Ethnobotany genomics - discovery and innovation in a new era of exploratory research

We present here the first use of DNA barcoding in a new approach to ethnobotany we coined "ethnobotany genomics". This new approach is founded on the concept of 'assemblage' of biodiversity knowledge, which includes a coming together of different ways of knowing and valorizing species variation in a novel approach seeking to add value to both traditional knowledge (TK) and scientific knowledge (SK). We employed contemporary genomic technology, DNA barcoding, as an important tool for identifying cryptic species, which were already recognized ethnotaxa using the TK classification systems of local cultures in the Velliangiri Hills of India. This research is based on several case studies in our lab, which define an approach to that is poised to evolve quickly with the advent of new ideas and technology. Our results show that DNA barcoding validated several new cryptic plant species to science that were previously recognized by TK classifications of the Irulas and Malasars, and were lumped using SK classification. The contribution of the local aboriginal knowledge concerning plant diversity and utility in India is considerable; our study presents new ethnomedicine to science. Ethnobotany genomics can also be used to determine the distribution of rare species and their ecological requirements, including traditional ecological knowledge so that conservation strategies can be implemented. This is aligned with the Convention on Biological Diversity that was signed by over 150 nations, and thus the world's complex array of human-natural-technological relationships has effectively been re-organized

A Complexity Thinking Take on Thinking in the University

Universities are explicitly sites of thinking: they present myriad ways to think – and to provoke thinking. We address thinking relationally, that is, by doing it under provocation – it is in the doing of thinking that our learning emerges. In this chapter, we develop the significance of this ‘learning thinking by doing thinking’ to which Heidegger, in What is Called Thinking (1954) draws attention, and we do so by setting out a contemporary account of complexity. First, we provide a theorisation of complexity, which comes across from the natural sciences to the social sciences, though in a somewhat different form. Secondly, we put this theorisation to work, in raising some challenges and opportunities for re-thinking thinking for universities, by tackling some of the big issues facing learning in universities. These include excessive individualism, narrow cognitivism and an emaciated notion of learners’ agency, all of which under-acknowledge the formative power of groups, especially for shaping subsequent professional practice broadly conceived. We close with some practical implications for universities’ core work of this complexity thinking ‘take’ on thinking. We advocate ‘thinking relationally’ as central and indeed constitutive of universities. strengths of this internalist view, limited as it may be. The thinking university may  ..

Mind your plate! The ontonorms of Dutch dieting

In the Netherlands as elsewhere, the overriding message of most dieting advice is that a person who wants to lose weight needs to overrule the desires of her craving body. Her mind has to put itself in a sovereign position and make ‘good choices’ about what to eat. But there are many ways of doing so. Linking up with different traditions within nutrition science, different dieting techniques enact different versions of food and concern themselves with different bodies. The ideals they strive after and the dangers they warn against are different, too. In short, they incorporate different ontonorms. At the same time, in all the ‘mind your plate’ advice, however varied, bodies figure as endowed with a nature that is problematic under the present cultural circumstances. This is in contrast with advice to ‘enjoy your food’, that targets a body that is not naturally given, but deserves to be cultivated. As I bring out the details of the discrepancies between the ontonorms embedded in different kinds of dieting advice, the term ‘ontonorms’ serves as a methodological tool. It helps to focus the analysis. But this article does not provide a ‘theory of ontonorms’, instead it argues for theoretical fluidity and specificity