The Politics of TEK: not knowledge but a way of life

Recommended reading:

• Hunters and Bureaucrats, by Paul Nadasdy, pages 1-146

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Here are some issues to consider for our discussion of the first section of Paul Nadasdy's book "Hunters and Bureaucrats"

1. What does Nadasdy mean that TEK is not really knowledge, but a way of life? What do you think of when you hear the term "knowledge"?

2. Nadasdy is very skeptical about the possibility of integrating TEK and science. Is such an integration possible? How might it be done in a way that doesn't leave some parties feeling dissatisfied with the process, as the Ruby Range Sheep Steering Committee seems to have done.

3. At one point, KFN members suggested biologists spend a year or so "in the bush" learning about Dall Sheep from an indigenous perspective.  Would that have resolved any of the issues that Nadasdy discussed?

4. On page 98 Nadasdy brings up the idea of "non-sentential" knowledge, which cannot be expressed in the linear forms demanded by language.  What point is he trying to make? Is this useful in understanding an Indigenous perspective?