The dynamic use of biodiversity richness in the Bribri Indigenous Territory
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Date
2020
Authors
Rodriguez Valencia, Mariana
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Abstract
This research took place in two Bribri indigenous communities situated on the border
between Costa Rica and Panama. Indigenous Peoples, including Bribri people, are
often portrayed as holders of a body of traditional knowledge, the loss of which is
measured by their declining use of biodiversity. As much has been written on this, in this
thesis, I chose to use a strength-based framing and focus on the Bribri as skillful and
creative agents. I investigated how Bribri people use the biodiversity richness of their
territory to adapt to a changing environment. This is not to deny the outside impacts
produced by globalized change, but to reveal the strategies used by Bribri people for
responding to a dynamic environment and being resilient instead of being the passive
subjects of shocks and disruptors. I did this through the following research questions:
1) Is the narrative of decline and loss in biodiversity richness, measured against
what was used in at some point in the past the only way to think about the
relationship between Bribri People and the biodiversity of their territory?
2) How have Bribri people drawn upon their social ecological memory to respond to
the invasion of fungal pathogens in their commercial lands?
3) How can stakeholders and researchers co-produce livelihood opportunities by
drawing upon the capabilities of Bribri cacao agroforestry systems?
To answer these questions, I used three areas of literature: ethnobiology, resilience,
and co-production of knowledge. The qualitative approach I used for data collection
consisted of conducting participant observation, life history interviews, semi-structured
interviews, and transect walks. My results suggest that Bribri actively express their
agency in responding to a dynamic environment by; 1) reconfiguring their use of
biodiversity to meet livelihood needs, 2) negotiating causes of environmental change, 3)
accessing biological materials and social memory to reorganize following a disturbance,
4) drawing upon the capabilities of their biocultural heritage to meet contemporary
livelihoods and lay the foundation for meaningful futures. Thesis findings have
relevance for the Bribri people as their strengths, agency, and creativity are highlighted
as they produce knowledge through their responses to a dynamic environment.
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Keywords
Resilience thinking, Biocultural design, Social-ecological memory, Biodiversity use, Bribri Indigenous People
Citation
APA