Indigenous knowledge is a term applied to knowledge held in specific cultures, world-wide. Knowledge is the awareness and understanding of facts, truths or information gained in the form of experience or learning (a posteriori), or through introspection (a priori). ... The word culture comes from the Latin root colere (to inhabit, to cultivate, or to honor). ...

Some definitions are:

• Knowledge that is derived from oral traditions (Waiko, 1997).
• Indigenous knowledge is imbedded in culture and unique to a given location or society. The separation of Indigenous Knowledge from its human agents and from the situation in which it occurs can quickly deprive it of its meaning and intrinsic value. The aim should be to link global and local knowledge, not to turn local knowledge into global knowledge (Teasdale & Rhea, 2000).
• Focussed on knowledge systems that are based in local traditions and cultures (Teasdale & Rhea, 2000).
• Flow of information coming out of developing countries about the role that IK is playing in agriculture, human and animal health care, the use and management of natural resources, rural development, education, and poverty alleviation (Teasdale & Rhea, 2000).
• It does not reduce the universe to progressively smaller conceptual bits and pieces. It tends to view human thought, feelings, and communication as inextricably intertwined with events and processes in the universe rather than as apart from them. (Suzuki, 1993).
• Indigenous cultures are generally held to be non-industrial cultures with ancient roots in their land, though some have been migratory and others forcibly displaced. They range from very simple material lifestyles to extensive historical urban/rural systems such as Inka and Aztec (Sahtouris, 1995).
• The Antithesis of Indigenous Knowledge: “‘Development' thus insists that the (industrial) human state of being is an evolutionary achievement over, above, and beyond other states of being, and that the purpose and destiny of Earth and its non-human occupants is to be remade in the human image” (Livingstone, 1994) -- John A. Livingston, Rogue Primate: An exploration of human domestication, 1994.

Some of the effects of globalization on Indigenous Knowledge. Oral history is an account of something passed down by word of mouth from one generation to another. ... Globalization (or globalisation) is a term used to describe the changes in societies and the world economy that are the result of dramatically increased trade and cultural exchange. ...

• There is an urgency to rediscover local knowledge and wisdom as universities and their communities respond to globalization.

• Research to uncover the obstacles preventing indigenous populations from taking part in formal, secondary and higher education in the region have led to new insights for the development of new curricula and teaching methods. Thailand, Vietnam, India and Indonesia are all coming up with innovative new curricula and new approaches to the transfer of knowledge.

• Need to link modern science to the broader heritage of humankind. In other words, local knowledge adds value to global knowledge when the two are linked.

• The international attention being given to IK has been evident at conferences, particularly the ‘Global Knowledge for Development’ and UNESCO conferences. During these conferences it became clear that multiple wisdoms have to be preserved, and not just one wisdom.

Source: (Teasedale & Rhea, 2000).

Contentious aspects

• The apparent tension between traditions and modern education: how it is possible to adapt to change without turning one's back on the cultural diversity; how can cultural competence be acquired to complement new skills and how can scientific progress be assimilated? (Waiko, 1997).
• Since 1990 Papua New Guinea has been on the threshold between traditional and modem ways of life. When we examine closely individual members of the land groups or clans throughout the country, they have been obliged, by custom, to retain their identity with the village groups, and at the same time, the same individuals have become citizens of the modern state (Waiko, 1997).
• As such, the African scholars' insights and arguments cited should be studied by African and non-African social scientists. Social scientists should support and join non-social scientist African scholars in pursuit of the broader psychological and cultural patterns and processes in Africa. They should conduct investigations to see if assertions such as those I cite are supported by the historical and ethnographic record, and conduct new research on the continent to test such claims and develop new areas of inquiry (Lassiter, 2000).

• Kwaku Osei-Hwedie states the following: “Human service practitioners are yet to find practice paradigms consistent with the African context. Sociocultural, economic, political and environmental conditions, among others are supposed to be building blocks of practice. However, models that are based on these conditions have not materialized. Human service practitioners and client systems, therefore, need to explore together issues of appropriate, indigenized, human service practice models. This is a complex undertaking, and must include issues and processes related to both theory and practice within specific sociocultural and economic contexts” (Normann, Snyman, Cohen, 1996).

Example: In Grahams Town, a school was inflicted by a severe case of ‘mass hysteria’ as would be diagnosed by using the DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Illness). The problem, after much intervention by psychologists, was unresolved. In the end the problem was ‘relieved’ by a number of exorcisms done by priests. In other schools with the same manifestation, the problem was ‘relieved’ by local indigenous traditional healers who believed that some of the students had been cursed by a witch-doctor (Carlisle, 1999).

Taken from paper to be delivered at International Society for Theoretical Psychology conference in Cape Town, 19 - 25 June, 2005. See article: The Problem with Indigenous Knowledge at:[1] (http://www.indigknowledge.blogspot.com/)

References

• Normann, H., Snayman, I. & Cohen, M. (Eds) (1996). Indigenous Knowledge and its Uses. Pretoria: HSRC Publishers.
• Lassiter, J. E. (2000). African Culture and Personality: A Reply to D. A. Masolo. African Studies Quarterly: The Online Journal of African Studies, 3(3).

http://web.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v3/v3i2a1.htm. 23 March, 2005.

• Sahtouris, E. (1995). The Indigenous Way. Earthdance: Living Systems in Evolution.

http://twm.co.nz/Saht_indig_way.html, 27 March, 2005.

• Suzuki, D. (1993). Wisdom of the Elders. Noetic Sciences Review, 10-13.

http://twm.co.nz/Wisdom_elders.html#traditional, 27 March, 2005.

• Teasdale, R. & Rhea, M. (2000). Local Knowledge and Wisdom in Higher Education. UK, USA: Pergamon.
• Waiko, J. The Value of Traditional Knowledge in the 21st Century.

(from 1997 Wagani Seminar) http://www.pngbuai.com/600technology/information/waigani/w97-keynote.html, 23 March, 2005.

• Wilson, S. (2001). What is indigenous research methodology? Canadian Journal of Native Education, 25(2), 175-181.