Showing papers on "Traditional knowledge published in 2003"

Who knows? On the importance of identifying experts when researching local ecological knowledge

Abstract: Documenting local ecological knowledge (LEK) has recently become a topic of considerable interest within the social research, development, and indigenous rights communities. For instance, LEK is thought to offer a substantial alternative to existing, largely “top‐down,” natural resource management regimes. LEK informed resource management systems would acknowledge peoples’ experiences and priorities, while also providing people with additional means of empowerment. Given these qualities, one might reasonably expect that rigorous design and methodological attributes will characterize LEK research, particularly respecting the procedures employed to identify and to select “local knowledge experts.” Our review of the recent social research literature suggests that insufficient attention is given both to reporting the methods employed and to employing systematic approaches, especially with regard to the critical issue of how local experts are identified. We detail a research design that systematically solicited peer recommendations of fisheries local knowledge experts in a study focused on two northeast Nova Scotian embayments. Finally, we argue that in order to achieve the stated purposes and potentials of LEK research, researchers need to become more attentive to reporting on the methods employed and to employing systematic approaches than is currently the case.

Private Power, Public Law: The Globalization of Intellectual Property Rights

Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. Structures, agents, and institutions 3. US intellectual property rights in historical perspective 4. The domestic origins of a trade-based approach to intellectual property 5. The Intellectual Property Committee and transnational mobilization 6. Life after TRIPS: aggression and opposition 7. Conclusion: structured agency revisited.

Amazonia 1492: pristine forest or cultural parkland?

Abstract: Archaeology and indigenous history of Native Amazonian peoples in the Upper Xingu region of Brazil reveal unexpectedly complex regional settlement patterns and large-scale transformations of local landscapes over the past millennium. Mapping and excavation of archaeological structures document pronounced human-induced alteration of the forest cover, particularly in relation to large, dense late-prehistoric settlements (circa 1200 to 1600 A.D.). The findings contribute to debates on human carrying capacity, population size and settlement patterns, anthropogenic impacts on the environment, and the importance of indigenous knowledge, as well as contributing to the pride of place of the native peoples in this part of the Amazon.

Ideas, Artifacts, and Facilities: Information as a Common-Pool Resource

Abstract: I INTRODUCTION There is an increasing concern about the implications of recent and impending legislation on the future of academic research, open science, traditional knowledge, and the intellectual public domain. The Duke Law School Conference on the Public Domain brought together, for the first time, an interdisciplinary group of leading scholars studying the increasing enclosure (1) of the global information commons. In the past five years, law review articles have described an information arms race from various perspectives, with multiple sides battling for larger shares of the global knowledge pool. (2) Information that used to be "free" is now increasingly being privatized, monitored, encrypted, and restricted. The enclosure is caused by the conflicts and contradictions between intellectual property laws and the expanded capacities of new technologies.(3) It leads to speculation that the records of scholarly communication, the foundations of an informed, democratic society, may be at risk. This "intellectual land-grab"(4) is an outcome of new technologies and global markets. Distributed digital technologies have the dual capacity to increase access to information while in some instances restricting such access. These technologies have generated greater access to important information about history, science, art, literature, and current events, while at the same time enabling profit-oriented firms to extract value from resources previously held in common and to establish property rights.(5) Multiple forces are vying for capture and restriction of traditionally available knowledge: corporations versus indigenous peoples, such as Monsanto owning the patent on the genetic structure of the neem; federal and state governments versus citizens regarding balancing encryption and digital surveillance with individual privacy; universities versus professors as to whether institutions or individuals will own intellectual property; and publishers versus libraries in the ephemeralization of library collection s through licensing, bundling, and withdrawal of information. This competition for ownership of previously shared resources is not unique to the public domain of knowledge. Given the opening of vast markets for commodities of all kinds, many natural as well as human-made resources are under pressure. The world's fisheries, for instance, are fighting depletion because of the capture capabilities of larger trawlers, wider and finer nets, and larger fleets. Local control of forests throughout the world is being increasingly encroached upon by state and private interests, resulting in alarming rates of deforestation. Resultant forest burning is not only rapidly reducing primary growth forests but is also contributing to the degradation of the global atmosphere as well.(6) Commodification and privatization of natural resources is a trend with virtually all types of resources. And radical changes in the structure and process of all natural and human-constructed resources can occur through the development of new technologies. (7) The problems are complex, multilayered, and of crucial importance. To direct attention to this evolving situation, James Boyle has called for the recreation of the public domain, drawing from the intellectual construct of the environment. "Like the environment," he writes, "the public domain must be invented before it can be saved." (8) A greater depth of understanding of the public domain requires the concept to be more deeply analyzed and clarified. It is a logical step, therefore, to draw from the fruitful research and analytical methods applied to the study of common-pool resources ("CPRs") and natural resource management. The goal of this article is to summarize the lessons learned from a large body of international, interdisciplinary research on common-pool resources in the past twenty-five years and consider its usefulness in the analysis of scholarly information as a resource. …

Living on the Edge: Ecological and Cultural Edges as Sources of Diversity for Social-Ecological Resilience

Abstract: A well-known facet of ecosystems is that the edges—the boundaries or transitions from one ecosystem to another—often exhibit high levels of species richness or biodiversity. These transitional areas often show features of species composition, structure, and function representative of the ecosystems they transcend, as well as having their own unique array of species and characteristics. Cultural transitional areas—zones where two or more cultures converge and interact—are similarly rich and diverse in cultural traits, exhibiting cultural and linguistic features of each of the contributing peoples. This results in an increase in cultural capital, and resilience, by providing a wider range of traditional ecological knowledge and wisdom on which to draw, especially in times of stress and change. We propose that indigenous peoples whose living territories traverse ecological edges have a correspondingly increased access to economically important resources and therefore have a greater capacity for flexibility. Finally, we suggest that indigenous peoples are drawn to areas having a high incidence of ecological edges, and furthermore, that they actively create and maintain ecological edges. This practice provides them with a greater diversity of cultural capital and helps to maintain their flexibility and resilience. Examples from several regions of Canada are provided, from the southern interior of British Columbia, to the Lake Winnipeg watershed of Manitoba and Ontario, to James Bay.

Synergy Between Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Conservation Science Supports Forest Preservation in Ecuador

Abstract: Meeting the desires of individuals while sustaining ecological "public goods" is a central challenge in natural resources conservation. Indigenous communities routinely make common property decisions balancing benefits to individuals with benefits to their communities. Such traditional knowledge offers insight for conservation. Using surveys and field observations, this case study examines aspects of indigenous institutions and ecological knowledge used by rural Ecuadorians to manage a forest commons before and after interacting with two U.S.-based conservation NGOs: Earthwatch Institute and People Allied for Nature. The rural farming community of Loma Alta has legal property rights to a 6842-ha watershed in western Ecuador. This self- governing community curtailed destruction of their moist forest commons, but not without the influence of modern scientific ecological knowledge. When Earthwatch Institute scientists provided evidence that forest clearing would reduce water supply to the community, villagers quickly modified land allocation patterns and set rules of use in the forest establishing the first community-owned forest reserve in western Ecuador. This case demonstrates that synergy between traditional knowledge and western knowledge can result in sustaining both ecosystem services and biodiversity in a forest commons.

The American Indian Mind in a Linear World: American Indian Studies and Traditional Knowledge

Abstract: PREFACE 1. "INDIAN THINKING" AND A LINEAR WORLD 2. ORAL TRADITION AND TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE 3. AMERICAN INDIAN CIRCULAR PHILOSOPHY 4. NATIVE AMERICAN GENIUS AND INDIAN INTELLECTUALISM 5. INDIAN MINDS AND WHITE TEACHERS 6. RISE OF AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES 7. CULTURAL PATRIMONY AND NATIVE SCHOLARS 8. INSTITUTIONALIZING TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE 9. THE FULL CIRCLE AND ITS CENTER BIBLIOGRAPHY

Indigenous education: addressing current issues and developments

Abstract: (2003). Indigenous Education: Addressing current issues and developments. Comparative Education: Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 139-145.

The Principles and Content of African Traditional Education

Abstract: (2003). The Principles and Content of African Traditional Education. Educational Philosophy and Theory: Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 425-440.

Women and Plants: Gender Relations in Biodiversity Management and Conservation

Abstract: * Foreword * 1 Women and the Plant World: An Exploration - Patricia L Howard * Part 1: Culture, Kitchen and Conservation * 2 Women in the Garden and Kitchen: The Role of Cuisine in the Conservation of Traditional House Lot Crops among Yucatec Mayan Immigrants - Laurie S Z Greenberg * 3 Wild Food Plants and Arberesh Women in Lucania, Southern Italy - Andrea Pieroni * 4 Women and 'Wild' Foods: Nutrition and Household Food Security Among Rai and Sherpa Forager Farmers in Eastern Nepal - Ephrosine Daniggelis * Part 2: Gender Relations, Women's Rights, and Plant Management * 5 Farm Women's Rights and Roles in Wild Plant Food Gathering and Management in Northeast Thailand - Lisa Leimar Price * 6 Gender and Entitlements in the Zimbabwean Woodlands: A Case Study of Resettlement - Allison Goebel * Part 3: Gendered Plant Knowledge in Science and Society * 7 'Passing on the News': Women's Work, Traditional Knowledge and Plant Resource Management in Indigenous Societies of Northwestern North America - Nancy Turner * 8 The Invisible Queen in the Plant Kingdom: Gender Perspectives in Medical Ethnobotany - Brij Kothari * 9 The Gender of Crops in the Papua New Guinea Highlands - Paul Sillitoe * Part 4: Plants, Women's Status and Welfare * 10 Gendering the Tradition of Plant Gathering in Central Anatolia (Turkey) - Fusun Ertug * 11 The Basket-Makers of the Central California Interior - Linda Dick Bissonnette * 12 Exchange, Patriarchy and Status: Women's Homegardens in Bangladesh - Margot Wilson * Part 5: Gender, Biodiversity Loss and Conservation * 13 Losing Ground: Gender Relations, Commerical Horticulture and Threats to Local Plant Diversity in Rural Mali - Stephen Wooten * 14 Modernization and Gender Dynamics in the Loss of Agrobiodiversity in Swaziland's Food System - Millicent Malaza * 15 Arawakan Women and the Erosion of Traditional Food Production in Amazonas Venezuela - Shirley Hoffmann * 16 Women and Maize Breeding: The Development of New Seed Systems in a Marginal Area of Southwest China - Yiching Song and Janice Jiggins

Negotiating local knowledge : power and identity in development

Abstract: 1 Negotiating Local Knowledge: An Introduction Johan Pottier 2 A Possible Explanation For The Lack Of Explanation: Or, 'Why The Master Builder Can't Explain What He Knows' (Yemen) Trevor H.J. Marchand 3 Explosive Narratives: The Articulation Of 'Nuclear Knowledge' In Mumbai, India Raminder Kaur 4 Knowledge Interfaces And Practices Of Negotiation: Cases From A Women's Group In Bolivia And An Oil Refinery In Wales, United Kingdom Alberto Arce And Eleanor Fisher 5 Anti-Social 'Social Development'? Governmentality, Indigenousness And The Dfid Approach On Montserrat Jonathan Skinner 6 'All Been Washed Away Now': Tradition, Change And Indigenous Knowledge In A Queensland Aboriginal Land Claim Benjamin Richard Smith 7 Managing Natural Resources In Eastern Algarve, Portugal: An Assessment Of The Policy Uses Of Local Knowledge(S) Manuel Joao Ramos, Antonio Medeiros, Pedro Sena And Goncalo Praca 8 Interfaces Of Knowledge: The Revival Of Temples In West Hunan, China Mary Rack 9 The Global Flow Of Knowledge On War Trauma: The Role Of The 'Cinnamon Garden Culture' In Sri Lanka Alex Argenti-Pillen 10 Modern Information Warfare Versus Empirical Knowledge: The International Framing Of 'The Crisis' In Eastern Zaire, 1996 Johan Pottier 11 Playing On The Pacific Ring Of Fire: Negotiation And Mining In Papua New Guinea Paul Sillitoe And Robin A. Wilson 12 From Seduction To Miscommunication: The Confession And Presentation Of Local Knowledge In 'Participatory Development' (Batak, The Philippines) Dario Novellino 13 Silencing The Nile (Uganda) Stan Frankland Index

Examining the Potential of Indigenous Institutions for Development: A Perspective from Borana, Ethiopia

Abstract: This article examines an institutional approach to development in which indigenous institutions are viewed as a resource for achieving development. It concentrates on indigenous natural resource management (NRM) institutions which have been seen by some development agencies to be a means to address the needs of people and the environment in a way that is also participatory. Using material from Borana, Ethiopia, the article describes the indigenous NRM institutions and examines the outcome of one attempt to work with them. In the process, it shows that partnerships between development agencies and indigenous NRM institutions are often fragile, and tend to dissolve when they fail to meet the preconceptions of the developers. Through an examination of this approach to development, the article also examines the usefulness of recent broad approaches to institutions.

Plant virtues are in the eyes of the beholders: A comparison of known palm uses among indigenous and folk communities of Southwestern Amazonia

Abstract: Despite its central importance to tropical forest conservation, the understanding of patterns in traditional resource use still is incipient. To address this deficiency, we compared known palm uses among two indigenous (Yawanawd and Kaxinawa) and two folk (rubber tapper and ribeirinho) communities in Southwestern Amazonia (Acre, Brazil). We conducted one-hundred-and -forty semi-structured “checklist” interviews about palm uses with male and female adults in the four communities. The knowledge of each community about the uses of the 17 palm species common to all communities was compared by testing for significant differences in the mean number of uses cited per informant and by calculating the Jaccard similarity index of known uses of palm species among the four communities. The following three hypotheses were confirmed: 1) the use of palms differs according to the cultural preferences of each community; 2) indigenous communities know significantly more about palm uses than folk communities; and 3) part of the indigenous knowledge was acquired through contact with Amazonian folk communities.

Traditional agroecological knowledge, adaptive management and the socio-politics of conservation in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract: This paper illustrates the opportunity for conservation offered by linking traditional agroecological knowledge and advances in adaptive management theory and practice. Drawing on examples from the Banawa-Marawola region of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, a suite of traditional resource management practices premised on principles of adaptive management are identified and assessed, including: (1) resource management practices and regulations that are associated with the dynamics of complex systems; (2) procedural, planning and decision-making processes that foster learning; (3) sanctions and taboos that act as social mechanisms for the management and conservation of natural resources; and (4) ceremonies and social interactions that promote cultural internalization of the various practices, procedures and mechanisms. In addition, an emerging socio-political movement in the Banawa-Marawola region is explored. Premised on the strengthening of traditional rights and practices, the nascent Kamalise movement potentially provides the socio-political, institutional and organizational context needed to link traditional agroecological knowledge and adaptive management with broader conservation goals. Based on this analysis, two opportunities to enhance conservation in the region are identified: first, maintaining traditional agroecological systems and the associated adaptive resource management strategies used by local groups, and second, building upon the Kamalise movement to forge conservation alliances among communities, non-government and government organizations in which locally-evolved adaptive resource management strategies can be effectively applied. Both opportunities to combine traditional knowledge, adaptive management and conservation, however, are linked to the development aspirations of traditional groups: self-determination, acquisition of land rights and controlling the impacts of changes in livelihood.

The major importance of 'minor' resources: Women and plant biodiversity

Abstract: Understanding women’s influence on plant biodiversity is essential to our ability to conserve plant genetic resources, especially those plants that are useful to humans. Contrary to previous thinking, it is becoming clear that women know most about these plants because, throughout history, women’s daily work has required more of this knowledge. This paper describes how women predominate in plant biodiversity management in their roles as housewives, plant gatherers, homegardeners, herbalists, seed custodians and informal plant breeders. But they are largely invisible to outsiders and are easily undervalued. Gender bias has prevailed in scientific research about people-plant relationships, and conservation policies and programmes are still largely blind to the importance of the domestic sphere, of women and of gender relations for biodiversity conservation, and to the importance of plants for women’s status and welfare. Traditional knowledge and indigenous rights to plants are everywhere sex-differentiated, and gender inequalities are also implicated in processes leading to biological erosion. Achieving the goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity, particularly those related to sustainable use and to benefit sharing, will require much greater attention to women’s knowledge, management and rights, and to the domestic sphere. Steps needed include: prioritising the conservation of plants that are important to women curators and reversing dynamics that lead to their erosion; recognising, and promoting the inter-generational transmission of women’s traditional knowledge; recognising indigenous rights systems and women’s rights to plants and land resources within these; and ensuring women’s full participation in decisions and policies that affect their plant rights.

NGOs and Production of Indigenous Knowledge Under the Condition of Postmodernity

Abstract: Indigenous knowledge (IK), experienced in development, is a product of a set of institutions often external to where they are located. The results of the use of IK in sustainable development are another example of capitalism's capacity to configure development according to its own imperatives. Rather than being an instrument of sustainable development, IK has become a means through which the diversity of knowledge systems and the embedded cultures in which they exist are disciplined and managed according to capital's need to expand. The collaborative role played by the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in this process is obscured by their use of the seductive language of empowerment of marginalized social groups. NGOs' interventions run counter to the interests of the people they claim to serve. The challenge to work towards an alternative institutional environment that could liberate the use of IK from being determined by the ideology and institutions of capitalism.

The Relationship between Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Evolving Cultures, and Wilderness Protection in the Circumpolar North

Abstract: There are many unique issues associated with natural resource management in the far north as a result of legislative direction, historic settlement and occupation patterns, northern cultural traditions, ecotourism, economic depression, pressures for energy development, and globalization and modernization effects. Wilderness designation in Canada, the USA, and Finland is aimed at preserving and restoring many human and ecological values, as are the long-established, strictly enforced, nature reserves in Russia. In Alaska and Finland, and in some provinces of Canada, there is a variety of values associated with protecting relatively intact relationships between indigenous people and relatively pristine, vast ecosystems. These values are often described as "traditional means of livelihood," "traditional means of access," "traditional relationships with nature," or "traditional lifestyles." Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) forms part of these relationships and has been acknowledged as a contributor to understanding the effects of management decisions and human-use impacts on long-term ecological composition, structure, and function. Wilderness protection can help maintain opportunities to continue traditional relationships with nature. As cultures continue to evolve in customs, attitudes, knowledge, and technological uses, values associated with both TEK and relationships with relatively pristine ecosystems will also evolve. Understanding these relationships and how to consider them in wilderness protection and restoration decision making is potentially one of the most contentious, widespread natural resource management issues in the circumpolar north.

Traditional Knowedge and Intellectual Property: A Handbook on Issues and Options for Traditional Knowledge Holders in Protecting their Intellectual Property and Maintaining Biological Diversity.

Abstract: This handbook is designed to make intellectual property protection issues and options more understandable to traditional knowledge holders, human rights organizations and legal professionals working with local and indigenous communities.Its goal is to help local communities understand and identify potential protection mechanisms already present in current intellectual property rights (IPRs) regimes and the public domain for traditional knowledge. In addition to introducing some basic intellectual property concepts, the handbook contains a series of exercises to help the reader to identify knowledge and classify types of knowledge, as well as cultural and interest-related aspects of that knowledge. Through a series of exercises, the handbook helps traditional knowledge holders to identify whether or not intellectual property options in the current regime are relevant and/or appropriate for their knowledge.Areas covered include:patentspetty patent modelsplant patentsplant variety certificatestraditional knowledge registriestrade secretstrademarksgeographical indicatorsprior art and defensive disclosureprior informed consentsui generis protection systemsaccess and benefit-sharingcontracts – the basicsprotected/conservation areas

Insects - a mistake in God's creation? Tharu farmers' perception and knowledge of insects: A case study of Gobardiha Village Development Committee, Dang-Deukhuri, Nepal

Abstract: Recent trends in agriculturalresearch and development emphasize the need forfarmer participation. Participation not onlymeans farmers' physical presence but also theuse of their knowledge and expertise.Understanding potentials and drawbacks of theirlocal knowledge system is a prerequisite forconstructive collaboration between farmers,scientists, and extension services.An ethnoentomological study, conducted in aTharu village in Nepal, documents farmers'qualitative and quantitative knowledge as wellas perceptions of insects and pest management,insect nomenclature and classification, andissues related to insect recognition and localbeliefs. The study offers a basis to improvepest management programs in terms of efficacyand acceptance. It demonstrates, for instance,that a concept of pests and beneficials isvirtually missing in traditional farmingcommunities and that the Tharu folkclassification profoundly differs from thescientific classification, but is not radicallydifferent from other folk entomologicalsystems. Insects belong to the taxa calledkiraa consisting of arthropods andnon-arthropods that interact with humans. Theyare classified in several overlappinghierarchies where locomotion and human impactplay major roles while morphological criteriaare almost irrelevant. Recognition ofkiraa, however, is dominated by agriculturalaspects followed by physiological-behavioral,ecological, and human-directed features.Morphological criteria play a minor role. Innomenclature, however, the insects' physicalappearance is more important than otherfeatures. The study further shows that male andfemale farmers have different perceptions ofkiraa.The insect-related knowledge system of theTharu has prevented farmers from using modernpesticides in the past. In the course ofmodernization, however, some aspects of theirknowledge system could become obsolete andprove disadvantageous to their livelihood andagro-ecosystems.

Wildlife knowledge among migrants in southern Sumatra, Indonesia: implications for conservation

Abstract: SUMMARY The value of traditional ecological knowledge for biodiversity research and conservation is widely recognized. The value of wildlife knowledge provided by recent migrants is less clear. Photographs of 10 mammal species were shown to 622 individuals in communities near Way Kambas National Park in Sumatra, Indonesia, to assess wildlife knowledge among recent migrants and to identify socio-economic variables that can be used to identify more knowledgeable informants. Knowledge scores were categorized by taxonomic family, genus and species. Large, charismatic and abundant animals were identified more frequently than smaller and more secretive animals. Higher knowledge scores were significantly associated with males, higher educational attainment and past experience with these animals. Number of years respondents had lived in the area and respondent age were also good predictors of higher scores. The characteristics of animals that were likely to be identified more accurately were assessed. Generic terms used to describe animals can confound individual responses. Biodiversity research, conservation and education programmes frequently rely on ‘local’ knowledge to inform management and policy. This information can be a valuable addition to field-based efforts to identify the distribution and abundance of rare endangered species. With more and more migrants living near the world’s wildlife protected areas, care must be taken to understand how human demographic shifts may affect such studies.

Social institutions in ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation

Abstract: This synthesis addresses local institutions and associated management practices related to natural resources and ecosystem dynamics, with an emphasis on traditional ecological knowledge systems. Traditional practices for ecosystem management include multiple species management, resource rotation, ecological monitoring, succession management, landscape patchiness management and practices of responding to and managing pulses and ecological surprises. There exist practices that seem to reduce social-ecological crises in the events of large-scale natural disturbance such as creating small-scale ecosystem renewal cycles, spreading risks and nurturing sources of ecosystem reorganization and renewal. Ecological knowledge and monitoring among local groups appears to be a key element in the development of many of the practices. The practices are linked to social mechanisms such as flexible user rights and land tenure; adaptations for the generation, accumulation and transmission of ecological knowledge; dynamics of institutions; mechanisms for cultural internalization of traditional practices; and associated worldviews and cultural values. We dive deeper into the role of informal social institutions in resource management, such as many taboo systems. We find that taboos may contribute to the conservation of habitats, local subsistence resources and 'threatened', 'endemic' and 'keystone' species, although some may run contrary to conservation and notions of sustainability. It is asserted that under certain circumstances, informal institutions may offer advantages relative to formal measures of conservation. These benefits include non-costly, voluntary compliance features. Since management of ecosystems is associated with uncertainty about their spatial and temporal dynamics and due to incomplete knowledge about such dynamics, local management practices and associated institutions may provide useful 'rules of thumb' for resource management with an ability to confer resilience and tighten environmental feedbacks of resource exploitation to local levels.

Indigenous Knowledge and Archaeological Science: The Challenges of Public Archaeology in the Reserva Uaçá

Abstract: The move towards public archaeology counsels archaeologists to work participatively, placing a high priority on educational and developmental activities with local communities in order to share the means of production of historical knowledge and promote the conservation of heritage. Describing key moments in an archaeological project which took these principles as starting points in an indigenous peoples' reserve in northern Brazil, the paper contends that public archaeology is comprised not of a series of goals and activities additional to the task of archaeology, but rather that public archaeology constitutes a wholly different approach to the generation of research questions and the production of knowledge. Examining assumptions about empowerment, consultation, heritage, historiography, strategic essentialism and ethics as they affected decisions in the field, the case study demonstrates that, while challenging, participatory research holds significant benefits for the production of knowledge.

Emancipatory Indigenous Knowledge Systems: implications for environmental education in South Africa

Abstract: Indigenous Knowledge also termed Traditional, Endogenous or Classical knowledge, often fails to contribute to the improvement of the quality of human life. This failure can be attributed purely to the lower status accorded to this type of knowledge in society. This knowledge is accorded low status because it belongs to a particular racial or ethnic group which often, it is assumed, lacks the necessary cultur al capital. Despite these negative perceptions of Indigenous Knowledge, there is a growing realisation that this knowledge is part of the global heritage and a national resource to be utilised for the benefit of all humanity. This article presents an argument that there is a major role to be played by Indigenous Knowledge Systems in education in general and environmental education in particular. Environmental education as stated in the Brundtland Commission, the South African Environmental Education Policy Initiative (EEPI), and the NGO Form Principles, is seen as a key process that could enhance Indigenous Knowledge in formal education. The article further argues that the production of Indigenous Knowledge is contextually grounded through social constructivist approaches. However, it has the potential to be contextually and widely used. South African Journal of Education Vol.23(4) 2003: 276-280