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Wetlands have gained tremendous importance since the 1970s, both in scientific discussion and in government policy discourse. The Ramsar Convention provided some clarity in definitions of wetlands and their natural and social significance. However, the current scientific understanding of wetlands was constructed in the centers of knowledge production in the West. One of the consequences has been that local knowledge of wetlands has been obscured or ignored altogether. This research uses methods of historical archaeology, ethnography, and archival work to explore the Anlo's local knowledge of wetlands in Ghana. Anlo local knowledge includes unique forms of wetland ownership arrangements, appropriate management approaches, and so-called atsidza are used as epistemic tools. Bryan Norton's conceptual framework of adaptive management gives an important role to local experimentation and is therefore seen as a key tool for sustainable management. Adaptive management is understood as anlo-style consensus-building management to appropriately incorporate local knowledge and western science into wetland management. The concept of adaptive management is modified accordingly to integrate postcolonial studies of knowledge production and thus can also contribute to the critical analysis of the integration of local knowledge, which has tended to be underestimated or even ignored in postcolonial theories.
This Master’s thesis research investigates how and if sharing authority is happening through a participatory exhibit, specifically by critically analyzing the Community Altar (CA) exhibit at Denver Botanic Gardens (DBG) from 2018. This case was selected partly due to the proliferation of Día de los Muertos exhibits and related celebrations occurring in museums steadily since the 1970s, particularly in a United States context. The context of working with this intangible cultural heritage practice brings up interesting questions in light of intensifying discussions in museum management surrounding equity and sharing authority. Furthermore, methods for examining how to share authority—particularly through participatory exhibit design with local communities and cultural heritage—remain lightly explored from theoretical perspectives. Through a qualitative content analysis, this research assesses results from exhibit planning documents and in-person interviews with CA participants and DBG staff members. Ultimately, this research suggests that in order to initiate sharing authority between CA exhibit participants and DBG, empowerment through “transformative participation” needs to occur (White, 1996). The planning structure of the CA exhibit should empower involved community members and DBG staff to co-produce exhibit elements in a co-creative way. A discussion around what empowerment means is offered in the end of the study, including that DBG staff can further support Community Altars participants in utilizing lived experience(s) as curatorial authority.
The essays in this volume were created in the courses “Philosophy of Technology and Nature” over two semesters from 2018 to 2020. Students in these courses were enrolled in different study programs and they came from countries all over the world. In lectures and seminars we discussed the different imaginaries of technology and nature, the history of this relation, and the various conceptualizations particularly those of the Western world. The idea of “Nature as Wilderness” did, and still does so, take an important place in this cultural setting. We discussed a chapter from the seminal book of William Cronnon, The Trouble with Wilderness (1996), before entering in our writing experiment. Students were asked to write an essay of three pages maximum about the topic “My Wilderness”, based on the methodology of creative writing that was presented and discussed at length. Students had one week to produce their piece and in the following session we had a kind of play reading that is students presented the texts of their mates. After this event, the texts were carefully revised and images added.