A quiet harvest: linkage between ritual, seed selection and the historical use of the finger-bladed knife as a traditional plant breeding tool in Ifugao, Philippines. Issue 1 (December 2017)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- A quiet harvest: linkage between ritual, seed selection and the historical use of the finger-bladed knife as a traditional plant breeding tool in Ifugao, Philippines. Issue 1 (December 2017)
- Main Title:
- A quiet harvest: linkage between ritual, seed selection and the historical use of the finger-bladed knife as a traditional plant breeding tool in Ifugao, Philippines
- Authors:
- Murphy, Kevin
- Abstract:
- Abstract The transverse harvest knife, also commonly called the finger or finger-bladed knife, has been utilized by rice farmers in southeast Asia for many centuries. The finger knife persisted in many traditional cultures long after the introduction of the sickle, a tool which provided farmers with the means to execute a much faster harvest. Several theories in interpretative archaeology have attempted to account for this rejection of more modern technological innovations. These theories, which include community-based social organization ideas and practical reasons for the continued use of the finger knife, are presented in this paper. Here I suggest an alternate theory based on a re-interpretation of existing research and fusion of existing theories: the primary reason for the historical and continued use of the finger knife is for seed selection through a centuries old tradition of plant breeding. Though I accept the accuracy of the practical and community-based, socio-cultural reasons for the use of the finger knife put forth by other authors, I suggest that seed selection and genetic improvement was the driving factor in the use of the finger knife. Indeed, intricate planting and harvesting rituals, which both ensured and encouraged varietal conservation and improvement co-evolved with the use of the finger knife as the primary harvest tool due to its unique ability to aid the farmer in the art and science of seed selection. When combined with previous ideas, thisAbstract The transverse harvest knife, also commonly called the finger or finger-bladed knife, has been utilized by rice farmers in southeast Asia for many centuries. The finger knife persisted in many traditional cultures long after the introduction of the sickle, a tool which provided farmers with the means to execute a much faster harvest. Several theories in interpretative archaeology have attempted to account for this rejection of more modern technological innovations. These theories, which include community-based social organization ideas and practical reasons for the continued use of the finger knife, are presented in this paper. Here I suggest an alternate theory based on a re-interpretation of existing research and fusion of existing theories: the primary reason for the historical and continued use of the finger knife is for seed selection through a centuries old tradition of plant breeding. Though I accept the accuracy of the practical and community-based, socio-cultural reasons for the use of the finger knife put forth by other authors, I suggest that seed selection and genetic improvement was the driving factor in the use of the finger knife. Indeed, intricate planting and harvesting rituals, which both ensured and encouraged varietal conservation and improvement co-evolved with the use of the finger knife as the primary harvest tool due to its unique ability to aid the farmer in the art and science of seed selection. When combined with previous ideas, this interpretative theory, based on the connection between ethnoagronomy and material culture, may provide a more complete picture of the story around the persistence of the finger knife in traditional rice-growing cultures in southeast Asia. I focus my theory on the terrace-building Ifugao people in the mountainous Cordillera region of northcentral Philippines; however, to put the use of the finger into a wider regional context, I draw from examples of the use of the finger knife in other traditional cultures throughout the region of southeast Asia. … (more)
- Is Part Of:
- Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine. Volume 13:Issue 1(2017)
- Journal:
- Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine
- Issue:
- Volume 13:Issue 1(2017)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 13, Issue 1 (2017)
- Year:
- 2017
- Volume:
- 13
- Issue:
- 1
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2017-0013-0001-0000
- Page Start:
- 1
- Page End:
- 12
- Publication Date:
- 2017-12
- Subjects:
- Seed selectors -- Rice -- Ifugao -- Finger-bladed knife -- Transverse-harvest knife -- Plant breeding
Medical anthropology -- Periodicals
Ethnobiology -- Periodicals
Ethnobotany -- Periodicals
Traditional medicine -- Periodicals
306.461 - Journal URLs:
- http://pubmedcentral.com/tocrender.fcgi?journal=351&action=archive ↗
http://www.ethnobiomed.com/ ↗
http://link.springer.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1186/s13002-016-0124-9 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 1746-4269
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 10117.xml