Ethnoontologies. Relating Metaphysics and Practice of Knowledge Diversity

The objective of this project is to better understand the conditions for knowledge co-production in a cross-cultural setting in the context of environmental issues. Across various human collectives we observe substantial differences in what counts as reliable knowledge. To investigate why this is the case, the first chapter zooms in on the concept of difference itself drawing from philosophical and anthropological scholarship on this topic. The core of the inquiry is the question of how the relation between a cognizing subject and her metaphysical outlook on reality is outlined by various theories. In the second chapter, I propose an alternative account that conceives of difference more-than-representationally, that emphasizes embodiment and lived experience, and that aims to circumvent the conceptual divide between nature and culture. The aim of the third chapter is to illuminate how the initially reviewed and the proposed theoretical outlooks on difference are reflected in divergent interpretations of a particular case in which radical difference is at stake. The empirical case study is the Caipora, a forest being, a herdsperson of the wilderness, and a significant agent in regulating the usage of natural resources by the community of artisanal fishers in Siribinha, Brazil. The ethnographic material will be collected in the course of two field trips to Siribinha. In the final chapter, I will inquire into the prospects for successful co-management of natural resources and co-production of environmental knowledge and policy, drawing on the considerations regarding difference from the first three chapters.