The cultural context of biodiversity conservation - Oapen

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Fig. 5.20 The son of an informant carrying talquetzal
The cultural context of biodiversity conservation
In general, knowledge is shared and communicated orally and through performance.
This educational path has been termed by Gómez (2006) as ›experiential learning‹.
Within the defined social network, every member of the community and every child in
the family has particular obligations. Learning begins at a very early age, so that the
children may discover their gifts and qualities and be trained for the role they will undertake
in their personal and community lives. Usually, children at the age of six to
eight begin to join their parents in their specific labour domains. By accompanying
their fathers and other male relatives, young boys learn the basics of subsistence agriculture
and related activities, while girls observe their mothers, grandmothers and
elder sisters in their respective fields of domestic production. Children usually join
both of their parents in the forest when collecting timber and non-timber products
(Fig. 5.20). In this time they spend together, parents teach them to recognise tree and
crop species, identify edible plants, cut firewood and come to know the best woods
for house construction, etc. Growing up this way, by watching and imitating, children
acquire the specific capabilities tacitly, unobtrusively and unreflectively as part of their
socialisation. It is primarily a sensory way of learning as part of doing and recognising.
These experiences that shape the children's years of adolescence are the principal time
in which they attain their familiarity with the forest and when the foundation is laid
for their relationship with the natural world. However, the process of knowledge acquisition
is extended throughout their entire lives.