Soil ethnoecology

Sillitoe, Paul

Abstract

This chapter takes on the complexities in understanding the Indigenous Knowledge about soils, ‘ethnopedology’. This is a type of Indigenous Knowledge that has received relatively little attention, unlike ethnobotany or ethnozoology. The author’s research focuses on the Wola speakers of the Southern Highlands Province in the mountains of Papua New Guinea. The most widely cultivated soil types in Wolaland are Inceptisols and Andisols (derived from the sedimentary rock), dominated by volcanic ash, with some alluvial re-deposition. Elaborating on the Wola soil classification system, the chapter warns about the danger of uncritically imposing a scientific model of soil science on what we think we understand of others’ knowledge and distorting it. It examines the contrasts between the ‘scientific’ soil management and the management of soils according to the Wola farmers. It is argued that the Wola soil management keeps cultivation in sustainable equilibrium with soil resources, so long as the appropriate fallow time is observed.

Citation

Sillitoe, P. (2021). Soil ethnoecology. In T. F. Thornton, & S. Bhagwat (Eds.), Handbook of indigenous environmental knowledge : global themes and practice. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315270845-8

• Online Publication Date: Nov 29, 2020
• Publication Date: 2021
• Deposit Date: Sep 17, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: May 29, 2022
• Publisher: Routledge
• Book Title: Handbook of indigenous environmental knowledge : global themes and practice.
• ISBN: 9781138280915
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315270845-8
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1627283