Methodological Diversity and Reflexivity in Ethnobiological Research

Abstract

This chapter aims to synthesize some considerations about the different ways of working in ethnobiology based on the papers presented at the workshop “Methodologies in Ethnobiological Research: Reflections on Scientific Work with Others in the Territory” during the III Jornadas Argentinas de Etnobiología y Sociedad. The main intention is to develop some examples of the diversity of methodological concerns that emerge in research and the relationships established by ethnobiologists during fieldwork and their implications, as well as to explore the possible assemblage of approaches, knowledges, and objectives. For this purpose, the analysis was conducted along three inquiry lines related to the different kinds of relationships that develop in ethnobiological work: symmetry in research methodologies, the construction of new ways of doing science in connection with sectors related to governmental management or other disciplinary affiliations, and questioning the status given to nonhumans that are part of research. This meeting has left us with new ideas, questions, and concerns to continue deepening the interfaces and dialogs between disciplines and diverse formative trajectories, between alternative forms of intervention on reality and ways of working (research, extension, management, teaching), as well as between different knowledges (legitimated/scientific and folk).