The use of indigenous knowledge in development: problems and challenges

The use of indigenous knowledge has been seen by many as an alternative way of promoting development in poor rural communities in many parts of the world. By reviewing much of the recent work on indigenous knowledge, the paper suggests that a number of problems and tensions has resulted in indigenous knowledge not being as useful as hoped for or supposed. These include problems emanating from a focus on the (arte)factual; binary tensions between western science and indigenous knowledge systems; the problem of differentiation and power relations; the romanticization of indigenous knowledge; and the all too frequent decontextualization of indigenous knowledge

Design for the contact zone. Knowledge management software and the structures of indigenous knowledges

This article examines the design of digital indigenous knowledge archives. In a discussion of the distinction between indigenous knowledge and western science, a decentred perspective is developed, in which the relationship between different local knowledges is explored. The particular characteristics of indigenous knowledges raise questions about if and how these knowledges can be managed. The role of technology in managing indigenous knowledges is explored with examples from fieldwork in India and Kenya and from web-based databases and digital archives. The concept of contact zone is introduced to explore the space in which different knowledges meet and are performed, such as indigenous knowledge and the technoscientific knowledge of the database. Design for the contact zone, this article proposes, is an intra-active and adaptive process for in creating databases that are meaningful for indigenous knowers. The meta-design approach is introduced as a methodology, which may provide indigenous knowers tools for self-representation and self-organisation through design

Authority and Esteem Effects of Enhancing Remote Indigenous Teacher-Assistants' Mathematics-Education Knowledge and Skills

The interaction between Australia's Eurocentric education and the complex culture of remote Indigenous communities often results in Indigenous disempowerment and educational underperformance. This paper reports on a mathematics-education research project in a remote community to support Indigenous teacher assistants (ITAs) in mathematics and mathematics tutoring in an attempt to reverse Indigenous mathematics underperformance. It discusses teachers' and ITAs' power and authority within school and community, describes the project's design, and summarises the project's results in terms of affects and knowledge. It draws implications on the relation between ITA professional development (PD), affect, esteem, knowledge, authority, teacher-ITA partnerships, and enhanced Indigenous mathematics outcomes

Protecting the Right to Exist as a People: Intellectual Property as a Means to Protect Traditional Knowledge and Indigenous Culture

The dominant Western culture has created a legal system premised upon an individualistic and commercial foundation for intellectual property rights (IPR). This system necessarily excludes the protection of traditional knowledge and other components of Indigenous cultures, as well as concepts of communal responsibility for the keeping and transfer of such ideas and knowledge. These concepts are foundational to Indigenous knowledge systems in Alaska, as well as throughout the world. Today, a focus on this issue is critical to the preservation of indigenous cultures and their ways of knowing. We examine where national and international intellectual property rights systems are in addressing Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights (Indigenous CIPR). We also examine opportunities for expansion of such rights in Alaska and around the world.Ye

Legitimizing Indigenous Knowledge in Zimbabwe: A Theoretical Analysis of Postcolonial School Knowledge and Its Colonial Legacy

This article is a theoretical discussion on the social construction of knowledge in colonial and postcolonial Zimbabwe. It examines effects of hegemonic knowledge constructions and how they may be delegitimated through incorporating indigenous knowledge in postcolonial school curricular. The article questions the importance attached to Eurocentric school knowledge and the devaluation of indigenous knowledge in postcolonial states. It further argues that indigenous knowledge as informal knowledge plays a major role in society and should be formalized in educational institutions to constitute a transformative and inclusive educational system. The article proposes hybridization of knowledge to give voice to the formerly marginalized in school curricular in Zimbabwe. It also proposes that knowledge as a historical, cultural, social, spiritual and ideological creation should be a product of collaborated efforts from all possible stakeholders to foster social development and self-confidence in individuals

Cooperative Cross-Cultural Instruction: The Value of Multi-cultural Collaboration in the Coteaching of Topics of Worldview, Knowledge Traditions, and Epistemologies

For four years (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015) two faculty members of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Center for Cross-cultural Studies have collaborated to co-teach a course entitled Traditional Ecological Knowledge (CCS 612). This course examines the acquisition and utilization of knowledge associated with the long-term habitation of particular ecological systems and the adaptations that arise from the accumulation of such knowledge. Intimate knowledge of place—culturally, spiritually, nutritionally, and economically for viability—is traditional ecological knowledge, and this perspective is combined with the needs of an Indigenous research method to better understand and more effectively explore the proper role of traditional knowledge in academic, cross-cultural research. This presentation and paper explores the strategies tested and lessons learned from teaching students from a wide variety of academic and cultural backgrounds including the social and life sciences, and the humanities, and from Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural origins. The instructors, too—and most importantly for this endeavor—come from an Indigenous (John) and non-Indigenous (Koskey) background, and though hailing from very different cultures and upbringings work collaboratively and with genuine mutual respect to enable an understanding of variations of traditions of knowledge and their application to academic research

Biopiracy and intellectual property over natural resources : the consequences for Tobas : a comparative work with the New Zealand experience : thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Public Policy at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

Some Spanish language throughoutIndigenous groups have always been discriminated against in Argentina. Since colonization ages their land was systematically expropriated under the, what became known as, terra nullius principle. Genocide took place not only in Argentina but in most countries of Latin America, thus only few groups remain and some of these face extinction. For the "survivors", the scenario is not promising, they are living in indigenous reserves, (most of which are not in fertile land), in very poor and unhealthy conditions facing potential diseases such as cholera and tuberculosis. The scenario is not necessarily the same for the indigenous people of New Zealand: the Maori. The conquest of the islands by British was made in a more peaceful way if compare with other cases. However, there were also wars, confiscation of lands, and suppression of traditional Maori practices. Nowadays, while Maori are integrated to the society some of the injustices of the past are seen as affecting their spiritual and material way of life. It is claimed by indigenous activists that, the Intellectual Property Regimes (IPR), under the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements could make indigenous people face the possibility of being deprived of the free use of plants that they have been using for centuries for food and medicinal healing purposes among others, because of the patenting processes of multinational companies. In addition, aborigine communities could find themselves negotiating without full knowledge of the purpose of the extraction or the use to which the material will be put; and because of biopiracy, not receiving royalties in exchange for their knowledge of plants. In this context, their situation would become even worse. However, if these processes and agreements were being made in a more equal and fair legal context, they could obtain the royalties for the use of their knowledge by pharmaceuticals or seed companies, as other people obtain royalties for their knowledge in more "traditional" or market-oriented industrial areas. This money could help them to achieve other goals such as a more indigenous-oriented education, or start their own productive activities to give just some examples. These kind of agreements are part of a more general discussion that includes the rights of indigenous peoples to regulate their own traditional knowledge (TK), this involve: defining what TK is to any given indigenous community, as well as developing norms and standards around who outside the indigenous community can access their knowledge, under what conditions and for what benefit. This research will analyze the Argentine and the New Zealand cases to compare the public policies implemented in both countries and the effects on indigenous peoples. Detailed objectives are going to be mentioned further in this thesis.[FROM INTRODUCTION

Learning from Kaupapa Māori: Issues and techniques for engagement

This article argues for recognition of the value and relevance of Indigenous knowledges about principles and practices of engagement to theory-building and praxis in public relations. Specifically, in this article, the Kaupapa Māori body of knowledge and practice that has developed around Indigenous/non-Indigenous engagement in Aotearoa is identified as a valid source of insight for the analogous situation of organisation-public engagement where power imbalance is inherent

Indigenous communities, disasters, and disaster research: surviving disaster research on, with and by Maori

This paper presents insights into the impact on Maori of the Christchurch earthquakes, including the role of Indigenous Knowledge (Matauranga Maori) in disasters, and the role of Indigenous culture in the response phases of disasters. Drawing on experiences of two previous and one current project the author discusses some of the ethical, practical, and logistical challenges of working with Indigenous individuals and collectives, and challenge the assumption that ‘to be Indigenous is to be resilient’. Abstract This paper presents insights into the impacts on Māori of the Christchurch earthquakes, and draws on personal research experiences to discuss disaster research with impacted minority communities. Three topics are discussed. The first is the role of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) in disasters. If IK such as Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) is to be ‘integrated’ with science to somehow build societal resilience, which systems are these integration processes building the resilience of, for whom? The second issue is the role of Indigenous culture in the response phases of disasters. The concern is that our culture is in danger of reification, posited as a necessary and sufficient condition for our resilience, and as researchers we are poorly equipped to deal with culture as a pedestal adornment. Drawing on the experiences of two previous and one current project, there is a discussion of some of the ethical, practical, and logistical challenges of working with Indigenous individuals and collectives and challenge the assumption, often codified by Indigenous researchers ourselves, that ‘to be indigenous is to be resilient