The Humanities and Indigenous Knowledge by Nicola Wheat
In Paulshoek, Namaqualand, three research projects focusing on medicinal plants were developed co... more In Paulshoek, Namaqualand, three research projects focusing on medicinal plants were developed concurrently. The projects were based in the disciplines of anthropology, botany and chemistry. In this paper, we explore how these projects related to one another and describe the conversations that occurred in the process of searching for transdisciplinary knowledge. The projects ostensibly shared a common object of knowledge, but it was through working together that the medicinal plants constituted us as a community of scholars. As our insight into our respective disciplinary relationships with the plants grew, so did our understanding of the limitations of our respective disciplinary positions. The process made possible a ‘reimagination’ of both the object of study and our relationships to it and to one another. The research project, conceptualised in 2009, engaged current debates on indigenous knowledge and its historical erasures, and offered an approach that has potential to produce new knowledges while respecting the integrity of the disciplines. This approach requires a non-competitive attitude to research and one that acknowledges the contributions that can be made by multiple approaches.
Papers by Nicola Wheat
English
South African Journal of Science, 2015
Plants, People and Health: Three Disciplines at work in Namaqualand, by Lesley Green, David Gammon, Timm Hoffman, Robert Morrell, Helen Verran, Josh Cohen, Nicola Wheat, Amelia Hilgart
In Paulshoek, Namaqualand, three research projects focussing on medicinal plants were developed c... more In Paulshoek, Namaqualand, three research projects focussing on medicinal plants were developed concurrently. The projects were based in the disciplines of anthropology, botany and chemistry. In this paper we explore how they related to one another and describe the conversations that occurred in the process of searching for transdisciplinary knowledge. The projects ostensibly shared a common object of knowledge but it was through working together that the medicinal plants constituted us as a community of scholars. As our insight into our respective disciplinary relationships with the plants grew, so did our understanding of the limitations of our respective disciplinary positions. The process made possible a reimagination of both the object of study and our relationships to it and to one another. The research project, conceptualised in 2009, engages current debates on indigenous knowledge and its historical erasures, and offers an approach that has potential to produce new knowledge...
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The Humanities and Indigenous Knowledge by Nicola Wheat
Papers by Nicola Wheat