Showing papers on "Traditional knowledge published in 2002"

Information Feudalism: Who Owns the Knowledge Economy?

Abstract: 1 Introduction: Why Information Feudalism'? * The Risks * Health-Hell in Africa * Why Sign TRIPS? * Efficiency * Freedom, Democracy and Intellectual Property * Overview. 2 Piracy: Cultural Trespassers * 'A pyrate and a rover on the sea' * Intellectual Property Piracy * A Little Intellectual Property History. 3 The Knowledge Game: Knowledge Profits * Laboratories of Knowledge * Patent Locks on Public Goods * Patent Locksmiths - the Patent Profession * Global Knowledge Cartels * The Knowledge Game * The Changing Knowledge Game. 4 Stealing from the Mind: Messages * Last Rites * The Problems * Pfizer's World of Ideas * Getting on Committees. 5 The Illusion of Sovereignty: Sovereign Poverty * Most wanted * The Caribbean. 6 The Bilaterals: The Trade Defence Initiative * The US Generalized System of Preferences * Section 301 * Designers, Lobbyists and Petitioners * Pinocchio's Nose * The Wolf at the Door. 7 Agendas and Agenda-setters - The Multilateral Game: The GATT * The WIPO Talkshop * Getting Intellectual property on the Trade Agenda: the Quad and the IPC * Punta del Este * 8 Persuasion and Principles Becoming a Community Standing on Principle: the 'Basic Framework' The Coalitionist Sweeping House. 9 At the Negotiating Table: Kick-off and Final Siren * Circles of Consensus * The Joy of Text * The Great Hero * 'DDT' * When the Chips are Down. 10 Biogopolies: Patent Privatization * Patent Addiction * Mother Nature's Software * Patent Engineering * The University-Industrial Knowledge Complex * Hard Core Cartels. 11 Infogopolies: Private Copyright * Software Blues * Hollywood Trade Ballyhoo * 'Mary had a little lamb'. 12 Democratic Property Rights: Good and Bad Property * Democratizing Intellectual Property * The puzzle of TRIPS. 13 Resisting the New Inequality The New Inequality Rethinking Piracy Reforming Patent Office Regultion Deliberation on the Council for TRIPS. 14 On the Importance of the Publicness of Knowledge: Propertyless Creativity * Protecting Private Property, Protecting Public Universities * Global Publics, Public Goods and Knowledge.

An introduction to the economy of the knowledge society

Abstract: This introductory article reviews the main themes relating to the development of new knowledge-based economies. After placing their emergence in historical perspective and proposing a theoretical framework which distinguishes knowledge from information, the authors characterize the specific nature of such economies. They go on to deal with some of the major issues concerning the new skills and abilities required for integration into the knowledge-based economy; the new geography that is taking shape (where physical distance ceases to be such an influential constraint); the conditions governing access to both information and knowledge, not least for developing countries; the uneven development of scientific, technological (including organizational) knowledge across different sectors of activity; problems concerning intellectual property rights and the privatization of knowledge; and the issues of trust, memory and the fragmentation of knowledge.

The Earth is faster now : indigenous observations of Arctic environmental change

Abstract: The Earth is faster now is a collection of ten papers describing contemporary efforts to document indigenous knowledge of environmental change in the Arctic. It reviews major individual studies on indigenous knowledge and climate change undertaken during the past few years, primarily in North America. The text is accompanied by local observations, quotations from interviews, personal observations, illustrations, and photographs. Contributors include well- known academic researchers and Native people from Canada, Finland, and the United States. The publication is designed to be useful to both researchers and communities as a tool for networking and communication.

Indigenous knowledge and the politics of classification

Abstract: political science at Yale University, conducts research on institutional change, environmental politics, and development. His research has appeared in such journals as Comparative Political Studies, Development and Change, Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of Theoretical Politics, and World Development. His first book was Greener Pastures: Politics, Markets and Community among a Migrant Pastoral People (1999). He is now writing a book entitled Environmentality. Email: arun.agrawal@yale.edu Indigenous knowledge and the politics of classification*

Weaving Traditional Ecological Knowledge into Biological Education: A Call to Action

Abstract: A s scientists and educators, we train our students to thoroughly examine all the available evidence and to consider alternative explanations for biological phenomena. In peer review, we critically assess whether the author has carefully cited the appropriate primary sources. And yet, in our biology curricula, we are perhaps unknowingly ignoring an entire body of knowledge that has potential significance to contemporary science and policy: traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Indigenous peoples are the stewards of fully 4 percent of the land area of the United States and represent some 700 distinct communities possessing detailed knowledge of the biota of their homelands. Native American land holdings in North America collectively contain more wildlands than all of the national parks and nature conservancy areas in North Amer-ica (Nabhan 2000). Globally, indigenous peoples inhabit areas with some of the highest remaining biodiversity on the planet (Durning 1992) and are actively engaged as partners in biodiversity conservation (Weber et al. 2000). Issues of sustainable development, resource management, and ecological restoration all include Native American stakeholders. Federal agencies are required to consult with tribes on a government to government basis on a host of scientific and natural resource policies. Thus, college biology graduates have a high probability of encountering issues involving indigenous cultures and TEK. However, the majority of scientific professionals and educators have little understanding of the value of TEK or its cultural context. Traditional ecological knowledge is increasingly being sought by academics, agency scientists, and policymakers as a potential source of ideas for emerging models of ecosystem management, conservation biology, and ecological restoration. It has been recognized as complementary and equivalent to on Biodiversity calls for recognition, protection, and utilization of TEK. Researchers in pharmaceutical laboratories and in agricultural experiment stations worldwide are beginning to recognize the knowledge of indigenous peoples in scientific research. New directions in applied biology that have direct parallels and precedents in traditional knowledge include ecosystem management, medicine, pharmacology, agroecology, wildlife, fisheries, and animal behavior. Biological research is moving to explore these approaches, yet acknowledgment or understanding of traditional ecological knowledge is rare in the scientific community. Most college ecology courses begin a history of the discipline with 19th-century Europe, neglecting the highly sophisticated precedents in indigenous knowledge systems. My goal in this article is to present the case that exposure to TEK has a legitimate role in the education of the next generation of biologists, environmental scientists, and …

Participating in development : approaches to indigenous knowledge.

Abstract: 1. Participant observation to participatory development: making anthropology work Paul Sillitoe 2. Upsetting the sacred balance: can the study of indigenous knowledge reflect cosmic connectedness? Darrell Posey 3. Beyond the cognitive paradigm: majority knowledges and local discourses in a non-Western donor society John Clammer 4. Ethnotheory, ethnopraxis: ethnodevelopment in the Oromia regional state of Ethiopia Aneesa Kassam 5. Canadian First Nations' experiences with international development Peter Croal and Wes Darou 6. Globalizing indigenous knowledge Paul Sillitoe 7. Negotiating with knowledge at development interfaces: anthropology and the quest for participation Michael Schonhuth 8. Indigenous knowledge, power and parity: models of knowledge integration Trevor Purcell and Elizabeth Akinyi Onjoro 9. Interdisciplinary research and GIS: why local and indigenous knowledge is discounted John Campbell 10. Indigenous and scientific knowledge of plant breeding: similarities, differences and implications for collaboration David Cleveland and Daniela Soleri 11. 'Deja vu, all over again', again: reinvention and progress in applying local knowledge to development Roy Ellen

Whose Knowledge?: Epistemological Collisions in Solomon Islands Community Development

Abstract: We show in this article how modernization, disguised as "community development," continues to fail rural villages in Solomon Islands despite the supposed movement toward a more people-centered, bottom-up philosophy in development education and practice. We focus on the case study of a Kwara'ae (Malaita island) rural, locally owned and operated project aimed at giving unemployed male youth a stake in the community and preventing their off-island migration. Successful for a decade, the project was destroyed by the intervention of a retired government official who, because of his education, training, and work with outside development agencies, imposed a modernization framework, including centralization of leadership and the valuing of Anglo-European knowledge over indigenous knowledge. While agreeing with the theoretical argument for indigenous knowledge in development, we argue that it is equally important that development be guided by people's indigenous epistemology/ies and indigenous critical praxis for (re)constructing and applying knowledge.

Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge: Equitable Partnerships in Practice

Abstract: Section 1: Biodiversity Research Relationships - Laying the Foundation Equitable Biodiversity Research Relationships * Professional Society Standards for Biodiversity Research: Codes of Ethics and Research Guidelines * Institutional Policies for Biodiversity Research * Publication of Biodiversity Research Results and the Flow of Knowledge * 'Giving Back': Making Research Results Relevant to the Local Group and Conservation * Section 2: Biodiversity Research and Prospecting in Protected Areas * Section 3: Community Relationships with Researchers - Building Equitable Research Relationship with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities: Prior Informed Consent and Research Agreements * Section 4: The Commercial use of Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge - Biodiversity Prospecting: The Commercial Use of Genetic Resources and Best Practice in Benefit Sharing * Biodiversity Prospecting Contracts: The Search for Equitable Agreements * Elements of Commercial Biodiversity Prospecting Agreements * Sharing Financial Benefits Trust Funds for Biodiversity Prospecting * Section 5: National Policy Context - Developing and Implementing National Measures for Genetic Resources Assess Regulation and Benefit-sharing * Section 6: Conclusions and Recommendations * Directory of Useful Contacts and Resources* Contributors' Contact Information * Acronyms and Abbreviations * Glossary * References * Index

Managing and Preserving Indigenous Knowledge in the Knowledge Management Era: challenges and opportunities for information professionals

Abstract: Managing knowledge in general and indigenous knowledge in particular has become an important and valuable input in the management of sustainable development programmes. Historically, indigenous knowledge has been downplayed in the management of information. The tendency among library and information professionals has been to emphasize recorded knowledge at the expense of unrecorded indigenous knowledge. However, the growing realization that indigenous knowledge has a role to play in national development as well as the knowledge management environment has led to the growth of interest in preserving and managing it. The major challenges to the management and preservation of indigenous knowledge are issues relating to collection development, intellectual property rights, access and the preservation media.

Spiritual Knowing and Transformative Learning

Abstract: This chapter discusses the place of spirituality and spiritual learning in the promotion of transformative education. In highlighting the importance of taking spirituality seriously in the politics and ontology of educational transformation, I locate my discursive framework in the discussion in the challenges of critical teaching to a diverse school audience in North American contexts. I bring an anticolonial reading to what it means to engage spirituality in the political project of transformative learning. My understanding of transformative learning is that education should be able to resist oppression and domination by strengthening the individual self and the collective souls to deal with the continued reproduction of colonial and recolonial relations in the academy. It also must assist the learner to deal with pervasive effects of imperial structures of the academy on the processes of knowledge production and validation; the understanding of indigenity; and the pursuit of agency, resistance, and politics for educational change. Dei, Hall and Goldin-Rosen-berg (2000) have argued for working with “Indigenous knowledge” as a strategic knowledge base from which to rupture our academies (schools, colleges, and universities). In this discursive politics, the notion of Indigenous is understood as the absence of colonial imposition of the knowledge that is unique to a given culture or society. Such knowledge reflects the commonsense ideas and cultural resource knowledges of local peoples concerning everyday realities of living. It is knowledge referring to those whose authority resides in origin, place, history, and ancestry. (See also Dei, 2000.)

Current status and future strategy for development of medicinal plants sector in Uttaranchal, India

Abstract: As elsewhere, in the Indian Himalayan Region, ethnic communities in the state of Uttaranchal rely, to a large extent, on native plant species for sustenance of their traditional health-care system, both logistically as well as economically. However, the present scenario shows a decline in these traditional, plant-based health-care practices. These age-old practices are conservation-oriented and have tremendous potential to uplift the state economy. The excessive extraction of medicinal plant resources for use in the pharmaceutical industry has resulted in ruthless destruction of natural populations of medicinal plants. This work attempts to assess the current status of knowledge of medicinal plant resources of the state. It also focuses on the importance of documenting traditional knowledge and practices related to conservation and sustainable utilization of medicinal plants in Uttaranchal. A collaborative work plan involving scientists, government institutions and non-governmental organizations is suggested for preserving the traditional knowledge system and practices, conservation of medicinal plants and upliftment of the rural economy of this mountain state.

Siam Mapped and Mapping in Cambodia: Boundaries, Sovereignty,and Indigenous Conceptions of Space

Abstract: This article explores differences and similarities between the introduction of mapping into Thailand in the beginning of the nineteenth century and efforts to map customary land use in Cambodia at the end of the 20th century. The comparison suggests that indigenous conceptions of space have been overwhelmed by the need to have a location that can be recognized by political power. That mapping should not stop with the delineation of boundaries but needs to be carried to its conclusion in the recognition of the bundles of overlapping, hierarchical rights that define property. Finally, who does the mapping is not as essential as who controls the maps. Imbedded within the context of who makes and controls maps is the challenge of balancing the need for community participation--with implications for lower levels of technology and accuracy--against the need to establish legal rights to these lands--with implications for more sophisticated technology and greater accuracy.

The Politics of Reintegrating Australian Aboriginal and American Indian Indigenous Knowledge into Resource Management: The Dynamics of Resource Appropriation and Cultural Revival

Abstract: As the United States and Australia struggle with contemporary crises over competing uses of rapidly depleting natural resources, there are striking parallels between American Indian and Australian Aboriginal communities demanding a place at the management table and offering culturally based understandings of and solutions for the ecosystems at risk. These efforts to integrate indigenous knowledge into mainstream natural resource management are part of larger legal and political debates over land tenure, the locus of control, indigenous self-governance, and holistic ecosystems management.

Local Knowledge of Biotic Diversity and its Conservation in Rural Hausaland, Northern Nigeria1

Abstract: Because biodiversity is debated primarily from western perspectives, the significance of threatened taxa has not been properly assessed in the cultural and ecological contexts of their use. Instead, conservable species tend to be identified by outsiders who are culturally and politically detached from the threatened environments. However, over the last decade or so a growing number of studies document why and how indigenous knowledge and people can become part of development and sustainable conservation. Presented here is a Nigerian example that illustrates how formal conservation efforts are handicapped by their failure to take into account local environmental knowledge. I argue that the potential erosion of biodiversity in Hausaland has been checked by the varied management of cultivated and other lands, and by the use of plants in overlapping contexts—as medicines, foods, and the like.

Linking Local Perceptions of Elephants and Conservation:Samburu Pastoralists in Northern Kenya

Abstract: This article examines the development and implementation of a grass-roots elephant conservation program based upon the Samburu people's perceptions and knowledge of elephants in the areas surrounding the Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserves in northern Kenya. Ethnographic methods were used to understand these perceptions and demonstrated that strong customs and traditions for conserving wildlife, particularly elephants, exist among the Samburu people. It became evident that these customs are changing, given various factors influencing Samburu culture and younger generations. The use of economic incentives is a widely accepted method to foster positive attitudes and behavior toward wildlife. The value of using ethnographic methods to reinforce positive indigenous knowledge about wildlife, however, is underestimated. This case study highlights the significance of using ethnographic methods in community conservation program design. The article demonstrates that in local contexts where cultural perce...

Observations on the workshop as a means of improving communication between holders of traditional and scientific knowledge.

Abstract: Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and the information and insights it offers to natural resource research and management have been given much attention in recent years. On the practical question of how TEK is accessed and used together with scientific knowledge, most work to date has examined documentation and methods of recording and disseminating information. Relatively little has been done regarding exchanges between scientific and traditional knowledge. This paper examines three workshop settings in which such exchanges were intended outcomes. The Barrow Symposium on Sea Ice, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Restoration Program Synthesis/Information Workshops, and the Alaska Beluga Whale Committee illuminate certain features of the preparation, format, and context of workshops or series of workshops and their eventual outcomes and influence. The examples show the importance of long-term relationships among participants and thorough preparation before the actual workshop. Further research should look more systematically at the factors that influence the success of a given workshop and the various ways in which participants perceive success.

Manners of contestation: "citizen science" and "indigenous knowledge" in West Africa and the Caribbean

Abstract: and professorial fellow of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, where she co-leads the Environment Group. Email: m.leach@ids.ac.uk. James Fairhead is professor of anthropology in the School of African and Asian Studies, University of Sussex. Email: J.R.Fairhead@sussex.ac.uk. They have jointly researched and published extensively on issues of knowledge, power, science, and policy in West Africa (for example Misreading the African Landscape, 1996; Reframing Deforestation, 1998) and recently, in comparative work including the Caribbean (Science, Policy and Society, forthcoming). Manners of contestation: “citizen science” and “indigenous knowledge” in West Africa and the Caribbean

Perceptions and practices of modern and traditional health practitioners about traditional medicine in Shirka district, Arsi zone, Ethiopia

Abstract: Background: Traditional medicine is an ancient medical practice that is still widely used in prevention and treatment of various health problems in Ethiopia. Objective: To evaluate perceptions and practices of modern and traditional health practitioners about traditional medicine in Shirka District of Arsi Zone, Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study pertaining to the perceptions and practices of modern and traditional health practitioners was carried out in February 1999 in four peasant associations of Shirka District. Two types of questionnaires (with closed and open-ended questions) were prepared to assess the respective practitioners. Fourteen modern practitioners and 80 traditional healers were interviewed. Results: Most of the practitioners in both systems had used traditional medicine at least once in their lifetime. The indigenous knowledge surrounding traditional medicine is mainly conveyed verbally and to some extent still employs superstitious beliefs and harmful practices. To substantially reduce the drawbacks and promote its positive elements, both types of practitioners expressed their willingness to collaborate among each other and believe in the need for government support. Conclusion: The knowledge surrounding traditional medicine incorporates a number of harmful practices. To make matters worse, this knowledge is mostly conveyed verbally which may result in the inevitable distortion of original information leading to the expansion of more and more harmful practices. Therefore, the need for more effort of recording the knowledge is stressed. Government support and coordinated effort among the various institutions are emphasized for promotion and development of traditional medicine. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2002;16(1):19-29]

Familiar Medicine: Everyday Health Knowledge and Practice in Today's Vietnam

Abstract: One of the first medical ethnographies to be written on contemporary Vietnam, Familiar Medicine examines the practical ways in which people of the Red River Delta make sense of their bodies, illness, and medicine. Traditional knowledge and practices have persisted but are now expressed through and alongside global medical knowledge and commodities. Western medicine has been eagerly adopted and incorporated into everyday life in Vietnam, but not entirely on its own terms. Familiar Medicine takes a conjectural, interdisciplinary approach to its subject, weaving together history, ethnography, cultural geography, and survey materials to provide a rich and readable account of local practices in the context of an increasingly globalized world and growing microbial resistance to antibiotics. Theoretically, it draws on current critical and cultural theory (in particular applying Pierre Bourdieu's work on habitus and practical logics) in innovative but approachable ways. David Craig addresses a range of contemporary fascinations in medical anthropology and the sociology of health and illness: from the trafficking of medical commodities and ideas under globalization to the hybridization of local cultural formations, knowledge, and practices. His book will be required reading for international workers in health and development in Vietnam and a rich resource for courses in cultural geography, anthropology, medical sociology, regional studies, and public and international health.

Ancient roots, new shoots : endogenous development in practice

Abstract: * 1 - Introduction * 2 - Cultures, knowledges and developments, a historical perspective * 3 - The Compas approach to support endogenous development * 4 - Knowledge and belief systems in the Asian subcontinent * 4.1 Endogenous development through experimenting farmers, KPP * 4.2 Revitalising local health traditions, FRLHT * 4.3 Empowerment of Tharu indigenous knowledge, ECOS * 4.4 Modern dilemmas and traditional insights, CIKS * 4.5 Supporting endogenous development of the Atoni, TIRD * 4.6 The parth of rediscovery, GREEN * 4.7 Revitalising traditional agriculture, ECO and Compas Network in Sri Lanka * 4.8 Building on tribal resources, IDEA * 5.- Knowledge and belief systems in sub-Saharan Africa * 5.1 Improving farming with ancestral support, CECIK * 5.2 Developing centres of excellence on endogenous development, AZTREC * 6 - Knowledge and belief systems in Latin America * 6.1 Endogenous development and university education, AGRUCO * 6.2 Cosmovision as a basis for development, ADICI and OXLAJUJ AJPOP * 7 - Knowledge and belief systems in Europe * 7.1 Biodynamic farming and farmers' realities, BD-UNION * 7.2 Environmental co-operatives reconnect faming, ecology and society, WUR * 8. - Results and conclusions * 9. - Creating an enabling environment for endogenous development * Definitions * References * Addresses Compas Partner Organisations * Colophon