Tzotzil Maya Folkbiology: A Cultural Account of Difference

Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN

Investigators

Abstract

0216762 Ross This project studies the interaction between culture, activity-related expertise about the natural world, and the structure, content and intra-community distribution of folk biological knowledge. The study community is the Tzotzil Maya township of Zinacantan, Chiapas, Mexico. The research will explore the effects of the many economic and social changes that have occurred in the community in recent times on the distribution and content of folk biological knowledge. Several sets of formal tasks will be accomplished exploring the content, organization and distribution of knowledge about plants and animals as well as local religious rituals. In addition the PI will engage in ethnographic studies of daily life, informal interviews and surveys. The results will be compared with data from previous studies, to assess the changes (any observed loss of factual knowledge about the environment will be compared to any observed loss of religious knowledge). This research will contribute to our understanding of the nature of cognitive models in human populations, their stability and sources of variability. The wider impacts will include the training of local students in social science research methods.