Levy Dethmers, Saskia (2026) A Collaborative Study with the Laklãnõ/Xokleng on Zág Preservation. Bachelor thesis, Global Responsibility & Leadership (GRL).
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Abstract
The Araucaria angustifolia, known as Zág by the Laklãnõ/Xokleng, is a critically endangered species native to the Atlantic Forest and endemic to southern Brazil and northern Argentina. Evidence suggests the species' spread was shaped by pre-Columbian anthropogenic dispersal, attributed to the Laklãnõ/Xokleng, the Indigenous community with deep cultural and spiritual ties to the Zág. The species is primarily threatened by colonial forces, which simultaneously devastated Zág and Laklãnõ/Xokleng populations through land seizure and violence. This continues today through settler encroachment, agricultural expansion, legal struggles and the ramifications of a dam built upstream of the community. Mainstream "conservation" has historically displaced and excluded Indigenous communities, functioning as a colonial strategy rather than a genuine effort to preserve biodiversity. In an attempt to decolonise "conservation" and center Indigenous stewardship, this study was conducted in collaboration with Instituto Zág, a youth-led Laklãnõ/Xokleng organisation working to reforest, educate and preserve the Zág. Semi-structured interviews, guided by ethnoecological and TEK frameworks, were conducted with Laklãnõ/Xokleng participants to understand the cultural and cosmological context of their relationship with the Zág, their ecological knowledge, and their experience of the political context shaping preservation. While the initial aim was to uncover the ecological knowledge behind Zág preservation, it became clear that political context is far more central to advancing these efforts. Results span the community's cultural connection to the Zág, its practical uses, and the crucial role resistance plays in preservation. The central finding is that there is no Laklãnõ without Zág and no Zág without Laklãnõ: the community's resistance against colonial forces is the reason the Zág has not gone extinct. This study calls for biocultural conservation to guide future strategies, given the inextricable relationship between culture and biodiversity it exemplifies.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Name supervisor: | Emlen, N.Q. |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Jun 2026 11:17 |
| Last Modified: | 23 Jun 2026 11:17 |
| URI: | https://campus-fryslan.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/854 |
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