When Western Science and Traditional Knowledge Cross Paths

In an article published in The Conversation and viewed over 250,000 times, Professor George Nicholas discusses how our ways of knowing and understanding have largely been based on ethnographic sources of information. Nicholas says that in recent years, scholars have become more aware of the large body of information known as Traditional Knowledge, Indigenous Knowledge, or Traditional Ecological Knowledge, amongst other terms. A team of researchers in Australia have documented kites and falcons intentionally carrying burning sticks to spread fires. The idea that nighthawks would intentionally spread fire has long been Traditional Knowledge but has been met with scepticism in the lens of western science. Nicholas discusses the idea that there are multiple ways of knowing and this presents an opportunity for an intersection between Traditional Knowledge and western science.