Comigrants and friends : informal networks and the transmission of traditional ecological knowledge among seminomadic pastoralists of Gujarat, India
Salpeteur, Matthieu (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Patel, Hanoz (Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. Department of Anthropology)
Molina, José Luis (Molina González) (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Antropologia Social i Cultural)
Balbo, Andrea L. (Universität Hamburg. Centrum für Erdsystemforschung und Nachhaltigkeit)
Rubio-Campillo, Xavier (Barcelona Supercomputing Center)
Reyes-García, Victoria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Madella, Marco (Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats)

Date:	2016
Abstract:	Previous research has shown that social organization may affect the distribution of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) within local communities of natural resource users in multiple ways. However, in this line of research the potential role of informal relationships has mostly been overlooked. In this article, we contribute toward filling this research gap by studying how two types of informal relationships, namely migration partnership and friendship, affect the distribution of TEK within a community of seminomadic pastoralists from the Kutch area, Gujarat, India. Using social network analysis, we map three networks, migration, men friendship, and women friendship, and compare with similarity-based quantitative approaches the clusters extracted from these networks in relation to four domains of TEK: knowledge about soils, about ethnoveterinary practices, about sheep breeds, and in ethnobotany. Our results show that (1) migration clusters are associated to significant variations in three TEK domains, while (2) friendship clusters are associated to minor variations. We relate these results to the importance of common practical experiences involved by joint migration. Moreover, kin relations are shown to strongly underlie friendship and migration relations, and as such appear as a potential driver of the dynamics of the local TEK system. We conclude by advocating for a better inclusion of such informal relationships in future research on local TEK dynamics, following recent developments in studies on natural resource governance.
Grants:	Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CSD2010-00034
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552
Rights:	Tots els drets reservats.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Friendship ; India ; Informal relationships ; Migration ; Pastoralists ; Rabari ; Social network analysis ; Social organization ; Traditional ecological knowledge
Published in:	Ecology and society, Vol. 21, issue 2 (2016) , art. 20, ISSN 1708-3087

DOI: 10.5751/ES-08332-210220

11 p, 1.3 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Social and Legal Sciences > Research Group on Fundamental and Oriented Anthropology (GRAFO)
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles