When knowledge follows blood: Kin groups and the distribution of traditional ecological knowledge in a community of seminomadic pastoralists, Gujarat (India)

Understanding the patterns and processes underlying the heterogeneous distribution of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) across communities of natural resource users is a growing research topic. However, social organization as a factor potentially shaping TEK intracultural distribution has received scant attention. Here, we analyze the role played by kinship groups—namely, patrilineal lineages and segments—in shaping bodies of TEK among a group of seminomadic pastoralists in India. We use two quantitative approaches (score based and similarity based) to analyze variations in four TEK domains: soils, ethnoveterinary, breeds, and ethnobotany. We find that kinship groups share divergent bodies of knowledge, a finding that we interpret in light of the social organization of migration, in which kinship provides a privileged basis that structures migratory groups and, as such, favors the constitution of shared bodies of knowledge. We conclude by advocating for a better inclusion of the organizational features that structure the collective life of local communities in research aiming at understanding TEK dynamics.The research was funded by the former Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation through the CONSOLIDER SimulPast project (“Simulating the Past to Understand Human Behaviour,” CSD2010-00034).Peer reviewe