Abstract
In this article, we present some analytical reflections involving the incorporation of Tim Ingold’s theoretical background in ethnosciences. To this end, we make use of an ethnoecological study that we have developed among quilombolas (Maroons) from Southeast Brazil. Ingold states in his approach that praxis, perception and human environmental knowledge cannot be treated as disconnected concepts. Here, we discuss three ways of incorporating the Ingoldian approach in ethnoscience: (1) as an explanatory model of the general patterns present in local repertories of knowledge; (2) as a hypothesis to be tested empirically; and (3) as a theoretical background to analyze the process of knowledge constitution in practice. In this respect, knowledge is conceptualized phenomenologically, which implies a qualitative-ethnographic record of its manifestation in the environmental experience of individuals. To conclude, we highlight the still incipient problematization of Ingoldian insights in ethnoscientific research, which can be difficult in Brazil, where ethnoscience is mainly a branch of biology, rather than of anthropology, as in Europe and the USA.
Keywords
Ethnosciences; Tim Ingold. Praxis; Ethnographic approach; Ethnoecology; Quilombolas