Ethnobotany, Institutional Ethnography, and the Knowledge of Ruling Relations

Abstract

Important debates have arisen about commodification of knowledge as intellectualproperty and collective knowledge as public knowledge. New international trade ruleshave resulted in the exploitation and patent of centuries-old traditional Indigenousknowledges for the benefit of corporate profit (Shrybman, 1999). In view of exploitivetrade rules, it is ever more evident that ethnographic research must be conductedresponsibly and that it be accountable for the kinds of knowledge it produces orreproduces. Dorothy Smith's (2006) institutional ethnography (IE) and NancyTurner's ethnobotany (EB) are starting points for my inquiry into the socialorganization of knowledge. Institutional ethnography and ethnobotany considered inparallel lead to some interesting possibilities for how we can understand the humancondition as both natural and historical, and also for how we might inquire moreresponsibly into social "reality" by incorporating lessons that traditional ecologicalknowledge has to teach.