Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Indigenous Foodways in the Andes of Peru

Indigenous communities around the world continue to develop effective solutions to global food challenges, revitalizing traditional knowledge in biodiversity preservation and enacting food sovereignty practices that enable people and societies to feed themselves (Holt Giménez and Shattuck; Desmarais; Shiva). TEK refers to the accumulative body of knowledge, including skills, practices, and innovations (technology), which is often derived from Indigenous peoples’ intimate interactions with their traditional environment. Early empirical studies of Indigenous peoples’ TEK in agricultural systems have been widely documented, for example, the pioneering work of Harold Conklin (1957), who studied the horticultural practices of the Hanunóo people of the Philippines and recorded detailed information about local plants (totalling up to 1,600 plant species). TEK began to gain to notoriety in the 1980s among various multidisciplinary fields of study, such as the environmental sciences, particularly in ecology. At present, TEK is considered an interdisciplinary theory drawing from social and cultural anthropology, biology, ecology, and resource management fields such as fisheries, wildlife and forestry (Berkes, Folke, and Colding; McGregor). Yet, mainstream Food Security development and policy-making interventions do not always draw from TEK, and place greater emphasis on scientific and high-tech agricultural approaches to address Food Security (Bello and Baviera; Holt Giménez and ShatReview of International American Studies RIAS Vol. 12, Spring–Summer No 1 /2019 ISSN 1991–2773 DOI: 10.31261/rias.6866