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Indigenous
people of the Greater Southwest have nurtured an intimate understanding
of ecologically based living that has evolved over centuries of close interactions
with their bioregions. This relationship to the land represents a vast storehouse
of environmental wisdom that must be honored and preserved. It offers the
rest of the world, the ecologically sustainable orientation that is vital
to the future of humanity.
The
Baca Institute of Ethnobotany is a 501C3 nonprofit educational organization.
We are dedicated to the preservation, collection, and research of the indigenous
environmental knowledge and the cultural diversity of the southwestern
United States and northern Mexico. Our educational programs are guided
by the philosophy that the way to scientific advancement in conservation,
botany, medicine, and sustainable agriculture follows an ancient path.
-
Enrique Salmon, Director
 Educational
Philosophy
The
Institute's innovative educational programs are designed to be experimental,
utilizing the culturally diverse Southwest as our field laboratory. We
offer community focused seminars and workshops for the lay person, more
intensive field schools and internships for graduate credit, and specialized
programs for Native American Communities and individuals. Our curriculum
utilizes a collaboration of western science and traditional approaches
to reintroduce Indigenous ecosystem conservation, Indigenous Environmental
philosophy, agricultural knowledge, and culturally sensitive research
techniques.
 Curriculum
Programs
for Native Americans
Our
programs for Native American communities
are designed to aid traditional peoples in their efforts to record and
perpetuate traditional environmental, botanical, and agricultural knowledge.
The workshops and seminars are organized and conducted by Native Americans.
The programs are designed to:
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Act
as a vehicle for nurturing and exchange of traditional knowledge among
Indigenous groups and the next generation of Native Americans.
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Emphasize
the value of cultural knowledge over "received knowledge,"
demonstrating the various career possibilities in traditional environmental
knowledge.
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Empower
individuals and communities to become knowledgeable and committed custodians
of their cultures and leaders in environmental awareness.
 Programs
for College Credit
We
feel that it is vital to the future of humanity to bring the time tested
Indigenous knowledge to the attention of the western scientific world.
Therefore, we offer intensive field schools and internships for graduate
and undergraduate credit. All courses and internships emphasize Indigenous
environmental philosophy, intellectual property rights, and culturally
sensitive research techniques. The courses cover a wide continuum of interests
from medicinal plants, traditional sustainable agriculture, the intricacies
of the human plant relationship, ethnobotany for the elementary and second
grade classroom, field research techniques, ethnobotanical theory, plant
and cultural ecology, Indigenous ecosystem management, plant systematics,
plant biochemistry, southwestern plant history, and archeobotany.
Schedule
of Courses: 99/00
Members
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