Techne meets Metis: Knowledge and practices for tick control in Laikipia County, Kenya

Prevention of tick borne diseases is often through tick control practices. This article diagnoses tick control practices, knowledge underlying these practices and how knowledge is shared at the wildlife-livestock interface in Laikipia County, Kenya. It identifies diverse land use and tick control pr...

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Main Authors: Mutavi, Faith, Aarts, N., Passen, A. van, Heitkönig, I., Wieland, Barbara
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Informa UK Limited 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/98247
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author Mutavi, Faith
Aarts, N.
Passen, A. van
Heitkönig, I.
Wieland, Barbara
author_browse Aarts, N.
Heitkönig, I.
Mutavi, Faith
Passen, A. van
Wieland, Barbara
author_facet Mutavi, Faith
Aarts, N.
Passen, A. van
Heitkönig, I.
Wieland, Barbara
author_sort Mutavi, Faith
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Prevention of tick borne diseases is often through tick control practices. This article diagnoses tick control practices, knowledge underlying these practices and how knowledge is shared at the wildlife-livestock interface in Laikipia County, Kenya. It identifies diverse land use and tick control practices by different land and livestock owners from a scientific knowledge-based (techne) and context driven experiential knowledge-based (metis) perspective. Interviews, focus group discussions, observations and documents yielded qualitative data to unravel i) the historical development of tick control in Kenya ii) techne and metis tick control practices within three ranches and among pastoralists in Laikipia County, and iii) status of tick knowledge sharing between stakeholders. Historical tick control measures date back to about 100 years ago, with increasingly strong veterinary measures over the decades under government control. However, the veterinary control system collapsed around 1991 and livestock owners took tick control into their own hands. All respondents indicated having relevant techne available about tick ecology and tick management practices. To adapt to the changing social, economic and institutional context, they further developed metis, integrating the known techne. Metis and techne complemented each other. Our study reveals that metis is developed within stakeholder groups. The data also suggest that metis practices sometimes develop risky effects to animal, human and environmental health. Knowledge on tick control is mainly shared within a social group, not between groups. We esteem, knowledge sharing between different stakeholder groups (ranchers, pastoralists, DVS) may provide opportunities for better informed decision-making based on fruitful combinations of techne and metis for effective and safe tick management.
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spelling CGSpace982472025-12-08T10:06:44Z Techne meets Metis: Knowledge and practices for tick control in Laikipia County, Kenya Mutavi, Faith Aarts, N. Passen, A. van Heitkönig, I. Wieland, Barbara disease control livestock knowledge Prevention of tick borne diseases is often through tick control practices. This article diagnoses tick control practices, knowledge underlying these practices and how knowledge is shared at the wildlife-livestock interface in Laikipia County, Kenya. It identifies diverse land use and tick control practices by different land and livestock owners from a scientific knowledge-based (techne) and context driven experiential knowledge-based (metis) perspective. Interviews, focus group discussions, observations and documents yielded qualitative data to unravel i) the historical development of tick control in Kenya ii) techne and metis tick control practices within three ranches and among pastoralists in Laikipia County, and iii) status of tick knowledge sharing between stakeholders. Historical tick control measures date back to about 100 years ago, with increasingly strong veterinary measures over the decades under government control. However, the veterinary control system collapsed around 1991 and livestock owners took tick control into their own hands. All respondents indicated having relevant techne available about tick ecology and tick management practices. To adapt to the changing social, economic and institutional context, they further developed metis, integrating the known techne. Metis and techne complemented each other. Our study reveals that metis is developed within stakeholder groups. The data also suggest that metis practices sometimes develop risky effects to animal, human and environmental health. Knowledge on tick control is mainly shared within a social group, not between groups. We esteem, knowledge sharing between different stakeholder groups (ranchers, pastoralists, DVS) may provide opportunities for better informed decision-making based on fruitful combinations of techne and metis for effective and safe tick management. 2018-11-01 2018-11-18T17:43:40Z 2018-11-18T17:43:40Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/98247 en Limited Access Informa UK Limited Mutavi, F., Aarts, N., Paassen, A. van, Heitkönig, I. and Wieland, B. 2018. Techne meets Metis: Knowledge and practices for tick control in Laikipia County, Kenya. NJAS: Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences 86–87(1): 136–145.
spellingShingle disease control
livestock
knowledge
Mutavi, Faith
Aarts, N.
Passen, A. van
Heitkönig, I.
Wieland, Barbara
Techne meets Metis: Knowledge and practices for tick control in Laikipia County, Kenya
title Techne meets Metis: Knowledge and practices for tick control in Laikipia County, Kenya
title_full Techne meets Metis: Knowledge and practices for tick control in Laikipia County, Kenya
title_fullStr Techne meets Metis: Knowledge and practices for tick control in Laikipia County, Kenya
title_full_unstemmed Techne meets Metis: Knowledge and practices for tick control in Laikipia County, Kenya
title_short Techne meets Metis: Knowledge and practices for tick control in Laikipia County, Kenya
title_sort techne meets metis knowledge and practices for tick control in laikipia county kenya
topic disease control
livestock
knowledge
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/98247
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