Nominations to the ISE Board (2010-2012/14):

The ISE has received nominations fo President-elect, Secretary, Treasurer, and Regional Rperesentative for Asia, Europe, and Oceania.

Nominations for the Africa and Americas Regional Representatives and the Student Representatives will re-open on the floor during the General Assembly at the 12th ISE Congress in Tofino, Canada. During the Second General Assembly, the ISE Membership will vote for the candidates for President Elect, and the Africa and Americas Regional Representatives, should we receive multiple nominations for the Regional Representative positions. The Student Representative positions will be appointed by the incoming ISE Board.

President-Elect:

Two candidates have been nominated for the position of ISE President-elect.

Lisa Leimar Price has been nominated by Andrea Pieroni.

Statement of candidacy from Lisa: I grew up in the USA and received my PhD in cultural anthropology from the University of Oregon.  I have spent the last 15 years living and working in first the Philippines at the International Rice Research Institute and then at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. My research spans 10 countries on 5 continents. I have conducted extensive research throughout SE Asia on wild food plants, rice food systems and gender.  More recently, I have been engaged in studying the impact of change on agro-biodiversity and traditional food knowledge, particularly HIV/AIDS in Africa.

I have been a member in good standing of the ISE since 2004 and have attended the ICE in Canterbury Kent in the UK (2004), Chaing Rai Thailand (2006) and Cusco Peru (2008). I have previously served on the board from 2006 to 200 8 as the European Representative.  I am motivated to accept the nomination for President-elect because of my strong belief in the values of the society and the engaged leadership I have to offer.

The primary objectives I would have as President-elect are married to the ISE constitution and the functions described for the President-elect. Importantly, I have a strong personal commitment to the safeguarding of the society and its further maturation through on-going self-assessment and action. I believe one of my strengths is working across disciplines and building consensus.  As President-elect I would pro-actively work with the other members of the board and our general membership to further develop our vision and reach our common goals as a society. I would actively engage in fundraising for the ISE; promote the work of the Global Coalition and further encourage the participation of indigenous peoples and local communities in the ISE.  Above all, I am committed to sustaining the culture of inclusiveness, respect, reciprocity and responsibility that is a hallmark of our society.

Lisa's CV is available for review.

 

John Richard Stepp has been nominated by Chun-lin Long.

Dr. John Richard Stepp is an Associate Professor at the Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, USA. Recently, he was also the G.P. Wilder Professor at the Department of Botany, University of Hawai’i. He received his PhD from the University of Georgia at Athens in 2002, under the supervision and training of Professor Brent Berlin. For the past 15 years, Dr. Stepp has dedicated his efforts to studying and teaching ethnobobiology.

Dr. Stepp’s expertise covers the areas of ethnobotany, GIS, conservation and development, medical anthropology, visual anthropology, and Mesoamerica studies. In recent years, he has started ethnobiology studies of the Upper Mekong River Region of Yunnan, China in collaboration with a team of international ethnobiologists. Dr. Stepp’s research explores persistence, change and variation of traditional ecological knowledge and ethnobotany. His work also examines patterns in the distribution of biological and cultural diversity (biocultural diversity) on a global scale.

Dr. Stepp has been active in serving the ethnobiology community through leadership positions in various journals and societies, including as an Editor or Editorial Board Member of Journal of Ethnobiology, Journal of Ecological Anthropology, Economic Botany and Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, Ethnobotany Research and Applications, Etnoecológica, Field Methods, and Conservation Ecology. Dr. Stepp’s important ethnobiology research has been supported by many funding agencies including The USA National Science Foundation, The Christensen Fund, USA Environmental Protection Agency, and the Chinese Ministry of Education. He has published extensively in international journals such as Conservation Biology, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Ecology and Society, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, and Economic Botany.

Dr. Stepp became a member of ISE in 1998 and has attended several prior Congresses. He was the Program Chair of the 7th International Congress of Ethnobiology held in Athens, Georgia in 2000. He was also invited to be the International Organizing Committee Member of the 10th International Congress of Ethnobiology held in Chiang Rai, Thailand in 2006. Dr. Stepp is a qualified nominee at many levels. He is very familiar with the relevant position duties and the sections of the ISE Constitution that describe their responsibilities.

I whole-heartedly support that Dr. John Richard Stepp will be effective in advancing the goals of the International Society of Ethnobiology. I am impressed by his innovative research approach and commitment to ethnobiology education and outreach. I am honored to nominate Dr. John Richard Stepp as a candidate for President-elect of the International Society of Ethnobiology.

Secretary:

Rainer W. Bussmann was nominated by Kelly Bannister.

Born in a tiny village in Southern Germany, Rainer Bussmann’s interest in ethnobiology began at age 14 when he had the opportunity to be involved in a flora and habitat mapping program of his Federal State. He published his first paper one year later.  By age 16, he was teaching plant taxonomy and ecology at a local adult college.  The first of his family to attend university, he earned a M.Sc. at University of Tuebingen and Ph.D. at University of Bayreuth in Germany.

Rainer is currently Director of the William L. Brown Center (WLBC) at Missouri Botanical Garden. Under Rainer’s direction, WLBC is shifting its focus away from western style discovery programs towards interdisciplinary research in Ethnobiology, giving special emphasis to the interests and needs of Indigenous and local communities. Examples include the establishment of the Sacred Seed program to preserve traditional knowledge directly in the communities where it is held, and the New American Indian Ethnobotany Program, which explicitly declines large scale industry funding.

Originally a vegetation ecologist, Rainer focuses now on the interface between plant use, conservation and resource management. He has taught many classes in the USA, Germany, Africa and Latin America, using English, German, and Spanish as teaching languages. His research interests include medicinal plants and traditional crop varieties, seed and germination ecology, natural resource management, international law in relation to intellectual property rights, and regeneration ecology. He has current projects in Peru, Bolivia, India, Nepal, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Kenya.

Rainer has been a member of the ISE since 2000 and draws upon the ISE Code of Ethics in his work. He is an advisor for developing the ISE Ethics Toolkit and is involved in supporting the ISE’s new cross-society dialogue to foster collaboration with other organisations in the protection and promotion of biocultural diversity. Rainer’s interest in serving as ISE secretary comes from his desire to help build the capacity of the ISE and further the Society’s goals by contributing his extensive organizational skills, experience in networking and outreach, and his sincere desire to work in partnership with communities.   

Rainer's CV is available for reivew.

Treasurer:

Ina Vandebroek has been re-nominated for this position.

Statement of candidacy from Ina: I have been ISE Treasurer during the 2009-2010 term and would like to continue in that position for the upcoming term 2011-2012. One of the main tasks of this position is to oversee ISE accounting and provide assistence with budget matters on grant proposals. As project director on research grants I have been able to build ample experience with budget management. A treasurer’s task, however, is not limited to financial oversight. Each ISE Board Member is involved in various other activities, and my particular interests lie in providing assistance with promoting the ISE in social media, expanding the ISE membership base and exploring the role of the ISE in education and research. My vision for the ISE is to help foster a growing bond between the scientific and indigenous communities.

Ina's bio: Ina Vandebroek is an Ethnomedical Research Specialist at The New York Botanical garden. She conducts research on the intersection of medical ethnobotany, community health and immigrant studies. She holds a Ph.D. in Neuropsychopharmacology from Ghent University, Belgium, and has ten years of field experience working in research and international cooperation projects in Bolivia, the Dominican Republic and New York City. Her work in Bolivia aims at improving healthcare in indigenous communities in the Amazon through workshops with physicians and traditional healers, and capacity building in cultural traditions and ethnomedicine. Currently, her main research focuses on the dynamics of medicinal plant knowledge and use by Dominicans and other Latino communities in New York City. She is also involved in cultural competency training of medical students and residents at medical institutions in New York City to help establish a better dialogue and trusted relationship between physicians and their Latino patients, and promote culturally sensitive healthcare for underserved communities. She is Treasurer of the International Society of Ethnobiology and Deputy Editor of the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 

Regional Representative: Africa

(No candidates yet)

Nominations for Americas Regional Representative will re-open on the floor during the General Assembly at the 12th ISE Congress in Tofino, Canada.

Regional Representative: Americas

(No candidates yet)

Nominations for Americas Regional Representative will re-open on the floor during the General Assembly at the 12th ISE Congress in Tofino, Canada.

Asia Regional Representative: Asia

Subramanyam Ragupathy has been nominated by Andrea Pieroni.

Statement of candidacy from Ragu: I am working on the Aboriginal Repository of Knowledge (ARK), which is a collection of ethnobotanical specimens and their associated traditional knowledge in different cultures including aboriginal classification systems for plants.

My research in ethnobotany genomics explores the variation in genomic sequences from many species in the context of both scientific and aboriginal classifications. My research undertaken with the Irulas and Malasars people of India suggests that Aboriginal classification systems are very complex, multi-mechanistic and not congruent with that of the Linnaean classification system. Aboriginal systems utilize broader categories of classification including ecological habitat, utility and sensory perception characters. There is great value in exploring both classification systems simultaneously, and this has resulted in our discovery of new cryptic species that have been overlooked when implementing classical plant taxonomy. I also used DNA barcoding to validate the Irulas’ and Malasars’ classification system.  I have recently discovered a Linnaean binomial (Cardiospermum halicacabum L.) recognized as three ethnotaxa by the Irulas’ classification; which is supported by three distinct DNA barcodes. Two of these aboriginal taxa are poisonous and one is used by the Irulas to treat rheumatoid arthritis. Such observations raise interesting questions about the relative resolution and status of Linnaean based taxonomy. Some of my research has developed a theoretical framework to test consensus (reliability/replicability) of TK, which I have tested within several ancient cultures in India. Currently I am developing the concept of ‘assemblage’ - a coming together of different ways of knowing and valorising species variation - this research seeks to add value to both aboriginal knowledge and highly techno-scientific DNA based approaches to understanding diversity as they work together to potentially create new knowledge in dialogue.

My key skills include, taxonomy of higher plants specializing in district and provincial flora, resolution of taxa and discovery of species novae (including sedges and grass), solving nomenclature problems, and development of a web based multi-access key (Polyclavis© - Newmaster & Ragupathy, 2004) to the FOIBIS and Ontario Invasive Plant Information Service (OIPIS). I documented the use of more than 900 medicinal plants among Southeast Indians (Dravidian tribes) of a half dozen tribes, many of whom had never been exposed to outside cultures. I collected more than 5,000 plant specimens and six species bear my name. I have published more than 40 research articles in refereed journals, book chapters, and proceedings including the newly released Flora of Ontario. I have set up a permanent herbarium in the University of Madras, Health and Safety Division, Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research (IGCAR), India, including the submission of several thousand herbarium specimens to the Botanical Survey of India. I have also developed agricultural techniques for several medicinal plants that are being used by medicinal plant growers.

Read more about Ragu.

Regional Representative: Europe

Gisella Cruz García was nominated by Kelly Bannister.

Gisella Cruz García is a Dutch-Peruvian Ethnobiologist. She has a good knowledge of both the bio and cultural aspects of Ethnobiology and has worked and lived with tribal people and ethnic minorities. In 2007 she was awarded the prestigious UNESCO - L’ORÉAL For Young Women in Sciences fellowship for the Europe-North America Region (2007). The overall importance and world-wide relevance of her research has been highlighted in Science magazine and respected Dutch national and international press.

Gisella is currently finishing her PhD at both Plant Sciences and Social Sciences departments at Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands. She is also Affiliate Research Scholar at Crop and Environmental Science Division at IRRI (International Rice Research Institute, The Philippines). For her PhD she conducted research in Thailand on the relationships between gathering, management and cultural importance of wild food plants, and their effect on quantified diversity in the rice landscape. She has also research experience in India and Latin America (Peru, Bolivia).

Since 2008 she has served on the ISE Board as Student Representative. She is organizing the First Emerging Ethnobiologists Pre-congress Workshop coming May in Toffino: “Cultivating Mindfulness in Ethnobiology”, where one of the outputs will be the creation of the International Network of Emerging Ethnobiologists. Gisella has attended and presented at the ICE congresses at Kent (2004) and Cusco (2008) as well as other congresses in Ethnobotany and Ethnobiology.

Gisella’s proposal as European Representative for the next 2 years:

  • Gisella has successful experiences in fund raising, which will be useful for contacting grant making foundations in Europe to enable the travel of regional Ethnobiologists to the next ISE Congress
  • She is interested in the participation of Indigenous peoples from Europe in the ISE and the next ISE Congress. She is willing to coordinate with Indigenous groups and organizations in Europe.
  • Given that the coming ISE Congress (2012) will be Montpellier (France), she is willing to collaborate with the Congress organizers to have a broader and diverse European participation.
  • In Europe there are several Faculties and Institutes that conduct research and courses/trainings in Ethnobiology, Ethnobotany, Ethnoecology, Economic Botany and Biocultural Diversity, among other topics related to Ethnobiology. Gisella considers it necessary to outreach and interact with these organizations, merge efforts and keep ISE members posted about their new activities and research.
  • She will look for funding to increase the profile of the Society in Europe, within Universities, NGOs, Indigenous Organizations or Research Institutes, and to actively network with other organizations/practitioners who are involved in areas related to Ethnobiology. She is willing to act as a communications liaison between these organizations and the ISE Coordinator and Executive Board.
  • She thinks that is important not only to outreach European Ethnobiologists who carry out research in Europe, but also those who conduct research and have activities in other continents. The fact that European Ethnobiologists are spread around the world – as scientists, activists, researchers, students, NGO workers, volunteers – gives a rich diversity that should be emphasized in the activities of the European Representative.
  • Gisella will write articles for the ISE Newsletter and the ISE website.

Regional Representative: Oceania

Robert (Bob) Gosford was nominated by Leslie Main Johnson.

Statement of candidacy Bob: My active engagement with the promotion of and research into ethnoornithology as a sub-discipline of ethnobiology began in the mid-1980s when I moved to the Top End of Australia’s Northern Territory. More recently I have been actively involved not only in the development, promotion and application of methodological tools and techniques for ethnoornithological research but also my own research on various aspects of ethnoornithology in Australia and the Pacific/Oceanic regions and beyond.

Ethnobiology generally – and ethnoornithology in particular – can be useful not only for the insights that it provides about the scope, content and nature of local bird knowledge but also how that knowledge might contribute to contemporary landscape and species management and conservation and the sustainable economic advancement of local communities.

My current major research projects include post-graduate research into the bird knowledge of the Warlpiri language group and a book project examining the bird knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across the Australian continent.

The position of ISE Regional Representative for the Oceania region can contribute much to the promotion of the aims and objectives of the ISE, both within the Oceanic region and more generally. In the event that my nomination is successful I look forward to contributing to a broader awareness of the role and value of the ISE, including by undertaking the following activities, among others:

  • promotion of the value of membership of the ISE to peak bodies, University faculties, biological researchers, Government agencies, land, conservation managers and others to whom the ISE’s activities may be relevant;
  • development of networks between ISE regional representatives and individuals, organizations and agencies with shared interests or aims and objectives;
  • seek support and involvement in the conduct of future ISE & ISE meetings in the Oceania or adjacent regions, investigation of potential for regional ISE meetings between biennial ISE Congresses; and
  • increase regional involvement in ISE Congresses and contributions to ISE publications and ISE website content from the region.
Read more about Bob.

 

Appointed Officers of the ISE Board:

Global Coalition Director
Chair of the Ethics Committee
Administrator of the ISE Darrell Posey Fellowship Program (a new position, pending membership approval)
Student representative(s)