Traditional ecological knowledge and folklore

Abstract

Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is a collection of knowledge and beliefs that have been acquired after many years of experience with human contact with the environment. In the West, the idea that TEK can guide the modern society in terms of terming and sustainable resource use and ecological development has been debated since the early 1980s. This concept is important to see the basis of the problems of human-nature relations. TEK research aims to reveal the ecological knowledge that has shown a unique development as a result of environmental adaptation of each of the local communities living in many regions of the world. Although TEK research has continued in the West for nearly 40 years the term has entered the literature in Turkey nowadays. The place and importance of TEK research in the field of folklore which is of interest to different disciplines requires us to form a research model about TEK. It can be clarified through pioneering studies on how TEK accumulation specific to a community will be collected, how to approach this information and how it will be analyzed. In our study, TEK research model in folklore was proposed by considering the definition, content and scope of the concept and brief history of the researches.