"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
(LEARN8) Truth or (d)ie
When a myth dies, a condor is born.
Living knowledge -- its strength and vulnerability share the same beauty: it is not set in stone. Traditionally, this is not a favorable trait--ages of wisdom can be wiped away in the matter of a generation. At times, though, this vulnerability can be a strength.
Take for example the traditional, local knowledge among Andean farmers in regard to the largest flying land bird in the Western Hemisphere, the Andean Condor: kill it before it kills the livestock. You see, the Andean Condor is a scavenger that prefers to feed on large carca**** such as those of cattle that are killed by natural predators like the Andean cat. What farmers see, though, is a completely different story. They don't see the cat in its act; they see the the condor and the aftermath. And through deductive reasoning, presume the condor is the culprit. Eyes can be deceiving, though, and as a result, this misconception has fed a knowledge base among farmers that has spelled trouble for the now endangered Andean Condor.
In this case, one hopes that such living knowledge would just die.
Which is exactly what those who know differently are trying to make happen in cultivating the truth. The estate of a former President of Ecuador, Galo Plaza Lasso, has been a huge part of making such efforts a success. Lasso was a farmer at heart who educated himself about practices more suitable for the local ecosystem, and his estate, Hacienda Zuleta, has carried on the tradition in educating others. This is what I had to share about the estate at the time of my visit last summer:
"Though a private estate, Hacienda Zuleta was not necessarily private, meaning that it was seamlessly integrated with the community around and within it. It was the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a large “business” supporting and developing the local community in the interest of the community. Furthermore, it was not exploiting the land of which it encompassed; practices of sustainable agriculture along with revitalization and reforestation projects (not to mention conservation efforts of different animal species, including the endangered condor) were a marvel to see. Not to mention the land contained former indigenous ritual burial mounds, none of which the hacienda has ever excavated."
It was there that I learned of the myth of the condor. And how ignorance can kill so much more than the truth. Fortunately, there is a new tradition forming among Andean farmers, and Hacienda Zuleta is carrying on the message.
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Challenge/Intrigue: Upon arriving home last summer, I learned from my parents of such mis-perceptions in my own culture, such as how multiflora rose was introduced in the US as a savior for soil conservation, a natural hedge to border grazing land, and to attract wildlife--while in fact it has merely just been a ruckus to local species. What are examples of mis-perceptions in your culture that hide the truth, where new wisdom would serve better? Would love to hear them.
Views: 84
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Comment by Ken Eklund on April 29, 2010 at 12:49am
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Wow, Paul, I think these mis-perceptions are everywhere. Quite literally, everything we know is wrong (or to be less dramatic, incomplete). I know I operate principally by "doing things that seem to work" and I tend to keep doing them as long as they seem to work.
So, to pick one among many targets: "SUVs are safer." It seems that way, when you're in one. But actually it's less safe for you and for everyone around you, the statistics are pretty plain.
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Comment by Michele Baron on April 29, 2010 at 3:02am
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good post, Paul. This is probably much less serious than you intended, but one percetion shared by many cultures focuses on sneezing.. some believe the eyes close, the sneeze occurs, and the "devil" can rush in to the body when you inhale afterward--and so they say "bless you, gesundheit, sante... " . In some places I have been, mothers push upon the soft spots (I wouldn't recommend this, and talked to moms I knew who did this) of their infants' and young children's heads when they sneeze; other places in the world seem to have an automatic kind of hand gesture made when someone sneezes-- people say sneezing kills brain cells, and, if you are like I am, you need those brain cells, so, hey, if you feel a sneeze coming on, look at a bright light, and it will stop ... :)
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Comment by Paul Holze on April 29, 2010 at 5:06am
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Enjoyed both of your examples, particularly your point about the tendency to keep doing things as long as they seem to work, Ken, and the nuances you shared, Michele, about our habits with sneezing. I never knew any of those things before, not even why I was saying "bless you" :)
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Comment by Shakwei Mbindyo on April 29, 2010 at 8:33am
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I like @Ken's very dramatic everything we know is wrong :). Some misconceptions that I find in my work in health in Africa are quite diverse and are based on culture, fear, lack of knowlege etc. For example childhood malaria (which is a #1 killer) is caused by drinking cold milk which means even if "believers" have a mosquito net, they would not use it. +LI
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Comment by Buffy B on April 29, 2010 at 5:32pm
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Hi Paul, good one! Just because something is considered 'normal', doesn't mean it's correct only that the majority think/act/look etc in that manner...
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Comment by Agbogun James Otejiri on April 30, 2010 at 4:30pm
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Misconceptions of this nature could also be benefitial.
Landmarks and Evil Forests are rampant in Southern Nigeria. They are found scatered all over major cities. People are warned of the wrath of going into such places, hence spontaneous forest reserves that usually contain giant trees that could be upto over hundred years of age.
Certain plants and Animals are forbiden in some localities. They would say eating them could lead to ailment or death. Such practices actually protected them. This is evident Igun Village of Delta state of Nigeria where, Eating of snail is said to be followed with high calamity. This claim has resulted in the flourishing of this "molusc" in the forest of that village.
Also in the same village, it is believed that the male children or the husband of a woman shall be greeted with sudden death if she fornicated. This was also effective in checking the act.
But there is another twist to this. Consider the following:
"A man is not a man simply because he patrols an Okro's sprout" Is a Parable which tend to question the belief of the Ibo people of Eastern Nigeria, that ascribe the title of weakling to a man who ventured to the cultivation of the okra plant instead of yam that was reserved for men. Even though it could be more lucrative cultivating the former.
I lived at least two years of my childhood in the village. In those days, we were required to eat a cassava meal called "Egun" which contained wooden fibres that tend to interact with the Oesophagus as if they were spines. But there was a more tasty well sieved alternative called "Ipicor" reserved for adults. When we demanded for th latter, we were threatened with special rituals that involve using it to hit the grinding stone seven times before it could be eaten by a child. Today, children harmlessly eat "Ipico" in big cities without any ritual. It became clear that "Ipicor" was more Expensive than "Egun."
The advocates of Female Genital mutilation in Africa are of the position that such practice reduces promiscuity.
As explained by Shakwei Mbindyo, Farmers in Rural places of Africa prefer to stick to the old and crude farming methods they inherited from their Ancestors even when there is an alternative that would ensure improved yields. If you ask them they would tell you their Ancestors survived on such old practices.
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Comment by Victor Udoewa on May 1, 2010 at 6:18pm
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We have tons regarding public health.
Sleeping with virgins cure AIDS.
Condoms give you AIDS.
Condoms have h***s in them that can transmit HIV.
A man is like an axe; he's meant to be borrowed (gender roles that contribute to propagation of HIV).
A boy is more valuable than a girl.
A man is not a real man if he uses protection (it's not real intercourse).
Some people don't take medicines preferring sangomas/witch doctors as the real thing.
etc.
The list goes on and on.
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All of everyone's examples are very profound (and Agbogun, I enjoyed your perspective & twist). Everything considered, all of this has brought back into the light something I remember studying in the past: spiral dynamics. In detail, it is a model that echoes a pattern found in human development--mainly, our development of values and motivation. In short, it is an understanding of people and what drives our actions.
It removes judgment and instead opens a door for understanding (and hence, change or mobilization is able to occur) because you see where someone is coming from. The following is a link to a limited preview of the book written by the researchers who developed it (one of whom worked heavily during the end of apartheid in South Africa applying what he knew in helping communities start to reconcile and build).
http://books.google.com/books?id=ibIPHOsOJbwC&dq=spiral+dynamic...
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