.
The impact of the project is also reflected in its scholarly output. To date, the team has produced over 20 peer-reviewed articles published in leading journals spanning philosophy and empirical sciences. These contributions are brought together and further developed in our forthcoming monograph, Transformative Transdisciplinarity: An Introduction to Community-Based Philosophy, to be published by Oxford University Press in August 2025.
The project has broken new grounds in developing innovative methods that enable meaningful collaboration and mutual learning between local communities and academic researchers. These methods are grounded in the recognition that knowledge is not the exclusive domain of formal science. Instead, it is distributed across diverse traditions, practices, and ways of life. To be effective and just, collaborative approaches must acknowledge and respect different forms of expertise and create spaces for equitable dialogue—spaces where contrasting forms of knowledge, worldviews and values can be negotiated with care and reciprocity.
At the heart of this effort is the development of a synthesizing framework we call transformative transdisciplinarity. This framework brings together insights and practices from the natural sciences, social sciences, and community-based knowledge systems. It offers both a conceptual foundation and a practical orientation for cross-sectoral collaboration, emphasizing not only the co-production of knowledge but also its transformative potential.
This framework is elaborated in detail in our forthcoming monograph, Transformative Transdisciplinarity: An Introduction to Community-Based Philosophy, published by Oxford University Press, as well as in a series of targeted articles aimed at diverse academic audiences, including sustainability scientists, development researchers, and philosophers. Importantly, this framework has not been developed in isolation—it has been tested, refined, and co-developed through sustained engagement with communities in Brazil and Mexico. In these collaborations, we have worked closely with local partners to explore how theoretical reflection can be made relevant and responsive to the lived realities, aspirations, and struggles of communities on the frontlines of socio-environmental change.
These ongoing initiatives challenge conventional models of knowledge production about “global challenges.” Rather than treating communities as passive subjects of study or sources of raw data, we envision a future of research grounded in mutual respect, shared authority, and ethical co-creation. By modeling new forms of equitable dialogue and collaboration, the project offers a concrete contribution to reimagining how we address complex social-environmental issues in a plural and deeply interconnected world.
At the heart of this effort is the development of a synthesizing framework we call transformative transdisciplinarity. This framework brings together insights and practices from the natural sciences, social sciences, and community-based knowledge systems. It offers both a conceptual foundation and a practical orientation for cross-sectoral collaboration, emphasizing not only the co-production of knowledge but also its transformative potential.
This framework is elaborated in detail in our forthcoming monograph, Transformative Transdisciplinarity: An Introduction to Community-Based Philosophy, published by Oxford University Press, as well as in a series of targeted articles aimed at diverse academic audiences, including sustainability scientists, development researchers, and philosophers. Importantly, this framework has not been developed in isolation—it has been tested, refined, and co-developed through sustained engagement with communities in Brazil and Mexico. In these collaborations, we have worked closely with local partners to explore how theoretical reflection can be made relevant and responsive to the lived realities, aspirations, and struggles of communities on the frontlines of socio-environmental change.
These ongoing initiatives challenge conventional models of knowledge production about “global challenges.” Rather than treating communities as passive subjects of study or sources of raw data, we envision a future of research grounded in mutual respect, shared authority, and ethical co-creation. By modeling new forms of equitable dialogue and collaboration, the project offers a concrete contribution to reimagining how we address complex social-environmental issues in a plural and deeply interconnected world.