The effects in a Maya community of school enrollment on young adult time allocation to activities dependent on traditional ecological knowledge

Summary

School enrollment in traditional communities potentially compromises young peoples’ participation in agro-ecological subsistence activities that encourage the development and practice of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Drawing on data from a Maya community located in Toledo District, Belize, we compared the time allocated to agro-ecological activities for school going (SG) or non-school going (NSG) male and female youth between the ages of 13 and 18 years. We find that SG males spend relatively less time engaged in agro-ecological activities (compared to leisure, eating, personal hygiene, and visiting) than do NSG males. School enrollment, however, does not affect the time females devote to subsistence-related activities. Regular school attendance thus appears to have a greater effect on young men than women. As a remedy, we propose and briefly describe a field-developed, active learning curriculum for Mayan high school students focused on milpa agro-ecology and forest subsistence activities in which traditional and scientific experiences can be shared. While data on age-specific commitment to subsistence activities can help us to understand the effectiveness of the prehistoric milpa economy, we focus here on reducing contemporary conflicts between formal education and traditional ecological practices.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Interdisciplinary Approaches to Studying Human Social Dynamics: A Case Study from Southern Belize   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17085