現場を取り巻く知識の多様性

―ケニア南部の野生動物保全の事例から―

抄録

When the state of development studies is re-considered these days, ethics is one of the central issues, and the knowledge produced by development studies and the power structure which surrounds it became the target of re-examination from the presupposition of the alliance of knowledge and power. Also, in the realm of environmental conservation, all of science, knowledge and power are the points at issue. Political-ecologists have led its discussion, but their discussion has the limitation in terms of an investigation of the variety of knowledge, the nexus of knowledge and the agency of stakeholders.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how diverse knowledge surrounds the site of development and stakeholders show their agencies to produce and circulate it with an attention to the ethics of animal lover and the traditional culture of a local society. For this purpose, this study examine what is discussed in four different dimensions of knowledge, that is, abstract theories proposed in the academic domain by scientists, a practical opinions of scientists explained in non-academic and for-the-generalmarket books, information of the site of development sent by outside donors, and statements made on the site of development by outsiders and local people.

As a result, it is revealed that while the idea of “community-based” is generally supported in all dimensions, not only scientific knowledge but also non-scientific one, such as ethics, culture and the state of a development site is the subject of argument. Also, it is demonstrated that each stakeholder including local people is trying to strategically handle information so as to gain more fruits. These results draw further issues for development studies, namely, the importance of introducing the knowledge of humanities to development study and inquiring the legitimacy of knowledge to local people.