Towards a theory of substance and form: a contextual analysis of Kiau Dusun plant knowledge in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

The debate over the substance and form of indigenous plant knowledge is often characterised by a divide between cultural (Harris, 1988) and biological (Boster, 1987) explanations that have proven to be theoretically weak. A holistic approach is needed to account for the interactive influence of a variety of variables on the development of indigenous plant knowledge (Boyd and Richerson, 1985). Efforts such as the Human Ecosystems approach advocate a processual study of how indigenous knowledge is influenced by dynamic circumstances found in a variety of social, cultural, biological and physical... Mehr ...