The Pocosin's Lesson: Translating respect for Indigenous knowledge systems in environmental research.

ABSTRACT: Indigenous peoples living in what is now coastal North Carolina gave the name pocosin to a unique type of nonriparian wetland endemic to the region. Their Algonquian dialects are poorly documented in colonial records and have been dormant for centuries; not even contemporary Indigenous peoples in the region speak these particular languages. But for decades, environmental researchers and practitioners have asserted in publications, classrooms, and public-facing materials that pocosin literally translates to "swamp on a hill." Despite widespread assertions, no evidence exists to support the claim. This article debunks the widely circulated translation and explains, more generally, how even well-intentioned efforts to acknowledge Indigenous peoples and their knowledge systems within Western s

SUBMITTER: Emanuel RE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11565856 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature