From albertus@hawaii.edu Wed Apr 12 16:52:16 2000 Received: from mxu4.u.washington.edu (mxu4.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id QAA31862 for ; Wed, 12 Apr 2000 16:52:15 -0700 Received: from relay4.hawaii.edu (relay4.hawaii.edu [128.171.94.12]) by mxu4.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.02/8.9.3+UW99.09) with SMTP id QAA02860 for ; Wed, 12 Apr 2000 16:52:14 -0700 Received: from uhunix4.its.hawaii.edu ([128.171.44.54]) by relay4.Hawaii.Edu with SMTP id <130947(2)>; Wed, 12 Apr 2000 13:52:04 -1000 Received: from localhost by uhunix4.its.Hawaii.Edu with SMTP id <171086(8)>; Wed, 12 Apr 2000 13:52:06 -1000 From: Albertus Hadi Pramono X-Sender: albertus@uhunix4 To: indknow@u.washington.edu Subject: Thanks for feedback and information Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 13:52:02 -1000 Aloha, I would like to thank everyone who gave feedback and information on my question regarding conception of space and boundary. There are all very useful for me in understanding how much has been done on that particular subject. However, I'm still curious on the reasons of indigenous groups to adopt scientific cartography and GIS. Looking at the accumulating studies on indigenous cartography and mapping, such as that of History of Cartography Project in Madison, there are increasing evidences of indigenous cartography using their own epistemologies and representations (graphic or oral). But now looking at the indigenous movement, the indigenous peoples are using scientific cartography and GIS. Is it only a practical reason in order to negotiate with outsiders (especially states and corporations) while maintaining the knowledge of indigenous cartography? Or, on the contrary, they have submitted to modern (western) cartography with its all 'chains of reaction' particularly the idea of exclusive private property with its clear, thin boundaries. If the latter applies, without intending to be romantic, that the huge diversity of knowledge systems in the world, as represented by various indigenous knowledge, will be homegenized. I think there should be a dialogical process between the western knowledge system and indigenous knowledge systems, so they can evolve side by side without one hegemonizes the other as what happens today. Many NGOs and researchers, consciously or not, are disciplining the indigenous peoples through the introduction of new techniques or methods such as scientific cartography and GIS on the reason of empowering those peoples. Is it empowering or disempowering? Again thanks for all the responses. As Hawaiian express their gratitude, mahalo nui loa. Monti ----------------------- Albertus Hadi Pramono Department of Geography University of Hawai'i at Manoa 2424 Maile Way Honolulu, HI 96822 e-mail: albertus@hawaii.edu .