At first, I was perplexed to see Fikret Berkes’ Sacred Ecology on the JFRR’s list of books available for review. I had read the first edition as an undergraduate student. When I first read Berkes’ book, I thought it was heavy on the hard sciences and so I hesitated to return to it. My curiosity piqued, I reread Sacred Ecology with open and new eyes.
Sacred Ecology is reminder that traditional and indigenous peoples do possess scientific curiosity and this scientific curiosity is not limited to immediate needs of daily life. Berkes provides a creative space for the argument that indigenous knowledge systems are characterized by local embedded knowledge of time and space, which is not static but constantly evolving to meet these people’s needs. He provides an array of examples to inform his audience how this is true for most peoples across the globe. All of his material is generated from their specific cultural context. As he guides us through his thesis, I see an incalculable number of folkloric texts proving useful, since such collections contain elements that Berkes finds useful in his own endeavors.
Berkes begins by reminding his readers that Sacred Ecology is not a science-versus-traditional (indigenous) knowledge debate. Rather, his book is an opportunity for both indigenous and scientific communities to continue the dialogue, partnerships, and synergies that he began bridging over four decades ago. Berkes’ book is proof of the value of interdisciplinary efforts combining Western empirical sciences with indigenous knowledge systems within the field of human ecology. He shows how he first reached this position objectively by learning about Cree fishing methods and a related knowledge system, and later melding this information with “objective” and quantitative data. The end result is a career-long process of developing the field of sacred ecology, which he defines as “holistic and humanistic resource management in human-environment relationships” (19).
Berkes makes it easier to comprehend the exploration of traditional knowledge, not “knowledge, the thing known,” but rather “knowledge, the process” (see chapter 1 for further explanation). For this reason alone, Sacred Ecology should be added to any folkloristic or positivistic science class that attempts to reach across disciplines and offer a contribution to interdisciplinary endeavors. Berkes exhibits how like-minded undertakings can aid in efforts ranging from comprehending climate change to exploring legends about why a specific floral or faunal species is culturally significant. Berkes’ ideas continue to contribute to a growing body of non-ecological ethnoscience, to which folklorists can lend their expertise and repository of knowledge. The list of such fields and topics, not complete by any means, includes agriculture, ethnobotany, ethnozoology, ethnopharmacology, irrigation systems, water and soil management, food and healing, weaving, basketry, ethnoclimatology, land, astronomy, and even snow and ice (9).
In Sacred Ecology, Berkes examines a diversity of traditional knowledge systems, and he discusses their usefulness, which, he repeatedly demonstrates, is very complementary to Western studies of ecology. He provides examples from around the world. Berkes discusses concepts in the first third of the book, empirical material in middle chapters, and in the final third, theoretical perspectives. His examples are exemplary in exhibiting the idea of sacred ecology and in promulgating its further development, which will simultaneously contribute to science and argue for preserving indigenous worldviews, practices, and, in general, cultures.
Berkes’ ideas are not without critics. They believe these knowledge systems are restricted to native cultures, or that some practitioners of Western empirical sciences overly romanticize indigenous peoples and cherry-pick case studies that fit their needs. Berkes does not do either of these things. Throughout the text he provides examples of knowledge systems contributing to our understanding of ecology. Berkes highlights moments when traditional communities have closed their minds as useful Western science did not meld with their worldviews, thus limiting or crippling indigenous communities’ opportunities to grow. He also brings up examples of Western science misusing or picking unsuitable traditional knowledge that hinders the researcher’s arguments. Additionally, he shows how this co-opted traditional knowledge is incongruously fitted into non-indigenous frameworks, which are fundamentally different from those in the culture of origin. This volume is an excellent exhibition of the fact that there are invaluable ways of knowing and melding varying worldviews.
Berkes provides a large number of graphs, tables, figures, and photographs, all of which add to the voluminous amount of data gathered during his forty-plus years of research experience. He has added 150 new references, along with a varied list of websites and on-line databases with the potential to aid researchers. All of these added elements make this edition more useful than the first two editions.
Fikret Berkes’ Sacred Ecology is a nearly flawless book that should be explored with open eyes.
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[Review length: 779 words • Review posted on June 14, 2014]